Celebrating Gratitude

In my family of origin we have the custom of always sending out invitations to events that people already know about and are coming to anyway. Welcome to our own special brand of crazy.

Thanksgiving is always on the 4th Thursday of November. My sisters and I are pretty much in constant discussion for weeks ahead of the party. Who will bring what? Who is coming? How many? All those details that I'm pretty sure everyone's family discusses before major events.

Now, having all this information, we dial up the planning to include invitations to the people we already know are coming. Like I said, our own special brand of crazy. But it's our crazy and we like it.

I have also been one-upping myself every year when it comes to setting the tables and creating the atmosphere for the last few Thanksgiving celebrations. Here are the links: 

Styling a Quick and Easy DIY Thanksgiving and The Cuban Hipster Thanksgiving.

I went to Pinterest (where I spend way to much time collecting inspiration and if you don't already, you should totally be following me, but that's not important right now) and found an invitation design I liked well enough to copy in my own fashion.

Also, I've been throwing a lot of parties every month for the past few months that I haven't even written about. (Imagine!) I think I'll just have to write about all of that now that I have time to sit down before the Cuban Christmas Crazy begins around here.

I am now officially declaring that this first week of December will be:

Over-Sharing About My Parties Week. (It has to be done.)

Let the Over-sharing begin!

The Invitations

Here's my preliminary sketch:

Here's the finished invitation:

I was quite pleased with how they turned out. Also, if you care about these things, the fonts I used were Market Deco and Thirsty Script, thankyouverymuch.

So, I sent out the invitations the first week of November and everyone who was able to attend responded happily. We only had 20 this year because the people who usually travel, didn't this year and the ones who trade off holidays with other families went elsewhere. It felt more intimate than usual.

If you can technically call a sit down dinner for 20 intimate. Hello? It's a Cuban thing.

Paper Chain Garlands

I know. What??

Paper Chain Garlands. I became kind of enamored with paper chain garlands this year. You know, like the kind you used to make in school out of construction paper? Only in 2014, scrapbooking is a thing and there are a bizzillion choices for decorative papers.

For my color scheme, I chose oranges and purples, with touches of green and teal blue.

And in case you've forgotten, here's how to make paper chain garlands:

1. Cut strips of paper into 8" x 1 1/2" strips.
2. Create a loop and close it with tape, overlapping just the ends.
3. Link the next paper strip into the first loop, again closing with tape and overlapping just the ends. 
4. The finished chain is determined by how much paper and effort you want to put into it.

I recruited the fam and we created and hung yards of chains in less than an hour. As you can see, I hung the Give Thanks banner we made last year. Before we even got to decorating tables the place already had a really festive air. 

The Tables

When I'm entertaining in my freakishly small cottage-like home, we usually have to move furniture to fit the tables into my front room. We're getting so pro at this, I swear. 

We remove two big armchairs, the coffee table, a side table and lamp to make room for the two 8 foot long tables we put together to seat 14. Our regular dinner table seats 6. If we have more guests we "create" a room in the back, but that's another story. Because we only had 20, we were able to host everyone in one room. (Yay!)

I was originally going to use burlap tablecloths that I found online from a place that will remain nameless because when we opened up the package it reeked of petrolium. I decided to address that problem at another time and just pulled out my classic white tablecloths (which I have in multiple sizes, but again, not important right now) and grabbed some beautiful runners from Pier One. 

I used gold chargers for the base, my most favorite white dishes from Pier 1. They're called Antique Scroll and I have been collecting a few every few weeks until I had at least 14 to set the big table with. These are everyone's favorites and because they're white I tend to get lots of great mileage from them.

Once the gold chargers and dishes were in place, it seemed purple cloth napkins were ideal to pull off the look. 

I designed menu cards to be used as napkin holders. Mostly because I did a version of them for an event last month for a completely different group. I'll blog about that one later this week. All that to say that the whole menu-cards-as-napkin-holder-thing made me really happy, so I decided to use it again.

