Wordless Wednesday....A 6 AM Phone Call Lead To This....

So my co-worker called me at 6:21 the other morning requesting that I pick up some balloons on the way to work.  A mere 1.5 hours later we had completed this project for our co-worker whose birthday was last week and who is leaving this job at the end of this week.

You wouldn't imagine how many people actually came up to her and said "oh is it your birthday or something?"

Craft Hour at the Beach

I went to the beach this weekend with a few friends and I decided it would be nice to have a good wholesome girl bonding activity to do.  So I came up with craft hour.  It was actually supposed to be 'craft 20 minutes' where I showed everyone how to make an easy pair of earring.  For some people, making stuff was fun, while for others making stuff was hard.  Apparently not everyone is in to crafting.  I won't name names.

Beezus5 gets the gold star in crafting as she finished hers first and with the least help.  Plus they were pretty cute.  Hers are the big ones in the front.  (Everyone else did great too, for the most part.)

Even though some people had a little trouble (mostly with selecting the beads they wanted to use), everyone did end up with a pair of nice fashion earrings to wear out to dinner.  (Although B5 didn't put hers on until after the photo.)

The boys did not participate.

Would you be mad if your friend made you have craft time at the beach?

Fill In The Blank Friday

Fill in the Blank Friday is courtesy of Lauren at the little things we do.

1. One of my happiest moments ever was when my husband proposed to me.  I knew what was coming but as soon as it happened I was just filled with happiness and such.  Sorry for that cheesiness.

2. Summer is wedding season and weddings usually fun and awesome especially when there is dancing and good food and free drinks and love and stuff.

3. This summer the weather has been ok until the last few weeks which have been insanely hot and humid.  I do not like walking outside and wiping sweat off my face after only 3 seconds.

4. My summer food of choice has been guacamole.  I have been making a lot of guacamole.  I've also been going to the Farmer's Market more and enjoying things like corn, tomatoes, blackberries, etc.  I also love making smoothies.

5. My summer uniform is pretty much the same as my all the time uniform (black pants or jeans) but I've been throwing in a few tank tops and skirts and dresses.  I even wore shorts in Las Vegas which I'm usually against.  And of course flip flops, I love flip flops.

6. If I could spend the entire summer in one location I would choose my parents' beach house.  I have always wanted to stay there for a whole month instead of just a long weekend here and there.  It's so clean and nice and there is a deck with rocking chairs.  I'd get up every morning and take Hobie for a walk/jog on the beach and then read a bunch of books and stuff.  Ahhh the beach.

7. My summer anthem is Summer Time by Will Smith.  Summma summma summma time.  Ok, just kidding but that was the first song about summer that came to my head.

Happy Weekend!

The Latest In T-Shirt Making...Vegas Style

When we decided to go to Vegas, I was obviously put in charge of T-shirt design.  I thought tank tops would be more Vegas-y and good to wear to the pool, so I picked up a few cheap ones from Old Navy.

When I lived with Mo back in college, she had a copy of a poem that her mom wrote called 'Lucky Sevens'.  It was about Mo, who was born on 7/7.  It was kind of an inside joke after that.  (There was also an interesting poem about a tootsie roll pop in there.)  So I thought that would be a a good slogan for the shirts.

I have tried to make my own stencils before without much success but I came up with a new idea that I thought might work.   I decided to cut the stencil out of contact paper so I could stick it directly on the shirt.

Here's what I did.....
1-Print out a Word Document in the size and font you like of whatever you want to go on the shirt.  I printed out a page that said Lucky 7's.
2-Tape contact paper over the paper with the word doc on it.
3-Tape this to cardboard and then cut out your stencil with an Exacto knife by tracing/cutting over the word doc/contact paper.  (The cardboard keeps you from cutting in to a table or something.)

4-Stick the stencil directly on the shirt and paint it.  I used a stencil paint brush (which you can get at Michaels, a normal brush would probably work too) and fabric paint.  I think I'm going to try spray fabric paint at some point.
5-Peel off the contact paper and you should have a nice design/word on your t-shirt.

Do these instructions make sense?  No, probably not.  But you should do it anyways.  Give it your all.

If so, you will end up with this wonderful set of personalized tank tops (which we did actually wear to the pool)...

And here is a photo of us looking slightly more fashionable later on...

Yay Vegas!
And that concludes my Vegas posts.  B5 you can come back to reading my blog now.

Las Vegas-The M...I Kind of Want to Live Here...

Mr. J. Yo, husband of Mo Yo scored us some high class Las Vegas lodging at The M Resort/Spa/Casino.  It's not on the main strip but there was a shuttle that took us there if we wanted to leave.  Although I didn't really want to leave because it was awesome.  I want to live there.

J got us a triangular suite (and attaching room so we all didn't have to sleep in one bed).

My favorite thing in the suite was definitely the triangular couch that sat in the corner of the room and had 270 degree view of Las Vegas.

We spent most of the day on Friday in our very own pool cabana.....

...which featured it's own baby hot tub which we all decided would make an excellent photo op.

We also ate at many of the restaurants in the hotel which were all really good. 

