for love of sleepovers

What's in a sleepover that is so thrilling to teenage females? Is it the awkward loveliness of posing for the camera? Is it the assumed permission to pig out on brownies? Is it the late night conversations? Or is it simply the amount of laughter shared together? Whatever it may be, I have to admit, it's one of the best parts of being a girl.

I spent the afternoon yesterday with my dear friend Erin. I hadn't seen her in months and we had so much to catch up on. So we sprawled out on my bed, and talked. About clothes, instagram, blogs, life. And every-so-often she'd slip in an 'I love your room!'. Before we knew it, an hour had passed by and we were running out of things to say.

Erin was anxious to test out my camera and some of my clothes - in other words, she was ready for a photo shoot. The sun was still high in the sky, a few clouds here and there. My favorite time of day. We ran around the yard, posing in front of anything and everything, feeling awkward all the same. And after a few hundred shots, our stomachs were growling in unison.

After a few slices of ordered pizza (I know, how very original), we tore open the brownie-mix box, whisked the ingredients, and threw the pan in the oven. When the agonizing, 30 minute wait was over, we pulled them out to find chocolaty perfection (never mind the crisp edges, which made them easy to eat like watermelon). Saving a few bites for later, Erin and I decided it was time to do our nails.

Now, let me warn you of something - if you ever decide to paint your nails on the screen porch at dusk, your decision may result in exploding nail-art pens, squinting to see if you are even painting the right nail, and missing your nail altogether. This may or may not be related to the conditions.

left: erin's hand (orange with gold sparkles) right: my hand (pink with gold sparkles)

The entire day there had been rumors of evening thunderstorms. Well, more like late night thunderstorms. And Erin and I were both looking forward to watching our movie with sounds of rain and thunder in the background. But how dissapointing mother nature can be - we recieve a full 30 seconds of rain and one, pathetic thunder. How dissapointing indeed. However, even though our ohsoanticipated thurnderstorm didn't arrive, the rest of our evening wasn't as dissapointing. We spent the rest of the night crafting snacks and climbing in bed to watch 'I Am Number Four' on Erin's portable DVD player.

And we didn't fall asleep until 1 in the morning.

What's your favorite part of a sleepover?

p.s. remember I am leaving on Wednesday, when I have my first guest post schedualled. (Sadly, I only have 2 guests posting for me, but I hope you will be kind to them!)

independence day

The beach (ahem, man-made pond) was packed on the hot, summer day. July 4th. It was filled with people who neither had a cabin nor an in-ground pool to relax in - and that included us. I spent the day with a friend of my mother's and her adorable little son, not to mention my own kin. 

All four hours were filled with splashes, laughs, snacks, and sunburns.

 And although the 'beach' wasn't more than a 100 yards wide all around, I managed to find a spot where I couldn't touch. That's rare.

 Later that night, we parted ways and the three of us moved on to fireworks. Gotta have that. We arrived an hour early and still barely found a spot, but we settled in and waited.

 Then, when the sun was more-than-set and the sky was dark, the first one erupted no more that 200 feet away. And this was our view.

Right behind the trees.

Oh well, it as all fun in the end. It was one of the best shows I've seen.

I hope you had a wonderful fourth!

Hey, Soul Sister

So yesterday some friends came over, and I had the pleasure of listening to them perform their cover of 'Hey, Soul Sister' (which they will again be performing Friday for a choral, in-class, talent show - good luck ladies!). And after that, we got some ideas, which led to two and half fun-filled hours of - well, you'll see --

Oh, and before hand, I made brownie cupcakes, but I'm ashamed to say that I threw away the box with the instructions... *shame on me* 

hope you have a wonderful week!

Charming Elephant

everyone needs a laugh now and then...

happy monday everyone!

The Annual Christmas Party

Every year, two of my best friends, Erin and Sonia, come over and enjoy a few presents, treats, and laughs with me. We call this our Christmas party.

I set up my mini Christmas tree and neatly piled the gifts underneath--still leaving space for the others yet to come.

This year, to start off the party, we did something a little different from last time--crafts. You see, my mom has lots of cute, little trinkets that are perfect for making necklaces, and bracelets, and magnets. How could we resist from the little scrabble letters that would look so cute as magnets in our rooms? :)

Photo via Mom

After about half-an-hour of intense crafting, we decided to start our favorite sugar-snack--puppy chow, the 'peanut butter, chocolate, and powdered sugar'-y treat. 

It was good. :)

We did lots of other fun-filled activities too, but I was only able to catch a good chunk of the party through the lens. We played outside in the knee-high piles of snow, talked for long periods of time, and wrote a few short stories.

But the best part, by far, was when the clock struck five, because that was, really, when the party started. We prepared a wonderful dinner, which consisted of rotisserie chicken, green beans, and pickle wraps--most of which was homemade, except, of course, the chicken. After dinner, we started the peanut butter blossom cookies.

Our favorite part of making these each year is listening to the crunch sound they make when you push the kisses into the cookie.

With our tummies full of chicken and beans, we ran to my room for the presents--the moment we had all been waiting for. (I would have taken pictures of the actual moment, but my room is so pink and orange, that there is a weird glow at night that makes the pictures all weird.) Want to see what I got? :D

Next we prepared my room for the final few hours of our night with sleeping bags and blankets galore. Then we ran back to the kitchen a whipped up a platter full of popcorn, puppy chow, peanut butter blossoms, fruit, pomegranate Izze drinks, and a few other cookies from around the house. Once we were settled in to our little 'den', we plugged in the DVD player and turned on 'Flipped'--the world's cutest movie ever.

We were supposed to watch 'Elf' afterwards, but we didn't. Instead, we watched 'Flipped', again.

Yeah, we're just that obsessed. :D

Overall, we had a really. good. time. I enjoyed hanging out with such great friends and sharing such great laughs.

Have you had any parties lately?

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One more thing.

Check out the awesome chain reaction my brother came up with using a few hot-wheels tracks and dominos!