Tuesday, January 31, 2012

A Night Under the Stars

If you know me, you know a couple things about me for sure:

I love my birthday.
I love a party.

So you can pretty much guarantee that when January rolls, you're in for some crazy nonsense, in the form of an over the top birthday party. The kind that you should really only throw for someone else...and that "someone else" should probably be ten or under. But I have no shame throwing my a party in my honor, and I refuse to believe that growing up is a reason to tone it down....

...So we party.

Over the years I've had some pretty good shin-digs, if I do say so myself. A few years ago we threw an epic 80's party, 2010 was a classy wine and cheese affair, and last year we combined my two great loves (mac&cheese, and games) for a big blow out.

But this year might go down as my favorite yet. You see, I pretty much spend the 364 days leading up to my birthday planning my party. The minute one is over, I'm brainstorming the theme for the next one (now that I tell you that, there's some pressure to deliver...but I'm ok with that) and I've had this year's theme in mind for quite a while. Brace yourselves- for my 28th Birthday... it was time to bring back the prom!

Yep. I had been begging Dustin for years to throw a prom party, but because my birthday is in January, Mr. Practicality didn't necessarily think the weather would be conducive to high heels and strapless dresses (at least he's considerate of the ladies!). He tried to convince me to wait, and host it in the spring, but I refused to postpone my birthday several months, just because I had the misfortune of being born in the winter. So finally this year he gave in to my vision, and it ended up being perfect timing. I mean, is there really a better time to recreate the slow dancing, photo taking, hair spraying prom magic, than the 10th anniversary of my senior year in high school? I think not.


The main concern now was where to host such a gathering. Our house is cozy after all, but isn't exactly made for events that usually require a ballroom. We kicked around the idea of renting out a room, or a bar...But we realized after about ten seconds of research, it was going to get really involved, and really expensive. So we settled on having it at the old homestead, and just making it as festive as possible (even if that meant putting all our furniture in storage). We tried to keep the expense and workload to a minimum- picking up decorations at PaperMart, making things out of stuff I already had on hand, getting a thrift store dress (and borrowing a tie and cummerbund set) and keeping the menu simple. (that doesn't mean we didn't do it up in style though...as one of my friends said when she arrived- "I could see the sparkle from the street!")







And let me just say- It was perfect. I literally had "The Time of My Life" (which could have been the theme, if I hadn't gone for the ever-popular, and easy to execute "A Night Under The Stars" motif). Thankfully (huuuuuge understatement) my parents had come to "Chaperone"- aka watch Piper, so Dustin and I were able to let loose, and dance the night away.


But we weren't the only ones in the mood to party like (high school) rock stars. People came dressed to impress.

There was primping...



and pimpin'...
I have to say that the girls might have looked the best....

But the guys gave us a run for our money. (these were part of an homage to "Penn Hills Prom". The perfect amount of class, and 'hood.)


But I think you know who stole the show:


I mean, does it get better than a tux/tutu combo? Nope. It does not.

Love was in the air...



And the drinks were flowing...(it helped that no one had to secretly spike the punch, or try to hide a water bottle of vodka in their purse)

This man will help get you Kraken (besides the old punch standby, that was the unofficial drink of the night)

And even the tiniest of guests hit the bottle...(with a little help from Papa)

But of course, the main attraction of the night (of my life!) was the dancing. Before the party, my step-dad asked which room would be the dance floor...my answer was "all of them!" He was surprised, and asked if I really expected everyone to dance? I hadn't really thought of an alternative, (after all- doesn't everyone love all the same things I do?!) so I was hopeful that people would have grown out of their adolescent inhibitions. We did have some chairs set up for the more reserved guests...

But once the spotify mix got going...


...the dancing couldn't be stopped. There was a "Sexy and I Know It" soultrain line (Dustin did his signature knee dance):

And plenty of six-grade style awkwardness:


And of course...just general nonsense:



Towards the end of the night, we busted out the Kinect, and challenged each other to virtual dance offs. Meg and I pretty much showed them how it's done:



But as much fun as the dancing was (and it was FUN), no prom is complete without a crowing of a King and Queen. The competition was fierce, but the voting strategy was left to the discretion of the partiers...Choices might have been based on prettiest dress, most handsome, most school spirit...It was wide open.
But when the votes were tallied, there were two clear winners...

Meg and Jeff!

