How to Have the Best Lip Sync Battle Party

A few Friday nights ago was my lip sync battle themed 30th birthday party. To say it was fun would be an understatement. Of course in all the excitement I didn't take the time to take proper pictures of the set up (just me and my friends rocking it out), but I still wanted to share with you what I did to pull off this fun party. 

First things first, most importantly you need music! What I did was have as many friends as possible give me the songs they planned to sing at the party and created a YouTube playlist but I also left it open for friends to sign up for songs the night of since many of them saw how much fun it was and wanted to participate. 
I was lucky enough that I had a friend who was a DJ and I borrowed her equipment for the party BUT there are so many other options if you don't have DJ equipment or want to spend the money on a DJ. For example, speakers like this one project amazing sound as well and can be set up for Bluetooth so you can just use your phone!

The next important item on your list is props. You can't have a lip sync battle without microphones (I purchased a pack of toy ones off of amazon)  but you also need fun props for your lip-syncers and the crowd to have too. I went to the dollar store and just walked around and grabbed random items like bead necklaces, glow stick bracelets, glow stick clappers, noisemakers, crowns , feather boas and so much more. I also purchased a 12 pack of sunglasses for everyone to grab while performing or taking pictures. 

The biggest hits of the night were definitely the glow stick hand clappers I bought from the dollar store. If you can't find them, these would work out good too, since my friends just seem to like to make noise. I encouraged everyone to grab some kind of noisemaker at the start of the evening and made sure to make noise after each lip-syncer went so that everyone encouraged everyone else on. 

Lastly, what's a party without party favors? Everyone got one of these  party favors, because everyone participated, those who chose not to lip sync got to be the judges to determine who won the award that I bought for the winner, which wasn't the greatest of awards but it was still pretty fantastic. 

Throw in some good food and drinks, fun friends, and good music and I promise you will have the best lip sync party ever! 

End of the Week Roundup

It's been a while since I've done one of these posts! I used to enjoy doing them because it reminded me to be grateful for the little moments from each week. 

1. Friday night was dinner with Aunt Penny and Uncle Chuck. Good food and great company is always the best way to start a weekend!

2. Saturday I spent the day sewing this romper together for a friend's baby's 1st birthday. I got the pattern off of Etsy. The first few days after I made the romper, I'm not going to lie I couldn't stop looking at it, I loved it so much. It was my second time trying a piece of clothing and the first time it turned out as well as it had. I definitely plan to make more to sell soon. 

3. Sunday was spent working on more sewing projects, like this t-shirt quilt in the making and a bear, while Dave installed our new window. 

4. Monday afternoon I met the teacher that I will be student teaching with and she seems really cool, so I have a feeling it'll be a great experience. Monday evening was the last teen book club I'll be hosting. I decided to step down a few months earlier because I knew there was a pretty good chance I would be student teaching. Next month we will meet one more time to have a goodbye party. This month we talked about the last book in the Divergent series, Allegiant. 

5. Wednesday night we went out to dinner with my in laws since it was my father in law's birthday. The meal was delicious!

6. Thursday night I was back at the school I'll be teaching at for "Meet the Teacher" night. It was really fun to meet a few of the students and chat with my host teacher. I'm very excited/nervous for what is to come!

That's all for this week, how was your week?

End of the Week Roundup

This week has been a rough one. For the most part, every bad thing that happened would not have been a big deal if it had happened on its own but when it happens along with a bunch of other bad things, it makes for a bad week. It's during weeks like this one where I am reminded of the song "Lonely Day" by System of a Down when the song ends with "Such a lonely day, and it's mine. It's a day I'm glad I survived". I think I can definitely say I survived this week. 

1. Saturday wasn't all bad. It started out rough with my hairdresser cancelling on me because she was sick (understandable!) and the receptionist at her salon not being accommodating to me at all (not understandable). After she felt better my hairdresser called me and squeezed me in next Thursday. Anyway, not the point of this bullet, I also met up with my cousin and we had a crafting day. We decided to try out the arm knit scarf and I think it turned out great!

2. Tuesday a deer hit my car. Well I should say that a man driving in the opposite direction of me hit a deer which then sent the deer into my car. I cried for the deer. I cried for my car which has never been in a major accident in the 8 1/2 years that I've had it. I cried for the shock of it. Then I moved on. Dave, being the awesome husband that he is, picked up the rental for me while I took his truck to school for the evening. I, being the unobservant wife that I always am, crushed the flowers he left in the truck to lift my spirits by throwing my purse on top of them and not realizing they were in the car until I got to school. I'm an ass, I know, thanks.

