The Steps to a More Perfect Container Garden

Last year I showed you how I started my seedlings indoors.  My process worked, but as I have been upgrading my container garden, I decided a needed I a little bit more preparation this year in order to have a smoother spring/summer.  Usually I plant seedlings and put those seedlings into pots when they are big enough to go outside, however I never really thought through the space or number of pots that I had on hand.  So, I ended up putting a plant in either too small or too big of a pot, not having enough tomato cages, or not having the space to put them altogether.  This year, I decided to decide what my garden is going to look like BEFORE I start my seedlings so that I don’t waste time or effort later when it comes time to put them outside.

Last spring, the Mr. Fix-it husband upgraded my watering system from hoses and 360 degree sprayers that mostly just got the ground wet, to a fantastic built in piping system that allows me to have rows of container plants on my deck!  This is perfect because from where our kitchen is, I get to look out at my garden each day, as well as have easy access to the veggies for a fresh salsa or salad.  Below is a picture of what my “garden” ended up being organized last year:

I really enjoyed this set up last year, so I decided I wanted to do the same thing this year.  But first, I had to decide what I want to grow.  I had a few plants last year that I still have in the freezer that I don’t need anymore of (lookin’ at you jalapeno pepper plant) and some new ones I wanted to try. 

I started this process by writing down a list of the plants I knew I wanted to grow (tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, and herbs), then looked through my seedbox to find the seeds I already had on hand, and then looked through several seed catalogs to find new plants that I hadn’t grown before.  This process took most of January.  I took my time with this process because, everything was frozen and I really enjoyed looking at all the plant catalogs!  This process shouldn’t be rushed, and I wanted to take  to think about what I wanted to harvest in the future. 

Part of the process of looking at my own seeds included building my own seed storage box.  While searching for my seeds, I realized I had them stashed in all sorts of places and I wanted one container to call my seed box.  I shopped in catalogs as well as online for a box that I liked, but I couldn’t find anything in the shape or price range I wanted, so I decided to use my new wood working hobby to make my own.  (Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see the process in a post!)

After I had settled on a list of plants and purchased seeds for the items I didn’t already own, I decided to stay organized and write this information down.  (I know, sounds simple, right?)  I have not been very good at keeping a garden journal so I don’t have a good sense of what time of year we normally have our last real frost.  There are several websites with rules of thumb, so I decided to use that date until I had a better understanding from my “future” garden journals.  My area’s average last frost date is April 15th.  This date is important because most seed packets reference a “start you seeds” date based on the last frost for the year.  I made a list of each item, how many weeks before or after the frost date they should be planted and made an excel formula to tell me when I need to start the seeds (yes, I’m an excel nerd).  Now I know exactly when to start the seeds for each item instead of looking at each of the seed packets each weekend and doing to math to decide if I need to start some or not. 

Once I had the seedling start date, I needed to decide how many seedlings to start!  In order to do that, I need to know how many mature plants I want.  I started to list in my same spreadsheet the quantity of mature plants.  This would be another helpful piece of information to keep in a garden journal, for example, do four tomato plants produce the quantity of tomatoes I need, or should I plant five to keep up?  Or were eight eggplants too much for one year and I should cut back to six the next, etc.  I had to guess this year based on what I remember from last year and picked out how many I wanted of each.  I then categorized each item by what type of pot they would go into, and used a count formula to add up the quantity of each type of pot.  This way, I already know many of each kind of pot I need.  Lucky for me, I have twenty of my five gallon vegetable pots and I want exactly twenty vegetable plants (don’t you just love it when a plan comes together)?

Here is an idea of the pots that I use:

• Vegetable Pots:  mix of different five gallon pots are the perfect size for one plant (tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplants, etc).
• Small Pots:  mix of one to two gallon pots for smaller herb or lettuce plants
• Rectangular Pots:  foot long rectangular plants for onions (see post here).
• Trough:  very large 150 gallon trough on sale that I am going to try and use for large crops, and perhaps potatoes in the future
• Grill:  an old grill that I converted into a planter which is the perfect standing height for a planter and works well for small herb plants like basil, rosemary, and cilantro.     
• Decorative:  pretty pots I have collected over the years that I use for flowers

Once I had my full list of plants, quantities, and pots, I decided to map out how the container garden would look, much like my 2018 view.  This is really helpful because, now I don’t have to think about where I’m going to put each plant when it comes time to place them outside in a couple of months!  I already did all the work!

