A How To Vlog

I'm posting this early, but wanted to make sure that if any of you wanted to make your own 

St. Patrick's Day wreath, you'd have plenty of time to shop, create, and hang it up on your door.

I put together a festive St. Patrick's Day wreath to send to my mom and also Chris' mom for their front doors. Mom, if you are reading this, GO AWAY and wait by the mailbox.

I based my idea off of this one, but really only used her tutorial to figure out what supplies I'd need. If you'd like to see how I made these St. Patrick's Day wreaths, please watch the video below! (I recorded this video using the Flip I received for Christmas and [crappily] edited it using iMovie.)

Some notes:

• Since I am mailing my wreaths to other people, I double-knotted the front part of the fabric. I believe the original tutorial just used a single tie to attach the fabric. I think either way looks fine.
• In the video, I call the green fabrics felt. It's actually flannel fabric. I purchased a yard each of those and ended up with a lot of fabric left over. I made 2 wreaths and still had at least 1/2 yard left. If you are only planning on making one wreath, you could get away with buying 1/4 yard.
• I purchased a 1/2 yard of the yellow fabric. Again, I had more than enough so purchase less if you are only making one.
• Be sure to check for coupons online before going shopping! I was able to use a 10% off coupon at JoAnn's by just showing them my phone. I know that Michael's always has coupons so it may be worth it to buy a styrofoam wreath there (this was the only item not on sale at JoAnn's).
• There were a lot more options for accents, but I happened to like the shamrocks and the hats. There were gold coins, beads, pots of gold, etc. and all of those would look good on the wreath. I ended up only using the door hanger on one of the wreaths and the ones without it still looked great.
• The finished wreath was hanging up in my bathroom, which explains the yellowish-tint to the room. Sorry!

Tuesday...

• I am still ticked that I didn't get Monday off. Instead, I had to dress up because our company president was visiting the office for the day. Ironic? At least they served us free lunch.

• I finally got my hands on Maybelline Baby Lips and I love it. It's lip balm but it adds a nice color to your lips. I have been trying to buy it for at least a month, but it has been sold out everywhere. I picked up the very last one and I didn't even care what color it was. I was just happy to get one and I'm even happier I ended up liking the color - Cherry Me. (FYI: You can print a $1 off coupon for any Maybelline product at Target, which will make this lip balm $1.99!)

• Starbucks grande size is a joke. It is so small and they end up adding so much ice anyway, you practically have to order a venti to have more than a few sips of your drink.

• I know it's early, but I'm already thinking about St. Patrick's Day. I will have a how to video blog up next week on an easy project. It's my first vlog! Much like the last time, I couldn't stop laughing every time Chris tried to film me. He gave up and left me to my own devices so it's not perfect but at least I got it done. Look for it next Monday. Sneak peek below:

• I have to talk about my new favorite pants. They are from Target and they remind me of the J.Crew Minnie's, but for only $24.99. I put these pants on and they fit like a glove. Perfect in the waist and more importantly, the perfect ankle length and width (skinny!). I bought them because I needed some pants for dress up day at work (see first bullet), but I know that I will wear them all the time! I wore them all day and they didn't stretch or get baggy in all the wrong places so I know they are a winner. They might not look like much online, but they may surprise you. Go check them out - they come in black and blue!

• We watched The Artist last weekend. I really wish that I could be more cultured and appreciative of a movie like this, but I didn't really like it. Unfortunately, I'm of the age where The Vow knocks my socks off and a beautifully done silent film bores me. Sad. I know Chris is very disappointed in me (seriously, he told me). I can still appreciate the acting and the story it told, but I won't be dying to watch it again. I did love the dog, though!

• If you follow me on Instagram, then you already saw this picture. On Saturday I woke up and made pancakes for Chris and got a little creative! Fun, huh?

That's all I've got for today!

Happy Friday!

In a few short hours, the weekend will be here!

I hope all of you have a fantastic 48 hours off,
(or 72 if you are lucky enough to have President's Day off)

enjoying what you love most!

