Suburban Bliss:: Birth Control Via The Written Word

End of The Year Brunch With Bonus Naval Gazing.

I decided to host a brunch for a few school moms, to celebrate (or mourn) the end of the year. I've never hosted a brunch before and since breakfast food is among my favorite, I couldn't wait. Additionally: Mimosa!

When I start to think about a party I usually look at the bookmarks I've collected to see what stands out. Now, however, I make boards on Pinterest to collect inspiration. I collect so much inspiration that by the time I have to make purchases and decisions I'm overwhelmed with pretty pretty things. I end up using one or two of the many ideas I've collected and call it a day. Here's my End of the Year Brunch board and my Parties, All Kinds board for your enjoyment.

Of course I also always have grand plans and somehow I seem to think I'll have a million dollars by the time I actually host the party...so then I work backwards and do something a little more tame. (I cancelled the live music, clown and petting zoo.)

I was going to send out real invitations as a novel change from the usual but then free looked better so I used Pingg. I meant to line the driveway and deck with balloons and have coordinating banners strung all over the porch...and then...I didn't. 

I did buy a few parasols (I bought them here) because I think I can use them for other parties this summer. I hung them in the covered level of our deck.  

That concludes the picture portion of this post because I am...well I'm a crappy blogger who forgets that to be a lifestyle blogger one would need to maybe document one's life. Sorry. 

The parasols made a nice back drop for a simple meal of fruit salad, The Pioneer Woman's coffee cake and Helen Jane's egg casserole. Additionally we had coffee and orange juice and heh, WAY more champagne than anyone could have wanted on a Monday morning.

I'M SORRY I'M JUST REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO SUMMER!!! (Yes I wrote that.)

I bought a 6 quart jar with spout and was quite excited about how cute it would look all full of orange juice. Sort of like this..cute!?

Source: google.com via Melissa on Pinterest

 

Unfortunately I bought my adorable jar at World Market for $15 and the night before the party as we filled it with 5 quarts of orange juice the side of it cracked open (!?) and all my orange juice and cute party details went down the drain. Doesn't it look lovely though? Sniffle. 

Source: copycatchic.com via Ashley on Pinterest

Fortunately none of this stuff really matters when you're trying to host a party to get to know some new friends and spend time with your old ones. The weather was perfect, the deck is perfect for spending a sunny morning with friends, the menu was easy to put together with low stress during the morning rush. The dog was annoying but three out of four isn't bad.

Something in my life I've been struggling with lately is how much time we spend trying to impress everyone else with how great we are. How much we want it to look like things are always smooth for us. How our house is always clean and our outfits are dashing and we're effortlessly thin and we never argue with our husbands...

This has always been true, I know that and I've always struggled with it. That's really how this website was born: my version of motherhood didn't look as neat, tidy and brimming with boundless joy as the women I was surrounded with in those early years with little kids.

But as social media has become a part of my every day life (not just blogs, I mean aquaintances keeping in touch on Facebook and such) I've realized I choose to portray more than most people do and as a result....I have to accept that my image is affected by that openness. People know I struggle with depression, that I'm quick to get angsty about things, that I'm not "easy-going", that sometimes I want to punch my husband in the face...

An old friend told me once that if you choose to be overweight, that's fine. You can do that. But you have to accept that people will judge you differently. Sometimes when I share a lot or my party isn't perfect or my jeans have a number inside the waistband I wish was smaller...I think about the truth of what she said that to me. 

Obviously I don't totally dismiss that statement, if I did I wouldn't even remember it being said and I wouldn't write it down here. But whenever I'm afraid of what people think of me, whenever I worry about how I look in my clothes, when I worry if my party is cute enough, I take a deep breath and remember that the people I want to care about won't care. 

Sometimes that works better than others. 

 

New Years Eve 2010-2011

 

We had a really good New Year's Eve party this year and I pulled it together in about 3 days.

We had 35 people at the height of the night and though our house is small-ish it worked out better than you'd think. One key, forget about messes and maybe plan on having concrete floors in your basement so the kids can't exactly ruin anything.

