Girly Nautical Baby Shower

One of my good friends is expecting a baby girl this summer and I could not WAIT to throw her a shower. I though that since her husband is a sailor (and she is a former sailor herself) that we could do a cute nautical theme. But forget just boring old navy blue, lets girly it up and add some PINK!

I wanted to make a cute banner and I was having such a hard time finding what I wanted on island (our craft stores are a joke) Finally, FINALLY I found the cutest chipboard pennant that I was able to customize. It was already white so I just added navy blue strips of cardstock in an alternating pattern. Then I added some hot pink letters. I strung it on some pink twine and was SO happy with the way it turned out!

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On the front door I made a quick welcome sign. I actually failed a bit because I accented with red instead of pink. Whoopsie. The whole party theme just fell apart right there. For this I just used posterboard and traced a life preserver shape. Then once cut out laid it on the red posterboard and traced it. Then cut out three sections and laid them on top. Easy peasy $1 door decoration.
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Food table! Can I be super-pretentious and say ‘table scape’? I actually had a ton of fun with this one. First off, my table is a massive square and NO tablecloths ever fit it. Well my mind must have been working on overdrive because guess what fits it perfectly? A shower curtain! I found this one at Target, $12 I think? Over the top of that went some craft store fish netting and then some broken sea shell vase filler (again from Target, so much cuter, less messy and more on theme than confetti!) The ceramic urchin was stolen from my master bathroom decor.
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I did also find some cute anchor wood cut outs I used to decorate here and there (painted reluctantly by my daughter):
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(Tulle from Walmart + wood anchors $1/chair decor!)

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The dessert table was the one thing I wanted to turn out perfect. And I am actually happy with it. Just bummed I didn’t have time to do a backdrop but you know what, most people don’t. My plates will have to suffice! I found the BEST fabric store on island (danger!) and found this cute chevron fabric. (Starfish print stolen from the guest bathroom)
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Macarons from Life Is Sweet. Yum! (and I could have gotten them all pink to coordinate but what fun is that?)

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Easy peasy berry tarts. Like no, REALLY easy! Pie crust (homemade for me because I am a pie crust snob, you could use store bought no prob) cut into circle (use the rim of a glass if you don’t have a circle cookie cutter) gently shove into mini cupcake pan (you can also make a ball and then just squish it into place. Whatever you feel like doing. Bake until done at 350. I think it was 9-10 min for me. Cool. Make vanilla pudding (oh yes, so cheatery and also delicious). Right before you want to serve fill with pudding and top with a perfect berry. No joke I couldn’t stop eating these little bites of yumminess.

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The cake I did NOT do. I know my limits on cake making and my idea of what I wanted greatly surpassed them! She did such a great job! (Kimmie*cakes located in Ewa, she is on FB) and the cake didn’t just look good it was delish. Red velvet with cheesecake mousse filling. Oh yes.

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I forgot to snap a picture of drinks before everyone hit them up, but I just had them on my bar. Plantation tea (the best drink eva! Iced tea with pineapple juice. In this case Mango Iced tea with pineapple juice. So. Good.)
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And make those gifts do double duty as decor! Thank you baby clothes designers for keeping on theme! Little girls have the best clothes. Another one of our friends had a couple of items custom-embroidered which was even cuter.
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Happy Baby Shower Alex! It was so much fun to throw!

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Oh don’t think even MORE nautical clothing didn’t show up in the actual gifts!

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Our great group of ladies! We had so much fun we moved the party outside, added our husbands and kids and hung out all night!

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Pin it!

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Pottery Painting {Spring Break Day 4}

Today we combined our regular fun spring break activities with an FRG event. I invited the FRG to come join us for a pottery painting day at Hickam. I was VERY upset to learn that budget cuts may soon be affecting our favorite cheap place to paint! The kids had fun painting and hanging out with friends. We had a pretty good turnout of FRG ladies which was great, and I painted a replacement mug for my last one that has developed a hairline crack! pottery painting

 

After expressing ourselves artistically some of us headed over to Wright Bros. for a delicious lunch by the water… Grilled veggie panini for me, yum! The fish were out and about and we saw DOZENS of yellow tangs. Why have we never seen these fish snorkeling???

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Cutie kids and cutie moms… Seriously, I have met some really great ladies this deployment!cuteAnd Mckenna is ready for a baby sister… Sorry to disappoint! Not happening!

 

We are halfway DONE!

So this weekend we finally had our halfway party… For those not familiar with the Navy, this is a party that the FRG (Family Readiness Group) throws to celebrate the halfway point in a deployment. Basically keep your spirits up. Thankfully I have an absolutely awesome FRG board and we threw an incredible party for all of our spouses.

