HipMamaB San Diego: Get $10 off SD Magazine's Best of San Diego Party!

Ahhh San Diego.... Before I get too deep in rehashing the amazing time I had in New York City, I'm first going to tell you all about my home town, America's FINEST city. 

Those of us who live here do so because we truly LOVE this city. From Chula Vista to Carlsbad to everything in between, this town takes our breath away with its views, weather, food and general laid-back vibe.

This August, San Diego Magazine is celebrating all that we love about our city with its annual "Best Of" issue. But instead of just talking about it, on Friday August 17th they are bringing some of these highlights together for the annual Best of San Diego party. 

This year’s party will feature 80+ restaurants from the June "Best Restaurants" issue and August "Best of San Diego" issue. Along with delicious eats, you will also find 20 breweries, 15 wineries, some of the best live entertainment in the city. Additionally, a portion of ticket sales will go towardsThe New Children’s Museum. The big bash will be held at Liberty Station, known to locals as the former Naval Training Center.

“This is our biggest and most anticipated party of the year,” says Jim Fitzpatrick, CEO and Publisher of San Diego Magazine, “With so much to celebrate in San Diego, this will be the ultimate way to sample the best food, beer, wine and local entertainment in the city.”

Personally, I can't wait for this party. And since I really want to share a Stone beer or Bardot ice cream bar with you - I have a promo code to save you $10 off your ticket. 

Buy today and SAVE $10 off your ticket when you use the code:  HIPMAMAB

See you there!

*please note the event is 21+

*disclosure: I received tickets to this event in exchange for writing this post

The Birthday Party That Wasn't Supposed To Be

Lucas has had a birthday party every year of his life. I'm big on birthdays, and see it also as a bit of an anniversary that we survived another year of parenthood. But I'll be honest, I'm a little burnt out on them. Between the hand made brain lollipops and matching brain cake for the 6 YO science party and the 3 YO Alice in Wonderland tea party extravaganza, my party-sanity has been spent. Drained. Done. So I made a proclamation - 4 and 8 were NON-BIRTHDAY PARTY YEARS. 

It worked with Zoe. I just took her and her BFF to the American Girl store in LA for lunch. She got a doll and was thrilled. Easy peasy. But that is not the case with the boy. He's more like me than he knows... and he wanted to have a party. I gave him choices like Disneyland, a weekend in Palm Springs, a Laker game or even his own computer. Nope. He wanted a party. 

I started to look around. What is a cool party for 8 year old boys? We are at the drop off stage, which freaked me out last year at the Rugby park party when parents left their kids with us and some tacking dummies for 3 hours mid-day. So it has to be easy, secure, be able to have about 20 kids and not cost an arm and a leg. That leaves us with.... nothing. 

So I talked the kid into a smaller, "family" party at home. Our close family friends and their kids. We'll have dinner and the kids can play video games. Lucas wasn't really sold, but solemnly agreed. Yea. I was WORKED OVER by an (almost) 8 year old. He knows me. He's knows my style and how I roll. More importantly, he KNOWS that Mom doesn't do small, nothing parties. And he is so correct. 

This small party is now being dubbed "Club A.V.A.N.T."

We are transforming the dining room into a dance club complete with a DJ (friends of ours with a set up), strobe light and disco ball. Lucas has decided that he wants his friends to do a "rap off" and he even has an outfit change slated. The other day he asked if we could also get a taco truck and a chocolate fountain.

I told him that he's watching entirely too much Disney XD. 

Check back for post-mortem madness and pictures next week. 

Summer lovin', having a blast

This weekend we hosted our first summer party of the year! Memorial day + Jason's birthday = a great excuse to have a BBQ. It was a bit of a last minute decision, so because of that I didn't obsess for too long, which left me wracked with anxiety on Sunday for not obsessing earlier! The other thing is that I was doing this party more pot-luck style, which always stresses the planner in me out. Usually I tell people just to bring wine/beer because I can't handle the uncertainty of not knowing what and where the food will go. 

Our home is an outdoor event house. I rely very heavily on our patio and backyard for entertaining... if it's chilly out, people just end up standing around my pink kitchen and peak my self conciousness over my 1958 Kitchen of the Year. Over the past few months I've accumulated some bright colored party decor, so instead of going traditional red, white and blue, I went with a palette of bright colors - very summery and very outdoorsy.

Since Jason is more of a pie guy than a cake guy, I thought that a variety of pies would be a fun table of desserts. Of course, everyone commented on the lack of cake balls... so, note to self, I now can not have a party without my "balls". 

While wine is usually the drink of choice, I also like to have that special cocktail for people to remember the party by. At my birthday party it was the "lemontini" and for this party it was a "Drunken Arnold Palmer". Add some sweet Tea flavored vodka to some lemonade and voila! It's like you are drinking punch. Which is why I labeled it with a warning that this was a special "Adult Only" drink. I could totally see someone giving their kid a cup not realizing the potency of that baby.

Another one of my favorite new touches are the funny cocktail napkins. These purples ones were a gift, but you can find them at Z Gallerie or Sur la Table. They are good for a giggle - especially if you pair them with a novelty wine. Bitch wine is hilarious.. and it's not bad tasting. 

Even tho I ran out plates and didn't make my cake balls, the party was still a wonderful celebration of Jason's birthday and the onset of summer!

 

Even tho I ran out plates and didn't make my cake balls, the party was still a wonderful celebration of Jason's birthday and the onset of summer!

Celebrating the Love

This past weekend I was part of a trio that hosted an engagement party for our friend's Carrie and RJ. It was a wonderful night where friends and family of the happy couple got to come together to formally congratulate the two on their upcoming nuptials.. while eating delicious food and drinking wine, of course!

I loved this party because it was a great combination of what a few people can do together, and how just adding a few special details can really make the event even more special.

Pink and Orange are always such bright, fun colors to use for happy celebrations. The paper circles and circle labels used on the banner both came from Paper Source, as did the butterflies. The sticks in the vase in the middle of the table were on clearance at Michael's and with the bright butterflies, made the perfect center piece for the large table in the high-ceiling dining room. The popcorn cones are made from twisted scrapbooking paper, and all the flowers are just from Trader Joe's. 

While we were tempted to fill the large table with a gazillion desserts, we really didn't need to. I made Bakerella's cake balls again (once again, a HUGE HIT) and those a few bright cupcakes made the table. (side note - Bakerella has a whole book coming out this fall on Cake pops!)

Of course, the most important detail of the night was that Carrie and RJ were happy... which I think they were!

Stamp (and eat) it up!

For those of you that may not be as obsessed with Paper Source as I am (4Square mayor of the Carlsbad store -HOLLA!) I wanted to share a really cool idea that they posted on their blog today - using a rubber stamp to create a design on plate.. that's edible!

Picture from Paper Source blogApparently you mix powdered sugar, a little food coloring, and a little water to make a sugar based "paste". Then using a paper towel, you apply the mix to a clean, new rubber stamp, stamp the plate and let it dry and harden. 

How cool and easy is that?!

I'm going to experiment with this later and see what else you can decorate with this interesting, edible idea.