Now to get started on those seedlings!

How do you decide what to plant?  Do you keep a garden journal?  I want to know!

Best Laid Plans

Everyone Makes Mistakes

Practice Makes Perfect

I'm sure you have heard these phrases before, I certainly have.  From playing the clarinet in high school, to learning my debits and credits in school or at work, I have had to practice to hone my skills (and I have made mistakes!)  

This is no different when learning about a hobby such as sewing, decorating cakes, or even blogging!

I had this phrase come to life while trying a few new things this week in preparation for the Mr. Fix it Fiance's birthday.  I had a plan of an awesome XBox themed shin-dig, (rather than duplicating the Star Wars birthday from last year).  

I decided that since I had an opportunity to play around with new recipes, I was totally going to try some I had been waiting on... 

That's when it happened, everything went sooo horribly WRONG!   

Here's how:

1.  The Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake Fiasco:

Due the fact that my Mr. Fix it Fiance is not as big of a fan of CAKE and I am, I decided to make him a chocolate chip cookie cake instead (MY FIRST EVER!)  I followed this recipe to a T, except for using a pizza pan.  I don't have one of those, so I just laid out the dough on a regular cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  

Only about twelve minutes latter I smell a burnt smell around the apartment.  Apparently the cookie cake expands WAY more than the size of my cookie sheet.  The edges slid off the sides of the cookie sheet, broke off, and landed in the bottom of my oven.  I had a HUGE mess.  

Okay, so I learned my lesson, next time use the proper utensils that the recipe says to use.  (Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the cookie dough STUCK to the inside of my oven, I was a bit preoccupied with the clean up!)

2.  Flooding Gone Wrong:

I had an AWESOME plan to use the icing from Bake at 350 to decorate the cookie cake (or cookie blob) to look like a Xbox controller.  (ALL her cookies are LOVELY, so why wouldn't I, right?)  

Wrong, .... SO wrong!!

Bake at 350's directions where fantastic, but the icing colors I bought would not turn the white fluffy icing, to black, so I got purple.  Yes, I had to use purple to create a Xbox controller. 

I then was going to use the "flooding" technique to make the controller come to life on the pan, however, after I failed at the outlining, flooding the joysticks, and making the light up buttons look anything like buttons, I gave up.  You can see that mess below:

3.  Icing Plan 2

I used Bake at 350's cookie recipe as well, to make the MOST delicious cut out sugar cookies and held up to being tortured by my icing- capades.

I wanted to make circle cookies to look like the Xbox logo.  By this time, my kitchen smelled BURNT, the icing was hardening and I was already upset about the hideous cake, so I put the logo on the cookies with just two green lines... no flooding.  

Since my Mr. Fix It Fiance would much rather his bake goods have little to no icing, he was happy, but my pride was hurt BIG time!

After having so much trouble, I tweeted Bake at 350 to tell her about my hideous cake/cookie fiasco, she told me:

There, I had a professional telling me that practice makes perfect.  I will certainly be taking these two sayings to heart the next time I attempt a new project or recipe.

Have you had any kitchen mishaps lately?

Call Me Maybe? RSVP Rules.

Does anyone else have Carly Rae’s “Call me, Maybe” stuck in their head ALL THE TIME? (I’m not the only one right?)

Well this post is not about that song… (but I bet your singing it in your head now).   

I wanted to converse about the idea of R.S.V.P.-ing.

R.S.V.P.:  Repondez, s’il vous plait or “Please Reply” (That’s about all I got out of high school French class!)

In the past (although I cannot find anything about this in my circa 1922 Emily Post Etiquette book), the etiquette around the idea of  R.S.V.P.-ing was to respond to an invitation (usually written or phone call) letting the host know if you will be attending.    

Do you think this is still how it is used today? 

I don’t really see the need for an R.S.V.P. on an invite to a buffet or other get together where the guest list doesn’t need to be exact.  I would think that the only need for an RSVP would be on a formal invitation to a wedding, etc.   

As the host of a party or event, it truly is up to you as to the choice of adding RSVP information to your invitation.  You can do this in many ways:

1.  Sending an R.S.V.P. card along with the invitation with postage already paid (usually a must for formal weddings).

2.  Supply your guests with a phone number/ email address to contact you as to their plans on attending.

3  Choose the "regret's only" route and ask that guests only contact you if they are going to be missing out on the festivities.

