cleaning house with cowgirl evie!

so as i mentioned last month, i'm busy working on the launch of my new blog.  it's taking a bit more time than anticipated but in the meantime, i figured i had some lil hoot biz-ness to wrap up.  the new blog will not be focused on kiddo parties, as this blog/biz began doing, so i'm trying to clean house and share some of lil hoot's work these past couple years before mr. hoot trades in his wings.

here are some never before shared images of cowgirl evie's 3rd birthday bash back in november.  this was another collaboration with some of my fave vendors/besties,.  evie's mom is also a friend who won our services at the queen of hearts auction to benefit the junior aid society. {this may sound familiar as she's a repeat philanthropist!}

glorious photos by meredith nelson photography {obvs}

fabulous paper goodies by paiges of style

purty cake by pickwick baking co.

pony {cake} pops by the cake poppery

 . . . and styled by yours truly

 

another party with heart for a cowgirl with plenty of spunk.

HBD, Hoot!

happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear mr. hooooooo-ooot.  happy birthday to YOU {and me}!

image via

trying not to be emo over here- i mean, it's just a blog, for george's sake.  let's not get too carried away.   that being said, bear with me as i thank some muy importante peeps . . . like YOU.

a year ago i launched lil hoot.  it's still pretty small potatoes {maybe always will be} but what isn't small at all is the overwhelming amount of encouragement i feel from my readers, friends, family, and colleagues {such a foncy word}.  

i am forever grateful for my cheerleaders {you know who you are} 

and also the relationships i've made because of my lil biz.  it's been such big fun to conspire with such serious talent - wor-ship all of these ladies who are so. darn. good. at what they do.

paiges of style

jayme marie designs

chocolate creative design

sugar on top

pickwick baking co.

no. 8 photography

white loft studio

life in graz

meg caswell

in a {party/blog} world where competition and pettiness can prevail- you gals have managed to support and inspire in ways i don't even think you realize and it is truly appreciated.

you rock.

and now please excuse my open love letter to ms. meredith nelson.

dear meredith, 

you have given me and mr. hoot a gift like no other : your bananas documentation of my parties with heart . . . and for that, my gratitude measures beyond words.

but i have to say our friendship is really the wind beneath lil hoot's wings.

thank you for always showing up with a smile - even when i ask you to pick up ginormous balloons on your way to shoot a party, or walk in to find a very "unfinished" party scene {ahum, sprinkle. . .}

you are the real deal, sister.  and that, my friend, is worth celebrating every day.

love,

me

totes creepster, right?  hey CBC, i promise i'm not leaving you for meredith . . . yet. ha.  seriously tho, she's legit. {but no one compares to CBC.  i really like you, a lot, hunny.}

okay, i'm babbling so i'll leave you all with this.

ahhhh-maze-balz.

i'm off to walk my dogs.

happy weekend!

and P.S. i love you. {okay, i'll try to refrain from overly corny blog posts for another year, but that's highly unlikely}

ooxx

the "S" party

i'm hesitant to even blog about the S party because it seems i had a few more clever deets up my Sleeve for last year's Soiree. hey "G" attendees - don't get your hopes up! there will be no Shrimp cocktail or Skinnygirl margaritas. womp womp.

there were so many Spectacular costumes that night. these next few Shots are just Showcasing just a few.

we had quite a large turn-out and i'm sure i'll forget most of the costumes so here goes nuthin'. . . i spy . . .

4 sacagaweas
papa smurf and two smurfettes
seinfeld in "the puffy shirt"
scarecrow
sam the chilean miner
scots
seventies chicks
sunmaid raison girl
swiss miss
snow white
stick figure
sh*thead
swordfish
starfish
stepford wife
sperm
slash
sext
swimmers
super mario bros.
2 sue sylvesters and a schuster
multiple spartan cheerleaders
shaman
superfan
2 spicolis
screech
stud
solid gold dancer
steve erwin
two spiders
slide-whisteler savant {someday when you have an hour i can fill you in on this}
suzanne sumers
snookie
situation
lots of skiers
spelling bee
seleck {of the magnum PI variety}
two supergirls
lots of sailors
two santas and a santa's helper
scuba steve
stewardess {yours truly- with a cart! i'm missing myself some major props this year. womp.}

it was a tight race but in the end. . .
the winner was . . .

superior male costume - snookie!

superior female costume - shuttlecock!

they chose "G". which brings us to the laundry list of things i should be doing right now instead of blogging.

oh, and in case you were wondering this didn't end well.

ha! love ya, K-rock.

oh, and obvi the BEST part about the "S" was it's how i met my Sweet paige of paiges of Style. I randomly enlisted her help when i saw her etsy shoppe in the final days before the party. she nailed it, per ushe. thanks, paiger! too late to fly you out for this weekend???

lil hoot's monday must-sees

i've decided it's not likely that i'm going to get my act together for a proper monday morning post, so i'll just let you know a few "must-sees" and spare you my commentary.

MUST-SEE #1
check out paige of paiges of style's AMAZEBALZ rainbow hot air balloon party on hostess with the mostess. stunning, really. . .
i meannnnn, REALLY. FREAKING. STUNNING.

#2
ruelala is featuring nux in their sale today. this stuff has pretty much been my uniform, as of late. i'm thinking of actually trying to exercise in it soon, too. {ha.} it's like a cross between lulu lemon and the cheapy target stuff and the rue prices are an excellent deal.

if you haven't been on rue register here so you can blow all your cash as quickly as i do.

and # 3
last but certainly not least, you MUST watch the fabulous meg caswell on the season finale of HGTV's design star tonight at 9 PM. it's down to the final TWO! i'm so proud of meg and can't wait to see her shine.
GO, MEG, GO!

loralee lewis's swimcap sweeties

this may sound odd, but i don't look at other blogs very often.  i strive to be a teeny bit original and it's very tricky not to be influenced by all of the other fabulous ideas out there. . . but once in a while i stumble upon something so adorbs, i cannot look away or help but be inspired.  

that's what happened when i came across loralee lewis's fabulous website, etsy shoppe, and blog today.  in particular, a vintage pool party, using her sweetie swim cap collection, and styled and captured by uber-talented photographer {and hostess, to boot!} kelly anderson.

if you can stand the cuteness, read loralee's full post here. 

read her whole life story while you're at it.

love-love!

 it's so obvious to me that kelly and loralee shared a vision of this event and worked together to create something amazebalz. 

 i can recognize this precious relationship from first-hand experience because i've been beyond fortunate to have formed a special bond while creating events with both paige of paiges of style and jayme of jayme marie designs.  both these awesome gals have put up with hundreds {yes, hundreds!} of late-night e-mails filled with cray cray ideas from yours truly.  and they've indulged every one of them.  

and none of this would do me an ounce of good if the brilliant miss meredith -of meredith nelson photography- wasn't there to capture the fruits of our labors, as only she could.  

BIG HUGE shout out to all of these loverly ladies for whom i truly thank my lucky stars.

{okay, so now i am chuckling at myself because when i went to kelly's website to link back to her i saw this party was also featured on lil hoot fave amy atlas today. 

and i thought i had "discovered" it.  hehe.  i should have known it was totes too adorbs for amy not to have seen it!}

 anyhoot, bravo, ladies!