How To Throw a Pirate Party

Looking to throw a pirate themed birthday bash?  Search no more!  Follow these simple steps!

Step 1: Rent a pirate ship.  I would recommend the Fearless, sponsored by Urban Pirates.

Step 2: Purchase the most ridiculous pirate outfit you can find on the internet.  You can't tell in this picture, but my tights have skulls and crossbones up the back.  Awesome.

Step 3: Buy booze.  Beer won't do- pirates drink liquor, not beer.  I would recommend one bottle for every 2 people.

Step 4:  Invite lots of friends.

Step 5: Make all of your friends wear ridiculous pirate tattoos, eye patches, and hats.

Step 6: Have an amazing friend surprise you with a cake shaped like a pirate ship.


And there you have it!  follow these directions, and you can have a pirate party of your very own.

I Am No Longer a Child; I Wish to See the World

On Wednesday, I officially left my youth behind as I crawled out of the twenties and entered a scary new decade known as "The Thirties." Gulp.  Leaving childhood and becoming an adult was not as unfortunate as I imagined, and luckily, I'm still alive to tell the story.

The day began with many early morning texts, phone calls, and emails from well wishers. I then went to work to show off the birthday OOTD. You'll get to see that in a minute. At work, I received a plethora of flowers, candy, and treats!  It was an excellent day.  I definitely tip-toed that fine line between "working hard" and "hardly working."

Afterwards, I went to dinner with a friend and then we went to the Kennedy Center to see Sheer Madness.  It was an evening of fun, murder, and mayhem to be followed by a weekend party which will be featured in a separate post.

Dress: Banana Republic, Mad Men Collection, Summer 2011
Shoes: Banana Republic, Jenna Round Toe Pump, Summer 2011
Stockings: Fishnet tights, J. Crew Fall 2011

This ensemble was carefully selected for my debut as a 30-something.  The pearl jewelry and lace dress scream of sophistication and elegance while the fishnet stockings and snakeskin heels yell "I may be 30 but I can still walk on the wild side." If you don't hear them yelling that, listen more carefully.

As a birthday surprise, my roommate sent this beautiful flower arrangement.  You can't tell in the picture, but the vase has candles painted on it.  Cute!

Then, I got this flower arrangement from my parents!  It was definitely a floral birthday, and I love how sweet my office smells with all these flowers around.

And that, my friends, is how a 30th birthday is done. :) 

Life Begins at 30, Right?

I'm having a lot of anxiety about the dirrty 30 birthday that is approaching, and, well, by the time this post runs, it'll be HERE!  In retrospect, the 20s were a pretty good decade for me.  While I didn't accomplish everything I had hoped to, I did have many adventures, travels, and experiences I wouldn't trade in!


In anticipation of a new decade, I thought I would look back through the past 9 birthdays (if I can find pictures of each one!) to recap...  I used to be a mad scrapbooker, so some of these photos are scanned from books and are pretty heavily cropped; you'll get the idea, though.

20th Birthday: 2001

Sad truths about this picture: 1. I still own (and sometimes wear) this shirt 2. The belt, which you can see from another picture in the upper left hand corner is definitely a sparkly gold... I just threw it away last year and 3. I have no idea who the boy in the bottom picture is.  Do you?

21st Birthday: 2002

Okay, I definitely know who all of these people are, I am just not quite sure what we are doing.  Check out the X on my hand... yep, that's what they do at Penn State for your 21st birthday so you can't take any shots

22nd Birthday: 2003

Can't find any pictures from this birthday. This was shortly after I moved to VA, and I didn't know many people, so I am guessing I didn't have much of a party to take pictures of!

23rd Birthday: 2004

This was a fun joint birthday party where all things started with D... Desserts, Doorprizes, Dominoes, you name it. Why do we have blue lips?  Your guess is as good as mine!

24th Birthday: 2005

This was definitely the most embarassing birthday thus far.  Too many cocktails is definitely bad news.

25th Birthday:2006
Sadly, I can't find pictures from this birthday, either.  I know my sister came down, and the party was at Jen Heywood's house.  I got a HUGE red card... all my friends chipped in and paid for a trip to Stonehenge, as I was going to London a few weeks later.  Since I can't find the picture of the party, I'll toss in a London picture for good measure (they were only 2 weeks apart!)

26th Birthday: 2007

For the life of me, I cannot find a picture from this birthday.  I know I wore a short sleeve back sweater and black and white pants.  I know we had dinner at Magiano's and Amy Egoville had to drive me because my car broke down. The pictures seem to be MIA...

27th Birthday: 2008

 

Extremely wild hair... joint birthday party at the Melting Pot with Courtney

 

28th Birthday: 2009



Yep- we had a bridesmaid Bash for this party... 'nuff said



29th Birthday: 2010

 

Skirt: Anthropologie, summer 2010
Belt: Anthropologie, winter 2009
Cardigan: J. crew, circa 2009
Top: unknown
Necklace: Ann Taylor Loft, Fall 2010

 

For extra measure, here are birthday socks I got a few years ago from my friend, Raechel.  I try to wear them at some point during my birthday week, if not on the actual day:

All leading up to the main event... stay tuned to see the 2011 Birthday Outfit!