text all of your friends and call it a birthday party

I know you love posts about elaborate parties that Kristen plans way in advance and executes with panache. This is not one of those.

My husband's birthday was last week. It wasn't a particularly significant one but birthdays are a big deal in his family. All of them. So even though he wasn't actually turning 8, we celebrated like he was.

At the very last minute, he texted about 15 friends and invited them over to watch football on Sunday "for his birthday party". I even planned to be there (this is a rarity. i don't do football season. it was in the spirit of celebrating).

This turned out to be a pretty good idea for me because without any time to accomplish the countless house goals we still have on our list(s), I really couldn't stress. that much. I just ... did this:

picked up the most decent looking flowers from the florist

called in all of his football food favorites

busted out some crayola water color paints (these come in handly on a regular basis at my house. anyone readers who have ever gotten a birthday card from me are probably a little disappointed right about now) and a piece of poster board (note: if you can possibly have this idea at least one day in advance, it works a lot better.)

cleaned up a (very) little

made a few drinks

made a few (boxed) cupcakes

and called it a party.

(a few more notes, don't worry if the only table cloth you can find is pink. your husband probably won't even notice. actually, he may even be color blind. and if you don't have any art on your walls yet, don't worry about that either. hopefully the mother of a childhood friend of your husband's has blown up a newspaper article from 25 years when your husband actually did have his eighth birthday party and given to you for Christmas - that works just fine in a pinch. and in case you haven't noticed, this was a pinch.)

Happy Birthday, sweet boy! Thanks for thinking even parties like this are super fun!

Being Followed By...

Angie!



Angie is a fellow-Albanian and an avid supporter of stewart & james. Her home has been featured on the blog before - more than once as her s&j collection is ever-changing, as is her life. She and her family (yes, even her small children) lead a selfless, God-fearing life - which is executed in part by their commitment to an organization close to my heart, Young Life. They are inspiring (by 'they' I mean the Elliotts but YL is too!). And you aren't going to want to miss what they have coming next, so be sure to check-out her very own blog (after you learn more about her here, of course!)

Found!
I can't quite remember. I think I was invited to a show and fell in love there.


Favorite s&j Reads:
I love just about everything!

Give Me More!
nothing?! ;)

Daily Blog Lovin':
Darby-s blog, of course- flythroughourwindow, Andrea Young's blog- babeofmyheart, some of our good friends who now live in Peru- goodfellowfamily

Why {read} Blog{s}?
It's a great way to stay up-to-date on friends that live far away, but I also love seeing all of the creative things other people are doing. I also love the encouragement I find through so many people's blogs. It reminds me that we all go through similar situations and that others understand.


and about your blog...


What is your blog about?
My family, my kids, life

Where is your blog?
http://elliottsadventures.blogspot.com/

How old is your blog?
About 3 years

Why {do you} blog?
To keep a scrapbook for my kids and to update family and friends we don't see often
 
 
 
Thanks for following Angie - and - as always - thank you so much for your continued support of our business!





xx

familetime

Close to a year ago, a friend of mine approached me about being part of a focus group for a product called familetime.  She gave me a little run down on the product and i was in!  Her brother-in-law is the man behind the product – Chris Hatcher.

 

Here is a little bit about the site (taken from the site)…

Familetime allows you to share family experiences today while recording lasting memories for tomorrow. With familetime, you can post photos, create messages and blogs, review the schedules of other family members, record family history and a whole lot more.

I was sold immediately – somewhere we can post pictures we don’t want on facebook, record memories we want our children to have access to, have a family calendar so I am not texting everyone on the day of a school program… I couldn’t sign up fast enough! 

Chris explained how this idea came about when he posted a video on youtube of his youngest child (1 of 3 boys) saying the pledge of allegience – mostly because he thought it was cute, wanted to show family, and couldn’t figure out any other way to share the video.  After the video has 200+ hits he took it off!  That is NOT what he had intended and he wished he could share things with his family without the world seeing it.

I will give you a little tour using snapshots from my family’s familetime.

Home page:

As you can see, to the left are all the family members (you can include as many or as few as you’d like) here I have included My mom & dad, my two sisters and their husbands, along with all our children.  You create an account for each child and I will get to why in the next few screen shots! Notice the pictures in the middle top section above – you can add photos to your own account and tag family members in them, the last 20 photos uploaded are available for viewing by scrolling through with the arrows at the top of the page.

Notice the refrigerator – it’s like a wall – you can “talk” here.

Next, I clicked on the Calendar to view our family’s calendar.  As you can see, there are a few events listed.  When these events are within a 7 day window from today’s date – they show up on the homepage (above) to the right under familevents.  My older sister (with kids) & I love to use it to “book” our parents to keep kids :)

Click on the recipes tab and the following window appears!  This is one of my favorites…I can’t tell you how many emails have passed between me, sisters, and my mom regarding recipes.  We’ve just gotten started but I hope to have the page filled pretty soon and then no more questioning about recipes – they will all be there for the fam to see!

If you click the “add recipe” button above the following window appears

so easy to add your recipes!

Next tab: famileblog.  I don’t have a screen shot for that but it is just that – a blog for the family!

NOW!  Here comes in the family record keeping! Remember when I said that you make an account for each child – this is why. You can click on one of the family members listed on the left hand side and it’s that individuals personal life book.  Here, I have logged in as Mills so I could update her familetime account.  But really, if I wanted to just view her details I could’ve stayed logged in as me and just clicked her picture.

 

As you can see, there are different categories to add info.  The idea is that when Mills is old enough, she will have control over her familetime page but will be able to see (and retain) all the info I added over her childhood.  When you add photos you can “tag” other family members in the photos so that it shows up in their familetime categories.

