Deep thought thursday...

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I've seen this video a lot, but I feel like it is always such a good reminder. Plus, Ira is my fave. I sort of think of him as a wise friend I have never met. 

party time...

This looks like a very tame version of what I did this weekend. The main event: Aly's birthday party! If you are wondering what the deal is with the random costumes, well, we had a little white elephant costume swap to add a twist to your typical birthday party. It was a huge hit! I'll tell you how it works...

Rules to the White Elephant costume swap...

* Bring an old costume (it's best if it's a full costume not just accessories) in a concealed bag to the party.

* Don't put the costume on, show up in your normal clothes, but give the bag to your host when you arrive.

* If you don't have a costume that's fine. still come.

* If you have extra costumes bring them.

* Once pretty much everyone who is attending has shown up and there is a large pile of bags with costumes in them, you are ready to begin.

* Count the number of people in the room and fold up that many pieces of paper with numbers written on them (25 ppl = 1-25)

* Everyone draw a number.

* One is the best number, two is the worst number ( <-- I was two)

* Whoever picks #1 will start the game. Person #1: picks a bag of their choosing and opens it. This is their costume...for now. Now it's person #2's turn.

* Now is the tricky part-- #2 has a choice-- they can either steal the costume from #1 or open a new costume bag. If #2 decides to steal then #1 must pick a new bag. Now it's #3's turn. and so on. Once a costume has been stolen twice it cannot be stolen again. Get it? When all of the turns are taken and it finally cycles back to #1 they have the whole group of costumes for the picking.

Our game was pretty interesting because there really wasn't a lot of stealing. Everyone was pretty pleased with the costume they ended up with and I think overall curiosity often gets the best of you. You really want to see what is in those bags!

Aly, that crazy girl, planned a lot of the evening, which was fit with a photo booth, snacks and a fancy cocktail garnished with rock candy!  I basically only provided the venue and the ice cream cake. side note: If you ever find yourself in a time crunch, but still want to do something more than cake from a box, an ice cream cake is the way to go! Trust me. Everyone was all about it-- the DQ mint oreo Blizzard one to be exact.

Happy Birthday Aly!

MAKE: Jam Jar Candles.

I was in the mood to do something crafty last weekend but not in the mood to go shopping for a bunch of supplies and spend money. So I rounded up a few things I already had and this was the result. You can never have too many candles in the house and I am one of those weirdos who keeps glass jars around because I like to use them for storage. I had the wax leftover from making candles over Christmas, which is a really fun and easy gift too! So here is how it's done:

Supplies:

- 1 glass jar (I used a Bonne Maman Raspberry Jam jar)

- 1 container of natural wicks

- Soy candle wax

- 1 paint pen, for decoration (optional)

- essential oils, for smell (optional)

Using a double boiler (or one lg pot and one medium pot if you don't have one of those fancy things) heat about two inches of water in the lg pot and bring to a boil. In the medium size pot place as much wax as desired (depending how many candles you want to make) and turn the burner to down medium-low heat. After about 10 minutes or so the candle wax should be melted. Do not let the wax temperature exceed 250 degrees F! Turn off the heat and let the wax cool for a couple minutes. Next, if desired, put a few droplets of your scent in to the wax and mix. Finally pour the wax into preferred container and place wick in the center*. Let the candle dry for about 2 hours and decorate the jar with a paint pen or any other materials you may have!

* The trickiest part of this whole process for me was keeping the wick centered. I could have used one of these but rigged up something similar with toothpicks and tape.

Wandering Wednesday: Copper Mountain.

