heirloom recipe card box.

The price is a bit steep, but it's beautiful, no?

free shipping through today.

i love this.

A feel good list for grownups. It makes me smile just reading it. Her story behind the list is inspiring, and worth reading. Whether you've been touched by postpartum or not, I agree with what she says…

"it's like my own best advice to myself. my own little reminder to be kind to myself, to make myself a priority, and to take time to stay healthy…"

We are all worth investing in.

pizza party.

I saw this amazing pizza party over at Stephmodo (via K.I.D collective). It is an absolute must on my list of things to do this summer. Isn't it fabulous? What's your favorite kind of dinner party?

emersonmade.

I'm not officially back, but I couldn't let this go without sharing. Emersonmade is starting a clothing line. They're making their items in short runs, so if you want something email them to be first on the list. How could you not fall in love with their designs? I don't know.

Hope you're all enjoying your summer as much as I am!

taking a break.

image from skippy designs

Yesterday was the last day of school. It's officially summer here in Colorado. After a lot of thought, I have decided to take a blogging break. I need this time to spend with my kids and give them 100% of my time and attention. They are only little once. I'll be back though so don't worry.

For an email notice of my return to blogging, please send an email titled "return" to tangledandtrue@gmail.com

Until then… Happy Summer!

update.

I've had some requests for an update, I'm sorry I didn't get to it sooner, there is not a lot of leisure time (if any) and by the time you get back to your room at 7:30 you are ready to crash.

The days are all structured very similarly. On the first day they sent everyone on hikes and the guides evaluated the members that were hiking with them. You were then assigned a van based on your fitness level. We got the perfect group.

our hiking group

I have to say I am not a huge fan of hiking, but every day I love it! I can not even believe the things we have climbed. It is CRAZY! I have officially started looking forward to the hikes every morning.

at the top of the stair mistress

After you hike for 2.5+ hours, you return for your 300 calorie breakfast. The food has continued to be amazingly delicious, the presentation beautiful and 100% filling. There is no food I miss. Truly.

We have had multiple lectures and classes that are educational and beyond valuable. I feel so well educated. I never could have imagined I would learn so much in just four short days.

We typically have one class in the morning after breakfast and lecture. It could be circuit training, stretch, open gym etc.

We then head to lunch, 400 calories

After lunch there is usually another lecture or cooking demonstration

Then the fun begins. 3 hours of the trainers working you to death. Seriously. You are exhausted. They make sure it is fun and motivational and there hasn't been a class that I haven't given my all, all because of the amazing trainers. In the 3 hour block there is always a class in the pool, a class in the gym (with machines and equipment) and a class in the aerobics room.

After the three hours of intense classes is dinner and dessert, 500 calories.

Then a nutritionist comes in for an hour long lecture. She is extremely knowledgeable and so great.

Then you go to bed. Seriously. You are so tired.

Now, today something so exciting happened. I couldn't believe my eyes when at the end of our gym class the door swung open and there stood Tara from season 7 (she was in town for a speaking engagement and only here for an hour). My favorite biggest loser ever. I was freaking out. In this picture is Eric (winner of season 3), he is so nice and totally hilarious, also Tara, and the girl in the middle was the one Daris chose from the 5k in Dallas this season to come for a week. How cool is that. It totally made my week.

This has been one of the best weeks (so far) of my life. I have enjoyed every moment of it. If you have thought about coming here I would absolutely say, DO IT! You will not regret it. It is absolutely worth the investment in yourself.

oh baby dear

*This is not a birthday, but it is a brilliant bash! As always, I'd love to see the parties you've thrown. Send them my way and I'll try my best to feature you. Happy Wednesday and update #2 from our stay here will come later today.

Hi! I'm April from Funky Vintage Kitchen and I am so excited to share with you a baby shower I planned for a dear friend!

My friend has a love for anything hip, modern and vintage so I wanted to incorporate all of those things into her first baby shower. My inspiration was a sweet mommy/baby vintage style deer that I had seen at an antique store, but I only had a picture of it in my head. I also wanted to use the color theme of her nursery for her shower. I emailed my friend, Lyndsay, who is an amazing designer and she brought to life exactly what I imagined in my head for the invitation. She has been so gracious to include a downloadable file for you all to enjoy and use for personal use only! Here is the invite and pictures from the evening of the baby shower.

Here is the link to the downloadable file, with two different versions and crop marks.

Thank you, thank you, Lyndsay!

Now on to the rest of the party.
Pom pom tissue paper balls in orange, blue and green greeted guests at the front door with little jelly jar candles tied with coordinating ribbons.

I used the deer clip art theme throughout the whole shower. I made coasters out of thick card stock, cropped them to squares and then rounded the corners.

Keeping with the color theme, I wrapped all the water bottles with the same clip art in white, orange and blue and also served izze's in mandarin orange.

Handmade oh baby dear banner.

More tissue paper balls inside the house.

And, more jelly/mason jars, ribbon & tulips.

The buffet table draped in the perfect baby blue and white seersucker tablecloth borrowed from a local event planner.

I had seen cupcake liners used in banners, but at the buffet table I really wanted a mobile type decoration for the baby shower. I gathered a few extra coasters, twine and cupcake liners in baby blue and strung the twine through the cupcake liners, tying them off at different intervals.

The food was perfect for the party and for the most part....all finger foods.

Caesar salad cups, veggie platter, caramelized bacon wraps & prosciutto wrapped asparagus. The salad cups are so easy....just place dressing at the bottom of the cup with a few leafs of romaine lettuce, some parmesan cheese sprinkled on top of the dressing and a toasted cheese stick topping it off. So easy to just pick up and dip.

....and more food thanks to a great group of friends!

Hawaiian meatballs, pulled pork sandwiches & caramelized onion cheese puffs.

We played just two games.

The first was the "estimated time of delivery" game.

Little plastic babies were frozen in ice cubes the day before the shower. when a guest entered the party, they received an ice-cube in a cup and had to write on the cup their estimated time of delivery. {if the guest gets the ice-cube at 6:30pm and she thinks it will deliver in 15 minutes, she should write down 6:45 on her cup.} it is important that each guest get their baby upon arrival and not all at the same time. they need to look at the clock and guess what the actual time will be when they deliver the baby from the ice-cube. the person closest to the estimated time of delivery wins!

We also used little play-dohs to make babies. the mommy-to-be was the judge and there was a time limit for creating a baby from the play-doh. This one was complete with bottle and toys with baby sitting and sucking his thumb. So sweet. And, speaking of sweet......

After presents it was time for dessert. All different mini desserts. So yummy.

The baby shower was so sweet and perfect and I was thrilled that it all came together exactly how I imagined it. How often does that happen....really?! Thank you, Brittany, for letting me share my Oh Baby Dear baby shower. What a treat!

xo,

April