Monthly Archives: May 2012

Soda Floats: Four Different Ways

Curly-haired-boy and I love to drink root beer floats together. They are delicious, we agree that they are delicious, and we usually keep a couple of beer mugs in the freezer so that the glasses will be nice & frosty when we decide to partake in a couple. Something about adding root beer to a couple scoops of ice cream makes it feel ‘special’.

So for his birthday party last weekend I was trying to decide on something relatively easy and fun to serve 20 odd people for dessert. (I’m not the best baker.) Then I thought ‘soda floats’! We purchased four cartons of ice cream and five kinds of soda, a big stack of mason jars & straws and then let people go to town.

Sodas

  • Grape
  • Creme Soda
  • Orange
  • Jones Fufu Berry
  • Root Beer (naturally)

Ice Creams (We avoided anything with chunks in it)

  • Vanilla Ice Cream (Obviously)
  • Original Tart Fro-yo (Ours is from Menchies, but every fro-yo place I’ve been too has a similar flavor)
  • Peach Fro-yo (Kroger variety, we are big spenders!)
  • Chocolate Ice Cream

Some fan favorites:

  • Grape Soda + Vanilla Ice Cream
  • Jones Soda Fufu Berry + ‘Original Tart’ fro-yo
  • Orange Soda + Peach Fro-yo
  • Creme Soda + Chocolate Ice Cream

Curly-haired-boy & I tried all of these combos and agreed that the orange + peach and the creme soda + chocolate were the best tasting. I’m also big fan of the Fufu berry + Original tart, but Curly-haired-boy isn’t a big fan of either or those things, and the two mixed together didn’t make them taste better.

Other combos I haven’t tried yet but probably will with all the left overs!

  • Grape Soda + Peach & Vanilla ice creams
  • Orange Soda + Chocolate Ice Cream
  • Grape + Original Tart
  • Creme Soda + Vanilla & Chocolate Ice Creams
  • Orange Soda + Original Tart

Warning: Do not attempt to consume four soda floats very quickly in order to taste all the combinations before they melt. An ice cream headache will occur.

1920s Murder Mystery Party

I’ve written briefly about our plans to throw a 1920s murder mystery party before. The party was this past Saturday, and it was amazing. So amazing it took all of Sunday and most of Monday for me to properly recover.

If you are considering purchasing a murder mystery game the ‘Dinner & a Murder: Murder at the Four Deuces‘ is probably the game you should go with. The mystery itself is very intricate and filled to the brim with details and misleads. Our party was overrun with side murders, black-mailing, extortion, and all kinds of bribery. We had about 20 party guests so it was probably a little more complicated than if we’d only had 10 people playing. I should also note that many of my friends are actors/role-players/involved in theater. So most of them are used to picking up a part to play & improvise. But even the people who weren’t actors really enjoyed themselves. I would absolutely consider buying another game from this company.

***Please note, nobody paid me in any way these are just opinions that I thought interested parties may enjoy reading***

A lot of our friends really got into the spirit of things and everyone looked amazing.  So the rest of this post will mostly be pictures of me, Curly-haired-boy, and our friends looking cute. Hope that’s cool with you guys.

Ian-Dog Classes it Up

I feel been a little absent from the blog-o-sphere. There was a stomach bug last week, the car breaking down, a birthday party for the curly-haired-boy to plan, a new project at work, a blog to redesign (how cute it Kate). All in all blogging became much less of a priority. I’ll be back soon with more exciting things but for now I have this to share.

We sometimes, could maybe, definitely be accused of pampering our pup. Since we are planning a murder mystery gangster/flapper costume party this weekend Ian-dog is invited, he’s going by the alias ‘Pugsy Malone’ and needed a costume. I’ve ben a little obsessed with this tutorial since I read it on Katherine’s site a while ago. So I followed it, to make this adorable little collar/tie combo. His tie is (I’m pretty sure) a baby’s accessory. It even has a tiny rhinestone on it, which I refer to as his ‘bling’.

In general Ian loves costumes. We’ve only got a few items for him. But we are always sure to give him extra loving and encouragement when he wears them. To the point that when I pull out his little kerchief he gets genuinely excited.

4 Quick Steps for Turning ‘Clothes’ into an ‘Outfit’

I’m have a mostly analytical nature. I love having a process or steps to complete for any task. It helps me define is working for me and improve on anything I dislike.

We headed out on Saturday night with friends, these are the ‘boring’ chambray shirt & jeans I was wearing during the day. To walk the dog, clean house, and curl up on the couch and watch Bob’s Burger’s on Netflix instant view (I’m in love with Kristen Schaal). When we decided to met some friends for drinks I wanted to take my clothes and turn them into an outfit. I’ve been working on these steps for a while now, and while I don’t follow this list every time, having quick go-to steps helps me decide what to do next. Like any medium ‘You have to know the rules before you can break them’.

1.) Tuck it & belt it.

  • Add a belt to your outfit, and if you are wearing two pieces tuck in your top. This helps define your waist, and breaks up long stretches of color.

2.) Roll up & Unbutton.

  • My mother used to have to tell me to unbutton my top button, because I thought ‘if it’s there I should use it.’ That’s not really true. Unbutton your top couple buttons, you can wear a bright-colored camisole to add some interest here.
  • Rolling up your sleeves breaks up the color. I feel like it makes my arms look longer and less stuffy.

3.) Accessorize.

  • I’m admittedly not great at accessorizing yet, so I typically limit myself to one big statement piece. Dangly earrings (in this case), or funky bracelets, or chunky necklaces. I like to keep it simple by just choosing one.

4.) When in doubt. Bright lips.

  • Bright red lips are definitely in vogue this spring. In a couple more seasons you might try a bright pink, or a coral, or a dark mauve, or whatever complements your skin color. It adds a bit of contrast to your face and really adds that extra oomph to make you look put together.


Tada! Loren is ready to rock & roll! Or just dance with her friends and try to avoid all the night club creepers. Do you guys have steps for going from drab to fab?

Double Florals

Last week I wore double florals for the first time to work on Wednesday, and then my car broke down. Which means that I now consider double florals to be bad luck.

Also the broken car threw off the end of my week.

The car is already 16 years old, I’ve been driving it for 8. I’m not saying I want the car to die, but I’m preparing for it to die… by browsing for a new car. Like a very old, very sick pet who’s quality of life has really fallen. Maybe it is time? I’m thinking Prius C? Go ahead and judge my decisions now. But tiny car, major MPG, probably won’t need to be replaced for MANY more years. And I have a big ole’ chunk of change in my savings account with no defined purpose…