weekend recap

I don't know about you, but I had a very eventful weekend!

I took Friday off work so I could see John & Sherry from Young House Love when they stopped in Tacoma as part of their book tour.  If you haven't heard of their blog, you must be living under a rock.  Just kidding (sort of), but you need to stop what you're doing and check it out, pronto!  Well, after you finish reading this post, of course.  Their blog is the reason I got into DIYing (although I haven’t done much of it yet), where I learned about Pinterest for the first time, and actually the inspiration for creating my own blog.  To sum it up, they are awesome.  

They started with a 30 minute presentation where they showed before and after pics from their old and new homes (which I was already really familiar with at this point from the blog), and then they gave general tips for decorating.  It was nothing I hadn’t read on their blog, but just seeing them live and how they interact with each other was so fun.  They were so down-to-earth and funny, just like they are on the blog.  I felt like I already knew them, which is probably how most of their readers feel!

Woah, sorry for the blurry pic guys!!

Next I waited in line almost 2 hours to meet them and have my copy of their book signed, but it was worth it!  Especially since I've read that at other locations the wait was 3+ hours, so I guess we didn't have it so bad.

Finally, my turn!

I was so nervous at this point that I barely remember what I said to them.  I have a hazy recollection of asking how their stay in Tacoma was, and Sherry said it was fine, and that they'd woken up at 4am that morning because they were still on east coast time. 

They were nice enough to help out with a birthday surprise for my good friend Laura, who's also fan of their blog.  Surprise, Laura!!  And Happy Birthday!

On Saturday morning, I woke up early and took the train down to Portland for a girls night with two friends from high school.  It's been over 10 years since all three of us have gotten together, so it was a long night full of girl talk and catching up.  And drinks, obvi!  After lunch we stopped at the infamous Voodoo Doughnut.  If you haven’t heard of Voodoo, they’re known for their maple bar with bacon, and also for having a line that wraps around the building no matter what time you go.  

I was obsessed with the fact that the exterior of the building consisted of bricks painted with gold glitter!!  It was hard to capture all the glittery goodness with my phone, so you'll have to take my word for it.  Sarah, do you think they mod-podged it??  Maybe they saw your tutorial?

We waited in said line for about half an hour.  I guess I did a lot of waiting in lines this weekend!  Voodoo has so many crazy doughnuts, but I decided to go with the tried and true cake doughnut with sprinkles.  My conversation at the register went a little something like this:

          Me:  Hi, I’d like a vanilla cake doughnut with sprinkles, please.

          Cashier Guy:  And...?

          Me: That’s all.

          Cashier Guy:  You waited in line all this time…just for that?

          Me: Yep.

          Cashier Guy: Ok...(scratches head).  That’ll be 95 cents.

What can I say?  I know what I like when it comes to doughnuts.  No need to add bacon, fruit loops, or gummy bears to make this girl happy.  And honestly, who would turn this down beauty??

The trip ended too quickly, and it was such a bittersweet reunion because Brooke is moving back to Alabama next week.  Boohoo!!  But it was amazing to have the chance to catch up one last time before she leaves us forever for now.

Luckily, Kim still lives nearby and I don't have to worry about her moving out of state any time soon!

Good times!! What was the most interesting thing you did this weekend?

work it out

So, I joined a gym.

And it just so happens to be the most amazing gym I’ve ever been to!!  It’s just the local YMCA, so I wasn't expecting anything fancy.  But I stopped by for the first time last night and was blown away.  Just check out the pool!

photo via

I wonder if that slide is just for kids….

Yesterday I was complaining to a friend that I’d gained a few pounds over the holidays, and that I’d completely lost motivation for getting back on track with eating and exercise.  My friend suggested I check out Jamie Eason’s free online program.  I was skeptical at first.  I mean…she’s a bodybuilder!  But after spending some time on her website and browsing through her 12-week program (which includes daily workouts and an eating plan), it started to actually seem doable.  Even for me!

So last night I completed work out #1, and boy are my arms killing me this morning!  But in a good way.  I’m excited to get back in there tonight.  And being excited about going to the gym is totally foreign to me!

To anyone else needing a little boost of motivation, this should do the trick.

photo via 

I hate love her.

So what motivates you to put down that donut and hit the gym?  Any tips would be much appreciated!  Oh, and happy Friday!