Source: weheartit.com via meghan on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Galit on Pinterest

Source: justlittlethings.tumblr.com via Kylie on Pinterest

Source: iamblessed.tumblr.com via Naomi on Pinterest

Source: sundayinbed.tumblr.com via Jieun on Pinterest

Thursday's Thoughts

• How was everyone's Valentine's Day? Chris & I had a relaxing evening at home with take-out, television, and backgammon! I swear I'm 27 going on 67...There was a fun scavenger hunt waiting for me when I got home and the clues led me to my presents! I was running all over the apartment like a crazy woman! Haha, so fun! I got a box of chocolates, a Chick-fil-A gift card, and a bottle of one of my favorite beers that is hard to find.

• I received my tax return yesterday and was able to pay off some bills! I'm so excited to watch my debt decrease each month, even if it is a little bit slow-going. This month will be my last payment on a bank loan I took out 3 years ago for a little over $12,000. That was a stupid decision to take out the loan, but it feels good knowing that I will finally have it paid off in less than 2 weeks.

• It's only the middle of February, but is it too early to start thinking about my birthday? I've declared on many occasions that my birthday is my favorite holiday! Here are my last two birthday celebrations - 2010 and 2011. Chris has already said that I cannot plan this year's birthday events because I did last year, and it kinda sucked. We are thinking of a weekend trip for this year (destination to be determined) so I'm hoping that works out! Here's my birthday list: an iPad and an engagement ring...I know, keep dreaming! Haha!

• Last night Chris & I went out for dinner. We found a sushi place near our house with great prices and equally great reviews. It was delicious! Here is a picture of the Dragon Roll - I've never seen such a creative way to present sushi before. We also had the green tea tempura ice cream and it was phenomenal. Have you ever had anything like this before? It was a ball of ice cream deep fried in tempura batter...yeah, heavenly!

•  After dinner we stopped at CVS because we had a $5 extra bucks coupon to use. We were able to get all of the following items for under $30! With the sale prices and the coupon, we ended up saving $25. We should be set for awhile on body wash, Cetaphil cleansing bars (these are expensive full price!), toothpaste, and deodorant. I love a good deal!

 

• I was sad to see Beverly eliminated from Top Chef last night. I really wanted her to beat Lindsay and Sarah because they had been so awful to her the entire season. Now I'm rooting for Paul!

That's about all that I have going on. Anything new with you?

A Day...

I've seen people post about their daily routines so I thought it would be fun to share what a typical day for me is like. Prepare yourself for all the excitement I get to experience on an everyday basis :)

I wake up anywhere between 7:30 and 8:15 every morning, and it all depends on if I am riding my bike to work that day. Today I was going to ride so I got up at 7:30, but I looked outside and it was raining (which was not in the forecast last night when I checked). I ran out the door at 8:40 and was at my desk by 8:57!

I always eat breakfast at my desk, usually by 10:00. Today I had a really sad breakfast - a granola bar and banana.

I spend a little bit of time checking my emails and favorite websites, like Suri's Burn Book, Hip2Save, and Facebook, usually while I'm finishing my breakfast. I don't spend a lot of time doing this because I always have a steady flow of assignments to work on.

My office is right in front of the kitchen and common area so I am constantly interrupted by my co-workers, wanting to talk or gossip. I also have the responsibility of answering the main door, signing for packages, and directing visitors to where they need to be. Sometimes it makes me want to rip my hair out, but most of the time it's not too much of a hassle. Today, I've already answered the door 4 times, and it's only 10:30!

Work, work, work...

At 1:30 I'm hungry again! Time for my lunch. I had a Healthy Choice Fresh Mixers pasta today. I hadn't tried these before, and I wasn't sure what to expect. It turned out to be okay, but not nearly enough. Since eating took all of 10 minutes, I decided to drive over to Target just so I can get out of the office.

I bought some cute Valentine's to give to my friends at work and a few surprise treats for Chris. We are not doing gifts or anything, but I wanted to at least have a card and some candy for him. How come every trip to Target ends in me walking out with something, especially when I planned on buying nothing?!

