A Weekend Escape…

GRAB A FRIEND, TWO MUGS, BOIL SOME WATER. TODAY I'M ENJOYING A SPICED CHAI.

This weekend was a weekend for a ski vacation... My family and our oldest family friends decided to meet up at Mission Ridge for a little ski trip.  I think we were all in need of an escape- my family suffers from a little problem I like to call the Februaries.  Christmas is now far in the past, but spring still seems a million miles away, and of course school, work, and life always seems to hit hard this time of year.  Yes this was a weekend we all desperately needed. 

So after Friday classes I turned off my phone, left the computer at home, and drove with the girls to meet our parents at the mountain.  It was a weekend of fantastic food, awesome skiing, and fireplace conversation… maybe a few wrong turns in the car- but it’s ALL GOOD! Leave it our gang of geese to take over the hotel lobby and use it as our personal living room for the weekend.  If we weren’t skiing, eating, or sleeping, you could find us hanging out by the fire with a cup of wine or coffee.   I laughed till I cried, Did the Electric Slide on skis at the top of the mountain, and I know I was skiing with the gang because I’ve had Crocodile Rock stuck in my head for the better part of the past two days. (Courtesy of the playlist we’ve been playing after skiing for the past 10+ years) I’m so thankful to have such a loving group of people in my life; this was an escape to remember. 

Valentine’s Day: Not Just for Couples…

Find yourself a cup;  the teapot is behind you. Today I'm drinking Princess Grey.

Valentine's Day. It’s a holiday that’s dreaded by pretty much the entire modern world- with maybe the exception of thirteen-year-old girls.  Don’t get me wrong I don’t hate Valentines Day. I enjoy chocolate and roses just as much, if not more than most girls.  I think it is actually very important to celebrate love.  But truth time? Valentines day is stressful, it has this power over us that can somehow make us worry more about “not screwing up” the gift than the relationship… or in my case, it makes us hyperaware of how much we are not in a relationship.  As a girl who has never had a true valentine, I’ve become a champ at celebrating “single’s awareness day;” there were the handmade mailboxes of elementary school- obligatory valentine for every student in the class, the socks from mom in middle school- still wear them, and finally the annual high-school valentine’s day ham that anyone who was single could take a bite of- kinda gross right?    

So it seemed only right that college would be no exception to this no-valentine rule that had become a constant in my life thus far.  Freshman year, my two best friends Hannah and Chantel decided we needed to do everything in our power to stay close although we were now living in three different states.  We sent each other letters and pictures and when the holiday of love came around, we decided it was necessary to make it something we could look forward to; because who really needs a guy to have a valentine? Am I right? And thus the JoyBOX was born, a care package that as the name would hint, brings a little joy and a mid semester pick-me-up to whomever receives it.

It’s that time of year again, and no surprise I find myself without a valentine… again.  After a stressful and just down-right not fun week; I came home to a wonderful care-package from Chantel.  Not only did she spoil me with gifts- she also themed the box “Things to Remember” which was the perfect inspiration to shake off a tough week. 

Here’s some of the wisdom and the gifts that went with them;

THINGS TO REMEMBER...

• Take a moment to relax and be happy and healthy (Tea/ Emergence-c)
• That life is fruity (Strawberry gum)
• That feeling pretty on the inside makes you pretty on the outside (Shirt)
• To seize the day
• To loosen up (Chardonnay- she’s trying to get me drunk)
• To always be thirsty for adventure (London mug)
• To always be sweet to those who need it (Chocolate Truffles)
• To take your vitamins (Chocolate Vitamins- who knew?)
• To remember what friends are for (Cookie Monster Picture)
• Don’t forget to act silly and laugh like a little kid (Highlights Joke Book)
• To color outside the lines (Crayons)
• To no take life or yourself too seriously, and laugh often

Happy Vday My Loves.

A Chair to Remember

Thank God for Tea! What would the world do without tea? Today I'm sipping some Jasmine Green.

My sophomore year of high school, I was one of two girls signed up for shop class. Admittedly, the only reason I took the class was to avoid taking a second science; I never imagined that I would ever step foot in a shop again. But as life tends to do, it surprised me. At my university, all interior design majors are required to take a furniture design class in which the final project is to design and build a chair. You'd think that since I took shop in high school this would be an easy feat right? Wrong! As much of high school learning tends to do, all my knowledge of tools had left me as soon as I crossed the stage at graduation.

After about two months of designing, redesigning, and hard work (along with a nice pair of biceps from all that sanding), this is what I came up with...