This year as opposed to other years I decided to up the traditions of the night. Usually we let the kids pop bubble wrap at midnight. 

This year I decided to add some more traditions. Like a peppermint pig.

A Peppermint Pig is a peppermint candy shaped like a pig. It goes in a velvet bag, the silver hammer is used by each guest (youngest to oldest) to smash it to smaller bits.

Each guest eats a piece of the candy for good luck. I ate a lot of peppermint that night. 

Another tradition I read about this year was Doce Uvas.

It's a Spanish New Year's Tradition to eat 12 grapes on New Years Eve for 12 months of sweetness. Of course you're really supposed to eat the 12 grapes as the big clock at Puerta del Sol chimes Midnight on New Year's Eve.

Don't tell the kids this. They ate a lot of grapes hoping for good luck.

Some kids ate more than one skewer because they obviously wanted some extra luck.

Just before midnight we walked across the street to watch the ball drop at Royal Oak's first Rockin The Eve ball drop. 

Here's Max at the top of the parking garage with one of his friends from preschool. 

And here is Maddie pretending she hates us and this entire night. 

We went back across the street after the ball drop and the kids (and adults) wore crazy glasses. The kids looked cuter.

Wanna have your mind blown? This is Caroline:

This was Caroline:

It's weird how kids keep aging and yet, I stay the same. 

We did a fake new year and let the kids pop a room full of bubble wrap after the actual new year. It was quieter than last year because I didn't hand out noisemakers. 

I also bought 3 dozen doughnuts we served after the bubble wrap destruction because round foods are thought to bring good luck in some cultures.

Uh...you could say I'm praying for good luck this year.

In the end we all stayed awake until 3:30am. This was notable especially for Max and me because in years past we just crashed around 12:05am. It was not entirely attractive but I thought you'd enjoy it.

I hope you had a wonderful New Year's Eve and didn't find a doughnut tucked into your underwear drawer in the morning. 

Though, maybe that's extra extra good luck.

The Summers' Welcome To Summer Dinner Party

Hey, depression got you down? You should throw a party.

I've wanted to have a dinner party in our back yard to welcome summer. This year it was especially important to host a party because since we left the Dream House I've been more reluctant to host parties. I just haven't been feeling it. 

For months I've been collecting ideas and inspiration. But mostly I didn't do anything to get ready for the party until 3 days before the event. I point this out because it wasn't entirely pleasant but on the bright side it goes to show how reasonably easy it can be to throw a dinner party for 10. 

I knew I wanted blue hydrangea and a really bright pink flower to go with it. I wanted a menu we could prepare and serve outside and I wanted to eat at a big round table. My round table dreams were dashed into the ground by a miscommunication with the place I reserved the table from in April, prime wedding season and a car that's not big enough to haul a 60" round table. Darn. 

I used the hanging lanterns I bought to use at our New Year's Eve party. I got them from Paper Lantern Store. Unfortunately the large pink one I bought came with the wrong size metal brace so we used orange instead. Logan hung a cable from the porch out to another cable he strung between two of our pine trees. We're adding a string of lights to it and will leave it up year round. Cost: $25. I may buy the nylon version to keep outside for most of the summer.

The blue hydrangea I bought at our local flower shop weren't quite as blue as I'd wanted. 

But they also had peonies and peonies make me want to cuddle. With them. I know, it's awkward now.

My camera is still broken. It's incredibly painful. Thankfully my guests had nice cameras and brought them for me to use. 

There was soda and Sierra Nevada to drink, but also other yummy things.

Like Helen Jane's White Sangria. 

Maddie stamped the napkin rings. Ideally I would have used real flatware but I own 8 sets and had 10 guests so we went this route.

We made the award-winning fish tacos from that Beyond The Shaker Challenge dinner we attended this winter. Logan made these little cards for me to write what each of the toppings for the tacos were. Each card said something we love about summer. 

Our friend Phil is The Grumpy Barista. He roasts coffee beans and makes a delicious cup of coffee at Tasi in downtown Royal Oak. He makes a fantastic BBQ sauce and also a fire roasted tomato salsa that makes you want to marry him even though he's kind of grumpy and you're a straight man. I'm speaking from Logan's perspective here. 

