Party Favors!

Based on my posts, you might think my life consists of weddings, bridal events, and traveling. You'd be right.

I've been put in charge of favors for one of my best friends showers, and I thought I'd share some of the ADORABLE ideas I found in case that becomes your responsiblity one day.



From my shower to yours, with LOVE -- there are so many fantastic homemade scrub recipes on Pinterest, you could easily do this one for very cheap!

 

Tea towels with cute measuring spoons. (From my very own Christmas-craftstravaganza)


How useful would these ringholders be? (You could even order one for the bride as a gift!)


Or if it's a themed shower (mainly kitchen themed) you could do salt dishes or S&P shakers (perfect for the GT fan in your life!)

Just a few ideas to get you started -- what's the best favor you've received at a shower? Wedding, baby, or otherwise?

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

Have you ever ended or changed the nature of a relationship (friendship, romantic, work, or otherwise)? I kind of did, recently, and it was pretty dreadful. The bottom line is, the relationship wasn't healthy for me. It wasn't healthy for either of us, really, but I think it affected me more.

I accidentally but kind of on purpose started the "breakup" conversation a while ago, and then it was just a matter of time before the rest of the conversation happened. I'm not sure I understand 100% of the reasons why, only that it had to happen. I'm not happier without this person right now because I'm hurting, but eventually I will be a-okay. I miss them. Some nights I stay up late writing down all the things that I would have said over the course of that day, or when we talked late at night. I write down all the things they would have told me about, too. I have some pretty awesome 2-way conversations that never existed all written out! But. It is incredibly therapeutic to write, and so I will continue until I run out of things to say.

A note: I wrote the above nearly a month ago. I knew I wouldn't want to post it right away, and I was right. I still miss this friend, but as expected, the pain has subsided and in it's place comes a feeling of peace. Of knowing I did the right thing. And of knowing that in that time, other wonderful people have either re-entered or entered my life for the first time. And that has been even more awesome.

I could remind myself about all the things that were great about our friendship but I know what will happen, or really what won't happen. The break-up will backfire and we'll find ourselves right back where we were. And then give it another 3 months, and I'll be back in these shoes again, knowing that I have to make a really hard decision that is really right for me. I have to walk away from someone who means the world to me and makes me over-the-moon happy because as happy as they make me, that's how much the relationship hurts me. It's not every day. It's not one action. It's an ache for things to be not-the-same that doesn't disappear. An ache for more, for less, for something to change.

Another note: The ache is gone, and it went away so much faster than I thought. I could certainly attribute this to a number of things, but the biggest one has been my attitude. Knowing this was the best possible decision for me, but also knowing that this friend would ultimately be there for me through thick and thin. Our friendship wasn't being cut off with no path forward - just a bumpy, turn in the road. It's still there, just like I always wanted.

My heart hurts writing this, but I needed to say more than just a little note in my iPhone. I hope that by leaving the intensity of this relationship behind me, I'll have space for new friends, new relationships, and I'll walk away with a heavier heart only for a little while. In the meantime, I'll keep writing letters on my iPhone until I don't have letters to write anymore, and when I run out of letters to write, then maybe we can start from scratch, but I won't get my hopes up. I think I'll be writing letters forever.

The final note: I'm still writing letters, but as time has gone on, I've found they are so much more for me than they are for anyone else.

photo

A travel bucket list, of sorts

I have fallen in love with all things travel. I crave the excitement of selecting my next adventure. I relish in the ability to research, research, research, and ultimately choose my itinerary. I look forward to the looks of shock and awe I get from others when I tell them about all the things I've seen already or where I am off to next (not because I want them to be jealous, I just love sharing that side of me with others!)

I'm one of the least adventurous people I know. Skydiving, wind surfing, snowmobiling, or other outdoor adventure sports are just not for me. I also don't operate well without a very precise, defined plan in my day to day life.  Based on those two things, my passion for traveling comes as such a surprise to myself and many others. I guess I've learned that much like with life, you can't have it all 100% planned out. You can have goals, dreams, and an idea of what you want, but who knows what will send you on a detour and when? Same thing with traveling - you can plan and you can know exactly what you want to see, but ultimately there will be things that you miss, experiences that you didn't even know you wanted, and you learn something about yourself every. single. time.


My newest obsession is following travel blogs and travel Twitter accounts. I should stop, as it's only contributing to my wanderlust. But in my exploring, I found Adventurous Kate's problem with bucket lists.

I have zero problem with bucket lists (clearly). I've now made two 101 in 1001 lists. I like lists. And this one stood out to me as something that aligned so perfectly with my own dreams for traveling. So, here it is - 5-10 things that are my travel priorities. I will do ONE of these in the next 2 years.

