An engagement party / Bridal Shower

I returned from Boston last night after a seven day trip.  I brought the kids so we could take advantage of things we don't have down in Bluffton, SC - like Canobie Lake Park (in Salem, NH), The Boston Children's Museum, The New England Aquarium and the Stone Zoo.   But the real reason I went was to co-host a shower/engagement party for my best friend Jenny and her fiance Dan.  Growing up Jenny was like a sister to me, any opportunity I had to bring a friend on a vacation, Jenny was the top of my list.  She traveled all around the world with me and my parents, they consider her like a second daughter, and so it was fitting to throw a celebration in her honor.  We didn't really know what to call it - was it an engagement party? A bridal shower? Just a party? Either way, it was great.

We ordered invitations from Wedding Paper Divas, this one called Elegant Lights: Dark Grey was fitting for the nautical night theme of the party.



The party was held on the Henry Longfellow boat by The Charles River Boat Company. They do private charters in Boston as well as weekday public tours up and down the Charles.  It was a real treat for us - not only did we go up and down the Charles but we went through the locks and into Boston Harbor.  It was a gorgeous night.

We did some minor decorating by hanging silver paper lanterns from the boat and also I created a picture garland to hang from the bar.  Extra pictures were taped up behind the bar to add a personal touch.

For flowers, we did simple peonies that I bought at Quincy Market and also cut down from my mom's garden in Winchester.   I also created these candles using my PSA Bouquet Toss Peel & Stick stamps, my brown and espresso ink, and my PSA Stamper.  I stamped "love", the wedding cake, the bouquet and the wedding bells from this set.

We got to see amazing views of Boston unlike any I have ever seen.

Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves.  Here is Jenny and Dan and Jenny's brother and fiance Alyssa, then posing with her parents.

Here's Dan with all the girls... love this one!

My parents and Jenny!

It was great party for an incredible friend.  Cheers to Dan and Jenny!

A Baby Sprinkle

Today I had the opportunity to co-host a baby sprinkle for my good friend and tennis partner Erin Carmines.  The party was held at the beautiful home of her mother-in-law Gloria Carmines with 18 guests.   Jamie and I were in charge of favors, decor, and flowers while Gloria graciously took care of the food and drink.   Jamie (owner and designer of Monograms by Jamie) and I with my love of party details crafted and and decorated an already beautiful setting.   The guests enjoyed shrimp caesar salad, champagne and wine, and great company.  Erin looked beautiful and her first daughter Alice enjoyed the party for a few minutes before taking a long nap while the ladies lunched.   It was a fantastic afternoon and at 4 pm (4 hours after the party had started, 5.5 hours after I arrived this morning) I checked my watch and realized I needed to head back home.  Here's a look at the party! 

Here is the guest of honor Erin and the soon-to-be big sister, Alice with her new purse from her grandmother   "Glo."

The hostesses Jamie, Gloria and myself pictured here before the guests arrived.  Aren't we bright and cheery?

The baby sprinkle invitation came from Tiny Prints -- still one of my favorite places for stationery and invitations. 

I created a welcome sign using card stock and ribbon to hang from the door.  The pom-poms and lanterns came from Oriental Trading Company.  They have the easiest party decorations at affordable prices. 

Here you can see Jamie's adorable onesies which she monogrammed and did the animal applique's on! She hung them from clothes line and pins which she decorated with craft tape. She found the Mud Pie burp cloths at the posh children's boutique Wild Whisperer on Calhoun Street in Bluffton, SC. 

Erin loves hippos (ever since third grade when she did a report on them) and knowing this, Jamie thought we should incorporate hippos into the party.  Such a great idea and was a fun personal touch for Erin. 

Ronnie's Bakery (Cakes By Lou) baked and decorated hippo cookies which I added a "oh happy day" stamp to by PSA Essentials to add a festive touch.  I thought they looked more like pigs than hippos but oh well... 

Gloria set up two tables for the guests to sit down to a delicious lunch. 

I created place card settings and stamped from PSA Little Bunny Peel & Stick stamps available at Swanky Press. 

Using PSA Little Bunny and Whimsy Cake Peel & Stick stamps, I also created cupcake toppers for the mini cupcakes by Carolina Cupcakes in Coligny Plaza. 

Guests really enjoyed them...classy picture Jen Witmer. 

The flowers were easily done - I got them at Piggly Wiggly of all places and barely arranged them into large vases. I also made 5 mini-diaper cakes and dispersed on the tables. I rolled diapers, secured with rubber bands, then tied ribbon around them.  I stamped "oh happy day" using PSA Essentials Just a Note Peel & Stick stamps onto pink paper and punched using my 1.5" circle cutter and adhered to silver paper punched with a 2" inch circle cutter. 

Guests seemed to truly have a fantastic time mingling before we sat down.

