Retirement Party

On Saturday we celebrated my dad's retirement after 31 years of working on law enforcement.  I was about 9 when my parents got married and Keith was already a police officer in the narcotics sector (we even had two trained black labs that were our dogs) and worked his way up through the years to be on a special task force. 

(Side note:  When I talk about my parents, it is my mom and Keith.  I talk about my real dad separately).

Anyway, Keith retired at the end of September and had a party at his office but he wanted to invite more people who he had known since he began working.  My mom decided on a fall theme (that will double as Thanksgiving decor) with a table full of cop stuff to showcase some of his career. 

We made an "Evidence" wall with pictures from his career.  I don't want to show actual pictures of it because of privacy, but it was super cute.  We got a huge foam board from Home Depot (like in the insulation section) and cut it to the size of the hutch that is right inside the door when you come in.  I printed out an "evidence" clipart image and added it to the top of the board.  We also used those brass type push pins for a real evidence wall effect.  I wanted to add string to/from a few pictures, but they said it looked too junky.  I also printed out some fake headlines that you can customize like CNN or newspapers with Keith's picture.

My sisters friend has a bakery where our family gets all of our cakes (she made my 30th birthday cake that was 80's themed), called Lollydoozer's Bakery. 

My sisters other friend makes THE BEST cookies ever as party favors  I would love to have this skill!!  Anyway, there were 11 different designs and they were all so cute.  There was a police man, gun, police car, bullet proof vest, crime scene tape, handcuffs, police hat, a badge, etc.

My mom got some stickers to put on the bottom of some Hershey Kisses and my sister heat pressed a few designs on some bags.

We had a ton of food!!  My mom also made other food that isn't pictured and we have been eating all of it for days!!

And put up a tent in the back yard for people to sit at plus lit the firepit in the backyard that people sat around since that was the night the cold front came in.

We set up the mixed drinks in the office and the beer/wine in the backyard with bartenders.  I got to meet a lot of my parents friends that I have heard about, but never actually met.  It was a fun party!!

Reese’s, Hershey’s, and Pretzel snacks

My work was having a Blend Season kickoff party at work last week and we were all encouraged to bring a dessert (they provided the pizza and drinks-Arnold Palmers at the ‘blending station’-a little oil and gas humor for you).  Anyway, I decided to make my usual dessert of that everyone loves and that doesn’t require a lot of time (15 minutes).  They are the pefect blend of salty and sweet.

I found this on Pinterest (follow me!) and I usually adapt it to whatever season

What you will need:

-1 bag of square pretzels (get the square, otherwise the chocolate will melt through)

-1 bag of Hershey’s Hugs and Kisses (you can use regular ones but these are prettier)

-1 bag of chocolate candies (Reese’s for Halloween/fall, Red/Pin M &M’s for Valentine’s day, Red/Green/White M&M’s for Christmas, ect.)

-Oven

-Baking Sheet

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Put wax paper on the cookie sheet and spread the pretzels out flat

Add Hershey’s Hugs and Kisses to each pretzel

Pop in the oven for 4 minutes (set timer-it goes by quicker htan you think).  Yes, only 4 minutes.

Immediately add candies to the top of the chocolates, pressing down

Let cool and add to a serving tray or Tupperware container

Eat!

Rockin' out the 80's

So I forgot to upload pics from my 30th birthday party...oops!  Bad blogger.  To see the complete set of pics you can go here, but these are a few of my favs!  I had tons of fun and thank you to everyone who came out for my birthday!  We had fajitas and margaritas also, and they were yummy!

Cupcakes!  I bought these cupcakes from Sam's-neon colors of course and then added the toothpicks.  To make them I downloaded pics of my favorite 80's items and attached them to a toothpick with a hot glue gun.

Cake!  My sister has used this cake company for a while now and she is wonderful at making cakes.  This is her FB page.  She is also the woman who made Cole's Uno Birthday Cake.  Isn't my cake adorable?   I wanted a cake that was full of my favorite things from when I was a kid, smurfs, cabbage patch kids, goonies, NYKOB, tie dye, school house rock. Adorable!

 

My outfit:  I originally purchased a pink sequined dress, but it got messed up at the tailor so I had to find a quick replacement.  Enter Target (shirt) and a Halloween store (pants).  You really can't tell, but my hair is crimped.  I bought the bow at Target also, and Mandy's daughter Brooklyn loved it so I gave it to her before she left (when am I ever going to wear it again?!).

I wanted the decorations to be things from my childhood so we went to the party store and bought 6 different table clothes and table toppers.  You probably can't tell from this pics but Sesame Street, Strawberry Shortcake, Barbie, Mario Brothers, the Tie Die and Pac Man table clothes aren't shown.

Friends!  More friends at my Smugmug page.

Lori's Texan Themed wedding shower

My friend Lori is moving to North Carolina at the end of July to live with her fiance Clyde.  I will miss her so much!!  Lori and I met at SFA when we were in Student Government together and became fast friends. For some reason I did not take a picture with her (duh!), but she is in the limo ride pictures. from my 30 under 30 list :)

Her friend Jennifer and her Mom threw her the shower and it was so cute.  The theme was Texan (since she is moving out of state) and everything turned out so well.  Here are some pics.

Let's start with the dessert first!  The cake!  Do you see the Texas flag?  The cake was really, really good and it had the strawberries and blueberries inside the layers. It was not a triathlon training approved dessert item.

The coffee table was so cute, it had cupcakes (the entire cupcake display was in the shape of the State of Texas-do you see it?  Sorta?), red, white, blue gummy bears (OMG I love gummy bears, absolutely a weakness of mine), M & M's, and boot shaped confetti.

Red, white, and blue poms hanging from the ceiling

I love this!  It is a ceramic boot with red and white carnation, then they added a yellow rose (the Texas state flower for those of you who don't know that!) to the middle.  LOVE!

The food!  There were chicken nuggets, cheese dip, salsa, olives, sandwiches, and veggies.

Even the plates and cups were Texas themed!  They thought of everything.

A close up of the sandwiches.  There were two different kinds, ham or turkey and they used a cookie cutter to cut them into the State of Texas shape.

It was a great party and I am sad that I didn't get to get a picture of the bride to be. :/  Lori said she was having a packing party so I will be sure to get one then.  I will miss you Lori!!