Monday, May 23, 2011

(a very) Sweet 16






I have a hunch that Dagny is going to remember her 16th birthday party for the rest of her life. I'm pretty sure I will, it was amazing.  I feel like the luckiest mom in the world, I love that I got to plan this party for her.  It was a lot of work and I couldn't have pulled it off without Steve.  He helped me before, during, and after, with whatever I asked no matter how crazy it was. It was kind of unbelievable how well everything turned out, it wasn't all perfect, but it was pretty close.  Dagny looked so beautiful and happy, and I don't know if it was a trick of the light or the camera, but all afternoon she looked like she was caught in a golden spotlight.  It was her party and she was the golden girl, everyone should have a moment in life like that.  

 party games





 cupcake toast

pretty in pink

dancing queen



 presents

 the end

Friday, May 20, 2011

'Twas The Night Before The Party...


hanging up the lights

 making a rainbow

a refrigerator full of mini cupcakes

the candy buffet

Monday, May 16, 2011

Even More Party Planning




We are less than a week away from Dagny's 'Sweet' 16 birthday party and my guest room has turned into a colorful candy wonderland that Willy Wonka himself would be happy in.  Buying candy is fun, I love the theme of this party.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Flash Mob



A flash mob is “a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, then quickly disperse.”  Count me in, I want to perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time in a public place.  Being in a flash mob is so on my bucket list.  


I love when people  spontaneously break out into a choreographed dance, but a Flash Mob can be so much more than that. Sometimes they sing, or act like zombies, they can even have a massive pillow fight. Go to YouTube and look up flash mob, you'll thank me. 

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mothering

Isn't being a mother just about the funnest job in the world? 
(and it even comes with it's very own holiday)  

Happy Mother's Day! 



Tuesday, May 3, 2011

100 Favorite Books


I am that person who never goes anywhere without reading material, I always have a book with me. If I am stuck waiting around I need to be entertained, hence the book. My mutant super power is that I can read really, really fast. Like crazy, speed reading fast.  It's not something I ever tried to learn, it's just something I can do.  I really am a mutant. Those two factors have contributed to me having read lots, and lots, of books. 


Ever since I posted that Consensus Cloud of books a few weeks ago I've been pondering what would be on my own book list.  After awhile I decided to stop thinking about it and just write one. It turned out that my list kind of wrote itself, and when I looked at it I surprised myself with what I included and what I left out.  The thing all of my choices have in common is that I've read each one more than once.  Lots of classic books aren't on the list (Scarlet Letter, Heart of Darkness, Moby Dick, Lord of the Flies etc...) not because I didn't read them, but because I didn't enjoy them enough to re-read them.  My list is about books that I really love.  I think you can fall in love with a book for a million different reasons; sometimes it's about what the book taught you, where it takes you, the way it makes you feel, the connection you have with a character, where you were in your life when you read it... I also think that memories are attached to books and certain books become elevated because of how you came upon them, or who you share them with. 


I know the list is long, but I figured it's my list and my blog so I could do whatever I want.  


Natasha's 100 Favorite Books
(in alphabetical order)
  1. A Farewell to Arms
  2. A Room With a View
  3. A Separate Peace
  4. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
  5. All Quiet On The Western Front
  6. Anna Karenina
  7. Anthem
  8. Anthony Adverse
  9. Around the World in 80 Days
  10. Atlas Shrugged
  11. Auntie Mame
  12. Brave New World
  13. Candide
  14. Catch-22
  15. Cheaper by the Dozen
  16. Clarissa
  17. Count of Monte Cristo
  18. Crime and Punishment
  19. Dangerous Liasons
  20. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
  21. Don Quixote
  22. Dr. Zhivago
  23. Dune
  24. East of Eden
  25. Fight Club
  26. For Whom the Bell Tolls
  27. Gone With The Wind
  28. Grapes of Wrath
  29. Gravity’s Rainbow
  30. Great Expectations
  31. Gulliver’s Travels
  32. Harry Potter Series
  33. Heidi
  34. I Am Legend
  35. I Capture the Castle
  36. Interview With the Vampire
  37. Ivanhoe
  38. Jane Eyre
  39. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
  40. Les Miserables
  41. Little Women
  42. Lord of the Rings
  43. Lost Illusions
  44. Mists of Avalon
  45. Moll Flanders
  46. My Antonia
  47. My Cousin Rachel
  48. My Side of the Mountain
  49. Nineteen Eighty-Four
  50. Of Mice and Men
  51. Oh, Kentucky
  52. Oliver Twist
  53. One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest
  54. One Hundred Years of Solitude
  55. Pippi Longstocking
  56. Possession
  57. Pride and Prejudice
  58. Rebecca
  59. Revolutionary Road
  60. Robinson Crusoe
  61. Shadow of the Wind
  62. Sherlock Holmes
  63. Slaughter House Five
  64. Stardust
  65. Tess of the D’urbevilles
  66. The Age of Innocence
  67. The Arabian Nights
  68. The Book of Lost Things
  69. The Book Thief
  70. The Crying of Lot 49
  71. The Fountainhead
  72. The Giver
  73. The Great Gatsby
  74. The Handmaids Tale
  75. The Hobbit
  76. The Karamazov Brothers
  77. The Last of the Mohicans
  78. The Little Prince
  79. The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come
  80. The Man in the Iron Mask
  81. The Name of the Wind
  82. The Other Bolyen Girl
  83. The Picture of Dorian Grey
  84. The Portrait of a Lady
  85. The Princess Bride
  86. The Red and the Black
  87. The Road
  88. The Scarlet Pimpernel
  89. The Secret Garden
  90. The Shadow of the Wind
  91. The Sirens of Titan
  92. The Swiss Family Robinson
  93. The Thorn Birds
  94. The Three Musketeers
  95. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
  96. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
  97. This Perfect Day
  98. To Kill a Mockingbird
  99. Vanity Fair
  100. War and Peace
The worth of a book is to be measured by what you carry away from it  -  James Bryce