I have heard Cam's call for a blog update and am trying to respond. However, my life seems so boring. Oh, here's something. I turned my thesis into my committee last Thursday! I will defend it on Thursday, March 1 at 10:00 am. Then, providing I pass, I will make the corrections advised by the committee and fill out all the paperwork, forms, etc... to graduate. That's it! Then, I'm done. Crazy. Of course, there's always the next step of figuring out what to do with myself that's a little daunting, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Let's see, what else...Michael and I bought a new-to-us couch yesterday. I love it. Our old couch was $5, so there was a lot to improve upon. Every time I walk by it, it makes me happy. Since our apartment is quite small, it makes me happy a lot. To make my life sound less boring, I wrote a haiku about it, which spawned a proverb.
Ode to a New Couch
I cussed when you fell
on my toe. But you make my
bum very happy.
Proverb: A short toe pain is worth long term bum comfort.
Mayhaps I should write a limerick about finishing my thesis.
There once was a student named Teri,
whose thesis was oh so contrary.
It was so hard to write,
her life it did blight,
and when it was done she made merry.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Friday, November 5, 2010
Girl Night Out
My friend Cam invited me to go hang out with her tonight. We decided to go to the mall to get ideas for Christmas gifts for our family and friends and to brainstorm what we wanted to put on our Christmas lists. Tonight was just what the doctor ordered!!!
We went and looked at earrings, but I couldn't commit. We went to Papaya and I tried on 15 different shirts. I was SO glad Cam was there, because she helped me decide on which ones looked the best and I needed girl validation. I picked out three of the fifteen that I really liked, but only bought the two on clearance. Oh yeah! I'm so glad I was able to find two new cute tops, though, because I DESPERATELY needed them. :) I really should take the picture with me modeling them, but since I'm home alone, that would be difficult. Maybe I'll update when Michael gets home tomorrow and he can take the pictures.
Then, we stopped by the watch store, because I was supposed to get one for Christmas last year, but Fossil didn't make the one I wanted anymore, so I had never gotten one. I decided to just look to brainstorm, but the salesman totally sold me on this awesome watch. It's made by Toxic and it was 30% off and it is sweet. He totally read me right and I LOVE it. The face of the watch is mother-of-pearl and it has a wide leather wrist band with roses imprinted into the leather. I've been wearing it ever since I bought it and I just realized I never turned it on. I shall do that now.
Next, we went to a jewelry store and got our rings dipped and cleaned for free. They also checked to make sure the diamonds weren't loose. My ring looked so sparkly when they were done! This picture shows off both the ring and the watch.
Next, we hit Bath and Body to smell fun candles, try on awesome lotions, and put perfume on. I have to say, I'm loving "Twilight Woods," which smells really good for a made-up flavor (maybe I should say scent?). We looked around at a couple more stores and got more ideas for our Christmas lists. All in all, a FABULOUS evening.
We went and looked at earrings, but I couldn't commit. We went to Papaya and I tried on 15 different shirts. I was SO glad Cam was there, because she helped me decide on which ones looked the best and I needed girl validation. I picked out three of the fifteen that I really liked, but only bought the two on clearance. Oh yeah! I'm so glad I was able to find two new cute tops, though, because I DESPERATELY needed them. :) I really should take the picture with me modeling them, but since I'm home alone, that would be difficult. Maybe I'll update when Michael gets home tomorrow and he can take the pictures.
Then, we stopped by the watch store, because I was supposed to get one for Christmas last year, but Fossil didn't make the one I wanted anymore, so I had never gotten one. I decided to just look to brainstorm, but the salesman totally sold me on this awesome watch. It's made by Toxic and it was 30% off and it is sweet. He totally read me right and I LOVE it. The face of the watch is mother-of-pearl and it has a wide leather wrist band with roses imprinted into the leather. I've been wearing it ever since I bought it and I just realized I never turned it on. I shall do that now.
Next, we went to a jewelry store and got our rings dipped and cleaned for free. They also checked to make sure the diamonds weren't loose. My ring looked so sparkly when they were done! This picture shows off both the ring and the watch.
Next, we hit Bath and Body to smell fun candles, try on awesome lotions, and put perfume on. I have to say, I'm loving "Twilight Woods," which smells really good for a made-up flavor (maybe I should say scent?). We looked around at a couple more stores and got more ideas for our Christmas lists. All in all, a FABULOUS evening.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Halloween!
*Note: this entry has been written in multiple sessions all through the month of October. If things are not cohesive and different dates and times are referenced in the future or past, that is why.