I created them in Photoshop, using the Market Deco font from the invitation and the cute silverware graphic. 

I was not in charge of the menu at all this year so we went with a very traditional all-American menu with a few add ons. 

I printed the menus on cream cardstock and cut them in half horizontally. We folded, taped the back, and slid the napkins and silverware in each one. I liked how striking it all looked. 

The place cards were simple. Everyone's names in the Thirsty Script Font with the fork-knife-spoon graphic to the side. These were also printed on cream cardstock. (I do all the printing on my home color printer, an Epson Artisan.)

On the smaller table I used some beautiful square white plates (that totally match my other plates except for they are square!) that I found at Home Goods. (Win!)

For the centerpieces, I grabbed a few bouquets of fall flowers from Costco and hastily (read, "sloppily") trimmed and put them into gold and silver vases and threw some eucalyptus leaves down and called it good. (Don't look too closely at the centers. I have other skills, I swear.)

 The overall effect felt elegant and warm. The paper chain garlands added a whimsical touch. Very much the effect I wanted.

The Meal

We had two turkeys. One roasted, one barbecued. Both crazy-delicious.

The sides were the usual suspects. I love using the disposable chafing dishes to keep the food hot. Not as pretty as serving dishes, but when you're feeding a hungry crowd they seriously appreciate the meal served hot.

The Photo Booth

Our dear neighbor (and fabulous photographer), Rafael always generously lends us his photo-booth-making gear and we set that up in Jonathan's room with a white sheet for a background. 

Then we march each person, family, couple, kids, whoever, in front of the camera and let the magic happen. 

While informal candids will always have their place in our celebrations, I usually have a very low-light situation in the dining area, so the photo booth setup gives us the photos we are wanting with the people we care about. We have so much fun taking turns having our silliness documented forever.

Also, it's becoming more difficult for me to host and document. The photo booth takes care of that for me. Thanks to Lucy for making it happen every year.

Plus, my mom, Luza (yes, she's 100!) totally gets into this part of the evening because she gets to spend at least a few moments with each and every person present.

Yet another way to track the growth of the kids. All of them.

Me and my grandson, Asher. *sigh*

I'm extremely grateful that I have to get to do all of this work to celebrate the gratitude I feel for all the good things in my life. 

What a gift.

A Bright Summer With Pier 1 - Gift Card Winner

From the day we set up our new patio furniture from Pier 1, I swear we have been out there enjoying it Every. Single. Day. We find any excuse to get ourselves out to go sit on the comfy cushions and watch the world go by. 

I feel ridiculously proud of this. I thought we spent a lot of time out on our porch, but now it's become A Thing.

The other morning, I made cinnamon rolls. (Every now and then the urge hits, what can I say?) Eric was working outside digging and fixing up our new planters. 

"Can we just eat out here?"  (I have a feeling this is going to be happening a lot this summer.)

Which is how the Darbys of Mission Viejo ended up sitting outside decadently eating cinnamon rolls for breakfast on their new, beautifully re-designed porch. Look at me, living the lifestyle magazine life. This is the stuff my dreams are made of.

Every morning I can find Eric out there doing his morning reading. It makes me happy to see him so content.

All this to say that I'm super grateful to Pier 1 Imports for the awesome inspiration for our new outdoor living space. It's made a huge impact already on our day-to-day living. Also, the weather has cooperated beautifully. We're seriously on the cusp of summer and my plan is to spend as much time here as possible, thankyouverymuch.

I want to thank you all for entering the giveaway. If you want to be inspired, go through the comments on the last post: Hello, Summer - A Pier 1 Giveaway and see what everyone would choose for their outdoor space. You guys are kind of fantastic. 

Oh, yes! A winner. I chose one, of course.

I took the number of entries (not counting the doubles - you know who you are or maybe the website glitched on a couple, but that's not important right now) and entered them into the True Random Number Generator on Random.org which chose a number (randomly, of course). 

