Last weekend we celebrated my mom's retirement (and her b-day - this week) with a Tiki Party at our family place on the water. Our family is a Tiki kind of family and we spend a lot of time in the Keys, so it was a fitting way to celebrate her retirement.
My mom is an amazing mother, sister, daughter, aunt... She exudes a peace about life and a faith that I can only hope to gain someday. She is caring, giving, patient and such a great listener. She has been very successful - in the top of her field for most of my life, but still always had time to be a wonderful, supportive and present mother, mentor and friend to me. While she won't quit working forever (she has to be contributing to some type of greater good), I'm thankful that she will at least have more time to relax, regroup and enjoy whatever comes her way with less restrictions.
I got the idea for the decorations from a post on Amy Atlas's blog. Lindi, an awesome designer who you can read all about at love the day, was featured on Amy's site. She threw an amazing Luau Party for friends and designed the most darling party supplies for it. I saw it and had to have it. She even customized it to Tiki instead of Luau for me. She is great to work with! Please check her out. I will be using her services again without a doubt!
Hey, for great, low sugar strawberry lemonade (above in the punch bowl): Mix 2-3 tubs Crystal Light Lemonade and 3-5 Equal or Splenda packets (or your favorite sweetener) with 4-6 qts water (2 qts per tub). Cut the tops off about a 1 container of fresh strawberries and cut in half. Toss berries in to the lemonade and let sit overnight - I say at least 8 hours to really get the berry flavor to come through. Then either drain the old berries out, or leave them in, but add some new, fresh berries on top (frozen are great here because it helps keep the lemonade cold). Slice a lemon or two and float slices on top. YUMMY! Kids like it too and is much lower in sugar then regular lemonade. You can even add your favorite adult beverage if you're into that.
My 80 year old grandma had her first margarita at the party. I don't usually drink margaritas, but made them especially for her because she said something so funny...and so sad the last time I saw her. She said, "Before I die I want to have a margarita. I don't know why exactly...I just hear people talk about them and they sound good." So, I had to find the best margarita recipe around and give her a little taste. I'm sure she hasn't had a drink in years - and very few in her whole life. I've can't remember ever seeing her have a drink or even talk about one in my 30+ years of life. It was fun to do for this for her. She really enjoyed the drink and the experience of all her girls doing it together. The young ones drank virgin smoothies to take part in the fun.
Centerpieces...
Love that view...
Famous carrot cake recipe again...always a crowd pleaser!
Bought mom a Kindle...LOVE MINE! If you enjoy reading, it is absolutely worth the money. If you don't, you might find that you like reading more on the Kindle.
Hope you enjoyed a glimpse into our Tiki Party! It was such an awesome time spent with my very favorite people (my family). Again, it's been sort of a rough week in the photo department here. Had a knock down drag out with my editing software. Sorry for the quality for some of the pics. Hopefully we get things worked out soon!