I already told you that I am addicted to Oreo's, and I flipped out over these Birthday Cake Oreo's! I can't wait to try them for dessert!

Back at work and it's too boring to document...

Finally, it's 6:00 and I'm free! One day down, 4 more to go!

We decided on Thai takeout for dinner. We really do cook in A LOT, but not tonight. Besides, I need time to do my cookie decorating. I meant to take a picture of my food, but was so hungry that I completely forgot.

I spent wayyyyyyy too long trying to make cute cookies and I've decided that they are just not my thing. I'm not very good at the whole royal icing thing so I just covered up all the mistakes with sprinkles! I've officially made a mess of the kitchen.

Time to get settled in front of the television - The Bachelor and Hawaii Five-0 are our must watch shows on Monday night. We also record Alcatraz and Smash but will watch those later in the week.

Yup, it's finally bed time. I made it to 12:00 tonight and I'm already regretting staying up so late. It's going to be hard to get up in the morning! If I had the choice, I would've been in be a few hours earlier. Goodnight!

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I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my day. Seriously, I'm living the life...lol! By the way, all of my pictures were taken using Instagram. I've had this app forever, but I just realized that my profile was set to private all of this time. I made it public and would love to have you follow along and follow you also! My username is sweetteadiaries.

And, Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! I hope it's filled with lots of sweets, love, and pink presents!

Weekend Recap

It's Monday again! Funny how the weekend never seems to last long enough...

Chris & I had a great weekend! On Friday, we had a surprise package in the mail. Chris' parents sent us the cutest Valentine's cards and a gift card for each of us! They are so nice to us, and I can't wait to use my gift card for something fun.

On Saturday, we went to see The Vow and I loved it! I wasn't too fond of the ending, but now that I've had time to think about it, I guess I didn't mind it as much as I thought. Rachel McAdams was darling but her character was a bit frustrating at times, and I thought Channing Tatum was as complete an actor as I've ever seen him up to this point in his acting career. Chris said that it wasn't bad, but it wasn't good...so there is a guy's opinion for you! I thought he was a good sport for taking me in the first place! And I only had to demand ask once :)

I think I have become addicted to Oreo cookies. I LOVE them and Chris surprised me with Oreo ice cream on Saturday night! Yum yum yum!

I've started reading The Girl Who Played with Fire so I spent a majority of my weekend with my Nook in hand. After I saw the movie, I read summaries of all of the books in the trilogy. I already have a basic idea of what is going to happen in this book so I'm not enjoying it as much as I probably should be. I think I'm still going to finish it, we'll see.

I love doing magazine crossword puzzles, but this one was all Miley Cyrus clues and I don't really know anything about her career except for the Party in the USA song...I actually like that one.You don't even want to see my Sudoku puzzle attempt. If I learned anything this weekend, it's not to use a pen when filling in the squares because you're bound to make mistakes!

Chris & I broke out his backgammon board and played a few rounds on Sunday night during the Grammy's. We both play on our phones, but he is much better than I am. I lost 4 straight games but finally won a couple. He says he wasn't letting me win but I'm pretty sure he was sick of listening to me whine. FYI - I don't take losing very well. It's all about strategy and luck. You can be the best at the game, but if the die don't roll the numbers you need, then you're pretty much SOL.

So the petit fours didn't work. I got through the first step of making the cakes, but I realized I didn't have a lot of the ingredients I'd need for the rest of the steps. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on an experiment so I'll have to give it a try some other time.

I did make some chocolate cut-out cookies and I plan on decorating them tonight. Here is a sneak peek! I'll share the finished product next.

Throw in a couple of afternoon naps, a delicious lobster roll from the Let's Roll It food truck, and a couple of OnDemand movies (Eat Pray Love - which I thought was TERRIBLE and Something Borrowed), and you have our weekend in a nutshell. Good times, but I wish it hadn't ended so quickly! Only 5 more days until the next one........

