DIY Mugs

I saw this post a few months ago on one of my all time favorite blogs, A Beautiful Mess, and I knew I wanted to try it! So, while I was home for the weekend, my Mom and I made them! We made one for my sister too, even though she went out with her friends while we were making them (geeze, Alyssa!).

Here's what you'll need:
1. Ceramic mugs (we got ours in Kmart)
2. Sharpies (of any color buy we chose black)
3. Blue painter's tape
4. An oven

Instructions: 
1. Figure out what you want to write on your mugs. We chose an Eleanor Roosevelt quote because she is our absolute favorite! "A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water"

2. I put painter's tape around the mug for the first one we did because I wanted it to be super straight. If you have a pretty steady hand though, you definitely don't need the tape and I didn't use it the second time around

3. NOTE: if you mess up, was your mug with warm water and soap! All your writing will come off and you can start over

4. Get to writing!

5. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. After they were done, we turned the oven off and left them in there over night, just to be sure we didn't burn ourselves

I used mine yesterday morning with some orange juice! I would recommend not washing them in the dishwasher, but since Fiance and I don't have one, that won't be a problem for me! Thanks to Elsie and Emma for this great idea...their blog really is fantastic and I would recommend it for all kinds of craft inspiration and instructions!

Wedding Wednesday: How to Ask Your Bridesmaids to Be Your Bridesmaids!

Since we got engaged, I've been searching high and low for an adorable way to ask my six bridesmaids to be bridesmaids. I needed something relatively easy because I am not an expert crafter, and also I have nearly no patience. My biggest fear was that I was going to finish four of the six crafts and then tucker out.

The key to a good bridesmaid craft is to make sure you've asked your Maid of Honor (in this case my sister, Alyssa) to be your Maid of Honor. I found that they will definitely say yes if you buy them the Kate Spade MOH pencil/makeup/electronic accessories case. Once they say yes, they HAVE to help you craft! Silly MOH! 

SUPPLIES:  

1. Eggs

2. Glitter

3. Glue 

4. Martha Stewart craft supplies (that you won't even realize you need until your in Michael's) 

5. A dissection kit...Alyssa just happened to have this in her bedroom from her Biology class last year. It proved immensely helpful! 

6. Ribbon and sparkly tape 

INSTRUCTIONS: 

1. Blow all the goo out of the egg. Instructions for this can be found here 

2. Rinse eggs with warm water and dry in the microwave for thirty seconds (don't touch them because they are surprisingly hot!)

3. Let eggs sit for four hours 

4. Tape one of the holes closed with scotch tape (the hole where the goo came out of). In the other open hole, funnel (silver) glitter in...you're going to need to figure out the best way to do this. Alyssa and I cut a straw in half and I poured glitter down the straw slide while she held it against the egg. Once you think you have enough glitter in there, tape the other hole closed

5. Fill a bowl with glitter 

6. Put glue all over the egg and roll the egg in the bowl of glitter! You'll need to pay particular attention to the areas with the tape...not much glitter will stick to that area

7. Go get all of the Martha Stewart things you bought in Michalel's out of its packaging. For some reason, I can't find links to any of the stuff we bought (tiny cardboard boxes, cupcake wrappers, grass or adorable note cards) but its in the Martha Stewart craft aisle! 

8. Put your eggs (dried over night) in those cute tiny boxes! Provide appropriate cushioning! 

9. Write your notes, put them in the envelopes and add an instruction list! 

10. Give them to your bridesmaids! This one is Bridget's and I gave it to her at Sidesgiving! Her's definitely exploded the best, and I think that if I did this again I would add way more glitter inside. 

So, there you have it! A foolproof way to ask your bridesmaids to be a part of your special day! I can't believe these turned out as well as they did, and I credit a lot of it to Alyssa's patience and also those Martha supplies! They really made everything look perfect...thanks, Martha! 

Pumpkin Festival 2012

One of the things that happened during my blogging coma of 2012 (part deux?) was the Pumpkin Festival! The Pumpkin Festival happens every year in Doylestown (except that one time it was cancelled because of the rain) and my Mom has a party! Really, it is an excuse for us all to see each other, go see pumpkins and eat a lot of dessert. I'm just being honest with all of you.

The line at the pumpkin festival was especially long this year! So obviously we bought some funnel cakes and waited our turns.

Here are some of my favorites from this year!

I don't really know what this was supposed to be, but I liked it! 

Also, we took some funny pictures!

Maybe this should be our Save the Dates?

One year, Alexander got a gold fish at the Pumpkin Festival and last year he rode a pony! He did neither of those things this year (even though there was a CAMEL) but I think he had a nice time? I wanted to ride the camel, but no one seemed too supportive when I said it, so I let it go. I was totally bummed. 

And now that we have a new baby in our family, we obviously made him pose with props! I'd like to say that this was NOT my idea and that his mom (my aunt) was the one doing the propping up...but this does not bode well for our future baby because I thought it was the funniest thing ever!

Three seconds after this photo was taken, he toppled right over because his head is too heavy...whoops! 

My Mom throws a mean Pumpkin Festival Fiesta but for some reason I have no photos of the adults who attended? Not quite sure why, but I'm pretty sure they don't even like being on the blog, so maybe its OK? 

In Which We Finally Have a Functioning Kitchen

Until three weeks ago, we did not have a fully functioning stove or oven. And by not fully functioning I mean that only one burner worked. And the oven was totally dead. And it was older than Fiance.

One burner plus a microwave and barbeque worked out pretty well for the summer and early Fall months, especially since Fiance started working nights again and I eat a lot of soup and grilled cheese. Its the dinner of champions, I tell you!