I have to admit, I have accidentally forgotten to RSVP to events in the past (I know, shame on me!), but what should you do as a host if guests do not respond to your RSVP demands?  You have a few questions to ask yourself:

If someone does not answer, is that a no?  

Is silence acceptance?

Should you call each guest that did not answer the RSVP and ask them for a response?

I suggest, rather than getting upset that a guest did not respond, just call them up and ask them if they received and invite and if so, if they will be able to make it.  (Don't ask for details, its possible that your guest might not want to divulge the reasoning for not attending a function.)

Now , I hope every time you put RSVP in an invite, you sing to yourself: “Call me, maybe?”

Party Lighting - High and Low Light

Just like with music, lighting is a vital part of a party’s atmosphere.  Bright stage lights would be weird during an intimate date night dinner at home…. and low lights would be just as awkward during a large birthday party. 

Major lighting changes are hard to make with out buying new lamps, or re-wiring light switches to dimmer switchs (although dimmer switches are REALLY COOL!).  However, you can certainly alter the mood of the room with a few minor changes….

To create low light:

• Put a thin scarf over lamps to darken the light (Possible fire hazard, so please only do this with CFLs or LEDs, they do not get hot!)
• Use candles, or flameless candles around your event’s area to give light, but not bright bold light.
• Use side lamps, rather than over head lights, this way lighting is coming from the side, and not from over head.
• Keep colors of décor darker.

To create “high” light:

• If it’s a sunny day, open up all the blinds, curtains, and window treatments that you can! Its FREE light!!
• Use White Light bulbs, it creates a “brighter” feel
• Use bright colors or white for décor colors, they won’t take away from the “bright light”

Note:  I tried SO HARD to get pictures of lighting for this post, however I totally failed!  Here is what happened:

Party Planning - Refrigerator Space

I don’t have a huge refrigerator… in fact, I think my fridge is smaller than most "normal" sized refrigerators (that's usually what happens in an apartment).  Soooo sometimes I run out of room in the fridge while making food for a party.  (I really hope I’m not the only one with this problem!!) 

{Note:  This is NOT my refridgerator, oh but how I would love this much space!!}

While trying to work on a solution to this problem, I have figured out a few tips on how to utilize all the space in your fridge and perhaps some tips on how to keep your party essentials “cool”.

1.       Clean out your fridge before you start making food, or buying beverages, this way you can use all the free room, rather than taking up valuable space with old and half empty food containers

2.       Think about what types of food and drinks you are going to be putting in your fridge/freezer.  It is possible by thinking prior to putting all the items in the fridge and playing tetris, you could save space by being smart!

3.       Put it in ICE…  Put your beverages on ice just a few hours before the party, this way they are chilled, but haven’t taken valuable space in the fridge.

4.       Do you have a chilly basement or garage?  Put stuff in these places if possible…

Note:  Be mindful of ALL food safety tips!  Some food may be harmful to your health if not stored at the appropriate temperature.

Classy Kitty Party: Breakfast at Tiffany's

Hello Classy Event Organizers!

I have to apologize for my short absence!  I have been a bit busy due to the addition to my household:  A beautiful kitten!

I have never had a pet (other than my betta fish) before, and if you have or ever had a kitten, you know how much work they can be!  But she loves to give kisses and cuddle.

During my absence I’ve spent the last two weeks re-arranging my townhouse to better suite my new kitten, as well as thinking about planning (you guessed it...) a “Welcome to the Family” party!

As you can imagine my fur-baby is a Classy Kitty, so she is going to need a classy party for an introduction to her new family and friends.  I decided to begin organizing the event by using the Party Planning Basics Worksheet (you can find this worksheet here) as a starting point for planning the shin-dig.

Here are my notes so far:

As you can see the details are a bit sparse, so I decided to log onto one of my favorite websites, Pinterest, to get some inspiration for my theme “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”.

If you have never used Pinterest before, it is a virtual pinboard website, where you can save your favorite “things” via a virtual pin board.  If you want to learn more about this awesome resource go here.

I use Pinterest to track not only my favorite products and recipes, but also my personal style as well as (you guessed again!) party ideas!!

When I have a new party to plan, I first create a new pin board, and then search a few key words and start pinning what I like.  Once I have a decent amount of pins collected to a board, I look them all over to reflect and start making decisions!  

Here are some pins I have gathered so far:

Stay Tuned as the process unfolds....

Party Planning Basics {Freebie}

Need some help organizing your party plans?  

