celebrate: 2012 london olympics closing ceremony party decor

DINNER PARTY.

U.S. Women's Gymnastics Team via I Smell That

If you're having a few close friends over for dinner and Closing Ceremonies viewing, flowers inspired by the London 2012 Victory Bouquet - the ones given to athletes on the medal podium - would be the perfect accent.  The original bouquet was designed by UK florist Jane Packer's creative director Susan Lapworth and contains British sustainably grown pink Aqua, yellow Illios, orange Marie Claire, and green Wimbledon roses, apple mint, rosemary, lavender and wheat.

Here's a helpful overhead shot of the bouquet if you're interested in recreating it- most of the floral and herbal ingredients can be found in nicer grocery store floral departments and produce sections.  If you can't find lavender, purple limonium (also called statice) is a good substitute.

Jane Packer via Playing with Flowers

Serve: Mini Beef Wellingtons from Our Krazy Kitchen

COCKTAIL PARTY.

Photo of U.S. Men's 4x100 M Medley Relay team by Al Bello via Zimbio

If you like your celebrations a little more upscale, make your decorations an elegant tribute to the gold, silver, and bronze medals with white and metallic decor.

Coastal Living via Inspired Living Spaces

Add some green if you'd like with laurel wreaths in a nod to the ancient Greek Olympics.  This boxwood wreath DIY from Love of Family and Home would definitely get the point across...

SheKnows

or go totally modern with The Nester's laurel wreath made from plastic spoons!

Nesting Place

Serve:  Go for the Gold Pineapple Truffles from Kitchen Meets Girl

Additional Sources: 2luxury2, Flowerona

Come back later today for Brazilian-inspired party ideas!

celebrate: brazilian avocado-coconut milkshake

Brazilian Avocado-Coconut Milkshake - Serves 4
Adapted from Brazilian Avocado Shake from Food.com

Ingredients:

- 1 avocado, pitted and diced

- 3 cups coconut milk (I used coconut/almond) 

- 1 cup ice 

- 6 tablespoons sugar

Directions under the cut!

celebrate: 2012 london olympics closing ceremony party decor

planning your closing ceremonies party:

Here are some ideas and inspiration for a 2012 London Olympics Closing Ceremonies party, no matter what style of gathering you're hosting!  This week I'll feature decorating and menu inspiration for a potluck party inspired by the Olympic rings, a British party inspired by the Union Jack, a casual dinner party inspired by the 2012 Victory Bouquet, a Brazilian party inspired by the tropics, and a cocktail party inspired by gold, silver, and bronze medals.

POTLUCK.

Tower Bridge via the Daily Mail

If you're having a simple potluck or barbecue get-together, keep decorations simple, too, with streamers and balloons in the colors of the Olympic rings.  Mini international flags from a party store are also a fun, easy decorating touch.

I absolutely adore this party table from Savannah Smiled - check out her champagne flutes with "Olympic Rings" in the bottom!

SERVE:  

• Olympic Rings Pizza from Taste of Home - add black olives, green peppers, and pineapple for colored rings!
• International Appetizers from SheKnows

LONDON CALLING.

Irish equestrian Billy Tomey photographed by Mike Hutchings via Yahoo! News

If you didn't go totally British for an Opening Ceremonies celebration, the Closing Ceremonies are still a fine time to do so.  I'm thinking lots of red, white, and blue; large cardboard double-decker buses, Big Ben, and red telephone boxes with holes cut out for photo ops, a Union Jack tablecloth (attach ribbons to a white sheet with an iron and fusible webbing!), and plastic crowns and bowler hats for your guests. 

Katom Restaurant Supply

World Market has some really cute UK-inspired items right now, as well as a good selection of popular British foods.  

World Market

Serve:  

• Jamie Oliver's Fish and Chips!
• Union Jack Fruit Pizza from Betty Crocker
• Tea Bag Cookies from The Mixer
• The international aisle of most nicer grocery stores will stock popular UK treats like Hob Nobs biscuits, Jaffa cakes, and Cadbury chocolate.

Come back later today for a Brazilian avocado-coconut milkshake recipe, and visit again tomorrow for dinner party, cocktail party, and Brazilian-inspired ideas!

If you'd like to add any of the images in this post to your Pinterest boards, please click the link below the image and pin from the source so the creator gets the credit they deserve.  Thank you.

Happy Party Planning!

celebrate: brazilian heart of palm & avocado salad

My next foray into Brazilian cuisine is a salad packed with healthy ingredients: heart of palm, avocado, tomatoes, and olive oil.

What is Heart of Palm?
Heart of Palm is considered a vegetable; it's harvested from the inner core and bud of palm trees.  Brazil was  once one of the highest producers of heart of palm.  Heart of palm is sold in cans; in my grocery store it is sold near artichoke hearts, pimientos, olives, and other briny canned foods, and in the international aisle.  The texture is slightly fibrous and the taste is similar to canned artichoke hearts.  Heart of palm is very high in sodium, but low in cholesterol, fat, and calories, and a good source of protein, potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin c, folate, and calcium.

