New Orleans Girls Trip!

So, this post is long overdue... but I've put off writing it because I don't possibly know how I can capture the craziness that was our weekend in one blog post. But I'm going to try.

Our weekend fun-ness started Thursday night (February 2nd-wow, way overdue. sorry.) Bryn and I left home to meet up with the girls in Pittsburgh. Kayla graciously opened her couch and guest bed to the rest of us gals, and we were greeted with wine and cute little travel-kits including: Feather masks and mardi gras beads (duh), My Little Pony Activity books for the plane, and mini liquor bottles <3.

After a night of wine and catching up, we hit the hay early to be ready for our early 6am flight! They Kaylas were the first two out, and after covering k2 with a blanky on the couch, Bryn and I giggled and chatted in the guest room like kids waiting for Christmas until we finally joined the other gals in dream land.

In the wee hours of the morning, we finally departed for the Pittsburgh airport (special shout out to Kayla's man Ri-Love for transport to and from the airport! wootwoot!) Upon reaching the ticket counter an airline employee totally freaks us out is completely helpful in telling us: "Oh you're never gonna make that flight." But, a quick repack to make it through the express security check, and a morning sprint through the airport and we finally boarded a plane full of passengers who were way less than happy to see us. Being K2's first flight, her and Bryn snagged seats together, and Kayla and I landed seats with wonderful strangers we befriend on the short flight to Chicago.

Nealry missing our connecting flight YET AGAIN, we just made it, and arrived in NOLA at about 10:30am. Our driver Tony picked us up in our luxury sedan and nearly killed us quickly got us to our hotel. (We're talking a 30 mile trip in like 15 minutes! Texting while driving! weaving between lanes! Eek!)

Finally we arrived at our home away from home for the weekend, Chateau Le Moyne in the French Quarter:



It's owned by the Holiday Inn chain, but in a beauitful historic building! Afforadble, clean & comfortable,
and one block off Bourbon St.= thumbs up from us gals!



Not excited to be there or anything...



The day ensued with lots of good food and lots and lots of alcohol. (Sorry, but there's just no other way to put it). We dove right in with Alligator Bites and Hurricanes at Oceana Grill.

Gator Bites- Blackened not fried!



Our first NOLA meal; great food & great friends

We enjoyed Hurricanes at Pat O'Briens, and rock-paper-scissor tourneyed with strangers :)

We bought cherry bombs from street stands, strolled Bourbon Street, visited the bright ecelectic shops, enjoyed the live music everywhere, danced in the street to a jazz band in front of the St. Louis Cathedrale

I had my runes read by a man in a top hat, we laughed, we meet many local characters, and even some out of towners like Santa Claus- who apparently enjoys being tipped by people who want their pictures with him; that's just a guess though because of how many times we heard him calling out, "Santa takes tips!"
Even. To. Kids.! No shame these days.

And we karaoked our hearts out to "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" at the Cat's Meow.

The rest of the night became way too fun and way too sloppy to post about. We had had quite the long day and maybe a few too many hurricanes, so we called it a night. The next morning was not so fun... except for Bryn who enjoyed an early morning Bloody Mary with some type of Shrimp critters on top?? (I need a picture here Bryn...) and a lunch full or oyster slurping, which did wonders for the queasy feelings in the rest of our bellies.

It was a beautiful restaurant called Bourbon House, with wonderful service and an interesting menu. Needless to say I stuck with soup... but otherwise it was a good start to the day.

We walked the length of Canal Street and made it to the Mississippi river...

...where a bird pooped on Kayla's head. She's always the lucky one.

We decided to take the trolley that runs along Canal Street up through the Garden District to all of the old cemetaries. It decided to monsoon while we waited for the trolley, but before long we were resting our weary bones and enjoying a trolley ride through the city. Util we got to here:

The cemetaries in this city are definitely a must if traveling to New Orleans. Many of the tombs are family plots and date back to the 1800s and even earlier. They are beautiful and eerie at the same time; Very Tim Burton-esque if you will. The history here is so rich; New Orleanders definitely honor their dead in way much different than anywhere else.

