Mom's Birthday Celebration

I realized last year that in my lifetime, I had never really planned anything for my mom's birthday before. But looking back on all the amazing parties she's thrown for me during the years, including the planning and help surrounding my wedding last year, my sister and I felt it was due time to pay her back and do something for her. Not to mention, my mom needed a pick-me up after a difficult year of changing schools where she worked, and taking care of my grandma in her finals days. (This is not to diminish my dad's contributions and stress he's been under too! He deserves a huge thank you just as much as my mom.)

So with my mom's impending birthday, a few weeks ago my dad, sister, and I sent her this:

After a really tough year
a new one's begun
And we want to make sure
you have lots of fun

Your birthday is near
and we want to you know
you shouldn't plan a thing
we'll run the show

So kick back and relax
we've taken care of it all
Reserve September 15th
we hope you'll have a ball!

And so, that was all my mom knew.  She was told to be ready by 2:00 and we'd take care of it from there. We had a "light" (is it light if you overeat?) lunch of bread, grapes, cheese, and shrimp cocktail at my sister's place and then began our day by heading out to Pinnacle Ridge Winery for some wine tasting!

We bought three bottles of wine here! I made sure to bring plenty of (personalized) water bottles along so we wouldn't get too loopy or dehydrated at the wineries:

With her actual birthdate instead of the 15th

After that, we headed over to Clover Hill Winery for some more tasting! We liked this place much better. It was prettier, larger, and had a better selection of wine.

 

The Family :)

We knew that two wineries would be enough wine tasting for my mom...she's a lightweight. We had a little time to kill before our dinner reservation, so we headed over to Grim's Greenhouse Farm Market which was right across the street. I just love places like this in the Fall!

We had dinner reservations at The Grille at the Bear Creek Mountain Resort and Conference Center. My mom was super surprised when her good friends started to arrive with gifts in hand! Below, Beth (in blue), is showing off her "Bear Creek Mountain" t-shirt, compliments of the restaurant. What I didn't catch on camera was the waitress spilling an entire tray of drinks at our table, and onto Beth (who was wearing a white blouse no less) when we arrived. It was a bit of a scene, but the waitress and restaurant handled it really well and will reimburse Beth for any cleaning or replacement of her white blouse.

 

After our amazing dinner...

My sister, Melissa, enjoying her burger

My mom made an impromptu speech thanking everyone for being there and surprising her

And then the gift opening began...

The restaurant manager and hostess even brought these flowers to my mom because she mentioned she liked them when we arrived! The restaurant was a fantastic place, I couldn't have been happier with the service and the food, even despite the little drink mishap!

To close out the night, we headed back to my sister's house for cake and ice cream!

Mom showing off her new apron

My husband is very helpful :)
Carrying all her gifts to the car!

We ordered a Chocolate with Peanut Butter Cream cake from Emmaus Bakery, and it was delicious. I had always heard that this bakery was amazing, and now I can say that I agree!

All in all it was a successful day, and everything went mostly how we hoped it would go! Most importantly, my mom had an awesome time, and that's all we could have hoped for.

Happy Birthday to a loving and deserving Mom, we love you very much!

Flowers from her friends, Christine and Jim's, garden

Guest Post: My Mother & a GIVEAWAY!

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful husband!!

Cake made by Kerry for his birthday last year

Today's post is brought to you by my mother. Her last guest post about her troubles finding a mother-of-the-bride dress was wildly popular, and she's back now to talk about making the bags for my bridesmaids gifts! Take it away mom!

Sewing is as much about creativity as it is an expression of love for me. While sewing I am concentrating meditatively on my creation while at the same time reminiscing about the person I am sewing for. So when Laura asked me to make tote bags for the bridal party it was a labor of love. Most of these girls I have known since they were toddlers and teens and therefore, there are many memories stitched into those bags.

The actual process was an adventure. First, we needed to decide the style of the bags which led to a two hour drawing and coloring session with Laura.

Next we went to Joanne Fabrics and Crafts to "audition" fabrics for the totes. That was at least another two hours of comparing and contrasting color and pattern choices. We finally settled on three fabrics; a solid green, a striped green, beige, and brown, and a paisley brown and green (My favorite). Once all of that was figured out it was time to begin construction.

I decided the easiest thing to do was to make a patterns of each section of the tote out of interfacing. Then I would place the pattern on the fabric, place my rotary square on top of it carefully lining up the edges and squaring the corners. Then I’d swipe the edges of the rotary ruler with my rotary cutter making straight, clean cuts like magic (the rotary cutter is the best invention in the world!).

I used an iron on interfacing on the lining of each bag. I ironed the interfacing onto the lining of my first bag and the heat from the iron damaged the fabric! UGGHHH! But this is sometimes my favorite part of sewing. My favorite saying in sewing is “There are no mistakes only opportunities to embellish.” So rather than waste the fabric I salvaged most of it and turned it into an outside pocket for the bag. Once I got that first tote done I took a picture of it on my phone and sent it to "The Boss" for approval.

She liked it and I was on a roll from that point on. Making seven identical totes would have been too boring for me so while each bag is similar in design they are also individualized for each girl.

(Here's mom with all the bags ready to go!)

While making these bags I came across a tutorial on Noodlehead for a lined make up bag and decided that would be fun for each girl at the Bridal Shower as a little teaser to the bigger bags they would eventually be getting.

That meant another seven bags (plus one for a give away on Laura’s blog) and then I also decided to make one for each of my sister’s three daughters. I am really addicted to these bags!  They go together pretty quickly and easily and they make a really nice gift.

Now on to my favorite giveaway I've done so far!! My mom has made one extra Bag for one Saying "I Do" Reader!! (Thanks Mom!)

To Enter:
1. Leave me a comment below why you would like this bag AND/OR leaving a comment trying to convince my mom to open her own Etsy Shop and sell these bags! (I mean come on, RIGHT?!)

Extra Entries: 
2. Follow my blog, and leave me a comment saying you do.
3. Follow me on twitter @Lwoodsny and leave me a comment saying you do.
4. Tweet about this giveaway mentioning @Lwoodsny in your tweet, and leave me a comment saying so.

Contest will end next Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at 12:00 MIDNIGHT, and the winner will be announced on Friday, September 2nd! Good Luck!