Thursday's Thoughts

• I'm forcing myself to come out of my current state of depression! Watching the Patriots lose the way they did was heartbreaking and seeing Mr. Kraft in the owner's box looking like an abused puppy from those awful Sarah McLaughlin commercials was too much. I wanted the win for him and for Myra's legacy and I know that is why the team wanted to win as well. But, I have a feeling we will be right back in the hunt next season. (And now I promise to stop talking about football...for a little while!)

Festive cupcakes from SusieCakes

Kermit going into halftime...
it's safe to say his superpowers let us down.

• Valentine's Day will be here in 5 days! I do plan on trying to make petit fours like the ones I posted about last week, but with a different flavor combination. A lot of you seemed interested in those so hopefully I will remember to take pictures of all the steps, and if I'm successful, I'll be sure to share a tutorial with you!

• I've been reading a lot of talk on the new show Smash. I'm going to watch the pilot episode this week. My sister-in-law's close friend plays Dev so it's neat to "know" someone famous and I hope the show is successful for him!

• OMG-I don't want to even talk about this, but I can't stop myself! Can you believe Jamie from The Bachelor this week??? I was so embarrassed for her, but I couldn't look away. Poor girl.

• I received a Coach coupon in the mail for $100 toward any purchase of $300 or more, in the store or online. I have no desire to use this coupon so if any of you would like it, please let me know. I can mail it to you if you want to use it in the store or I can e-mail you the online code.

I hope everyone is having a great week so far!!

Go Patriots!!

So on Sunday, my very favorite football team (besides the Dolphins) is playing...in the Super Bowl! Wow.

I've had it up to here with all the trash talk (ahem, NY Giants...stop talking!), all of the analyzing, and all of the what if's. It's now up to two very good teams to play their best football on the world's biggest stage!

I'm copying Giselle and sending "good thoughts" to Tom Brady and the entire Patriots team and coaching staff. (I found this NY Post article to be quite rude & way off base, by the way. Regardless of how you feel about either team, this was a cheap shot.)

So here is my open letter to Tommy:

Since the beginning of the season, I have said that this was your year to have another chance at the Super Bowl. I wanted to go the entire season undefeated, but those hopes were dashed when Buffalo capitalized off of 4 very uncharacteristic turnovers by you and other team members. From that point on, I kept repeating that the defending champions lost 6 regular season games and still made it to the Super Bowl. At some point in the season, I came up with my "12" Theory. I have watched every single game, often while biting my nails and wondering how you could get 21+ points in the hole. But you always somehow turned it around and ended the season 13-3 and winners of the AFC East.

Tom Brady

Wes Welker

Aaron Hernandez

BJGE has never fumbled a ball in his entire NFL career!

You blew Denver out of the water in the playoffs, officially squelching anymore Tim Tebow talk (the entire world thanks you for that, by the way). The Baltimore game was much tougher, but with a defense that finally started making some plays, you were able to walk away the winner of the AFC. And now, here you are. This is your chance to shine once again. You are already deserving of the Hall of Fame, and you now have a chance to tie your childhood idol, Joe Montana, with 4 Super Bowl victories.

GRONK!!!!!!

Ocho - today is your day to shine!

It won't be easy. In fact, it will most likely be your toughest game yet. The Giants are a great football team that have only gotten stronger over the last half of the regular season and throughout the playoffs. They steamrolled the Packers, conquered the 49ers with a game-winning field goal in overtime, and now want to finish it off by beating YOU. Don't let that happen! I'm sure you've heard all of the media give their opinion about how you won't be able to stand up to the pass rush, how you are just a "pretty boy" who is overrated, how our defense can't stop attacks in the secondary, how Eli will surpass you if he wins (totally not true in my opinion)...etc, etc, etc...don't let it get in your head!!

Vince - please get another interception!!

Sterling Moore - complete every play!

Defense - do your job!

The Patriots may be favored (for reasons unknown to me!), but it's vital that you play like the underdog. You are the one that has something to prove! Don't let the Giants pass rush get you off your game. Find your target, aim, and fire. The receivers will do the rest. You've got a fine bunch of weapons to work with - Aaron Hernandez, Wes Welker, Deion Branch, and Rob Gronkowski, who at 50% will still play better than some tight ends at 100%. Who knows, Chad Ochocinco might even come through for you (fingers crossed)!

