Graduation Party-time!!!

CLASS OF 2014

One of Alexa's Senior Photos

There is a reflection because I could NOT get the darn picture out of the frame today...either I was weak from exhaustion or the frame was having fun with me...grrrrrr!

I know, I know....its been over a week since I've posted...I apologize.

We have had a whirlwind of activities around our house gearing up for graduation and the

graduation party for Alexa that happened this weekend!

PHEW.......

It's all over with...it was an emotional roller coaster, physically exhausting but lots of memories were made and a good time had by all.  Today I'm sharing pics of our Graduation Party that we had on Saturday.  Then this week I will share graduation photos....and project pics for other things I've been working on!

So lots of pictures in this post....but enjoy!!

This was a table I set up in our foyer for the party.  A few pics of Alexa, a place to put gifts/cards, balloons and flowers for the graduation girl.  Also my "KEYS TO SUCCESS".....

I had ordered bulk bags of silver skeleton keys on Amazon and cut tags for them on my Silhouette Cameo.  I used black cardstock because I wanted it to have a chalkboard feel and I had white-gel pens for people to use to write with.  She won't get the jar of keys and tags until we drop her off at college...I wanted her to have something long after the party ended to reminisce on and laugh/cry at.  Some of the tags are silly I'm sure, some are great pieces of advice and some are some tips she may need at some point.  The large jar I got on Amazon too...I liked the lid and size.

I had a lot of food for this party...and I was stressed I wouldn't have enough for the 65+ people.  But I always have too much food....we donated all the leftovers from catering to the local homeless shelter because I didn't want it going to waste.  I had Red Hot & Blue cater pulled pork, baked beans and potato salad....sandwiches from Which Wich...party platters and cake from Wegmans. I made lemonade, fruit salad and desserts.  My mom made 2 platters of Texas Brownies...mmm yum!

This was the beverage station I set up....I made homemade strawberry lemonade and wrapped water bottles with custom wrappers I made.  We had wine and beer and sodas in coolers outside.

I had bought 50 blue mason jars and striped straws for the lemonade...blue was one of the theme colors since Alexa's school colors are blue, white and black.

I had a white cake made by Wegmans and inside was stuffed with fresh strawberries and cream....it was really, really good.  I decorated it myself...hahahaha...the black icing kinda melted a bit but I used a Gamecock decal and some footballs from the Party Store along with sprinkles...it worked.

I didn't get the best pictures of this because I was rushed for time....but I had bulk-ordered small white take-out boxes and made stickers for the front of each.  Then used striped tissue paper to line them and fill half with Kettle Corn and half with Cheddar Popcorn. Then everyone could grab a box and chow down.  Those are my mom's Texas Brownies to the right...mmmm ;)

I had bouquets of white roses and daisies around the house including that lovely centerpiece I had my dad make me.  I keep fresh flowers in it every week.

This is our backyard patio and cabana all decked out for the party.  The coolers were a necessity to hold all the drinks we needed iced down :)  I love my patio because of all the different seating areas and places to be depending on the weather and activity.

My hubs and son helping get ready!  That's my mom's dog Snickers surveying the scene in most pictures LOL (no I didn't get a new dog)!

This is one of my fave little sitting areas as it sits behind the main seating area/fireplace...the butterfly bush and grasses are at edge of patio so there are always hummingbirds and butterflies flitting around. Its kind of hidden and a great place to read and get away.

Alexa with a group of her friends.  The bar to the left is one of two bars..I love the round bar addition because its another great place for seating or food buffet.

My niece, my mom and my sister-in-law.

Alexa and her friends using the photo booth props I ordered and some I had made.

Alexa's BFF Mya came up from Georgia for the party and to see her friends graduate. She grew up with them all but moved at the end of her junior year...was nice she could see everyone!

Alexa opening some of her graduation gifts...the girl made out well...thank you to everyone that sent or gave a gift, we are so happy you were able to come and join us to celebrate her successes and future!

Annnnnddddd...this is what happens at the end of a great day when you are slap-happy and tired!

Alexa and the hubs show their goofy sides ;)
James kept asking Alexa all day if she wanted to "take a selfie" hahahaha and singing "It's the Final Countdown" song to her.  So they had to take a selfie together hahaha!