DIY jewelry holder

I'm happy to report that the last two nights have been very productive for me!  I actually finished different craft projects and still had time to squeeze in a few episodes of Dexter, so I call that a win!  I mentioned in my post last Friday that I found some cheap frames at Goodwill that would be perfect for creating some DIY jewelry holders.  You know, the ones that you've probably seen a billion times on Pinterest.  

Well here they are, in all their glory!  Those flower paintings are actually small canvases, so I'm saving them for a future art project.

Here is a list of materials you might need if you want to do something similar:

• Frames (obviously!)
• Paint (I chose "Catalina Mist" spray paint)
• Twine
• Cup hooks
• Sandpaper
• Picture hangers, unless your frames already have them

My first step was to slighty sand down the frames, especially the two smaller ones because they had a shiny finish.

Next, I covered the garage floor in newspaper and got ready to spray!

Paint party!  It took about 5 million coats to cover the dark wood.  But I wasn't too worried about complete coverage, because I wanted them to have a slightly rustic look.  You can see in this photo that some of the wood still shows through in places.

 And here they are after drying overnight.  I love how this color turned out!  Very vintage-y.

After the frames were dry, I gently ran the sandpaper over the edges to give them more of a rustic feel.

Next, I measured and marked where I wanted the cup hooks to go, and had Tony drill some holes so it would be easier to twist the hooks into the wood.

Oh, and just so you know, this is what I was working with before.  A $5 jewelry holder that I bought from Claire's probably 10 years ago.  See that unsightly, overflowing pile of bracelets?  Every time I tried finding a pair of earrings, about 4 bracelets would come tumbling down into the great abyss of shoes below, never to be seen again.  It wasn't exactly working for me!

Here are the frames with the hooks and twine.  The twine will be used for earrings.  I know the placement looks a bit odd but this is inside my closet, so I had to position them so that my hangers wouldn't rub against them.  All my clothes are pushed to the side for this picture, but in reality my belts and scarves will probably cover up the earring holder.  Which is fine because I don't wear dangly earrings all that often.

And the finished product!

I didn't realize how long most of my necklaces are when I bought the frames.  So, in hindsight, I would have chosen larger frames.  Also, I didn't make a space for my bracelets, so they are homeless for the time being.

Here are some close-ups just for fun.

Before my crafty mood completely wore off, I decided to make one of those hex nut bracelets, also inspired by Pinterest.  Seriously, what did people do before Pinterest?  To make it, I followed the tutorial on honestlywtf.com (gotta love that name!).  I won't bother giving you step-by-step instructions, but if you want to make one, I highly suggest that tutorial.

Look how pretty!

I made it long enough to wrap around my wrist twice.  I still need to add some sort of clasp or something, but for now tying the ends in a knot will do just fine.  I bought yellow string too, and will be making another one soon.

How did you get your craftiness on this week?

unicorns & white elephants

I only wish my weekend was as magical as the title makes it sound.  It was pretty magical, but sadly I did not see any mythical creatures.

On Friday night I celebrated a few birthdays at Barrio in Seattle, which was a really yummy Mexican restaurant.

After dinner, we went down the street to a very colorful bar called Unicorn.  I’ve wanted to check out this bar for years, but for one reason or another never had the chance.  The place was full of zebra striped booths, blue & white striped walls, animal heads, vintage chandeliers, clowns faces, and arcade games.  Basically, it was decorated like one giant scary/amazing circus.  It was pretty dark in there, so I sadly wasn’t able to get as many photos as I would have liked (sorry for the grainy photos!).  If you live near Seattle, I suggest you pay a visit!

Edit: I completely forgot to mention that part of Macklemore's "Thrift Shop" video was filmed at Unicorn!!  You can see it at the 0:40 second mark.  Love it!
On Saturday, we went back up to Seattle for a White Elephant party.  I love white elephant gift exchanges!  For my gift, I brought a Married With Children board game, along with a Dawson’s Creek soundtrack.  Who could be less than thrilled with a gift like this??  The game had playing cards that said things like, “Pretend you are Al Bundy and you just had a long day of work.  Now put your hand down your pants and relax.  Everyone else can put their hand down your pants too.  Now everyone relax”.  Haha, let’s just said I’m glad I was not on the receiving end of that game.

