The 80's are bitchin'!

As some of you know, Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. All year I wait until the perfect couples costume comes to me and then hopefully buy the costumes in September. However this year I had NO IDEA what John and I should dress up as this year...time to stress! Right when my stress was starting to peak I got an invite from my friend Ellie that she and her boyfriend were having a joint birthday party with her boyfriend and it was an 80's theme party. How sweet is that? At least now I had some sort of direction for our costumes!

So what do you think??(Nice of me to move the laundry basket out of the way right? At least they are clean clothes!)

We arrived to the party late as we had a Cal Poly football game to go to, but when we arrived the party was hopping!

Steph and Sam gettin' down

Unfortunately Mr. Miyagi's mustache did not want to stay on longer than 10 minutes and apparently tried to make a break for it, but got distracted by the sweetness of the cupcakes.

Mr. Miyagi and the birthday girl...showing Daniel Son his moves.

Rockin' out to some MJ.

What is this? How did this little buddy get on this small wine bottle?

Near the end of the night we got 'rained' out, but luckily it stopped before we had to bike ride home.

Goin' to the Chapel

One of my good friends, Molly, was planning a big wedding next month and asked me to be one of the bridesmaids! I was really excited to be a part of her special day, as we all know how much fun weddings are. Unfortunately some complications arose, which caused her to call off the wedding a month before the date and elope instead. However a week later she announce that the wedding is still on! She is unfortunately not going to have any bridesmaids or groomsmen, so I won't get to get all dolled up and wear my guava dress...but I am REALLY thankful that I even get to be there on one of the biggest days of her life. I would have been really sad if I had to miss it.

At the time of the party planning she was still eloping, so we weren't even sure if brides who elope have the pre-wedding parties, but we decided to have them anyway since they were already planned. Two weeks ago was the bridal shower in Sacramento. It was a lot of fun and surprisingly went off without a hitch (with only 2 weeks of planning).

The one thing Molly told us she wanted was cupcakes. So we took that and ran with it making it a cupcake cake themed party.

Our friend Amy was in charge of the food, and let me say she made the BEST finger sandwiches I’ve EVER had! They were really tasty.
Molly’s boss offered to make the cupcakes and I’m so glad she did. Everything was from scratch and they were really good. She made red velvet, chocolate orange, and raspberry lemon.

Click photo to enlarge

Molly also got some really nice gifts. Is it bad that I’m posting a photo of the gift I got her? I can’t help if its if super cute. Molly is the BIGGEST fan of bacon that I know, so when I saw these cards on cakespy I HAD to get them for her.
Her boss came through (again) by making this frame out of Molly’s grandma’s china. (Molly was getting rid of it at a garage sale, and her boss bought it). It was such a sentimental gift and even more special as molly never thought she would see the china again.
This past weekend was the bachelorette party here in SLO, and let me say I am still recovering from it! (Post coming soon)

Summer Time Tradition

This past weekend we attended our 4th/5th(?) Atascapalooza. Our friend Molly (AKA Miss Wild Child) came down for the second year from Sacramento for the festivities. I don’t think this year was quite as eventful as last year, and I think that is due to the fact that there was less misgiff for Miss Wild Child to get into. I wouldn’t necessarily say she was more well-behaved I think there were just less items for her explore.

They had a piñata again which I think Hans gets the most enjoyment out of. They also had the egg toss again, and I really wanted to decline because I did not want to loose. We won last year…why not go out on top? Yeah it wasn’t that easy. I swear I had never been that nervous for an egg toss before…granted it was only the second one I’d ever been in, but still! There was a lot more riding on this because EVERYONE wants to beat the best right? Lucky for us Miss Wild Child was not in the race this year so I thought we had a chance. It got down to 3 couples and what do you know? We won again! I still can’t believe it. Now I really hope John will let me retire. He also decided to smash our egg (again) before our victory photo. Oh well…I guess a new tradition has started.

