Courtney's Hollywood Themed Graduation Party!

This post is ridiculously late, the party was June 3rd, so sorry about that. I was so excited for my cousin Courtney to graduate from high school, and honestly it was all very surreal. I'm not ready for her to grow up, but what's done is done. Haha...how is that for dramatic?

So Courtney had her party with two friends and they wanted a Hollywood theme with Red, black, and white as their colors. Well as soon as I hear this I wanted to help so bad, so they were gracious and let me put my two cents in. Of course I forgot my camera, so I only have a few lame phone pics. I have GOT to be a better photographer.

One of my favorite parts of the party was the gourmet popcorn bar. We even had plastic popcorn boxes for everyone to use (super cheap at the Target one spot and Dollar Tree). We decided to make our own "gourmet" popcorn b/c it was crazy expensive to order. We ended up with chocolate, butterscotch, ranch, and buffalo flavors.

The poster is a super cute collage of the girls. At the top is says, "Class of 2011 Starring Amber, Ashley, and Courtney!" So cute!

You can't have a Hollywood Movie theme without candy, let's be real, and candy buffets are a thing of genius in my humble opinion. I mean who doesn't LOVE lots of different candies all displayed in cute glass containers??? Well I certainly do.

I wish I had a close up of the little sign on the left. FOR THE LIFE OF ME I cannot remember what it says, but man I sure thought it was perfect at the time. It says something to the effect of take a treat, its ours way of saying Thank you...but it rhymed and sounded way better.

Since it was a combined party we made each girl their own little table. It had their card box, a picture for guests to sign, and two scrapbook pages for everyone to sign. We made a congratulations banner out of scrapbook paper and glitter ribbon to hang above the tables. This picture does not do it justice but gives you a good idea.

The room was a HUGE white room so these pictures make it seem like it was lacking color. No worries, we (and by we I mean my little sis Caroline and her friend) made TONS of red, black, and white tissue paper pom poms and we hung those from the ceiling to add color. You can find out how to make those HERE.

I wish I had a picture of the full effect, it turned out really cute and was so fun! But the BEST part I had absolutely nothing to do with and that was the cake! One of the girls mom made it and she is amazing. She also made my Bridal Shower Cake and The Groom's Cake for our wedding and trust me, her cakes taste as good as they look.

See the film strip running around the cake? There's tiny pictures of the girls in every single little square...told you she was good.

I still can't believe little Courtney has graduated high school and is heading to College in the fall. She has grown into such an incredible young lady, I am SO proud of her and love her bunches!

Me, Courtney, and Caroline Christmas 2005

Caroline, Courtney, and I on her Graduation Day - 2011

Scripture Cover and Christmas Comes Early!

So I FINALLY made the scripture cover/tote I have been dying to make for quite awhile now and it turned out great. Not perfect, its a little wanky ( it has recently been brought to my attention that wanky is not a well known word, more like a Barb original, it simply means imperfect but it's just a way better word)  in places, but it is cute and does the trick! I used the THIS great tutorial and it wasn't hard at all, only took a couple hours. Here are some pics of mine (warning: please do not compare mine to the tutorial pics, my pictures are TOTALLY amateurish, blogs are giving me a complex, and my handiwork is still being honed in)

In other news...CHRISTMAS came early for me yesterday! Ok so Santa wasn't anywhere to be seen and there were no stockings or snow or anything red and green and it was 95 degrees outside, but it sure felt like Christmas to me. I love nothing more than a great deal and oh man did I find one. So I am known for loving all things pretty (so my mom tells me) and that includes regular old kitchen gadgets. I have been seeing these fabulous ceramic measuring cups such as THESE from Anthropologie and I am IN LOVE them. However, the quickest and surest way to send my husband into cardiac arrest would be to purchase these for the cool $32 price tag. So I just put my dream aside....until an impromptu trip to Ross (inspired I'm sure) where I found these bad boys for $3.49!!!!!!!!!!

Ok I admit, it is the little things in life that make me happy, and you probably think I'm nuts for being this excited over some silly white measuring cups, but I couldn't be more over joyed. I love that they are white as well b/c white is so classic and they match my white dishes (which have yellow and grey accents and don't think I haven't considered adding some yellow and grey to these one day, because I so have). Anyway just thought I would share my joy with you all. Merry Christmas for a second yesterday!

Trying new things!

