Ava's simple & pretty 2nd birthday party!

I've been meaning to blog about Ava's 2nd birthday party since September when it happened. Yet it's about to be November. Well! Better late then never right?!

This year I wanted to do something small again for Ava, but invite close friends and have it at the house. With this year being crazy busy and just entering the second month of having 3 in school, I didn't have a lot of time to spend on it. She's not big into characters or has too many favorite objects, but she is into farm animals. I did some research and felt like a girly farm based birthday party was going to be too much of a hassle at this stage in my life. I decided to go with a theme utilizing a few things I had already and just go from there. I find it's easiest to plan a party by finding one decor piece you really love and building it from there. 

With Ava, I had a pink, gold, and white tassel I had gotten back in 2015 and decided that those were the colors I was going to use. I also drew inspiration from the party fashion blogger Rachel Parcell threw for her little one. I loved the floral details!

The first things I purchased for the party were Meri Meri gold foiled kraft placemats, glitter candles, birchwood forks and pink paper plates.  

I searched high and low for a green leaf garland but could not find one I liked! I ended up making it myself based off a tutorial from The House That Lars Built. 

I prepared the garland ahead of time and added fresh pink roses about an hour before the party started. 

I like to say that it's all in the details. As you can see, there's nothing too elaborate on the table, but it's the tiny details such as the pop of pink, scallops on the place mats, and the cutlery that made all the difference. 

For her cake I went with a simple 9 inch round cake from Publix. the baker gave me a little funny look when I told him I just wanted a plain white cake with no decorations, but he didn't know what I had in mind. I found an adorable gold glitter cake topper off Etsy and just added a rose with a little bit of greenery.

I loved the way everything came out! This party was definitely one of my easiest to plan and not expensive either. For food we ordered pizza, and snacks were: veggies, fruit, and chips. I'm not crazy about having tons of sweets around when I throw a party. For drinks we had water, fresh squeezed limeade, wine and cocktails. All in all Ava had a great time and it was nice sharing her birthday with her little friends. 

Gold foiled scalloped place mats: Amazon

Fancy birchwood forks: Shop Celebration Lane

Meri Meri gold glitter candles: Shop Celebration Lane

Pink paper plates: Shop Celebration Lane

Cake topper: Glitter Topper

Green Crepe Paper (color moss): Amazon

Pink, gold, white tassel: Love Pretty Details

Gold glitter happy birthday banner: Hobby Lobby

Have a great Monday!

Halloween fun with Education.com!

There's only 22 days till Halloween! Is anyone else wondering where September went? It's almost like it didn't exist, it flew by so fast! Last week the girls and I put up our Halloween decorations and we are getting in the spirit. 

Some of the fun things I like to do during October is print out Halloween themed coloring sheets and games! Find what lurks around the corner in this free Halloween themed maze! Education.com has tons of educational games perfect for online and offline play.educational games.

Answer Key 

Enjoy this little maze and have a great Halloween!

My Home DNA Skin Care Analysis Results!

Hello beautiful people! Since I was a young girl, I've always looked younger then my age. My mother is the same way as is her mother. When I was a pre-teen I used to wish I looked older but people always told me, "just wait till you get older. You'll appreciate it then." They were right. I do appreciate it now especially now that I'm in my mid-30's and don't get nearly enough sleep as I should thanks to me kids. I'm actually not that strict about taking care of my skin. I frequently sleep in my makeup and just touch it up in the morning. 

Hey! When you have 4 kids and have to get them all out the door in the morning in a timely manner, you just might to. Haha! The truth is, I've been doing this since my 20's. It's not so much that because of my young looking genes that I think I can get away with things, but there are other things that I've been doing that have helped keep my complexion looking good. Since I could remember I've always used a facial moisturizer with SPF 15, I also started using an eye cream at 20 years old. Also take note that good skin care starts from the outside in. If you eat tons of junk food, or smoke, or do other things that aren't great for your body, it's going to show on your skin. I enjoy sweets, but I also eat a fairly healthy balanced diet. As far as face washing and moisturizing products I've always just used brands you could find at Walgreen's or Target. Nothing fancy. I've tried higher end brands from Sephora or a department store and haven't seen a difference to be honest. 

When I was approached by the HomeDNA company to try their skin care test, I jumped at the chance to find the back story on my skin and how to best treat any signs of aging.  Home DNA testing puts control back into your hands allowing you to make the right choices concerning beauty and diet regimes that work specifically for you needs based on scientific facts. This saves you time and money by avoiding the products that don't necessarily work for you.

The test identifies your skin's genetic potential in seven key areas:

*Collagen Quality

*Skin Elasticity

*Fine lines & Wrinkles

* Sun Protection

Pigmentation

*Skin Antioxidants

*Skin Sensitivity

The kit comes with cheek swabs, instructions, and a postage paid envelope to send back to the lab. The results are ready and available to view online in about three weeks once the lab receives them. Overall my global average was leaning towards optimal. After my global average I was also scored on each category listed above. 

The first category was fine lines and wrinkles and I was happy to see that my score was optimal. Honestly this category was what I most wondered about because it's fine lines and wrinkles that make people look older. 

The only category that I didn't score too great in was "sun protection" I was on the lower end of the global average. This means that UV rays from sunlight play a role in skin aging. My results indicate I carry some of the gene variations that can weaken my skin's natural protection against the sun. it was nice to see the recommended topical and supplement ingredients that can help combat this. 

Overall I thought this was a really neat and innovative product! It was nice to have confirmed how my genes/heritage came into play regarding the condition of my skin.

So what do you think about this product? Would you try HomeDNA testing for a personalized skin care analysis?

Disclosure: The HomeDNA Kit and Lab Results were provided to me. All thoughts about the experience are completely my own.