One Week Away Is Too Soon...

....For a year to have passed.

Is it wrong that I am sad?

I am not ready to say, "She is one," when strangers ask how old she is.

I am not ready to call her a toddler.

I am not ready to see her walk, and soon, to see her run.

I am not ready to say goodbye to her littleness.

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One week away is also too soon for her party!

I have a really bad habit when I start forming plans for my children's birthdays:

They start relatively simple, with a fun, cute idea.
And then that idea grows progressively bigger...and bigger...and BIGGER.

I get so excited about the vision in my head, and my little heart becomes so set on carrying it out perfectly, that when the time to actually put my plan into action comes, I am almost always disappointed.

Because I learn, again and again, and yet again, that in the life of a mother of young children,

there is never...enough...time!


So, with her party approaching this weekend and things coming down to the wire...and the flu stealing the weekend from me...(grrrrr, die, sick season, DIE!), I'm trying to let a few things go.

It's hard!

But I continually remind myself that the celebration is truly for her, and all the embellishments surrounding it are not what's truly important.

They are just really fun for me. =)

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One thing I am determined to do for Kara's party is create a beautiful display table! I first fell in love with this element of party-styling when I discovered the amazing and talented designer and party-stylist Kim Stoegbauer of The TomKat Studio. She was my first real glimpse into the fun world of fancy-pants party design! I love drawing inspiration from the parties and ideas she features on her blog, and also from the parties she puts together for her own children (like her daughter's "Glamour Girl in Paris" party last year......utterly AMAZING!).

I love this dessert table featuring some of Kim's printable designs:

Though my table will be quite a bit different, my color scheme is very similar...I absolutely adore pink and blue paired together!

I started thinking about Kara's birthday quite some time ago, and over the last several months I've begun collecting cake stands. I just love the look of goodies displayed on an assortment of gorgeous cake stands! I can't wait to arrange them in absolute adorableness for her party. =)

If you want an awesome deal on cake stands, these White Scalloped Cake Plates from Pier 1 are so pretty and some of the cheapest I've found! They come in two sizes: the 9-inch is $9.95 and the 11-inch is 14.95.

I am actually still trying to get my hands on them! They go in and out of stock very quickly. As far as I know, you cannot have them shipped directly to you, but you can purchase them online for pickup at a Pier1 store. If you check at Pier1.com it can tell you if they're currently in stock at any of the Pier 1 locations near you for pickup. I've seen them in stock several times but never seem to make it in, because, well...Pier 1 is one of those places I'm terrified to take my young children! I can just hear the crash of a giant display of glass vases or something, the moment we walk in the door...yikes!

But here is one seriously cute stand I have managed to get my hands on:

This one...the Rosanna Decor Bon Bon Footed Cake Stand (that just sounds scrumptious!)...wasn't exactly cheap. I couldn't bring myself to get it until I got some giftcards to Amazon.com for Christmas...yippee! I think my husband thought it was a silly way to spend them. =)

And now I really want the same one in white...maybe next Christmas!

I think party planning is one of the most fun "jobs" a mom can have, and I know there are a million of you out there who throw some amazing shindigs! I would love to see photos of your parties, past or present, and possibly feature you on the bliggity-blog! You can email them to me at hellodarlyn@gmail.com.

Wish me luck this week! Just call me crazy-running-errands-every-day-and-staying-up-late-every-night woman...



P.S. I know so far my blog has been very centered around my daughter...I think it's mostly because I began this little ol' project just 17 days before her first birthday. And, ya know, girly stuff is really fun to blog about. =) But I promise, I love my two little boys just as much (OH so much!)!!! A post featuring them and their crazy cute handsomeness is coming very soon!

(In fact, my little Jake-Jake will be 3 in just two months, and for his party I am thinking dinosaurs...)