I have recently discovered that I have a passion for making and trying new things. I REALLY love to cook, bake, sew, and create and I have been really trying to develop (the better word is probably create) my talents since we have lived here and it has been SO MUCH FUN! I never thought I would be that good at any of those things because I felt I lacked creativity. Then I discovered the world of creative blogs and I don't even have to come up with the ideas myself! I just borrow from others. I thought I would share some of the things I have tried and liked and give credit to the fun blogs I found them on so that you can start your own obsessive blog searching!

Since I got married I have been building my own book of recipes. Every time we try something and we like it, I add it to the book. If its a flop...we trash it, and trust me there have been some flops. Probably more due to user malfunction then to the recipe itself but I will only admit that right here and now. There are three recipes that I just HAVE to share. They are delish.

The first two come from MADE. The  LIME CHICKEN FAJITAS are super easy and SO flavorful! Much better than the Fajita packaging at the store!

Photo from http://www.dana-made-it.com/

The Second recipe from the same website is BRAIDED BREAD. Oh my I am ADDICTED to this bread! There is an option to make it Cinnamon bread as well....DO IT. You will not regret it. I love homemade bread and being without a bread maker I really appreciate recipes that aren't super tricky as in you put it all that work and then your bread comes out like what I imagine Manna to be in my head. This is a domestic goddess points winner for sure.

Photo courtesy of dana-made-it.com

Last but not least is SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN from Brown Eyed Baker. I love all things sweet and sour, that probably stems from my mass consumption of the sweet and sour chicken from the local Chinese Restaurant as a child. This recipe is so good and super easy to make. Serve it up with some brown rice and sugar snap peas and I would call that a half healthy meal. And speaking of cooking chinese inspired meals at home you should also check out the General Csaos Chicken and Fried Rice recipes from Favorite Family Recipes. My husband could drink the sauce he loves it so much.

Today I am tackling the daunting duty of cleaning our my fridge and pantry, but tomorrow I am going to try to make a scripture tote so I will let you know how that goes!

Reflecting...

Wow, It's been a while. It's been a crazy past couple of weeks, full of long work weeks, a graduation complete with party in SC, and one of my besties having a baby!

Despite being super busy and running around like a crazy person lately, I have found myself stopping and being amazed at where I am at this point in my life. This time of year has proved to be scary and exciting for the past few years. These months always seem to find me at times where I am about to embark on something completely new. I can also say that I have realized that my life gets significantly better every year.

In May of 2009, I graduated from college and found myself at a complete loss. I had no idea what I wanted to do next, and had to make some tough decisions as to the path my life was taking. In June of 2009 I took control. I turned down a great job offer and suddenly announced I was moving back to Utah and going to school for Aesthetics. This took everyone in my life by surprise, including me, but I knew that this was a good move for me. In a matter of a month I signed up for school, found an apartment, and planned my move.

May 2009

 
In May of 2010, I found myself engaged to the love of my life. He was and remains such a blessing in my life. I began frantically planning a wedding for August. I became very aware of the fact that our Heavenly Father has an amazing plan for all of us full of the greatest blessings and joy that we can imagine. He is always ready to pour those blessings down on us as long as we are ready to receive them. Last year at that time I had looked at myself as taking control of my life, but this year I realized I had let the Lord take control.

May 2010

So here I am, at the beginning of June. Once again, it is full of excitement and uncertainty. Dan and I have been married for 10 months this month. In the past year we have gotten married, moved to Utah, found jobs, decided to take an internship in Miami, drove across country, spent our first Christmas together as a married couple, and moved to Miami for six months. By the time we are married for one year, we will have had three different apartments and been in four different wards. This internship is ending in one month and we are waiting to see where life will take us next. Sometimes it is very overwhelming to know that we are moving in a month and have no idea to where, but then I remember that I have handed my life over to someone who seems to manage it way better than I ever did. So I am going to trust in Him.

May 2011

 On a side note, as I was thinking about this time of year for the past three years I realized I have been on a cruise this time of year for the past three years as well...haha. I think I'm going to need to keep that tradition alive...

Graduation Cruise to Key West with Kelly, Kristin, and Schayla - May 2009

British Isles Cruise with Dan's Family - June 2010 (This picture is one of my faves after a long wet bike ride in Ireland)

Stonehenge

Cruise to the Bahamas with Dan and Kelsey - May 2011

Mediocre Couponing!

So one of my hobbies for the past few weeks has been....you guessed it....couponing! I even ordered the Sunday paper and everything. I have my coupon data base website I prefer and I even watched the online tutorials. I can't lie I'm having a lot of fun, especially when I score free stuff.  It has really been handy to start stocking up our 72 hour kits that I have been trying to get together.

