Polly's Practically Perfect Party Period 3/7 - 3/12

Last week was certainly a great one for friends and family.  It was a barrel of fun from one end to the other!!

This picture is of me with the man who played the mother in Hairspray at the Hale Center Theater.  He was great!  Such a big guy and so steady in his high heels!!  His acting was excellent as well.  He said that he no longer has such a great awe of women balancing in heels, as it wasn't that hard. The funny thing is that the day after I saw the play, I accidentally met his wife when I overheard her telling someone else at a sale I was attending, that she had made 'boobs' for her husband who was playing in Hairspray.  I had to show her this picture which was still on my camera, what are the chances?  His wife said that he had worn the heels around the house for a month to get good at it.  So much for the easy part, eh?

Here are the rest of the people who partied with me at the play.  In front is my husband Scott with our friends Robin and Jeff, behind them are friends, Donelle, Jerry, Randy and Barb.

This picture shows the young men with whom I had a double-double date  ( 2 'men' and 2 days!!) I ran up to Idaho for two days to fill in for a Nanny who had quit without notice, leaving my daughter Brittany in the lurch.  We had a great time!!

And here are more friends, we are having lunch (at Cafe Rio, of course)  to celebrate a great morning of junqueing, one of our best ever!!  Thankfully Cathy (middle) convinced Jennifer and me that we should not miss this particular sale, and she was sooooo right!!

So then Brittany and Mike came down from Idaho for the weekend to finish clearing out their house here and ready it for renters.  This picture shows my daughter Becca with Brittany when we all went to dinner Friday night.  It was the night of the BYU game, and we went to Iggy's because my daughter Darby works there.  It turned out to be a fiasco, because there were 14 of us, and people were just not leaving, as they stayed to watch the amazing game.  We waited an hour and a half for a table, but not to worry, the company was the best possible and ...

we got to watch the game too.  Here we see Trevor and Ben with their eyes glued to the big screen!!  What a fabulous game to get to see too!  BYU came back from loosing both of their regular season games to New Mexico to beat them in the tournament.  Trevor's smile pretty much says it all.

Of course not everyone was thrilled about the long wait, but Eva did find some comfort in snuggling into her mother's cosy purse.... besides which she got to look adorable in the bargain.

This is Eva's Mom Nell, and her Aunty Emily!!

This is Mike, Britt's husband, Scott (Nell and Trevor's oldest) and Kai.  Scott and Kai had a ball the whole weekend with lots of time being together, which they love.  They are just two weeks apart in age and could not be closer.  In fact when I was in Idaho, I was commenting on how cool the Boys and Girls Club was were Kai goes after school and asked him if he liked Twin better than Salt Lake.  He said there was one BIG problem with Twin, its four hours away from Scott!

Grandpa and Uncle Ben play with Titan, Becca's baby.

And this is me with Darby.  She arranged for us to have an amazing server, who kept us all happy despite the awkward wait.  It was fun to gather the family together at her work, just so she could 'sort of' attend the gathering.  The weekend included two more family get togethers.  Several of us met for lunch on Saturday after helping Mike and Britt load the moving van, and then Sunday we had our every-other-week family dinner at Mike and Britt's empty house so that they could join us before heading north for good. :-(

Then there was the baby shower I got to attend in the middle of everything else that was happening Saturday.  This cutie is my Neice Alicia.  She has 5 weeks before her baby boy will arrive.  It was great to see her and have a minute to visit.

This is me with Alicia's mother Julie.  She is married to my adorable, brown eyed baby brother, Ross.  It was good to see her too!   It was a great week for get togethers, and being the original party person that is just fine with me.  I am just grateful for my wonderful family and friends who make it possible!!

Interesting Store Displays and Reinventing at Home!

So I made a quick trip to Idaho this week to spend some quality time with my daughter and her two adorable little boys.  While my daughter was at work and the boys were in school, I got to do what I always do when traveling, I checked out some of the local antique stores. 

Since another of my daughters just married a Texan, I found this funny little car with the long horn detail to be very appealing. 

This was an uglish door before someone upgraded it with a bit of artistry, I love it!!

When I got back from Idaho, it was back to work.  This display was put together by a fellow worker the previous week, I added a few details, but mostly fetched and carried as she created her 'vision'.  When I got back from Idaho she had tweaked it, with a couple of ideas she had seen in the new Flea Market Style Magazine.  http://fleamarketstylemag.blogspot.com/

This charming drawer full of fun and rose-y china was easy, as we already had the cute pink chippy chest of drawers in place.