"Like" Classy Event Organizer on Facebook  

{Download the file from the FREEBIES page!} 

and get a {Free} Party Planning Basics organizer 

created by yours truly!  

Answer: The Coat Closet

Have you ever arrived at a party, had the hostess or someone take your coat, and put it in a bedroom in a pile of everybody else’s coats.  Then,  at the end of the night when you can’t find your coat and spend a half hour hunting for your very cute Winter Pea-coat that is now SO wrinkly.  And then only to discover that one of the other guests had their spare lipstick in a coat pocket and it fell out and somehow left a huge mark on your sleeve!?

Coat Pile

   

I have found that this way of storing winter coats during a party is the biggest hassle!  I have a few tips and requests to help this issue for a hostess (and keep your guests’ sleeves lipstick free!

Answer:  The Coat Closet

Most homes (or apartments) have a closet near an entry way or front door.  However, like in my home, it is full (to about bust) with my own winter costs, umbrellas, gloves, scarves, random exercise equipment, etc, which means there is no space to put guests coats as they arrive. 

My suggestion for when you have a party, and the weather might not be great, (cold, snowy, or raining) consider your guests and remember to clear out as much space as possible in your coat closet!  I realize that this is going to add a yet another burden to your list of “Party Preparing To-Do’s”, however dealing with the trouble of cleaning up a bit up front solves any issues you could possibly have later!

Add empty hangers to the closet if you don’t normally store any in this closet.  Remember winter coats are usually heavy, and some people like to store their keys or other items in the pockets so use hangers than can hold a heavy load!

If you are expecting rain designate an area for wet umbrellas to either sit out or stand as to not lay all over the floor and create a slippery mess!  I use a plastic tote or bucket to hold the wet umbrellas and then just dump out the water after the party (seems a little weird, but at least my floors aren’t all wet!

Now you might be asking “What if I don’t have an entry way coat closet?!”  If this is the case, use other free closet space, either in a guest bedroom, or even your laundry room.  If you don’t want guests in these rooms, I suggest offering to take their coats at the door and labeling the hangers by who’s coat it is so it’s easy to find them when they are about to leave. 

Have you ever had the unfortunate situation of a ruined coat because of the dreadful coat pile?  Or perhaps almost slipped and fell because an entry way was wet from umbrella rain?  Share your horror stories in the comments!

The "I Live Here" Clean

This post is not directly connected to party planning, but about cleaning your home for yourself (and your potential guests)!

Like many other women, I love looking at catalogs that feature furniture and new ways to arrange my home (currently my favorite is the IKEA 2012 catalog) however, no matter how hard I try, my house will NEVER look as good as the catalog!  I don’t understand how they expect my closet to only hold 4 shirts and 2 skirts, or ONLY 6 pairs of shoes!  When I look at home office pictures from “See Jane Work” collection I wonder how none of the computers have cords, and no one seems to own a printer!   The living rooms in these types of catalogs have NO personal pictures, the owners own 2 DVDs and one color of books.   

I collect these catalogs, rip pictures out and smash into my (very awesome) SMASH book, or add the picture to my pinterest board (For the Home).  However no matter how many of these types of inspiring pictures I keep, I realize that my townhouse apartment will never look like these grand pictures (very disappointing!) 

My house will not be like these pictures because I LIVE HERE!  (Yes a real person (me) lives in this apartment.  It is not a stage, nor a show room, it is a home in which I live.  Now, rather than trying to create a catalog picture perfect apartment, I clean, organize, and host with that idea in mind (I Live Here!).  My closet is going to be FULL of shoes and BAGS.  My book case will not only hold black and white bound books and DVD cases.  My computer does have cords and I indeed own WAY too many clothes.  I made a {freebie} printable for those out there that need a reminder that they do live in their homes and although those catalogs of inspiration are wonderful works of art to look at, they are NOT realistic.  (Mine is on the wall above my desk at home.) {Download the file from the FREEBIES page!}

Pick a color... any color... and share where you put it!

…Even if You Have to Wash the Dishes in a Bath Tub!

One of the perks of living on your own (and no longer under the roof of your parental units), is that you can invite them own and show them your hostess skills with an informal dinner party. When I moved into my quaint apartment townhouse, after moving out of my parents house, I invited them over for such a dinner party. This was the first time that I was able to be a host in my very own home! I was so excited, and I had planned everything perfectly. I even planned out that fact that because I didn’t own enough dishes I was going to have to wash them between dinner and dessert. The plan would have worked perfectly, but then something happened…that I had no planned on… the kitchen sink drain clogged! I had only been in the apartment for about a month or so, so I didn’t have all the essentials like a plunger or drain-o to help fix the situation.