So I recently had my greatest couponing adventure ever...so far atleast. It was at walmart, which most couponers will cringe at, BUT in my defense Florida has strange coupon policies (no doubling, must buy both products to get buy one get one free, etc) so for me here in Miami, Wal-Mart has the best deals. At the risk of being incredibly dorky I am going to post a pic of my couponing finds.

Ok all of that for 12 bucks! So I know it won't get me on TLC anytime soon, but I'm quite satisfied with myself. And yes I did stand in my kitchen taking a picture of what I bought at the store, I'm not sorry. haha.

Cruisin to the Bahamas and Sewin with Mom!

Whoa...it has been quite a while since I last blogged. We have been so busy with lots of company and even a vacation! So a week after my little sis and cousin left, our friends Dan and Kelsey came out for a visit! We stayed so busy and had a blast. We even went on a three day cruise to the Bahamas. It was so much fun but holy cow did we eat...not good Hawaii prep I might add. Looks like two a days at the gym might be in my near future. Anyway...haha I got a little off track. Here are some pics! Of course I forgot to swap photos with Kelsey and she took all the good ones...but these will do!

Our first night at the Welcome Aboard Show

Kelsey and Dan

Coco Cay....holy beautiful

All dressed up for formal night

Beautiful water and cruise boats all lined up at Nassau

What's a cruise without an awkward pic with the funny looking towel animals?

I can't believe the cruise is over....all good things must come to an end though. While Dan and Kelsey were here, the Phillies just happened to be in town and they are HUGE Phillies fans so of course we went to see them play the Marlins.

Then I dropped Dan and Kels off at the airport on Wednesday.....one hour later they called me and their flight was cancelled due to weather so they got to stay another night! We are grateful to have great friends willing to come visit us!

So they left on Thursday and my Momma flew in on Saturday morning. It was so great to have her in town, I just love my mom. We went to the beach, attempted to shop at Ikea (which always seems to go horribly wrong and was no exception this time), hit up one of my mom's favorite restaurants (Bahama Breeze), and sewed 8 baby quilts. Yeah that last part wasn't a typo. For the service project at Girl's Camp (which my mom is part of planning) they wanted to have the girls tie baby quilts. The only issue with this is getting the quilts for them to tie off. So we managed to make 8.  It was a good way to spend time with my mom b/c we like to sew together and how can you not love little baby quilts? Of course I didn't take any pics the whole weekend, I need to get out of my picture taking lapse, but I did manage to take one picture of our collage of quilts.

My personal favorite

I wish I knew how to put into words how grateful I am for my Momma. She is amazing and has no idea how inspiring she is to me. She always puts others before herself and truly loves to serve. She has given me so much and taught me everything I know. I hope that I can be half the mother she is one day. Thank you for everything Maja! I love you!

Things Currently Occupying My Mind....

So my mind is constantly racing and thinking of a million things at once. Today is no different. So I decided to give you the run down of what I'm obsessing over at the moment.

- My friends...all of my best friends are going through very different things right now and I wish I could be with all of them. From pregnancy, to illness, to new moms, to the loss of loved ones, these girls are defining the word Strength. I love them all more than they know and am truly appreciative of the poise they all embody. I miss ya'll.

- Making THIS Buttermilk Banana Bread...I have overripe bananas and buttermilk in my fridge right now...it's perfect.

- The Cruise we are going on THIS FRIDAY and my new cute swim suit I got just for the occasion

- Having THIS for lunch every day of my life

- The fact that I have been in search of the perfect scripture case for FOREVER and I FINALLY found IT! Can't wait to get this bad boy made...

- Planning and thinking of creative ideas for my cousin's high school graduation party coming up in June...seriously....I love it. Its a Hollywood party with a red, black, and white color scheme. I'm going nuts.

- How much I love bread and how excited I am to try THIS recipe...braided bread? Yum! Please don't miss the little gem at the bottom about turning it into cinnamon bread...oh yeah.

- And last but not least...BLOOMING WHERE I AM PLANTED. I repeat this mantra to myself everyday. Dan and I have no idea where we are going to end up calling home and that drives me insane. We are leaving Miami in 2 measly months and are not quite sure what is next between two different options. Doesn't look any more stable for about 2 more years, therefore, I'm blooming where I am planted. Although that may be in several different places for the next little while. One day we will be all settled and I'm sure I will miss the days of starting a new adventure every few months, so I better enjoy it while it lasts!

So I told you I am random. Thanks for indulging me.