Baseball Birthday Party

One of my husband's life long friends invited us to his son's first birthday last month. The invitation was no indication of what the party's theme was so I was pleasantly surprised (and a little bummed that she beat me to it) to find baseball was the theme.

Table decorations

Dessert with baseball picks 

Birthday boy banner 

Cute paper lanterns in theme lined the inside of the tent

Center pieces AND a snack! 

Favors - Big League Chew and Cracker Jacks, so cute! 

Birthday boy enjoying his baseball cake.

Here's my little goofball giving the puppy kisses during present time. 

The party was a home run down to the last detail. I'm so glad we were able to enjoy it! 

Vintage Wedding

So, if you're my friend on Facebook you've probably already seen this but I had to share in the excitement and write about it. My friends over at Crazy Together got married! It was a great summer wedding with a classic vintage feel and details that made the affair one I'll always remember.

The tables were covered with floral clothes, decorated with a mix of clear vases filled with various flowers and candles. The place settings were personalized disposable dinner plates (that really looked like chargers) topped with mixed china. The table numbers were on floral paper in frames. 

The head table. 

The came table was simple and elegant. 

This was a very creative guest book: vintage type writers asking for a messages for the happy couple. Between them sad a vintage suit case acting as a card box. 

Type Writer Guest Book 

Card Table

Vintage Guest Book 

 Also, a creative way to display escort cards.... a DOOR! Very neat.

Vintage Door for Escort Card Display

It was ALL about the DETAILS! They did a customized limited bar with a "Made To Be Mojito" and decorated with pictures of family member's weddings to tie in the "vintage vibe".

PHOTO OP! They had a vintage couch outside the tent for a fun photo setting. 

Andrea, Me & Mel. 

My hubs obviously enjoyed it. 

The happy couple made their entrance before dinner. She wore a very classic white lace dress with long veil and embellished belt. He wore a casual grey suit. 

Happy couple <3 

After dinner they surprised the crowd with an ice cream truck! Designed to look vintage, it came in as "Your Love Is Better Than Ice Cream" played and offered 4 flavor options and a small toppings bar.

Ice Cream truck

Ice Cream toppings

After their first dance the did a "parents dance" where both the bride and groom cut a rug with their respective parent. 

Parents dance

Groom's gang

It was a beautifully put together, fun evening. I'm so happy for Rob & Maria. I wish you both many years of happiness together! <3 #gavinsinlove

Dad-Chelor Party!

I swear I haven't forgotten you. I've been put on bed rest waiting for baby #2 to get here. Every time I go to my regular OBGYN appointment they send me to the hospital over night for more testing. They're calling it Gestational Hypertension because they're not ready to call it preeclampsia. At any rate, they don't really know what's wrong with me or how to fix it. What they do know is since I'm scheduled for a C-section (due to being a repeat customer) they are not interested in delivering early unless absolutely necessary. So I wait.... on bed rest.... cooped up in my home. Which would make one think I'd be more apt for writing on my blog but really I don't have much desire to do anything but get ready for the baby.

However, in the spirit of Father's Day, here's a look at a recent Dad-chelor/Diaper Party I threw for my husband. You see, my husband an I were together for 10 years before we got engaged. We were engaged exactly 47 minutes before we got married. We partied after our son was born on his 6th month date. Yup, got married.... twice and had a baby in about 10 months and 6 days. That didn't leave much time for celebrating traditional rituals like Bachelor parties. Sure, his boys tried to take him out but with limited time and therefore resources, I wanted to try to recreate the night. I invited over about 25 of his closest male influences, had dinner and entertainment prepared. Take a look:

ENTERTAINMENT

I stocked the bar with cigars and scotch



A variety of top shelf and standard scotches for the experienced and novice drinkers.

Same with the cigars. They averaged out to be about $14 each in a variety of Macanudos, Patron and Makers Mark dipped and a fruity influences Acid (That was a big hit). Finally, my husband added in Swisher Sweets for the cargar-ette smokers.

I also made sure poker was readily available. They played into the wee hours.

A little something for the parents to be: diaper signing! I wish I could share with you the totally inappropriate yet hilarious comments that they came up with. They'll be great for 4:00 am changings.

It was hosted in our bar because well... that's where the hooch is but also because the Tigers game was on!

Finally because it was so nice out, we had out door games set up like corn hole, ladder ball and specifically this favorite called Can Jam!

Some of the guys enjoying scotch & cigars.

