slumber party sunday

Get on your pajamas, and pop some popcorn because it's time for another slumber party! :D This week I have the best kind of treat ever (anything that includes brownies is top on my list!) some 90's line dancing goodness, one of my favorite movies EVER, a super sad and chilling ghost story and some fun truth or dare! Hey, by the way nobody has given ME a truth or dare yet.. it's my own party and I feel left out, lol! Ask me one today? pretty please, with sprinkles and chocolate syrup and whipped cream on top? ;-D

How utterly amazingly delicious do these look?! eep! As if brownies alone weren't good enough, you've got sprinkles & candy on top! And it's on a stick. Things on sticks > things not on sticks. Am I right? You can find the recipe here and whip up some before the party starts! Oh, and that link just calls for generic brownies, you can use boxed or store bought.. whatever.. but I personally recommend my own world-famous state of the art brownie recipe ;-D

The Macarena (haha, yes!) by Los del Rio

Electric Boogie (the electric slide) by Marcia Griffiths

If you haven't seen this yet, you've really been missing out! It's one of my all time favorite mysteries, and honestly any movie that stars Audrey Hepburn AND Cary Grant has to be fantastic, right? And Cary Grant has to be the only man on the planet who, at 60, looked better than pretty much every 30 year old who had lived, was living, or ever would live. I'm sure if we were having a real sleepover, you'd all start making fun of me at this point for gushing over someone old enough to be my grandfather, but that's when I'd just say "oh shoosh!" so we could hit 'play' and ogle Audrey Hepburn's wardrobe... and Cary Grant's smile ;-D hehe! Watch it: Netflix // Torrent // DVD // Hulu // Youtube





Each week I'll post a truth & a dare. You can answer the truth question in the comments, or participate in the dare on your own (and let me know if you chickened out in the comments ;-D) Also, feel free to give me a truth or dare in your comment and maybe I'll answer/do some of them in next week's slumber party post!

Truth: Have you ever had a crush on a teacher?
Dare: Actually do the dances to the songs on the playlist. You know you want to anyway! ;-D

Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice - Rachel from Softspoken

Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice is my Saturday series that spotlights exceptionally sweet bloggers! This week your dose of sugary goodness comes from Rachel of Softspoken! In addition to being a total sweetheart, Rachel is also a renaissance woman with a vintage etsy store and a beautiful accessory shop filled with her gorgeous crocheted creations! (If this one doesn't just scream "sweet!!" I don't know what does!) I'm thrilled to say that she's also going to be hosting a Scathingly Brilliant giveaway soon, so you'll have the opportunity to snatch up some of her lovely designs yourself (stay tuned for more details!!) And I'm super excited that she agreed to share some of her sweetness here today!

i've always loved this photo of my mom, brother and i - even though i look so grumpy in it, and what better than old school olan mills! this day is actually one of the first i can remember having strong memories of. and why was i so pouty? because i'd broken the strap of my top earlier while playing at preschool and really didn't think my outfit was fit for photo taking after that.


i always get choked up at any scenes in movies or on television that have "proud parent" moments or "going away to college" moments. the former because i'm so grateful to have such sweet and supportive parents and the latter because it always reminds me of that transitional time of leaving home and unknown beginnings. either way - it's an easy recipe for my tears.


rum berry punch
(by chef tom douglas from bon appetit, july 2005)

2/3 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
3 cups fresh raspberries, divided
2 cups fresh orange juice
2 cups pineapple juice
1 cup dark rum
1 cup light rum
1 orange, peeled, diced
1 cup diced pineapple
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
ice cubes

bring 2/3 cup water and sugar to boil in medium saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. remove from heat; cool syrup completely. puree 2 cups raspberries in processor. pour puree through fine strainer set over saucepan with syrup. press on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids. mix orange juice, next 6 ingredients, 1 cup berries, and raspberry syrup in glass bowl. cover and chill at least 4 hours and up to one day. strain into pitcher. serve punch over ice.




a few years ago it seemed like this song would follow my man and i wherever we would go - which we thought kind of odd since it's not like a super big hit song or anything - so it sort of unofficially became our song because it was the soundtrack to everywhere we went. luckily it's one we love anyway.


