Tin of Dates Wedding Gift

Yesterday, I went to my 3rd wedding in a month. I must be at that age. I don't feel old enough to be, but alas, my birthday countdown can be measured by my two hands now. (I'm still young if I count down to my birthday, right?!) Anywho, I made this tin of dates for the bride and groom.

I saw the idea of a Can o' Dates weeks ago on Tatertots & Jello Weekend Wrap Up. It was originally posted by the Dating Divas. I thought the can was a little big and didn't want the bride and groom to have to figure out where to keep it. So, I bought this smaller tin at Michael's and cut the paper to fit inside. It is about the size of your hand, perfect for a drawer in your nightstand or desk.

I used about 30 of the date ideas from the Dating Diva's PDF file. They've got loads that are really fun and cute! This makes a unique gift the newlyweds can share for a long time. This is one of my favorites: Record a video together asking/answering questions. Great idea to give to your kids later or watch further down the road. I turned this one into a more involved, special accordian card in order to give some question ideas to start out with.

I modge podged the script "i love you" paper to the top of the tin, embellishing it with a monogram and ribbon. I loved the way it all turned out. Plus, it's great it is so small because it will be easy to transport back across the country where my newlywed friends flew home.

This is a very inexpensive gift. You could always throw in a gift card or two for the movie theater or to the couples' favorite restaurant as more of a traditional date. Here are another couple inexpensive, creative and easy wedding gift ideas I've made recently: "I love you because" frame and modge podge coasters.

And because I can't help but share a little beauty from the evening, check out these gorgeous Kate Spade shoes the bride wore.

I had a great seat at the wedding and snagged this precious picture of the bride and her dad headed for the aisle. I just love it.

Congrats Danielle & Donovan! I loved sharing your big, beautiful day with you and wish you all the best in your long, happy future together.

Speechless Sunday: Oregon State Fair

 
My very own picture (versus my wishful thinking one last week) from going to the Oregon State Fair last night with my dad and sister.

The Happy Life

I have been oddly busy this week. Not a planned busy, but more of a spur of the moment busy week. For example, Tuesday, I ended up being a stand-in on a mini 24 hour vacation my dad took my littlest sister on because her friend was unable to go at the last minute. We went to the Great Wolf Lodge for the night and rode our little hearts out on the awesome indoor pool slides. It was a sweet little escape from work. That took up the better parts of Tuesday and Wednesday. Then today, I watched my little sis's first volleyball games in a neighboring town, before spending lots of time scoping out killer deals on books at Borders. They are having their liquidation sale, if you haven't heard.  Ours was at 60-80% off!

I ended up coming home with all those books for a killer price. With every intent on posting a couple things with a little more content on this blog tonight, I ended up having a great conversation with my incredible friend Cara for a wonderfully long while. Coincidentally, I came across this beautiful little saying, prettified in a graphic. I just love it and totally take it to heart.

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I love reminders to live in the here and now, not to dwell on the past or worry about the future. Living each and every day to its fullest, not waiting for anyone or anything else to make me happy, but just being happy where I are now is so important to me. There is no reason to waste one single second of the precious life I have been given being anything but happy.

I usually save things like this I find for my Speechless Sundays, but I couldn't wait til Sunday to share this one, as it really fits my mood tonight. Nor is this a speechless post, obviously.

Ellie's Surprise Almost Birthday [for Addie's Sake]

Last Friday, my niece Addison invited Ellie and Olivia over to play, go to the pool and keep her company during the hot trek through the art vendors at the Northwest Art & Air Show. Technically, this has been a pre-determined play date since Ellie lives far too far away for Addie's liking, but that is besides the point. Here's how it went down.

The Waters girls arrived late morning and headed straight to the local outdoor pool, for toddler swim, where no big kids are allowed, in order to maximize uninterrupted play time. It was a blast. Addie showed Ellie how to "swim" and Ellie was kind enough not to tell her that her technique is a bit off.

Then, upon return to Addie's house for some mac 'n cheese, all babies took a nap. After waking up, Addison threw Ellie a surprise-almost-birthday party because she won't be able to make it to Ellie's real birthday party in a few weekends.

Yes, Addie is "helping" Ellie open her present.

Then, we ate a delicious Bacon Ranch Cheese Pull Apart before heading to the Art & Air Festival. Despite being 7:00 in the evening, it was quite hot, so we made our way through the artists fairly quickly and got charactertures of the girls. 