It's Fall and it's always really exciting for me when the weather starts changing (which is funny, because I don't like being too cold, but I LOVE holidays!). So, I've been getting really excited for Halloween. Michael and I have some festive activities we want to do this month:
And even though this page is labeled "Halloween Crafting!", I'll just stick in a picture of the Thanksgiving side while I'm at it.
Update: Last Sunday, we made our Christmas tablecloths, which went a lot faster now that we know what we are doing. So, here are both sides of mine. I chose green on both sides, since I have a lot of red dishes and plates.
While I love both sides, I have to admit, this old fashioned, Christmas pattern is my favorite. I especially love the Christmas tree picture.
Other Halloween decorations I put up that I don't have a picture of. I covered my windows in that spiderweb stuff and fake spiders. I also covered the wreath on the door with the spiderweb material and it looked pretty awesome. We also carved a pretty cool pumpkin at Ashley's party that I'm waiting to get pictures from, but since Ashley had her baby two weeks ago, she's been a little busy (totally understandable). :) We also took some funny photos with some awesome Halloween props, which I'll add when I get them.
My two best friends, Cam and Emily, wanted to do a Halloween craft, and I suggested we decopage some frames. We went to the Dollar Store and bought some frames and bought some orange and black tissue paper. I didn't have any decopage glue, so we just used Elmer's Glue and it worked great! I had some polka dot rat cutouts already, so I ended up jazzing up my frame by having rats troop around the border. I think maybe I should put a picture of Norman in it.
Close up of the rat border. I love rats!
As you can see from the crazy pictures, it was a fun girl's night in.
My friend, Cam.
My friend, Emily.
It's Fall and it's always really exciting for me when the weather starts changing (which is funny, because I don't like being too cold, but I LOVE holidays!). So, I've been getting really excited for Halloween. Michael and I have some festive activities we want to do this month:
- Halloween crafting with Ashley and her new sewing machine
- decorating my apartment with fun Halloween things
- go to a Halloween party my sister, Ashley, is hosting
- Halloween crafting with my two best friends, Cam and Emily
- go to a Murder Mystery my cousin is hosting
- I'm going to a costume party my friend is hosting, but Michael can't come, because he will be at work
Halloween Crafting with Ashley
Ashley just bought a sewing machine and I thought it would be fun to make a festive tablecloth. I talked to Ashley about it and we got so excited, we ended up going shopping for fabric the next day and making them! I thought it'd be "efficient" to make them reversible: one side Halloween, the other side Thanksgiving. There wasn't a ton of cute Halloween/Thanksgiving fabric to choose from, so Ashley and I ended up using the same fabric, which made me happy - now we're tablecloth twinners. There was a HUGE selection of really great Christmas fabric, though, so we both ended up getting materials for a reversible Christmas tablecloth. This time, we broke off. Ashley went with two very cute modern style prints, and I got two old-timey style prints. I'm REALLY excited to make those. We are probably going to do that tomorrow night. Here is a close up of the pattern on the Halloween side.
And even though this page is labeled "Halloween Crafting!", I'll just stick in a picture of the Thanksgiving side while I'm at it.
Update: Last Sunday, we made our Christmas tablecloths, which went a lot faster now that we know what we are doing. So, here are both sides of mine. I chose green on both sides, since I have a lot of red dishes and plates.
While I love both sides, I have to admit, this old fashioned, Christmas pattern is my favorite. I especially love the Christmas tree picture.
Decorating the Apartment
Last year, Michael and I found a cool stick and painted it black and called it our "Halloween Tree." This year, I decided to make decorations for it. My mom (who is the decoration queen) sent me up some cut outs of rats and bats, because she just bought those two punches and I glued them onto these cute round discs (my mom again - so cute!). It make me happy. I just realized I don't have a picture of it and I just packed it away for the year, so you'll have to take my word for it that it was really cute.Other Halloween decorations I put up that I don't have a picture of. I covered my windows in that spiderweb stuff and fake spiders. I also covered the wreath on the door with the spiderweb material and it looked pretty awesome. We also carved a pretty cool pumpkin at Ashley's party that I'm waiting to get pictures from, but since Ashley had her baby two weeks ago, she's been a little busy (totally understandable). :) We also took some funny photos with some awesome Halloween props, which I'll add when I get them.
Halloween Crafting with Cam and Emily
My two best friends, Cam and Emily, wanted to do a Halloween craft, and I suggested we decopage some frames. We went to the Dollar Store and bought some frames and bought some orange and black tissue paper. I didn't have any decopage glue, so we just used Elmer's Glue and it worked great! I had some polka dot rat cutouts already, so I ended up jazzing up my frame by having rats troop around the border. I think maybe I should put a picture of Norman in it.
