when our girl turned 5 we celebrated with a harry potter birthday party. we had so much fun...maybe one day we will revisit that! but for today i want to share the fun that we had on friday celebrating her 8th birthday.

it all began this year with a formal request for attendance. we had fun making these personalized invitations this is all i can share given each invitation had the guests name "engraved" on it...they were so sweet though.

we made this newspaper bunting thanks to the marvelous mayamade for her creativity again!

many of the attendees are huge potter fans...we did have a few that do not live and breathe potter so i wanted to make sure that we had robes (in this case capes) my quick and affordable solution was to purchase some inexpensive black felt and i cut it into pieces that were about 25x35 and about 5 inches down on the long side i sewed a 14 inch black gross grain ribbon on each side to use as a tie. they were so quick (even for me) and they worked great. they were actually much cooler for the girls than the robes.

hermione granger was practicing her flying before the guests arrived.

airborne!!!

my husband and i enjoy harry potter as much as my daughter. we came up with some fun activities. of course they took a very small fraction of the time we thought that they would and also a very small fraction of the time that it took us to put it together. all three of us have been talking about what we could do for weeks now, here is what made it to the day.

we decided to do a treasure hunt using port-keys to move you from one clue to the next!

this boot was the first port-key. my husband wrote great poems for them so that they could find each of the port-keys

my daughter told us today that they didn't really pay much attention to the poems...they just wanted to find the next port-key. sometimes the honesty is appreciated...sometimes not!

the final clue led them to this suitcase. inside they found the makings for wands from mr.ollivander!
they found the wands that my husband and i carefully prepared for them to personalize with colored tape and ribbons...once the wand had chosen them of course.
all the wood was found in our yard and my husband cut them down to size. they were all carefully labeled with the type of wood and the core ingredient, the length of each wand was also included.

this new wand looks so much more authentic than that plastic wand. we also had potions making class...my husband was the very stern professor severus snape. we used different types of juice and unusual berries and coconut for the ingredients. our secret ingredient was pop rocks to add at the end for a little magic! most of the potions were very tasty. i can't say that the girls drank many of them but i did. they were really more interested in concocting. too bad they missed out on some very powerful magic. my husband printed out the names of all the potions that were discussed in the books so that they could name them. my husband also showed them what happened when they put baking soda and vinegar together.

we also held an herbology class where the kids took interesting looking succulent plants and cacti and replanted them in clay pots. my husband labeled each of the plant with a name and definition of a plant from the book, as the kids replanted i read each of the descriptions and we did a few trivia questions about the herbs from the books.

we found some bertie botts every flavor beans the girls had fun trying some really gross tasting jelly beans~gravy, fish, cheese, sausage, onion and banana. i was just given a pizza...how'd they do that? it really tastes like pizza in a really gross sweet way. ewwww! they spared us earwax, vomit and buggers this time (we have had all of these before-really gross).

we had some of the yummy jelly bellies too.

i made these parchment sewn bags again thanks to another great idea from mayamade. when she posted this i thought oh my, i can use this in so many ways. thank you maya i love these.

i made these bags to put chocolate frogs that i made from a mold. (i found a better mold that i will have a link to on the sidebar) and harry potter collecting cards in to give to the girls. i always loved the idea of the chocolate frog from the book how it would jump away.

hermione had a great day! thanks for all who shared it with us.

it's so challenging to know where to begin....well if you don't know about squam art workshop (saw) then please go and discover. it is held at the rockywold-deephaven camp-rdc in holderness, new hampshire.

amazing!!!

i found this dreamy retreat last year when soulemama was blogging about speaking there. i was so fortunate to go and i know it sounds ridiculous but i really had a life changing experience. thank you elizabeth for your vision, persistence and the amazing teachers that you invited.

it was so lovely to see my dear, dear friends that i met last year. i've been so looking forward to seeing them and oh we had so much fun and laughed so hard...so good.

many new wonderful friendships have begun on this trip too.

my favorite shepherd was there too. if you don't have a favorite shepherd...you will soon...i just love susan gibbs from juniper moon farms can't wait to take our family there for a trip. my daughter has decided that she really wants to be a farmer, i asked her "don't you want to be a shepherd" and she said "no i want to have all the farm animals". there you have it...why limit yourself!

