new year's eve: tradition

For the last however-many-lovely-years, we have hosted New Year's Eve at my parent's house.

It has become one of those parties that just comes together last minute, because nobody really talks about it or plans it, it just happens. People show up and the house gets cleaned and a bonfire is made ready, as if suddenly-bored Christmas elves decided to swoop in and make it all happen so that we can all rejoice in the new year together.
In my blissfully ignorant mind, food magically appears and there's always more than enough (thanks mom and dad!) and the evening goes on without a hitch.
It has to be magic, because everything is glitter and sparkle and happiness.

 New Year's Eve, to be perfect, must have these key ingredients:

1. Caramel Popcorn
2. Family and Friends (sorry, but...yes, you come after the caramel popcorn)
3. Bonfire
4. Fireworks
5. Glitzy clothing

By these unalienable rules, this year was an absolute success.

Usually there's one weird thing...one "this-year-only" specialty that manages to wiggle its way in there.
Last year, it was sushi. This year, it was The Dougie.

Trying to YouTube some practical Dougie knowledge.

It still remains a mystery.
But it sure was fun seeing them try.

The other "this-year-only" was potatoes and jelly beans, but that's another story.


This is one of my favorite views in the world.
The fiery silhouettes of so many loved ones, all gathered together and cozy on a starry December 31st night.

I'll always love New Year's a little more than any other time.
It's a package deal, really - Christmas, New Year's, Anniversary. All in one big bundle, tied with a bright green ribbon bow and showered with glitter. What a time to celebrate.

What are some of your traditions?

It's two weeks into 2013. I hope you're all sticking to your resolutions, and showering blessings on those around you.

In love,
Cait

My Funny Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Even to you naysayers out there, I am happy to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day :)

This year, Dustin and I (but mostly I) wanted to do something fun to spread the love to some of the couples in our lives that have been influential on our views of love, and have made a huge impact on our relationship.

We went out on a particularly chilly afternoon and took some fun pictures outside of our apartment!

With our handy dandy new camera that we got for Christmas, it has been really fun experimenting with pictures! I love it.

I decided to print a few wallet-sized pictures, and make up a homemade Valentine to show our love to our family (and a few friends!).

I also got a Cuttlebug for Christmas, and I've been dying to try it out in cardmaking. I have absolutely zero experience in cardmaking....so I really had no idea where to start. For this project, I wanted to keep it simple. I vowed I would only use things that I already had in my apartment, a.k.a scissors, glue, sweetheart paper (that i had gotten years ago for a scrapbook project), a "delight in the little things" stamp, stickers, cream cardstock, and the plain white letter envelopes that we already had.

(Of course, that all went out the window when I saw some adorable glittery hearts and rhinestones at JoAnn's the night before I sent these out!)

So anywho. This is what I came up with! I had to do a thin rectangle card to fit in the boring envelopes, but I actually like the way they turned out. I hope you do, too!

They were all just the slightest bit different.

I finished them up by adding a pink ribbon with a little XOXO tag :)

They were a lot of fun!

I look forward to many more cardmaking projects in the future! :)

Our agenda for today is simple and fun, with lots of good food!

We're heading to Dickey's Barbecue Pit for lunch (Fried Okra, here I come!) with a mystery destination for dinner. I'm thinking it's somewhere we've never been before, so I'm excited! There's a lot of uncharted food territory for us in Lynchburg still, so it's fun to check great places off our list, and compare them to our favorites!

I really love food.

After dinner, we are debating between seeing The Vow and The Woman in Black.

Should we go for Romantic, or Scary?

It's a tough one.

After all, we did watch the entire Die Hard series on our honeymoon -- so we're a little unconventional.

Anywho!

I love you all and hope you have a fun-filled day, single or not, to celebrate the love that is in every relationship that we're blessed to be a part of :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

In love,

Cait