Lynde Easterlin Designs

My dear friend/cousin-in-law (her husband is J's Godfather and A's cousin), Lynde Easterlin, is being featured on One Kings Lane tonight in their tastemaker Tag sales. Please check it out. 

Check out Lynde's One Kings Lane Sale tonight at 9pm est: https://www.onekingslane.com/invite/magnolias

Check out Lynde's website: www.lyndeeasterlin.com

Check out Lynde's blog: http://flairfordesign.blogspot.com

Follow Lynde on twitter:  @lyndeasterlin

Congrats Lynde! We love you and are so proud of you!

Masters Final Round Party

I decided on Friday night to throw a little Masters Final Round viewing party for a few friends. It came together quite nicely and we had a great time watching the exciting finals. Congrats to all the players and their families! I'm hoping next year that I will actually BE there.

I sent out paperless post invites that were kelly green with yellow golf bags and lettering. They were easy to make and looked pretty cute! You can sign up here if you aren't a member.

J wore his Masters shirt that my brother bought him when he went to the tournament last year. He was looking pretty cute in his green plaid pants!

We had beer, wine, sweet tea (I used Tetley), lemonade, Arnold Palmers (1/2 lemonade and 1/2 iced tea) and John Dalys (1/2 lemonade, 1/2 iced tea and vodka). We made some of the John Daly's with firefly sweet tea vodka. Yum! 

I even found an azalea bush for our centerpiece! I couldn't believe I was able to find one in NYC. 

I made a last minute decision to buy plastic silverware and paper plates to save on doing dishes. Had to go with the green and yellow for the Masters!

Here is my John Daly in my monogrammed tervis!  We got these as a wedding gift (2 for A and 2 with my new initials and have LOVED them!)

Yummy Banana Pudding! I used this recipe and it was great!

We kept it simple, but it was a fun little afternoon party!

The pimento cheese was the hit! I used Paula's recipe and it was heavenly.

Georgia peanuts!

Taxi Cab Party-Part 4-The Little Extras

I needed something to put these adorable lolly pops (found at Oriental Trading) in, so I used styrofoam and covered it in black construction paper and added the white lines and mini taxis and it turned out pretty cute!

I found J's taxi longall on sale at Momma's Boy, Daddy's Girl. It was no easy task finding a taxi cab longall and to find it on sale was awesome! Just by chance, I found this shirt at Ann Taylor Loft the day before the party and it was perfect for the Mama of the bday boy!

J's adorable taxi 2 shirt was made by Lauren from Blooming Babies Boutique (same vendor that made the banner this year and last year). My "big boy" refuses to wear a bib, so he put his special shirt on over his taxi longall for cake time! He now wants to wear both EVERY day. Lauren also made J's sweet birthday hat. Isn't it cute?

What taxi party for a 2 year old is complete with Taxi Cab Driver Big Bird! (We also have NY Fire Dept Elmo.)

We used the book My Taxi Ride as J's guest book. All of his sweet friends signed the inside cover. It will be a fun memento and it is already a bedtime favorite.

In addition to their pinata goodies, we sent each child home with a yellow bag with a taxi cab craft (pic above), and a yellow birthday rubber ducky. (As a side note, I bought mini taxi cabs for the boys to take home and J found them prior to the party and hid them away in "his stash of cars." I gave up trying to take them back-ha!

The adorable "Jack is Two" sign was made my J's Godmother (and one of my best friends from high school). She sells hand painted signs (Two Girls and a Glue Gun) and she surprised J (and me) with this adorable canvas sign to match his party! She is the best! Thanks S!

                                                  

The highlight of the decor was J's taxicab pinata. He kept saying "Whoa, Mama" when he saw it for the first time. I can not recommend etsy seller, Birchangel Custom Pinatas enough! I see myself ordering MANY more pinatas from her for years to come, so help keep her in business! We went with the pull ribbons since the kids were on the younger side, but they had such a blast each taking their turn to pull a ribbon. My husband just stood on a chair and held it (hey, space is tight in NYC) and it was entertaining for everyone to watch the kids get so excited when the goodies dropped from the sky! I filled the pinata with Thomas the Train stickers, mini play doughs, Welch's fruit snacks, and a pinata toy mix from Oriental Trading.