Ellie and Olivia were little ballerinas (as shown above) and Addison was a mermaid. Such a fun filled day, which lead to a super good night sleep.

Speechless Sunday

HeyZee on Etsy

I have rides like this, funnel cakes and corn dogs, carnival games and such on my mind. The Oregon State Fair opened on Friday and I'm hoping I get to go for the first time in far too many years.

Bacon Ranch Cheese Pull Apart

I saw this concept on pinterest and couldn't help but find an excuse to make it. The pin was originally from Plain Chicken and I peeked at her recipe before just adding what I thought sounded yummiest. This meant adding mozzarella cheese (in addition to cheddar) and real bacon instead of bacon bits.

I bought a loaf of sourdough bread, uncut. After criss-crossing cuts into it, down to the bottom, but not through, I added apporximately:

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup mozarella cheese, shredded
8 pieces of bacon, cooked and broken into pieces
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 T ranch seasoning, mixed with butter, drizzled over entire loaf

Then, put in oven to melt the cheese.

We dipped it into marinara sauce and just couldn't get enough of it! Definite hit at our house.

Because There Are So Many Reasons

It has taken me far too long to get this anniversary gift to my awesome friends, Steve and Michelle, as their 3 year anniversary was at the beginning of the month. But that means, I also couldn't blog about it without Michelle knowing what it was, since she reads my posts most of the time. I did show off my uber simplistic wrap job yesterday. And now, for the gift reveal....

[Anyone have any tips on photographing frames without getting the glare? Those are my kitchen cabinets in the background. Grrr.]

We saw this idea at Crafty Wonderland last winter. Since then, I feel like I've seen it here and there around the blogosphere, as well as here on etsy.

I have kept it in mind to give to her as a gift because we were both in love with it and it really is just so sweet. Not to mention supremely easy to make one of your own. I even printed a few different fonts and colors to allow changing for mood/seasons. In fact, I have plans to make one more, maybe two for a couple different weddings that are coming up.

All you need to do is:

1. Find a frame.
2. Pick your favorite font and type the words as you want them to appear.
3. Print.
4. Hang.
5. Keep a dry erase marker handy.
6. Make family members' days by filling in the endless amounts of reasons you love them.

How great would this be to have near the most used door in your home to greet or send off family members each day?

I Heart Baker's Twine

If you've been reading for very long, you know I will shamelessly promote things I love. I believe my most recent plug was regarding the iPhone app, Instagram. And here I go again...

Go to Pick Your Plum right now if:

     a) you have never been
     b) you love crafts
     c) you love awesome discounts (Groupon-esque)
     d) any combination of a, b and/or c

If you didn't pick up on it already, Pick Your Plum offers a one day deep discount on craft related items. I've been getting their daily deals for a couple weeks now and have already purchased 2 things, one of them being my new love: Baker's Twine.

Photo credit: Pick Your Plum

I used it tonight for the first time to wrap an anniversary gift I made. (Stay tuned for what's inside!)

Photo credit: Purplest Pecalin

I really love the simplicity of it when combined with the brown postal paper. I can't wait to use more of it. I've got a handful of ideas...

[Anyone see the smidgen of irony in this post? ... I'll help ya out. I used Instagram for one the photo above! Told ya I heart it!]

August Book Club: The Help

This past Saturday was our first book club meeting. My friends Michelle and Allison spear-headed pulling together this group of ladies from college, church and the neighborhood. We vary in age and interests which makes me even more excited to be part of this group. The book we all read for our meeting in August was The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

We ate caramel cake made by Michelle, in honor of Minny's famous, best-in-Mississippi, Southern favorite dessert.

We had a great discussion, guided by the questions in the back of the book by the author.  If you have yet to read The Help, I would highly recommend it. It is one of my favorite books and I will be reading it again at some point. The characters are incredible; it is not a bird's eye, gloss-over of civil rights' movement issues, but one which exposes such real-life emotions of both African-Americans and whites in the 1960's.

Allison made cute bookmarks for everyone with a quote I just love. On the flip side are all the dates for our future meetings printed on one side, which will be very helpful.
 

I went to see the movie with my mom and Grammy. It was awesome to see the characters come alive, but at the same time, almost harder listening and watching people discriminate one another than reading it. Overall, it was a pretty darn good adaptation of the book and the actresses were great. If you don't read the book, at least go see the movie or rent it because it is so relevant and important to think about the issues in the story.

Speechless Sunday

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