Beautiful Food, Travel & Design
One of my favorite things about our wedding was our photobooth. It made me laugh so hard going through the photos and I put many of them up on our fridge to remind us of our amazing wedding and of all of the amazing friends we have back in Wisconsin. Because of our tight budget, we made our own photobooth. We ended up having an amazing booth with all of these photos for just over $100!… Read More »
A fun spin on veggies and dip – spicy cream cheese dip with homemade adobo sauce. Cayenne pepper adds a kick of spice and the spicy sweet dip is a winner!
One of our favorite things about our new San Francisco apartment is our enormous kitchen. Even though the outside of our house still has the quaint stucco look similar to all of the houses in the Outer Sunset neighborhood, the inside was recently redone and has many modern conveniences, like ample counter space and large cabinets. In addition, the appliances are all new! I’m especially enjoying our gas stove that doesn’t unevenly burn my pie crusts!
It’s so exciting to be moved in and all unpacked in our San Francisco apartment! We are in the Outer Sunset neighborhood, which is right next to Golden Gate Park, but definitely off of the tourist beaten path. For us, it’s the perfect location – close to the hospital for me, access to the best trail running in the city just a few blocks away, less than a mile from the ocean (squee!), and quiet at night with tons of street parking!… Read More »
The third in my myth busting series has been published on the Brooks Running Blog today! I wrote an article about stretching properly in order to increase your workout performance and minimize injury risks. I also shared one of my favorite running recipes – homemade granola bars!
Did you know that sometimes not stretching at all can be better than stretching? Find out more by reading my post here!
What are your stretching strategies? Let me know in the comments below!
To accompany the gilded plates featured in this post, Pat and I created these unique gilded cups from disposable plastic cups using the same technique. I’m very happy with the result. We were able to have beautiful and unique place settings at our wedding without having dirty dishes at the end!
Clear plastic cups
Protective gloves and mask
Gold spray paint – I tried numerous types and the Krylon Short Cuts are my favorite
Painter’s Tape – A thicker size, like 2 inches, will make your life easier. I reused the tape from my gilded plates post to save money and the earth!
A large sheet of stiff paper or tagboard
1. In order to get a tight fit, cut your painter’s tape into several 1 1/2 to 2 inch sections and press around your cup near the lip. You can vary the thickness of the painter’s tape you use to spray paint more or less of the cup.
2. Cut circles out of the tagboard like this:
The key is to make them large enough so the cups sit with tape above and below, but not so large spray paint can get through. You don’t actually need gloves for this part, I just had them on from making the plates.
3. Wearing gloves and a mask (unlike my husband), spray exposed part of plate with an even coat of spray paint.
4. Let dry
5. Gently remove painters tape.
See more of our wedding photos & DIYs:
DIY Hanging Twine Balls
First Look Wedding Photos, Part I
First Look Wedding Photos, Part II
Wedding Dance Party Photos
Wedding Details – Dessert Table & Table Decorations
Wedding Updo – How to Chalk Your Hair
Wedding Ceremony Pictures
Wedding Getting Ready Pictures
Vintage Drawer Pulls as Placecard Holders DIY
DIY Wedding Photobooth Setup with Printable
DIY Gilded Upcycled Plastic Cups
DIY Glitter Upcycled Silverware
DIY Honey Jar Wedding Favors
Rustic Wedding Cake Frosting Technique
Stuffed S’mores Cupcakes Recipe
DIY Glitter Swizzle Sticks
DIY Embossed Envelopes
Engagement Photos, Part I
Engagement Photos, Part II
As a part of our roadtrip West, we spent one day and one night driving through Yellowstone National Park. It’s my first time, but Pat has spent time in the past there, so he was really excited to show me around. Yellowstone is huge and stunning and has such varied landscape from mountains to hot springs to wide plains. My mind was blown.
One of the biggest highlights of our time in the park was the wildlife.
Oh wait, you thought I meant the fox family? I actually thought these nature-dwellers were much more entertaining:
The amount of multi-thousand dollar lenses following the foxes was borderline absurd. Everyone is a professional photographer these days! Naturally, Pat had to get in on the action, borrowing someone’s fancy binoculars.
Our other major encounter with wildlife was a bison jam – a heard of about 50 bison decided to turn the main park road into a crosswalk. They help up traffic for two hours while they wandered aimlessly back and forth!
There is a church in the park, but it seems the only attendees when we were there were some deer.
This rock formation caught my eye, as from afar it reminded me of a row of ladyfingers! It’s so cool how there was only one row in the whole mountain. I’m sure there is a real geological explanation for this, but I think it’s kind of magical.
Because our camp stove was tucked away in the trailer, we didn’t have the means to make hot water for coffee in the morning. We find a cafe on the outskirts of the park to get our fix. Not a bad view from the cafe window!
Yellowstone is also full of hot springs and thermophilic bacteria that make the rocks beautiful vibrant colors. My favorite was Midway Geyser Basin. It’s proof that nature is the best artist. Breathtaking!
My sexy hubby!
What about Yellowstone’s most famous sight, Old Faithful? We stopped by to see and caught it at the tail end of an eruption. It was pretty cool, but didn’t hold a candle to Midway Geyser!