this is a silly little rambling journal entry from when my guy and I were still new to each other and had our first snow together which is one of my most favorite memories:

you called and said it's snowing and i went outside to look and it was and the flakes were big and shocking and falling round and round. i sat on my porch watching them with you on the phone until i went in from shivering and our conversation closing you said i wish i could walk in it and i wished to walk with you and letting you know you packed a bag and came and i dressed to meet you in the snow, yr head rising from yr car and the glint of snowflakes in yr beard, you were so beautiful, i felt them falling against my eyelashes and one into my mouth. we walked round my neighboorhood, middle of the road, i stopped under a street light and stared at the snowflakes drifting beneath it and said i wonder what one looks like, really looks like and you told me not to move so i didn't and i stood there looking up into the light while you snapped photos of me until i was no longer really standing there looking up and instead there i was a photo of myself a moment ago and i began to feel ridiculous so i tangled my arm into yrs and i don't remember being cold then, i don't remember being cold at all and we walked and i didn't want to stop walking but the house came back round and in we went and wished our jobs away with hopes of ice and roads unprepared and stayed up kissing and loving late into the night wrapped in blankets and heaters and each other as if it were already true, but morning came and it wasn't so you kissed me goodbye between the shower and the curtain and left me to my cold day and disappointing roads and remembering a walk in the snow.

Silents & Talkies - Avanti (1972)

I closed up my old blog, Silents and Talkies, a couple months ago and I've been missing writing about movies ever since. I think I've also stopped watching as many movies as I used to when I was blogging about them on a regular basis! So Silents and Talkies is having a tiny comeback, as a weekly feature here :)

Avanti takes place in beautiful Italy, where Jack Lemmon and Juliet Mills (playing a character with the adorable name of Pamela Piggott) are visiting to retrieve the bodies of his father and her mother, who were killed in a car crash in a small Italian town. Lemmon plays a quintessential frazzled American businessman, Wendell Armbruster Jr., who is shocked to find out that his stuffy father had been visiting Italy annually not for business, but to engage in a long-term affair with Piggot's mother.

Pamela's laid back, serene attitude towards the whole situation annoys Wendell like crazy. He's so caught up in the hustle and bustle of funeral arrangements that he has trouble appreciating the quiet beauty of Italy. But his father's death gives him a second chance at life, when he comes to understand just why his dad needed this peaceful getaway, and the company of a sweet, loving girl.

I really can't even count how many things I love in this movie. The scenery is stunning, Juliet Mills' performance is so good you'll wish she starred in 800 movies, and the perfect balance between subtle comedy and poignant drama is remarkable. But I think my favorite part is this scene in the beginning where Juliet Mills opens the curtains, letting the light shine in the mortuary. It's just take-your-breath-away poetic. It looks almost like a classic renaissance painting in Edward Hopper's style, and captures the entire mood of the film in one single shot.

Watch it: Netflix // Torrent // DVD // Rent on Amazon

posh frock friday

dress - asos

shoes - vintage

cardigan - forever 21

belt - forever 21

crinoline - amazon

So, I dyed my hair pink! I liked the idea of a pink wig in theory, but I really love wearing my hair up, and you just can't do that with a wig. So I took the plunge and just decided to dye it pink! I needed to bleach my hair to touch up the red anyway, and figured what the heck? :)

The only problem was that the old red dye didn't get lightened enough on the bottom, so the pink didn't really show up there. I need to re-dye that this weekend! I actually took a BUNCH of outfit photos last Sunday so that if the pink came out hideous I would have a stockpile of pictures to post while I tried to un-do the mess, haha! Luckily I love how it came out (even with the red bottom, it just looks like intentional ombre or something, which is still cool) so that wasn't even necessary! :D

I used manic panic cotton candy pink, diluted about 50% with conditioner (a tip I got from this AMAAAAAZING hair dye post on The Dainty Squid) to get the lighter pastel color. If I can get the bottom of my hair to come out right, I think I might keep this color for a while! It really matches my blog, too! haha! ;-D

Do you want to comment, but have no idea what to say? Trust me, I've been there! So to make things a little easier, here is a question you can answer if you can't think of anything else to say! :)

Have you ever dyed your hair before? If yes, what color(s)? Which was your favorite? I've done blonde, dark brown, light brown, red and dark purple.. and now pink :)