It'sa me, Mario!

Last friday was my older brother's birthday (he turned the age of officially old!) and I decided I wanted to go all out when making his birthday cake.  It didn't take long to settle on a Mario cake, as much of our childhood was spent with his hands on a Nintendo controller and me looking on as he fought Bowser.  (when he DID let me play, I ALWAYS had to be Luigi...but that's a story for another day.  I'm not bitter, I swear.  Not.  At.  All.)  I've worked with fondant a bit, as I worked at a cupcake bakery for awhile in college, but this was my first big girl attempt at fondant cake.  It only took all of Friday, until the wee hours of 2am, but I was able to make something pretty cool I think!

I'm not gonna lie, watching the cake getting cut into was a BIT painful.  But he really liked it, so the 2am delirium was definitely worth it! 

Music Monday-Cold War Kids

For the first time in far too long I've been able to pull out my cardigans and the adjective "chilly" when interacting with the weather as of late.  While I'm certain it will return to scorching just as soon as I settle into chilly, the change in temperature has firmly planted ideas of fall in my mind.  Fall has always been my jam, my favorite season for sure.  Cooler temperatures, school supplies, changing colors, cardigans, my birthday month.  And I always find myself changing my music wardrobe at the same time I pull out the hooded sweatshirts.  I'm not 100% ready to retire my summer tunes (I've still got a few more windows-open-sunglasses-on car jam sessions in me!) but I've already started listening to the more mellow fall material.  The stuff that makes you turn inside and think think think.  Cold War Kids fits that bill perfectly, and has been on repeat in my Itunes for the last week or so!

Flashback Friday-Family

My grandma and great aunt--not sure about the date!

I find it so interesting to look through old family photos--the fashion, finding what is different and what is the same as the world I live in, seeing the people I love in a time that I didn't know them.  I've come to realize that the essence of a person always shines through despite their age or appearance--signature smiles, or in this case--cranky faces!  I think I make that same face on a daily basis.

Petit Ecolier S'mores: A little bit of French heaven.

Please excuse the dorky video.  I was a bit bored and filled with insomnia the other night, so I had a bit too much fun with iMovie.  I'm still learning how to use it, despite having owned my Macbook for almost three years now, but I am obsessed with the pixie dust text.  I think the world would be a happier place if sparkles were used more copiously.  Ke$ha and I have that theory in common, I believe.  I mean, I don't know here personally, but her incredibly insightful and thought-provoking lyrics "Go insane, go insane, throw some glitter, make it rain" have led me to this conclusion.

My name is Manda, and I have an addiction.

Ok kids, it's time to get real.  I am addicted, hardcore, to...accessories.  I would say this problem has been going on since....well, since birth.  There's just something so exciting about the pop of color accessories can add to your outfit, and it's really the place where you can get away with crazy and unexpected.  You remember that board game Pretty Pretty Princess?  I have NO CLUE how to actually play the game, but I have vivid memories of bartering over accessories with my friend until we were COVERED in plastic heaven. Actually, come to think of it, I don't think much has changed since then...I still don't pay much attention to how I SHOULD be doing something, and I do my not-paying-attention with at least 5 accessories on.  (Grown-up-hood, I have arrived.) My accessory of choice often rotates, from necklaces to earrings to rings to headbands to bags to shoes to sunglasses.  Which is most definitely my current obsession, as I have bought several pairs of wayfarers this summer:

In my defense, you really do need them in every color!

I really am like a three year old, with an out of sight out of mind problem, so I like to keep my accessories in view when I'm getting dressed in the morning.  Including my prized headband collection:

As prized as "purchased in Target's kids section" can be

The only problem with this brilliant solution is it made me realize I had far more warm colored headbands than cool colored.  Oh yay, another excuse to buy more headbands!  (Good thing the Target kids section is so economical!)


My addiction runs so deep that on most days I have an accessory in mind BEFORE I pick my clothes.  You don't know how many times sleepy 6am Manda has thought to herself "I really need to wear my pink headband today...ok, that shirt isn't horribly offensive when paired with it."  Sometimes I get sad when I go out at night, because I can't wear the sunglasses that would match my outfit perfectly.  Sad, guys.  SAD.  Over SUNGLASSES.  (This is the part where I SHOULD be realizing how pathetic this reaction is, but instead I'm revisiting the outfit in my head and...the sadness...here it comes again...)