And enjoyed themselves when we sat down, too!

What a fun way to celebrate a new baby girl for Erin and spend the day with friends.  Congratulations Erin and we can't wait to meet your new baby girl.  Love you!

10 ways to save money

With all these changes in our life, few are more important than changing the way we spend money.  My salary as a stay-at-home mom doesn't pay what my full-time job paid (or anything for that matter) so as we go from two incomes to one, we need to make adjustments immediately.  I was really surprised how much money we instantly saved with some minor cut backs.  Here are 10 detailed ways to save money.  Be prepared to make some phone calls and get out your current monthly bills.   Would you believe I saved $838 a month with these changes?  It's true and here's how. 

1. Start by calling your cable company.  I called Hargray and told them I was looking for ways to save money.   The customer service rep ran down a list of my options and we ended up saving $65 per month by cancelling call waiting, caller ID, premium HBO service, reducing the number of channels we get (we're on "Digital Light" now) and no HD service on the 2nd box.  So now Molly is watching PBS instead of Nick Jr and I answer the phone "hello" instead of identifying the person by name immediately.   Big deal and $65 a month saved! 

2. Take a hard look at your mobile phone plan.  Since I am not working, I don't need data service on my mobile so I called to cancel data on my phone. I found out I could keep the data (horray! I can still check my Facebook on the go...) but go down to 500MB at 3G and then a slower speed after 500MB, while keeping Mike on the same speed.  Can you believe it but we saved $100 per month just by doing this.  We use T-Mobile. 

3. Check your lawn care.   We unloaded $45 per month by cancelling the lawn treatment that our landscaper uses per month.   We were watering 3 times a week and now we are watering 2 times a week, saving $14 per month.   That's $59 in lawn services cut and if it were really necessary, we could cut another $145 by mowing and taking care of the lawn ourselves.

4.  DIY Cleaning.  At one point we were paying our cleaning lady $80 every week, then more recently $100 to come once month.  Though it's much more work, I'm not above cleaning my own toilets, mopping,  and vacuuming a few times a week. I found a great site called Clean Mama who helps organize your cleaning by day.  (Monday is bathrooms, Tuesday is dusting, Wednesday is vacuuming.  Plus she has amazing lists and deep cleaning schedules like"30 days to a deep clean.")  This is the saddest cut back for me but it has to be done and Clean Mama helps me and feeds my love of lists, order and organization. 

5.  Cancel magazine subscriptions.  Cancelling Martha Stewart Living, Us Weekly, and Food Network Magazine saved us $156, or $13 per month.  I can read most articles online and I hope for less clutter with unread magazines lying all over the place.  

6.  Cancel gym membership.  I save $35 a month by cancelling my gym membership.  I wasn't using it anyway and there are plenty of at-home work outs I could do.  Who am I kidding.  I am not working out right now anyway. 

7. Cancel random monthly memberships. I sign up for services that bill annually or monthly if they are small.  They sound like good ideas at the time but really have added up over the course of a few years.  For example, I cancelled a subscription to Consumerreports.com, PicMonkey.com, Avast computer security software, video editing software that was being unused, and my Amazon Prime membership (which I am not using in an effort to save money anyway).  Getting rid of these memberships saves $257.88 a year, or $21 a month. 

8.  Plan your trip to grocery store.  This probably should be a separate post since I have a lot of tips here but first, I recommend downloading and printing a Weekly Menu Plan and check out all these printables from 5dollardinners.  Then carefully make a list of all that you need for the week.  I am limiting my shopping to two times a week, and if we are out of BBQ sauce, we are out until the next trip.   Planning my grocery trips and sticking to a weekly budget is saving us a lot so far but I estimate about $40 a month. 

9.   Coupons.  This seems obvious, but now I am couponing.  I am not headed for Extreme Couponing (though this article was interesting)  I don't need a stockpile of soaps, ketchup and razors but I could benefit from some weekly savings.  Kroger.com has coupons that you can load directly onto your loyalty card.   This is perhaps the easiest way I ever saved $5 off my grocery bill and it takes a few minutes.   Other coupons are available at couponmom.com and coupons.com, or if you go directly to the manufacturer's website, or like them of Facebook, you can get instant coupons.

MAJOR SAVINGS: Anytime you make a purchase online or in-store, you should check Retail Me Not first for all available discounts.   Unbelievable how much you can save!

10.  Refinance your home mortgage.   We get solicitations in the mail almost daily to refinance and I just kept tossing them in the trash. Until one day Mike took a hard look and made some phone calls.  It took months and a lot of paperwork, but we closed last month with zero closing costs and are now saving $443 a month.   Start by calling your bank who you pay your monthly mortgage to.

So those are my tips to share but what have I missed?  Will you share your ideas with me here?  I know there are a lot of money saving ideas out there. I look forward to reader's suggestions on areas I have missed.