Favorites Friday: Enjoying Photographing Food, among other things

Welcome to another Favorites Friday. Here are some of my favorites of the week. Enjoy!

 (Yes- I took this photo! I'm so proud that I finally got the lighting right for food photography with my DSLR. This is without ANY editing!)

 (This was lunch. hehe)

(And here is the lovely rose the hubs gave me for our anniversary)

1. Learning to use my DSLR: So I've been learning to use my DSLR, slowly but surely. I have come across some wonderful tutorials online and on Pinterest. I'm trying to master food photography first, before I try actual people, and right now- I'm loving it! Check out the photos above- haven't even brought them into Photoshop yet! (On top of that- I'm am SO loving those "Everything" Pretzel chips!)

2. Peddler's Village: Went here last week to inquire about basket raffles donations for the theater company, and I must say- such a beautiful location and lots of fun stores.

3. Bristol Amish Market's Soft Pretzels: Our Amish Market over by us has the absolutely BEST soft pretzels! They are sooooo good! Similar to Auntie Anne's, but better!

(Here is my wand on Pottermore- I'm a Hufflepuff, too...)

4. Pottermore: So, I'm kind of a Harry Potter fan, if you haven't noticed by now, and I do love this website. So fun to find out what your wand would be, what house you should be sorted into, and lots of fun games and what not. If you like Harry Potter, I suggest to at least check out what house you'd be sorted into- what happens might surprise you (or not).

5. Diet Cream Soda: I love Cream soda, so a diet version is a must have! Even the generic brand is awesome. Makes great homemade alcoholic butterbeer too!

Have a great Friday everyone and enjoy your Labor Day holiday weekend (as I have to work on Labor Day- seems kind of silly to me- working on Labor day, but alas- money is money.)

Before you go, check out the August Totally Tuesday Link Party and link up your favorites of the month!
Laters!
-M

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August Totally Tuesday Link Party

It's that time of the month gang, Totally Tuesday Link Party time!

All you have to do is link up ANY project you've done in the past month. That's right, ANY project from August! Add some of your favorite projects, tips, recipes, room reveals, lists, etc.! I know you all have done some awesome projects, and we'd love to check them all out. I encourage you all to check out other links posted too- it is a link party after all! We had some super fabulous projects linked up in the past, so I'm excited to see what you all have to show off! I'll pick some of my favorites next week, once you all have linked up your projects!

All I ask is that you:

• Please follow the Host- that's me! (see the social media buttons in the right corner of the blog- follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Bloglovin, Instagram- whatever is your favorite means of following).

• Link up your own projects- no giveaways or advertisements please. (you can link as many projects as you'd like, but it should be from the past month- August).

Other than that, just have fun! If you have a place to post my blog button (which can be found in my sidebar to the right), great! If not, no biggie- but it would make me a super happy blogger if you did. ;)

Have a Totally Awesome Tuesday and link away! Remember, it can be anything from the past MONTH!
Thanks all! -M
Now on to the link party!

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Favorites Friday: 5 years of Wedding Anniversaries

Hey all. Welcome to another Favorites Friday. This is going to be a little different than my other Favorites Fridays, since this Friday is my 5th Wedding anniversary with my hubs (and 9 years together total- since we got married on our "start" date).

Yeah- that is us on our wedding day, 5 years ago. Crazy how time flies!

So for this Favorites Friday, I'm giving you a roundup of our past five anniversaries, and how we celebrated them (along with some of my new favorite places and things). ;)

1st Anniversary:

We spent it mostly at Seaside Heights, but had our anniversary dinner at our favorite restaurant at the shore- Spicy Cantina, on the boardwalk (we HAVE to go there if we go to the shore).

2nd Anniversary:

We spent our 2nd anniversary having Chinese food at East Cuisine in Ambler, and adopting our beloved cat Wendy from the SPCA. (one of the best presents, I have to admit, for an anniversary)

3rd Anniversary:

Since it was a weekday and I had to work night shift, we had lunch at Cantina Feliz in Fort Washington and that weekend we went to Seaside Heights and had wandered around the boardwalk.

4th Anniversary:

We spent it at a local TexMex restaurant- TexMex Connection (within walking distance of our old place) and then spent the evening watching tv and having some of my favorite wine- Elmo Pio Moscato.

5th Anniversary:

(That's today!) We exchanged gifts earlier today (I got hubs 2 etched glass steins with World of Warcraft symbols on them and made a wood letterpress framed art (below). Hubs got me a cute Mario t-shirt, flowers, and some cute little candles, candy, etc., along with the supplies to cut glass bottles so we can hopefully finish our wine bottle chandelier). 