While here we popped into a little Zombie themed cafe for some coffees, smoothies, and treats. King Cake of course! And a few bites into her piece, K2 found the baby!

She would...

We concluded our evening in true Mardi Gras fashion by catching the Krewe du Vieux parade! The parade's theme was "Crimes against Nature" and featured floats centered around current civil and political issues. According to the krewe's website,

"The Krewe du Vieux is a New Orleans Mardi Gras or Carnival krewe, originally and more fully known as the Krewe du Vieux Carre (“Vieux Carre” being another term for the city’s French Quarter). It is one of the earliest parades of the New Orleans Carnival calendar, and is noted for wild satirical and adult themes, as well as for showcasing some of the best Brass and Jazz Bands in New Orleans." (For more information about their mission and the organization click here.)

The parade was a blast--great music, hysterical floats, and an excited crowd. I had trouble getting any really good photos, so here's a picture from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, showing a float criticizing the plastic surgery epidemic in America:

After the parade we enjoyed another fabulous dinner at Red Fish Grill. A quick power nap and we were ready to hit the town again for a wonderful last night in the Big Easy. We befriended bouncers, met a Vampire and her horny husband, I lost my purse and we sprinted back 5 blocks to the scene of the incident where the kind bartender had it waiting behind the bar (seriously, I owe him my life...), sang another slightly less successful karaoke performance, and had bead pelted at our heads from the balconies lining Bourbon Street. And it was perfect just the way it was.

We got back to the room just beofre 5am!?! Had just enough time to shower, finish packing, and lay our heads on our pillows, before our cab picked us up at 6:30am to head to the airport. The flights home went much smoother. And Ri-Love helped us out again by picking us up at the airport.

K2's the only one with a brain. The rest of us went to work the next day. It was the worst. But it was also the best kid of tired :)

We can't wait to go back.

Valentines From a Goofy Kid

Here are the Valentine's I had made for my nephew this year!

I was inspired by this pin.

He is silly and sarcastic and a major goofball.

I think they suit him perfectly.

(The fact that he had so many funny poses and played along with Aunt Sara's silly ideas only further enforces the fact that this concept was meant for little boys like him)

Until he's older and all of his friends' moms still have this

embarassing adorable picture of him.

I love being the Auntie :)

I recently joined Snapfish, and new members get 20 free prints!! So I added his picture to the card I designed, uploaded the entire image to snapfish, and Boo-Yah! About $2 for tax and shipping and in a few days I will have adorable Valentine's for this adorbale little guy to hand out to his friends. The mustaches came from the
Dollar Tree--$1 for a pack of 5!

We put the extra stache's to good use too...

(Hah)

Sara's Crafty Christmas Tree Challenge Reveal!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

It's time for the unveiling! Special thanks to MegaCrafty for posing the challenge and
inspiring us to be thrifty-chic! Here she is!!

 Here's a Breakdown of what I Spent:

Sparkly pink metallic-wired ribbon- $3.18

Roll Aluminum Foil- $1.06
Ribbon- $1.06

3 Packs Floral Wire- $3.18

Splatter Screen- $1.06

Embroidery Floss- $2.53

Glitter Nail Polish- $1.06

2 Packs Iridescent Cellophane- $2.12

= $15.25

I am so happy with how my tree turned out! 

Budget=Beauty!

My tree topper!!



Metallic Macgyver-- Sara's Crafty Tree

Mega-Crafty has made December 15th the great reveal for the
Crafty Christmas Tree Challenge,
so before I post my final tree I am going to show the other ornaments I've come up with! As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to go with a blue/purple/pink metallic theme.