The Salad:  Brazilian Heart of Palm and Avocado - Serves 4
Adapted from Hearts of Palm Salad from AllEasyRecipes.com

Ingredients:

- 1 bagged salad or 1 small head lettuce, washed and chopped

- 1 can hearts of palm, drained and chopped into ¼-inch slices

- 1 ripe avocado, peeled and diced (here are Real Simple's directions for dicing an avocado)

- 1 large tomato, chopped

- Fresh basil leaves, chopped

- Salt and pepper to taste

- 1/3 cup olive oil

- 3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Directions:

1.  In a large salad bowl, combine lettuce, chopped hearts of palm, and diced avocado.  Add chopped tomatoes and basil.

celebrate: 2012 london olympics closing ceremony party playlist

soundtrack for Your London 2012 Closing Ceremonies party:

The 2012 Summer Olympics will draw to a close in London this Sunday.  The celebration will be titled "A Symphony of British Music," which according to The Telegraph will include THE SPICE GIRLS!  My inner sixth grader is very, very excited.

Here's a playlist I've made for the occasion featuring most of the music from the opening ceremony, a few of my own British faves, and songs that I now associate with the 2012 Olympics thanks to NBC and commercial marketing.  Feel free to crank it to eleven.  And yes, it's heavy on the Spice Girls.  My favorite was Posh.

Other musical acts to get excited about: the Who, Liam Gallagher, Madness, Ray Davies, George Michael, and, if there are any teenagers in your home, One Direction.

Darcey Bussell, whose name was immediately familar to me because she appeared in my favorite childhood ballet book (this book seems to be the most recent version- I may or may not have had a permanent hold on the public library's copy between the ages of seven and ten), will be dancing as the Olympic flame is extinguished- hooray for ballet!  Darcey is well known in Britain as a judge on "Strictly Come Dancing."

Will you be watching the Closing Ceremonies?  What are you looking forward to?

Come back later today for a Brazilian salad recipe!

clicks of note - just a kiss before i leave

get your week off to a colorful start.


This is the last week of summer for me- next week it's back to the middle school for a week of classroom-unpacking, organizing, syllabus editing, lesson planning, meeting my new students and their parents, fighting for the copy machine, and meetings, meetings, meetings. I'm going to spend this week relishing all the things that I cherish about summer - plenty of time for morning exercise, reading blogs, cuddling with books written at an adult reading level, going shopping in the middle of the day, taking leisurely lunches, actually making crafts instead of just pinning them, and spending evenings with nothing to grade except my own progress or plan except my next adventure.


LISTEN.

• Mat Kearney's been one of my favorite singer-songwriters for a while, and "Hey Mama" is so catchy! A song heroine who shops at Anthropologie, wears purple boots and has "Cherokee eyes"?  Love it.  Here's a link to the official video.
• Sara Bareille's official video for "Gonna Get Over You" is worth watching just for the ending.

SWOON.

Style Me Pretty

• Style Me Pretty features a Cape Town wedding brimming with romance.  Some of the photos look like they could be scenes from a James Bond movie.
• Katelyn James photographed a beautiful barn reception wedding with a quirky robin's egg blue and watermelon pink color scheme.
• Ruffled features an elegant book-themed wedding done to perfection - you have to see the cake.
• Southern Weddings features a family-filled Georgia wedding with a touching international love story.  And a little Johnny Cash.
• Wedding Chicks features a glamorous Biltmore Estate wedding with vintage style.

SMILE.

Vogue and Coffee

• William and Kate are the best.  Oh, you guys.
• How does your summer reading list compare to Rory Gilmore's bookshelf?
• Will from Bright Bazaar shares his photos from the London Olympics.
• 10 Things to Make You Happier at Home from Apartment Therapy - do y'all practice any of these happiness habits?
• Bloggers: how do you plan your blog?  I've just started using paper and pencil - Lisa at Elembee describes how she uses Google calendar and offers a free printable editorial calendar.

sunday simplicity #80 - i'm yours

Style Me Pretty

I won't hesitate no more, no more

It cannot wait, I'm sure

There's no need to complicate

Our time is short

This is our fate, I'm yours

- Jason Mraz

Lillyput Lane Design Co. via Ruffled

summer crafting: olympic rings tie-dye t-shirt

Tie-dye has been really popular this summer, but so far I've resisted pulling the shopping trigger.  I've had my eye on the Mercer Pocket T at GAP and the Merona Slub Tee at Target, but every time I think about adding one to my cart a little voice in the back of my head says, "Heather, you know how to tie-dye.  You've been tie-dying since third grade."  At camp last week, a fellow adult volunteer named Amanda taught a tie-dye class and let me get in on the fun during one of my free periods.  With the Olympics now in full swing, a vision came into my head (that's how most of my best projects start- I can see them in my head before they exist!) of an Olympic themed tie-dye t-shirt with stripes in the colors of the Olympic rings.

I found a great DIY striped tie-dye tee tutorial by Sara at Short of Something and adapted it to fit the supplies that were available to me and my multicolored design idea.