Ding Dong Ditch!

8.31.2015

I cannot believe how fast summer came and went. All this talk about Pumpkin Spice Lattes is making me sick. I am not a fall/winter type of gal. I will take my summers year-round thank you very much. I can’t very well be expected to read next to the pool in 40 degree weather, now can I? Who needs a PSL when you can have a cocktail next to the pool? I need to move to an island; the sooner the better. Until then, I will continue bringing smiles to the world. Or maybe just my condo complex. Okay, maybe just to Lucy.

I made these Ding Dong Ditch treats last year, and decided to re-vamp the tag a little. You can print the new tag here.

As you can see, Lucy clearly enjoyed the photography session today. In Brendan’s words, “She is such a gorgeous beast.” She eyed those Ding Dongs as if they were a can of freshly opened tuna.

*No Cats Were Harmed in the Photography of the Ding Dongs*

Travel

Evelyn Takes the Bay Area

8.27.2015

In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been a little MIA lately. I just thought I’d let you know, since you probably didn’t actually notice. My mom noticed, so I guess that’s all that counts right? Right.

So where have I been? Traveling the world? I wish. Really, I’ve just been bumming around the Bay Area again. We had house guests for a while, which is typically the only reason I go bumming around the Bay Area. The traffic in and out of San Francisco is a good reminder of why we don’t make trips up there that often. Unless I’m getting ready to try out a new cheeseburger place in the city, my heart is just not in the trip.

I promise I’ll get back to crafting again soon, but until then, I thought I’d share a little visual tour of our weekend. Mostly through the eyes of my cousin’s daughter Evelyn. Who is the most beautiful five year old I’ve ever seen. That, and the random toddler in the photo above. The photo was just too good not to share!

My favorite photo of the entire weekend is below (to see it in color, check out Instagram – you’ve got to see her beautiful eyes). Maybe I’ll get real ambitious and enter it in a photography contest. What do you think?

We found a cool playground in the middle of Chinatown, in San Francisco. It turned out to be pretty fun for Evelyn, who was a pro at the monkey bars. I, however, pulled every muscle in my body attempting to cross them. This mysterious ‘getting old’ thing really blows. I used to be a borderline Olympic athlete when it came to the monkey bars.

We had to make a pit-stop at CREAM (ice cream sandwiches). Clearly, she didn’t enjoy her sandwich at all. I don’t even think she left one bite uneaten.

We took Evelyn to Santa Cruz, where she had a blast in the waves. Being from Wisconsin doesn’t leave you with a lot of ocean experience. She was a natural.

On the last day, we took her to Big Basin State Park, to see the redwoods. She was more excited to practice her “balance beams” with the fallen trees than seeing the in tact ones. Apparently she’s practicing her gymnastics to take the Olympic athlete title away from me.

I think Evelyn (and her mom) had a pretty eventful weekend. They saw almost everything there is to see in this area and then some. So tell me, which photo is your favorite?

DIY

DIY Floral Backdrop

8.19.2015

Ladies and gentlemen, I deserve an award. Many of them actually. I have accomplished something that I wasn’t sure was possible, I have done the unthinkable.

I have gone into the dollar store…and only bought one thing! Yes. That’s right. I did what you all dream of doing.

Does it count that my one thing was actually a three pack?

I have been seeing some floral backdrops online lately, and kept thinking the dollar store was the place to go. After cruising the faux floral section, I realized it might cost me a lot of money to do a small area. Then I cruised the summer section (I definitely was not looking for anything for myself). That’s when I found the leis.

They were perfect! I bought a three pack, went home, and whipped out my glue gun. I glued those little suckers (flowers. I mean flowers) all over a piece of 12×12 cardboard. I added glitter for my own piece of mine. Everything is better when it glitters, right?

I made a small version, so I could use it for ‘photoshoots’ for my blog. But you could make this as big as you want, you just won’t win the award for only buying one dollar store item. That’s a good thing too, because I want some time to enjoy my award before I pass it on.

Lifestyle

Taylor Swift: 1989 Tour

8.18.2015

The day has come and gone, ladies and gentlemen. It’s a sad moment in a girl’s life when she realizes a day she’s been looking forward to since December is over. If it were up to my husband, we would just drive down to LA to see her again. That’s how much he enjoyed the concert. He has declared Taylor Swift a “Rockstar” after seeing the show, and I’ve gotta be honest: I don’t disagree.

The day before the concert, while I waited patiently for Taylor to knock on my front door (seeing as how she clearly must have read my letter and we were now going to be BFFs), I thought to myself: We need to “T-Swiftify” this house. So I did what any other thirty-one year old woman does. I got out my markers and construction paper, and started coloring.

In our stairwell, we normally have photos of our life arranged neatly. Who needs photos of your life when you’re going to see your new BFF in concert? Not us! So I went to work covering up each photo with pieces of cardstock that I embellished with her song lyrics. I did more of the common lyrics, since B wasn’t yet a “true Swifty” and only knew the popular songs.

Since the concert, I can honestly call my husband a Swifty. He wants to buy his own copy of her new album. For real. Because apparently my copy isn’t good enough.

I wasn’t close enough to get amazing photos (next time she tours I will camp outside for a year if that’s what it takes), so I’ll just share these few with you guys. Besides, I don’t want to ruin the show for you if you haven’t seen it yet. In which case, you MUST go. It’s unbelievable.

If you’re a fan, you’ve heard that Taylor (yes, we are on a first name basis now) has brought special guests to each venue. For our show (Santa Clara, California) Little Mix performed their new single, “Black Magic.” Then, Julia Roberts and Joan Baez walked the catwalk with Taylor for a song. At least half the Swifties in attendance didn’t know who either of these legends were, but we were pretty excited.

Overall, it was everything I hoped for, and more. She was amazing, her performances as well as a few advice talks she gave. Not to mention, the synchronized light-up bracelets that illuminated the entire stadium?! I felt like it was worth every penny we spent, and wished I had gone both nights she was here.