It's appropriate then that the following ornaments are all made out of --metal (duh)

Glitter Screen Ornaments

Here are the supplies I started with:

Yes... that is a typical, run-of-the-mill splatter screen. Except it's also a very cheap splatter screen that I got at the Dollar Tree for $1. Also at DT, I got a bottle of chunky silver glitter nail polish for, $1. I Picked up the embroidery floss from Michaels at what I thought should have been 35cents a piece. But what to my wandering eyes should appear? Two of them rang up at $1.09... drats. A much larger hunk out of my budget than I had hoped. (No worries, when all is said and done I am way under budget!). Altogether, the embroidery floss cost me $2.53.

First, I began by weaving a piece of the floss in and out of the screens grid, in a straight line. This part is a pain in the butt very tedious as you'll want to make sure you are staying in the same row of screen openings. Going in and out of every other hole is just plain crazy talk, so skip over 4 here, 5 there--the number between each stitch is not important. I wanted mine to look random, so I just sewed in and out not even worrying about how many screen cells I was passing over; ain't no thing.

After I had made a complete line from one side of the screen to the other, I began with another color and repeated the same process. Again, I wanted my lines to be random, so I didn't make a set pattern and just picked and chose which color to use where. Just let the loose ends of the floss hang over the screen edges.

Next: Bedazzling!

I was worried that if I tried to cut shapes out of the screen, the floss would fray and unravel from the screen. That is where the glitter nail polish comes in! Over wax paper (so it doesn't make a mess or stick to the surface you are working on), shellack both sides of the screen with the glitter nail polish. I mean really let it have it...

I don't know how well you can see it here, but I promise that where there is thread- there is glitter, and lots of it. The polish helps to bind the floss to the screen and should help hold the screen together also once you start cutting.

Initially, I had wanted to repeat the striped segments multiple times, to be able to make more ornaments and extend my budget, but life happened and I ran out of patience, time, and the ability to see those tiny holes anymore. So when it came time to cut, I just poked the scissors through the screen and cut out the striped segment in one big piece.

BE CAREFUL!! As you cut the screen the edges become very sharp!

Next, I just took the rectangle and cut out circle shapes to create the ornaments!! The best part? The screen edges of the circles are jagged, and will almost velcro themselves onto the tree branch, so no hook or thread to hang them by is necessary!

Position them in front of a light and it's pure magic people :) Just look at them sparkle!

Wire Spiral Ornaments

Here's another kind of metal ornament I made out of blue, pink and purple floral wire from the Dollar Tree; at a dollar a pack, these ornaments only cost me $3.

Lastly, I used 2 packs of cellophane tissue paper (in blue and pink--also DT finds) to create a large pom-pom tree topper and the simple kite tail garland on my tree (I used some of my extra pink floss here also)! $2

Can't wait to reveal how it all turned out tomorrow!!

Sara's First Crafty Christmas Tree Challenge Ornament!

Sooo...I have about all of my supplies for my tree, and a few things started, but tonight I finished my first batch of ornaments and wanted to share! As explained in an earlier post, all of this thrifty tree creation-inspiration is due to a challenge presented to bloggers by Mega-Crafty--to decorate a tree for under $20. 

Remember in grade school, drawing on cardboard with glue and then covering it with aluminum foil? Yea, I went there... and while the concept is EXTREMELY simple and old school, I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out:

Here are the supplies you need for these ornaments, along with totaling up the teeny dent these gems put in my budget.

Cardboard (Hello upcycle!): free

Aluminum foil: $1 Roll at Dollar tree

Markers: On-hand (pretty sure they don't count out of my budget) Everyone has markers right??

Hot Glue: Also on-hand

Ribbon: Again, I already had tons of extra ribbon around, but to play it safe we'll take another dollar away from the budget! $1

That leaves me with a grand total of...... $18.00 left towards my tree! And I made 15 ornaments with the $2 spent.

Here's how I made them: I started with drawing some simple ornament shapes onto the cardboard. I chose to use 3 different shapes--cut the first shape out and use it as a stencil so that they are all uniform in size.

Next, use the hot glue to draw designs and patterns on the cardboard shapes. Hot glue is the best option for this because it dries fast and goes on thicker for more defined lines, but Elmer's would work just as well if little ones wanted to try their tiny fingers at crafting!