I will be back on Thursday with Grad Pictures to share......


Entering In The Following Linky Parties:

Family Fun Friday

WOW Us Wednesdays

Summer Celebration Link Party

DIY Showoff/ Fun In The Sun Party

The DIY Dreamer

Ivy & Elephants

What's On My Kindle Lately?

If you have followed me through the years or even just over the past year of the Bitz of Me blog...you know I love to read.  Unfortunately during my surgery recovery I was on a LONG round of meds that made me foggy and unable to concentrate for very long...it took me 10 days to get through a book instead of being able to read 3-4 books a week. Grrrrrrr...its been really frustrating as reading is the one thing I like to do just for myself, late at night when no one needs me and my to-do list is semi-quiet.  Well I am happy to say that the past week I have read 4 books hahaha...so thankful to be able to focus and enjoy reading again..I really missed it.

So below are the books I just finished up including my BookEndz Book Club book (you can join our club on Facebook here if you would like)...and one I am currently reading now and enjoying!

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A Long Time Gone

I am a HUGE fan of Karen White's writings...I always pre-order her books as soon as they hit Amazon, maybe the second they hit. I follow her on Twitter, Facebook, her blog..yeah I'm a stalker hahaha..the good kind I promise.

Her Tradd Street books are such a great mix of mystery, suspense and page-turners. But I have YET to read a BAD book by her...its just not possible.  If you haven't read her yet I encourage you to try her books...they are all really good and usually set in the South.  The 'Lost Hours' and 'The Time Between' are probably my top 2 of her's but its so hard to choose.  Anywho the above book is her newest, it is excellent and I am halfway through. I'm telling everyone to read it and if you do let me know if you loved it too ok?

China Dolls

If you were a member of BookEndz since the beginning (4 years ago)...Lisa See's "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" was one of our first reads. A absolutely fascinating, sweeping, and cultural awakening of a story that not only educated me but made me want to read more.  Her new book above is no less than fantastic...a page turner, it educates, it makes you wonder, its just plain GOOD.  Definitely enjoyed this book a lot!

Family Secrets

I've read all of Nancy Thayer's...great reads each one of them. This book above is an older book that was just released on the Kindle and I hadn't read it yet...gasp...so when I saw it was released on Kindle I scooped it up. Starts off a little slow but the story is worthing sticking to, a for sure page-turner and you will want to know what happens to all 3 women by the end of the story!

The Memory Garden

There aren't really words for how much I loved this story, the book, the characters, the writing.

It was beautifully written and a book that will stay with me for a long time.

It's also the JUNE BookEndz selection this month...we will discuss it on the Facebook page at the end of the month too!  Enjoy!

Happy Reading Friends!!

Keep It Together!

Are you still a bit old fashioned and love to write your lists, reminders & appointments down?  You know, with pen and paper?  

That would be me...yes even though I do make lists and use my calendar on my iPhone I still prefer to see everything on paper...its just the way I am.  So that way I have bits of notepad paper and stickies everywhere...it makes me crazy half the time!

I have a HUGE chalkboard in my kitchen that I made last year (see post here) that I keep running lists & important dates on as well.  This is what it looks like currently....make you dizzy & tired yet?  Yeah me too but I have wiped a few things off the to-do list andddddd added things in their place LOL! And everything under Alexa's name are dates I have to remember...minus graduation and the party..those are burned into my memory!

This is just ONE page of some of the list titles I keep on my iPhone. I try to be diligent and erase them when I'm done so I don't have too much to page through. I keep all my grocery lists on my phone too and that way I can easily text a pic of it to the hubs or Alexa when I have them go in my place.  No some of the names make no sense to YOU...but they mean things to me...like ICE is my code name for the hubs LOL (In Case of Emergency it stands for really...it just kinda stuck lol).

I don't know if its my meds, me turning 40 or just too much going on but I have to have MANY VISUAL REMINDERS these days.  Heck I even send myself alert alarms on my phone to remind me of things...crazy eh?