They accepted their crowns, and shared a hilariously awkward Royal Dance (while their spouses looked on...feeling what I can only imagine is a mix of pride and jealousy)

So as you can see...we pretty much had a blast. It was everything I love about prom, without all the stuff I'd rather forget...I didn't have to cram myself in a limo with 14 of my not-really-closest friends. My mom didn't have to put my date's boutonniere on because I'm too awkward and shy. No one ended up in the bathroom crying because their date danced with another girl...

I had my favorite people together to partake in my favorite things, which makes for a magical night.

(And for those of you who reaaaaaally know me...you know there is one very important party element that seems to be missing...Don't worry- I didn't let you down. Stay tuned for Prom Post Part 2...the awesomeness continues)

Monday, January 30, 2012

One Year Later

I have something to confess, dear blog readers: I've been holding out on you. As much as I share on here...I've also been keeping some secrets. You see, ever since Dustin and I decided to have a baby, I've been writing a journal of our experience. I kept it up throughout my pregnancy, with the plan of turning it into a keepsake book for Piper (and us) someday. I'm so glad I was able to record so many of my thoughts along the way, but I wasn't always ready to share those feelings with the online world. (and to be honest, I'm sure there are tons of stories in there that you'd be just as happy to not hear). But now that we've made it to "the other side", it's fun to look back to the beginning of this crazy ride. I certainly won't be posting all of my musings here, but I thought this entry was a cool snapshot in time from the very start of our new lives. It's the first thing I ever wrote in her book, and it shows just how much can change in one year...

-------------
Written 1/30/11

Ready?

Last night, Dustin and I went out to dinner and made one of the most monumental decisions in our lives thus far: We’re ready to have a baby!

A baby.

That is ours.

All the time.

But by “ready” I’m not exactly sure what I mean, because we are most surely not “ready” in most (if not all) traditional senses of the word. We haven’t figured out a single practical concern that might come along with being pregnant, let alone with having a child…

And yet- we are ready.

Ready to hold a baby.

That is ours.

All the time.

Ready to raise a child. Love a child. Grow our family.

We’ve talked about babies in an abstract way for years, always knowing that someday of course we’d want to start a family. We committed to five years of marriage first…just us…and then planned to talk seriously about having kids after that. I had various bouts of baby-fever over the years, usually lasting a few hours to a few days. But in recent months, it’s been more of a constant feeling in the back of my head, and inside my heart. Could I be ready?

We made plans of when were wanted to start “trying” (a phrase I hope to never say after this precise moment. You don’t try to have a baby. You do it. As in it. As in, the thing you don’t talk about, jeez get some manners!) but we never felt fully ready. When it would come time for me to take that tiny nightly pill…I would. And we’d revisit the discussion the next month.

But last night…was different. I held Dustin’s hand over a restaurant table, and flat out that I wanted to have a baby. Not in theory, not someday, but now. And he met me with all the understanding, support and love I could ask for. We kicked around ideas of timing, the upsides, the downsides, and tried to weigh it out the best we know how. But in the end, we came to the same place we always do. Are we ready?

And the answer this time was yes.

I was so happy in that moment….so excited for the planning ahead…so anxious to see the next steps in the journey that God is laying out for us…

I hope I always remember how I felt in that moment. The quiet, joyous calm before our worlds change forever. We’ve been us for so long, it’s hard to imagine revising our version of we, to include three. And as ecstatic as I am to begin the next steps of our lives, I’m also scared. A mere couple hours after we shared a meal and our plans, I shared my fears. Though Dustin was already fast asleep, I couldn’t help but shake him awake…needing to unload my swirling thoughts. As we laid in bed, I imagined a baby in the room next to us. And it felt different. And scary. Were we serious? Could we do this? Was this a “colossal mistake”? (Yes, those are the exact words I used.) Dustin wiped the sleep out of his eyes and reassured me, like he always does.

He loves me. And I love him.
And soon, hopefully, we’ll have someone else to love, forever.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Very Pinteresting

You are all familiar with the Innovation/Adoption Curve, right?

Wait...no? You're not a giant loser that still remembers charts from your college marketing classes? Good news...I am! Let me refresh your memory:
See that grey chunk on the right? That's me. Well, at least when it comes to technology. I manage to weasel myself into the early majority, or even an early adopter (I hesitate to call myself an innovator...) in a lot of things, like fashion, decorating trends...nail polish!...But for some reason I've always been slow to jump on the new technology bandwagon. More accurately, I wait until the bandwagon is barreling towards me, and I pretty much have no choice but to climb aboard or get flattened. I held on to the flip phone until the bitter end (which was still before Dustin gave it up), I resisted Facebook for years, and genuinely debated returning a new xbox 360 (with Kinect!) because "we already have a nintendo!"

