Happy New Year and Happy Birthday

HI!

Did you all have a smashing holiday season? Mine was lovely and very, very crazy :) I have a lot of catching up to do, don't I? Well, first of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2015 is already speeding by, but this must be how adult years go by so I guess I must get used to it.

I have no good reasons for my lack of posts :P Just busyness mixed with laziness and the fact that I've had a new job for about two months now! I'm the cleaning lady at a place that sells tons of different lights, stoves, refrigerators, and cabinetry among other things. It's a big place and I always have something to do, which is very nice because I hate having to find things to do at a job. It's a good job and I like it and I'm extremely thankful that they hired me out of 41 other applicants! Crazy, huh? I'm still adjusting to my new schedule, which seems busier than any of my previous work schedules. It's just a matter of doing things at different times than I'm used to in order to get everything done at home.

So we brought in the new year by watching The Lego Movie for the first time and changing our calendar right when the clock struck midnight (which is something I've always wanted to do!). We were like *BAM!* New calendar. It was awesomeness.

We also drank some of this during the first minute of 2015.

I started a food diary this year. I have a suspicion that I may be allergic to certain dairy products so I started this diary so that I can pin point what my body is disagreeing with. So far I have faithfully written down everything I've eaten in it....we'll see how long that lasts!

This was my New Year's Day Mass outfit.

Us at a cousin's wedding a few days after new year's.

This was a casual wedding, so I wore my newish aqua tennis shoes.

This is the first wedding photo booth we've ever done! (It was a beach themed reception, hence the hula skirt and leis.) Robert is on a pool raft if you can't tell :D

A few days later (Jan. 6) we celebrated our 23rd and 20th birthdays! Robert and I share the same birthday, if you remember my post last year. I made GF pretzels for the very first time (top left). Not quite what I wanted them to look like, but they tasted good!

Robert's Mom brought over some GF brownies and cake for us! They were goooood.

Presents!

These were my gifts from Robert: A book from one of my favorite series, Robin Hood BBC season 2 (GAH!), and my very first book light! He spoils me :)

My gifts to Robert: Books by Lemony Snicket, and the ship and asian castle sets above the books.

These we both picked out because Barnes and Noble was having a sale. They are BEAUTIFUL books and we can't wait to read them :)

Hard to believe we've celebrated 6 birthdays together already!

Robert's new glass tea pot! We tried out one of our flowering teas and it was so cool watching it bloom!

So yeah, I'M 20 NOW! I told my sister I'm entering the decade in which I will start forgetting how old I am. I'll just start telling people I'm in my twenties :D

I didn't really make any new year's resolutions this year...I just want to keep on trying to keep my life simple and get into the habit of doing things (like blogging) and other useful things I want to do at this point in my life. I also want to become closer to God and maybe actually read the Bible the entire way through (we hear a lot of it in Church but it's still not the same as reading it for yourself, y'know?).

I also promised Goodreads that I would read 100 books this year...I'm starting to think that was a bad idea because I haven't even completed one book this year! Yipes. I need to add up my grand total of last years books as well as Robert's to see how we did on our bet. I'm pretty sure I won...:D

Goodnight! You'll hear from me soon :)

A Month of Minions

Hey there, peoples!

This is going to be a catch up post since I've been horrible at posting this summer. So, you saw what happened at the beginning of June (my super awesome India party), but I neglected to share the rest of the month with you. I know. I'm smacking myself for you right now. *SMACK*

Here's the story guys:

I have tons of beautiful flowers this year! They were the prettiest in June, I think.

There was a rainbow.

We acquired stones to make a campfire ring in our backyard from my sister and brother-in-law. Now we have something fun in our backyard! It's basically been empty until this summer. None of our trees can hold swings so we've been trying to think up other fun things to add back there. We now have a place for a campfire AND a badminton/volleyball net. I love badminton.

I did a project for my craft room! *dances* I didn't like my bland cork board. So I raided my fabric stash.