Next, I logged in as MJ because she wanted to add to her “Wish List” – her FAVORITE part. 

How wonderful for the grandparents, aunts, uncles to see this for Christmas! 

There is much more to come for familetime! In the future look for a History Section (In Memoriam, Medical and Written HiStories) and an ICE Box (“in case of emergencies” section). 

Go sign up today, you’ll be glad you did!  Oh and only one person pays for the account ($9.95/month or $85 for the first year), you add the rest of the family members and they enjoy familetime for free.

two steps forward...

... two steps back. Or at least something like that.

In house news, we finally have hardware on our kitchen cabinets (we are still missing three cabinet doors and three drawers (not to mention one entire cabinet and a pantry) but who's counting?). We also have a working laundry room (it looks basically the same but I can wash clothes at home, so I'm counting it as a win (I really have to reach for those) aaand we finally installed shoe molding in the rooms that were missing it - which were many, in case you were wondering.

We now however, have this situation going on in our den:

That's right, the painters are back. I'm not sure how much blog time I gave the painting of this house last year but it was, in a word, the-longest-process-of-this-entire-experience. And, as evidenced by the above photo, they didn't even finish the job. So here we are (NINE. MONTHS. LATER.) with the painters back again - this time to finish.

I'll (try to remember to) keep you posted.

xx

hair love

I always want and never get a new hair look.


For my entire life my hair has been light brown (I didn't actually realize this until a boy told me it was brown. and this was only a few years ago) and wavy and basically long - save for the jet black curls I had at birth - maybe I was switched - and the white blonde streaks i would inadverdantly end up sporting at the end of every beach-filled summer of my childhood.

A couple of years ago I cut it shorter than my shoulders, which - for me - was short! It's taking forever to grow long again. And I'm not even sure I want to. Not every day, anyway.

I'm always collecting images of hair I wish I could have. My hair-guru (that's you, Leslie) always tells me which ones aren't possible (it's most of them *le sigh*).

But it's still fun to dream.

this is my latest (as in today) idea:

If any hair rockstars out there think they can tackle one of these styles on this mane, let me know!

unfortunately, many of these images were collected without sharing in mind, so i don't know their source. the ones i do know are linked, though: 1, 5 & 12

Being Followed By...

Callie!

I met Callie in my early foggy college days.  I am sure it was one of those rush parties.  She is (was? or are we for life?) a sorority sister.  While the parties I don't remember that well (I am still not sure what happened or didn't happen or was supposed to happen or not that first night, are you as confused as me yet?) but i will always remember the amazing group of girls I met that day and I absolutely LOVE running back into them and being reunited whether in real life or online.  I re-found callie when I came across her blog and was able to catch up on her adorable fun life!  She just recently (as in less than 2 weeks ago) had her second child (Rinne - how cute is that name?!) to accompany her equally adorable 1st child - Rush.   Check out her cute stationery business - Calliespondence! and well, here is she is to tell you about it :)



Found!
kristen was one of my sorority sisters at the u. of georgia! she always had great style and i LOVE what y'all have done with s&j in using reclaimed products and giving them a new life. i'm big on recycling and reusing so that really gets to me!



Favorite s&j Reads:

hmm...i kind of like it all?? i love seeing how your clients incorporate s&j into their homes in your "how cute is..." series and also what's going on in your own lives and projects. OH and the recipes and party features are great too!



Give Me More:

can't think of anything?

Daily Blog Lovin':

let's see, i love elements of style (elementsofstyleblog.com), urban grace (i think y'all have a tie to them? so fun! -- blog.urbangrace.com), fly through our window (flythroughourwindow.com), dixie delights (dixiedelights.blogspot.com) and of COURSE s&j :) several more, too, that are listed at the bottom of my blog - there are so many wonderful blogs and bloggers out there!!

Why Blog?

i love getting ideas from creative folks out there...and also hearing relatable stories / advice that i can use in my own life. wow that was deep. no really, i rely on other bloggers to tell me what's in fashion, what i can make in the kitchen for dinner tonight, how i can make my house look fabulous, what i can do with my crazy 2 year old little boy...AND make me laugh. it's a tall order, but somehow i am always fulfilled!








and about your blog...

What is your blog about?

my blog focuses primarily on stationery, but i really enjoy doing features about the parties (and weddings!) my clients throw for which the invitation sets the stage, home decor (we just moved and have been slowly trying to get the house up to speed - and will definitely be needing some s&j on these walls), things i run across that are fabulous in fashion and elsewhere, the occasional recipe and also goings-on around atlanta, where i live.



Where is your blog?

www.calliespondence.blogspot.com

(website is www.calliespondence.com)

How old is your blog

coming up on a year next week!

and that week has since passed, so happy birthday to calliespondence!

Why {do you} blog?

originally i started blogging to have an interface with my clients...i thought the website was very one-sided and i much prefer a dialogue as to a monologue! i've found it's a fantastic way to show new ideas and products to my clients, and have them get to know the gal behind the scenes - and for me to get to know them as well, which i love. i have so enjoyed being a part of the blogging community; it's the MOST fun!



Thanks for following us, Callie! And keep up the adorable work!

p.s. I love that Callie "remembers" me having great style - her college years were obviously a little "foggy" too because all i wore were second hand clothes and looked like a thrown away hippie..

this post was written by Kristen

it’s that time of year again

We are getting out orders and starting to stock pile for our annual Albany Show, more details to come soon!  In the meantime be sure to e-mail us at hello @ stewartandjames . com with your updated mailing address to receive an invitation.