But then November rolled around and we realized that Sidesgiving was quickly approaching and we definitely needed a more substantial cooking situation! My aunts offered to buy us a new stove (which was the most helpful ever) and after 15 minutes in the stove store we had one picked out! We scheduled delivery the next Thursday morning, but because of Hurricane Sandy, the gas guy couldn't get to us for four days.

So now we had TWO stoves and TWO ovens, but still only one burner. Seriously could I make this stuff up?

The gas guy finally came on Election Day before Fiance left for work. He disconnected our old stove and connected our new one. He even took our old one to to that big stove heaven in the sky (wherever that is). He and Fiance realized real fast though that something was wrong...

Apparently we had a insert stove? I don't even know what that is, but I'm pretty sure they stopped making them in 1963. An insert stove requires a platform (see photo above) but since our new stove was a regular stove, we didn't need a platform. Because we had a platform, our stove bruners were currently to my shoulder, which is not conducive for cooking. Fiance and I psyched ourself up all day for the platform demolition and decided to tear out the platform while watching Election results later that night.

Then I did what I always do when I get psyched up for a political event...I fell asleep on our couch. At 9:00PM after one drink and a grilled cheese (at Happy Hour, guys...I love grilled cheese) with friends. Before they even called Ohio I, a person with a Masters Degree in American Politics fell asleep. NOT ONLY did I sleep through Ohio, NOT ONLY did I sleep through the flip out on Fox News as they called the Election for Obama, I SLEPT THROUGH THE REMOVAL OF OUR PLATFORM NOT 25 FEET FROM MY HEAD.

That's right guys. Fiance came home at 11:00PM and using a power drill, hand saw and hammer, tore out our stove platform. And I slept through it. Not some of it. Not half of it. The entire endeavor...I was out cold.

I'm not even sure how that happened, but have I ever told you the story of when I was in college and fell asleep at a party in a room where a drum set was being played? Because that actually happened.

In any event, now we have a stove! And an oven! And a fully functional kitchen! Lesson learned: you don't need a stove platform, Fiance is the handiest, and the nicest...and I have narcolepsy.

The End. 

Sunday Social

Happy Sunday Funday everyone!

I'm still attempting to work myself out of a mashed potato coma and I seem to have a case of the sicks. While I was laying on my parents' couch though, I clicked over to my bloggy friend, Lauren's blog, and saw this fun post she seems to do on Sundays!

I'll be participating this week if for no other reason than to distract myself from the desserts we still have hanging out in our fridge...its noon still to early to eat pie? 

1.  Name 4 jobs you have had in your life:

• Front desk girl/surgery pre-op paper work walker through-er (seriously they let me walk elderly people through the process of cataract surgery...I was 16) at an Ophthalmologist office
• College Tour Guide (WELCOME TO HOFSTRA!)
• Babysitter (tip for girls under nine: paint their nails as soon as you get there. Big girls sit still while their nails are drying!)
• Academic Advisor (read: consoler of sobbing in my cube)

2. Name 4 movies you could watch over and over again

• Elf 
• Crazy Stupid Love (seriously, it made me a Ryan Gosling convert and this was before he saved that woman from being hit by the car) 
• You've Got Mail
• Babies (Fiance and I are still trying to figure out how we can get a goat to watch our future baby in a bath bowl...can you have goats in Brooklyn?)

3. Name four places you have lived

• Wilmington, Delaware
• Bucks County, Pennsylvania 
• Long Island, New York
• Brooklyn (we're on the second time now, Brooklyn!)

4. Name four of your favorite foods

• Grilled Cheese
• Fajitas
• Sushi
• Ambrosia (trust me, friends)

5. Name four things you always carry with you

• My iPhone
• My Moleskin planner 
• Lip Gloss
• Hair tie (because I cannot go through an entire day without putting my hair up)

6. Name four places you have been on vacation

• Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (where my Dad got our car stuck on the beach and we had to push it out...memories) 
• Disney World (like seven times with my Aunt when I was little...how she didn't give me away to strangers is beyond me. Once, I accidentally stole a whole pile of stuff from a gift store)
• Lake George, New York (where we had formal tea and saw Rachel Ray! She was not very nice in person)
• Iceland! 

Find other Sunda Socials here 

And a Happy Thanksgiving to You

I know, I know, I KNOW.

SILENT it has been on this here blog...FOR WEEKS! "No one is going to read anymore, you know...they'll be mad at you," my Mom told me the other day. What I really think she means is she is mad at me for not keeping this up, but to any of you who might actually be mad...I am sorry.

Things have been moving right along though. In the past few weeks I've: booked a photographer for our wedding, asked nearly all of my bridesmaids to be bridesmaids (Fiance took a special something upstate with him this weekend), gone to happy hours and brunches, watched our President get re-elected (amen, baby Jesus), saw my baby cousins get Bar Mitzvah-ed (and wept the whole day) AND bought a wedding dress. More on all of this in future posts I swear.

BUT ALSO, Fiance and I hosted Sidesgiving! I noticed a lot of people on Facebook this weekend seemed to be doing Friendsgiving. Sidesgiving is a lot like Friendsgiving except that there is no turkey. Strictly sides. And it was glorious...dare I say it, the best we've ever had.

The key to a dinner party like this is paper everything, you guys. Accept that the environment hates you for one night and embrace the paper plates, plastic utensils and paper tablecloths. The last thing you want to be doing after you have 20 people over is any sort of extra dishes (even if you do wake up the next morning to your friends doing them for you...thank you, Brian). Also, I suggest participatory table cloths and crayons, they are a real crowd pleaser.

Thank you to my Twin, Tammy, for this picture...LOVE YOU

All of this is to say I have tons and tons to be thankful for tomorrow, and everyday really. Chief among them are my family, friends and my soon to be husband. And our kitty cat, who I swear I love more each day, there I said it.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours and thanks for reading if you still are! 
xxo,
Kate