The Twilight-Themed Baby Shower
09 Apr 2012 2 Comments
in not kids Tags: Friends, party, photos, shower, twilight
Last Sunday, I co-hosted a Twilight-themed baby shower. I thought it was awesome. The expectant mom thought it was awesome. Therefore, it was awesome.
Back story: My friend Shaina is pregnant with her fifth child. When she told me, I realized that she hadn’t met our group of friends until she was pregnant with her fourth child, and we didn’t know her very well then. I happen to think every child – first, second, fifth, tenth – deserves a shower, so I immediately offered to throw her one. Shaina said she didn’t need one, but it wasn’t about need, and she did look like she wanted one. I said something about her sparkling… and the Twilight-themed baby shower was born! Shaina is far more of a Twilight fan than I am, though I think I’m a little more “squee” about what I do like. So anyway… our mutual friend Liz offered to have it at her house. Shaina picked April Fool’s Day. I joined Pinterest and started planning.
Oddly enough, although there are tons of Twilight party ideas on the web, there aren’t a lot of Twilight baby showers. I took some of the movie party ideas and added a few ideas of my own. This blog post is mostly photos of what we did.
First, the invitation:
The fonts are Twilight (of course) and Times New Roman (in which the books are set). The background is from the digital scrapbooking kit Fanpire, by Tangie and the swirls are by Fairytale Studios.
Then, we planned the food. We decided to go with lasagna, because Bella makes it for Charlie. You can’t have Italian without garlic bread and salad. For snacks/appetizers, I made Rosalie’s Werewolf Kibble and sliced some apples. Although there are tons of Twilight cocktail and mocktail recipes, I decided to keep it simple. Shaina loved the blood type labels from Hostess with the Mostess, and I really wanted to use the punch bowl that Max and I received for our wedding back in 2002. So we got some Crystal Geyser juice and wrapped them in the aforementioned labels, and I chose Bloody Bella punch. For all of the food and drink, I grabbed some quotes from the books. Thankfully, I have the books in PDF, so I could search for the word “salad” and find two instances, in Twilight. (The papers and elements in the quotes are from the digital scrapbooking kit Fanpire, by Tangie.)
Don't you want to know if I drink blood?
Bloody Bella punch. "Drink" ~ Edward, Twilight
Drinks and apples
Shaina's daughter drinking Type B
Lasagna, salad, and garlic bread, with quotes from the books for each
Rosalie's Werewolf Kibble: this stuff is awesome and addictive!
Aren't you concerned about my diet?
For me, one of the best ways to incorporate a theme is to get an amazing cake. There are a number of Twilight cake examples online. Shaina picked one, and I called Jen of Jen’s Custom Cakes and Pastries. I gave her a picture, and she gave me this cake:
Cake toppers: All edible! The apple is a Rice Krispie treat covered in fondant
Jen’s cakes are always beautiful and tasty!
I tend to go light on decorations in general. Because most Twilight decorations seemed to be for nighttime parties, and this one was the middle of the day, I suppose I went especially light. I just got some red and black streamers for one room. I created a centerpiece for one of the three tables, based on the book covers. I couldn’t find a black and white chessboard, so the morning of the party, I made a chessboard using cardboard, 12×12 white paper, a Creative Memories square punch, and black paper. I also couldn’t find black and white chess pieces, so my Dad gave me some extra pieces that I painted white and red. The tulip is a fake white tulip painted red. Ironically, Liz has the “New Moon” tulips in her front yard, growing for real. Her husband offered to let me use one, but they were too pretty to cut. I sprinkled feathers liberally on this table and on the candy buffet table.
Twilight centerpiece
The candy buffet table? Yes! Shaina decided that she wanted a candy buffet as part of the favors. I actually had a lot of fun coming up with a candy for each of the Cullens and Bella. There were also a few random candies, chosen for looks, taste, or both, that I managed to fit in as well. Each candy was put into a glass holder and I typed up quotes to go with all of them.