We asked him to make a batch for us to give our guests as parting gifts. Logan made the label and it looks fabulous.

Another of our friends was having a birthday on Monday. His wife made delicious mexican ice cream and I bought sparklers to stand in as candles. The wishes you make on sparklers are a lot better. 

Or so I hear. 

Imagine: 24 kids at midnight on NYE

This is exactly what it sounds like.
Now you don't have to have them over.
You're welcome.

New Year's Eve With 24 Kids from Melissa Summers on Vimeo.

Even more baby stuff.

I'm glad I'm at peace with my decision to cut my losses and stop having babies. I'm madly in love with the two I have, but I'm not particularly maternal. You may have noticed. I'm glad I'm at peace because it seems every where I look there are babies! Delicious, delicious babies.

On Saturday we went to a baby shower for one of Logan's coworkers. It's cute right? Logan works with kids, as I like to call them. James just had his bar mitzvah and now, he's married and having a baby of his very own.

I ended up picking up another Mighty Junior pick for our gift. I chose the Cone Sorting toy because aside from the fact that Jayne and James' baby will come out being super intelligent, it's the kind of toy you could have on a shelf and not want to punch yourself.

Neighborhood Holiday Progressive Dinner 2008

I spent a large portion of last week dreading throwing the dinner and dessert portion of our neighborhood's annual holiday progressive dinner. I can't shake this feeling I mentioned before that this holiday season just isn't doing it for me. I know it's my attitude and probably turning off CNN would help me a lot. But nonetheless this year I'm just not feeling the Christmas Spirit.

Now, last year I was absolutely thrilled to throw this party and spent quite a bit of time carefully planning things. I tried the recipes for my menu before the day of the party, I set up the tables and place settings a couple days before the event. We had custom napkins and stir sticks made and Logan even created a CD mix of Christmas music to hand out at the end of the evening.

This year, on Saturday morning our living room (that would become a dining room for 20) looked like this.

On Friday I did all the shopping for the party, nearly dying in line at the fabric store. No, no one tried to kill me. But the amount of time I waited to have my fabric cut and measured nearly killed me. I'm not at all exaggerating. I also braved Costco, without protective gear. I struggled, but I persevered.

We decided to make Beef Brisket, Potatoes You Leave In The Oven Too Long, and Whiskey Glazed Carrots. I started out using Pioneer Woman's recipe for the Beef Brisket, but then my friend, Chef Laura (not sarcasm, she really is a chef) told us to do it differently. So I don't even know how to tell you to cook this meat.

I started out with the marinade, had to discard it and wipe the meat off. Then I got overwhelmed and gave the entire task of cooking the meat over to Logan.

We substituted Cognac for the Whiskey in our carrots because someone drank all the Maker's. (Max.)

To make Potatoes You Leave In The Oven Too Long, chop your red skin potatoes into reasonably even chunks. Put them in a baking pan, add some olive oil and whatever seasonings you want. Then throw them in the oven until they're all crunchy and burnt. This recipe came from a time we, you know, left the potatoes in the oven too long.

I didn't want to spend a lot of money on the centerpieces for the tables because I don't like spending a lot of money in general. Plus I wanted to have a different look than the tables had last year.

I ended up standing in line at the fabric store for 32 straight hours to buy some clearance fabric. It wasn't long enough so I cut it into four strips and laid them down the middle of the table. I didn't finish the sides because they weren't fraying terribly and I didn't feel like it. The fabric was $5.

To hide the places where the strips of fabric met along the 18 feet of table, I used strips of wide ribbon to cover them. (Two 12 foot spools of ribbon for $4 a piece.) I pinned the ribbon to the white tablecloths to keep it in place.

I'm not really good at arranging flowers so I decided to use fruit for this year's centerpiece rather than go back to the easy fullness of the hydrangea like last year.