• Explore Napa Valley. I know, it's not international, but it's something that I really would like to see. I've heard so many stories about girls trips, romantic trips, and family vacations to this wonderful West Coast wine country, and I just know I have to see it, experience it, myself.  
• Visit Antarctica. If I had a bucket list, the only thing on it would be to visit all 7 continents. Antarctica is the only one left. I don't think this is actually practical for the next 2 years, but it's certainly somewhere I plan to see in my lifetime.
• Trans-Siberian Railway from St. Petersburg to Beijing.  A coworker shared the story of how she, her mother, and her sister spent 3 weeks on a train coursing through the Russian countryside, hopping on and off and exploring everything Russia had to offer.  As long as Rasputin doesn't interfere!
• Spend a week on the beach somewhere other than the US. My international journeys have always included constant busy-ness and exploring new things, which I've enjoyed tremendously. I'm not much for bumming around on a beach. However, I think spending a week in a beach town in Europe (thinking Greece, Croatia, Spain!) would be such an exciting adventure. Meeting locals, sipping fabulous cocktails at 2pm, taking a catamaran for a spin, and lounging on a chaise reading a good book sounds like a perfect vacation. And maybe a week is too much, maybe I could tag 3-4 days onto another vacation to make this work.
• Take an African Safari. No additional commentary necessary.
• Share somewhere that I've already been with someone I love. Traveling has had such a meaningful impact on my life, both as a child and now as an adult. I've been all around the world but have shared those experiences with limited people (my family, my best female friend, and my best male friend). I'd really like to return to a place that I treasure and experience it all over again with someone special to me who has never been there. It's what my mom did after exploring Hong Kong - a few years later she honeymooned there, and in 1996 she took her in-laws and 2 small children to experience the country as she once had.
• London, England and Paris, France. I’ve spent 8 hours in Paris and therefore seen the Eiffel Tower, but I’ve never been to London. I’d be thrilled to spend a week bouncing around both cities, especially now that the Olympics have passed. My family is considering a trip to France this fall, so maybe Paris will also land on our itinerary.

So there you have it - the list seems not too short but not excessively long, and certainly attainable. I have to keep reminding myself that the goal is to only get to ONE of these places in the next 730 days... but really I want to do it all, and do it all now. Patience is not my strongest suit.

What about you - would you want to explore any of these places? What would you choose instead? Please tell me - of course I need new places to add to my growing list of desirable locations.

Grouper, please!

Have you heard about Grouper?

I just did, and I have to admit, I'm fascinated.

It's matchmaking meets online-dating meets strangers-in-a-bar. It's kinda, sorta, perfect.



I mean, no explanation from me necessary. I guess the only challenge I’m going to have is finding 2 other single ladies. Do I have any takers?

Crickets.



This idea is pretty rockin’. I could imagine a few situations that would be less than ideal. Mainly if you and one of your best besties fall for the same guy. That would kinda suck. I guess that’s when you could invite along 2 of your I’m-taken-but-still-loads-of-fun friends. I couldn’t find anything about relationship status in the rules…

But otherwise, I think this is pure genius. Anybody want to be my +2?

I'm Obsessed.

shoes.

 

lipgloss.

 

 

scarves.

 

she ratchet.

 

study. 

 

 

 

 

Pinterest Salmon + Brownies

I got home from work last night and had no idea what to eat. I knew I didn't want to go out and I knew I had a million different things I could cook in the freezer. Soo, what's a girl to do but open the Pinterest app in the elevator of her building? And then I found this pin. GAME CHANGER.

I keep a running top 5 recipes list. This one easily makes it. I followed the recipe exactly (except for subbing Greek yogurt for mayo, but only because I had no mayo and had Greek yogurt) as it was and I had to stop myself from running back to the kitchen to stuff my face with more salmon.

A food blogger I am not but seriously – this salmon was INCREDIBLE. I did things mildly backwards – I cooked the salmon in the whole marinade sauce rather than marinating it but otherwise… ya’ll. I’m just disappointed that I don’t have more salmon. I will most certainly be cooking this again.
If you don’t want 18 lbs of sriracha cream sauce, you might want to cut the recipe in… 10th’s. Or, you could make it as is and smear it on every single thing you put in your mouth over the next 5 days. To each their own.

So then, because I felt that my luck had not run out, I attempted another Pinterest recipe. Brownies. It’s pretty much impossible to go wrong  with 2 1/4 cups of sugar and 2 sticks of butter. And instead of Nutella, I used Trader Joe’s cookie butter because I just happened to have it in my kitchen. (Sometimes my annoying food hoarder tendencies drive me nuts, but today they served me well. I didn’t go to the grocery store for a single ingredient in either recipe.)

I forced EV to eat a brownie with vanilla ice cream and then got a text that said “that brownie was so amazing i feel mildly ill.” She’s a tough judge so I consider this a major success. I pretty much inhaled my brownie. They were moist, hot, chocolatey, and pretty much perfect. Delicious brownies, you’ll be entering my rotation immediately.

And really, I also have to give a special shout out to my kitchen sidekick, Mr. Bubbly. Thanks for keeping me company!

Goin' to the chapel

For some people it's 24, for others it's 29, but apparently for me it's going to be 27.

That is, the year that it seems like every single person I know gets engaged and/or married. It's awesome and exciting and I love every minute of it.

One of my best girls from college got engaged last summer and is marrying her one true love in March, so we skipped town last weekend for her bachelorette party in Asheville, NC. The whole thing turned out to be fabulous, but really what I want to tell you about are the lingerie shower favors. 

First of all, when trying to figure out what type of favor I wanted everyone to have, I took to the internet and found my inspiration. These were the PERFECT favors.

A quick trip to Walmart and I had some cheap, pink wine, lingerie washing bags, and gift bags. Perfect! The process for making the wine bottle corsets was relatively time-consuming but certainly manageable. I just took black cardstock, punched identical holes along each side, and then laced the ribbon. It took me a couple of bottles before figuring out the best way to lace the ribbons, but ultimately I sat on the floor indian-style and held the 2 sides of the paper together with one hand and laced with the other. It worked for me, but I'm sure everyone will have their preferred strategy. Working with 1 hand also left me more able to make sure my ribbon was perfect since it wasn't just plain ribbon.

The girls LOVED the wine bottles and I have to admit, I was pretty stinkin' proud of them, too. To my other engaged friends... these might be making a reappearance. Sorry, but a good idea is a good idea no matter how many times it's executed!

Have you been to many bridal or baby showers? Any great favors or games? I have a feeling there will be a few more of these in the near future!