Devin McCourty - no pass interference calls, please!

Patrick Chung - so good to have you healthy again!

Julian Edelman - BB must believe in your skills to play all
sides of the ball! Please don't let us down and don't let the Giants
offense exploit you!!!

And please for the love of God, don't throw any interceptions!

I really am sending positive thoughts your way as you prepare for the biggest game of your season. I believe that you and the rest of the Patriots deserve this win. You have the finest organization in the NFL, with classy players, coaches, and an owner with a heart of gold. Mr. Kraft may have lost his sweetheart last year, but I think she is very much alive in the hearts of the entire team. This season has been dedicated to her and the ultimate gift would be the title of World Champion.

Like Nike says, JUST DO IT.

I can't include every single Patriot that will play, but I am really hoping all of them get the good vibes I'm sending their way! I know that 99.5% of you will think this post is the dumbest thing ever, but I don't care! They deserve this win!!

PS - I think Sports Illustrated is trying to curse the Patriots with back to back covers of Tom Brady then Robert Kraft...would it be weird if I told you I bought both of those magazines and burned them? Yeah, TMI...gotta get rid of the bad juju!!

PPS - Don't worry, football season is almost over so I won't  be subjecting you to posts like this for much longer!

Eight Things

This post is going to be like word vomit. I have a bunch of random thoughts with no real connection to each other. But...Happy Wednesday! And Happy February! I really hope this week goes by quickly - I need the weekend to get here!

1.
We watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo over the weekend. I really didn't want to see it, but I'm so glad that Chris convinced me to watch it! I absolutely loved it and now I want to read the books. I think that Rooney Mara should win an Oscar for her brilliant performance (even if she is a NY Giants fan).

2.
Some fun stuff going on this month:

Super Bowl

Valentine's Day

Academy Awards

3.
I never really shared my New Year's Resolutions this year. In a nutshell, I'm resolving to do the following - a) continue my job search, apply for anything and everything I am interested in, keep my resume up-to-date and ready to send out, and become more confident in myself (I deserve better than this!); b) commit to riding my bike to work at least 2-3 days a week; c) present myself more professionally in the workplace (i.e., dress nicely, wear makeup); d) spend more time in the present instead of worrying about the future.

4.
I am really excited about the Patriots playing in the Super Bowl this Sunday! I'm in the process of narrowing down the official Super Bowl menu - sideline smokies, crescent jalapeno poppers, fried pickle chips and these cute dessert pizzas all sound delicious and perfect for game day. I can't even tell you how nervous I am for the game. I really want the Patriots to win and will be devastated if they lose to the Giants (again). I hope Tom Brady and the rest of the team have their best game of the season.

PS - Check out these adorable free printables for the Super Bowl. They'd also be great for any sports themed party!

5.
We recently watched Just Go With It and I thought it was so cute! I also watched Secretariat and may have cried. (If you are keeping track, that's 3 movies I watched last weekend! I was very lazy & spent a lot of time on the couch!) What were some of your favorite movies of 2011?


6.
Are any of you tuning in to Alcatraz on Monday nights? I think it's okay, but am already annoyed by the "answer a question with a question" plot of the whole thing. But it seems like at the end of each episode so far, they've given me a reason to watch the next one. Thoughts?


7.
Bachelor Ben is the WORST! Of course we've been sucked into the drama, but the "skinny-dipping episode" was the first full episode that we've watched this season. Ben is a moron. Like, legitimately. I wish that the franchise would stop using leftovers and bring in new people. When I heard that Emily was going to be the next bachelorette, I lost it! I liked her, but she was so adamant about not putting herself (and her daughter) through it again so they must have tossed a lot of money in her face.


8.
I have a strong desire to make petit fours. I have no idea why, but I saw some on Pinterest and now I feel like I have to try it. Maybe for Valentine's Day? I'll let you know...

Source: aspicyperspective.com via Angela on Pinterest

Anyone care to share your random thoughts with me?? 

Comment below!