Party planning and mission accomplished!

One thing to my fellow bloggers...nearly had a heart attack when I signed on this morning to feedburner to change my delivery time to my subscribers and saw my thousands of subscribers GONE! Apparently this is a known problem that they are working on...so don't be alarmed if you sign on and see the same thing.

Wow what a weekend! We had to go to the city Friday night for a function, but it was far from relaxing as the entire time my head was spinning with all had to do for my family party on Saturday....the drinks I still needed to buy, a market list a mile long,  figuring out if I had the right amount of plates, do I have silverware for 50? Yep......panic mood ensued. Getting home never felt so good as I sprang into action to do damage control. Things were better than I expected and I went to bed thinking I could pull it off. Sat woke up to beautiful skies and a fair dose of anxiety. Several hours later, after lots of little last minute errands and prepping, the party started coming together. I always allow myself to run around and stress up to a certain point, but I always (and this really works for me) set a time where I must be done with any errands and a time where I get my rest time. My 'cut off" was 1 pm....and sure enough by that time I had no need to get back in my car. Everything I needed was done and at home.....woo hoo.My other cutoff time was 4 and like clockwork I went up to my room and took a power nap (yes Mom I can admit that after all these years of you drilling that into me, they really do work)! So at about 5 I started prepping, getting all my appetizers under way, placing all the flowers where they needed to be, and basically getting the house all "prettied up". I always get in the party mood when I get to this stage.......I do not have any pictures to show you of the actual party......everything I must say looked so pretty. But I was so busy playing hostess that there wasn't a second to reach for my camera and sneak a picture besides think it would have been awkward to be running around on a photo shoot....lol. Next time I need a photographer:) But here's a recap of everything leading up to it...........WARNING EXTREMELY PICTURE HEAVY, SIT BACK, GRAB ANOTHER CUP OF COFFEE!!
Any time I want to entertain it always has to start with the flowers. Always. Any excuse to buy flowers, especially my beloved white orchids! I do have a local florist who carries beautiful ones but I have taken to doing them myself lately......I get a lot of pleasure out of it. This time I actually did them in the trunk of my car.......yep it became a makeshift florist:)

Batch one of my flowers ready for their makeover.......

Containers galore and here we go!

A big bag of moss to the rescue....

And we are done.....time to bring them inside

Finding their new "homes"

All the silver getting wrapped up in pretty napkins...

Guess whats getting hung!!!! My new chandelier.............

Using the sideboard as a buffet for the dinner plates

And my new sconces got put up in the living room....well two of them, rest this week!

Got a mirror hung behind buffet

Moving to the front of the house........

Of course I decorated the front of the house too....simple but I think very pretty

Loving the new softer colors of pumpkins...white, celadon and a pale melon....such neat colors!

And moving back  inside.........

 Even my two new dog paintings got hung...........

Love "dressing up" a vanity with all kinds of pretties........

Don't you love my new little cherub soap dish! Just added it to my online store.....

Peek into the pantry which was being used as a bar

One of my guests sent me this magnificent floral arrangement, its about 3 feet tall!

Surprise! Got my new chandelier up in the dining room and its perfect!!!!! I really love it.....brought down a pair of lamps from guest room just to use for the night

Another surprise...got my new sconces up in the living room....LOVE them!

Stunning aren't they?

The room is far from done, you have to imagine it with the right chairs, getting a mantle finally and the gorgeous chinoiserie paper that will grace the walls

Used this small English console as a table to hold the appetizer plates

First tray getting put out....sushi always one of the first things to go

I had a small round table for a few stationary appetizers and we had passed hor deuvres too (thankfully some left over for a serious eating session later today)

Icing on the cake...waking up to some goodies waiting to be opened, flowers enough to open up my own little florist and a box of chocolates from one of my favorite shops..........

Look at the mini bananas in this arrangement!

So that's a wrap for how things were on Saturday leading up to my family party. It was a lot of fun, all except for my poor sore feet that are paying the price of standing on them for too many hours so I will prop them up and take it easy today (of course while I am picking at all the leftovers lol). Hope you enjoy your day...gorgeous fall weather over here, loving it! Now excuse me while I go take inventory of the leftovers............(absolute best part of a party)!