I was lucky enough to be gifted with a Game of Thrones cookbook.  It has tons of medieval recipes like Mutton in Onion-Ale Broth, Stewed Rabbit, Quails Drowned in Butter, and Honey-Spiced Locusts.  Mmmmmm, tasty.  (Kidding!!  No meat for this girl.)

 Sadly, someone stole my gift, so I got to choose again and ended up with a coffee mug (thanks, Leeza!).  Tony got this awesome t-shirt in a can that said “Alaska”.  Score!  Oh, and those things in his hand are potholders made out of yak hair.  Ick!

 It was a long and eventful weekend, and by the end of the party we were exhausted.  But I don’t think anyone was as tired as Sheena's puppy, Devin.  I can’t help but say “awwwww!” anytime I see this picture.

 What did you do this weekend?

*Linking up with This Weekend I.

high five for friday

Happy Friday!!  I'm linking up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk for her weekly High Five for Friday.  Love her blog!

Here are five of my highlights from this week:

1: My new teardrop necklace from Caroline G arrived in the mail yesterday.  Love it!

2: I've made it my weekend goal to create a jewelry holder similar to these, and found three perfect frames at Goodwill last night.  I will post pictures once I'm finished!

3: Monday marked the beginning of my attempt to get back on track with my eating habits, but this morning I splurged on a caramel macchiato from Starbucks. It was just what I needed on this cold, cold day!

4: The fact that downtown Seattle is still covered in Christmas lights adds some much-needed cheer to my work day.

5: I'm super excited to celebrate the birthdays of two very exceptional people tonight at a Mexican restaurant called Barrio.  I've been anticipating trying the battered cod tacos all week.

What were your highlights this week?  Do tell!

window shopping

I stopped by the new Kohl's in Gig Harbor last night, and I had high hopes for the place.  I don't normally shop there, but I'd been meaning to check it out ever since the store opened a few months back.  I've seen some of LC's collection online, and I like what I saw.

However, I had no such luck and I really struck out on my little shopping excursion.  Blame it on the fact that I was hungry & tired after my long commute home.  Blame it on my lack of divine fashion sense.  Or just blame it on the rain, which we've been getting a lot of lately!

Anyways, I did try on two outfits that I thought I'd share.  The first outfit is what I wore into the store, so it doesn't really count (even though it's my favorite of the 3)!  Sorry for the lack of accessories and shoe variety, but I didn't feel like smuggling them into the dressing room.

1 - cardigan - Target / boyfriend tee - Nordstrom (old) / scarf  (old) - similar / jeans - AE Super Skinny / boots - Sears

2 - sweater - Kohl's / mint jeans - Kohl's / boots - Sears

3 - gray dot sweater - Kohl's / jeans - AE Super Skinny / boots - Sears

After putting these three photos side-by-side, I had to laugh at the fact that I apparently only know one way to pose.  I think I was trying to hide the tags, so I wasn't left with much wiggle room!  I really liked the color of the mint jeans, but they were super thin and almost felt more like leggings.  I kinda felt naked in them.  I did like the color combo of the mint with the tan sweater, but I wasn't a fan of how the sweater fit me.  So that outfit was a fail.  I really liked the gray polka-dot sweater on the far right.  It fit really well, and can easily be dressed up with a scarf or statement necklace.  I almost bought it, but decided that it wasn't worth $36.  I'm sure I can probably find something similar at Forever 21 or H&M for half the price.

I never did find any of LC's stuff, which was a bummer.  I asked the sales associate where I could find it, and she looked at me like she wasn't quite sure who Lauren Conrad was or why I was bothering her with such a silly question.  Her reply was, "They're scattered everywhere".  Oh well, maybe next time!

On the bright side, I found this super-blingy watch that I thought was cute.  I don't have a silver watch yet so I've been keeping my eyes open.  I didn't end up buying it last night, but it's on my radar now.

I almost walked out empty-handed, when Horton caught my eye on my way towards the exit.  Chloe loves anything Dr. Suess related, and I knew she was having a rough day.  The poor kid had to have a sliver pulled out of her foot by dear ol' Dad (the official sliver-puller at our house!), and I was told via text that it did not go well.  Horton was only $5 so I grabbed one (book not included).

She loved her surprise and forgot all about that pesky sliver.  Such a sweetie!

Do you shop at Kohl's?  Any words of advice for my next trip?  I was in the junior's section, which may have been where I went wrong.  But the women's section seemed so old-ladyish to me.  Help?