But my most recent hold out- and subsequent cave in- is Pinterest.

For those of you not familiar with Pinterest. Thank you. You've made this laggard feel slightly better about herself. (seriously, all my friends are on it, and two have even blogged about it already.) Basically, it's an online space where you can "organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web." Rather than dealing with webpage bookmarks (which inevitably get all mixed up, or lost on multiple computers), or trying to save images to your desktop (which makes it hard to impossible to recall the original sources), Pinterest gives you a spot to save everything, keeps it organized, and embeds the links so you can remember where you found things.

It's a great site, but I was hesitant to embrace it for a while, mostly because I wasn't sure I wanted all my business on online "front street" (yes, this coming from someone who publishes a blog...I see the irony). Finding and compiling inspiration is a big part of my job, and the thought of all my work and ideas being common knowledge kind of freaked me out. (For what it's worth, this is actually a pretty common Pinterest complaint. No one likes everyone knowing where all their ideas come from. I'm all for sharing, but it'd be nice to keep a few things private, lest all our parties, homes, closets and dinner tables start to look identical.) But eventually the convenience factor outweighed my desire for creative secrecy, and I gave in.

Since then, I've been a pinnin' fool, and I now have 48 boards and 609 pins. Here's a snapshot of some of my stuff...

My (p)interests span a pretty wide range, but my main foci (yep. foci. told you I was a nerd.) are party ideas, recipes, home decor inspiration, and some photography tutorials. I pretty much pin anything that catches my eye, but I do try to narrow it to ideas that I might actually try one day. No, I'm not going to be able to recreate every picture I pin (nor should I...) but one of my Pinterest Pet Peeves is people who pin all day long, but you know never bother to actually do any of those projects. Maybe there are people out there who just like to collect pretty pictures, but I want my boards to have a purpose. Some ideas I'll rip off directly (no shame...that's what it's for!) some I'll use as a jumping off point for similar projects, but for the most part, everything I pin has a fighting chance of actually coming to life...my life.

So with all my spare time (ha!) I've been trying to make good on my Pin Promises, and turn some of my inspiration into reality. I've done a few crafts, and taken a whole lot of photos, but my most notable pinterest success stories are in the kitchen. Rather than clipping recipes, filing them away (or letting them pile up) and forgetting to do anything with them, I'm using pinterest to motivate me to follow through on my culinary dreams.

To help inspire you...here are a few things I've tried so far:

Potato Soup
I've finally fallen in love with crockpot cooking (I'm really behind the times on that one!) And love a good "dump everything in the pot" type recipe. This one turned out great (so good that we just started eating it, and forgot to take pictures...). And just to show I went the extra mile to make it my own- here are my modifications: I did two cans of cream of chicken soup (10oz each), and added 4 strips of bacon (I cooked it in the microwave first and then chopped and added to the crockpot). The recipe doesn't say how much cheese, but it's just used for a topping when you serve so you can do whatever feels right. I topped it with the cheese, sour cream, and chopped scallions, and served it with salad and sourdough bread. Yum.

Link
Pulled Pork

This is probably a lot of people's go-to meal, but I had never tried it. This photo convinced me it was easy enough to try...4 ingredients? Can do! I used Coke Zero instead of diet pepsi. (because of course I did!) and doubled the recipe. (not really on purpose...that's just the size of pork butt that was available. heehee...pork butt.)

Here's mine, simmering away....Delish.


Baked Apples

And in non-crockpot news, I gave this sweet treat a try, for an Apps and Zerts party in my honor (if you do nothing else, please click on that link. I don't even watch Parks and Rec, and that clip still kills me.)


Again, I got a little caught up in the process and forgot to take a photo of the final product, but they weren't half bad. I used pie crust instead of puff pastry (because apparently my reading comprehension isn't what it used to be) and sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on top before baking, because, well...that sounded delicious. I had to cook them much longer than the recipe said, but that might have been due to my substitution of pretty much the only ingredient it calls for. If you attempt this one, may I suggest investing in an apple corer (de-corer?). I've heard it's faster...and maybe safer...than my steak knife solution. Equipment and ingredient challenges aside, they turned out great.


