It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Thank you to everyone who crossed their fingers yesterday for good weather for my husband's work party.  Remember the song from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood?  Am I dating myself??  Well that was the song that kept playing in my head yesterday.  The weather was absolutely perfect.  The rain they predicted didn't show up until 5:30pm, and since the party started at 12pm, the timing worked out great.

This was when they were still setting up for the party.  We had almost 100 people.

 Only we would have our landscapers show up two hours before people did to bring in new mulch.

 We had ordered it earlier than this, but with all the rain, 

this morning was the first time they could get here.

Don't you love how great new mulch makes everything look?

 We learned our lesson after the first year hosting this party.
 With 100 people... rent a portable bathroom.

However, what a trick it was for the guy to get it into this position.  

 But this wasn't your typical gross port-a-potty.  The interior was nicer then some people's home bathrooms. It was air-conditioned and had music piped in as well.

There were two bathrooms which was also helpful with 100 people.

Look how cool the sink looks!

 In addition to the regular caterer, we also hired a pizza guy.

 He was cranking out pizza for hours.  He makes his own dough and uses only the freshest ingredients.

Honestly, it was the best pizza I have ever had.

 One of the guys who works for my husband made this cake.  

He did such an awesome job.

I love the roses on top of the cake.

It was a wonderful day.  

The weather being beautiful really helped tremendously in the success of the party.

Have a great weekend.

-Judy

Party Time

This past weekend my son received the Sacrament of Confirmation.  Saturday was his actual Confirmation and Sunday we had a family party.  I have a large extended family and my son invited a ton of kids, so in the end we had 120 people coming to the party.  For the past two weeks the weather has been beautiful here.  So, at 3am Sunday morning when my husband and I woke up to the sound of heavy rain, it was not a good thing.  We started moving furniture out of the family room and emptied the downstairs finished basement figuring we were going to have to move the party inside.

By 10am the rain had started to slow down...enough that it started to look like we could have it outside.

We had two large tents, knowing that the weather report was not good.  The good Lord was very kind to me that day.  The rain stopped and it stayed dry until the end of the party.  Literally a half hour after the party ended the rain began again.

It was a baseball themed party.  As I've mentioned, my son and my husband are visiting all of the MLB stadiums between now and when my son goes to college.

On each of the tables, the centerpiece was a cube with a MLB team logo on one side, the logo on the team's hat on another side, the banner from that team and then a photo of my son in front of that stadium when he visited it.

I made each of the twelve centerpieces from scratch.  I started with a 7"x7"x6" box.

Then I tied five long ribbons onto a weight and taped it to the bottom of the inside of the box.

I then sealed the top of the box with the ribbons coming out.  This way the day of the party all I had to do was fill the balloons with helium and tie the balloons with the ribbon.

I then wrapped each box with wrapping paper.  I had to use a glue stick because when I used tape, you could see the tape, which just wasn't going to work.  The glue took a little more time, but worked great.

Each box had a different team on it (on the name cards it said which table the person would be sitting at...ie Yankees, Mets etc).

The name cards were baseball cards with a label made for each person.

Here are the centerpieces on the tables...each centerpiece had two blue balloons, two white balloons, and a mylar balloon to match the team on the box.

We added a fountain to the center of the pool (it's a great little gadget that you just hook up to where you would your pool vacuum).  You can see how wet everything was from the morning rain, but it mostly dried by party time.

Finally, we hired a pizza guy who turned out over 75 pizzas over the course of the day.  This was in addition to the regular caterer we had hired for the main food.

The pizza guy turned out to be a huge hit.  He just started this business of going to parties and making pizza in pizza ovens.  He also has a portable pizza oven if you don't own your own.  He made all of the dough himself and only bought the freshest ingredients.   He brought red and white checkered tablecloths and set out the pizzas there.  Cool concept plus the pizza was the best I have ever tasted.  I will definitely be hiring this person again...hopefully for a smaller scale party.

All in all it was a success.  The party ended at 5pm, but the last of the party guests left at 9:30pm.  Since we had been up since 3am...we were EXHAUSTED.  But it was all worth it...my son and his friends had a blast.

Don't forget my Swing into Spring party opens tonight at 8pm EST.  Hope to see you then.

-Judy

Outdoor patio - updated

In the past few days my outdoor patio has really started to come together.  I took these pictures last night to show you some of the lighting effects.  Another week or two and we should be totally done.

How awesome do those stairs look? (the box by the door is speaker wire which will be run)

This is the kitchen area.  To the far left is the pizza oven.  To the right of that is the spot for the warming drawer and storage drawers below that, then the grill, then a refrigerator.  The seating area will be to the far right.

Took this photo while standing on the pool deck.

This will be the area where we will have our seating i.e. outdoor sofa, coffee table etc.

Close up of the pavers.  There are four different sizes.  15% are the largest size.  I love how it ties in with the stone veneer.

That's the update for now.  The main part of the patio was all laid yesterday...in one day.  Huge transformation.  Let me know what you think.  I really LOVE comments.

-Judy


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Outdoor Pizza Oven

The outdoor project continues.  Honestly, it's moving along at a rapid speed.  It's only been a little over two weeks and I can already see the finish line.  Outdoor kitchens are all the rage these days and since we entertain a great deal, especially in the summer, it seemed to make sense to incorporate one into the new patio design.  As we always seem to do, we took this project a step further.  Since my husband is the chef in our family, it made sense that he should take the lead on the items he wanted in his our new outdoor kitchen.  Not to say I wasn't integrally involved...I was...but he is really the grill master.  The plan calls for us having a grill, warming drawer, side burner...all the regulars.  What's not so regular...his idea of putting in an outdoor pizza oven.  When he first brought up the idea, quite frankly I thought it was crazy.  He was very excited about the idea and when our contractor heard the idea he was even more excited about building one.  Over the past few years my husband has been coming up with unique recipes for pizzas grilled on the bar-b-que.  It's become one of the staples at our gatherings around our pool.  Long story short...here comes the pizza oven.  Here are some updated pictures.

Pizza oven - part that looks like two eyes is the door to the oven.  Storage right below and wood stored below that.

This project is a masterpiece being built every day.  Each piece of stone veneer is hand cut to fit.  Our contractor is like a Renaissance man.  He is building this project as if he were building it for himself.  He has a large crew that shows up everyday.  The attention to detail is amazing and so incredibly refreshing (we have had bad experiences in the past i.e. the kitchen remodel...which thankfully in the end all worked out...but I wouldn't wish that experience on my worst enemy).   He is doing everything you would want a general contractor to do...and more.  His company is Pete Proulx Landscaping.  Check out his website for more incredible outdoor projects.

We also went to pick out the granite this weekend.  This is what we picked.  I absolutely love it.  It has so much movement and is the perfect colors.  I can't wait to see it all come together.

The rest of the appliances will be delivered on Friday.  Can't wait to share the next phase of the project with you.  Tell me what you think so far?

-Judy

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Outdoor Project Update

I can't believe how far our outdoor project has come in just two weeks.  Here are some updated pictures.

That is the wall furthest from the house.  There will be a fire pit in front of it.  There will be bluestone on top of the wall to sit on.  There is only dirt right now.  Pavers to arrive soon.

This will be the outdoor kitchen.  The appliances have been ordered and we are going this weekend to pick out granite.

The added a stone veneer to the foundation of the house.  I have always loved that look.

Only half of the bluestone is cemented down right now.  That's why the steps look uneven.

Soon to be fire pit.  This is just the template they build around.  It will be covered in the same stone veneer.

Soon to be pizza oven.  This should be cool.

Will update you in a week or so.  What do you think so far?

-Judy


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