3. My Quilts by Nicole page hit 200 likes on Thursday (yesterday). I definitely needed a good boost yesterday morning and that did the trick. I was so happy I held a quick one day giveaway and gave a bear away! Speaking of bears, I also finished the She-Ra bear that I shared with you guys last week. 

4. Also occurring on Thursday: Me catching Squish practicing for America's Next Top Model. 

5. I know it's not the "same" but I kinda know what parents are talking about when they talk about how cute their kids are. This is going to be creepy, but I'm okay with that, but I swear my cats are so cute they could be models. Please judge me silently or behind my back. 

That's it for this week, thank God it's over! How did your week turn out? 

Bacon Jam

This year I decided to gift homemade bacon jam to friends and family for Christmas. I mean come one, it's a jam made with bacon! This recipe is very simple, so if you have any last minute gifts that you need to come up with, this would be something you could easily whip up.

I found this recipe last year in Martha Stewart Living and decided that I was going to make it this year for gifts. The one thing that I would have to say about this recipe is that you are going to need a ton  of shallots. If you think you have enough, add another two bags. This jam is delicious with crackers (with or without cheese!), or just eaten right off the spoon! MSL suggests serving it with aged cheddar and crostini which sounds like heaven to me. 

Bacon Jam Recipe, from Martha Stewart Living


What you need:
-1 1/2 lbs sliced bacon cut into 1 inch pieces
-2 cups finely chopped shallots (MSL says 3 large or 8 small shallots will do the trick, it's more like 5 large and 10 small)
-4 small cloves garlic, chopped (about 1 Tbs)
-1 tsp chili powder
-1/2 tsp ground ginger
-1/2 tsp ground mustard
-1/2 cup bourbon
-1/4 cup maple syrup
-1/3 cup sherry vinegar
-1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar

What you do:

1. Spread half of bacon in a single layer in a large skillet, cook over medium heat, stir occasionally until browned. Transfer to paper towels to drain, remove fat and repeat with remaining bacon, reserving browned bits and 1 tablespoon fat in pan.

2. Add shallots and garlic to pan and cook over medium until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add chili powder, ginger, and mustard and cook, stirring together. Increase heat to high, added bourbon and maple syrup. Bring to a boil, scraping up the browned bits. Add vinegar and brown sugar and return to a boil. Add bacon, reduce heat to low, stirring occasionally until liquid reduces to a thick glaze, about 1o minutes. 

3. Transfer mixture to a food processor and pulse until it has the consistency of a chunky jam. Refrigerate in an airtight container at least 1 hour and up to 4 weeks.  

I put the jam in these jars to give out to loved ones for gifts. 

I Had a Simpson's Themed Wedding

Based on this title, I know what some of you are thinking....EW who has a cartoon theme for their wedding?!? And that's fine, having a unique theme like The Simpsons isn't for everyone. Our wedding was, in my opinion, still elegant and classy, but with a touch of fun because that's what we are, fun. I didn't want a hoity-toity wedding, I wanted my guests to feel comfortable and have enjoy themselves. 

I've watched The Simpson's my entire life. I literally can't remember a time where I didn't watch them. They've always been one of my favorite shows (Squishee is even named after the drink from the show!). Luckily for me, Dave is also a fan and has been since he was a kid too, so for us, it was the perfect way to incorporate a little bit of us into our wedding. 

We didn't have a full blown nothing-but-Simpson's wedding. We had a few touches of Simpson's theme, along with a color theme, which was royal purple. 

I found a cake topper on eBay that was Homer and Marge in wedding attire, which sat atop our cake:

For seating table cards, my mom, mother in law, and I all searched high and low for Simpson's Pez dispensers and taped the guest's name to the body of the dispenser. 

Each table was named for a Simpson's character and each table had a picture along with a figurine. The table cards had a picture of the character and then the guests name, followed by the character's table name. So for example, you'd have a card that would say Joseph Smith followed by Moe Syszlak's Table. 

My mom, who is ridiculously talented, painted a pretzel tin to look like a Duff beer can, where guests could deposit cards. 