Hip hip hooray for random Monday holidays! I got a 4 pass to Copper back in September and I've been waiting for the right moment to go up to the mountains. I haven't been skiing in quite some time (ahem, years), so to say I was nervous is definitely an understatement. But Rob was practically raised on skis and goes up to the mountains with his family quite a bit, so I had my own seasoned expert to cheer me on and show me the ropes! :) The first run was hard. It took me a second to get back into the groove for sure, but I went slow and by the second and third run I was feeling much more comfortable. It was a really beautiful day, challenging on occasion but overall, extremely rewarding. I love the hushed silence of the mountains and that rush you get when you are doing everything right (even if that may be for only few minutes at a time)-- it's scary and exhilarating all at once. Skiing is a workout! After 5 triumphant jaunts down the mountain, I was happily exhausted. On the way home I was already planning our next trip in my head. I mean, this is why I live in Colorado, right?!

MAKE: Valentine Cookies.

We got a little crazy with the Valentine's love over here. This is just a little peek into what we've been up to the last couple of days-- baking cookies like it's our job! Rob, Brittany and I had our own roommate cookie decorating committee going on and I think we are all pretty pleased with the result. It felt really good to do something creative for our friends, and even though the start to end process was more time consuming than we anticipated, looking at the rows of colorful cookies we had created was a pretty satisfying feeling! I used this sugar cookie recipe and decorated them using a variety of icing, sugar and sprinkles I had on hand, along with food coloring and a little cookie glaze secret I adopted from my mom (powdered sugar + water + desired food coloring = easy colorful glaze!). Hope you all had a wonderful, loving Valentine's day! xo.

Deep thought thursday + happy valentine's day!

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Bits of my weekend...

Okay so we ate some food, drank some hot beverages and hung out with an adorable pup this weekend. Pretty much. We were kind of homebodies, which I secretly enjoy more and more these days. Otis is such a little snuggle buddy that it was hard to leave him! So we read and made tea and caught up on tv that we had missed from the week. We did do a bit of thrifting Saturday morning but didn't have much luck finding what we were looking for (speakers and a monitor for our record player). I found a pretty handkerchief though and was proud of myself for not buying anything else (I've been trying to be better about that lately). Not pictured-- a date night on Friday at an Ethiopian restaurant where I tried honey wine and we ate with our hands! Also I did a little dancing on Saturday night to get some socializing in, and Sunday we played this game (which is dorky and fantastic). And now I am having puppy withdraw...

Have an easy weekend!

I'm really looking forward to these next few days and getting to lounge around a little. Rob and I are actually babysitting our friends adorable golden doodle puppy Otis this weekend! It's going to be really nice have a dog running around the apartment again. We have been quietly thinking about getting a pet ourselves in the near future, so this will be a good test for us. Other than that a little thrifting, reading and dancing is on the agenda. Have a good one guys!

Link love...

ETSY: funny valentine's day cards....cause it's almost that time!

RANDOM: beauty tip. I just got this mascara from Sephora as a free sample and am in love with it! It doesn't smudge and it stays put even on my bottom lashes. I'm sold. 

LOVE: this photo! If you aren't already following thiswildidea on Instagram you should be!

OXFORDS: you can't have too many.

GIANT: v-day posters that you can download for free! 

HOME: inspiration...a pastel world.

TO DO: list. What's on yours?

DAILY: dishonesty. (via Miss Moss)

INSPIRATION: embroidery by Ana Tesesa Barboza. So powerful.

DRINK: gin. 

EAT: homemade tootsie rolls!

WRITE: more letters...with this adorable kit. 

OMG: I'm still thinking about this moment!!

THRIFT: find. Wow, what a lucky day.

(photo via Collin Hughes)

Deep thought thursday...

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bits of my weekend...

a trip downtown / brunch / REI / Erin's birthday!/ super bowl apps / lunar Feb / my man.

This weekend was a good one. Friday night we went to Ironwood for Rob's cousin's art show, played some pool and got kinda rowdy. Saturday was brunch, a few errands and a couple hours of quiet reading time....followed by Erin's birthday! We went to City o' City to see some music upstairs and then went downstairs to do some good chatting. Sunday was, of course, the Super Bowl. We went to a little gathering at Becca and Taylor's place and passed the time by playing a fun drinking game and eating yummy finger foods!