Close up of the rat border. I love rats!
As you can see from the crazy pictures, it was a fun girl's night in.
My friend, Cam.
My friend, Emily.
Murder Mystery
The murder mystery we attended was called "Twisted at the Transylvanian" and it was pretty funny. I'll let some of the pictures speak for themselves (as was expected, things got a little racy...).
Michael was supposed to be a buff fireman and I was a vampiress stockbroker named Carrie Bloodsworth.
My cousin, Carrie and my brother, Vincent. She was supposed to be a disco diva and he was supposed to be a werewolf DJ.
My cousin, Michael and his girlfriend. She was a big game hunter and he was a Frankenstein-like character.
Our friend Megan and her friend, Randy. She was a gothic movie star with an awesome mullet and he was a plastic surgeon. :)
The hosts of the party, my cousin, Andrea and her husband, Jon. He was a paranormal scientist (love the wig!) and she was an uppity socialite.
My sister, Ashley and her husband, Karl. He was a mummy bouncer and she was a zombie barmaid. Her being nine months pregnant just added to the character. :)
Group photo.
All in all, pretty hilarious and festive party.
Costume PartyMichael was supposed to be a buff fireman and I was a vampiress stockbroker named Carrie Bloodsworth.
My cousin, Carrie and my brother, Vincent. She was supposed to be a disco diva and he was supposed to be a werewolf DJ.
My cousin, Michael and his girlfriend. She was a big game hunter and he was a Frankenstein-like character.
Our friend Megan and her friend, Randy. She was a gothic movie star with an awesome mullet and he was a plastic surgeon. :)
The hosts of the party, my cousin, Andrea and her husband, Jon. He was a paranormal scientist (love the wig!) and she was an uppity socialite.
My sister, Ashley and her husband, Karl. He was a mummy bouncer and she was a zombie barmaid. Her being nine months pregnant just added to the character. :)
Group photo.
All in all, pretty hilarious and festive party.My best friend, Cam, threw a costume party that was awesome! I just wish Michael could have come. But it was still great. I decided to go as a coal miner, since I'd already looked like it once the week before just working in the lab. People in my class that day saw me and told me I should just do that for Halloween and so I did.
Cam lent me her caving helmet with a headlamp. Awesome. I must say for myself, I'm working that jumpsuit. :)
Group photo. We had an assassin, David & Bathsheba, a coal miner, a ninja, a flapper, Medusa, a robot that is "trained to smash your camera", and The Phantom & Christine. A pretty eclectic mix.
The main activity of the party was making a movie that incorporated everyone with their costumes. It was really fun and kind of challenging. It involved Medusa taking a picture of the Phantom to prove he was uglier than her, the phantom building a robot to smash the camera and destroy the evidence, a coal miner videotaping the whole thing in a "Blair Witch" way after coming upon this after accidentally mining into the Phantom's lair, Medusa bringing David & Bathsheba to life from stone to fight the robot, Medusa hiring an assassin to stop the robot after David & Bathsheba fail, the robot finding it can love and falling for Christine, the robot destroying Christine when he sees her with the camera and self destructing in remorse and MORE. We had one constraint: that everyone must die (it was Halloween, after all). All in all, it was pretty awesome, and I will post a link to the final edited version when it is done.
Cam lent me her caving helmet with a headlamp. Awesome. I must say for myself, I'm working that jumpsuit. :)
Group photo. We had an assassin, David & Bathsheba, a coal miner, a ninja, a flapper, Medusa, a robot that is "trained to smash your camera", and The Phantom & Christine. A pretty eclectic mix.
The main activity of the party was making a movie that incorporated everyone with their costumes. It was really fun and kind of challenging. It involved Medusa taking a picture of the Phantom to prove he was uglier than her, the phantom building a robot to smash the camera and destroy the evidence, a coal miner videotaping the whole thing in a "Blair Witch" way after coming upon this after accidentally mining into the Phantom's lair, Medusa bringing David & Bathsheba to life from stone to fight the robot, Medusa hiring an assassin to stop the robot after David & Bathsheba fail, the robot finding it can love and falling for Christine, the robot destroying Christine when he sees her with the camera and self destructing in remorse and MORE. We had one constraint: that everyone must die (it was Halloween, after all). All in all, it was pretty awesome, and I will post a link to the final edited version when it is done.Thursday, October 7, 2010
Hair Cuts, Date Night and Framing
I'm writing a random post with a small conglomeration of pictures from various recent events that weren't important enough to merit their own post. First, I just discovered I could cut my own hair and it doesn't matter! I am probably the LAST person someone would want to cut their hair (I can't even really do my own), so it never occurred to me to even try to cut my hair. But lately I haven't wanted to spend the money to go to a salon - even though it's gotten REALLY straggly - and I figured, "give it a shot; if you butcher it, that's just extra motivation to go get it cut." So I went for it. I didn't even use nice scissors. I just grabbed a clump of hair and tried to make the ends look nicer. End result? I was AMAZED. I think I broke every rule in the hair-cutting book. I had cut at least an inch different from one side to the other and it was completely unnoticeable (at least to my untrained eye, but as long as it is to Michael's untrained eye as well, I guess that's good enough). So, I took a couple wacky pictures of myself to document this awesome, new (and money-saving) discovery. Although, you can't really see it, I'm wearing a U2 shirt, so in the second photo, I'm singing a U2 song in celebration.
