A Celebration:

First, how are two of my kids in their 20’s now??? I’m barely older than that — in my mind at least. Seriously though, the time goes by way too fast. This toothy little guy is celebrating his 20th birthday today and I’m reeling. I got started in party design creating decor for his 6th.

This birthday couldn’t be more different from that one. For starters, neither of us has had a tantrum. We had a great conversation in the car as we drove to Ogden — about an hour away. He’s spending the day with a friend and I had some errands to run. I miss the snuggly toddler, but the grown-up is funny and confident and a blast to spend time with.

An Apology to My Neighbors:

Yes, my yard looks really bad. Bad enough that I want to post a sign on the lawn that just says, “I broke my ankle.” I did. In May. A clumsy moment on the steps led to an indulgent couple of weeks on the couch rewatching the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Colin Firth is very therapeutic.

It’s all healed now, but in the meantime the yard went from bad to worse. And now the heat is just screaming, “Melinda! Stay in the house where it’s cool!” So I do.

The thing is, when we moved here in 2021 I thought a big corner of it was the neighbor’s yard. Stupid, I know. It just didn’t look like it was part of our landscape. So for the first couple of summers it was completely neglected. I kept thinking, “Gee, those guys sure are letting it go.” But it turns out, I was “those guys.”

Then it was just too overwhelming to deal with for another year. We live on a mountainside so weeds are like an incoming tide — and we passed into disaster territory about six tides ago.

Last year I dug in and really tried to fix it. I made a lot of progress! I even planted some lavender along the property line as a lovely, fragrant peace offering to the kind people who have never complained about their trashy neighbors (at least, not to us.). Now I’m back at square one. Again.

I’ll try again next year. Or maybe when it cools down.

Business Happenings:

For the third year in a row I’ve gotten to be a part of kids zones for TWO PGA tournaments! It’s such a thrill for me! The reality is, my coloring table runners were there and I was at home in my pajamas, but still SO COOL! When I was making decorations for my little boy’s 6th birthday, I never imagined I’d make products used at St Jude or Torrey Pines! I’ve poured my heart into this work, not knowing where it would take me but always believing it would be somewhere worth going. I’ve gotta say, it feels great.

Meanwhile, I’m in the process of adding an economy option to my line of coloring table runners. Budgets are tight and I want all kids to have access to these fun products. My original Premium 46 lb paper will always be the gold standard, but now I’m working in a 24 lb paper option (a lot of imitators have entered the market touting “premium” paper — it’s not. It’s 24 lb economy but they charge premium prices for it. I mean, c’mon guys, if you’re going to steal my concepts at least do a quality version of them.).

As always, I’m working my tail off to get the listings updated but there’s only one of me and only so many hours in the day. For now, the Economy is exclusively available in my Etsy shop: www.mbpartyboutique.com

I hope your Summer is everything you wanted it to be. If you’re ready to celebrate back-to-school time, don’t forget one of these!

Sorry, only available on Etsy for now. I’m working on it!