Other than that it was a lot of lounging around in the nice North County heat. I guess I should call it warmth because it really wasn’t that hot. Here we are relaxing:

I think Molly is throwing up a 'M' for Molly?

Us with the hostess and her latest addition.

Fastest Weekend Ever

This past weekend John and I headed up to Fortuna for our shortest visit to date. I think we were in town for 31 hours. No joke. Needless to say I have been so tired all day today.

One of the main reasons we headed up north was for my friend Katy's baby shower. She is due in 2 months and let me say she looked like she was maybe 5 months! Here she is setting up an AWESOME cheese spread.Here is a group shot of all the ladies.Here is a good shot of Katy's belly and our super cute cacti party favors that she made.It was so great to get together with my old high school friends. Normally we are lucky to meet once a year at Katy's Christmas Cookie Party so this was a real treat. I'm just sad that I live so far away from them.

While I was partying it up with the ladies John got to spend some time with his family out at his parent's cabin. I did get to see all the kids that evening, but I didn't take any photos. I did however receive their latest professional photos which I will hopefully scan.

On our way out of town we drove by this sign:Not that exciting right? Well it wouldn't have been if I hadn't of designed this logo for a local business that looked like this:

Look familiar?

Look Out Below!

So I must eat my words and give Molly some props, because after her FABULOUS weekend here in SLO, she was finally inspired to blog! Now I won't say anything here on my blog about her entry, as I gave her my 2 cents in my comment.

I have one more photo for you..this is one of Steph's photo of the egg toss in action!

I'll Have What She's Havin'

This weekend was just FABULOUS and a huge part to the fabulousness was due to Molly coming to visit! It had been way too long since she had been in SLO town. She really posses all of the great qualities of a house guest. She's flexible, relaxed, game for whatever, opinionated when needs be, always in good spirits, likes to eat, takes showers, wears cute clothes, leaves the toilet seat down, and is always ready for a good time. If there are any other good characters, trust me, she's got them.

One of the main reasons she came down from Sac this weekend was to attend my friend Steph's party, Atascapalooza! I must say that this year was the best year yet. (This was my third year attending). Hans once again had a GREAT BBQ with tri-tip and hot dogs, and there were plenty of good side dishes as well. I was able to make my award winning fudge, and John made some bred pudding cupcakes which were also a hit.

Molly, Steph and I

The Drexler's also hired the same three man polka band as they did last year, and I must say that they are a fabulous addition to the party. They play great hits from the 70's, 80's, and 90's, but with a polka sound. As John said, 'I never knew the accordion was to versatile!'

Here is John and Molly rocking out to 'Fight for your right to Party.' I actually missed Molly singing the chorus, but there is still some sweet rockin'.



They also played 'Roll out the Barrels,' which I don't know if I've ever heard before, but John and Molly totally knew the words! I don't know if it was a Town School thing or what, but I was totally out of the loop.



Molly also liked the drummer. She did some detective work but found out that he was married. Total bummer, but that didn't stop her from dancing to him.
Another highlight this year was the Atascapalooza Olympics. There were three events: egg toss, bean bag toss, and hay rolling. When John and I signed up we saw that Steph was signed up with her sister and that Hans didn't have a partner. We told Molly that she would be the perfect partner for Hans so she signed herself up with him without even asking. It was pretty funny, but Hans was glad has he didn't even know that his wife wasn't going to be his partner.

The first competition was the egg toss. I was pretty excited, but I don't think I had ever need in an egg toss before! Eek!! Once we started I started getting so competitive! I wanted to win so badly that my heart was beating really fast and I was totally breaking a sweat! It was just a stinkin' egg toss and I was acting like I was in China going for the gold! Did I think I was Shawn Johnson or something?

I guess my concentration paid off, because John and I did win! I was totally shocked! I actually think our egg had an extra thick shell, because a couple of times the eggs landing was not so soft.