Next item on the random train is another photo session from date night. Michael and I made dinner and I actually went to the trouble of setting things out nicely (unfortunately, a rather rare occurrence in our household - hopefully that will change when I graduate). To honor this momentous occasion, I took pictures.
Our pretty fruit salad with the fruit left over from the fruit kabobs from Ashley's shower. I'm really glad I didn't end up using these strawberries on the kabobs, because they were TART. Norman wouldn't even finish the little piece we gave him, the spoiled rat. But it still looks good. I love that bowl I got for my wedding, because it's really beautiful and it came with a plastic lid, so when we didn't finish, I just popped the lid on it and stuck it in the fridge. Efficiency! I love it!
I made steamed potatoes in the brand-new pressure cooker Linda-Mom bought us for Christmas (we opted to get it early). It worked great and is really quality. Thanks, Linda-Mom!
Our meal minus the potatoes, which weren't done cooking (but I was hungry so we just started eating anyway). Those are glasses we drank punch out of at our wedding. I told Michael that and he didn't even remember doing that. I guess he had other things on his mind... (Sorry, that was probably "over-sharing.")
The two presents Michael has "bought" me lately. Well, he did buy the pumpkin, which was cute. He knew it would make me happy, and it totally did. I just LOVE pumpkins. Especially miniature ones. I just think they're really cute. I named it "Pumpky," of course (for those of you who don't know, I name almost EVERYTHING it's name with a long "e" at the end. This has been a trait of mine ever since I could talk. My first stuffed animal: "Lamby." My first rat: "Ratty." Siblings: "Ashy, Vincie, Laurie." I could go on.). The flower he actually picked from the garden in front of our apartment complex. I might be mad if I didn't love daisies so much. He was so cute. I went to bed really stressed that night about work and how the house was a mess and gah! so many things to do. He, of course, didn't go to bed, because he's now completely nocturnal, thanks to his night job. When I woke up in the morning, he was asleep, but I walked out to find a spotless living room and kitchen with a sweet note and this flower on the table. It COMPLETELY changed my attitude about my whole day and it ended up turning out great. It was amazing to me how much an act of kindness turned my day and even my whole week around. It helped realize again how much of an effect the little light of a good deed can shine (am I corny, or what? but it's true!). I have such a sweet husband.
Last but not least, Michael and I decided we wanted to make this for one of our date nights. We wanted to use our date budget for something that would last this time. I saw on my friend's blog how to make this, so we went and bought a frame at Michael's, the "Living Christ" at the Distribution Center (free!), and the Greg Olsen collection of "Images of the Savior" at Deseret Book. Unfortunately, after all that shopping (we ran a couple more errands, too), we were too tired to make it that night. Ever since then it's been on my "to-do" list and every night, I was too tired to face exactly how to center it and actually fit the pictures so that the main jist of the shot is captured in the small fragment I can fit on the border. It is math intensive, which I typically like, but not after doing math all day at school. In fact, Michael and I started to work on it a little last night; I'd had a really looong day and it ended up with me getting stressed and frustrated and we called it quits for the night without doing much. I thought it was rather ironic that this project was stressing me out. But Michael went to work tonight, so I decided to try again. It definitely took some planning and some careful cutting and more time than I thought it would (about 3 hours), but I think it turned out really nice. I'm excited for Michael to see it when he gets home tomorrow morning. Finally, we're going to have something hanging on our wall! It's only taken a year and a half of marriage!
Next item on the random train is another photo session from date night. Michael and I made dinner and I actually went to the trouble of setting things out nicely (unfortunately, a rather rare occurrence in our household - hopefully that will change when I graduate). To honor this momentous occasion, I took pictures.