Since hubs had to work during the day, I spent the day cleaning around the house and running errands, but tonight we plan on going to have sushi at Concerto Fusion (our new favorite) and wine after dinner.

All in all, we have had 5 amazing married years and 9 years together. We kind of have some anniversary trends- having either Mexican or Asian cuisine, wine or margaritas, relaxing at home or going to Seaside Heights- for our anniversary. Overall- wonderful! I look forward to many more years of happiness!

Have a great weekend everyone!
-M

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Simple Purple Bathroom Sink Skirt

Happy Wednesday everyone! 

Today I am sharing with you a very simple update I did to my downstairs powder room sink.

Look at all the purple! haha (I love it, by the way!)

So I had this UGLY builder-grade sink and cabinet in that bathroom. (all the sinks in the bathrooms of our house look like this, and I hate them ALL!) What you don't see (on the inside of the cabinet) is that it still has a blue sticky bottom, due to the previous owners of the home leaving cleaning supplies that exploded in the coldness of a non-heated house (the house was a short-sale and sat vacant for over a year) and I keep trying to find something to de-stick it, lol.

I didn't have the motivation to paint this and I was constantly torn on what color to paint it, along with at the moment not having the funds to replace the sink (which is the first sink I want replaced someday). So one day, when I was out shopping for other items at the Goodwill, I came across this beautiful purple sheet. I immediately knew (at only $2) it was going to become my bathroom sink skirt. (You can't get fabric at JoAnn's for that price!)

I attached it to the ugly cabinet with double-sided sticky-back velcro after I cut the sheet to size. The sheet is actually folded in half and cut (with the "cut end" on the interior wall, next to the toilet). This was a no-sew project! I probably could of sewed that one side, added pleats or something fancy like that, but I'm lazy and to be honest you couldn't really tell I didn't sew that back spot. For a quick fix, this worked great!
Someday I hope to get the energy to stencil the walls (and bling it out- I have an idea of what to do, just don't know if I have the energy to do it).
I'm happy with the outcome and the fact I don't have to look at that ugly cabinet again!

Hope this give ya'll ideas on how to simply update an ugly sink! (For those curious, yes- my "bathroom" shelf thing in the corner is actually an old DVD rack. lol!) Have a great Wednesday!
Hugs!
-M

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Pinspirations Monday: Inspiring Bathrooms

Welcome to another Pinspirations Monday! 

This week I am inspired by these lovely bathrooms. I am thinking of updating some of the decor in our gray & yellow master bathroom and these pins have truly inspired me! Enjoy!

Live Love DIY's Striped Wall Bathroom

Source: http://www.livelovediy.com/2012/03/painting-striped-wall-tutorial.html

Yellow and Gray Bathroom

Source: http://homeideamaker.com/2013/02/26/such-a-cute-bathroom-color-scheme-even-love-the-saying/

Tamara Van Nuck's Bathroom

Source: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/house-tou-tamar-9807#gallery/4998/13

Two Delighted's Bathroom

Source: http://www.twodelighted.com/2012/02/20/my-painted-bathroom-vanity-before-and-after/#.UhEZsNKcedI

Naptime Decorator's Yellow and Gray Bathroom

Source: http://naptimedecorator.blogspot.com/2011/10/budget-bathroom-makeover-embracing-60s.html

Have a great Monday everyone! I hope these inspired you, as they have inspired me! You can follow all these pins on my Pinspirations board! You can also follow my other boards here!

Have a great day!
-M

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Favorites Friday: Nifty Fifties and Bikinis

Welcome to another fun Favorites Friday! Here are some of my favorites of the week!

1. Applebee's Green Bean Crispers: So during one of our many trips to Applebee's during the run of "Grease" someone got these. They let the hubs and us try, and they are AMAZING! We had to get them the next time, and we were not disappointed. Not the healthiest, but could be a lot worse (like the nachos).

2. Merona Women’s Bikini Swim Top from Target: I picked this up as my first bathing suit top as a thinner woman, and I must say- it keeps the "girls" held in, and doesn't give you a weird suntan, because it is basically the same cut as your bra.

3. Clean Water Women’s Swim Skirt from Target: I fell in love with this when I picked out the above bikini top at Target, and it is so cute to wear and matches most bathingsuit tops great (because it is a neutral black). I'm not a huge fan of swimsuits, so if I like, it must be cute! lol

4. Nifty Fifties Cricut Cartridge: This cartridge has been so perfect for making crafts that have to do with "Grease." My friend Sarah (who was Sandy in the show) and I sat one day making cards to give to the director, etc. and we used this cartridge to the max! Super cute images and the lettering is great too!

