Halloween Bridal Shower

Lets be honest I will do anything for a party. Give me a theme and I will run with it. Our roommate Allyson will be getting married this week and for her bridal shower we thought we would have... a little fun. And boy did we ever.

Welcome! Bohahaahaaaa....

The menu was full of fun crazy food. I wish I had more time but all it all it tasted good.

Balloons for all.

Allyson is helping me make the Dirt Cups. I was that behind that the guest of honor had to help me with the dessert. You cant tell but the kitchen was ATROCIOUS. There were dishes, pans, bowls, food, wrappers you name it was everywhere.

Melissa did a good job illuminating the room giving it that creepy ambiance.

The table settings were awesome. The goblets we scored at Rite Aid as we picked up condoms for Allyson's gift were killer.

ILLUMINATION

Yes that is a picture of Christ. Don't worry we didn't cover his face.

Next time more balloons.

Martha Stewart can kiss my...

This motion sensored witch went off in the middle of dinner when J.Jo started laughing. Her laugh is that loud, I mean great.

Allyson and our landlord Keri

If this isn't the most white trash picture ever than I don't know what is. They are wearing plastic witches teeth and I think they are trying to look scary but instead they look like lesbians. LOL. I love it.

Carrie and I dishing up the soup.

Group shot. It was a fun night that ended with Allyson opening up "bridal" shower gifts. I thought I wouldn't post those picture in respect to Allyson's shy demeanor. Lets just say we all had a good time.

Congrats Allyson!! We will certainly miss you. If you miss us to much just remember we will always have HAGGIS. Luvs!!!

A little piece of the world that keeps me smiling

This guy is good. He was on So You Think You Can Dance but got ousted when

he couldnt dance ballroom. Obviously... look at what he can do... there is no need for ballroom.

I know this video is super old, but it still makes me laugh every time.

I LOVED this song when it came out and I love the video even more. I was introduced to this this number

about a week ago and I don't think the song will ever be the same again... yet its worth it.

There are so many words that describe how happy this video makes me but nothing comes out because

I cant stop laughing. I should be careful though because some day this could be me. No really it could.

Make it work.

On Sunday I committed to the world that I would be a better blogger. I woke up motivated and ready to attack the world. By dinner I had lost that drive. haha. Funny how that works. I had intentions of blogging the events of the last 6 months because I just added the pictures from these events to my new laptop. By night fall Melissa somehow blogged all those specific events in one night. Now feeling less motivated than before I am determined to blog something. haha. There has to be something... right!?!

I got it!! CRUMPETS! One of the foods we got to try in England was crumpets. They are a divine little carbohydrate and taste similar to an English muffin and a pancake. The ones we had in England were from a package but I was sure I could figure it out. (well not sure but secure in my endeavor to try).

Melissa liked crumpets so much she even brought back 2 packages from England and put in the freezer. For her birthday I wanted to surprise her with Sunday morning breakfast with homemade crumpets. Generally crumpets have a circular shape. When I looked up how and were to buy the molds for crumpets they were kind of expensive and only came in packs of 4. Which meant I could only cook for at a time. It would take me all day just to make enough for us to eat. The website mentioned that cookie cutters would work. I was hesitant but like Tim Gunn says, "Make it work."

So I did. And it did. It was actually really easy and tasted better to me. It was by far a fun experience. I love trying new things and I love it even better when they work.

Next food kitchen experience: I have been wanting to try something out of Julia Child's cookbook ever since seeing "Julie & Julia." Whether I do it or not we'll see.

The process

The giant container of cookie cutters I bought. Is was this many or a set of 4. Someone really needs to go into business selling only 8, 10 or 12 cookie cutter sets. haha, I am sure there is a market for it.

The batter. Notice the bubbles. That is a very important part. A necessity if you will.

I cooked them in frying pans because that is all I had. The recipe suggested using a griddle. I am totally going to add that to my Christmas list.

Up close shot of them cooking. The bubbles are supposed to be there.

The finished product. Mmmm! They were good.

A blogging re-birth

The time has come for me to re-enter the blogging world. It has been months. I have plenty of excuses. Let me explain them.

Reason #1: I need a new camera. Don't get my wrong I love my camera, I have had her for 5 years. She has documented many events in my life. I think the day has come to replace her when I whip her out and she is the size of Zack Morris's cell phone from Saved By the Bell. You may be wondering what me needing a new camera has to do with my lame efforts in the blogging world. Well you see somewhere in my subconscious I think that every blog post must have pictures. I know it is silly.

Reason #2: I need a new computer. This reason is closely related to reason #1 for the fact that I have a great laptop but I have had him for 4 years and I am scared to turn him on for fear that he might die. Therefor if I do happen to take pictures I have not put them on my computer, therefor no blog post. Lame I know.

Reason #3: I dont know WHAT to blog about. My life is pretty simple.... sleep, work, gym, church.... sleep, work, gym, church... sleep, work, gym, church.... ya get the picture. I do have to admit I kind of missed it. (shhh dont tell)

Reason #4: This is the most prominent reason. Since my return to the states from our trip to England I have been a little out of it. When we first got back I wanted to jump back into life as usual which for me consists of little sleep, running around do this errand and that errand, cooking for crowds, attending lots of social events and going to the gym.... BUT thats not exactly what happened.