Our pretty fruit salad with the fruit left over from the fruit kabobs from Ashley's shower. I'm really glad I didn't end up using these strawberries on the kabobs, because they were TART. Norman wouldn't even finish the little piece we gave him, the spoiled rat. But it still looks good. I love that bowl I got for my wedding, because it's really beautiful and it came with a plastic lid, so when we didn't finish, I just popped the lid on it and stuck it in the fridge. Efficiency! I love it!
I made steamed potatoes in the brand-new pressure cooker Linda-Mom bought us for Christmas (we opted to get it early). It worked great and is really quality. Thanks, Linda-Mom!
Our meal minus the potatoes, which weren't done cooking (but I was hungry so we just started eating anyway). Those are glasses we drank punch out of at our wedding. I told Michael that and he didn't even remember doing that. I guess he had other things on his mind... (Sorry, that was probably "over-sharing.")
The two presents Michael has "bought" me lately. Well, he did buy the pumpkin, which was cute. He knew it would make me happy, and it totally did. I just LOVE pumpkins. Especially miniature ones. I just think they're really cute. I named it "Pumpky," of course (for those of you who don't know, I name almost EVERYTHING it's name with a long "e" at the end. This has been a trait of mine ever since I could talk. My first stuffed animal: "Lamby." My first rat: "Ratty." Siblings: "Ashy, Vincie, Laurie." I could go on.). The flower he actually picked from the garden in front of our apartment complex. I might be mad if I didn't love daisies so much. He was so cute. I went to bed really stressed that night about work and how the house was a mess and gah! so many things to do. He, of course, didn't go to bed, because he's now completely nocturnal, thanks to his night job. When I woke up in the morning, he was asleep, but I walked out to find a spotless living room and kitchen with a sweet note and this flower on the table. It COMPLETELY changed my attitude about my whole day and it ended up turning out great. It was amazing to me how much an act of kindness turned my day and even my whole week around. It helped realize again how much of an effect the little light of a good deed can shine (am I corny, or what? but it's true!). I have such a sweet husband.
Last but not least, Michael and I decided we wanted to make this for one of our date nights. We wanted to use our date budget for something that would last this time. I saw on my friend's blog how to make this, so we went and bought a frame at Michael's, the "Living Christ" at the Distribution Center (free!), and the Greg Olsen collection of "Images of the Savior" at Deseret Book. Unfortunately, after all that shopping (we ran a couple more errands, too), we were too tired to make it that night. Ever since then it's been on my "to-do" list and every night, I was too tired to face exactly how to center it and actually fit the pictures so that the main jist of the shot is captured in the small fragment I can fit on the border. It is math intensive, which I typically like, but not after doing math all day at school. In fact, Michael and I started to work on it a little last night; I'd had a really looong day and it ended up with me getting stressed and frustrated and we called it quits for the night without doing much. I thought it was rather ironic that this project was stressing me out. But Michael went to work tonight, so I decided to try again. It definitely took some planning and some careful cutting and more time than I thought it would (about 3 hours), but I think it turned out really nice. I'm excited for Michael to see it when he gets home tomorrow morning. Finally, we're going to have something hanging on our wall! It's only taken a year and a half of marriage!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Ashley's Baby Shower
I recently threw my sister, Ashley, a baby shower. She's having a little boy on Halloween! Exciting! It's going to be the first grandchild on my side of the family and to say my mom is tickled pink about it is a LAAAARGE understatement. Ashley's (or should I say the baby's?) colors are brown and green, so a turtle theme seemed very appropriate. My mom (who is the party planning queen) helped advise me in throwing this party, which was good since I've never really thrown a shower before and it was slightly out of my comfort zone. She really helped with designing and making the invitations. Aren't they just ADORABLE?
Our main decorations (besides the food table, hee hee) were this clothesline with lots of cute green and brown baby clothes hung on it and these cute pictures of actual turtles that we printed out. I tried to take a picture of the turtle pictures, but we'd stuck them to the window and the backlighting makes it so you can't see them. Also hard to see is a little robe for a newborn on the clothesline (completely impractical since he'll probably wear it once, but absolutely adorable!).
Here is the beginning of the food table. We ordered these cute turtle napkins and Mom imported the two baskets for the forks and the napkins from home in California. I should keep a tally of all the things she brought up for me to use - she's so cute and remembered EVERYTHING I had asked her to bring.
Ashley's mother-in-law, Julie, volunteered to bring SO MUCH - what a cutie. I didn't want her to have to do everything, but she ended up bringing two dishes and she did both VERY WELL. Here's the yummy pumpkin spice cake she brought on this gorgeous cake plate.