To be honest, I don't really see myself changing anytime soon, and I will probably be the 82 year old woman rockin a flower headband and assorted other crazy sparkles all over me.  But seriously, how can you not appreciate accessories?  I can't be the only one who picks accessory first, outfit later, right? Right? ....Bueller? Bueller?

It's not stealing if it was already on the ground, right?

The scene: Saturday night, on the red line.  My biffle (that's what we cool kids call our best friends) and I had just waited 20 minutes to transfer to a blue line train to head off to Wicker Park for a concert, only to have the train finally arrive filled to the brim with Sox fans.  No room for you here, North Sider.  So we tucked our tails and headed back on the red line to regroup before heading to another show in Wrigleyville.  (Thank goodness for knowing about lots of shows!)  I was feeling a little down about the CTA (may have tweeted some disparaging things about the blue line) when we got on the red line to see that someone (perhaps a someone just as frustrated as me with getting from point A to point B) had ripped down the El map hung in the car above the door.  After a few stops of watching people trample the map and debating, I decided that it had to be mine, fear of contracting diseases pushed aside.  So I picked it up, rolled it up, and a day later framed it to hang in my apartment!

I'm really excited to have a part of my city all to myself.  And don't worry, I windex-ed it before framing it to ensure that all of the El germs were gone.  Also, my trip to Michael's was quite a happy one, as all frames were buy one, get one for 1 cent!  I took that opportunity to get a few more frames and frame some show posters I've been meaning to hang up for awhile.  The results of that:

Eventually they will be added to the wall above my bed, which currently looks like this:

Heh, you probably think I make my bed all the time.  That would be false.

So in conclusion, $2.25 can buy you a cranky wait for a train, 20 minutes amongst Sox fans, and an El map!  Also, Michael's is the coolest.

Music Monday-Foster the People

Steps to a happier Monday:

1. Put on your dancing shoes.

2. Press play.

3. Dance like there's no tomorrow.  Suggested dance move: the running man.  But it's not my place tell you how to groove.

Crafting Yarn Globe Decorations

I've looking for something to hang from under my fireplace mantel, after decorating like this for Christmas and liking how it looked:

The answer came to me, as it usually does, while surfing the internetz and finding directions for how to make globes out of yarn.  I decided to give it a shot!  Here's how to make it happen:


What You Will Need:

Yarn, white glue, balloons, and spray paint

How to Make it Happen:

1. Cut many, many, MANY strips of yarn.  The lengths of the strips will vary depending on how big of a globe you are making, but I made my strips long enough to wrap around the balloons at least twice.  (It helps if you force your brother to cut the strips because you get bored easily, but I guess that's an optional step.)

2. Blow up a balloon to the size you'd like the finished globe to be.  

3. Make a mixture of 1 part glue to 1 part water.  I put the glue mixture into an old paint tray, which I found to be helpful in covering the yarn in the mixture.

4. Cover a strip of yarn in the glue mixture, and then wrap it around the balloon.  For the first few strips I found it best to start at the tied portion of the balloon, and then go from there.  Repeat with many strips of yarn!  Be sure to wrap some horizontal pieces as well as vertical, and always tuck the end of the strip of yarn into pieces that are already on the balloon.  

5. Tie one long strip of yarn to the top of the yarn-wrapped balloon.  Then hang the balloon in a spot to dry for 24 hours.  This is the improvisational solution I came up with:

Why yes, that IS a broom balanced precariously between the first aid container and a bookshelf.  Classy.

6. After the yarn has completely dried, pop the balloon and remove it from the center of the globe.  A word of advice!  Before popping, slide something between the yarn and the balloon to unstick the two surfaces, because the glue has stuck the two together.  I used a pair of scissors, but anything like a pencil would work as well.  If you don't do this step, you run the risk of the yarn collapsing with the balloon and leaving you with a deflated yarn mess.  Not that I learned this firsthand or anything....

7.  If you chose yarn that you already like, you're completely finished at this point!  I wanted a painted look, and also went for the cheap boring white yarn, so I completed the additional step of spray painting the globes.

Spray painting outside

Using a tree branch worked out well...and made me realize that these would look really cool as an outdoor decoration too!

Once you're all done painting them, hang them up and then marvel at the beauty!  A pretty simple and inexpensive way to spruce up a space...

Music Monday-Andrew Belle

I saw Andrew Belle at Anonapalooza, a festival in Geneva this past Saturday. It was one of those perfect laidback summer concerts--sunglasses on, grass in your toes, sun setting behind the stage--and Andrew Belle's performance was the perfect soundtrack for the evening!