(And just to illustrate my Pinterest Point [no, I don't know why I've taken to capitalizing things into formal categories. I think it's the alliteration. Too Tempting!] about too much sharing, the aforementioned Apps and Zerts party nearly ended in a Pinterest Pitfall, when a friend brought an app that I was thisclose to making. We discussed how one of us had pinned it from the other, but we don't remember who's Pinterest Property it was, so we agreed to touch base before future parties, to avoid overlap. Crisis averted!)

So if you haven't already gotten your Pin on...get going, you laggards! And if you need a kick start- you can follow me. I'm not promising it'll always be pretty, but it at least be Pinteresting. (Pinterest Pun. Perfect.)

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Wafflemania

Last week as we were getting ready for church, my friend Meg texted to ask if we'd like to go get "fancy waffles" with her and her husband Sean after the 11'o'clock service. Apparently a new spot Waffallonia had opened up nearby and Meg was anxious to try it. Waffles? Yes. Fancy waffles? Absolutely yes.

So after church we headed out into the frozen tundra that Pittsburgh has become, in pursuit of doughy treats. But we were quickly reminded how a baby can make even the most simple outings into a Big. Fat. Hassle.

Piper was apparently not as excited as we were for Belgain cuisine. She began to make her displeasure known with a frantic wail from the backseat, shortly after we left the church parking lot. As the timing worked out, it was probably about time for her lunch, and she wasn't keen to wait. Perhaps more experienced parents wouldn't have sweated it...after all, it's not that complicated a problem. She's hungry. We should feed her. That's about it. But Dustin and I are still new, and things like this tend to rattle us. (In our defense, I think reasoning skills take a distinct hit when you're trapped in a confined space with a screaming baby.) So we did what seems to come naturally at this point- we got stressed, overreacted and snapped at each other.

Should we still go? Where are we going to feed her? Can we even get in the place? I passed it the other day, it looks small. Look it up! This review says there aren't many tables. Where will we sit? What do you want me to do? Quick! The exit is coming! Call Meg. She's not answering! Where are we going to park? Aaaaaaaaaaaah........

Trust me, I think it's just as dumb as you do in hindsight. But in the moment, it's easy to jump to "It's ruined. Everything's ruined" rather quickly. But thankfully, cooler heads prevailed (this time I was the voice of reason, but in general it's pretty much 50/50 on which one of us is going to have to talk the other one down. Reason #493 that I'm thankful not to be doing this parenting thing alone.) We made it to the eatery, and (bonus!) found a parking space just around the corner. I fed her in the front seat of the car (something that has become increasingly common as we take more chances with midday outings that may- the horror!- conflict with her need to eat), Dustin strapped her in the Bjorn, and we were on our way. Freakout officially unnecessary.


See? We're all smiles again...just keep moving. It's freezing!

And as it turns out- the slight inconvenience ended up being worth it...Because these fancy waffles? Were delicious.


It's a pretty simple system. But it works.

They're pretty specialized- they literally just serve waffles, but they do mix it up with toppings- you can get fruit, fancy spreads, or even ice cream.




Dustin and I opted for plain and I couldn't have been happier. The dough is thicker than regular waffles, and somehow they create this crunchy sugar glaze on the outside. I didn't think they needed a thing.


But Meg and Sean are a bit more adventurous than us (or perhaps just have a bigger sweet tooth) so they went for the fanciest of the fancy waffles. You know, the ones that require plastic cutlery.


The reviews were right, it is a tiny little spot with only a few stools (I imagine they'll do even better once the weather warms up and people are more inclined to take their waffles to go). But don't let that deter you....Even if you are in a bad mood, with a crying baby, and overly dramatic concerns about accessibility...Put on your fur hat, and venture out. You might just like it.



Waffallonia on Urbanspoon

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Birthday...

Birthday wake up call:


Birthday note:


Birthday yoga:

(her gift to me was sleeping the entire class)

Birthday lunch:


Birthday nails:

(For those of you into that sort of thing, I used:
American Apparel Summer Peach, OPI Designer De Better,
and Sephora by OPI Only Gold For Me- )


Birthday smiles:



Birthday flowers:


Birthday present:


Birthday Mac and cheese:


Birthday hip hop:


Birthday Facebook:


Birthday Beer:


Birthday date:


Birthday hats:

Birthday wishes:



Birthday love: