Delayed Girl's Night In Post!

This is a long overdue post... considering Girls Night was over a week ago... about 9 days to be exact... {who's counting, right?} and I just wanted to share some highlights and fun times!

It was the first {of many} Pjs & Potluck GNI! It was soooo much fun. The girls loved the elastic waist requirement to be able to enjoy all the amazing food! There was so much good stuff. Good ol' comfort food, pretty appetizers, and amazing drinks!

There are some talented chefs in the group! A table full of sweets too! {Typing this starving is seriously torture!}

The drink of the night is my signature drink. it's really, really complicated. I don't think it can ever be duplicated. It's pretty difficult to recreate... but i'll give you the recipe just in case you dare to try!

Ok. Truth be told, i'm ashamed at how simple it is. I absolutely love this drink during the holidays- i'm not much of a drinker {as in, i NEVER drink...} so it's nice to sit around and actually enjoy the drink in my hand at a party!  Yum. the sugar on the rim is most def my favorite!




It was a lot of fun to have my favorite girls over and enjoy eating and catching up since the weeks have been crazy with finals and all. It was our last GNI of the year! WEIRD! haha, I'm looking forward to 2011 GNI!

I wanted to stick with my "homemade" gift giving kick i've been on, and decided what better gift than a thoughtful one i took the time to create?! that and with so many girls I would have gone broke... haha these were adorable alternatives and they were so simple to make! I have heard feedback {since i gave them 9 days ago haha} and they have alllll been positive!

I had Cookies for Santa for the girls along with homemade sugar scrub- LOVED this! I was shocked out how amazingly easy it was to make these! {I'm a scrub-addict... with all my sunless tanning and need for exfoliating, i have spent a pretty penny buying the best scrubs- i will definitely be making my own from now on!}

It's so organic you COULD technically eat it- but who would want to? Another easy peasy freebie instruction:

 

I had to be a little more personal than just a pretty ribbon... so i wrapped the santa cookies in green tissue paper and hot pink tulle. The scrubs got a personalized label/tag that described each girl. I hope they like it- coming up with different words other than "awesome" was pretty difficult! It was a great night- I hope all the girls had as much fun as I did! There's never a dull or quiet moment and I love them all! 

Hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas Eve Eve! I personally can't wait until Christmas! I'm enjoying all this time with my family and it's been incredible! I'll leave you with a funny classic pup shot...

I've been lazy and haven't been soliciting votes, but i'd love for you to click below, thanks!

GNI {Project 1: Ribbon Wreath}

Tuesday night we had our 2nd GNI with "Ribbon Wreaths" on the agenda! We got the idea from The Long Thread blog- she had a "Halloween" wreath made from black thread. We ordered our ribbon 2 weeks ago and when I received the box i was giddy! I couldn't wait to start! If you couldn't make it to GNI, i encourage you guys to try it!!! I wanna see pics! You can do so many different colors and truly make it your own...

this picture just makes me happy

another one...

Funniest Kayden face- starting GNI young!

Some of the craftiness documented...

India's Taupe Wreath

Manal's Pumpkin + Nu Rust and Tanneka's Taupe + Brown

busy bee's

Emily's 5 color ($50) wreath... kidding

Leslie's Pumpkin + Brown

dun-dun-dun- my Taupe Wreath!

close up

I was supposed to cut the frays and burn the edges, but I'm lazy liking the easy going look. I like it for now, maybe later i'll clean it up :)


I love the way it looks- and once the girls send me pictures of their wreaths on their door- i'll upload them!!! and if YOU try it, please send me a picture!!!!

1st GNI Synopsis...

I am so happy to say that I went through with my idea of "Girls' Night In" and it was a success! (Not that I thought it wouldn't... I don't know how it would with such great girls!) We had a relaxed evening at my place and I even played "domestic hostess" with a chili dip (ridiculously easy- thanks to Ordy's mom showing me how to whip this up real fast) and mmm banana pudding! I am obsessed with banana pudding and hoped that the girls shared the same feelings toward this delish dessert. My sister introduced me to this version of it and I loved it- super easy (minus the fact that I got the NON instant pudding and had it in the fridge while I checked on it every 5 minutes and after 40 minutes panicked and dug the box out of the trash only to see it wasn't instant... yeah...that was awesome). We used the first GNI as a "meet, eat, and greet" and just enjoyed a night in. I was surprised almost everyone showed up and so happy for that -a few girls had last minute things come up and sadly, even sick. We decided on our first official craft project, and even determined our second one! So excited to get the ball rolling!

I LOVE my trifle bowl that Ordy Boy's mom got me- I was so excited to use this! The recipe told me to scoop them in individual bowls/glasses but I didn't want to because I wanted an excuse to finally use it!

I am not gonna lie, I'm second-guessing having it on Tuesday nights... It was hard to put the house together after all day at school, and I was pretty much a zombie. I felt so rushed coming home to do final touches and make the food, I think Wed would give me a lot more time and allow me to host AND enjoy the presence of the girls! We decided on every other week meetings, about twice a month. Once a week was too much, and once a month was too little, so we decided every other week, but we didn't have to do a project or meet at my place, we could do a nice evening at a restaurant or coffee shop- that way the girls that missed won't feel obligated. I understand half the group is married, or has kids, or has a busy schedule, so it's pretty much whoever wants to join can feel free to. But I will announce craft nights well in advance so they can plan to mark it on their calendars. 

Moving along, I don't know how many people read this or even care to know, but can I just say- I LOVE MY NAILS! I decided it was time for "Fall Colors" and went ahead and took a risk and got "dark" nails! I LOVE them! First of all, I am obsessed with "Shellac Gel Laquer", yet another OPI godsend. It lasts 2-3 weeks (3 weeks on mine) and it's only $10 more than a manicure. My nails would have lasted well over 3 weeks, only I was sick of seeing red nails for so long so I made myself go in! I got the dark purple gel on my nails and OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark on my toes... Loving the dark shades!

Can you tell I also love McCafe Frappes??? Cuz I do. I pretty much allow myself the treat every Thursday afternoon around 3 for that extra boost in my day. (Thursday = 9am-9:30 pm class day). Only 4.5 hours left...

Girls Girls Girls...

NOTE: This has NOTHING to do with Paris... I'm just in the hotel room while Ordy Boy works (and won't be out sight-seeing today) thinking about back home and what I need to do when I get back...the school routine etc... and it made me dread that word- "routine".

My sister inspired me to write about this one... She made a great point in her blog about quality time with girlfriends.

It made me realize that these are the days we should enjoy, being young and having semi-free schedules. Most of my friends are married, some have kids, but even then- they deserve a night out! The problem is, I hate night outs... I hate clubbing, bars, and anything that resembles that kind of 'night out'... so it's always been hard for me to 'hang out' the way some people want to. Instead, I would so much rather have a routine one night a week to bake, do crafts, or watch old classics like Pippi Longstocking's, or the Little Princess. I'm fortunate to have friends that agree with me and can find these things as entertaining :)




I mean, I can't promise ours will look this cute- but we can try!



I also realized that we're not getting any younger, and our schedules aren't slowing down. So, I want to propose to my girlfriends to have one night a week once the Fall comes around, where we aren't worrying about school, assignments, or other demands- to just enjoy each other's company and do stuff we enjoy at either my place or any one else who wants to host. I realize that life will have its random occurrences when we can't make it- but it would be nice to know there's always next week...

I was thinking how fun a night would be to just bake and decorate cupcakes. Some people could bring small appetizers and wine and we could just enjoy a couple of hours being us. We could even have themed nights, like a Bollywood inspired night and watch a cheesy movie and have hot pink cupcakes in bright Indian inspired colored frosting... I don't know it will all come together once we decide haha.

I love crafts and so does my sister, but when we partake in them our friends ask later how we did everything, which makes me realize how many of my friends actually like what we come up with- so I think craft projects once a month would be fun. Like the tv frame Ordy and I made, only smaller scale projects maybe... anything that catches our eye in the latest Martha Stewart Living magazine, only on our Hobby Lobby budgets! I love seasonal crafts too and stuff like that is fun to do as a group. My sister and I always have craft/baking nights regularly, but would love to extend the invite to others :)





My TV frame project above, and a potential new project below, "cork board"



I know that once school starts, life is extremely stressful and it seems like I cut out my friends altogether. The weird thing though is that I CAN find time to hang out (I know this because sometimes after class I just get home and veg out on the couch for 4 hours), it's just the coordinating schedules that make it exhausting and make me give up altogether. I'd love to know a night when everyone's free with their upcoming schedules and just enjoy a night of nothing but simple fun. Who needs to spend $40 to go to Sips n strokes and paint something you'll never hang in your house- why not just hang out and do things we WANT to do!?


I can do any night but Thursday :)

For my out of town friends, I am sad this is physically impossible for y'all to be a part of- and this makes my wittle heart sad :(