fun – Page 7 – emerald city diaries

my weekend in pictures.

{birthday dinner outfit. the best outfits include a cape & 5 inch heels!}

{commuting home with flowers aaron sent to the office on thursday.}

{sadie giving aaron a “welcome home” hug on friday evening.}

{valentine’s day celebrations thru-out the weekend included heart shaped pancakes from scratch!}

{saturday afternoon was spent antiquing with amanda in pioneer square!}

{my shopping finds: liquor “name tags” on chains – wodka, whisky, cognac & gin, & vintage indiana & idaho maps – like to become a pinterest craft.}

{it is still a thrill to see the space needle.}

{weekly trip to lowe’s. so excited for what is in that box! any guesses?}

{cupcakes!}

{these poor little bulbs didn’t get the memo that it is still mid-february. guess it is taking the groundhog too seriously this year.}

{a little yard clean-up as our flower beds were looking a bit unkempt.}

{assembled my awesome wooden moose head courtesy of amanda all the way from new zealand! thanks, i love him!}

{our house is stocked with fresh blooms in celebration of my birthday & valentine’s day. aaron was so sweet to send me flowers to the office & to the house on thursday!}

{sadie got a bath this weekend & has decided that the hair dryer is pretty neat when it is so cold outside!}

we had a wonderful weekend filled with continued birthday celebrations! thank you for all the sweet birthday wishes via various social media this week – i am feeling very loved. how was your weekend?

happy valentine’s day!

{wouldn’t it be amazing to get a giant heart balloon from geronimo balloons from your valentine? i think i would keep it forever.}

i hope everyone has an amazing & love-filled day celebrating! people ask me a lot whether i like having my birthday on valentine’s day & the answer is a resounding yes! i do feel bad for my husband because growing up my birthday & valentine’s day were two very separate holidays, both celebrated {thanks mom & dad!}, but i really do love it. since i do share a birthday with a holiday, i love that it is a day that is filled with joy & compassion for those around you. where gestures of love – big & small – are made in return for a few x’s & o’s.

whether you have an official valentine or not i hope that you find a lot of love today!

xo M

valentine’s day diy: sparks card & date night jar.

to wrap up my valentine’s day diy {just two days away, eek!}, i have two small projects to share.

first up is a card which is loosely based off of a card i have seen before in stores.

supplies:

short matchstick
cardstock or blank card
thin wire
marker or pen – i love the thin sharpies
construction paper/paper/envelope
washi tape – optional

i cut out a folding card from plain white cardstock. i put the fold on the top edge, but you could put it on the side edge too. then i laid down the matchstick where i wanted it on the card – a bit off-centered – & punched two tiny holes on both sides of the matchstick. then i thread a short piece of wire thru the holes, looping around the matchstick, & putting the ends thru the back of the card. i twisted the wire to secure the matchstick.

then i wrote out “sparks fly” on the outside of the card, & “when we’re together” in the inside. simple as that.

the last project i have to share is a fun valentine’s gift for aaron – a date night jar. we have been talking about the fact that two-and-a-half years into marriage that we don’t go on dates really anymore. at least not like we used to. so, i thought it would be fun to compile some ideas so that when we find ourselves looking for something fun to do, we could skip past the brainstorming & move right to the date!

there are lots of “date night jars” on pinterest so definitely search there if you want some more versions of this idea.

supplies:

short glass jar – i used a mason jar
fat popsicle sticks
acrylic paint – i used festive red & pink
sharpie or marker
felt
twine or string

i started out by brainstorming & writing out all of my date ideas. i tried to make half of them free dates & half of them pay dates. i was with some girlfriends during this process which helped the idea-flowing tremendously, but i tried to think of all of those things that we always say we want to do or only do when out-of-town guests are visiting. then i painted the ends of the sticks {both sides} – red signifying the pay dates & pink the free ones.

then i put all of the sticks in the jar, painted side up. i traced a heart out of felt & tied it onto the jar with some string.

it’s not too late to whip up a fun something for your valentine! do you craft or buy for valentine’s day?

my weekend in pictures.

{i waited for a meeting on friday at platform 9 3/4.}

{met john & sherry of young house love. see the full post here.}

{window shopping at j.crew & found my next handbag.}

{someone told sadie there were treats behind the counter at ace hardware.}

{date night at agua verde.}

{sunday night birthday celebration for our friend andy. dinner was italian family style & it was delish!}

{aaron & the birthday boy. with matching beards.}

{coat on sale at anthro in my size? yes, please!}

we had a relaxing weekend getting a few projects done around the house, but not getting out much due to the return of the rain. boo. we are definitely wishing for spring, though it will be weeks before we will get “spring” weather. how was your weekend?

young house love book signing.

this afternoon amanda & i ventured down to the tacoma home & garden show to see john & sherry of young house love!

{we got there just a few minutes before john & sherry went on stage & got sweet front row seats.}

{i got to hang out with miss m all afternoon – so fun!}

{photo op!}

{we waited in a really long time & ended up at the end of the line after giving up, leaving the line & wandering around the home & garden show, but we ended up with signed books. success!}

john & sherry are exactly as i thought they would be – given their personalities really shine thru on their blog – & were super sweet when we met them, even though they were exhausted after hours of book signing! thanks for hanging in there for us john & sherry!

