Confessions of a Blogaholic

Kassie's 7 th Birthday Saturday, September 13, 2003 Skateland U.S.A. As it goes with kids, Kai quickly gave up on the Ice Skating and moved on over to roller skating. So, she picked Skateland for the location of her 7 th birthday party. For a theme, she LOVED Lizzie McGuire. And I do mean LOVED. I can honestly say that I can recite the words to "The Lizzie McGuire Movie". She watched it 24/7. We saw it at theaters too many times to remember. We even kept seeing it when it hit the dollar theater. Above are the invitations that I made for the party. The information was printed on white vellum and tied together with a tulle bow. We made the felt candy bags of Lizzie's face. I had a Lizzie cake made at Fry's, and other than that, Skateland took care of all the rest. The kids had a great time skating and playing video games. Notice the hulk plates on the tables. Kassie made me buy those because she said that the boys in her class were not going to want Lizzie pl...

Please, I need to find time to blog. I'm sick that I have not finished my blogging about our trip. And things have been happening that I have not had a chance to document. I'm right in the middle of planning two birthday parties, a brunch bridal shower, helping out with a baby shower, and two weddings. All very exciting stuff. I'm a little more than obsessed with these projects. All of which will be great, and no, not because I'm helping out, just because. My brain is favor and decoration ridden. I have so many ideas that now I just need to focus and narrow stuff down. For now, I'm very excited that I found new moon party supplies. They are not available just yet, but they will be just in time for the party. I am only ordering a few because I had already purchased some other stuff. I think they are adorable. I guess I could do without Jacob in them, but oh well. I changed the date of my party because my friend Cristina's rehearsal dinner is scheduled on th...

Oh my, I can't believe that it's Friday already. First, I need to apologize for being a horrible blog reader this week. My goal is catch up on all my blog reading this weekend. I have been so crazy busy this week. I guess it's to be expected since I was gone for so long. On Monday morning, I could barely even find my desk. It's better now, but I still have lots to do. I almost forgot to do my Flashback Friday. I did leave the past two Friday's scheduled before I left, so at least those were done. Kassie's 6 th Birthday Party Saturday, September 21, 2002 Polar Ice Kassie had just started taking Ice Skating lessons, and so of course she wanted her party at the ice rink. She LOVED the Disney Princess's and so of course, that was her theme. She invited all her friends from school, and they had a blast. Unfortunately since they were so little, not many of them last on the ice much. Except for Kassie of course. She loved ice skating. My mom had even bought her, h...

New York City July, 10 th 2009 The morning of Day 3 was probably the most stressful morning in NYC. It was the solo adjudication for Junior Outstanding Dancer candidates. As I mentioned, Kai had drawn number 40 out of 112. I let her sleep in a little and went to grab her some breakfast. When I got back, we did hair and make-up and she did some stretching. We had to be down there an hour prior to what the schedule said. All of the talent in the Junior category was amazing. 112 Juniors out of so many who auditioned throughout the year in 23 different cities. And only one would win the title of Junior Outstanding Dancer. The solo is a good chunk of the score, that combined with the ballet and jazz audition. Then from there, they go to the top three and they compete their solo one more time and add that score in. At the end, the one with the highest combined score wins. When it was time for Kai to take the stage, I was a typical nervous mom. This was her second year competing a solo, and...

Thursday, July 9, 2009 On Thursday morning, I awoke early to go watch the TDA teens compete their Outstanding Dancer solos. I left Kai with Karen and went down stairs to grab a coffee and watch the girls. I believe there were about 100 girls in the Teen division. All of their solos were very spread out, so I watched what I could, then went upstairs to get Kai ready. Her orientation started at 11:00 a.m. After getting her ready, we went downstairs so that she could turn in her solo music, and draw a number for her solo. She drew #40, so she would be the 40 th Junior to perform her solo for Outstanding Dancer. There was a total of 112 Juniors. In the orientation meeting, the girls all received NYCDA bags with personalized NYCDA Jackets and their audition number badges that they were to wear at all times, except when competing on stage. They immediately went into rehearsals for the opening number for the Junior gala with Joey Dowling . While the girls were rehearsing, Karen and I f...