I had a mini freak out (okay, I admit, it was not by any means mini). For the life of me, I could not figure out what to do in the situation my sink had put me in! I thought perhaps I should wash the dishes in a couple full pots of water, or how I could even use the tub! I was so bummed about the clogged sink that I couldn’t think straight about my dinner party or guests. I was stuck!

Fortunately my boyfriend, with one of his many useful “Mr Fix-it” skills had fixed the situation. It didn’t take very long at all, and he did un-clog the drain. (My “mini” freak out was for nothing, oh silly me!). I was able to finish washing the dishes and serve a delicious homemade apple pie!

Although I had planned everything for this dinner event down to the minute, unexpected things can happen. Guests can bring extra guests, guest may show up late or not at all. your food might turn out not as planned or a wrench might be thrown into the party itinerary. Whatever the issue, remember that although you planned everything down to the details, your party needs to be fluid, and perhaps won’t be perfect. In any situation like this, remember to keep your cool and don’t freak out! There is always a solution, even if you have to wash the dishes in a bath tub!

Have you ever had any party blunders or had something not go 100% as planned? 

From Frills to Fail

A few years ago, I had the great opportunity to plan a dear friend’s birthday party.  Sex and the City was the theme chosen for this soiree; as it was a favorite show of ours. Together we planned the decorations and food.  Pictures and quotes from our favorite scenes were placed around the rooms.  The appetizers were placed on their trays and the glasses for our fruity, girly drinks were arranged.  The place looked FANTASTIC!

The party, however, turned out to be the lamest 3 hours in social gathering history!  Why?  Because we got caught up so much with the decor that I forgot about the basis of a party: The people and what they are going to do at the party.  I hadn’t really thought about what kind of party (such as mingling, watching the show, or testing new drinks) we wanted to have so it turned out to be a total Party Planning Fail!  We ended up just staring at each other until someone turned on the tv to watch what ever show was on that evening.  
Anyone planning a social gathering would say that the most fun part of party planning is picking out the invitations and decorations and perhaps planning the menu, and I agree, it totally is!  But the frills aren’t the most important part.  In order to keep your parties and reputation on the “must be at” list, don’t forget about the basis or your event.

Sara Shriftman and Elizabeth Harrison, executive publicists with offices in New York, Miami, and Los Angels, put these two things on the top of their party planning list as well.  They wrote a book, Fete Accompli!  The Ultimate Guide to Creative Entertaining, which is a great entertaining guide with an upbeat attitude and is not presented in the usual boring party planning manner.  They go onto explain that after you have decided to plan a party the first step is to decide what your party is for and also what kind of party you want.  They explain these decisions as being important because you might not want to plan a night of dancing until 5:00am if you are celebrating a promotion with your boss, and perhaps your boss’ boss.

Although it may seem obvious not to make that type of mistake, it is rather easy to forget these often overlooked elements. If you just plan the “fun stuff” all you are left with is a decorative room filled with food and bored people (and trust me, it’s not fun!)  Take a moment and just think about the basis of your party, and everything else will fall into place around it.     

- Classy Event Organizer

Books and Brainstorms

I am currently at the end of day two of my blog journey.  I’ve done a lot!  First, I went to the library which is one of my favorite places to get inspiration (and all the books are totally FREE).  I picked up a ton of books to use in my research that they weighed about a ton as well.   

Second, I started brainstorming about past events I’ve held or been able to take part in; including my childhood birthday parties. (I still have my party planning notes!) Even in the last year I’ve been able to have lots of events to plan including having friends and family over to my apartment.  These events have given me wonderful experiences like having to figure out what to do when the sink gets clogged and I needed to do dishes before anyone can eat dessert because there weren’t enough plates or forks!

While thinking back to these gatherings, I’ve noticed that a lot of “fails” would have been avoided with proper preparation before the actual planning of a party.  Doing a bit of research to get some inspiration is always a good idea (hence all the very heavy books!).

I am so excited to share my thoughts and findings.  I’ve uncovered some tips on party etiquette that range from classical times to modern day bachelorette parties.  I didn’t realize that there were so many theories on how many chairs to place in a room and so many different ways to set a table!  Not only will I share my view on these interesting findings, but also how to use them in an event and perhaps stay in budget!

Enjoy!   

- CEO