- Bella = Strawberry Bon Bons
- Edward = Butterscotch
- Carlisle = Chocolate Band-Aids
- Esme = Caramels
- Emmett = Gummy Bears
- Rosalie = Candy Bling Rings
- Jasper = Sour Patch Kids
- Alice = Pixie Stix
- Breaking Dawn = Hershey’s Kisses
- Baby = Easter M&Ms
- Immortality = Old Fashioned Candy Sticks
- Volterra = Red Licorice
- Eyes = Black Licorice
Candy buffet
Dr. Carlisle Cullen, Chocolate Band-Aids
Esme Cullen, Caramels
Alice Cullen, Pixie Stix
"So are you going to be my Valentine? Since you didn't get me a fifty cent box of candy, it's the least you can do."
To complete the favors, I printed out bookmarks from Binty’s Designs. I also made a “Twilight Lullabies” CD, because Shaina wanted something baby-related. So I took the “soothing songs from the Twilight playlists and soundtracks” and put them on a CD. Everything was in a clear bag that Jackson and I decked out with sparkles.
Bookmark and CD in bling-ed bag
I almost forgot about the Mini Moose banner. For reasons that are kind of long to explain, Shaina and her family call the baby “Mini Moose.” I saw this banner and created a banner in the same style. Shaina found Twilight-inspired paper at JoAnn Fabrics. I printed large letters in the Twilight font and cut them out. This is the banner on my table – I didn’t get a really good one of it on the wall.
Mini moose banner
I should probably add a picture of Shaina, huh?
Shaina and plate
Surprisingly, Breaking Dawn Part I Didn’t Suck
19 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
My friend Shaina and I went to see Breaking Dawn Part I today. Shaina and I went to mock the movie. Neither Robert Pattinson nor Kristin Stewart can actually act (at least in these movies) so you pretty much have to mock. For what it’s worth, I think part of the poor acting is due to poor direction. So much of the Twilight books take place inside the characters’ heads that it’s hard to translate that to the screen. You need a really good director to actually direct the actors to do more than “Look stricken!” and “Brood!”.
Anyway, Team Jacob fans may actually like this movie. It begins with Taylor Lautner taking off his shirt. Jacob and the wolves get the best material and the best effects.
For some reason, the makeup people cannot seem to do vampire makeup. The vampires’ skin never looks the same twice, and it’s almost never pale enough. Shaina also immediately noticed that their hair was all different. Vampires can’t grow hair. Esme’s hair is a completely different color. Vampires can’t dye their hair either, at least, not for long periods of time. (Long story.) The makeup people did a horrible job with Bella’s bruises after her first night with Edward. However, they did a great job of making Bella look like crap while she was pregnant.
Charlie got a couple of good lines. My favorite – he was looking at the artwork in the Cullens’ stairwell. In the books, Edward explains to Bella that Esme made it out of all of the graduation caps they’ve accumulated over the past 80 years. Charlie says to Renee, “Are those graduation caps?”. Renee replies, “How creative!” Charlie says, “Or weird.”
Everyone should have laughed at Emmett’s toast, and I don’t care how famous the girl who plays Jessica Stanley is now, they shouldn’t have given her a toast.
The movie stayed to the plot for the most part, and I think they kept what was good from the book. They kept the moment that Edward realizes he can hear the baby, and that’s just about the only part that Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattinson do well. It made me happy.
I had to look through my fingers at the birth scene. I’m not so bad with blood anymore, but needles – ack! – and there were a lot of them. Renesmee came out covered in chunky blood, and Shaina said she looked animatronic. The Renesmee on whom Jacob imprinted was CGI.
There were a bunch of cheesy, EPCOT-like effects of the vampire venom working inside Bella’s body. The movie ended with vampire Bella opening her eyes.
Some of the credits rolled…
And then we see the Volturi getting a message from Carlisle that Bella has been changed.
End movie.
Academy of Sciences
05 Apr 2010 2 Comments
in outings Tags: chipmunks, museum, sting rays, twilight
Jack’s school had an “in-service” day today, so a bunch of us went to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Despite a rocky start, the day was enjoyable. I will say, however, that I still have “If You Like It Then You Should Have Put on Ring On It” by the Chip-ettes in my head. Mini-vans with DVD players – curse or blessing?
Our first stop was lunch, which cost an insane amount of money, and meant waiting in two different lines for about half an hour. Never again will I buy food at the Academy of Sciences. Seven dollars for a hot dog?!?!
