Hostess with the Mostess

Señora Siado, my Spanish teacher in high school, told me that I was "the hostess with the mostess" after I helped plan an Ice Cream Social to kick off the new school year in Spanish club.

This sticks in my memory still today because I have always loved parties. Going to them, planning them, even cleaning up from them! I love the moments when people first meet each other, or get a taste of a new food they have never tried. Or when their eyes light up at creative decorations and they get ideas for their own events. Or even when the party is over and the clean-up crew is breaking down the mess. I like to hang around to reflect on all of the great memories made that night. Parties are magical. Parties are LOVE.

I even convinced my parents to let me throw a party at our house in high school. Of course, we had to have a band for entertainment. They were called Just Pancakes. I'm not sure how I still remember that.

How lucky was I, at 16 years old, to discover a talent that I still use today. I went from scooping ice cream in high school, to planning banquets at the University of Texas at Austin for Business Council, to organizing rock star parties for Lava Records artists, to finally opening my own invitation and event planning business, Paperlicious.

My 2004 wedding to Troy Nelson was covered on E! Style Network's show Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?, where the insanely talented New York event planner Jung Lee swept in and rescued me from the chaos of being a bride and a wedding planner. It might have been a small challenge letting her take over.

As a mom to two girls, I love to plan parties for them–from fancy play-dates with whimsical themes (Fondue tea-party anyone?) to awesome birthday parties. My girls expect that every year we will have an Easter Egg Hunt and a Halloween Party, too. They love picking the Halloween party theme each year–they choose it and I make it work. So far we have had Monster Mash, The Big Boo, and a Halloween Carnival. I have worked as a wedding planner, a neighborhood party planner, a church VBS decorator, and a school dance planner. And I loved every. single. event.

Like the quote says, "Do what makes you happy and you will never work a day in your life."

I hope that you find what God put you here to do. When you do, the blessings don't just go out from you, they flow right back to you in huge waves of LOVE. It's like you get to have a party every day!

Happy Planning!