Go Bananas Shower

This shower for my soon to be sister-in-law's cousin was so much fun to pull together. The only guidelines I was given was to go with a monkey theme. Other than that I had free reign to "go bananas" with all the special touches - so I did! A mix of bold, graphic patterns in cherry red and happy yellow with lots of monkeys and bananas thrown in make this bright and cheerful shower pretty irresistible. Check out more photos for all the great details!

Guests leave notes for mommy-to-be on the Wishing Tree.

Favors and custom snack cones on the buffet

The party favors: Chocolate "Chimp" Cookie mix

Favor details

The dessert buffet

To go bags for the candy bar.

Love love love how these marshmallow pops turned out!

A little ribbon transforms Ding Dongs into King Kongs

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Coordinating picks and wrappers

The five layer cake!

La Juana's Birthday

For my mother in law LaJuana's 69th birthday we celebrated with a rooftop dinner at my sister in law's and I was put in charge of dessert. I wanted to do something like a rainbow cake:

Martha Stewart's version.

But living in Long Beach I needed something a little less PFLAG and a little more neutral so I chose pink and green stripes instead. Six layers later and it turned out great (except for my neglecting to warn about the wooden skewer supports inside that my sister in law almost gave herself a tracheotomy on. Oops!). See pics for the results:

A pretty surprise hidden inside!

This cake was a total hit!

Tattoo of the Week: An Ass-full of Betty

Now don't get me wrong. I love me some Betty White just like everyone else, but this renaissance of all things Betty has gotten a little out of control and I think she's about to jump the shark. Loved the SNL hosting gig. Congrats on the movie cameos. Oh, there she is again in that Snickers commercial during the Super Bowl. Hmm... A new sitcom starring guess who coming out this season. Okay, okay. I get it. She's old. She curses. It's hip to love Betty White and everyone's on the bandwagon. Unfortunately I think I've hit my saturation point. Luckily, Ms. White has some true die hard fans as evidenced by the following. Good grief.

Yup. On this dude's neck. Nice.

Majestic.

Four-way at Leisure World, anyone? Anyone?

Tattoo of the Week: Ode to the Toe

Scouring the web for tattoos, I came across some beauts that celebrate (or denigrate - you be the judge) those famous little piggies we all know and love: the human toe. Enjoy.

Some use them as a mathematic cheat sheet.

Some employ marketing logos for a little giggle (a very popular theme out there).

But my favorites are the ones that try to make the best of a bad situation:

Same idea, unfortunately they got the rhyme wrong. I think that little piggy was supposed to stay home. Oopsie.

Grandpa Bill's Birthday

So my father-in-law came to me last Saturday and asked me to pull something out of my *ahem* hat for his father's 90th birthday celebration this Saturday. Ummm... one week's notice? No problem. I'd been farting around all week (read: filling orders, doing dishes, folding laundry, changing poopy diapers, attending playdates, etc.) before finally cracking down on Thursday to get a majority of the work done for this nonagenarian celebration.

I chose a pale blue and gold palette, not considering the repercussions this choice would have on a family full of die hard Trojan fans. (Oopsie. My bad.) Most of the decor was centered around the dessert table, where I finally had the opportunity to use these enormous three foot balloons I'd been coveting for awhile now (total show stoppers). Throw in a dozen or so balloons and a phenomenal photo table highlighting the last nine decades of the man of the hour's life and we called it a day. Check out a party planned on tight timeline:

Loving the pennant banner on this extra tall cake.

My new border from Etsy really dresses up my labels.

Cupcake wrappers and picks are my new go-tos.

Filled with chocolates and birthday wishes.

You know, it's really hard to find blue food.

Everyone was very pleased with the outcome and the birthday boy was very touched by all the efforts and attendees there to celebrate. Happy birthday Grandpa Bill!