C and Jack
When we finally got going, we found sting rays!
Guitarfish and Sting Ray
Jack was very excited. “I never seen sting rays before!” There were reef sharks in the tank as well. From the sting rays, we meandered a bit until we found African penguins.
African Penguins
Then we meandered some more. The museum is really geared towards older kids. There wasn’t anything hands-on. The kids liked some of the skeletons – they have whales and a T-Rex. The Academy really gets you on the extras. Both the Planetarium and the Extreme Mammals exhibit cost extra. This after $25 to get me in and $15 to get Jack in.
We could check out the living roof.
Jack and Mommy
After that, we all went back down down down to the aquarium. I think this part was my favorite. They had tons of fish, of course. They also had a little tide pool exhibit, where the kids could touch starfish and sea urchins. I was impressed with Jack’s ability to pet the sea urchin.
Three Friends and Jack at the Tidepool
Oh, and just outside the aquarium was the swamp, home to an albino alligator. The kids didn’t believe he was real until he opened his eye. Then, they kind of freaked.
Albino Alligator
We spent a great deal of time in the aquarium, before heading upstairs. The kids played out on the lawn. Although it was supposed to be cold, cloudy, and rainy, it was really sunny and cool.
Jack’s favorite part of the day was seeing the sting rays. He had to say good-bye to them before we left. He said something about how he hoped they’d enjoy their Christmas in there. Later, he asked me how the big fish played guitar.
Oh, and because the rest room lines were so long, I let Jack go into the men’s room by himself, twice. He was very proud of himself. I also have to commend the Academy on including toddler steps up to the sinks.
We watched some Dr. Seuss DVDs on the way back. Mike Meyers owes everyone in America $10 for The Cat In the Hat. YUCK!
On a completely unrelated note, Jack started singing “Video Killed the Radio Star” in the bathtub. Max was impressed that I had taught him that. He thought I was poisoning the child with the Twilight play list. Max asked Jack, “Are you Team Edward or Team Jacob?” Jack replied, “I’m not on a team.” He later decided that “Mommy’s on Team Bella.”
My kid is AWESOME!
It’s Been Awhile
25 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
in not kids Tags: health, twilight
(originally posted on LiveJournal)
*sigh*
OK… so, I was going to post about the sheer amount of Twilight fan-fic I’ve been reading over the last several months, but then realized I probably shouldn’t advertise my blatant addiction.
We need to add a room to our house. I need someone to draw it. I have no idea how to go about finding this person.
When I was in high school, I had a perfect complexion. Now I’m middle-aged, and my face is all red. I have to find a paraben-free, fragrance-free, menthol-free, phthalate-free face wash/moisturizer or something. The Body Shop changed the tea tree wash and lotion. Blah.
We also need health insurance, because starting March 1, we have to pay for COBRA. My son’s birth mother has better insurance than we do. Why? She has MEDICAID. I fail to see how someone who works full-time should have to pay over $1K per month for crappy insurance when someone who doesn’t/can’t work full-time gets everything-is-covered free insurance. I don’t begrudge S, not at all. I’m pissed off at Congress and the US government as a whole.
Yeah, this is why I don’t write more often. My brain is a strange and disordered place.
Random Thoughts from the Last 2 Months
05 Jan 2010 Leave a Comment
in update Tags: birthday, Christmas, twilight, work
New Moon, The Movie
I went to see this with my friend Christy the day after Thanksgiving. I actually liked it, for the most part, until they got to Italy. (I know no one except ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=3){kind=small}
donnajean2277 cares about this, but still.) However, there were certain plot points missing from the first half that bothered me. First, Bella hit Paul without hurting herself. Probably my favorite part of Eclipse is when she hits Jacob and breaks her hand. Can’t really do that now, if they have any sense of continuity. Second, we never hear Bella tell Jacob about the Cullens’ gifts. Once they get to Italy, it’s all crap. Edward is supposed to be a much better fighter. Alice should try harder to restrain Edward. Bella just friggin’ stands there. It’s just all bad.