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I just need to give a huge shout out to Target for their clearance Valentine’s items. This decor ended up costing about $40 for everything!

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We also had a little backdrop set up in the corner where we were recording video messages to send to the ship! Some of them got a little emotional and I was tearing up a little!DSC_0003

 

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I was a little worried that we were not going to have enough food because the RSVP’s had been pouring in and this was going to be potluck style.DSC_0006

 

Well I did NOT need to worry! We had SO much food! Not an inch to spare on the counter!DSC_0009

 

 

Thank you to all of the wonderful families on our ship…. Seriously, if you are new to a sea command, find your FRG! Not all of them are full of drama and catty women!DSC_0036

 

And my board is full of wonderful women… Taking on this position was SO outside my comfort zone, but I have made such wonderful friends in the process. I couldn’t have asked for a better team!

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“Winter” at the North Shore

Winter in Hawaii is a pretty laughable thing. I must confess I am enjoying the hell out of this winter! I can totally live in flip flops year ’round.

Well, some of my lovely FRG wives and I decided that we needed to take a day trip up to the North Shore. Some of them had *gasp* never been. I just ADORE it up there, I like the scenery, the vibe and most of all the FOOD!

So we loaded up all 16 of us and headed north.

First stop, as always, Turtle Beach.

DSCF1006aThere were only two little guys braving the crazy surf to find food. The North Shore in winter is when all the crazy waves are here, there are surf competitions going on all the time right now!

Then we grabbed a friendly Turtle Beach volunteer to take a picture of our tribe.

317982_10200418815494741_1481297519_nOnward to our first meal of the day, my favorite North Shore eatery, Ted’s Bakery. We all grabbed our food to go and hit up the beach to eat lunch. I was so bummed, my bbq chicken combo was a bbq chicken sandwich. Same chicken but in a bun and with fries instead of rice and mac salad. First world problems, right?

We headed to the lovely tidepools at Shark’s Cove where the rocks around kept it pretty protected and gave the kids somewhere to play.

SCWe all played and ate and played and talked. The weather was overcast and about 78, not a perfect beach day but man, it’s better than what most people are getting right now!

Of course after all that playing it was time for dessert. Oh did I not mention I picked up a Chocolate Haupia Pie from Ted’s? Can I say I don’t think our kids will EVER forget this pie. This is how we do it here, pie on the beach. Grab a fork…

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After dessert we spent more time playing (kids) and gossiping (moms) making plans for our awesome ship’s Family Readiness Group. By this time we were famished! Time for dinner! Off to Haleiwa for some shreeyump. Shrimp trucks are everywhere and they all are a little different. I think I may have found my new favorite after being disappointed by the famous Giovanni’s.

shrimpGreat selection, Lemon Pepper, Garlic, Original, Coconut and Spicey. $12/plate. I ended up sharing with the kids and then regretting it because they were SO good! We were all peeling shrimp and licking our fingers. So ono! (See me dropping some local lingo?!) So if you see this truck stop and order some yummy food!

Time to finally head home after a looooong day, the kids were tired:

DSCF1042Well one was anyways…

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And the view on the ride home wasn’t half bad…

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Great day with friends and the kids, just wishing my husband had been able to be with us… Counting down the days. Four months done so far!

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously, Self?

Today I had a busy day of Family Readiness Group training. It was a really informative day, I learned a ton of information and I had a great time with my board members. I am REALLY excited to actually start with all of the activities and fundraisers we have planned. We are going to have an awesome FRG and hopefully have a great turnout from spouses!

So in my rush to get out the door this morning I left my keys inside. Our door has a lock that turns from the inside even if it’s locked, and as I was shutting the door I was looking inside my purse for my keys so I could turn the deadbolt. No keys. Mckenna had run to get the mail the day before so I am solidly blaming the entire mess on her. Well I knew there was no point in doing anything then so I waited until we were on the way home to call, what was supposed to be a 30 minute wait for maintenance turned into an hour and a half and probably would have been longer had one of the resident service office employees taken pity on me after repeated calls, so she went and grabbed the keys herself. I need to take her cookies or something.

Well that ruined my afternoon and made me grumpy and cold and it was raining outside so I decided to skip football practice. I know, horrible of me, but come on! It was raining, what are my kids supposed to do? Just sit in the car for an hour and a half? Miserable. So I am a team flake. Terrible. I’ll try and do some conditioning on my own time to make up for it!

Lesson learned, one I haven’t had to learn in DECADES. Keys in hand BEFORE you close the front door. (And if you take the keys out of mom’s purse, put them back!)

Tomorrow we are planning to go see Rise of the Guardians and I am DETERMINED to get my last few things purchased AND mailed off tomorrow. I am so very close!