All I did was measure the cork board (the cork part, not the frame) and add 1/2 inch to all sides before cutting. You will be tucking the edges of the fabric underneath the frame of the cork board, so you'll want the extra 1/2 inch for that. I had to trim mine a bit more to get an exact fit.

After tucking in the edges, space out thumb tacks evenly across the edge. This will keep the fabric secure. And that's it!

One of my Sunday outfits that month.

Showing off my shoes :D

A little minion helped me draw these minions. Can you tell?

We drew a purple minion too!

We had a minion themed birthday for my brother-in-law!  A number 1 for another year older :D
And cheesecake. Yummy cheesecake.

We wore our minion shirts. You can't see mine but you can kinda see Robert's. Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba-Nana :D

June was just a totally minion month! We went to one of our local-ish amusement parks and won a minion!!!!!! The bear was from our first attempt to get a minion, but he's cute so not a total loss. We usually never play games at fairs or other similar amusement places, but they usually don't have minions. I love my minion. The games at this park were surprisingly fair compared to the ones at our small town's crappy fair.

Rainbow sugar.

*giggles*

I read this lovely book while on a camping trip. It is my favorite of the trilogy. It also made the camping trip bearable. I'm not overly fond of camping. Especially when one's tent gets rained on while one is trying to sleep. Yeah. Not doing that again!

That pretty much sums up what happened in June....India party, improving the yard, amusement park with the fam, MINION PARTY, lots of reading, and damp camping. A good month, I think :) I hope it was good for you too!

Ta-ta for now,

~Mary  

Settlers of Catan Cupcakes, Anyone?

Happy May Day!

May 1st always seems to creep up on me. I always say "This year I'm going to make a may pole!" and I always run out of time :P Someday, I tell you.

Well, April has just flown by!It has certainly been a productive month. Lots of stuff happened and I got lots of stuff done. I think all of it will be better described through pictures!

Here's what happened this month:

Selfies with my new-ish teddy bear :) He is a build-a-bear I found for an awesome price at a garage sale last year. I plan to make some outfits for him. Or her. I haven't decided yet. Thus it is a nameless bear.

First little purple flower in my myrtle patch.

A little friend was outside my window :) I love squirrels. They look so huggable, but sadly not :P

It snowed. In April. I have to admit it did look pretty awesome on all the tree branches. God is an amazing artist that is for sure. He has a good sense of humor too :D 

My brother recently became a deacon  and this is what I wore to the ordination :) I'm so proud of him! I can't believe how fast the years have flown by. He should still be in college! Haha ;)

My nails for the day! I bought nail stickers for the first time. I loved them! I took step-by-step pictures of how to put them on but I'll save those for another post.

And this is what I wore for the party the next day. Gotta love mirror pictures :)

My sisters and I joined forces and made these Settlers of Catan cupcakes for my brother and my Dad's birthday! (They have the same b-day) Even my niece and nephew helped! I'm thrilled with how they turned out :) We found the idea on pinterest, of course.

Another view. We used licorice for 'bricks', oreos for 'ore', marshmallows and black frosting for 'sheep', shamrock sprinkles for the 'forest', crushed up graham crackers and blue frosting for the 'desert',  rice puffs for 'wheat', and blue sprinkles for 'water'. I think it turned out smashing :)

 

Here is my main spring display.

My friend made me the 'alice in wonderland' tea cup with the clock and the flower for my bridal shower! Isn't it adorable? :)

The lighting was just perfect in this pic!

April was a nice month. I like months where lots of things happen and I'm constantly doing something. After such a long winter I don't mind being busy so much anymore. I was so burnt out after all that cabin fever :)

It's hard to believe that Robert and I will be celebrating our 1st anniversary in just a couple of days! Where does the time go?

We'll be taking a weekend trip to celebrate the day :) I don't think we've done anything except maybe a couple of day trips since our honeymoon and some relaxation is much needed! It'll be nice just to forget about work for awhile :P

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Cheers!

P.S. Keep an eye out for lilacs! They should be making an appearance soon around here. BEST FLOWERS EVER!