But my favorite detail is the birdcage, which was also already in the display, it is now filled with pink luster and floral china cups and saucers. It is so eye catching.  Its fun to watch customers come in and look at the display and do a double take when they were the cage, of course this action is always followed by a smile.

Later this week I got to go to a sale at our local 'Hale Center Theater', as they do their yearly culling of their costumes.  Since the theater also rents costumes, through their affiliated costume shop, http://www.haletheater.org/costumes/rental-policies.php I got to enjoy the costumes they had on display when I attended the sale.  The costume in the back of this picture is for the Mad Hatter, a fun and fanciful costume, and since I dressed as the Mad Hatter for my Tea Party last year, I was particularly attracted to it.  There was also a wonderful Wicked Witch of the West costume and with my affinity for Elphaba I would have loved to have shared it with you as well, but black in the shadows doesn't make for a distinct picture, I am sorry to say.

Then yesterday I finally got to take a peek at a cute store a customer told me about over a year ago.  It is in my home town of Bountiful, Utah, and I thought it was fabulous.  I have always loved children's books, and related items.  This store is pretty much THE store I have always dreamed of owning.  It is just too charming. http://www.alltuckedin.net/contact.html

The colors of the painted furniture pieces in the store just knock your socks off.  Some of them are even for sale.

Since I have a sister that loves whimsical giraffes, I had to include this leggy lady!

Of course children's book related stuffed animals, always put a smile on my face.

Now last of all, just so you won't think that all I do is work and shop, I have included a great 'reinvintage' idea that finally came together for me this week.  The 'scarfs' hanging in my kitchen windows are actually the diagonal halves of a 1950's table cloth that had colors and a motif that I loved.  My dear friend Cathy, who is also a dealer at Treasures Antiques in Springville, Utah where I work, gave me a very friendly deal on the tablecloth when I fell in love with it.  Even my husband thought it looked cheerful!!

bABy sHoWeR pOweR or Welcoming Lovely Little Lily Larsen!!

It is Saturday, March 5th and its time to party!! This is my adorable niece Mindy, and she is hosting  the baby shower.  Her brother Erik's wife Cori is having a baby so we all got to celebrate at Mindy's cute new house.  Here she is all color coordinated with her bedroom, so I thought that was the perfect place to take her picture.  Thanks Mindy, everything was perfectly charming!!

Yep, here I am all festive in my black and white with a borrowed purse (Because it matched, why else?)ready to rumble!!

And here come some lovely cousins, along with their lovely mother, Aunt Jo, who have all come to help us celebrate!! (Jill, Mary, Jo, Kim)

Here we see Aunt Shirley (left) consorting with the Eggett side of the family.  Marva Eggett is my Sister-in-law Nina's sister-in-law (did you follow that?) Marva and I have been fellow thrift store shoppers for years and didn't know we were related until we ran into each other at Mindy's wedding shower, some 10 odd years ago. Shirley just had a new grandbaby herself  (for a total of 11 ... but I will catch up when Emily has her baby in September  .... ).  Her new grandbaby lives in California, and Shirley can't wait to meet her!!

This is Mindy again, with Natalie who is representing Aunt Dianne and Uncle Bruce's family.  On the far right is my daughter Becca!

Here we see Aunt Nina, with Aunt Jo's oldest daughter Kristin with her sister Mary.

And finally you get to meet the happy 'nearly parents' of the guest of honor.  Erik and Cori have been married just over a year, and live in a charming cottage on east - South Temple.  The baby is due in early April!  The Larsen's and Eggetts are all excited to help them get ready!!

This is the amazing spread that Mindy, Erik and Aunt Nina prepared for their guests.  Everything was absolutely yummy, I guess Nina has passed her wonderful cooking skills along to her children!!

Oh, and the cupcakes, you noticed the cupcakes!!  These are Erik's specialty, in fact he started his own cupcake company last year.  Take my word for it, they are delicious, and if you live in the Salt Lake area ... forget chasing the ice cream truck ... you can now chase the 'cupcake carriage'.  Technology has made that easy to do, you can just check out the website for 'Heaven Cupcake' and find out exactly where you can connect with the truck at any given time!!  http://heavencupcake.com/  Oh and they deliver too!!

And what post would be complete without pictures of cute kids.  This one is of my grandson Titan, who snuck in with his Mom, Becca.  He is pictured here with his Great Aunt Nina

This picture is of Mindy's two oldest daughters.  They gave me a tour of their great new house, and this is their very fun, loft bedroom!!

Well, that is that for our fabulously fun event with friends and family gathered to celebrate new life!!  We can't wait to see how adorable Lily will be.  And the last picture is of me with our Natalie!!