All posts filed under: Celebrate.

chocolate party.

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My sister and I threw a chocolate themed party for Father’s Day this year. We had a chocolate tasting, a chocolate inspired menu, and a chocolate activity. This could be a fun party idea for any occasion! Chocolate Tasting I searched for locally made chocolate bars and found Nohmad Snack co based in Torrance. We tried four of their single origin bars. Chocolate Menu It was a fun challenge to come up with a chocolate menu that wasn’t all sweet. I made chicken mole, cauliflower and peppers with picada sauce, and chocolate bread pudding. For the mole, I used Oaktown Spice Shop‘s Mole Poblano blend – a nice shortcut! For the veggie dish, oh my gosh, make double the picada sauce – it is so good. For the bread pudding, I was super impressed that I made a custard and not egg drop soup! Chocolate Activity What’s a family hang out day without an activity! My sister put together a design-your-own chocolate dessert topping. My niece got really into it. She made a double-sided piece! …

ice cream pawty.

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Happy First Day of Summer! Here’s a fun idea for a summer day, or any day really – an ice cream pawty! My friend Laura threw an ice cream pawty for her pup Pebbles! Laura set up human snacks plus puppy ice cream and toppings. How cute are these emoji labels for the puppy toppings? Per crafty friend protocol, I helped with some of the decor set up. We strung up garlands, and scattered ice cream and Pebbles head photo props around the pawty. I also helped with making signs. OoOoo, and check out this suspended centerpiece she put together, too – honeycombs for the win! Ice cream time! The human ice cream was catered by Tucker’s in Alameda. We all got two scoops plus all the toppings we wanted! The humans had fun, and I think the pups did, too! Happy birthday, Pebbles! Let’s recap the last pawty, too.

bath bombs and bon bons!

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This year for birthmonth I celebrated with a chocolate factory tour, a picnic, a mini hike, a kava bar lounge session, and a bath bombs and bon bons party! The last mostly happened because I love alliteration. And themed celebrations. And crafts. 🙂 We had bon bon treats and ’90s jams all night. I found lots of bon bon options at Trader Joe’s (and I added edible shimmer to some of them for added fancy) and at a local chocolatier. I also found the tiniest plates for all the tiny foods. My maker friend extraordinaire, Angel, hosted and taught the bath bomb part of the evening. I have the craftiest friends! Check out all these fun supplies. The scent of the different essential oils filled the room. Ahhh-roma therapy! Ready to craft! But first, a wefie to capture this Breaking Bad moment. We started with a warm up craft: body oils. We filled these cute containers with base oils (I used sweet almond oil), Vitamin E (for a preservative), a few drops of rose hips, and an …

sunnies and snacks.

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I love planning events, trying my hand at making different foods to share, and setting up activities for friends to try. For birthmonth I threw a picnic party – great friends and yummy snacks all afternoon made for a fun and relaxing day. For snacks I made tabbouleh, a green salad with tahini lemon dressing, sunomono cucumber salad, veggie wraps, and French onion dip. I also gathered shortbread cookies, nuts, mandarins, blackberries, chips, and black sesame crackers. My new fave (accidentally made) snack: what I’m dubbing “tabbouleh nachos” topped with Green yogurt French onion dip. I can’t wait to make it again! I set up some crafty play stations – origami and photo decorating. Plus park friendly activities – bubbles, lawn bowling, dominos, and sportsballs (Hubby taught me how to properly throw a football!). My niece also brought the Bean Boozled jelly bean game. Gross fun! And party favors because that’s how I roll: everyone got a pair of sunnies. More picnics please! What are some of your go-to picnic foods and activities? Do share!

earth day.

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On Earth Day I hung out at the Makers Workspace Open Studios event for fun creative times. The space was set up with free activities and some of the artists and makers in residence had their doors open for visitors to browse and shop. Kyla of Impressed by Nature had a flower pressing workshop. We used her travel size flower presses and she shared all the basics of flower pressing. We pressed jacaranda, daisies, hydrangeas, and bougainvilleas. I can’t wait to open up my press in a month to see the end result! Christie and Veena of Floretta Designs hosted a flower crown making station and had bouquets for sale. It was all kinds of lovely. Plus, they had a backdrop for a post-flower crown making flower crown photoshoot (of course!). My kind of booth! It is safe to assume I wore my crown around for the rest of the day (and then I hung it on my front door afterwards!). Katie of Wandering Falcon held a nature drawing session, too. She had an amazing collection …

it’s pronounced CHO.

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Chocolate!!! A TCHO chocolate tour has been on my list of local activities for a while now. What better time to go than for my birthday! I invited friends to play hooky with me (it was a work day, after all), and come celebrate at the chocolate factory. Inside, the waiting area is so colorful and vibrant. Their eye for design extends from their chocolate packaging to their chocolate space! We began our visit with a company history and chocolate making lesson. Chocolate rewards were given for all correct answers! Then it was off to tour the factory space. No jewelry, no false eyelashes, and no sandals allowed. I even had to cover up my nail polish with gloves. Also, no pictures so you’re stuck here with this photo of me and Hubs in our factory suits. Before stepping into the factory our shoes even got a quick cleanse. Once inside, we learned about each machine in the factory and our tour guide took us through each step in the TCHO chocolate making process. After …

the office.

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When your coworker comments on how much he loves The Office you throw him a The Office-themed birthday. Ovbi. Here’s what we used for inspiration… Photos of old people (from Michael Scott’s lecture on ageism), an acrostic using the celebrant’s name (like in Dwight’s performance review), and a PC birthday sign and sad balloons (like Kelly – or was it Kelley? – had for her birthday). This was not our typical celebratory decor so my team of decorators questioned my every decision, especially when I would say stuff like “You’re making it look too nice.” Also, do you know how hard it is to find brown balloons? (The answer is very.) As we were blowing up the balloons just slightly, one of the brown balloons popped. Right after I thought oh no, I immediate thought this is perfect!  A close of up of the photos of old things, including our celebrant! Kyle’s acrostic: And the icing on the cake (quite literally) – we wrote Lyle instead of Kyle because that seemed like something that would happen in the show. …