Mateo's One Year Fiesta!

I am not someone who is known as a planner, but I have to pat myself on the back for for throwing together a nice little fiesta for Mateo's first birthday. Of course, this would not have happened without the help of my wonderful parents [and a minor breakdown in the parking lot of party city].

Mateo's grandpartents are the best!  They offered to host the party, which was perfect beacuase I really wanted my family to be there and knew they would not be able to come to Atlanta.

As soon as I saw this invitation from Etsy seller Inviting Printables, a theme was born.  I sent her the details for the party and asked if she could add this little picture of my mexi-can.  How cute is this?

I found a lot of inspiration for this fiesta on Pinterest.  (shocker, right?)

As usual it was overload, and I had too many ideas....but no plan.  This is why I had the aforementioned breakdown in the parking lot of Party City.  

(On a side note, I am not a fan of this store, it seems pricey and although they carry every color you could want for party essentials, it isn't at all stylish like good 'ol Target.  Bottom line: Go to Target first!)

I didn't specify a dress code, but was happy to see that my brother Bill and his family took the Mexican theme and ran with it.  (see middle pic below)  We supplied mustaches to anyone who felt "under dressed."

I used the invitation and made up a little menu card.  

A few notes about the food.  

The Smoked Pork recipe is from Bobby Flay. And although not a traditional Mexican dish, it had a Mexican flare.   It was tasty, but next time I would definitely go with the carnitas we have made in the past.

I burnt the flan.  Yep, no flan at the party.  Mi suegra would be so disappointed in me.  I used her recipe and really screwed it up.  Burnt.  Luckily we had several other desserts.  

I found these cute sombrero cookies from edible crafts and they turned out so cute and delish! We used my mom's sour cream sugar cookie recipe) 

I whipped up the easiest dessert called Pastel de galleta al limon.  Ernesto's cousin gave it to me and it is a repeater for sure. It's basically lime juice, vanilla cookies and 3 different kinds of canned milk.  You will die! (I'll write a separate post with the recipe)

I thought it would be fun to serve one of my favorite treats when I go to Mexico.  Fruit cups with chile and lime.  Mateo loved this!  Yes, even the chile. 

Since there was so much to do for the party, I opted for a box marble cake (gasp!) and it was delicious.  I used store bought frosting as well, but added food coloring and used my friends Pampered Chef decorator bottle set (I'm definitely buying this!) to turn it into a sombrero cake.  Cute, right?

I made one special cupcake for my little Mexi-can and boy did he like that frosting.

I was singing happy birthday to him all morning so when everyone sang to him at the party he was ready to clap at the end. 

We tricked him into wearing this hat and he didn't even know it.  Ahh the power of distraction.

 The decorating was easy.  Just having everything colorful on the table was so cute.  I printed out all the monthly photos of Mateo, pasted them to card stock and strung them along the window.  Below that I hung a cute little "Feliz Cumpleaños" sign.

Ernesto cut tissue paper into strips and hung it from my parents porch roof and hung a bunch of balloons.  It was festive. 

And of course, no birthday fiesta is complete without a piñata.  Fortunately the Target in Canton Ohio carries them.  This burro was a strong little sucker and took quite a few hits to break open.

Mateo did his best, but then we passed the stick to some older kids!  Here is the before and after.

The next morning Mateo woke up refreshed and had a blast fiddling with his new toys.

It was a great party!  Thanks to everyone who came and made Mateo's first birthday memorable.  Thank god I have this blog so Mateo will be able to look back on it!

Rubbing & Buffing!

Until a month or two ago,  I had never heard of Rub n Buff.  But after seeing so many great transformations from other bloggers, I ran over to Michael's [with my 40% off coupon, of course] and bought a tube of the Gold Leaf.  Then I waited.  What was I planning to use this on again?

Luckily, the perfect project fell into my lap a few weeks ago when I bought these etageres at a yard sale [for $20!]

The original antique finish of gold over brown was just not doing it for me.  I knew I wanted the metal to be gold.  Bight gold!  Gold Leaf even!  Could this be the Rub n Buff project I was waiting for?!  Yes!

This stuff could not be easier to apply.  Now I know there are some "techniques" to applying on larger surfaces, because it does tend to streak, but for the metal bars of my shelves, it was simply rubbing on the gold cream and then.....you guessed it...buffing it with a t-shirt.