the weather was also wonderful. we had the perfect combination of sunshine and rain the temperature was just right! the weather has clearly been very warm in new hampshire this spring because the water temperature was beautiful. many of us took a lovely swim. the water was so clear and very deep, so nice.

this was the view from my bed. one morning we decided to sleep in just to enjoy the sound of the rain on the water...so soothing, what a perfect choice we made!

as if the location, classes, teachers and attendees were not enough...every night we had entertainment.

one night we heard a little from all who came to teach and from jenny doh.

the amazing jonatha brooke played two nights for us...so amazing...what a treat!

we were so fortunate one night she shared 2 brand new-unrecorded songs with us...looking forward to hearing those again real soon we hope...they were both so powerful.

the multi-talented lizzy house spent an hour learning an unbelievable gaelic duet with jonatha and went up and sang for us. her grace and talent were as always inspiring.

we also heard a great story from jenn lee who will be teaching a storytelling class at squam in september, she has participated on the mainstage of the moth if you have never listened to the moth podcast, you should. there are some really great true stories on there.

almost done here...

we also heard from jess and casey who are ravlery! they told about how it all began. they are a classic comedy duo with a really great story.

last one for now i promise...this is how it is though...all of this and more...

stephanie pearl-mcphee the yarn harlot also held court one night. it was amazing to watch almost everyone in the playhouse knitting and watching a "comedy" act...can't say that i've seen that before.

much more to come soon...

~sweet dreams and moonbeams

i know that many that attended last year were wondering if it was going to live up to our previous experience. my thought was it "is" going to live up to last year. in reality i was very nervous again because i don't see myself as an artist. i was very overwhelmed by how creative and talented people are. it was very interesting when i sat down for my first class painting in a day with the marvelous marisa haedike creator of creative thursday - marisa went around the room and asked everyone to share why they were taking the class. many said that they were not confident painting. that they had fear! here are the painting results from her class.

needless to say these artists need not fear. when we went around the class at the end everyone expressed an ease and expressed their joy in their finished paintings. thank you marisa.

am discovering (happily) that i enjoy trying new things (clearly the case with the number of barely used tools in our creative space)

i actually

clever mobiles taught by the lovely lizzy house

the class that got away... reinvention with the magnificent maya donenfeld creator of mayamade

i will edit the photo next time i make this smoothie. i took a photo from sometime back and can't find it.

i had a smoothie similar to this a few months ago when i was feeling a little dizzy after yoga. i didn't think that it was going to be one of those things that i couldn't stop craving but it is. i've been working on this post for a while. i was trying to perfect the ratios so that i could share.

the original was pretty simple - peanut butter, a few bananas, ice and chocolate soy milk. i am trying to kill some of the sugar in the chocolate soy milk. but this is a quick recipe that will work for many of you.

here is my modification

2 medium organic bananas

2 tablespoons of navitas naturals cacao powder or 2 tablespoon of green and blacks unsweetened cocoa

1-2 tablespoons of yummy local honey

2 tablespoon regular organic peanut butter or all natural peanut butter & company dark chocolate dreams (peanut butter with dark chocolate) depending on how chocolaty you would like

a few hands full of ice you can add more if it's not cold enough.

westsoy plus plain organic soy milk-unsweetened (i look at my box of soy milk now and it says less sugar, i don't know if i had one that had no sugar now?) to cover all the ingredients, more if it will not blend

this recipe is enough for 4 people.

now this recipe is not low-fat or low in sugar but it is a nice boost in the afternoon and now that it is getting warmer, it is also cool and tasty!

it seems that others have been experiencing the same banana nut craving because i have seen at least 4 other posts on this as i have been working on mine. i haven't had a chance to try them yet, but i will share two that are very pretty and i think will be really popular for little ones.

one is for peanut butter cups from the marvelous maya at her blog mayamade.

the other is for banana butterflies from the brilliant betz at her blog betz white.

i've mentioned that i'm reading animal vegetable miracle by barbara kingsolver and bananas are at the top of her list for foods that are not for us to be eating given where we live and all the energy it takes to get them here. i'm sorry to be encouraging them now. i promise to find a local seasonal food to share very soon.

enjoy!

we had a beautiful day here today, tried to spend most of it outside.

our girl received her easter package from her grandparents today. she sat right down to sort through it and jar it all up by candy type.

we made our friday pizza tonight.