Finally, when Dave and I were introduced, they played Green Day's version of The Simpson's theme.

And that my friends is how I had a Simpson's themed wedding! 

Easy Housewarming Gift

A friend of mine recently moved into her own place, I wanted to do something nice for her to celebrate so I stopped at my local Walmart and grabbed a few items to give her a meaningful gift. 

The entire thing cost me just a little over $15 and only took a few minutes to put together. I could have easily spruced up the jar a bit more by adding a ribbon to the handle, or putting a few decorative items inside the jar. For this particular gift, I really wanted to keep it simple.

What I really like about this gift is that you're giving the person things that they may need when they first move into a place, but may not necessarily have readily available. Dish soap and sponges are probably the last thing on anyone's mind when they're moving, but probably one of the first things you need when you're trying to unpack your kitchen (trust me when I say I've moved into plenty of places that needed a thorough scrubbing before I could start storing my own items). And the candle in a relaxing lavender scent is a great way to relax after a long day of unpacking. 

I think the only thing I would have done differently was buy a larger glass jar. I debated between the half gallon and gallon jar and ended up going for the smaller of the two. If I had gone a bit bigger, I could have put the dish soap in the jar with the rest of the goodies and it wouldn't look so much like a side note to the gift. 

Here is the total price for this super simple, but nice gift:

Half gallon glass jar- $4.97

Wash cloth- $1.77

Sponge- $0.96

Candle- $4.97

Dish soap- $2.83

Total spent-$15.50

Easy Powder Room Update

First and foremost, please forgive the quality of the photos. These were taken about two years ago with a cell phone...

I really wanted to update my downstairs bathroom. Its a tiny little room that needed to be personalized and decorated nicely but I just could not figure out what I wanted to do. I really struggled with what to do with this room. My mom had mentioned putting chair rail up in her dining room and it hit me that this might be a nice way to update my bathroom without having to completely revamp everything. And it was so easy and quick to do, we finished it over a weekend. Here is the before pic:

Ignore the lines on the wall, Dave put them there because I am a very visual person and I needed him to draw them so I knew 1.) what it would "look" like with the chair rail in that spot and 2.) I needed to know the highest point I could paint up to. Here is the after pic:

Big improvement, right?

So what we did first was paint the room, up to the first line and let it dry. We painted two coats, one Friday night, then one Saturday afternoon. Then Sunday we put up the chair rail by cutting it to length. To do this, you will need to measure your bathroom walls and stop at your local home improvement store and cut the chair rail that you need. I would recommend cutting more than what you measured to be on the safe side.When you get home, cut the chair rail down to the appropriate length, cutting at a 45 degree angle so the edges connect nicely. I would recommend that if you do not own a chop saw, which is a tabletop saw, rent one from your local store for the day. You can cut the chair rail using a handheld saw but your lines won't be as clean and it will be more labor intensive.

Once you have your chair rail cut, nail it to the wall using a compressor and nail gun, using preferably an 18 gauge finish nail that is 2 1/2 inches long. Make sure your nail is a minimum of at least 2 inches. Again if you don't own a nail gun, just rent one for the day. Once your chair rail is up, you will need to caulk the nail holes and the top edge of the chair rail and seams (the part that connects one chair rail to another). 

Lastly, we painted the chair rail white (we bought the rail that was not pre-painted because it is cheaper and we had leftover white paint that we could use) and let it dry. I added the rug and toilet cover after it was all dried.

So here is the breakdown of how much it all cost:

Chair Rail- $1.48/linear foot--we needed about 14 feet so it cost us approximately $20.72
Quart Paint (for purple section)- $12.98
White paint (for Chair Rail and touch ups)- we used left over from previous rooms, but if you had to buy it you probably wouldn't need more than a quart as well, unless you had to repaint the upper part of the wall too
Caulk- $2.28

Total- $35.98

If you want to add in the new rug and toilet cover I bought to match everything here they are:

Rug- $9.87
Toilet Cover- $7.97

Total Cost including added decor- $53.82

Not bad for a whole new look, huh? It's been two years, I still love the way my bathroom looks. I think it helps I really like the color I picked, which is Gothic Amethyst by Behr.

If you liked the sink, here it is. I didn't include it with the revamp because we put it in when we first bought our house and it was already in when we did the bathroom makeover.