She also brought cheese and crackers. She went ABOVE AND BEYOND. Check this out. Cheese ball with crackers and mini baby cheese.
And an ENTIRE different tray with cheese dip and like at least 4 more types of cheese and 5 different types of crackers. Delicious!
Ashley's friend, April, made these really cute turtle cupcakes. The head and legs were made of Tootsie Rolls. Mom brought up her ADORABLE cupcake stand (another California import) and they basically were an edible decoration.
My aunt Kathy brought "turtle" brownies in that they had chocolate, carmel and walnuts (I enjoyed the pun even if no one else at the shower got it). They were really delish - I ate two. She also had leftover creampuffs from my cousin's wedding reception, so she brought those along, too. I got this double-tiered platter for my wedding and I was really excited to use it for the first time.
And now for my pride and joy. (This is the only food I made. ) I applied my engineering skills to making an ideal baby shower food. I wanted it to be healthy. I wanted it to be delicious. And most of all, I wanted it to be easy to eat. (A lot of times, it seems like the food at showers are delicious but the plates are small and it's hard to eat with plastic forks and you don't want to seem like a pig by taking a ton of stuff, even if you want to). I wanted to overcome these obstacles. And I decided to make fruit kabobs. My Dad is the "Fruit Salad Champion." Recently, he's gotten very into making fruit salads with a bunch of delicious fruit and he has a system and anyone helping him make the salad must conform to it. I decided to utilize his expertise (another good engineering technique) and recruited him to help me both pick out the fruit and make the kabobs. We went to Sunflower Market and he was in HEAVEN. It's a health-food grocery store that specializes in having a large variety of fresh, cheap produce. We ended up buying: pineapple, strawberries, kiwi, cantaloupe, peaches and grapes. We bought this the day before and then made the kabobs the morning of the shower. While cutting the fruit definitely took awhile, it was REALLY fun and I think they turned out great. I was only going to make 20 kabobs (approximately one for every guest I anticipated coming), but we ended up using all the fruit we had and making 36 (once we got going, we were on a roll). The hilarious thing is that ALL 36 got eaten and if we'd had more, those might have gotten eaten, too. I felt this a grand confirmation of the engineering process.
My aunt Jenny brought the veggies and dip. We put them out on a platter that came with the dishes my sisters-in-law (Janine and Ang) gave me as a wedding gift. It's really cute, but it's sad the design is covered up. I think veggies and fruit are cute and photogenic (and I suppose eating a lot of them makes us all so as well), so these two pictures make me happy. The tomatoes Jenny brought were little baby tomatoes that tasted AMAZING! I found out later that she'd grown them in her garden. Delicious! And I decided when I get my own yard, I'm going to have a tomato farm, because I love them so much.
Here's a picture of some of the drinks. I also served Simply Lemonade and Simply Raspberry Lemonade in addition to the water with the cucumber, but I didn't remember to take a picture until they were all drunk. I got both these pitchers for my wedding as well. I thought they were perfect for the shower, because it was like a mommy and baby set. We ended up calling the baby pitcher the "Fertility Pitcher" and told people to drink out of it if they were thinking about having another kid. :) We were being pretty goofy.
A couple pictures of the final layout. I never got a good one of the centerpiece by itself, but basically, I took a branch and stood it up in a square vase and then hung up little paper turtle ornaments. The ornaments were cute and easy to make - we just stamped the turtle from the invitation on little circles of paper and matted them.
The party favors. They were little, green apple soaps shaped like turtles. They were wrapped up so cute, and they looked and smelled delicious, so my mom was sure someone was going to think they were candy and try to eat one. She "encouraged" me to make an announcement at the beginning of the shower to warn everyone that it was soap (which I did) and then proceeded to warn every guest individually, as well, when they took one. It was pretty funny.
For party entertainment, I had a couple of ladies tell some fun or cute baby stories to help Ashley anticipate what she was getting in to. My mom told one of Ashley. Apparently, when Ashley was a little baby and my mom would pat her back, Ashley would pat my mom's back, too. So cute! My aunt, Kathy, told one of her little boy, Brandon, when he was about 4. They walked by a homeless man with shaggy, long hair and a beard, and Brandon, said, "Hi!" A few seconds later, he said, "Mom, I just said hi to Jesus!" It was fun to hear all these cute stories. Also, we had a couple baby shower "crashers." I should have taken a picture of them, but they were my Uncle Kevin (whose house it was at), my cousin Michael (his son who's my age) and my grandpa. Kevin even told a baby story for the entertainment. It was pretty funny how much fun they seemed to having at a baby shower.
