Bohemian Girl Means Business

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Sometimes there comes along an occasion that calls for something other than princess dresses and flowy caftans.

Sometimes.

Rarely.

Not often.

But it happens.

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This particular occasion was my son’s Back To School Night at his school.

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I did not want to be remembered as Bohemian Chick by his teachers. I wanted something more firm. Pulled together. Polished.

I have a silly demeanor. A child-like voice. It is easy to be dismissed with those two descriptive traits. Throw in a flowy garment and the unarguably potent power of threes will make any future interaction with school officials one-sided. In regards to people who have influence with my children, I like to make a good first impression since I am dealing with the aforementioned attributes.

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This did not, however, mean my hair had to be tame, as well.

One of us was going to have a little fun.

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And that is a-okay with me.

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My husband would love it if I dressed in button down tops and pencil skirts every day. It is what I wore when I first met him. So, he has good memories of me dressing like this during the beginning of our relationship.

The top was a popback from Anthropologie called the Chambray Lace Buttondown (similar here). The skirt is a few years old. It was also from Anthropologie. It was called The Flounced Hem Skirt. The shoes were from my Modcloth Stylish Surprise package in the spring.

I used to love dressing up every day.

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But that was for work.

And that wardrobe is no longer a part of my everyday life.

I can now have a little more play in my everyday.

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Speaking of play. How neat is this scrabble ring from UPcycled Works on Etsy? I purchased it at the Del Mar Fair at her booth there. I have a “Q” as well. “Q” is my favorite letter to draw in Scrabble. The “C” is for my husband.

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Do you enjoy dressing in multiple styles? Do you do it often? I have to admit it was fun to wear something like this for one night. It brought back many memories. Good ones. And good memories are always… Good.

*I had really wanted to get pictures in before we left for the event. However, the time of day was not the best for pictures. Sorry for the hazy quality. It is as if the sky had some wine, too.

Rhode Montijo

As many of you know, I love art. My family and I collect whimsical surreal pieces in our home. One artist I have had the pleasure of meeting is Rhode Montijo. We own four pieces of his fun art. He is the creator of a comic called, “The Halloween Kid.” I believe a special is supposed to be airing soon. He has been hard at work on it. It is based off of the children’s book he wrote (he also wrote “Cloud Boy”). I figured with Halloween here it is a perfect time to showcase his art.

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Our first piece by him is my favorite. It looks like two gnomes playing in a tree. But there is a creature shambling towards them. I think it looks kind of like Ollie.

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This is such a whimsical little creature. I liked the scale of him on the page. In a few weeks I will be doing a post about how to save money on your framing. I definitely used those tricks for this piece. Isn’t he cute?

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I like this collage of creatures. It is interesting. I like to mix pencil drawings in with more colorful pieces. It allows the eye some rest.

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A fairy king perhaps? Rhode’s imagination and drawing technique is fantastic.

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Here is Rhode Montijo and myself at Comic Con in July. I wish I would have gotten a picture of him with his lovely wife, too.

Rhode Montijo loves Halloween. I remember reading once on his blog that he leaves door hangers he created on homes he feels truly got into the fun spirit of Halloween. He really is a sweet man with an imagination to match his talent. I have met him three times and he is always smiling. We love to have his art in our home.

A Minecraft Party

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My son wanted a Minecraft party. They do not make Minecraft party supplies. You have to make them yourself. The very name “Minecraft” even has the word “craft” in it. Here is the problem: My name does not.

A dilemma was born. What is the lazy, uncrafty mom to do?

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Attempt to make invitations. In bed. With a glass glasses a lot of wine. While watching the Food Network. Call it done. Send them out and hope the parents think your child made them. (This actually worked out exceptionally well, as several parents called me to tell me my son did a great job on the invitations. Cheers!)

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Thankfully, there are many moms out there who are crafty. And they will sell you the things they have made… For a price. I purchased most of the items for my son’s party from Ebay. Unfortunately, most of the items have increased in price by more than 30% since I purchased mine. Bummer!

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They are cute, though. And the kids loved the masks.

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My good friend, Kellie, taught me how to make candy molds. If I can do this, anyone can. It has to be Merckens chocolate. The Wilson chocolate that you can buy at craft stores is… not my favorite. The Merckens brand is delicious. So good. I actually think it tastes very similar to Lindt’s white chocolate. We have a cake shop in town that sells it. Amazon also carries it. But it is much more expensive there. Check your local area first.

After I finished making the last mold, I licked the bowl. I stood there over my kitchen sink and licked that bowl clean. My family was clueless in the other room. I have good manners like that.

I just melt one small batch at a time in a bowl. I put it in the microwave for thirty second intervals. Stirring in between. Usually it takes one minute. Just stir the bits of chocolate around until they are all melted. Pour the chocolate in the candy mold. Gently tap it to get rid of air bubbles. Refrigerate the candy mold for about thirty minutes. Pop chocolate out. Bag it. Repeat. This is so much fun and the kids love this. I made big white chocolate video game controllers for each kid. In typical Jenni fashion, I made the wrong kind of controller. However, I bet they tasted good, all the same.

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For the cake, I ordered a half sheet cake in green with writing on the corners. Then my husband broke up some hershey bars and made a creeper face (this was my idea in my head.) It was touch and go. It was definitely another Jenni DIY project. As in, the kids liked it. I hid it from the adults. We had twenty minutes to make it. It was actually fantastic for the time allotment. I was having a meltdown with the candy bars and the stickers while my sweet husband made the face.

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And there you have it. We went to a trampoline park. The kids had fun. The facility cleaned up. Score! This mom went home and had pizza and wine. I thought I would do a post on this in case there were any other uncreative moms out there with kids who want a Minecraft party. In searching for ideas, I ran across so many awesome DIY moms who did amazing parties. I am not that mom. The parties these moms threw (I mean…Wow! Just google it. But then come back here for a dose of reality. And don’t cry.) had me in a panic. A cold sweat. Tears. I knew I was on my own. You are not alone! There is hope! Invest in some hershey bars and wine. Then call it a day! Your kid will love it! (The candy bars, not the wine.)

What have been some themes your kids or yourself have requested? Did you run into the same problem I did? What did you do?

Pencil Bouquets

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I am about to say something shocking…Something nobody talks about. This is top secret information. Are you ready? Okay, here it goes… Kids make messes.

What? You all ready knew that? Well, then, you are ahead of the game. Let’s move along…

I was so tired of our dining room table being covered in art supplies. “Pick up your pencils,” can only be said so many times before you want to stab one through your eye.

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The other day I found myself once again cleaning off the table and relishing in an empty house as the children were at school. But it was getting tedious. And if we know anything, besides the fact that kids are messy, it is that I am lazy. I saw my empty vases just sitting there all by their lonesome… Waiting for flowers that were never going to be placed in them. I looked down at my fistful of colored pencils. And, well, you can guess where this is going…That is right! I just shoved them in. And they exploded outward so prettily. Almost like a bouquet of flowers.

No more pencils rolling all over the floor. No more yells from an overwhelmed mommy. Just a pretty little neat collection of pencils.

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The vases in these pictures are vases from Anthropologie that are stacked. Unfortunately, they no longer sell them. I do not have a fondness for any of the vases they are currently selling. The only ones I might consider would be this lava flow vase in yellow. or the pretty Majorca Purl Vase that is on sale right now.

I had no idea this would make me so happy. It is the little things, isn’t it?

I shared this on: My Romantic Home