Month: May 2016

per·fect

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per·fect

having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.

Years ago, when my husband and I were in the midst of some marital turmoil, he confided in a friend that one of our biggest problems was that I was too “perfect”.  The way he said it was insulting rather than a compliment.  When I asked him what exactly that was supposed to mean he said “You’re good at everything and it’s annoying”.  There’s something about that statement that has resounded with me since.  It wasn’t the first time someone had given me a “compliment” like that.  In joking I’ve heard, “you’re the perfect mother”, “you’re the mother I wish I was”, “you’re so good at everything”, “you and Dave are so cute, you’re like the perfect couple”, “you put my project to shame”  Funny, these statements were meant to be compliments, but to me, they magnify all that is imperfect about me.  I think a lot of us feel this pressure partially from society, primarily from ourselves, to be perfect.  I didn’t realize my quest for perfectionism was so annoying but I know I often feel exhausted by it.  I recently posted this photo on my personal instagram & fb pages:

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Sure it was all supposed to be fun and games but it rings incredibly true.  We slap on a cool filter and display the best of us.  We rarely post the “real” us.  We talk about and post the good but not the bad and the ugly.  Sometimes I’m a rockin’ wife, mom, daughter, sister, and friend but never am I close to perfect.  In fact, more times than not, I’m completely drowning here!  I know I’m not alone here and I think we should all start being a little more real with one another about it.  I don’t want to dwell on my imperfections or shortcomings but I certainly don’t want to portray a “perfect” life.  Maybe if we all started being a little more real with each other, we may be able to let go of some of the pressures that plague us daily.  This week, I shaved one leg and not the other, was late to church, got into a fight with my husband, yelled at my kids, missed the memo about 1st grade awards and didn’t show up, fed my kids absolute junk food at least 3 out of 7 days, and almost forgot to pick them up from school.  Nobody’s lunches were cut into cute shapes, the grocery store was out of organic 2% so I bought regular, and I didn’t work out once.  I did however plan a camping themed family night complete with a tent in the playroom, an obstacle course, and driveway s’mores which I posted the crap out of.  Betcha didn’t see a single photo of all the things I totally screwed up though did you?  My point?  I’m not perfect, you’re not perfect, we will never be perfect.  The good news is, we don’t have to be perfect, just real and kind to one another.  Lighten up y’all, go easy on yourselves, were all in this together!

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Favorite things brunch

dysfunctionaldomesticdiva2013 2 Comments

I’ve seen favorite things parties all over pinterest and I had been dying for a reason to throw one for quite some time.  Naturally, when I saw that a ladies brunch group I’m a part of was in need of a May hostess, I jumped at the chance to finally put this together.  The party itself wasn’t super fancy so I wasn’t sure that I was going to share or not, I’m not used to planning adult parties!  I did however, create several printables and I thought someone else may be able to put some of them to use so decided to do a quick share.  Because it’s just a Facebook group I didn’t create tangible invitations but instead opted for a group event page.  The party info read this:

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Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things…

Here’s the skinny, purchase 5 of your favorite things (under $5). This can be anything at all you love! An awesome lipgloss or chapstick, a cool face mask, awesome markers, candy, snack, lotion, you get the idea. When you arrive, you’ll write your name 5 times and place them in a bowl. We will take turns presenting our favorite things and then drawing a name from the bowl to give each one away. By the end, we will each have 5 NEW favorite things!

When guests arrived, they grabbed a plate and piled on the grub and mixed themselves a drink.  I set out grapefruit juice, pineapple juice, orange juice, and orange mango juice with several bottles of champagne for those who wanted mimosas.  I also set out olives, vodka, bloody mary mix, and the fixings for that.  I had water too but not much of that was consumed!  haha

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I didn’t go super crazy with food, I chose mini pancakes with syrup dipping cups, donut holes, sausage balls, cheese, crackers, chips, salsa, and 2 different quiche options.  I was worried it wouldn’t be enough food but we were all pretty stuffed.  It was a pretty cost effective menu.  The donut holes were about $1.50 per dozen at my local donut shop, I got a big bag of pre-made mini pancakes at walmart for under $5, and the little individual containers for the syrup at dollar tree (10/$1).  I made the quiche(s) myself, they’re super easy and delicious!

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I originally set out to order custom cups but couldn’t find them in a small enough quantity (I was only expecting about 10 guests), plus, I was having a hard time committing to a single saying, I thought it would be fun to have different cup options.  The group is called “b!#ches who brunch” (I didn’t name it) and I kinda wanted to incorporate that but the mom in me didn’t want it all over EVERYTHING!  lol  So, instead, I bought cheap clear plastic cups at walmart and a package of round adhesive labels at dollar tree.  I downloaded the template online and used photoshop to add cute little sayings, printed, and stuck right on to the cups.  The girls had fun picking a cup and cute paper straw.  I chose polka dot paper straws with cute little flags to write everyone’s name on so we didn’t get our cups mixed up.

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I set up a separate table with bags for everyone to take home their favorite things and a bowl to put everyone’s name in.  Everyone set their favorite things here when they came in.  When it was time, we took turns standing and presenting our favorite things, then drawing a name and giving that item away.  It was super fun, and we got some great goodies!  I purchased the brown paper bags at michael’s, printed out the label at home, and attached it with glitter washi tape.

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It was a little different planning a party for moms and not kids.  I had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I didn’t need to plan a bunch of activities or games!  lol  We just ate, drank, visited, and did lots of laughing.  In addition to the favorite things exchange, I set up a Photo Booth area in the front living room with props.  We may have had a little fun with that too.

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We had lotsa fun, can’t wait to do it again!  I’m going to attach the table decor signs, even a few I didn’t actually end up using.  No sense in them just sitting lonely and un-used on my computer.  Hope you get some use of them!  I don’t ask anything in return but that if you use them, use the hashtag “dysfunctionaldomesticdivablog” when you post to instagram so I can see how you used them!  It’s so fun to see different takes on something!  ❤

sipsipsign (This was created to be a 5×7)

dipsign (5×7)

morning mimosa (8×10)

bitchesbrunch (8×10)

boozeless (8×10)

favoritethings (8×10)

mimosa bar (11×14) I had this one printed as a photo by my print company

bag tags (printed as a standard 8.5×11)

brunch cup labels (these were printed on those dollar tree stickers)

I used glue and glitter to make some of the signs sparkle after they were printed, but that’s totally optional.  I got most of the frames I used at dollar tree too.