Happy Leez

It's the end of Spring Break... :(

I'm not ready for school to start up again. BUT, it's been a pretty good break. I worked too much, I think, but I left early yesterday and I took today off, too.

Anyway, I hung out with some good friends and got a decent amount of sleep every night. That makes for a pretty decent break, I'd say.

Heather came over on Thursday night and we decorated spools. I know it sounds weird, but we were at a flea market last week and saw these picture holders made out of spools. Heather had the idea to lose the picture holder part of the idea and just put them in mason jars. So, we did.

We had to unravel all of the thread off of the spools, which took forever. I'm pretty sure we could have found an easier way to do this...

We wrapped the spools in ribbon/twine and then glued a button on them. It was super easy/simple, but I really like how they turned out. We are old ladies together. It's kind of awesome.

Friday night, Heather, Dave, Amy, Anthony and I went to see The Adjustment Bureau. I still don't know how I felt about it. A part of me thought that it was really good-- the acting was awesome, and the story line was semi-original; although, the idea itself is not original. The other part of me thought that they sort of butchered the potential of the idea. If you haven't watched the movie, I would recommend it, I think. (Haha- that's not very convincing.) I'm not going to do a "review," because I truly do not know if I liked it or not. Anyway, I loved Inception; I liked The Adjustment Bureau.

After the movie, we went to Ziggie's, and I'm pretty sure everyone thought that we were drunk. We weren't-- we just have fun. 

Everyone came over to my house afterwards, and we watched a ton of episodes of The Office. It was fun, as usual.

Tonight, I'm meeting up with a bunch of people at Bambu (AN AMAZING PLACE) for delicious food before Jeremy Larson's concert. Amy introduced me to "him" and I've been hooked ever since. I'm excited to see Lydia again, too.

Tomorrow, Amy and I are checking out a new church. I'm excited about that.

Okay, it's going to be a good end to my spring break. I am so blessed.

Cheers.

Stream of consciousness, hair, Valentine's Day and cupcakes

I dye my hair A LOT. It all started right after I graduated from high school and my sister dyed my hair a purplish/maroon/red color. Ever since then, I've been addicted. I'm especially partial to shades of red. I have found that I change my hair at different stages of my life; although, I don't know if it's because of the stage, or because I just love an excuse to change things up. 

Anyway, tonight I dyed my hair. It was a failure. Notice how the two (before and after) photos are incredibly similar. It was supposed to be drastic. FAIL, FAIL, FAIL.

I am going to have to give up and find a professional to do something about this.

My next hair color is going to be this (or this): 

                                                                    (found here & here)

Or maybe it won't be any of those. I never really know until I tell the hair stylist to whatever they want. I'm not too terribly picky with my hair.

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We made these cute little ladybug picture frames for our Valentine's Day craft at work tonight. 

I made these little bears for the ladies, since using a hot glue gun was necessary.

This photo is incredibly embarrassing, but I told the ladies that I would post it. The quality of the picture is terrible, but I'd like to see you try and keep massive plastic eyes on your face without jiggling the camera.

Tomorrow is our party at work for the residents. I'm so excited! I love holidays. I also love old people. Win, win!

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Being single, I'm not thrilled about this upcoming holiday; however, I have at least one friend coming over on Monday. I have stuff to make cupcakes. I am thrilled. Anyway, my mother is a dear and sent me a beautiful Valentine's Day care package!

Contents include: a heart dish towel, heart socks, poppyseed cake, pumpkin bread, York mints, molasses cookies and popcorn. AMAZING. My mom is the greatest.

She also included some pictures from Christmas that we got done at Wal-Mart. I'm not thrilled about them, but they are decent. This was also before I started my diet, so I can actually notice a difference! It's a small one, but hey, it's something!

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Finally, I adore cupcakes. 

This particularly glorious cupcake has been brought to you by my friend and co-worker, Merissa. She is an incredible baker. This cupcake did a dance in my mouth and I liked it. 

Here is the recipe:

Cinnamon Sugar Cupcakes:

1 box white cake mix- "I make this like the box says and add 1 t cinnamon and bake."

Frosting:

1 pkg cream cheese- room temperature

1 stick unsalted butter- room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

1 t vanilla

2 t cinnamon

Blend cream cheese and butter until smooth- add vanilla and cinnamon and mix well. Slowly add powdered sugar until desired sweetness and consistency!

Thank you, Merissa. You made my night so much more enjoyable. 

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That was a huge post.

Thanks for sticking with me.

I am going to St. Louis tomorrow with Anthony to see Interpol. I AM SO EXCITED. The band is good; Anthony is awesome. I will probably not be back to post anymore until Sunday, hence the lengthy post.

Cheers, friends!

And what does the employee of the month do, you might ask??

Well, as your very own employee of the month, I'd like to share with y'all what I do as a part of the Activity Department at a nursing home.

< Please pardon the quality of the pictures. I'm not a photographer, and I usually only take pictures on my phone. >

I am in charge of the evening activities, and as one of our more recent endeavors, we made candy cane cookies!! Thank you, Aunt Linda, for this Christmas tradition.

If you decide to make these, try buying the peppermints that are already unwrapped. This got tedious.

CRUSHCRUSHCRUSH! Warning: most people in a nursing home don't like listening to you hammer a bag full of hard candy... :/

This takes lots and LOTS of red food coloring...

Aren't they cute?!?! We had so much fun. 

The whole process is pretty self explanatory... I usually make the sugar cookie dough from scratch, but at the nursing home it's a bit easier to buy the packages that only require water. (Haha)

We've been doing a lot of crafts, lately for the Christmas season.

A snowman coaster! I love it.

Snowman jingle bell ornament

Mitten

'Lil penguin!

Clothespin reindeer

Penguin bucket

Snowflake tree

Button wreath (TERRIBLE lighting and camera.. :/)

Anyway, I figured that it might be interesting to share a bit about what I do at work all day. I absolutely love my job; I work for the greatest elderly people in the universe. 

Quote of the week: (while teaching my evening crowd how to play "Fact or Crap") 

Is this fact or crap: It is illegal for people to carry ice cream cones in their pockets in Kentucky.

[insert incredulous looks from around the table]

They all selected "crap."

Surprisingly, this was actually a fact.

M: "Well, I'm going to go to Kentucky and put ice cream in my pocket. And then I'm gonna shove it in their nose."

Cheers. :)