The winner of the $50 Pier 1 Gift Card is:

Congratulations, Laura!

Please send me an email that says, HEY, MARTA! I WON STUFF ON YOUR BLOG! in the subject line (so I won't accidentally delete it). Include your home address so I can get this gift card out to you ASAP. 

Thanks again to all of you for participating! A very special thanks to Pier 1 and Latina Bloggers Connect for sponsoring this really fun summer giveaway. The opinions are all my own.

Hello, Summer. - A Pier 1 Giveaway

Today's the day for the Big Reveal and a cool Pier 1 Giveaway. My patio is seriously so bright and inviting now. I'm so excited to share.

To see where I started, read my original post here: Making My Summer Bright With Pier 1.

My vision was to create a new, brighter and much more inviting space in the front of our home on our porch. Like I told you before, we spend a lot of time there and I knew I wanted something that felt super welcoming.

I also knew I wanted lots of color. I wanted it to practically scream, "Hello, Summer!" 

I trotted off to Pier 1 with my trusty iPad mini under my arm wtih all my Pinterest pins ready to feed my inspiration. Wasn't that super post-modern of me? I know. 

If you're feeling it, you can follow me on Pinterest by clicking here: Marta Darby on Pinterest

I chose the furniture first. I knew I wanted the rattan and I was totally drawn to the Pier 1 Coco Cove Collection. So the question then became: What color? 

We had just recently painted our home a bright yellow, so I decided the Mocha would add the most dramatic contrast with all the bright colors I intended to add, so I went for it. 

I ended up getting the Coco Cove Settee, the Ottoman (to be used as a coffee table), and the Armchair. All in that beautifully rich Mocha. 

I'm thinking I can now call this my Outdoor Oasis. Behold the awesome...

I confess that choosing the color for the cushions was much more of a challenge. I wanted them all. And while I love online shopping, is there anything better than seeing and touching and dreaming in person? 

Kudos to the friendly Pier 1 gal who was completely helpful and gracious as I was moving furniture and cushions around in the store. Because it's very difficult to commit to new stuff unless you establish a relationship. Am I right?

I opted for solid seat cushions in bright green for the settee and orange for the armchair. I chose the Kaeden pillows to pull in all those fabulous bright colors. 

If you've been following my crazy on Instagram (I'm Smrtqbn, by the way), you know that I have been a little bit on the obsessed side with these ceramic stools. I just couldn't decide between red or green. If you know me at all, you could have safely guessed I'd go for the red one, of course. Because....hello...RED.

I think it makes an ideal plant stand, don't you? I'm thinking that if I just had one Summer accent piece to choose, this would be the one. 

The ottoman is the perfect size for us to use as a coffee table, and of course to put our feet up when we're not. I added the red lacquer bamboo tray for when we serve drinks out here. I'm so looking forward to my Saturday Porch Time with my next-door-neighbor and friend, Debbie. See how wonderfully inviting this looks?

If you look a little closer, you will see that there's a $50 Gift Card from Pier 1 that could possibly have your name on it.

That's right. Today's giveaway is a $50 Pier 1 Imports Gift Card for you to do some mad summer shopping yourself. 

1) To enter this drawing for the $50 Pier 1 Imports Gift Card please click on this link - Pier 1 Imports and choose a few items you might like to have on your own Summer Outdoor Wish List. (Or maybe it's your Summer Entertainment Wish List, or your Stuff I Really Like Wish List. You choose. It's your List, after all.) Maybe you need a gift for someone special? 

2) Leave a comment on this post and tell me what you chose. 

Please leave your comment on this post and I'll choose a winner on Friday, May 30th, 2014 at 11am PST. 

Hello, Summer! 

Disclosure: This is a compensated campaign campaign in collaboration with Pier 1 Imports and Latina Bloggers Connect. The opinions are all my own.

