College Family Day

Today was family day at the college my daughter attends and my husband and I were invited to the Kappa Delta luncheon with her.

 
It was in the new sorority house.
 
 
 It was nice and quiet and the food was rather delicious.
They served us BBQ with all the sides and cupcakes made by the sorority sisters. 
 
 
After lunch, we decided to take a walk the Starbucks in the Student Union for a pumpkin spice latte. 
 
 
 Here is my husband and daughter picking at each other on the way there.
 
 
After getting our caffeine fix, we noticed they were having an International festival over in the distance and so we took another walk.
 
There was art, food, music, history, and dance representing different parts of the world.
 
 
 We got a chuckle out of the fact that the college is made up of so many different nationalities, it was hard to tell who were students and parents or who were representatives.  
 

The Bratwurst really looked good here in Germany.
 

 
 Not sure what they were writing for everyone here in Pakistan but everyone was lined up for it.
 
 
This guy had this little girl singing. So, cute.


 
 People dancing
 
 
Here I am at China. "I think I rock the hat. haha".
 

I was unprepared for this event and due to the crowd, it was hard to take any good pictures or taste any of the foods but it was fun.  Having lunch and hanging around with my daughter was the real treat.

Graffiti Train

Coming home the other day, I noticed beside me across 4 lanes of traffic was this train going really slow with some amazing colors painted on the sides of most carts. They were vibrant in color. Some had words, some had pictures and couple cars were 3/4 covered with cartoon type pictures. The cartoon characters reminded me of the kids on the old Fat Albert show. (telling my age here).

I thought this was a great opportunity for a photo, so I quickly found a place to turn around and go back so I could pull over somewhere and get some pictures. I missed the good ones but was able to snap a few shots of some toward the end of the train.



I always loved looking at trains go by simply because of all the graffiti on them. I think its a unique art that somehow expresses someones thoughts or opinions from somewhere. They use any flat object as their canvas.  Id like to know more about it and what alot of it means and how to tell where it came from.



 

Graffiti has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. Graffiti means writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place. Gangs use graffiti to mark there territory. I still thinks its interesting. Id love to see this train come by again so I can get some shots of the really good stuff I saw. But until then, Ill have my camera loaded and ready.

How do you see graffiti? do you see it as art? or vandalism?

Twenty-One

Today my girl turned 21.
 
 
I can't hardly believe it. It just seemed like yesterday that I gave birth to a healthy 7lbs. 13oz. 21 inch long baby girl. She was the best thing in my life. And still is.

Its sad to see her grow up but she has become a beautiful, smart, young lady. She is strong. She is easily intimidated but not persuaded. She's a college senior with good grades and has even made it on the Chancellors list. She has Christian values and moral standards. She makes us proud. We are best friends. We share stories and even clothes. There is nothing I would want change about her. Well, I take that back. If I could keep her young forever, I would.

I usually make her a cake every year but for this milestone birthday, I decided to actually buy a plain iced caked from the bakery and decorate it myself. I didn't have much time so I came up with something kind of quick to do. I used decorating gel to look like spilled wine, and added a few fake flowers (washed first of course).



 
 
I wanted to find a theme that represented her being a legal adult. Ok that scares me a little. But again, I remind myself that shes smart.

The family all met up to celebrate at a local restaurant. We let her pick the place. She chose Captain Steves seafood restaurant

 
My Husband had Grilled flounder

 
I had flounder and oysters.
 
 We all had a good time and the food was delicious.

She will be celebrating all week long, ending next weekend with all of her college friends and sorority sisters taking her out to celebrate big!


"Happy Birthday Daughter, we love you."

DIY Gift Bow

Have you ever had to wrap a last minute gift and just hated to go out and buy a bow somewhere just to be torn off later? Well, your gonna like this. I came across a great idea on making my own with an old magazine laying around and attempted the task.


Go get a magazine, scissors, glue stick and stapler and make one with me.

Here we go....

I found a fishing magazine. Who don't love little fishes right?


I tore out a page (magazine pages are slick and shiny)
Cut 13 strips (top to bottom of page) about 1/2 inch wide.
Leave 3 full length
Cut one inch off 3
Cut two inches off 3
Cut three inches off 3
Cut the last piece down to about 3 inches long (this will be your center loop)

 
With 12 of the strips, fold into a figure 8. Use glue stick to hold in place.
With the last strip, fold into a circle and glue to hold.