While at Costco, fighting for my life, I came across boxes of the most adorable little pears you've ever seen in your life. The perfect color and the perfect size. They make me want to have a baby with a pear because they are so cute. (Also delicious, which is good since we have A LOT of pears to eat since the party). I bought two boxes of the pears for $5 a piece, I probably could have gotten away without the second box, but I used them on a raised pedestal on a cabinet in the room. Hey, who are those cute kids in my Christmas Card box?

To set this table:

I spent just under $25.

I pulled this party together in one day of errands and one day of cooking and prep work. It turns out I like throwing parties (aside from the running of errands) so even though a lot of people would be stressed out about the process of creating a party. I am in my element I think, ready for a cocktail and a quickie two hours before the big event. We even had a fabulous dinner party to attend the night before, so I didn't even have that head start.

Now, that's not to say nothing went wrong. I decided to save money on rentals and found this plastic flatware at Costco that "Looks so real you won't believe it's plastic!" Until you, actually touch it and it floats out of your hand because it's so clearly not real flatware. We borrowed our friend's large collection of plates they bought for their wedding reception. But I forgot dessert plates, so that was a bit of a drag, sending one of our neighbors out to their house to get dessert plates.

But, none of that stuff really matters and if you get caught up in those details? Guess what, you hate throwing parties. Everything will work out. Save the stress for worrying about things like the failing auto industry...things you have absolutely no power over. That's what I prefer to do!

Everyone had fun even though the flatware was crappy and the dessert plates were missing.

Hopefully next year we'll still be here to do it again.

Suburban Bash: The Kind Of Lazy But Still Fun New Year's Eve Party

I meant to share our New Year's Eve party with you. This was the party that broke my back so to speak. There was the Holiday Progressive which left me invigorated and then all the last minute Christmas preparations I did, then Christmas dinner with my extended family, our trip to Chicago, followed by frantic de-Christmasing and preparations for 12 adults and 17 kids under nine to ring in the New Year. I was exhausted. I wanted it to be fun for the kids but to be honest I sort of wanted to throw a bunch of confetti at them and call it the New Year.

Still, it's not often kids get to stay up until midnight (or later if no one's killing each other) and I don't get to spend the first minutes with my best friends all the time so I wanted it to be reasonably special.

I made this event potluck-ish, emailing the guests while still in Chicago asking them to bring their own drinks and an appetizer to pass. I made just a vegetable tray with two dips, these really yummy Brussel Sprout, Bacon and Cheddar skewers (huge, huge hit both times I've made them).

Did they eat it?
Max and Maddie didn't try it.
Logan did and said, "I love these. Come to think of it, I've never tried a brussel sprout in my life!"

I just don't know where Maddie gets her inhibited taste buds from.

Suburban Bash: Holiday Progressive

This weekend was our neighborhood's Holiday Progressive dinner. They've been doing this for many, many years but since this was our first year I jumped at the chance to serve the dinner course. Then, when there wasn't anyone to host dessert I said I'd do that too. Then, I said, "Why don't you all just move into my house for a week! I'll buy you Christmas presents and fill your stockings too!"

Because that's how happy we are to be living here.

I asked veteran neighbors what the downfall of hosting dinner and dessert would be and they said, "Well, if you're the last house, people usually stay for a longer time."

Which is funny to me because Logan is always the last one to leave a party, usually after the hosts go to bed and turn out all the lights. So this would be perfect for us.

I love having parties and since moving we don't entertain more than we used to, but the act of doing it is a lot more pleasant. There are lots of ways to make your party smoother and less stressful, some you can afford (using paper napkins instead of cloth) and others you can not (hiring a caterer, wait staff, bartender and a separate venue). But after thinking about this for a while I think the only way to have a really fun party is to enjoy the process of throwing a party.

Logan and I both happen to love throwing parties, I like parties because I grew up in a house where I was ashamed to have people over. It was often dirty and smelled of smoke. Also there was that man who was more than likely drunk in the living room. Embarrassing. Having people to my home and making it warm and welcoming and feeling at ease with the chaos and mess of it all is my way of appreciating all we have.

Logan likes parties because he loves wearing a lampshade on his head and mixing cocktails which put people into jolly comatose states.

Here's how we made this party work, complete with pictures.