{BEFORE & AFTER}

In this next shot, the top shelf was not rub n buffed yet, so you can really see how the new gold just makes the shelf.  I love it!

I say "it" because I have only finished one shelf so far.  I know.  Im so slow at finishing projects.  Maybe I need my mom to come down again.  (Just kidding mom!  I promise I'll finish it before your next visit!)

I love a good "before & after"  What a difference.

Now to style them.  Honestly Im not sure of what to put on these beauties.  I don't want them to look cluttered.  I will have to play around with it.   Of course there is plenty of inspiration on pinterest if you search "shelf styling".  What can't you find on Pinterest?

Mateo's Birthday y Mi Familia en Ohio!

Wow!  We have already been in Ohio for a week! Time flies!  Last Sunday morning Ernesto took my baby and flew to my parents house without me.  I stayed in Atlanta to finish selling Zafiro Jewelry at the Atlanta Arts Festival along side Treffry.  We had fun doing our annual "reunion show."

 It was the first time I had a night away from Mateo.  A Sad day. No sir, I didn't like it.

Of course when my family picked me up at the airport Monday, I started crying when I saw my little Matiti.  It felt good that he was happy to see me too!

We spent the whole week getting ready for the big one year fiesta! (with a little bit of thrifting mixed in, of course!)  The party was on Saturday, but since his actual birthday was Thursday, we had two celebrations.  It started with his one year photo session.  My mom's garden was the perfect backdrop.

That night Ernesto made fish tacos early so Mateo would still be awake for his birthday dinner.  I spent several hours that day baking a very special cake...a la Martha Stewart. (white cake with raspberry filling and this 7 minute frosting)  The birthday boy liked it.  A lot!

He opened a present from his papi [with just a little help] and was very curious on how it worked. 

Let the music making begin! 

More fun and pictures coming from the birthday fiesta this Saturday!! 
I can't believe my little baby is ONE YEAR already. 
The.  Fastest.  Year.  Ever!
 Also the happiest days.  Love=Happiness.

 

ONE YEAR OLD {Mateo's Monthly Photo}

Labor Day Weekend Fun!

My parents flew in last week to spend 5 days with us.  We had such a great time.

Mateo loooooved having his grandparents here.  So much in fact, that he didn't want to take any long naps for fear of missing something.  He has so much energy.  And when I say he's into everything, I mean he is into Every. Thing!!  We left one kitchen cabinet unlocked for him and he loves to unload all the tupperware.  

The boys did their golfing, football watching and went to a baseball game while the girls did some gardening and made a trip out to Fabric World.  We actually broke our 4 hour record by staying in the store for 5 hours and 15 minutes!!  Crazy, I know.  Especially since we just went there to buy blackout liner [for Mateo's roman shades].

Im telling you, if you live in Atlanta you must make a trek out to this store [in Stone Mountain].
But a word of warning, if you don't like searching, you may not last long in here.  This time they had velvets in beautiful colors. 

You will find some awesome fabrics and everything is $4 or less/yard!  You will see a lot of name brands too.   A few of my favorites:

It's the hunt in this store that my mom and I love.  My mom, as usual, found a ton of fabric for future projects.

My bag, this time, was rather bland.  White, white and more white.  The exceptions, a gray flannel remnant for a crib sheet, and this beautiful mint green velvet.  (Not sure what for...maybe my cane back chairs?)

The last couple times we went walking in our neighborhood, we got lucky with some curbside finds.  One man's trash is another man's treasure.  Yes.  Yes it is.  Last week I came across this very sturdy, well-made wicker love seat.   Nothing is wrong with it [minus the missing cushion].  Love it!

This week, we were walking to the farmers market and saw this stainless gas grill on the curb with a note that said "works, but must light with a match."  Well, we are used to charcoal anyway, so that is no bother.  Ha!  Needless to say, Ernesto and my dad came back with the truck.  We have not tested it yet, but what a score, right?

The Grant Park farmers market is definitely one of my favorite things about our neighborhood. 

I look forward to it every Sunday.   We walk over, Ernesto gets his doughnut and I usually have a scone with coffee.   King of Pops is sometimes eaten as well, that is Mateo's favorite part.

mmmmm...mango strawberry!