Or pretzel stick cigars.

FOOD

What do men love more thatn meat? We got a nice prime rib roast, seasoned with salt and pepper and slow cooked for 8 hours!



On the side of the steaks were garlic and rosemary roasted potatoes and a handmade cedar salad.

There were also vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with crumbled Oreo cookie topping and little mustaches for a manly touch!

From what I understand (because no girls were allowed) the guys LOVED their dinner, puffed cigars while sipping scotch and play poker into the wee hours. Lots of great feedback all around.

 Here's a picture of the dad-to-be with the mom-to-be's Dad! You can see they had fun with the adult diapers too! ;-)

Best success with your future Dad-Chelor parties!!

DIY Wine Charms

I've already kind of posted about my DIY wine charms when I opened my Etsy shop 2 weeks ago. Now, let me show you how it's done! 

Materials: 

Metal hoop earrings with hook & eye latch 

Beads 

Charms 

Beading pliers

How To: 

1) Open your hoop and flatten out hook with pliers. This makes it easier for smaller beads to slip on to the ring with ease. 

2) Line up your beads and charm on re pattern and style you choose. 

3) Slide your beads on. I do this by hand. I've tried different tools but fingers are the most dexterous and cause less loss. 

4) Once done, recreate your hook with the bead pliers and close. 

See how easy that is? They make great accent to your kitchen or bar. They Ali make fabulous custom, personal gifts. Check out all the possibilities too! 

Feel Better Friend Food!

I hate when my people don't feel good. In the past week one of my best friends had a new baby, one of D's best friends had sinus surgery and D hurt his back being in the field during a busy work week. I did what I know to do best, take care of my people! H & I added a few extra foods to our weekly grocery trip and came home to prepare a big batch of "Feel Better Friend Food". I call it FBF Batches. I got inspired from another bloggers foodie post on Pintrest, switched it up a little to suit my lifestyle and got to work! I'll share the recipe for 1 tray even though we ended up making 4!!!

 

What you need:

 

1 lb box of penne pasta, cooked

4 oz of frozen spinach, defrosted

1 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved

1 lb of smoked sausage

1 jar of pasta sauce (I used garlic flavor for an extra kick)

8 ounces of mozzarella cheese, separated in two equal parts

1 cup of plain Greek yogurt

Garlic, salt, pepper, basil and oregano to taste

 

 

How to do it:

 

Mix all prepared ingredients in large pot, with exception of 1/2 the cheese. Once mixed well place in 9 x 13 glass or metal dish. Spread remaining cheese on top and cover. At this point you can freeze or bake. If frozen first, defrost when desired and bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden.

 

It was so good I actually ate almost all of one tray by myself for lunch/dinner over the course of 5 days week!

Hello, I'm new(ish) here!

Well hello again! For those of you who don't know me, I'm Christen Pietraz. A girl who wears many hats, one of which is a writer. Full disclosure, I've done this before. I've always been a binge blogger and recently harbored one called Beauty And The Unique. I loved BATU but unfortunately life happened while I was busy making other plans and my point of view changed.

In the last six months, since saying goodbye to BATU I; found out I was pregnant, got engaged, got married, had a baby and am learning to settle into my new skin. The only things that have remained constant are my husband, my spontaneity and my red hair. So I got to thinking about what would make me happy in forging my little piece of the world and it is to be The Gingerista.

What is a Gingerista you ask? Well, if you didn't already know being a red head is a way of life. It's about being bold, adventurous, feisty, fun, classy, sassy and rocking freckles! Not a brindy? No problem! To be a Gingerista it's all about subscribing to the way of life. And there's always bottle dye.

So please, follow along with my writing and join me on this wild ride! Want to see something, tell me I'm crazy or make a new friend? Email me at GingeristaCo@gmail.com. 

Sunday Summary: 2.15.15

This week started out on an extremely cute and happy note! H had his regular swim lesson on Monday morning and he couldn't have been happier. He loved learning and playing in the water. He even learned how to crawl out and jump into the water. Which he did very bravely. The bet part was during "Wheels on the Bus", when he was just squealing with joy! I'll post video soon.

Also this week, we had our monthly Ogden women's dinner at Cantoro's in Northville. Oh man, I had Penne with Vokda sauce, it was delicious. I've never had it with such flavorful sauce that included bacon, absolutely delicious. Their original shop is right around the corner from our old house. We used to get their lasagnas and tiramisu from to the deli. I thought that was good until I saw what they could  do on a grand scale, oh wow! I highly recommend shopping and eating in the restaurant there. 

