Sleepover Bash

 I finally caved and let my {about to be} 12-year-old have a sleepover for her birthday.

Here they all are in her new room.

She planned most of it and we kept with a fall theme.

A few of the prep photos.

 Setting up seating around the chiminea for later.

She even made all of the cupcakes herself.  They were pumpkin spice with cinnamon-cream cheese icing and vanilla.

One of my ideas was this Italian Soda Bar that I had pinned to use for the upcoming graduation party but decided to try it out early.  More on this later. I had the chalkboard from this Sweet 16 Brunch.

Dinner was simple: a LARGE tomato pie (served at room temperature), boxed Trader Joe's mac & cheese, fruit and Caesar salad.

As the girls arrived, I took their picture in our 'photo booth' using props from our dress up stash. We had made the moustache sticks last year and were finally getting a chance to use them.

Then they got to make their own Italian Sodas.

 They all seemed to really enjoy them.

 We served dinner buffet style in the kitchen and they ate in the dining room.
I was able to re-use this table cloth and her birthday banner from last year's Rustic French Party.

 After dinner, they went outside to hang around the chiminea and they ended up telling creepy scary stories.  My daughter is holding the "talking flag" (you could tell your story when you were holding the flag--it sort of worked, that many 12 year olds...it's hard to get a word in).

 I also thought sparkler drawing would be fun and they got into it..spelling out words..

 and making shapes with the sparklers

 stars..

 zig zags..

 hearts and circles.

 They came inside and decorated graham cracker houses (that we had made earlier in the week) with fall themed candy and other edible decorations.

These were also a big hit with the girls.

 Then it was time for those yummy cup cakes.

 and time to sing Happy Birthday.

They spent the rest of the night in the basement playing Just Dance 2, eating, talking, laughing...just being crazy and having fun till I finally shut them down around 2 am and went to bed.

I don't think they slept much and they were all up pretty early.

I made waffles for breakfast (while they jumped on the trampoline) and my daughter opened her gifts with a bunch of sleepyheads looking on.

They left with their candy houses and hopefully lots of good memories.

I was happy to send them all home and get some rest myself. I still had the family party to prep for the following weekend.  What's your opinion on sleepovers? I was really dreading it but it wasn't too bad at all.
Linking up with:
Making The World Cuter Monday
TGIF
Metamorphosis Monday
Make It Yours
We Did It Wednesday
Welcome Wednesday
Wow Us Wednesday
Sugar & Spice
I'm Lovin' It
Alphabe-Thursday
Hey Mom Look What I Did!
Once Upon a Weekend

I want to live in Anthropologie-My Birthday Adventure

Hubs treated me to a day-date in the city to celebrate my birthday.
It was a lovely fall day for walking, window shopping and people watching.
Wearing my new Missoni jacket.

We had lunch at a cozy French spot.

The French know bread!

The butter had sea salt sprinkled all over it.

Aren't these birdy tie-backs lovely?

Pretty view out the window.

I love the metal and nail detail around the tables.

We shared a bowl of lobster bisque.

He ordered an omelet and pomme frites.

I had a delicious crab cake sandwich.

After lunch, he dropped me off at one of my favorite places so I could do some real shopping(by myself--how I do my best shopping).

Anthropologie be thy name!

I love exploring the store and checking out all of the merchandise.

They sell so many unique items.

They really wrote the book on display too.

Speaking of books...this one sounds interesting.

Check out that funky owl.

No, this isn't an amazing life-like display, I just caught this couple grabbing lunch outside the window.

They look super hip, don'tcha think?

I managed to get some shopping in (including this) before he came back to pick me up.

And we headed home after a wonderful day!

Linking up with:

Feature Yourself Friday

Favorite Photo Friday

Meet Me Monday

Word(ish)Wednesday-How did I get here?

This one just left for a few days on a school retreat.  It's just one of her many "lasts" this year.

Sometimes I can't believe she's a senior and in seven short months will be graduating from high school (not to mention leaving for college in nine months!)

I know this is what is supposed to be happening but sometimes it just hits me...HARD.

P.S. Like her dress? It's a $10 Goodwill find that she shortened herself!

Linking up with:

Sakura Haruka

The Paper Mama

Thrify Thursdays

Follow Friday 40 & Over

Friendly Friday

Beautiful Junk Saturday

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Thriftaholics

Magnetic Chalkboard Painted Accent Wall

I don't ever normally do the painting around here but there was a small job left in the Tween's room.

She wanted a magnetic chalkboard wall.  The hubs was busy working on this, so I decided to tackle it myself.

This is what I used for the wall. 

Hubs graciously taped it off for me first. 

How hard could it be?

I rolled on the first coat.

Yes, I was really painting!

I did four coats and they dried really quickly.

More proof of my painting!

The finished wall (and the mess I made).

And she loves it!

I found this old set of magnetic poetry for her to "play" with.

She added a write on/wipe off board and the markers are magnetic so they stay up there too.
The paint really works, in some areas the magnetic pull isn't as strong but that was due to my unskilled painting I'm sure. The surface is a little rougher than a regular chalk board.

We also finally hung up the curtains and rods and she added her own ribbon tie backs.

It gives the room a nice pinkish glow

Here are some photos of the room with the bed closed up.  You can read more about her bed here.

and another angle of the room.

This is the bed pulled out

One more shot of the happy girl and her new room.

Here's where we started...how did we do?

Linking up with:

Wednesday Window

Hump Day Hop

Wow Us Wednesdays

Sugar & Spice

I'm Lovin' It

Friday Favorites

Everything But The Kitchen Sink

Inspiration Fridays

Feature Yourself Friday

Once Upon a Weekend

Crazy Cute Link

Sunday Showcase

Making The World Cuter Monday

Market Yourself Monday

Turquoise Lovin'

Transformation Thursday

Power of Paint Party