ice cream anyone?

last night summer and i hosted a back-to-school ice cream block party. we blocked off the street so the kids could run wild, which they did, and let the good times roll.
we've been saying for three years we were gonna do it and (this is kind of pathetic) a lot of people came that we didn't know ... people who live on our street. wouldn't it be great if i could say i've known all these people and have built our friendships for the past three years.
because they were all really nice interesting and good people just like us (yes i'm applying all those adjectives to me and my family).
but, kick my hiney, i've wasted three years of good neighborly cheer. on what? insecurities? inconveniences? whatever my excuses i hope i can be a lot more neighborly in the future.
and hopefully, next year our party won't get crashed by the police.
no. they didn't come for the ice cream

to tuft or not to tuft...

so my upholstery guy, arnie, has a couch of mine waiting to be done, and he's had it for two or three months cause' i can't
A - find the right fabric or
B - decide if i should tuft the back or not.
as it is now the entire back cushion is tufted but i kind of want the clean look of no tufts, sometimes. the couch is very similar to these couches below and will eventually have all the woodwork painted white and chocolate velvet upholstery, or something. any suggestions or links to sway me one way or the other? this is for my office.

EDIT: here is an example of a tufted couch.

image via little green notebook