Diez De Mayo, for When Cinco Just Doesn't Happen.

Cutie Pie Jamie threw a gorgeous party that made for delicious food, lots of laughs and some pretty photo opps :) We got there a little early to help get the food set out, hence the empty chairs, but I'm glad we did so we could capture all her hard work in such gorgeous light. Not pictured is the fabulous latin music she had carefully selected to set the mood.
It's good having creative friends/family.

Do you celebrate any irrelevant-to-you holidays? ;)

Fiesta Con Los Amigos

 something you might have noticed about me, is that i'm a big fan of celebrations.

life is too good not to take every opportunity to celebrate the fact that we're here, alive, happy, healthy, and together.

so i was really excited when ted tweeted me, asking if we had any plans for cinco de mayo, because i was literally in bed the night before wondering if it was too late to put something together.

we had a simple potluck style dinner, ted and lauren had a friendly cook-off to see who's (whose?) enchiladas were better--it was a perfect tie if my calculations were correct. 

while they were both delicious, i preferred ted's, marcus preferred lauren's--and it went like that around the table.

after dinner, we played with sparklers,

 and talked in the living room as marcus comforted ty and sierra's new baby boy through his traumatic mustache experience...

a real winner of an evening.

What did Cinco De Mayo look like at your house?

check out last year's party here.

¡Fiesta!

And finally, the party decor:

picked the fruit from our backyard :)

via

I used the Spanish version of anyone's name that had one (Richard->Ricardo, Reachel->Reaquel). 

For those of us who were not so lucky to have an authentic Mexican name, were dubbed a new name...

We had a bunch of chairs old chairs going to waste in our storage barn, so I decided it was time to do something new with them. 

Off to Walmart I went--looking oh-so-terrible, but as Elaine pointed out, that's what Walmart's for--to have some place to go when you need some $3 spray paint, and you don't want to get out of your jammies.

I bought a few bright colors and then sprayed my life away. 

Literally. 

The amount of chemicals I must have inhaled probably took some years off my life.

The things we do for beauty...

I was totally stoked with how they turned out!

So cute, right?

Los Invitados y La Comida

So, the party was perfect.

**and i got all my finals done :)

I couldn't have been happier about how it turned out.

My family helped so much by volunteering to help with the food. 

Becky made some colorful salsas and scrumptious chicken, 

Kara brought rice and hand rolled homemade tortillas that I've been craving ever since, 

Reachel provided the lettuce, chips and guacamole, 

and I made the Cafe Rio Green Dressing and Cafe Rio Tres Leches Dessert with fresh strawberries that got gobbled up before we got a picture of it. 

We also had black beans, lettuce, and Mexican sour cream, and plenty of Mexican sodas. 

Mmmm it was seriously, all, so good.

Leisel and DD made beautiful Construction Paper Flowers and Tissue Paper Flowers that were so cute as our centerpieces. 

And Stel provided us with a festive latino album (whose lead singer was also the inspiration for his awesome hairdo and outfit.)

Check back later to see photos of all the decor details :)

'El Bigote'

I'm so glad I ordered mustaches, as there were a thing of legend at my Cinco de Mayo celebration;

even if I did accidentally order 3 times the amount we needed, thanks to an awesome calculating job by me. 

Don't worry, I'm graduating from college next week.

That means I am smart...

Tres Amigos

 Some guest were slightly less conventional...

{For Fashion's Sake} Saturday: Mexi-Inspired

Luckily, I had just a few minutes to blog browse in between party planning and getting ready and when I came across this do on Cup of Jo, I knew it would be perfect for my Cinco de Mayo Dinner Party get-up.

 

I've shared some of her hair tutorials before, and once again, I was amazed at the simple beauty of this one.

Isn't it darling?!

I'm not a newbie to the crownbraid, but I usually put both braids over the front. 

In this tutorial, you have a braid all the way around (front and back), which I think I prefer, at least on my head.

Well, I've got plenty of party photos to share, but today I'm celebrating the end of all my finals by handing out at the Phoenix Zoo with my besties with the blue tongues...

The Breakdown:
Feather Earrings: Ireland $4ish
Gold Necklace: Forever21 $borrowed
Hex-Nut Bracelet: Made by me
Green Batwing Blouse: c/o WholeSale-Dress.net
Leather Double Belt: Anthropologie $borrowed
Maxi Skirt: Thrifted $3
Rainbow Huaraches: Target $15ish

Happy Saturday!

forever21 maxi skirt