a very pinterest christmas

Last weekend the girls and I decided to have another pinterest party, this time making gifts and such for the holidays. I mean seriously, what's more fun than a night with your girlfriends, good food, wine, and crafts??

The crafts:

 

 This one was my idea. I actually first saw on pinterest the idea to make a sort of collage from maps of states, but then after seeing some etsy finds, I decided I wanted to also make an ornament of the state I've always lived in. 

The girls each made ornaments from where they were from and also a collage that included the state they were born in, their spouse, where they fell in love, and where their baby (if they had one) was born. They all turned out super cute.

The above photo is my friend Jen's version of the ornament. 

PS the link to where to find the printable state maps is here.

  

The above craft our friend Chelsea actually made up on her own, not from pinterest. It was honestly one of the coolest things I've ever made and while mine was very Christmasy, it doesn't have to be (and in fact the other girls really weren't). 

The instructions were really simple too. 

She got each of us a piece of wood (a perfect square and about 12 x 12), ribbon and a decorative piece of leaves or flowers, and hot glue. 

We cut the ribbon to make the background and hot glued it down. While I simply layered one kind, other girls did different kinds of ribbon and even different styles and colors. 

Then you hot glue the flower or garland on top. 

To hang it, some of the girls hot glued ribbon in the back to hang from a nail, but I simply propped mine up on the mantle. 

Easy peasy and totally cute!

 

 

Another craft, was Jen's. While she first got the idea from Elsie's mug (or something like it) she instead found cute bowls to decorate instead. And since I am in major want of a puppy, I decided to make mine a puppy bowl. And yes I have already named the guy.... Max for Maximus. 

Two other crafts (that I couldn't get good pictures of...darn!!!) that we made were:

a twine and bell garland to hang up Christmas cards

and 

a rope bowl (perfect for holding all those pens, make-up brushes, or whatever else).

The garland we decorated with jingle bells throughout and then used glitter covered pins to hang up the cards. Something kind of like it (but not exactly, can be found here- I couldn't find the original link though sadly).

(How to make the pins can be found here).

The rope basket was tons of fun (even though I screamed each time I burned myself with the hot glue gun....which was a lot!!) But you can find great pictures and the tutorial here.

And then the food and drinks..... we tried a new pink wine (which was pretty awesome!!) and then we all brought food.

There was an anchovy dip (wish I could find the recipe because it was amazing.

mozz ball with basil and cherry tomatoes (app recipe found here)

the entree (which I made), spaghetti squash

green beans (seriously need that recipe too!!!)

and an amazing desert filled with cookie dough, brownie, and everything else amazing

Give me your pinteresting ideas too!!! Or find me on pinterest!!

Happy pinteresting!

-kel

restaurant #3 (and a lot of rambling about bubble tea)

So remember those "Stellie points"??

                                     (A/K/A Steven and Kellie's guide to fine dining in Jacksonville). 

                                                                       Too much?

Last night Steven and I tried a new place down the road, Bowl of Pho. Never personally having had Vietnamese or Pho, I was excited. The place was actually really cute and what totally made my night was that they offered bubble tea!!

(Nerd moment......).

So a couple of years ago I caught onto this bubble tea phenomenon and decided I had to try it. I'm not really a big fan of tea, but I was hoping this would change things. So I went online and looked up places that offered bubble tea. There were only 3 places in Florida and one was 6 hours away, but happened to be my hometown. So a few months later when I travelled home to Pensacola for the holidays, I went on my search for this new craze. Of course, by the time I got my entire family there to try this amazing new delight, I found out it had closed. Talk about major let down.

So then, a couple years later.....bubble tea is everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Maybe this was a lesson in patience, I don't know.

But last night, I got my fill of bubble tea for the week. And I was ecstatic.

Oh and it was also cool that we got to try a new place. I feel like this 25 before 26 goal is helping Steven and I to be a bit more adventurous as a couple. At least when it comes to food.

And the Stellie combined point for this new place? 7.05 (you know, in case you were wondering).

-kel

Ps. in case you want to follow along, I typically post pics up on instagram, so follow me. (kelzify)

in a crappy mood-in need of some pick me ups

Today I'm in one of those foul moods that calls for starbucks, cupcakes, and/or wine.

Hell, why not all 3?

To say that it's a bad day would be wrong. Nothing has really been wrong with today. And luckily, it's already Tuesday!

(No sarcasm.)

(Promise.)

But I just feel sucky.

Therefore I felt the need to vent via blog. Because let's face it, we've all been there and sometimes misery loves company. Not that I want anyone else to be miserable, but if you are, at least you know you're not alone. This gal in Florida is right there with you.

So why the mood for today?
For once I can actually pinpoint it and don't go to my fallback (pms, stress, etc). Not that I'm going to share any of that on a public forum; however, it's just nice to know (personally) that i know exactly what's wrong. Hopefully that means I can also fix it. Although, since the mood has to do with other people and how I've managed to piss them off (without meaning to or trying to) I'm not sure how I'll fare.

Hence the starbucks.

And cupcake(s).

And wine.

But in any case.... at least I am better off than this poor child:

And yes- I use pinterest to cheer me up as well. See what makes me laugh here.

Here's to hoping yall reading this are having a great day!!! And that maybe I made you smile...well that the lobster child did anyway!

xoxo

kel

inspiration thursday (pinterest love)

you can find more of my pinterest favorites here

-kellie

inspiration thursday (new year)

Another year, come and gone.

How are you going to be celebrating??










all of these photos were found on pinterest

-kellie

Christmas Ugly Sweater Party of 2011

Last night my friends and I celebrated Christmas in the fun 'ole tradition of an Ugly Sweater Christmas Party.

And get this- I actually did most of the cooking and all of the cleaning. If you know me at all- you know that the whole cooking thing isn't entirely something I like nor am good at; however, I actually enjoyed doing it last night. I guess it also helped that I had friends and Steven to help as well.

Some of the stuff I made:




And yes- I made a menu. More so that I could gauge what I needed to make and remember to set out before everyone arrived. However, it did make for some laughs for my friends.
I made: ham, sweet potato casserole (which I need to share, because it's amazing-I got it from my mom), mashed potatoes (made by Steven-from scratch!), rolls, peperoni roll ups, apple cider donut holes (which I got from the babycake maker), rolo pretzel bites, cheese and crackers, spinach dip (made by my wonderful friend Ashley), and tons of other amazing treats.

And of course some amazing photos of the night and my awesome friends:












xoxo kellie

And Merry Christmas Eve Eve (ha)!!!!