This week was also Valentines Day! D "didn't realize" when he bought tickets for his annual Wings outing that it was the romantic holiday, but it worked out great. He took his dad and uncle, who have been extremely supportive this past year, to the game and the Olympia Club for dinner before. I on the other hand spent the night with my adorable date H, along with the other Hockey widow wives. We went out to dinner, had some drinks and laughed the night away. It was great! Don't worry, D made it up to me by letting me do a mini shopping spree for new maternity clothes. And a box of turtle chocolates. <3 

Today, I received one of the highest honors a girl can get. I was asked to be my niece Marnie's god mother at her baptism. It was so cool to stand up there and watch her start her journey in church. She wasn't extremely pleased with it but at least she's official. Poor little cutie could not get out of there fast enough, she just cried until she got to go to Sunday school! Never the less, I hope passing down a family bible from my great-grandmother, who was steadfastly faithful until the end, and a guardian angel cross necklace will help her remind her that we are here to support her in thighs is endeavor. 

As much as I loved that, I think the highlight of my week was seeing H start walking. Not just steps here and there, not figuring it out, not even accidentally gliding (or stumbling) across the floor. He's actually walking!!! Moving, grooving, almost running across the floor. He's even rocking shoes! Because of his fat feet, he kind of looks like he's wearing clown shoes. But still, he's walking!!! I'm so proud of my big boy and exhausted from chasing him. :-) 

So, crazy fun week. Excited for the next! 

DIY Baby Onesies

I have two friends who recently coupled up. A couple I never saw coming but love none the less. You see, she is outgoing, studies yoga and dabbles in vegan, gluten free, raw diets. He on the other hand is a bit more laid back, a very man's man who sports flannel plaid button downs to match his beard and stocks his freezer with his latest trophy. Two complete worlds that balance each other in one adorable, sweet, giggly relationship.

When the day came where their baby shower invitation arrived in the mail, I was so excited! Like every other shower invite, I quickly scoped out their registry and shopped away. But, since this is such a unique couple, containing now one of my oldest friends, I had to do something different. I searched high and low and decided it was going to have to be a custom job..... "One of a Kind Onesies".

The great thing about customizing onesies is the possibilities are endless. You can create any image you want on the onesies, with any saying, in any color. You also can use a plethora of tools to create the looks: felt tip fabric markers, fabric, paint, dye, embellishments, you name it! The first step in the process is to collect your inspirations and gather your materials.

For these two I wanted to represent two very distinct hobbies their lives: yoga and fishing. I chose to do two phrases with these onesies accompanied by fabric embellishment.

What you need for this is:
Onesies, cleaned

Fabric (fat quarters and quilt squares are perfect for this!)
Fabric Mod Podge
Fabric Permanent Markers
Paint brush
Fabric scissors

((Hot tip: chose a variety of sizes for the onesies ranging from 3-12 months because Mom & Dad might get a lot of one particular size from other guests & your gift can keep going!)


What to do:
1) Place cardboard inside of your onesie so that nothing seeps through to the other side. 2) Cut your shape from the fabric, I chose a complimenting color and drew my shape on the backside of my fabric. 3) Take your paint brush a place a good amount of fabric adhesive on the backside of the shape. Place the fabric shape on the onesie, adhesive side down, and smooth out. Let set for two hours before moving on. 4) Once ready, you can use the fabric markers or paint to write your quote out. 5) Once dry, take the paint brush and lightly brush the fabric adhesive over the fabric shape to seal. 6) Wait two more hours, once try you can turn insides out and wash in the gentle cycle. This process helps set the design as well as remove toxins to help keep the peanut safe. :-)

((Hot tip: Use scotch tape to create straight lines and start your quote in the middle of the phrase to create even spacing))

Once it's all done, you have adorable, personalized onesies for your friends!

***Recommendation: I highly recommend not using Tulip brand "Permanent Fabric Markers" because they are not easy to write with. As you can see in my onesies, the writing looks a bit sloppy because I was having such a hard time with the markers. I found that using Tulip fabric paint straight out of the mini plastic bottle works well because the bottle is easy to control and comes pre-made with a small "fine point" opening.***

*****UPDATE!!!***** Here's precious lil Ana wearing her yoga onesie in happy baby pose!