Well, that's that. It was a lot of fun to plan and implement my baby shower ideas, and I KNOW it wouldn't have been anywhere near as successful without the influence of my mom. She's so cute. Thanks, Mom!
Our main decorations (besides the food table, hee hee) were this clothesline with lots of cute green and brown baby clothes hung on it and these cute pictures of actual turtles that we printed out. I tried to take a picture of the turtle pictures, but we'd stuck them to the window and the backlighting makes it so you can't see them. Also hard to see is a little robe for a newborn on the clothesline (completely impractical since he'll probably wear it once, but absolutely adorable!).
Here is the beginning of the food table. We ordered these cute turtle napkins and Mom imported the two baskets for the forks and the napkins from home in California. I should keep a tally of all the things she brought up for me to use - she's so cute and remembered EVERYTHING I had asked her to bring.
Ashley's mother-in-law, Julie, volunteered to bring SO MUCH - what a cutie. I didn't want her to have to do everything, but she ended up bringing two dishes and she did both VERY WELL. Here's the yummy pumpkin spice cake she brought on this gorgeous cake plate.
She also brought cheese and crackers. She went ABOVE AND BEYOND. Check this out. Cheese ball with crackers and mini baby cheese.
And an ENTIRE different tray with cheese dip and like at least 4 more types of cheese and 5 different types of crackers. Delicious!
Ashley's friend, April, made these really cute turtle cupcakes. The head and legs were made of Tootsie Rolls. Mom brought up her ADORABLE cupcake stand (another California import) and they basically were an edible decoration.
My aunt Kathy brought "turtle" brownies in that they had chocolate, carmel and walnuts (I enjoyed the pun even if no one else at the shower got it). They were really delish - I ate two. She also had leftover creampuffs from my cousin's wedding reception, so she brought those along, too. I got this double-tiered platter for my wedding and I was really excited to use it for the first time.
And now for my pride and joy. (This is the only food I made. ) I applied my engineering skills to making an ideal baby shower food. I wanted it to be healthy. I wanted it to be delicious. And most of all, I wanted it to be easy to eat. (A lot of times, it seems like the food at showers are delicious but the plates are small and it's hard to eat with plastic forks and you don't want to seem like a pig by taking a ton of stuff, even if you want to). I wanted to overcome these obstacles. And I decided to make fruit kabobs. My Dad is the "Fruit Salad Champion." Recently, he's gotten very into making fruit salads with a bunch of delicious fruit and he has a system and anyone helping him make the salad must conform to it. I decided to utilize his expertise (another good engineering technique) and recruited him to help me both pick out the fruit and make the kabobs. We went to Sunflower Market and he was in HEAVEN. It's a health-food grocery store that specializes in having a large variety of fresh, cheap produce. We ended up buying: pineapple, strawberries, kiwi, cantaloupe, peaches and grapes. We bought this the day before and then made the kabobs the morning of the shower. While cutting the fruit definitely took awhile, it was REALLY fun and I think they turned out great. I was only going to make 20 kabobs (approximately one for every guest I anticipated coming), but we ended up using all the fruit we had and making 36 (once we got going, we were on a roll). The hilarious thing is that ALL 36 got eaten and if we'd had more, those might have gotten eaten, too. I felt this a grand confirmation of the engineering process.
My aunt Jenny brought the veggies and dip. We put them out on a platter that came with the dishes my sisters-in-law (Janine and Ang) gave me as a wedding gift. It's really cute, but it's sad the design is covered up. I think veggies and fruit are cute and photogenic (and I suppose eating a lot of them makes us all so as well), so these two pictures make me happy. The tomatoes Jenny brought were little baby tomatoes that tasted AMAZING! I found out later that she'd grown them in her garden. Delicious! And I decided when I get my own yard, I'm going to have a tomato farm, because I love them so much.
Here's a picture of some of the drinks. I also served Simply Lemonade and Simply Raspberry Lemonade in addition to the water with the cucumber, but I didn't remember to take a picture until they were all drunk. I got both these pitchers for my wedding as well. I thought they were perfect for the shower, because it was like a mommy and baby set. We ended up calling the baby pitcher the "Fertility Pitcher" and told people to drink out of it if they were thinking about having another kid. :) We were being pretty goofy.
A couple pictures of the final layout. I never got a good one of the centerpiece by itself, but basically, I took a branch and stood it up in a square vase and then hung up little paper turtle ornaments. The ornaments were cute and easy to make - we just stamped the turtle from the invitation on little circles of paper and matted them.