Jack’s Birthday
Is January 17. We were going to have it at the crepes place, which has a play area. But the crepes place closed. When I told Jack, he reacted with more sadness than he did when my mom died. He got a stricken look and lied down on the couch. He said, “That makes me upset.” Poor guy. We’re going to have the party at our house, so we have to move out most of the furniture.
Work
Sucks. I’m documenting PowerDesk, which is a file manager, like Windows Explorer. It’s the most boring software ever, and there’s a ton of legacy stuff in there, like support for products that haven’t been released since 1995. That’s 15 years ago. That makes me old.
Christmas
Is a whole other post. Max’s aunt, grandmother, mother, and father all came down with the stomach flu. We didn’t. But we only got to see Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Clyde for about 4 days of the 7 we were there. Everyone was very upset. Jack got a ton of *stuff* though. We have very generous friends and family members.
I also got my purple earrings from lindalee , which made me very happy. A proper thank you is forthcoming. (Yes, I actually ordered thank you cards for Jack’s present, and I will write mine at the same time.)
I got $50 in iTunes gift cards, $150 in Target gift cards, $25 to Starbucks, $15 to Jamba Juice, some New Moon trading cards, a Jack-made ornament, the first season of Charmed, the third season of Gilmore Girls… I know I’m forgetting something. We also hit a Borders Express that was closing, so I got the book Philosophy and Twilight. (Obsession? What obsession?)
I created a tribute scrapbook of my mom’s life for my dad, grandmother, and sister. I finished it on December 30, so Ann doesn’t have it yet.
I created a 4 hour long movie of Jack’s first four years for Sandy & Clyde and Jack’s birthmom. I finished it at 4am on Christmas, so S doesn’t have her copy yet.
Sing Off
Max and I are listening to the Sing Off on his computer. I know the Bubs don’t win – sigh – but I don’t know who does. I’m just glad that the SoCals are gone. Honestly, they were awful!
I think I’ve been very productive this year so far. It’s my goal (not resolution) to remember people’s birthdays and to keep in better contact.
So, I think that’s enough for now. Happy New Year!
He Knows Me So Well
27 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
in conversation Tags: Christmas, conversation, twilight
(originally posted on LiveJournal)
“Yeah. It’s what you read all the time.”
*sigh*
Dear People
13 Oct 2009 Leave a Comment
in not kids Tags: twilight, work
(originally posted on LiveJournal)
Dear Contractors,
You get paid $55 per hour, which is at least $20 more per hour than I make. So why am I awake until midnight fixing your mistakes?
Sincerely,
The Only Actual Technical Writer Employed by The Company
Dear US Manager,
If you want your projects done on time, I have a few suggestions:
- Fire the contractor you just love. She doesn’t know FrameMaker, and she’s belligerent.
- Hire my husband. Why? Because he’s a damn good writer, an even better editor, and he knows FrameMaker almost as well as I do. And, because it’s insulting to have to do other people’s work when I know a more than competent individual who can do the job.
Sincerely,
The Only Actual Technical Writer Currently Employed by The Company
Dear Husband,
You really are a good writer, and I’m sorry people suck. I love you.
Love,
The Only Wife Currently Enjoyed by You
Dear Stephenie Meyer,
Please write Midnight Sun. Trolling the Twilighted fanfic web site is beginning to feel a bit desperate.
Sincerely,
A Recent Heroin Addict
Real Life
05 Oct 2009 Leave a Comment
in not kids Tags: money, neighbors, sassy, twilight
(originally posted on LiveJournal)
Aside from Disneyland, there has been lots going on.
My neighbor’s 16 year old son was shot on his way to school two weeks ago. The news outlets butchered what really happened. It boils down to, the Kid was shot because he was wearing red pants. The papers attributed it to “gang-related violence”. Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Kid had some friends who are gang affiliated, but as for the Kid himself? I don’t think so. The police caught the guys who did the shooting. The Kid was out of the hospital for about 36 hours, then went back in with a liver infection. He’s back home today.
I have to figure out if we can refinance our house. Our mortgage payment is now just $3 too low to qualify for the Federal program. We bought our house for $426K and it’s now worth $205K.
We have some money from my mom. I have to decide if we pay the credit card debt, hang onto it in case Max doesn’t find a job real soon, do a little of both, pay for some needed work on the house, save it for our next adoption…
Unemployment hasn’t paid Max in two months. Again. We need that money.