After the glue has dried, place the cardboard shapes face down onto the dull side of a piece of aluminum foil. It took me a few ornaments in to realize that before you start wrapping the foil back around the edges of the shape, be sure to press and smooth the foil over the glue design on the front first. You want to have the lines as defined as possible and if the foil is pulled too tight, it will tear when you add the color later.

Use the markers to fill in the openings created by the glue lines--ala stained glass--or color directly on the lines to make the 3D patterns pop. I'm going with a metallic purple/pink/blue scheme for my tree.

Lastly, cut the ribbon into 6-8" pieces, fold in half, and glue the two ends to the back and top of the ornament.

TA-DA! Elementary School Chic!

Sara: 3 Things I'm Thankful For

1. His name is Andrew. My sister's first kid. I am thankful that he introduced my female family to the joys of raising a little boy. I am thankful that he has more sarcasm and wit than most adults I know; that he knows more about football and sports at the age of 7 than I ever will in my entire life; that he monkey jumps into my arms when I ask for a hug--and then giggles and squirms when I tickle him but knows he can't let go or he'll fall. That he says things like "Off to another boring day of work"--as I leave in the mornings, or "I love you until forever"--when I tuck him in. That he let me talk him into being an old man for halloween last year,

and played the part perfectly (even down to the voice and limping walk). That he asks tough questions and soaks up the answer like a sponge. That he dances like noones watching and thinks he has moves that are out of this world. That he calls me to come tuck him in at night, to play monopoly, or to invite me over for movie night. That he is such a caring big brother who is always looking out for keeping his sisters safe, and helping them learn and grow. That he ruins every picture by over smiling, sticking out his tongue, or makes random gang signs with his hands. The light in his eyes and the kindness is his heart. That he lets me kiss and hug him in front of his friends, even though he's getting older now and that is so uncool. I am thankful that he tells me I am a great aunty and that he loves me unconditionally.

2. Her name is Ashley. The middle like her aunty. I am thankful for her beauty; for her quiet contemplative thoughts and observations. That she cries for lost relatives she's never met when looking at their pictures; that floods (The Johnstown Flood) and sickness and voyages (how many lives lost on the Mayflower) and poverty bring out a seriousness and compassion in her that causes her to stop and ask with those big, innocent eyes of hers why such horrible things are allowed to happen. I am thankful that she is wise beyond her years. That she loves to eat; that she can wink with either eye but can't roll her tongue; that she draws pictures of me with random ghosts in the corner; that she puts more thought into an outfit than me most times. For her warm hugs that melt away any worries or sadness of my day.

I am thankful that she loves to dance and dress-up and have tea parties and craft; that she constantly tries to mother and scold her older brother when she thinks no ones paying attention. That she uses words like "actually", "usually", "especially" and other multi-syllabic words 5 year olds shouldn't be using yet. That she can read at about a third grade level; her smartness; her dittziness; her giggles; her attitude. I am thankful that this beautiful little girl will someday grow into a graceful, strong woman that will make the world a better place to live.

3. Her name is Amber. The baby. I am thankful for her dimpled smile and crazy hair. I am thankful that she only says things like, "ewwww," or "ouchhh!" or "snack!" or "BEEEBEEE"(which means both blanket and binky). That we can't seem to stop her from climbing on tables or bouncing on furniture; that she has more attitude than a teenager; that she lights up the room with her laughter; that she hates sharing attention with her siblings; that she puts on my heels or sun glasses and walks around like a movie star. I am thankful that she rips out ponytails and bows and hats from her head like they are torture devices. The way she reaches up, opening and closing her fists, begging to be held; the way she gives kisses away freely.

I am thankful that she is always making faces like this one just before the camera clicks. Her chubby arms and legs. The way she waddles around like she owns the place. That she is always making a mess and always up to something. That she snores when she sleeps and screams about being told no. I am thankful that just when we thought two kiddos were enough, my sister blessed our family with a third we can't imagine ever having lived without.