http://www.lawrence.com/users/shenning/photos/2011/nov/29/225681/

As a working mom, a lot of the time I’m pretty horrible at following through. I will get all excited about something and then not have enough time/energy/remaining braincells to actually do it.

I could give you examples, but honestly they’re endless, just ask my friends and family. Anyway, this acquired trait is most definitely on display with the number of websites I join and then abandon. Google+, Goodreads, Red Lemonade, Tumblr … the list goes on and on.

But, every now and again, I will find a site that I use every day. Twitter and DailyMile have become staples for me. They’re interesting and more than that, they’re useful, which means they get gold stars from working mommy me.

But my absolute new favorite is Pinterest. If you aren’t familiar, it’s a site where you can create “pin boards” of things you like on the web. Your ideas are organized, stay in one place so you can find them again, and others on the site can follow your boards and get ideas from you. And, of course, you can get ideas from them and their friends/followers.

Of course, I’m all about ideas from others because of the previously mentioned lack of time/energy/remaining braincells I have during most of my non-working life. Therefore, I’ve become an addict for Pinterest — checking it each night before I go to bed and repinning new ideas until my eyes glaze over and I think my watch is lying to me about how late it is.

One of the ideas I found that I thought was genius was this pin that showed up in my feed. It’s an idea for a get together, where instead of having a drink bar, you pre-mix cocktails, pour them into mason jars, seal them and set them on ice. That way, the drinks are done, there aren’t any spills and it makes for a pretty presentation, too. (Oh, and it’s eco-friendly and cheap — double score!)

I absolutely loved that idea, but being the aforementioned working mom, I also have no delusions about how often I’d actually have enough people over to use such an ingenious idea. I.E. — once in a very blue moon, after the kiddo’s bed time when the pretty presentation would be wasted.

So, when I realized we’d need drinks to go with the snacks I’d set out for my son’s third birthday party this weekend, I knew exactly what I wanted to try. I grabbed the biggest bowl I had, ice and mason jars and set out not cocktails but apple cider and lemonade, as you see above.

The set up worked great, was fun for the kids and the adults and made for really easy clean up. I’ll definitely do it again, and recommend it for any holiday parties you might have coming up (the kind where mason jars aren’t too low-brow, of course).

As for the birthday boy, he enjoyed some apple cider from his cup, and got to have a chocolate cupcake. Though, he had to wait through the party for the cupcake (you can see him mooning over the cupcake pre-party below).

http://www.lawrence.com/users/shenning/photos/2011/nov/29/225686/

Don’t worry, he ate the whole thing after opening his presents. See, I do follow through on the important things.