Blog Vacation

I'm going to be taking a blog break for a while. I'm sad that I haven't had much time to devote to it this year, and I haven't felt much joy associated with blogging lately. And I think the content I've been putting up here has been suffering from my lack of enthusiasm. I remember declaring before that "I'll NEVER get rid of my blog" - that's still true. I like sharing my life and what inspires me. But it's time to re-energize, get through to the finish line of this whole wedding-planning thing, and focus on our home and my (still) new job. When I have new fun things to share I'll get back at it, and hopefully some of you will still be reading!

For now, enjoy some photos of Kauai:

I am very excited about the sugar plantation tubing.

and snorkeling...

and awesome scenery...

Stone Cold Sobuary: Done-sies.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
YOU GET A GOLD STAR!

Hey Party People! May I be the first to say, "Congratulations, you did it!" if you made it through all of January aka "Mocktail Madness" without a drink. I applaud you! And guess what? Your body, your wallet, and your mind do too.

What exactly did you do? Well, assuming you are like me and enjoy and average of 1 beer, 1 cocktail, and 3 glasses of wine per week...
* You did not consume 4000 calories, which also equates to at least 1 lb of fat {facts here and here}
* $150 cash, in YO WALLET (if you are in a household of 2 people, double that, multiply by 12 months and you have $3600 a year. YIKES)
* ~30 hours of better REM sleep, you're welcome {info here}

Now, how about that? It's always nice to start fresh and challenge yourself to do something healthy. I personally found it to be much more difficult this year than it was for me last year. I think because last year I basically made myself allergic after my birthday shenanigans, and also the dark January weather really got me down this month. I still like to do this little experiment to prove to myself that I can do it and to better understand the compromise I'm making when I decide to drink. It can have a big impact on my body, budget and well-being.

So for those of you who made it the entire month: I have a surprise congratulatory gift for you! If you completed Stone Cold Sobuary, let me know and I will send you a gift!

Crafty Things

Why can't I live in the friggin' MOMENT?! Ugh. I was listening to one of my podcasts this morning and a guest of the show was chatting about her life now as an empty nester since her triplets have all recently left for college. She said she sleeps in, goes to the gym, goes out to ladies lunch, is remodeling the house, and overall is pretty "lazy". Omg that sounded so great! I found myself thinking: "wow, after my kids leave for college I can't wait for that time!" What? That's crazy.*

Anyway, if I was an empty nester right now I would spend my week making these crafts for my friend Megan's upcoming birthday:

Heart-pattern Friendship Bracelet via The Purl Bee.

A Handmade Giant Flower via Green Wedding Shoes.

This adorable sprinkle cake via KissMyCakes...

And I'd make some super cute bunting to mark the occasion...{via ohcrafts}

*I've sortof already had my "empty nest" time: aka "funemployment" but that was riddled with guilt and no money so obvs not a very desirable lifestyle.

Fun, Affordable Art

All from another one of those cool, fun, affordable art websites: www.society6.com

"STRIPES" by Brandon Neher.

"Seafoam bokeh" by Laura Ruth

"Bokeh-ful" by Bethany Helzer

"le snack" by Paris vs New York

AOTD: books & dollhouses

AH-mazing topographical-looking sculptures carved from books by Guy Laramee. {via HonestlyWTF}

This dollhouse is ridiculously fun. One time I turned a Lucky Charms cereal box into a troll house (with elevator, thankyouverymuch), but I never accomplished anything quite like this house by Nicole from Making It Lovely. {via Decor8}

What goes with a Snuggie?

Just stumbled upon this website and I think it's a fun concept - have you ever put together and outfit and been unsure if it worked or not but your bff isn't around to tell you it doesn't work? Then you wear it out of the house and realize something is amiss? Fashionify.com has a "community" of people who will help you style your look - in general it seems like they're all kind, well-intentioned folks, so it could be helpful. Fabulous idea! {found via Lilly'sStyle}

Snow Descended

Check out this awesome photo that Todd Heckel captured on his flight back in to Seattle last week...

via QueenAnneView.

"I mean, Get it Together"

I know everyone and their mom has seen this by now, but it's still funny to me so I figure I'll share it with y'all to enjoy again (and plus maybe my mom hasn't seen it yet)...

Famous Objects from Movies

This is a fun game (although, I totally disagree with some of these, they made me think of completely different movies), "Famous Objects from Classic Movies" - how many can you guess right? BTW we started this game and had to finally stop because it seemingly goes on forever. I have no idea how many levels there are. If you have somewhere to be, I would recommend you don't start this until you have hours of free time!

