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Real Mountain Values started as a running joke between myself, Brianna Willis and my husband, Patrick. A certain politician ran a campaign that constantly discussed mountain values. To tell you the truth Patrick and I don't remember that much about the campaign other than every time we would see a sign or commercial we would discuss exactly what made up a mountain value... Shotgun weddings?

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We would love to hear from you!

Brianna: brianna@realmountainvalues.com

Patrick: patrick@realmountainvalues.com

31 Days of Party & Event Planning: Day 17-Halloween Food Inspiration

halloween-food-inspiration

Instead of being an entire party mood board I thought I would get myself psyched for this week’s topic of food and libations.  Enough talk, lets see the fanciful treats for your next Halloween party.

Starting in the upper left-hand corner (click the links to see the recipes):

Cheesy Bones: Look easy and cute. From Kraft Foods Black and Red Candied Apples:  I just can’t help thinking ‘Twilight’. From Matt Bites Moldy Cheese Balls: Use your favorite cheese ball recipe and change the coating. From Better Homes & Gardens Candy Corn Cocktail: I am one of those that hates

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31 Days of Party & Event Planning: Day 16-The Weakest Link

meringue-mushrooms

I feel like we just got started discussing decorations for parties and events, but alas I have set goals for myself.  The main goal was to focus on a different part of event and party planning each week during my 31 Day Challenge.  To recap:

Week 1: Guest Lists and Invitations 10/1-10/8

Week 2: Decorations 10/9-10/15

Week 3: Food and Libations 10/16-10/22

UGH!  Food is by far my weakest link.  While I have the ability to cook, it is not something that I enjoy.  Subsequently I don’t have a lot of go-to recipes in my arsenal.  As far as I

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Conversations from the Bungalow

Here’s a bit of a few of our conversations this week. As you can see, we’re quite colorful.

Brianna: “Why is “auto-erotic asphyxiation” one of our tags on the blog?”             Patrick: “Because David Carradine is one of the most awesome badasses of all time. Perverted, but awesome.”

 

Patrick: “What is so evil in Listerine that makes your tongue burn like the fires in hell but makes your mouth feel so good? What has your tongue ever done to it? It’s just not fair.”

 

Brianna: “I’m so flattered some of our friends forgot I was pregnant

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31 Days of Party & Event Planning: Day 15- Over Doing It

Board Game Centerpiece

I love to come up with themes and matching decorations for my parties, but I always wonder can you over do it?  Obviously there is a short time as a teenager when theme parties are totally uncool, but we seem to loose that by college.  Ever been to luau night at a fraternity?

Now that I am getting older and less self concious I have been considering doing some real theme parties beyond just color coordinated decorations.  I like the idea of doing a wine tasting (after baby #2 makes their entrance), chocolate party, or board game night but always

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31 Days of Party & Event Planning: Day 14- Tips For Interesting Arrangements

most-interesting

I’ll let you in on a little secret: There are a number of people that have an ‘eye’ for decorating.  However, there are even more people that know design tricks that allow them to effortlessly throw together some pumpkins or vases to make an interesting display.  Today we are going to learn two different techniques that I was taught in art school.  Used they can instantly take a simple three item arrangement and make it much more interesting.

For the purposes of illustration I am using three colored blocks.  You can pictures these as three vases, candles, pumpkins, branches, etc… 

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31 Days of Party & Event Planning: Day 13- Where to Find Decoration Inspiration

Inspiration image courtesy of A Magazine Moment.  Who clearly is also better photographer than me.

Previously we have discussed where to decorate, but we haven’t touched on the big subject: What do you decorate with?

I am more of a DIYer because I enjoy crafting my decorations and because my budget will not allow me to recreate inspiration rooms/decorations carte blanche.  Some of my friends consider me ‘creative’, but I consider myself to be very good at finding inspiration.  Take for example my Easy Shower Favors.  I didn’t come up with this idea from scratch:

Inspiration image courtesy of A Magazine Moment. Who clearly is also better photographer than me.

So where do I

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31 Days of Party & Event Planning: Day 12- Easy Party Favor How To

simple-party-favor

This week’s DIY project is about party favors.  While not every occasion calls for favors, they can be a nice touch.  These particular ones will be used for a baby shower I am assisting with this weekend.  However, I am using a format that could easily be adapted for most occasions.  The final product looks like this:

It includes a small craft bag which will be filled with a variety of homemade mini-cookies (wrapped in cellophane) but could easily include small items from candy to candles.  The opening is closed with three layers of paper cut in a traditional ribbon

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A Quick Note to Floridians

Dear Floridians,

I just wanted to point out that this year, the Fall leaf color is VERY BAD. I mean, I have never seen it this awful in my 10 years of living in Western North Carolina. This past week we have had storm after storm that has literally knocked down almost every leaf off every tree here. And for the few trees that have some leaves on them, they are all brown; and gnarly; and lame.

You may have heard that this year’s colors are supposed to be really good. But don’t listen to the hype. They’re not. That’s

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31 Days of Party & Event Planning: Day 11-What To Decorate

Image courtesy of West Elm

I mentioned previously that over the years I have learned to scale back my decorations in order to make it to my parties without being exhausted.  If you are one of those people that already has your house decorated for every season, early, and without fail… Then my hat is off to you in admiration.  For the rest of us I suggest picking one to two accent areas of your house to set up a small decoration vignette and then kicking back to enjoy your party.

We also talked previously about setting the right tenor for your guests when they

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31 Days of Party & Event Planning: Day 10-Autumn Wedding Inspiration

autumn-wedding-inspiration-color

It’s Monday; time to get inspired!  While I am already married and have no urge to go through that event planning experience again… ever… it is a lot of fun to look at weddings.  I had an autumn wedding and used deep red as my accent with lots of golds.  However, this autumn wedding mood board focuses on sunset oranges, browns, with accents of moss green.  Honestly, I’m a bit obsessed with moss at the moment.

While the color pallet is pure October I kept most of the obvious fall items out of this inspiration.  Instead of the usual

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