5. Boom Chicka Pop Lightly Sweet Popcorn: This is the "kettlecorn" version of the low-cal popcorn I also adore. It is SOOOO good! I have to portion it out, otherwise I'd eat the whole bag!

Have a great weekend everyone!
-M

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A Weasley Wednesday: Adult Harry Potter Party time

Ok. So this past weekend a close friend of mine had a party in honor of Harry Potter's birthday (a little belated, since Harry Potter's birthday is July 31st) but never the less, it was fun. We couldn't stay too long, as it was before one of our shows of "Grease." She had some AMAZING food- themed straight from the books and movies (sadly I didn't really snap many pictures from the event). This got me to thinking about a party the hubs and I threw a few years ago (right before the final Harry Potter movie came out in 2011) for a 2-day Harry Potter Movie Marathon party. This was before I got really into Pinterest and party planning decor - it was kind of my first try at a "theme party" as an adult. I was looking through my blog-o here, and realized I never shared it with you all! Crazy, I know, right?!
So, here is some of the fun stuff we did for our adult Harry Potter Movie Marathon Party a few years back. (We watched the first 7 of 8 movies between 2 days, so everyone would be refreshed on it all, the week before it opened- it was a very daunting task!) We were kind of on a tight budget, so things are not as nice as I'd like them to be, but considering I believe I did all the decor, food, beverages, planning, etc. in less than a week, I think it turned out well. hehe

 Decor

 I cut everything out on my Cricut and made my own Platform 9 3/4 sign! (Still hangs in my craft room to this day!)

 I hand-painted these bricks on a red plastic table cloth I got at the dollar store. Was VERY time-consuming, but I was determined to have this at my party.

 In our upstairs area (once you walked through the brick wall platform of 9 3/4, you were brought to Honeydukes table- Lots of candy you could ever want, including homemade Cockroach clusters (chocolate covered pretzels) and Acid Pops (Blow pops dipped in honey, dipped in Pop Rocks) among other candy I just came up with names of or used names from the books. (see below "food" section for the full spread)

 We only had one bathroom at our old place, so you just had to deal with Moaning Mertle... hehe

 Our bookcases (in all their messy glory, back then)

 Another shot of the brick platform walk through.

 Ready to watch all 7 movies!

 My hubs dressed as a Weasley. Sadly you can't really tell that I wrote on the bunting, but it was very "House Colors" looking. ;)

Food

 Your generic food spread, but with more fun Harry Potter-themed names...

 Gotta have popcorn for a movie marathon!

 The Honeydukes candy spread.

Drinks

 Best darn thing there is: Butterbeer! Cream soda + Butterscotch Schnapps.

 We also made special "House Shots." Above is the Gryffindor Gulp (Strawberry Pucker and Sprite) and the Sip of Slytherin (Apple Pucker and Hawaiian Punch). Below is the Hit of Hufflepuff (Mountain Dew and Citrus Rum) and Ravenclaw's Ration (Island Punch Pucker and Sprite). These were a big hit as everyone wanted to try their own house's shots.

Party Favors

 (sorry these are blurry, I only had my phone to take pictures at that time). I had Glow stick wands for those who didn't have wands of their own (so the Muggles can "pretend" they are one of us. lol) I also gave out "Liquid Luck" vials for everyone to take home.

Seeing the actual final movie

 We ended up going to see it at the Newtown Theatre (the theater that we are currently performing "Grease" at- closing night tonight). It is a small theater, but everyone who came that night, was certainly a Harry Potter fan!

Harry Potter fandom via. Scrapbook pages

So, of course I had to scrapbook the event! We had fun with friends watching the movies and enjoying all our Harry Potter fandom. I also have scrapbooked our love for the movies, and our visit to the Wizarding World in Universal Studios in Florida.

The Party:

Love for Snape:

At Universal Studios:

I normally don't like to show pictures of myself from a few years ago, aka. the fat years. This was one of those times where I can really notice how big I was a few years ago. For those of you who are new followers, I joined Weight Watchers in October of 2011 and lost about 65 pounds in a year. I've been trying to maintain that for this past year, and I think you really can tell the difference in these two "Harry Potter fandom" pics! hehe. Normally I'm not into pictures of myself, but it really goes to show how 65 lbs can really change a person.

  2011                                     2013

  

Anyways, Have a wonderful Weasley-filled Wednesday for my fellow Potter-heads, and for those who don't enjoy Harry Potter, sorry for this fan-filled post for the day.
Happy Wednesday everyone!
-M

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