First of all we were told you dont get jet lag coming back to the states. I though "brilliant." Wrong. The whole house was so tired. I felt like I was always sleeping and if you know me I don't need much sleep and have been known to say that "sleep is a sign of weakness." Boy was it ever. I think I slept all day on July 4th.

Secondly I have felt unmotivated. Something I have never experienced before. I think growing up I always had something that would motivate me to the stage in life. This school year to the next. Turning 12, turning 16, turning 18. High school to college. Then college to career and all the steps in between. You may ask why this slump is hitting me now as I have been out of college for over 2 years. I have no idea.

Its been months since we have been back from England and I have struggled for pretty much all of it. This is unknown territory for me. As it probably should be. Your life can only be a cookie cutter for so long before you start to frost outside the lines. With that being said I have got a new computer, a Mac Book Pro. She is beautiful. I think I will blog more just because she is fun to use. I dont have a new camera yet, but it is on my list. Until then my brick of a camera will have to do.

Now that I have aired my dirty laundry for the world to see I feel a sense of accountability. I must try harder. I will try harder. Stay tuned friends....

Note: I do realize I refer to my camera and laptops as him and hers. I don't know why I do that, but I name everything.

Bust England... I mean England or Bust

One week from today (which was actually yesterday because I cant do anything at a descent hour) I will be off to England with my 4 room mates for 2 weeks. I cant not believe how fast the time has gone by. I believe we bought our tickets in late February when it was cold outside and all we wanted was a vacation from work and life.... so the time is come and I feel so far from ready.

I have been meaning to do this and to do that but LIFE keeps getting in the way and I have put a lot of my England stuff on the back burner. Fortunately the most important stuff is taken care of. I have my passport, time off work, money, a plane ticket... new luggage. Ya know the essentials? =)

We will spend most of our time in England but we also get a chance to make it to the Isle of Man and Scotland. Which I am way excited for both. I have only one question? Will a hot Scottish man fit in an average size carry on?

These are pictures of a few places we will see:

The Tower of London is in the background and the
infamous British telephone booth.


The BEAUTIFUL London Bridge all illuminated
with reflections off the water.

Castle Combe in Cotswolds, England. This picture just takes my breath away...
as well as the weight off my shoulders. It just looks so
peaceful and so inviting and so... perfect.

This is the famous picture of the Beatles walking across Abbey Lane.
It has always been one of my favorite pictures and I cant
wait to go to Liverpool where all four Beatles and the band were born.

MANLY BONDING

I have never been one for MANLY movies. Actually I usually fall asleep in them. Recently I have taken advantage of having guy friends. They always want to watch some weird zombie movie or high action packed flick. At first I was hesitant because these movies can be SCARY for one and I hate scary movie but they can also be vulgar and graphic. I finally loosened my chains and looked at it as an experience. I would never watch these movies on my own and if I did I wouldn’t really know what was going on anyway. It’s actually been kind of fun.

Last Thursday nights movie was the Terminator Salvation. I have never seen a Terminator movie before. I used to think they looked completely awful. Just another movie played by a bunch of actors with Little Man Syndrome. I am embarrassed to say I was wrong… well half wrong. Don’t get me wrong the movie was still a bunch of people shooting at each other and blowing things up, but there was a storyline… a point… a plot if you will. I was pleasantly surprised. What surprised me most was the upstaging of most girls precious Christian Bale. I know that might sounds like blasphemy to some girls but it’s just true. I figure why not let the cat out of the bag. I have never been a Christian Bale fan. (sounds of sighs, screams and OH MYs).

I know right? Most girls started the Christian Bale crush back in his NEWIES days when he played Jack the homeless orphan who thought if he made it to Santa Fe, New Mexico all his worries would go away. Haha! Although Jack’s voice would melt my heart it was David, the teenage boy who left school to provide for his family as a newsie that I had the crush on. Once again a fellow co-star of Bale has won me over. His name is Sam Worthington. He plays Marcus a prisoner on death row who donates his body to science in the latest installment of the Terminator movies. He was AWESOME!! He rocked the socks right off of me. He has this little Australian accent that I think he tried to hide but he couldn’t do it very well… so hot. The verdict is out. I am a definite Sam Worthington fan.

Oh yeah the movie was good too. =)

Relay for Life

Hi Everyone!!
I don't usually do this and I have never been one to ask people for money but I am participating in the Relay for Life event on June 12th and 13th. The Relay for Life event is sponsored by The American Cancer Society in which money is raised to help fight the battle against cancer by participants walking all day and all night. Money is raised by those who sponsor or donate money to a certain team.

So you guessed it!! I am asking you to help the cause. Of course I don't want anyone to feel obligated because I hate it when people do that to me. But if you do want to help and feel like you can there is a link below where you can donate with most major credit cards. Also, from there you can learn more info about the event and the role of Relay for Life.

Here's how to donate:
1. Copy and paste the link below into an empty internet browser window.
2. On the right side of the page will be a purple box with my name at the top. Click where is says "Make a gift to support Kaylin Annette Phillips."
3. Then just follow the steps. It will ask for your mailing address, email address and a few other questions.
4. Select the amount you want to donate ($5 is the lowest amount). You can pay with a Visa, Discover, American Express or Mastercard.
5. Follow the rest of the steps through to the end.
6. An email will be sent to you thanking you for your donation with an attached receipt that can be used on your 2009 taxes.

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09National?px=11365086&pg=personal&fr_id=14933




Thank you for all your help!!
Love you all.