#EvannsBohoBash
On the first of this month, I turned 25. Growing up, I would always look at 25-year-olds, or really anyone over the age of 18, like they had it all together. If you were to ask me at 18 how I thought life would be at 25, I probably would've told you I envisioned myself as a super-polished, rich, married, professional woman, lol. I had so many high expectations that I thought I was supposed to meet at this age. I was putting unnecessary pressure on myself. Now that I'm really on this adulthood journey, I realize that the 20-somethings I used to admire back them were all just trying to figure things out and do the best that they could, much like I am right now.
This past month and a half has not been particularly easy for me. Something that I was very excited about did not work out in my favor, and the horrendous chain of events began taking place right before my birthday. I became very sad, angry, frustrated, unenthused – I just wasn't feeling like myself. I love celebrating birthdays, and my friends can usually count on me doing something for mine. Before things started going left, I pretty much already had a plan in my head for what I wanted to do; however, due to the situation, that plan immediately got thrown out of the window. For a week or two I went back and forth about whether or not I was even going to do anything. Since I was already in a negative headspace, the thought of having to plan and execute something was making me very anxious and upset.
One night, after a VERY long cry and encouraging conversation with my boyfriend, I started to feel a little better. I know how I am about birthdays, especially milestone ones, and I knew if I didn't do anything at all to acknowledge the day, I'd look back and regret it. I got on Pinterest and started looking up DIY dinner party ideas, and came across a pin from Spell & The Gypsy Collective. She and her friends hosted a boho themed dinner party at home, and I thought it was just the cutest thing! I thought to myself, "That looks doable," and I began doing some digging on what kind of supplies I'd need to make this thing happen.
I wanted to do low tables made from wooden pallets and have everyone sit on top of pillows that would be placed on the ground. I wanted flowers everywhere, candles, and for things to look very soft and beautiful. I knew where I could get the pillows and décor from, but how were these tables going to come into play? I texted my brother, Jordan (he's been tapping into his inner handyman lately), about the party and explained my ideas to him. He started doing some research on where we could find a bunch of wooden pallets for little to no cost. Not too long after our conversation, he sent me a link to someone in Taylor that had a lot full of pallets that they were giving away for free! Once he confirmed that he'd be able to help me with the tables, I drafted up an invitation on Canva and sent it out to all of my friends and family. Fun fact: I sent this invite out on June 29 and set the date for my party to be on July 7. I only gave myself a week to get it all together! I did this on purpose so that I couldn't back out of anything, lol.
After days of watching Jordan stack pallets, rearrange them, and even call for some reinforcement (hey, Mike!), we were able to get things stacked how I wanted them. We ended up doing three 12 foot tables in a u-shape. I bought plastic table cloths to cover the base of the tables and then bought a bunch of muslin to put on top for a cleaner look. I used burlap as a runner for each table, and then arranged fake flowers, vases and tea light candles as I saw fit. I'm so grateful I had some friends lending helping hands because I definitely wasn't going to be able to do everything on my own.
The cooking took forever! I was definitely too ambitious when I planned out the menu. Thankfully my mom helped me out because she saw me struggling, lol. Speaking of my mom, she helped me with my cake, too! When my brother and sister-in-law got married, my mom did their wedding cake. I wanted one that resembled theirs (it was a "naked" cake with flowers around it), so we did a three-tiered naked chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. I mixed the cake mix together, and my mom did all of the leveling and icing. I loved how it turned out! I even had some leftover fake flowers from Dollar Tree to put around it for decoration.
All in all, my party was absolutely magical. I was in great company, my decorations looked beautiful, everyone loved the food (I'm getting better in the kitchen, y'all), my playlist was poppin', and for the first time in some weeks, I felt at ease. Being surrounded by people that love you unconditionally truly does something to the spirit. For days, I kept staring at pictures and videos from the evening because I couldn't believe how wonderfully everything turned out! I'm so thankful for those that helped me out and to everyone that was able to come. Twenty-five has already shown me that this is going to be a year of GROWTH, and I'm ready for it.