We had sushi at Veloce (like seriously awesome, best I've had in a long time, maybe ever, sushi), Italian food at Marinelli's (braised beef with sweet potatoes over rigatoni) and an amazing chicken and waffle tower my husband ordered from Hash House A Go Go.  It was seriously giant.

pic from Hash House a go go

So yeah, basically I wouldn't mind living at the M...for at least a few months.

Not Wordless Wednesday at All...Surprise! We're in Vegas.

It all started with an email...

I was slightly sad (ok a lot sad) when my friend Mo (of Las Vegas) was unable to come (at the last minute) to Curly J's wedding (in NC) due to some extenuating circumstances.

Mrs. Acorn and I decided to take NC to Vegas.  We emailed Mo's husband, J to see if there was any way he thought a surprise birthday trip could happen and he said yes and that she would love it.  That was all we needed to hear.

So this weekend, B, Curly J, Mr. Curly J, Mrs. Acorn and I went on a secret mission to surprise Mo for her 30th birthday in Las Vegas.

Thursday evening started out with our flight being delayed.  I tend to have airport problems when flying to Vegas.  Fortunately our flights could be rerouted and due to the trouble, they upgraded us to first class.  I've never been seated in first class before so I was pretty excited.  I expected glitter and champagne to pour from the ceiling of the plane upon my arrival but in reality it was just more spacious, had free drinks and snacks, and the flight attendants were more attentive.  Still, pretty awesome.

My travel companion mini Beezus5 because real Beezus5
was unable to attend this trip due to other commitments.

We arrived an hour and half later than we were supposed to, so our surprise plan was slightly altered.  Mrs. Acorn (who took a different flight) surprised Mo first but convinced her that she was the only one who came.  (She also told her that she was only staying for 12 hours and had brought only her purse and the clothes on her back.  It was then that we learned how easy it is to trick Mo Yo.)

Anyways, our flight arrived.  I made everyone sprint out of the airport to a cab and to the hotel.  Then we headed to the Bellagio to surprise Mo.  I had (obviously) made us matching tank tops so we instructed Curly J's husband to go up to Mo and hand her the tank top.  She has only met him one time so she didn't really notice him for a second.  Then she looked up and freaked out as Curly J and I jumped out at her.  There may have been some jazz hands.

That's Mo in the middle, possibly shouting out some sort
of expletive.

These are blurry due to the sheer surprise and excitement.

Mo was crazy surprised.  We had been emailing her husband, J for the past month to try and work this out and miraculously she was not on to us.  I even sent her a really long email on Thursday wishing her happy birthday and apologizing for not sending her a birthday present yet.  She responded by telling me she was planning a low key birthday including dinner with another couple and buying herself the new Britney Spears CD (she's cool like that).  She never suspected anything.

Matching tank tops seems more "Vegas" than matching T's.

That was our first night in Vegas.  After being up for almost 24 hours straight (minus a small airplane nap) we needed a rest before moving on to more excitement.

Secret Note to Beezus5-I'm just playing this up for the blog.  It was actually the worst trip ever and no one had any fun b/c we were all focused on missing you.  Mini B has since relocated full time to Las Vegas.

Sleepzies.......

I took a mini blog vacation while I was on a secret mission this past weekend.

More on that when I get less tired...

Here is a random teaser photo of me and my 2nd favorite thing from this past weekend....

Making Stuff is Hard-The Pizza Stone

I know what you are thinking.  Wow I am an amazing chef to get that pizza in the shape of a triangle.  How neat. 

No, not neat. 

I finally attempted to use the pizza stone my mom bought for me.  What I did not realize was just how hard it is to transfer your pizza onto the stone once the stone is already in the oven (heating up).  I do not have one of those paddle things so I literally sat/stared/attempted to move my pizza dough (which was round and very pretty) onto the stone in the oven for about 20 minutes.  I almost cried.  Once I finally got it on, it was in this sort of triangular blob with sauce and cheese falling off the sides instead of the beautiful round pizza I had before I moved it.

It still tasted ok though.  (I mean who doesn't like the taste of fresh melted mozzarella?  Plus pizza is definitely one of my top 3 favorite foods.)

Have you ever used a pizza stone?

PS-Mo, this was not the craft fail attempt of your bday present.  I had many fails this weekend.

Happy 4th of July

I made a couple dishes to celebrate the 4th of July for a pre-4th of July cookout last night.

My standard Red, White and Blue Cookie Cake....

To make this....
-shape some slice and bake sugar cookie dough into a rectangle and cook it  (it will take longer to cook since it's one big cookie)
-mix together a brick of cream cheese with some powdered sugar (1/2-1 cups)
-then mix in a half a small tub of whipped topping
-spread it over the cooled cookie and then top with red and blue berries

Caprese Salad Skewers...

To make-
-marinate cherry tomatoes and mini mozzarella balls (bocconcini) in a little bit of olive oil, garlic salt and red pepper flakes (for a couple hours)
-then thread halved tomatoes, mozzarella balls, and fresh basil leaves onto wooden skewers
-drizzle with sea salt, pepper and  balsamic vinegar

Happy 4th of July!