Speaking of happy things, look at Scarlette’s preschool picture! Is that not just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? I just love it so much because you can see the mischief in her eyes.
I’m one of 39 moms serving as an ambassador for the March of Dimes #imbornto campaign this year, which has been such an honor for me. I had the table set up like this for a small party celebrating Scarlette’s NICU Homecoming Anniversary to benefit the March of Dimes. We celebrate it every year (here was the first year!) because, well, a 156 day stay is something that makes that day just feel monumental to us. It has been four years since we brought her home and this year we have so much to celebrate – her health, her homecoming and the release of my book which shares her micro-preemie story.
The last couple of weeks have been crazy as I tried to finish up some really fun projects and put together the bonus gifts for people who pre-order copies of my book. I also had two events to host in that time frame, a bridal shower and the March of Dimes celebration. So I planned the two parties back to back, which sounds like it would be really hectic but as it turns out it’s totally genius. And exhausting but still. I legit just used almost the exact same decor for both parties. This is basically how I am going to do it from here on out, just throw all the parties over a 48 hour period.
It was such a nice day that I opened up the french doors and put most of the drinks and seating out on the balcony. Can I call it a veranda? I just would really like to be say things like “Oh, please come over for mint juleps on the veranda.” I don’t know how to make mint juleps but I still want to be able to invite people over for them.
Also, most of the those flowers came from my friend Heather’s garden. Let’s discuss this. I am trying real hard to cultivate an english garden type space in my yard and I am failing miserably. Do you want to know why this is? It is because of all the sabotage. One minute my cabbage flowers were flourishing and the next I hear “MOMMY I PICK-ED YOU ALL DA WEAVES!” and my entire plant was totally decimated.
And then there was that time I was standing on the front porch bemoaning the fact that only half of my Queen Anne’s Lace came up even though I had planted it all along the walkway. To which my husband replied “Oh. So actually I pulled half of that up because I thought they were weeds.”
So I bought the rest of the flowers at the grocery store, on account of my plans to fill in the gaps with my own flowers were thwarted by my well-meaning family.
Also thwarted? Pretty arrangements of fruit. Because someone I know bit the ends off of all the grapes and then put them back on the platter.
The theme of this year’s March of Dimes campaign is #imbornto and so I had guests write what they were born to do on my chalkboard. Which I decorated with paper flowers because that seems like a safe choice for my family, APPARENTLY.
We raffled off the charity edition of the Alex and Ani bracelets and then donated that money to the March of Dimes family team I was supporting this year, headed by a friend who also had a micro-preemie. 20% of each Alex &Ani Limited Edition Special Delivery bangle goes to the #imbornto campaign – I adore these and can’t wait to add more charms to mine.
And MudPie sent sweet little socks for the babies in my life so everyone got to take some of those home – look how cute they are!
I can’t even with those elephant socks. Visit Mudpie , one of my favorite brands, and for each adorable pair of socks, they’ll donate a dime. Because you know, Marching. For Dimes. I see what you did there, MudPie.
Then I put these cute puppy ornaments on my matching purple platter. Which I thought was blue when I ordered it but turned out to be a happy coincidence. Plus it says “A grateful life is blessed.” AMEN. For each puppy pair ornament sold, Kmart will donate a dollar to the March of Dimes. I know it probably shocks you that these were Scarlette’s favorite.
It was so fun and a cause close to my heart. You can help support the March of Dimes #imbornto campaign by shopping with any of these partners! Visit imbornto.com to see them all!
Disclaimer: This is a partnership with The Motherhood and March of Dimes to help celebrate their #imbornto campaign. I’m honored to be one of the 39 moms (representing the length of a full-term pregnancy) asked to join the #MoDSquad to help spread this beautiful message. All opinions/words/images are my own.
