Game Night!

For years a group of my friends has gotten together almost every Tuesday night at some bar around town for bar trivia. Everyone seems to be really busy lately, and it hasn't happened as often. A few Tuesdays ago we changed it up and some of the group came over to my house for a throw back game night! We had three games on the table, including a Saved by the Bell Game, and Girl Talk, but we ended up only playing the gem that is Hearth Throb! Do yourself a favor and check out the incredible commercial: 

You might have seen Kimmie's post about it, she is the one that brought it over, and let me tell you, it did NOT disappoint!

The idea of the game is to guess who your friends would have a crush on based on the photos and traits. You start out looks only, then with each round you learn more about your prospective soul mate. I think we ended up playing 6 rounds! It was so fun we didn't even need to change it up. There was a short karaoke break in the middle though.

I liked making everyone pose with their chosen date

Ryan was VERY good at the game. He won almost every round!

I think this might have been Kimmie's face upon learning that one of the potential suitor's bad habit was "his fly is always down." Some of the other bad habits were "Is always whining about something" (we all thought that was terrible) or "has warts on his back" (which was a deal breaker for everyone but Ryan, who said "Warts can be removed!")

Danny there turned out to be a hot commodity. No only was his nickname "Muffin" you can see he can't wait to get married and have a whole bunch of kids. I feel like there was also something about him wanting to skateboard across America. Or was that the guy who was "A hopeless romantic and prone to falling in love." The makers of this game really know how to get to the heart of 10 year old girls!

IT was a pretty great night. And made me want to start having people over again. I'm already planning my next game night!

Fourth of July!

a fourth of july family portrait!


i really need to invest in a tripod so i can get us all at once.

we spent the day with our bffs crystal and marc.

we went to captain d's because it was red white and blue!


we could not stop laughing about how crappy it was. thomas met us there and was like 'this place is so expensive!" and we were like yeah, and the fish isn't very good. neither are the fries. or the mac and cheese....or even the hush puppies. haha. look at that yellow plate!


thomas brought over this game he got when he was a kid. it is called FORBIDDEN BRIDGE!

it was so fun! we kept changing what it would take to win because we were having such a good time. you are an explorer and you have to get across that bridge, get a jewel, and put it in your canoe. if you press on that tiki idol thing it shakes the bridge and throws people off. we were laughing so hard we were crying! we will definitely bring that game out again.



i made a cake. it was really good if i do say so myself. it was a martha stewert recipe that calls for whipped egg whites in the cake. so yummy. and vanilla cream cheese frosting. i was going to make it so there was an american flag inside when you cut it, but i turned all of the second batch of batter blue instead of just half. maybe next year.


we made apple/green pepper/pesto pizza and it was perfect! then we watched deathly hallows part one. we didnt even try to see any fireworks, or shoot off any of the ones i brought. it was a low key fourth of july but it was a great day.

New Years Eve 2010

here finally, are my pictures from the best new years eve i ever had!

so a few weeks before new years crystal and i started talking about plans, we had been saying we would go to PLAY and dance all night. but we are both really shy and awkward and knew if the club was packed we probably would just stand around and not have fun. so crystal said "let's make my basement into a club!" and we'll have a party monster theme!

marissa was in charge of hair/makeup.

i wish i had a more fun outfit. maybe next year i'll branch out and get a glittery party dress. but i loved my hair! i should be brave and tease it up more often!

thomas came and put together this hilarious outfit. afro wig/pirate shirt/king pants/gold bowling shoes. haha. he also bought TONS of snacks for the six of us. probably enough food for 20 people.


so in the basement, marc had hung up sheets so you could't see any of the storage stuff. then we had a disco ball, a strobe like, and one of those rainbow spinning balls. and black light bulbs in the regular lamps. we put on pandora's "RuPaul Radio" and just danced for about 5 hours. it was so freaking fun!

it was also fun to take pictures in front of the strobe light. i will try not to post a thousand of them.







we took a dance break and played blokus.

then went back downstairs and danced til almost midnight.

then we watched the ball drop and screamed. i love new years.

Little Rose

so we are still totally obsessed with rose. she is pretty much all i seem to take pictures of lately. haha.

we've not been getting on the internet at home lately, and keeping the tv off and it's been amazing what i've been getting done. i think we're going to try to keep it up.

crystal and marc came over for dinner last night. it was really fun.

this used to be my favorite meal. i still love the pea/mashed potato combo. and i like sitting at the table to eat instead of in front of the tv. i think we'll do that more often.

we played a round of yahtzee. but it involved too much planning/thinking to be a good party game. so we played catchphrase! marc and i were on a team and won twice.

i made a big mess making dinner. but it was so fun. we went to see evil dead at midnight after this. travis told me it wasn't scary at all but of course i freaked out. hahah. nerd.

i missed murray's cateversary this year! i can't believe it! well now he is two! and still my little cat boyfriend. i'm hoping there will be some rose/murray in the same room action soon!
rose didn't mind though. she loves to sleep on the couch.

Backyard Cookout

it's been in the 90s the past few days and i hate it! the air conditioning is out up by the registers at work so i sweat all day, then sweat the whole way home in my car with no air conditioner. horrible. it makes me very whiney.

on friday thomas forced me to have a cookout. haha. he bought everything for it. now i think he understands wh we don't do it all the time. it's expensive!

here are a few pictures.

got marc to man the grill again. travis burns everything. haha.
there is that silly sunburn. it looks bad in real life, but it doesn't hurt at all.
my friend lauren gave rose this little hoodie. it has a monkey on it! so cute! we ended up having to put her inside though. pugs get overheated really fast and it's just too hot for her to be outside longer than it takes her to go to the bathroom.we get thomas to do portraits of everyone for their cups. he did this at my bachelorette party (of course he came to it!).
brittany as a ghost/vampire.

dinner was really awesome. veggie dogs and potatoes grilled with onion and garlic.

then we played catchphrase!!! which might be the most fun game in the whole world. we had to stop playing the electronic one because we played it so many times we all knew the order of the clues.

so catchphrase is mostly just laughing really hard. especially at moments like:

dana: the sound a lion makes!

kyle: oohhhh! ahhhh! (apparently he thought she said audience)

i love my friends so very much. they are like family to me.