Kai at airport, waiting to board July 8, 2009 Ok , so when we travel, we don't fly First Class, it's coach for us, all the way. Not only do we fly coach, but I usually buy our tickets through Expedia , Orbitz , or in this case, Travelocity . With that being said, your flight times are pretty limited. I hate layovers, so in order to have a direct flight, we had to leave Phoenix at 6:40 a.m. Ouch... Buddy dropped Kai and I off at Sky Harbor, and we were on our way. First thing that went wrong, was that Terminal 4 did not have a Starbucks....what? Are you kidding? Not good, especially at six in the morning. So Coffee Bean it was. Not my favorite by a long shot. But it was caffeine nonetheless . Then, our flight was delayed due to crew rest. Oh great...glad we didn't have a connecting flight. We finally boarded, and I being the good mother that I am (cough, cough) let Kai have the window seat. I, sat in the middle and my passenger to the left, was a sweet older man. Except, he...

Kai and I got home late last night from NYC. Although we were both very sad to leave that unbelievable city, we were glad to be home and see Buddy and Nachito . I've decided to post our adventures by day. Again, this is definitely for our memories and to read back, so I promise not to be offended if people choose to not read. I certainly do not want to forget our trip and this is why I'm doing this. We arrived in the evening, and it was still 110 degrees. The Phoenix weather was definitely something that I did not miss. We had unbelievable weather in NY all week. I think we only had one day of humidity and it was not horrible. It went from the higher 60's to lower 80's everyday. We had one day of rain, and that was Friday night before we came home. Other than that, it was perfect. I took a lot of pictures, and I will try to post in the best order that I can. I am also spending this Sunday doing laundry of course and catching up on my blog reading. And as I write abou...

Kassie's 5 th Birthday Party Saturday, September 8 th 2001 Douglas, AZ We moved from Douglas in June of 2001. She had just finished her first year of pre -school. She had made a lot of friends, and was really missing them. I still had a lot of friends, and I was missing them too. Not to mention a lot of family. We decided to host a small party at McDonald's and drive down to Douglas for the weekend. She was really into NSYNC at the time, who wasn't? So she chose that theme for her party. For invitations, I made "Back Stage Passes ." I used a program on Print Shop and copied and pasted a picture of NYSNC . I printed them on card stock and had them laminated. I ordered lanyards from Oriental Trading Company and attached them. I ended up mailing them to my mom, and she distributed them. For the first time, my mom and I did not make the candy bags because Kassie wanted to use the plastic NSYNC ones from the party store. Go figure. It was simple, and it was nice ...

Kassie's 4 th Birthday Party Britney Spears Sunday, September 10, 2000 For Kassie's 4 th Birthday party, I let her talk me into a Britney Spears party. I could not find any Britney party supplies so I improvised. I made music CD's for the invitations. I color copied a picture of Britney for the CD case. When you opened the CD case, the party info was on the inside. At the time, she only had one CD out, so I burned the "Baby One More Time" CD for every invitation. We went with a pink and lavender theme. I bought butterfly and daisy Mylar balloons to decorate with. I had a friend make that huge butterfly shaped piñata . Kassie did not want to let anyone break it. As you can see in the picture, her and a friend are holding onto it for dear life. My mom made her the sassy outfit and she and I made butterfly shaped candy bags with felt again. Kassie really did love Britney when she was little. She used to dance on the coffee table to all of her videos. And I gues...

we're leaving today. We're gonna wake up in a city that doesn't sleep. And so, we are off to NYC for 10 days. I will miss blogging, but I will catch up when I get back. I've decided to not take my laptop, so I will Twitter, and post our adventures when we return.

On my first trip to NYC the skyline was complete. I remember going up to the Empire State building and taking pictures from every side. The most impressive photos were the ones with the twin towers in them. The World Trade Center buildings were the two tallest buildings in NY. When you looked up at them, you just couldn't believe just how tall they were. On September 11, 2001 I awoke early as usual. One difference, it was Kai's fifth birthday. We had the news on. I was on my way to Kai's room to wake the birthday girl when Katie Couric came on the t.v. and started talking about the one tower having been hit by a plane. We, as the rest of the world sat there in shock looking at the images on the t.v. We just couldn't believe it. It was so sad and the days following were not any better. The next time I went to New York, I went with Buddy. We spent an evening at was now ground zero. The vacancy that those building left in the center of this city was nothing I could have i...