Gorgeous Kids Wallpaper

How lovely are these wallpapers by Hibou Home? They might even be so cute to justify installing wallpaper! {available through Rockett St. George, via Poppytalk on Babble}

Seattle's Next Top Mansion

You Guys! Don't miss this opportunity to weigh in on your favorite manse, brought to you by Seattle Met - now, I think their lack of info on these residences means they want you to buy the issue to see all the groovy pictures, but I decided that myself and all of you are very educated on mansions, and we are frankly overqualified to judge. I did find this little slideshow online...vote for your favorite!

Hey Readers!

How are you all? Sorry I didn't blog for a week. It happens. Anyway, ready for my best/worst dressed pics from the Golden Globes? {here's my last year's pics}

My ultimate favorite dress of the evening, this beautifully detailed blush colored gown worn by Shailene Woodley - picture doesn't do it justice!

Dare I say Tilda looks absolutely FIERCE AS HELL here? Her hair and everything is just rockin' for me right now. Crazy androgynous never worked so well.

Wow. I love Reese here - it's tough to see against the red carpet but she looked like an awesome surfer barbie on stage. Love it when she lets her hair look natural.

Even though this dress is not my personal style, Emma looks rad with the awesome make-up and love the color of this dress.

Laura. Dern. Dripping in emerald head-to-toe. She looks amazeballs.

Bow down to Selma. I'm calling this "disco chic".

Aaaand for my Worst Dressed pics...

Ugh. This dress is fine. This pic is more for the fact that you might as well just call this look "SEVERE". I'm tired of Angelina looking like this. Ugh get rid of the red red lipstick. Also, maybe consider eating a sandwich?

Wow. Missi Pyle in "prom dress puce".

I hate this look. Could she be trying any harder to be a "style icon"? This is gross tin foil ick.

"buahahaha! Look at my ugly dress!" Piper, get it together!

Kindof like the bottom, hate the top. Old lady.

Meh, this doesn't seem fancy enough to me. I think it's the informal pattern + 3/4 sleeves + velvet.

There you have it, friends. What were your best/worst dressed pics of the evening? Oh, or were you watching something more sophisticated? Or watching for the actual awards and not the fashion? Or maybe you were reading a book like a productive person.

Marriage - it's good stuff!

Just a few pics with friends that were on my camera from our friends wedding. They got married in a lovely barn and had "tractor churned" ice cream and pie. It was so cute!

Wendi n' I talking about how good that pasta was!

Mike and Keene. Isn't the barn lovely?

Dennis n' Paula looking adorable :)

Spoiled Rotten...continued

I mean, "spoiled", but really this was a gift I bought myself. Can You Guys even believe I didn't have a smartphone until last month?! What. Is. Up. With. That.

Yeah, it was time. I feel a lot happier now that I have internet access at any time.

And as I put down my old flip phone in the box of forgotten phones I thought to myself "wow this pile is a little ridiculous". Would you look at all that? This is maybe 5 years worth. That's pretty bad. Technology improves fast!

Wellie-my-Sister-Rocks

You Guys I was spoiled rotten this year for my Birthday/Christmas. My sister bought me the Hunter Boots I've been wanting for years!!!

She is totally the best sister ever of all time. We've had a ton of wellie weather around here lately too, and they're great for walking Pearl around in. Thanks so much Court!!! :)

Happy New Year :)

Well, let's just say I'm real glad the holidays this year landed in a way that gave us Monday off of work. We spent today cleaning and being happy about our party on NYE. Lots of friends came over and it was a good time. We all walked to the park before midnight (a little stumbling parade of party hats and noise makers...joined by others who were on their way!) and watched the Space Needle fireworks.

Thankfully this cool person took a pretty good video - I was a little too focused on "wooooo"-ing to document:

Some pics from the beginning of the night:

For the early arrivals we had some Chambord Champagne - a great start!

The "tablescape" all ready to get some food on it.

Many thanks to Wendi for bringing over our NYE "flair" and helping make everything look spectacular.

I had fun making our chandelier 2012-i-fied...

I staged the End-of-the-Year-CDs on our coffee table, as well as some of "Annie's International Gifts and Treasures to share" (she was the unofficial Guest of Honor - Manilla was a long way to travel from - we were stoked to have her here!). And don't worry Michigan we received your CDs and I gathered up a batch to send your way!

I made these Peanut Butter Bon Bons (thanks again to Wendi for all the help) and I think they turned out pretty tasty. They were a bit labor intensive though so I'd need some strong encouragement if I was going to do that again...

Mom - the drink tower came in handy again. I didn't think we'd have any need for ANOTHER cocktail around but this thing is endlessly popular when there's water in it. What can I say, people like water. So we had two kinds.

I felt kindof indulgent when I bought this $10 ice bucket at Fred Meyer. But it's paid for itself since we've used it at just about every party since.

Riveting discussions, I'm sure :)

An end-of-the-night arty farty photo by Paula - I like how fancy this Chambord looks :)

Y'All it was a great time. I freakin' love this holiday. To 2012, and Sober January. CHEERS! Mwah!