One of my girlfriends is in town for Thanksgiving, and I am so thankful to have her little man over for a playdate with Li’l Bro today! Since–praise God–she comes to see me and not our mayhem, I did not clean up the beads that Sis and I had been working with, sprawled on the floor in the front foyer.

[A girl’s gotta make some necklaces, yo!]

I got this pound tub of beads for Sis’s princess birthday party.

It was one of two crafts we did at her princess party, and I was pretty shocked at how enthralled all the girls were with it. [This is NOT my experience with boy birthday parties, where a fast pace and maximum carnage are a plus!]

[I was so impressed with the assortment of beads! The pound container I purchased from the craft aisle of WalMart only cost $5 and had more than enough for all the guests at the party to make a necklace, plus extras for another day’s fun!]

BUT… the tricky thing with beads is that they go everywhere. So at the party, I put beads on plates for each of the girls, and at home today, I dumped the beads onto a plastic tray (I got this tray at Target a few years ago). This way Sis could sort beads while containing the mess.

[This tray is what my girlfriend saw and wondered if I’d blogged. I always pull out this tray when Sis gets into my buttons or starts beading. It makes for a perfect sorting area for her… and a nice mayhem corral for me.]

At the party, we strung the necklaces on stretchy cord, with a first bead tied on a few inches from one end, so all the beads the girls worked to get on didn’t fall right back off! Today, I did not have any of that, so I grabbed some thick thread that looks very much like embroidery floss but without the propensity to unravel and fray, making it hard to thread beads. When Sis was finished, we just double knotted the two ends together (and then trimmed the excess).

Of course, the longer I watched Sis work, the more I wanted to join her!!

So I started to gather greens and blues, some greys and taupes (I was happy to find some cheerful yet muted colors amid the kiddy shapes and bubblegum hues). I just chose by color and did not discriminate by shape.

Now I’m SET for Thanksgiving tomorrow!!

…I know, I know: this soft aqua blue and grey is not a traditional Thanksgiving palette, but the robe-like cardi (that I can totally take off when things heat up in the kitchen) and stretchy pants (hello, yoga waistband!) could not be more gobble day-ready! [And on a totally unrelated side note, can I tell you how much I love that my shoe shelves not only get my shoes off the floor, but are also a perfect place to hang tomorrow’s outfit ideas. Yay! Win-win!

So, I know that is a bit of a meandering post… more princess party talk… and beading… and organizational mess control… And an #OOTD peek… It’s a good old-fashioned ADD post, what are you gonna do. So Happy Thanksgiving, y’all!