Making My Summer Bright with Pier 1

It's 90 degrees here in our little corner of Southern California and I know it's only May, but this weather is making me sooo ready for summer. 

As I mentioned before, we have been in serious remodel mode around here. Read about that here:

Where There Is Life, There Will Be a Mess

And now that the painting is complete, everything else that we had outside is looking a little old and shabby. Not in a cool, shabby-chic way, either. See what I mean?

I started with the question: What do we actually do on our front porch? 

Actually, we spend a lot of time there.

It only gets a tiny bit of setting sunlight because of it's north facing position, so we can sit out there comfortably pretty much any time of the day. Eric sits out there when he's working from home and catching up on phone calls.

We love to sit out there together in the late afternoon and do the recap of our day together with some iced tea. (Or maybe some Cuban Materva or a cafecito, but that's not important right now.)

Also, my next door neighbor and dear friend, Debbie comes over just to chat and catch up on the events of the week. This usually happens on a Saturday morning, with a cup of coffee. We call it our "Porch Time." It feels very comfortably Cuban in an old-school "portál" way.

So, now that the old wooden beams are torn down and the house is painted a sunny yellow, I felt like we needed to give some love to our Front Porch/Patio area.

Enter Pier 1 Imports. I had already been thinking and looking for inspiration for how to make our paito more colorful, which in 2014 means pinning ideas to Pinterest, of course.

I know. I know. Pinterest World has a wonderful element of perfection to it, which is both overwhelming and wonderful. I've always been the tear-stuff-I-like-out-of-magazines-for-inspiration type, so I like to spend time really thinking about what it is I want to do and what feeling I'm trying to evoke and then I start pinning away. 

(Also, if you don't already follow me, please consider this your official invitation to follow me on Pinterest. Thank you.)

I knew I wanted lots of color. Bright, happy, vivid, summer colors. Like there's always a party going on out on my porch. You're already catching my vision, aren't you?

I've been pinning my bright, happy, vivid, summer color on the following Pinterest board: Pier 1 Outdoor Oasis. 

Allow me to share a bit of that inspiration:

I fell in love with this beautiful wicker collection called Coco Cove. I like that it's a dark, chocolate brown, which will make the super bright pillows and cushions I plan to add pop just that much more. 

I loved that little ceramic end table thing. I found this one at Pier 1 in red and also in green. Once I decide on the cushions for the furniture, I can make a better decision about the color, I think. Although...hello...RED!

I'm shopping online for this one and having it delivered because, well, can you picture me wrapping my chubby little arms around this beauty? I thought not. Yay for online shopping. Thanks, Pier 1!

So I pinned photos of outdoor spaces and found they all had tons of color in them. "Hmm..." I said to myself. (because I often speak to myself in thoughtful tones, but that's not important right now) "I'm obviously on to something here."

I probably should have just said, "You're sooo predictable." (Of course, I'm attracted to color. Hello! Cuban!)

Pier 1 Imports is totally speaking my language. They have tons of bright and colorful made-for-Marta items.

Not really sure where or how I'd hang these lanterns, but aren't they fabulous? I took a vow I'd find a way to work at least one into my decor.

Also, I'm thinking I need a table of some sort for our coffee cups or iced tea (or Materva). We don't really eat out there, but a table is a necessary thing for Porch Time, don't you agree? 

I found that in the original Coco Cove Collection that I was first drawn to there was a small ottoman that could double as a table if I added a tray to the top. Win! (Can you just feel my creative wheels turning?)

I'm going with Bright (!), but there's something for every taste in the stores. 

So, I'm pinning, and visiting my local Pier 1, and shopping online to create a beautfully bright summer place. I promise I'll share The Big Reveal next week. 

Hurry, Summer! 

Disclosure: This is a compensated campaign campaign in collaboration with Pier 1 Imports and Latina Bloggers Connect. The opinions are all my own.