Celebrate good times, come on

I apologize if that song gets stuck in your head now!

I'm the kind of person who will come up with any reason to throw a party, bake or make gifts for people. I just like celebrating things, even mundane things. The past few weeks we've had lots of things to celebrate, so I got to tinker to my little hearts content.

First, our beloved D came out for a long weekend all by her lonesome. It was her very first time traveling by herself, and it also happened to coincide with her "5,000th Day." You may be wondering, "What, pray tell, do you mean by 5,000th day?" Well, I will tell you! My lovely dork of a husband was listening to one of his favorite albums from one of his favorite bands: Tool's "10,000 Days". He wondered, "How many years old is someone who is 10,000 days old?" Being a math guy, he banged out the figures and discovered that he and I are both several years beyond that, since 10,000 days equals about 27 and a half years. Suddenly he thought, "Wait! 10,000... 27... 5,000... 13... D money... bacon..." He's always thinking about bacon. A bit more figuring led E to discover that his little sister would be 5,000 days old on the Friday she arrived at our house. Of course, I had to throw her a party.

How to throw a 5,000, 10,000, or 15,000 Day Party:
Make dessert: Every celebration needs dessert. Find out your party recipients favorite flavors and make something to match. I hate when people make their own favorite thing for a party. "Oh, I just adore beets! Everyone must love beets! I'll make borscht!" Only to discover that the mere scent of a beet makes the birthday girl want to spew. ("Hey, Phil, If you're gonna spew, spew into this!" Random film quote of the day!) You also need to decorate the dessert with appropriate flair. I used toothpicks, a big circle punch, and a marker to make the little picks for D's cakes. Easy, cute, done.

Buy the appropriate number of gifts: Or make them if you are crafty and have an unlimited amount of free time. There was no way I was making 5,000 of anything. I couldn't even commit to buying her 5,000 of any one thing. Instead, D got 5 different things: M&M's, mini-marshmallows, index cards, paper clips, and post-it notes. It's back to school time, and she only had a carry on bag, people. Other fun ideas include anything you can buy in bulk at Costco, pennies, books equal to the days in pages, or prescription meds (if you are an Amy Sedaris type partier).

By the time D's plane came in, she was so tired that we didn't get into playing any 5,000 Day games; we didn't even eat cupcakes until the next morning. But you could go ahead and force the party person to walk 5,000 steps, jump rope for 5,000 seconds, eat 5,000 saltines, whatever amuses you. Just don't make anyone drink 5,000 ounces of hard liquor.

Aside from our long weekend with the little sis, we have had lots of babies born to our friends lately. We haven't gotten the chance to meet any of them yet, but it always gives me the chance to get crafty. I've made name letters for every baby born to a friend or family member since my nephew Nic was born 7 years ago. You can see some of them in my flickr set. Usually I mimic the colors and theme of the nursery or bedding, but I take other requests. I'm waiting for some hard core friends to want tattoo and flame letters, since I'm tiring of baby elephants and Pooh! This week I had to make letters for Parker, Vanessa, and Joplin (baby jungle animals, ladybugs and more ladybugs) and also need to make new ones for Nic, whose adorable kite themed nursery letters are a little young for a seven year old. He wants Batman now. I can't even stand it. When did he get so old? Bottom line, if you know somebody who is having or has recently had a baby, let me know. I'll whip 'em up for ya!

Our last little bit of celebration is this coming 4 day mini-vacation to Chicago for Labor Day weekend. We have Red Sox tickets, hells yes! I'm also determined to satisfy the food groupie in me by visiting some of the restaurants of the celebrity chefs with whom I am obsessed. In case you didn't know, I am not all that concerned with what SJP is wearing today, but I can tell you what flavor profiles Grant Achatz is toying with this week. I know, lame. While I will sadly not be visiting Alinea for dinner (just can't justify the $500 bill!) I will be pushing for brunch at Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill, a trip to the Bleeding Heart Bakery and a dog at Hot Doug's. We won't spend ALL of our time eating, (hello? I did mention a Red Sox game!) and there will be lots of time for any of the huge amount of events going on in the city this weekend. Here's a pretty comprehensive list in case you're in town, are lost, and are looking for something to do. We're thinking of doing some thrifting, hitting one of the 70 farmer's markets, and maybe the Jazz and Polish fests. Sweetness.

Have a safe and happy Labor Day everyone!