The party favors. They were little, green apple soaps shaped like turtles. They were wrapped up so cute, and they looked and smelled delicious, so my mom was sure someone was going to think they were candy and try to eat one. She "encouraged" me to make an announcement at the beginning of the shower to warn everyone that it was soap (which I did) and then proceeded to warn every guest individually, as well, when they took one. It was pretty funny.
For party entertainment, I had a couple of ladies tell some fun or cute baby stories to help Ashley anticipate what she was getting in to. My mom told one of Ashley. Apparently, when Ashley was a little baby and my mom would pat her back, Ashley would pat my mom's back, too. So cute! My aunt, Kathy, told one of her little boy, Brandon, when he was about 4. They walked by a homeless man with shaggy, long hair and a beard, and Brandon, said, "Hi!" A few seconds later, he said, "Mom, I just said hi to Jesus!" It was fun to hear all these cute stories. Also, we had a couple baby shower "crashers." I should have taken a picture of them, but they were my Uncle Kevin (whose house it was at), my cousin Michael (his son who's my age) and my grandpa. Kevin even told a baby story for the entertainment. It was pretty funny how much fun they seemed to having at a baby shower.Well, that's that. It was a lot of fun to plan and implement my baby shower ideas, and I KNOW it wouldn't have been anywhere near as successful without the influence of my mom. She's so cute. Thanks, Mom!
Friday, September 17, 2010
Going to the Zoo
Michael and I recently established a Wednesday "Date Night," since he works all night on the weekends. Our recent adventure was to go to the Hogle Zoo, where we had tons of fun. It's a small enough zoo that you can basically look at everything without completely exhausting yourself. We went to Chic-Fil-A for lunch, which was really tasty, and took some goofy photos to prove it.
Michael by this giant elephant statue (maybe I should say elephantine elephant statue, but that just seems redundant).
Me being rather immature next to backside of the elephantine statue.
The elephant trunk actually made a rather comfortable lounge chair.
It's funny how much Michael is built like an adult, male gorilla and this is the picture to prove it. (I mean that as a compliment, Michael - adult male gorillas can bench like 600 hundred lbs.).
There was a baby elephant at the zoo that I had to visit no less than three times. I also had to visit the rhinos twice, but they were being rather boring, just sleeping at the far end of the pen. I actually did mistake one of them for a giant boulder. I looked at the sign on the enclosure and said, "Hey! I thought there were supposed to be TWO rhinos." Then, I noticed the boulder the one rhino was leaning on had ears. I also noticed that all of my pictures from the zoo were of Michael and I, not of any animals. I hypothesize that I subconsciously did not take pictures of the animals, because I did not want to bother them any more than they were already being bothered by everyone gawking at them. I guess my subconscious is just considerate like that. :) They also had this exhibit called "Nature's Nightmares" where they had all these crazy, cool animals, like bird-eating spiders, bats, leeches and - you guessed it - Norwegian rats. They weren't much bigger than Norman, but I do admit Norman is a little cuter (after all, he is a fancy rat - that is his official breed). These rats were brown with long, scaly tails that might bother the more squeamish viewers, but they ended up being one of our favorite exhibits we saw at the zoo. Which we thought was ironic, since we could just go home and look at Norman for free.
Michael by this giant elephant statue (maybe I should say elephantine elephant statue, but that just seems redundant).
Me being rather immature next to backside of the elephantine statue.
The elephant trunk actually made a rather comfortable lounge chair.
It's funny how much Michael is built like an adult, male gorilla and this is the picture to prove it. (I mean that as a compliment, Michael - adult male gorillas can bench like 600 hundred lbs.).
There was a baby elephant at the zoo that I had to visit no less than three times. I also had to visit the rhinos twice, but they were being rather boring, just sleeping at the far end of the pen. I actually did mistake one of them for a giant boulder. I looked at the sign on the enclosure and said, "Hey! I thought there were supposed to be TWO rhinos." Then, I noticed the boulder the one rhino was leaning on had ears. I also noticed that all of my pictures from the zoo were of Michael and I, not of any animals. I hypothesize that I subconsciously did not take pictures of the animals, because I did not want to bother them any more than they were already being bothered by everyone gawking at them. I guess my subconscious is just considerate like that. :) They also had this exhibit called "Nature's Nightmares" where they had all these crazy, cool animals, like bird-eating spiders, bats, leeches and - you guessed it - Norwegian rats. They weren't much bigger than Norman, but I do admit Norman is a little cuter (after all, he is a fancy rat - that is his official breed). These rats were brown with long, scaly tails that might bother the more squeamish viewers, but they ended up being one of our favorite exhibits we saw at the zoo. Which we thought was ironic, since we could just go home and look at Norman for free.
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