And I keep a separate notebook for just blog and project ideas...it sits by my chair and I jot things in it regularly.  I tried to keep up with my Filofax but it just wasn't working...the size of the pages were too small for me and I needed something bigger.

This one is called "Jellies Be Jammin"..bwahahaha I love the name!

So I pre-ordered two of these super cute Lily Pulitzer Agendas (one for me & one for Alexa)...they are $28 for the Large Size although they do have smaller and larger versions too.  They ship out the end of June so plenty of time to get one.  I liked the layout and and size of the pages...plus they run thru Aug 14 thru Dec 15.  Hoping to combine my to-do dates with my to-do list and my blog project list in just ONE agenda...we shall see how this works out.

I had gotten Alexa an Erin Condren Agenda for Christmas and she loves it...she's always been one to utilize an agenda well.  Those you can customize how you'd like them too so that's a good option as well.  Now if I could get my son to do the same...hmmmmmmm

But the chalkboard and iPhone will still get used...trust me...the more help that I have these days the better.  

Now for someone to invent a personal assistant that I can fit in my pocket that will pinch me when I am forgetting something....I'd pay top dollar for that ;)

She's Got Wheels!

UPDATE & WHEELS

Yes, yes I am pulling out my hair this week...and next week. Not literally although somedays the stress migraines feel like someone IS pulling out my hair LOL!  No I am prepping for Alexa's Graduation party which means that 101 things need to be done along with getting Riley's new bedroom done.  And YES I AM INSANE for tackling both at the same darn time <slaps myself>! But after the polar vortex burst a pipe that flooded that basement bedroom, then my ripping the carpet off the stairs and in basement, and building the new wall/door in the basement...I was SICK of unfinished projects. And really what better motivator is there than a party I say...hahahaha...oy vey as I cry a little.

So I'm managing drywall guys who are also sanding my stairs and handrails for me, painters, flooring companies, landscapers and deliveries.  Along with making party decorations, making 100 lists and prepping the patio and landscape.  And I've got to stain those stairs ASAP...yikes!

I may collapse after graduation party on 14th & then graduation on the 16th...so if you don't hear from me for a few days after that...well you know what I will be doing...sleeping & not moving!

I gots issues.....lots....told ya ;)

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But we did have an exciting weekend...if you don't follow me on Facebook or Twitter you may not have seen the pics and videos.

But Alexa's early graduation present was a brand new car!

If you didn't get to watch the videos (there are 2 short ones) I encourage you to watch.

Only because we tricked her big time and she had NO IDEA....more about that below ;)
Its a Hyundai Elantra Sport in Windy Sea Blue...we've only heard good things about these cars so hope she has it for a LONG time!

You see, we told her we had an early present for her on Saturday that we thought she might want to have.  I had put the key in one of my Tiffany bags and then the box and wrapped it up in pretty paper.  So when she opened it she thought it was her FIRST piece of Tiffany's jewelry...which she was pretty thrilled about because she's been wanting a piece from there, LOL! <I'm such a trickster>

This is something we've been planning for MONTHS!  We told her if she maintained a 3.8 GPA thru high school we'd entertain the car conversation.  Well she surpassed the 3.8 GPA, never gave us a lick of trouble and got into all the colleges she applied to...so we felt she was deserving & responsible enough for this gift.  Oh, and we had told her we'd probably be able to get her a car after the holidays but NOT before...so she really had no idea any of this was going on :)

Her face once she realized it wasn't jewelry in the Tiffany's box LOL!

You gotta watch the video to see the whole reaction....its priceless :)

She was beyond thrilled we will say and its fully loaded & her fave color blue.  Course first question was "does it hold my iPhone/iPod?"...teen code for "will it play all my music easily" and YES it does LOL!  She has been lectured about driving & texting....we were in a serious accident a few years ago when a teen hit us while texting...so she knows firsthand the dangers of that. And hopefully always adheres to the contract of rules we made her sign....yes, I made a contract of rules up to make sure she knew this was a HUGE privilege not a right...and a huge responsibility on her part.

Her model pose...hahaha!

She may have hugged it a few times...just a few.  And her University of SC decal is already on the back bumper ;)

The girl's got wheels....she's pretty happy!