{sidenote: i was in the works to get them here for a house crash, but, alas, they were jet-setting all over the pacific northwest & we couldn’t make it work. maybe next time.}

have you ever waited to see someone famous or for a book signing?

my weekend in pictures.

{after the electrician was here we had lots of fun unwrapping every. individual. piece of our new dining room light.}

{better late than never: 2013 let’s do this! i think this might be this year’s motto, at least to begin with.}

{sadie could be found here pretty much the entire weekend as we finally had some sun! #sunbather}

{nope, that’s not snow, it’s frost. it was so chilly that frost has been covering everything the last couple of days.}

{shopping for pipe wrenches. there were a lot of trips to the hardware store this weekend to fix our bathroom sink.}

{we had a quick date night at chipotle {in our finest cocktail attire} on saturday night.}

{happy engagement party dave & mary alice! we celebrated the engagement of good friends. we will both be in the wedding party for their fall wedding.}

{after a few setbacks aaron fixed our sink – hooray!}

i am just over a week into the flu & finally feeling better. week one had me down, but i am determined not to let week 2 keep me from being a person again. how was your weekend?

instagram @mishacslower // twitter @mishacslower // pinterest @mishacslower

the day we traded three lights for one.

i haven’t really kept it a secret that the light pendants in our dining room are not my favorite thing in the house {see here}. but, for what they were {a light source for one entire side of our large living space} we kept them without too much complaint.

however, when you are a house owner {or a grown-up or both} & santa asks you what you want for christmas, you immediately start listing domestic things: vacuum cleaner, towels, dish towels, etc. this year i asked santa {very nicely} for a new dining room light!

so i got it & its AMAZING! {there are pictures below, i promise – thanks santa!} we would have hung it right away, but since our current light fixtures were in a really funky place {in the center of the room, yep, the center!} we had to call our handy dandy electrician to come in & move some electrical for us.

after he was done you can see that there were three really nice holes left in our ceiling. it has been suggested that we install a few disco balls {via our dog walker} but i think we will attempt our first plaster patching. yep, that’s right, our ceilings are plaster – bless old homes & their lath & plaster. {thankfully all of our walls have been updated to dry wall, yes!} the good news though, we were told that plaster is easier to patch than dry wall – huzzah!

okay, enough with the rambling, here is our new dining room light. prepare yourself because she is a beaut!

gorgeous, no? it didn’t take me long to find this lovely light as i frequently peruse west elm {mostly online, but the store is lovely!} to see what home goodies i can’t live without. i have had this guy on my wishlist for months, waiting for the day when it would finally grace our dining room!

so there it is, the newest addition to our house. now, is anyone interested in three lovely pendants? i can get you a very good price!

have you updated any lights in your house recently?

instagram @mishacslower // twitter @mishacslower // pinterest @mishacslower

this is not a sponsored post. all opinions expressed are my own.

my weekend in pictures.

{feeling a bit under the weather on friday. stayed home, slept in {!}, watched movies & cuddled with sadie.}

{we took a family walk on saturday thru the ravenna ravine near our house. lots of beautiful moss-covered trees. i froze but sadie had an awesome time playing in all the mud!}

{i have resolved to do more yoga in the new year & started by purchasing a dvf + target yoga mat.}

{we attended a twelfth night celebration at our friends the robinsons. aaron & ben were in festive twelfth night attire with their bow ties.}

{bye-bye christmas tree.}

{we finally dined at rain city burgers after months of hearing rave reviews. it helped that it is only a few blocks from our abode.}

{his & hers tea in teacups from our honeymoon.}

sorry this post is a bit picture-light. whatever bug i have is zapping the photographer out of me. what is your best get-better-fast remedy? how was your weekend?

instagram @mishacslower // twitter @mishacslower // pinterest @mishacslower

my weekend in pictures.

{couldn’t resist this rodarte + sbux mug on the clearance rack!}

{enjoyed delish indian nosh with our friends, the friends!}

{played our new game say anything. thanks david & jodi!}

{grabbed lunch at jimmy john’s. delish but a very limited menu for vegetarians.}

{spent some of saturday afternoon catching up on mags & cuddling with the sade-ster.}

{saturday night dinner & a movie with my husband & grandmother. the best! p.s. this is 40 is a good rental movie…}

{i managed to put a few things from ikea together this weekend despite the often terrible directions. stay tuned for upcoming projects!}

{we sampled some soda with our whole foods dinner on sunday night.}

{lots of tomatoes for a crockpot marinara sauce. fingers crossed it is yummy!}

we had a very busy weekend that went way too quickly! {where did the year go?} i am still trying to get the house back in order after our week away. lots of laundry & new things {i.e., christmas presents} to find homes for. how was your last weekend of 2012?

our house video.

if you follow me on instagram {@mishacslower} you know that a few weeks ago we were part of a video shoot about our house.

our realtor, padraic, wanted us to be in a video to show current & future clients. we happily obliged knowing we could show off the house a bit!

i know a few of you have been anxiously waiting to see the final product & we just got the edit back this week. enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf6v1OD7cuw&w=448&h=252&hd=1]

if you live in the seattle area & need a realtor, we highly recommend padraic!

how did you choose a realtor?