Of Phantom of the Opera Music/Guest Rooms, Birthdays, and Valentine Pretties....

Hello there!

How is everyone surviving this weather? We got about a foot of snow overnight. Yeah. I'm thrilled! (that comment was just dripping with sarcasm) More shoveling. More wind. Bleh.

On the bright side, the weather is so nasty that I get today off! YAY! 

I've had so many blog post ideas floating around in my head, but every time I've tried to sit down and write about them something else needed to be done instead. Oh, the joys of life.

So here I am. And I have a boat load of pictures to share with you!

Here is what went on in January:

            The celebration of my 19th and Robert's 22nd Birthday. Yes, we have the same birthday :) I made Robert a chocolate cake with snowflake sprinkles and I attempted to make petite fours. Neither turned out as planned, but they tasted good.

              Yeah, we're getting old. One candle for each of us. Don't judge us, we wanted to eat cake!

Mom gave me this :) It was yummy!

This is me after I had my wisdom removed...oops...I mean wisdom teeth removed :D All four of 'em and all were impacted. I look horrible in this pic :P I'm glad it's over. Cross that off my list of "The fun things you get to do once you're an adult".

Most of January was spent recovering from this, and being cooped up in the house and at work due to the lovely weekend winter storms we've been having lately.

"The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway" Ha! Rub it in, Elsa. Want to use your magical powers to remove the snow off my driveway? Oh wait, I already did that.

And here is what I've been up to so far this month:

This is a project I began in September: Our Phantom of the Opera themed Music/Guest room! I'm so happy with how it turned out! Despite how long it took to paint :P

Before........

 Prepping and Painting.........

  Don't mess with this woman. I was tired of painting at this point.

 After..........I made the felt wall hanging in the pic above.

  I love how the red turned out!

              Robert and I painted the mirror black and silver, and the candle stand was also spray painted black. I painted a black design on the candles too, just to add some artwork. They looked a little bland by themselves.

I got the idea to cover light switch covers with scrap book paper from Shealynn at Shealynn's Faerie Shoppe. Here's the link to the tutorial: DIY Switchplate Covers.

 I love barbies....so obviously there was going to be a Christine/Erik combo in this room! I need to make a mask for Erik.

 I printed off some sheet music from the Phantom and modge-podged it to this magazine organizer.

 My Egyptian shelf. I love Ancient Egyptian history. I wanted to be an Egyptologist when I was little, after watching the Mummy movies.

 Two wedding gifts from two different people that go together perfectly!

     I had the idea of using my guardian angel picture with the idea of "The Angel of Music" in mind.

 I even decorated the trash can. I cut out a mask shape with scrapbook paper and stuck it on using double sided tape.

    My caged "lark". If you've seen Sweeney Todd, you'll understand.

   My brother found this music box for me. It plays "The Music of the Night".

 My Christine costume I made for Halloween.

                  And here we are as The Phantom and Christine during our Halloween party!

This room was an awesome project and it took about a month to complete. Some of the decor I already had, and some things I repainted or made from scratch. I love designing rooms :) There are so many themes to choose from! This one was no-brainer though :D Music room? Definitely POTO.

    Here is what I'll be working on today...Valentine decorating! It won't be a mess for long............

Here are some pretties I've found lately: FROZEN valentines! I love the one with Olaf on it :D The two mailboxes are for my niece and nephew. They like hello kitty and star wars at the moment. These were too cute to pass up! The girl outfit is for my other niece. I love the leggings. Babies in leggings are adorable. The skull and crossbones outfit is for my future son, whenever he comes along. I'm not pregnant, yet. But hopefully sooner than later! I tend to buy baby clothes every once in a great while. If I see something I like and will probably never find again, I'm going for it! I dislike a lot of boy clothes out there right now, so when I saw that this was the last one on the rack, I grabbed it and ran :D

So that's what I've been up to lately. Besides shoveling :P

Hope you're staying warm. If you live in a tropical climate....PLEASE TAKE ME WITH YOU!

Cheers!

~Mary