{Tori: A True Inspiration}
Tori of Thoughtfully Simple is one of the very first women to welcome me with open arms into the blogging world, and gave me enormous opportunities to learn and grow. Tori has inspired me greatly, and I continue to learn much from her, and enjoy our blossoming friendship. I am truly honored Tori allowed me the opportunity to interview her, and feature her today.
I asked Tori a few specific questions I thought would be helpful to you parents, bloggers, working moms, hostesses and everything in between. Her answers will inspire you.
Q: How did Thoughtfully Simple begin?
A: Let me begin my expressing my gratitude to you, Kate. Thank you for asking me to be a part of your blog today, and more importantly, thank you for your friendship and support. When I take a step back and think about all the wonderful readers Thoughtfully Simple has, I am in awe.
I launched the site in September of 2008, with the sole purpose to help inspire others. It seemed that more often than not, I would host an event and the comments would be “Wow, I could never do that” or “That must have taken you so long to prepare.” I began to realize that women were feeling overwhelmed when faced with the thought of throwing their little ones a birthday party, or even at the idea of hosting a dinner party. I found myself offering more and more advice and tips – then I thought, “I’ll just put all my advice online and prove that you can indeed create an event that is thoughtful and polished… and yes, it can be simple!” That is how Thoughtfully Simple was born.
Q: What do you love about entertaining and blogging about entertaining?
A: What do I love about entertaining? The details! I truly find delight in the small, thoughtful things that go into planning an event. Whether it is finding a swatch of the perfect coordinating fabric or the designing process of a great invitation – I enjoy putting something together that others will like. I think I got this trait from my mother. Although she isn’t a “party planner” per say, she always has that “perfect” gift or that thoughtful token that makes you feel really special. I learned from her that it’s the small (simple) things that really matter. Translating this online into a blog is a gratifying process. My favorite element (other than that I can virtually ideas with all of you!) is the great exchange of ideas that happens there. I am a very social person – whether it is mingling at a party or chatting on Twitter, I want to be where the conversation is. So when readers ask me questions or leave comments talking with one another—that is the best!
Q: Any insights on how you balance work, blogging, and family?
I definitely have to prioritize; family, work, then blogging. During the day I work from home, which is wonderful. I am thankful to do work that inspires me and that I love. I work for a company called Daily Grommet and look forward to getting “to work” every morning. I think it is so important to do work you love, to be a part of something that inspires you. I feel lucky to have this in both my work (at Daily Grommet) and in a creative outlet (Thoughtfully Simple).
I have two darling daughters and a very supportive husband who I spend quality time with every evening, no matter what. We try to do family time between 5-8. We will cook dinner together, do a little gardening, or play a board game. Then after baths, stories, and bedtime I’ll sit down and catch up on work or write a post for Thoughtfully Simple. I also like to use this time to read other party planning blogs and catch up with folks on Twitter. My advice for those trying to find balance is to not stress. There are days when I don’t get to blog at all—and that’s okay. I rather be present in what I am doing (whether it is work or family) than thinking about all the other things I need to do.
Q: What is next for Thoughtfully Simple?
Good question! I am completely smitten over the success of Thoughtfully Simple so far. From our vibrant community to all the great relationships I have formed with other bloggers – I am trying to enjoy it all. I think in the future, I will add a few contributors to the site. I would like to offer a few folks a space to share their expertise with our community. This will also help to keep the content flowing as we continue to grow. I also think there is something exciting in store to celebrate our 2 year anniversary, but you’ll have to wait and see!
{Real Parties By Tori}
Tori has thrown quite a few fabulous parties, and I would like to highlight two that I believe you would find inspiring for your next baby shower or child's birthday party.
Sweet Shoppe Birthday Party
Tori created a charming Sweet Shoppe birthday party for her two daughters Taylor and London (great idea when you have two children with close or the SAME birthday, even if they are years apart).
She selected a color scheme of a pretty turquoise/aqua blue (one daughter's favorite color) and purple (the other daughter's favorite color).
Tori created many fantastic elements for the party.
I had the honor of providing some of the details, like the part hats, personalized napkins, custom hats for the birthday girls, a designer fabric table runner, tissue poms and taffy wands!
Love Tori's bunting she created! And sweet centerpieces and labels, too!
One of my favorite details: the party favors Tori selected for the girls to give out. How darling!
Tori posts great links for her sources, and even where to find the templates for the adorable candy jar labels she created! Check out all the party details on her post here.
Spring Baby Shower
Tori's color scheme for this spring baby shower is vibrant and cheerful. I absolutely LOVE her centerpieces!
Tori created tissue poms in festive orange, lime and crisp white as an accent. Fresh for spring!
Loving the watering can (in ORANGE) with fresh flowers.
How about these charming water bottle labels, simple placemats and adorable favors?
One of the best things about Tori's party posts, is that she often includes DIY INSTRUCTIONS TO CREATE THE LOOK YOURSELF! Such as these inexpensive yet stylish placemats! To see the full post on this spring shower Tori designed many fabulous elements for, click here.
{Fabulous Blog To Follow}
If you don't already follow Tori's blog Thoughtfully Simple, I recommend you might start now. She features not only her own parties, but fabulous events by others that will inspire you. From engagement photo shoots to 29th birthday parties; from children's birthdays to inspiring weddings--Tori covers it all, giving you a well-rounded dose of entertaining inspiration.
A tremendous thank you to Tori for allowing me to share this feature with you today.
What a treasure Hostess Tori truly is!
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10 comments:
What a wonderful feature and interview! I find inspiration from Tori, Thoughtfully Simple, and Daily Grommet too, and I really loved getting to "know her" better! Thank you Kate and Tori for sharing your story!
I am already a big fan of Tori's nice to hear some more about her :)
Kate, thank you for the wonderful feature. It has been a pleasure getting to know you over the past year. And thank you all for the kind words and encouragement!
wow i love that she did!! thanks for sharing!
Love you Tori and Kate! Great interview!
Fabulous Interview! Tori is so very talented!
Great post!
Thank you Kate for sharing Tori's story and your experience and friendship with her. It was wonderful to read and I enjoy following both Kate Landers Events & Thoughtfully Simple.
Very inspiring post, I especially love what Tori said about balancing family, work, and blogging. Sometimes it's hard to remember our priorities.
I've always known how fortunate we were to have Tori on the Daily Grommet team, now I'm more wowed than ever! Such talent and style - that girl's got it all. Glad to you have discovered you too, Kate. Thanks for sharing the story of your friendship as well as Tori's Thoughtfully Simple blog.
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