I found this cute fabric on ebay and just added the yellow ribbon to turn it into an overlay for our food table. It was a last minute project that turned out pretty well!

If it said, taxi I had to have it!

Last but, certainly not least, all the guests also took home one of the most delicious cookies in the entire world! Another "tradition," I was first introduced to A Dozen Eggs when Laura sent me a sample when I found out I was pregnant with J. We ordered red wagon cookies last year and J's party was not complete without a taxi cookie for this year! I see this being a yearly thing, so get ready Dave and Laura...I've already warned my husband! A Dozen Eggs can make ANYTHING, just try them! Read about the making of J's cookies on their blog.


I hope y'all enjoyed the details of J's 2nd Birthday party! I was an event planner before I became a Mom, so I love to plan events. It is a true labor of love, but I had such a fun time creating this party. I always have to be planning something, so I'm already trying to figure out my next "project." If you use one of the vendors I recommended, please remember to tell them that I sent you. I wish I could have invited each and every one of you! Until the next party...

Taxi Cab Birthday Party-Part 2-Food and Beverages

Planning the food and beverage of a party is one of my favorite parts! I love to incorporate the colors and theme into the food. For J's party, I decided to keep the food New York themed. For the "main course" we had a hot dog bar, catered by our local favorite, Papaya King. They were wonderful to work with (Thanks Wayne!) and the price can't be beat. We asked for ALL the topping and our guests enjoyed fixing their dogs up the way they liked them. (Choices included chili, nacho cheese, shredded cheese, tomato onions (their specialty), sauerkraut, relish, Sneaky Pete's sauce, different types of mustard, mango relish, and raw onions.) One of J's favorite foods are hot dogs, so it really was the perfect choice for his 2nd birthday party.

We ate leftover hot dogs for dinner! Yum!

I kept the other foods simple and mostly kid friendly with New York cheddar (complete with NYC toothpicks from etsy seller Senorpicklesworth), yellow peppers, black olives, New York's Red Jacket Orchard apple slices, New York's North Fork Potato Chips (with onion dip), taxi cookies, traditional NYC Black and White cookies from Fresh Direct, Ella's Kitchen "the yellow one," and yellow bananas. I also made NY pretzels with yellow wilton chocolate and black sprinkles. J and I had a blast making those together and they were a hit with guests.

I had to use every inch of space in our tiny apartment!

I wish I had taken some pictures with the blinds closed, so many of them did not turn out. Oh well, I was kinda busy!

J's "tradition" is a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting from Two Little Red Hens. He had one for his 1/2 birthday, his 1st birthday and now his 2nd birthday! If you are ever in NYC, you have to stop by and try their red velvet, it's the best I've ever had! As an extra treat, my blogger friend Summer made J the most beautiful taxi chocolate cupcakes complete with taxi fondant decorations with his initial. If the cupcakes weren't cute enough, they have to be the best tasting I've ever had! WOW! You can see pictures on her cake website here. She is amazing and I can't recommend her enough to all of you local New Yorkers!

And just because I know you were wondering if J decided on a cupcake or a piece of his cake....he had both! You are only 2 once!

Oh, and a black and white cookie! 

 Drinks for J's party included Adam and Eve apple juice, New York's Fizzy Lizzy, Yellow Taxi Punch (with a little champagne on the side to spike your own punch if you so choose), New York Beer from Brooklyn Brewery. We also had New York Water (straight from the tap!) with sliced lemons in our new fruit infusion pitcher. And my personal favorite...what taxi cab party is complete without a couple of bottles of Big Yellow Cab wine! I'm so proud of myself for finding that! For the record, there is Taxi Cab beer, but it is only sold in kegs. I had to draw the line somewhere, right? =)

 Wish you had been there to celebrate and have a cold one with us a slice of red velvet cake! Stay tuned tomorrow for details on the invitations and paper products!