50th Birthday Party

Both of my parents turned "50" this month - for my mom, it's TODAY! :) In honor of this milestone in their lives, I wanted to throw them a joint celebration with all of our family. Naturally, I turned to Pinterest for ideas...

One of my favorite ideas was creating a poster commemorating the year they were born, which in their case was 1963. The poster was more than a decoration though - it proved useful for a game we played later in the evening that involved trivia about the year 1963. Those that paid attention to the poster definitely had an advantage! 

Another Pinterest idea I had fun executing was the floral "50" inspired by this pin. I photographed my own execution of this project and plan to blog about it soon! What I loved about this craft is that it not only anchored the theme of the decor, but it was also a souvenir that my parents got to take home after the party! 

The party favors ("the 50s are HOT!") were another Pinterest-inspired idea - Hot Tamales! :)

One idea that I came up with last minute was to have all the guests write down "advice for turning 50" or a short message to my parents. We photographed each person &/or couple holding up their sign so I can compile them to give to my parents later on. Here are a few of my favorites...

Happy birthday, Mom & Dad! I'm incredibly blessed to have you as my parents! I love you! :)

Thanks for reading! If you ever have a 50th birthday party to plan or know someone else who will, I hope this post will provide some inspiration! 

Chevron Chic

- outfit details - 
top || Francesca's Collections (similar)
jeans || Old Navy
heels || Charlotte Russe
clutch || Francesca's Collections (older)
statement necklace || Charlotte Russe (older)
watch || Michael Kors 

My mom recently surprised me with an early birthday present - the cute chevron top pictured above! I'm grateful that even though I'm about to turn 24, my mom still buys clothes for me and thinks of me when she's out shopping :). I'm not the only one in my family with a September birthday though - my mom, dad, and brother all have birthdays this month too! My husband and I threw my parents a joint-birthday party over this past weekend to celebrate both of them turning 50 this year - such a fun evening! I'll be sharing a post with all the party decorations and details later this week, so stay tuned!

style tip || Look for great "necklace and heels" combos - you can pair them with a variety of tops and bottoms and always have a pulled together look!

Have a marvelous Monday!

high note: 23rd Birthday

I missed last Friday's "high note" post due to the pure craziness that has been my life for the past couple of weeks! September 29 was my 23rd birthday, and October 7 was my one year anniversary with my boyfriend Reed, so needless to say my last couple of weekends have been packed! 

Birthdays are always a great reminder of the sweet, precious people in my life - they always make me feel so special and loved! Here are some pics from my birthday week and the loved ones who shared it with me! :)

Every Thursday morning, my amazing team and I have a weekly meeting at Panera. The Thursday before my birthday,  Kristy (we sing in Warr Acres together & she's also Reed's cousin!) surprised me with these adorable - and delicious - cupcakes! 

To my additional surprise, Kristy gave me these darling chevron mugs that she hand-painted! I absolutely love them!

This girl is an absolute gem of a friend/sister, and I love her to pieces! 

Every year, my mom never fails to make sure I wake up to something like this on the morning of my birthday. She really is the sweetest, cutest, most thoughtful mom around. 

I thought this gift idea was so cute and clever! (My mom said she found it on Pinterest, of course) Chocolate, money, jewelry, perfume - seriously, what more could a girl want?! :) 

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, my best friend Katie and I have a tradition of making each other gifts for our birthdays. Each year she continues to blow me away with her creativity and thoughtfulness! Each of the canvases above have lyrics to different songs that I've written over the years! I can't wait to put these up in my future home! Grateful for a best friend who's been so supportive of my music!

My wonderful boyfriend Reed went above and beyond on my birthday and our anniversary (I'll be going into more detail about our anniversary in another post)! He surprised me with this cute little set-up (I love the touch of the iPad slideshow of our pictures!) which included a personalized "coupon" he designed for me to pick out a Michael Kors watch of my choice, something I've been secretly wanting for a while!

He's the cutest and sweetest! :) 

This is the one we eventually landed on! I absolutely adore it and have worn it almost every day since. It literally goes with virtually everything! Most of all, I love looking at it and instantly stopping to think about how blessed I am to be with a guy who makes me feel so special, loved and appreciated! 

All in all, my birthday was nothing short of wonderful! Excited for all that the 23rd year of my life will hold! Thanks for reading! 

-Lael

The new panoramic feature on the iPhone update/iPhone 5 is awesome! Birthday dinner at Zio's!