Before I had a chance to get a photo of our winning egg, John had already smashed it. The winners and their poor little egg:
Later we noticed some sidewalk chalk for the kids, so John encouraged Molly to show us her artistic skills:
Now get your minds out of the gutter! She is drawing a flower! Can't you tell from the look on her face?

After Molly honed her skills she discovered a tiny briefcase near a teenie tiny chair, and decided to check the scene. What did she find? A boccie ball set!
Here's just a cute photo of Molly and I laughing. No story behind it.
Another exciting event was the cowboy boot pinata. Do you see something wrong with this photo?
Are you wondering why that giant is standing near all those hobbits?
That is right...he was in the line for the pinata! Look how much taller he is! Check out my added white line...most of the munchkins are only as tall has his waist. At least he was blind folded. Here is a video of gigantor in action. Notice two things...the dog...and who gets the most candy.



Did you see who got the candy? Just in case here is a still shot for you:
Can you believe he was in there fighting with the ewoks for it? Granted he did knock the thing down, but still...all of the little mini mes deserve a lollipop!

A little later in the night Molly spotted a gnome in the camp site, who was sporting two glow bracelets. I assume he just returned from a rave? Anyway Molly decided to go visit with the guy and see if he wanted to go home with her. She only got about 10 feet away with the little guy when we hear an eruption of 'Hey! That lady is stealing our gnome!' I guess she wasn't as sly as she thought she was. They totally looked offended of the attempted thievery and promptly took him back. At least we made off with the little guys glow bracelets.
We never got around to completing the last two events of the Olympics, so guess who was crowed the champions?
That is right! Here is John getting awarded his medal. However do you see what is going on in the background? Do you see who is back there throwing up the peace sign with a GOLD MEDAL around her neck? That is right folks! Molly totally stole one of the medals, and was running around saying that she and Hans won...even though they were the bronze medalists! I swear...the things some people do for a little glory.

I realized that after we got home we did not get a final photo of the champions, so we had to get one last shot when we got home.John and Molly then played a bit of joint guitar hero to round out the night. here they are getting pumped!



I can't thank Molly enough for coming down this weekend. It was such a great, fun, and lazy weekend, which I totally needed. Thanks Mols!!

Hit Me!

As it continues to rain cats, dogs, penguins, tigers, elephants, trucks, and tanks, I thank the lord that I had two silver linings this week. First it was Project Runway, (recap coming soon), and second was my monthly book club meeting!

This month the group read a book I had suggested, (which John suggested to me), called 21: Bringing Down The House. The book was really good and I even finished it in like 4 days! Let me tell you that I don't think I have ever finished a book that quick before.

As some of you may know, there was also a movie made from the book that my sister-in-law worked on. I have yet to see it, but I have only heard bad things about it. I know! I'm so disappointed, because the book was so good that you think they could have pulled off a good screen adaptation.

Last month Jen hosted the meeting and it had a great India theme to it...so great that it inspired me to have a Vegas/casino theme for our meeting. I found some really great, and cheap, party supplies online and also made some cute cupcakes.

Even since I added this cupcake blog to my reader I have been so inspired! You would not believe the things people do with cupcakes now days. I had never even thought to use my cake decorating tips on cupcakes...duh! Also, why not decorate each cupcake differently? Who says they all have to look the same?

Here was the end result:

This photo also includes the hurricane drinks John made that were a tad too strong, so they had to be blended. I don't know what he was trying to do to my fellow club members! I think he was trying to make them have a meeting they really would forget!

Here is a close up:

As you can tell I also do not have one of those fancy cupcake holders, which I was disappointed about, but my three tiered stands that I use for my fondue fountain worked perfectly!

After we ate and discussed the book, it was then time to test out blackjack skills! I really wanted to see what the ladies had learned after reading the book, so I tried to make the game as professional as possible. That of course required me to hire a professional dealer.
We had tons of fun playing, and Stephanie totally kicked our buts by doubling down and winning both hands. (I even had a Vegas themed gift for her.) I'm hoping all the ladies had as much fun as I did. It was a much needed pick me up after the last few weeks!