Our Sassy cat is sick again. This time, she’s vomiting. She may have swallowed a string. She’s at the vet tonight on an IV. We’ll know more tomorrow.
I can’t sleep tonight. I have to do a sleep-deprived EEG tomorrow. It figures that I’m very tired already, when, on nights that I should be sleeping, I’m wide awake. It doesn’t help that my knee is randomly stabbing at me.
I’m listening to the Twilight playlists on Stephenie Meyer’s site. Some of it, I just don’t get. Some of it is spot-on. I’m still reading fan fic at an alarming rate. *sigh* Crack.
This Post Is In No Way About Twilight
22 Aug 2009 Leave a Comment
(originally posted on LiveJournal)
Yeah, I didn’t think I’d fool anyone with that. (Especially given the icon and the tags.)
Max rented Twilight for me the other night. I watched it last night (Saturday).
Wow was that bad! I’m glad I knew beforehand. Robert Pattinson is no Edward. Sorry. I hope he gets better for New Moon. Though that is mostly Bella and Jacob, Edward has a huge role there at the beginning and end.
The only thing that I liked better than the book was that the 3 vampires – James, Laurent, and Victoria – were going on a killing spree. The first book didn’t have a lot of, you know, plot, so it was a good add-on. I also like that Laurent was black, Tyler was black, and Eric and Angela were Asian. (I don’t remember ethnicities ever being discussed in the book.) Sadly, they reduced Alice and the others to virtually nil. The guy who plays Jasper looks like he may actually have been a reanimated corpse, with really bad hair. Oh, and both Pattinson and Kristen Stewart would sometimes randomly talk like they were from New York. A rich part of New York. Finally, Bella was much less intuitive this time. I liked that she figured out so much on her own in the books.
I went to Costco and they had New Moon for $6.89. So I bought it. I saw that they didn’t have Eclipse, and thought, “Oh well, I’ll get it used”.
Brief interlude – my friend gave me PDFs of all of the books, but printing them out would likely cost as much in paper, ink, and time as just buying them. Plus I was in a shopping mood today. I actually bought Christmas presents for people while I was out. (Mostly, I hate shopping, so I try to be productive when I am in a shopping mood.)
Anyway, Costco didn’t have Eclipse, which just came out in paperback. I moved one of the New Moons, and there was an Eclipse. For $6.89 So I have that too. Don’t tell Max. (Hi Honey!)
My Job and Another Jack Funny
07 Aug 2009 Leave a Comment
in funny story, general Tags: humor, Jackson, twilight, work
(originally posted on LiveJournal)
I love my son.
I hate my job.
I’ve been up til about 2 am most nights working. All of our products are released in August and September. They pay me to do the job of less than one person, and I’m doing the job of three.
The annoying VP who makes my life difficult won’t be a VP anymore. He’s going to work for one of my managers. My French manager thinks that will be the end of ex-VP. I’m not so sure, but I really hope so.
We finally hired another contractor. This one is about my age, and has 2 kids. I like her. If she lasts through this, I might even friend her on Facebook. (She found me, but wrote that she would understand if I didn’t friend her.) As I’ve been so punchy from stress and lack of sleep, she’s gotten a very candid rundown of Avanquest.
Oh, and the utility she documented ate her computer. So she bought a new one. Yeah, I like her.
Anyway, I have to go. I’m very tired and still have to shower. I have something like 200 pages to finish by Monday. I don’t know if I can ask New Contractor to do more – she’s working on the last 50 or so pages of the book I’m working on. I don’t know how fast she works, or how thorough she is. I can be fast or thorough, but not both, and it’s practically killing me. This new book is almost worse than Greeting Card Factory. I’ll have some really crappy writing to share when I’m all done converting it all.
Oh, and I just read a 4 chapter story about Emmett, Jasper, and Edward (from Twilight) going hunting and quoting Monty Python, The Princess Bride, and Shakespeare, respectively. It’s completely gratuitous, but it’s funny. Very, very funny. It would probably be funnier if I liked Monty Python.
- Location:home, Antioch, CA
- Mood:
exhausted