we colored eggs and tried a new recipe that i came across on the kitchn it's for chinese tea eggs the kitchn forwarded me to this recipe on umami. the kitchn had another link to allrecipes.com for chinese tea eggs that looked good too.

we completed this recipe tonight. i'll let you know how they taste tomorrow, they're supposed to have a bit of a custardy flavor to them. they look really pretty.

my girl loves to come up with new recipes. she has made this before and it is yummy.

we don't have measurements right now but here are the ingredients.

ground cinnamon

cayenne pepper

salt and black pepper

honey

and water.

she mixed it up and we put it on green beans. she likes to cut up the bread and serve it that way, i must say that i prefer it on the green veggies.

here are some fun discoveries that i made yesterday when i was emptying boxes that have been packed for three years. can't wait to see what's in the rest of the boxes.

i especially love those little girl hands and the photo that my cousin took of my husband and me right before my girl was born.

tonight my sister-in-law took me to a fundraiser and there were many local artist there. here are a few that i really enjoyed.

vicki hartman clay - i met vicki for the first time tonight. funny i see her in town all the time but have never met her. she makes really beautiful pieces and it was nice to finally meet her.

shanna murray - is an artist, print maker great photographer and co-founder of second storie indie market

pine tree designs - she creates embroidered paper art.

sara silvio jewelry - beautiful gold jewelry.

what a great way to start a friday!

i woke up and realized that susan gibbs from juniper moon farm has included my blog in her post probably something you would like...

WOW!!!

so the funny part about this story is that i read her blog everyday and did just that yesterday. somehow i missed the note about sustainable suburbanite! she had so many wonderful 'somethings that i would like' that i missed the link to mine!

so today i feel...very excited...grateful...no need for caffeine...exposed and exhilarated and so much more that i cannot put into words.

i can't thank you enough susan!

i've been waiting to share my blog until it is just so.

i still have so many things that i want to do and add and learn about how to lay this all out. also i have about 30 different things that i am working on...least of which what i want my main focus to be...maybe i should start there!

my husband was trying to help me sort out some of my technical challenges today and i realized that i already have over 100 posts. not to say that i procrastinate.

last summer i attended the squam art workshops and i have previously posted about this incredible experience. and took a class with the marvelous marisa from creative thursday. marisa suggested risks need to be taken, that if you wait for perfection you might just miss out. those are not her exact words but i hope that i have captured the meaning behind what she was saying. she is brilliant! so here i go.

i feel so fortunate that i have found so many wonderful creative women that i visit everyday and learn from and that i am inspired by everyday. i really want to share them with others that are in my life and share what i am learning that might be useful.

many of the blogs that i love have come to me from amanda blake soule - soulemama. she is also how i originally discovered squam. one of the blogs that i visit everyday (thanks to amanda) is juniper moon farm i was also lucky enough to meet susan gibbs (and amanda) at the squam art fair. susan is a shepherd and her farm had the first yarn and fiber csa. she had a post the other day about confronting your fears. she confronted her fear of dyeing some precious roving. let me say it is so incredibly beautiful i am so glad that she conquered that fear. she asked what we were fearing and my response was to put my blog out there. she was also looking for a date of commitment to conquer your fear. i chose march 1st 2010! i am a little late. technical difficulties today but coming very close anyhow.

i still would like to add all of the other wonderful woman that inspire me. i hope to figure this out soon. until then i will share a few here because i must. many of them i also met last year at squam and they really inspire me. i hope that you enjoy them as much as i do.

lizzy house

nelkin designs

enchantedmama

lavender and limes

shivaya naturals

thanks for visiting.

sunshine and happiness to you today.

we have been hunkered down since thursday night. lots of snow and no real reason to leave the house.

yesterday morning we made maya's yummy popover's. we made them today too. i have a feeling there is going to be a request tomorrow too.

helen decided that she didn't want maple syrup on her snow today. she thought that she would make chocolate ice cream instead.

we spent most of the weekend reading harry potter and the half blood prince. we finished tonight. movie tomorrow.

tonight as we finished harry potter my sweet girl and i worked on completing some beads that we started for our martin luther king day in event. we actually were able to get so many done in a short time, we are getting really fast at them. we have had so much practice now. i wish that i had kept track of how many bracelets that we have made and sold to raise funds for making strides against breast cancer. i think that it has been 2 or 3 years now. hoping to get some out on etsy soon.

here are some photos from our snowstorm earlier in the weekend.