I really can't countdown to NYC without mentioning "Miss Liberty." And though I have been to NYC before, I have to admit. I have never gone to see The Statue of Liberty. I have seen her from Manhattan from those viewers that you put a quarter into. And I have see her from afar from on top of The Empire State Building, but I have never made the trip to Liberty Island. Do I plan to? Hopefully, if time permits. Just recently they are allowing people up to the top of her crown. That is definitely something that I will pass on. I am a bit claustrophobic and that just wouldn't be good for me. And if I happen to go there this time, I would also like to go see Ellis Island. To read about the two click here and here . It's getting close.

Here it is, three more days and Kai and I can't wait. I am a little on the sad side though. I just sent Nachito off to Douglas for two weeks. Him and Buddy probably haven't even gotten to the corner, and I already miss him. He on the other hand, was quick at goodbyes and off he went. I guess I can understand. He goes to Douglas and gets totally spoiled by his two grandmothers and grandfather. It is a vacation to him, no chores, and no time outs. He is SPOILED when he goes down there. Even my sisters will take him for a day or so. Even though I will miss him like crazy, I am glad that he is able to spend time with them, I'm sure he will always remember his summers in Douglas. And on the plus side, he gets to leave this horrible heat. As far as Kai and I go, we are not even half way done with our packing. Ten days requires a lot of packing. I'm always so paranoid that I am going to forget a costume, or a headpiece or something. I've already made at least five list...

What would the 4 th of July be without a barbecue. And speaking of barbecue, my friend Anna and her husband Mark are the owners of the popular Honey Bears in Phoenix. If you haven't tried the food there, you are missing out. It is delicious. Honey Bears is a finalist on Live with Regis and Kelly's LIVE!'s Ultimate Hometown Grill Off. There are only five finalists left. So please, click on this link here and show them some support. And if you have never tried Honey Bears, click here to find the nearest location and go and enjoy!! It's one of Buddy's favorite places to go. Best of Luck to Anna and Mark at Honey Bears.

H a p p y 4 t h o f J u l y ! ! ! Four more days, and we will be in the city. Another place I like to go to in NYC is Greenwich Village, also known as The Village. The first time I went to Greenwich Village, I was with Buddy. I was in a quest for one thing. And what do you think that one thing might be? A cupcake of course. I wanted a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery. I had read about them in every magazine. Carrie Bradshaw and the gang always talked about cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, so naturally I had to have one too. Buddy and I set out on my quest. We looked at our Subway map, and somehow took the wrong train. When we exited, we were in the area, but still blocks and blocks away from the bakery. It actually ended up being a good thing. We stopped at this real cool restaurant, that from the outside looked like a garage, but the inside was beautiful. We sat and people watched for a while, had a few drinks. We then started out for our looonnngg walk. It was nice, we really got to ...

of course. Now, now, let me just clarify myself before I write this post, ok Buddy? There are very few stores on 5 th Avenue that I can actually afford to shop at. Some of which include Gap, FAO Schwartz, The Disney Store, Sephora , Tiffany & Co. (sterling silver), Juicy Couture, and I can't forget the MAC Store inside of Henri Bendel . I do however, love to window shop on 5 th Avenue. The window displays are pretty amazing. Fifth avenue is considered one of the most expensive streets in the world. Which, again is why I can only window shop. Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman have the window displays that I like. I've heard that at Christmas they are really spectacular. As you walk towards Central Park, you see the likes of Gucci, Versace , Prada , Harry Winston to name a few. You also pass Trump Tower where you can go in and see the famous waterfall inside, or walk around the turn style, or simply walk out the regular doors like to poor Apprentice rejects do. If...

Let's Rock n' Roll at Kassandra Paulyna's 3rd Birthday!! Saturday, September 11 th , 1999 For Kassie's 3rd Birthday, we decided to keep it small. We hosted it at our home. I was pregnant with Nachito , and I was in no mood to make a big party. The theme was fun to work with. For invitations, I went to a local record shop and bought old 45's. I made new labels with party info on them. They were exactly like the one in the photos, except on real records. I made record sleeves for them and handed them out. They were very cute. We made record shaped candy bags out of black and red felt. We had a hula hoop contest, and a bubble gum blowing contest too. My mom made Kassie her poodle skirt, and I added the K to her shirt. I was able to find her black and white oxfords at Payless . My sister made milk shake center pieces out of old fashioned coca cola glasses, tinted Styrofoam , carnations and a straw. Buddy cut out the juke box shape out of styrafoam, and I painted it. I...