With each 4 sizes, place together like a flower and staple the middles.


Then place each flower inside the larger flower and staple all together as one bow.
Then glue the circle loop in the center to finish off.

 
Now you have a little bow to use.

Secret: This was my first one. I'm sure they will get better with practice. 

I think these would be really cute made with recycled maps or newspaper too.

I've shared this on:
nifty-thrifty-tuesday on coastal charm
made-by-me-49-linky-party-and-features  (Featured)
lil-luna-link-party
blog-stalking-thursday at thecraftyblogstalker
under-100-linky-party at beyond the picket fence
craftionary's friday-fun-party-and-features
make-it-yourself-monday

Mail from the North Pole

It may be to early to talk about Santa but I just wanted to share this.

The other day I just had to complement a facebook friend on his beautiful singing voice and kind heart. Believe it or not, he goes by Storybook Santa. He is the best Santa around and just happens to spread his love to the children at a department store at a mall in my City. He is well known by everyone (of course). Children line up to tell him everything they want for Christmas. They all have that excited look on there faces as they get to talk with the white bearded, rosy cheek jolly fellow with Mrs. Claus there by his side.

The other day, I go to the mail box and guess what......
There it was.....


A package from yours truly...Official stamp and all.


Included in the package were two CDs, a letter from Mrs. Claus and a picture. I was really excited. I will share the CDs with my Dad who likes Gospel music and I think he will enjoy it.

It makes me happy to know there are good hearted, Christian people still in this world that work hard to spread kindness and bring smiles to everyone they come in contact with. This man does not know me and I dont even know his real name but I can call him a friend and know he and his wife are good people who use themselves as a witness.

Do you believe in Santa? I asked a similar question back in December and then added my thoughts on the subject. You can find it  HERE.

Storybook Santa has a you tube site you can hear him sing HERE. Sound like Elvis to me.
What do you think?

Crocheted Boot Cuffs

Summer is getting behind us and Fall is moving in. Winter will be here before you know it. Winter is my least favorite time of the year but this year I'm gonna try and make the best of it and try not to whine to much about it. Too me, the less I have to wear, the more comfortable I am. I do not like bulk.

But speaking of bulk, I made these cute little boot cuffs to wear with my boots this winter. Who wants bulky thick socks under their pant legs that are already squished in the boots? Not me.

 
They fit down into my boots about 4 inches and extend over the top about 4 inches, I can wear them up or roll them down over the top of my boots.


For the skinny minis out there, some of these would be great to fill the gaps between your boot tops and legs to add warmth.

I know in some states, socks are needed but from where I live, we will rarely get lower that 35 degrees. So all that thick winter wear is not worth buying.

Weekend Pinterest Fails

I'm a big fan of Pinterest. There are unending possibilities and so many creative artists, crafters and cooks out there!  I love getting ideas and trying them, and if at all possible, I will try to make it just a little different so the maker can still be original.

I came across a recipe and a craft I could not wait to try and then share in my blogging world.

First- The recipe was for "crab ragoons". This is one of me and my daughters favorite things at the Chinese restaurant. So I got the stuff for this easy recipe and did it exactly the way it said to do it. I didn't even add my own trick because this one looked so perfect already.

FAIL!
The cream cheese and crab mixture was perfect and wrapping them into little won tons was easy but cooking them up was just a mess. They didn't want to brown pretty and crispy except around the edges and those ended up being really tough. It could be the brand of won ton wrappers I used or the way I fried them. Maybe and deep fryer would have worked perfect. I still want to eventually ace this one because except for the texture, the taste was there! We ended up eating them anyways.

How mine turned out.

Second-I found this craft idea and shared it with my daughter who is always looking for ideas to do with her sorority sisters. "Write on a white plate with a sharpie marker and bake in oven at 150 degree for 30 minutes and the marker will never come off".

FAIL!
As soon as the plates cooled, I washed them and the writing came right off! disappointment here. She was really excited about this one.

Her plate looked really cute.
 

Have any of you had any experiences like this? I do not doubt the original creator of this recipe or craft, Its just that I could not pull it off.