New York, New York!

I wanted to make a post dedicated to one of my favorite places I have ever been to...New York City!


I have really been missing the city a lot lately.  I would love to go back, especially around Christmas time!  I want to see the famous Christmas tree that was in the Home Alone movies.  I can't wait until next fall when I will be able to just pack up and go for the weekend.

I went in February of this year, randomly.  Did not have to pay for my hotel which was nice. I stayed in the Waldorf Astoria.  Very swanky establishment!  I remember one morning I asked the desk clerk if it was free continental breakfast.  Nope, in face it was $99.  Holllyyyy smokes. They probably thought I was some typical midwest chick.  At least I can get my free breakfast from the Days Inn!


Anyways...

Day One:

After running around pointlessly, we ate at John's Pizzeria.  I did extensive research before the trip...I wanted the best pizza NYC had to offer!  It delivered, and I had a potent apple martini! 

So basically we just ran around amuck throughout time square for the rest of the evening like a bunch of school children.  

Day Two:

Day two started off by going down to sea port.  Any normal person would have went to see the Statue of Liberty...but I opted for the Bodies museum instead...ha!  I have never regretted skipping the old giant statue to see some real human bodies.  I would highly recommend this exhibit to anyone and everyone!  Not to mention there was a Coach store across the street.  I was good and just browsed, I didn't buy.  I could never spend $500 on a purse...I am an outlet kind of girl.  We also did this brain test thing where you connect this head band to your head, and so does another person...in this case it was JD.  There is a ball in the center of the table, and whoever can relax their brain the most makes the ball move.  I won of course, because I have superior brain powers.  I could just be super woman...

No not really.  I'm just the queen of day dreaming, so relaxing my brain is not a big deal for me.  I didn't JUST go to the Bodies museum and the Coach store, I did get to see the Brooklyn bridge.

We then went to The Palm steakhouse that evening.  Also thoroughly researched!  I expect the best on my trips, and it was one of the top 8 steakhouses in the United States, according to the Travel Channel.  The Palm was superb.  Very pricey,  $116 for our dinner. Worth the splurge!  It's not like I get to eat in NYC very often.   We had to dress up though obviously...which is one of my favorite things to do anyways.  So as you can imagine, I was very excited for this dinner.  It involved food, drinks, and over-dressing....some of my favorite things in life! 

Day Three:

Central Park!  I'm very, very sad I didn't get the chance to Ice Skate.  Ever since the movie Serendipity, it has been a dream of mine.  How did I allow myself to go to New York City and not go ice skating in Central Park?  It's a MUST next time.  

Finally, I was a real life Broadway show!  I love, love, LOVE, musical theater.  If I lived in NYC I would be broke all the time because I would spend all of my money on going to shows. 

/sigh.  Anyways, I really miss New York.

In other news, I went for a 22 mile bike ride today with Jake, Brother Nick, Jessie, and Ben.  It was a blast.  My butt is so sore now.  Bloomington easily has the best bike trail in the area.  I love riding my bike through the crunchy leaves!I think I would really enjoy living in Normal or Bloomington.  The downtown area is much better than Peoria. There are tons of neat little shops and a lot of cool coffee places.  The bar scene in Bloomington is top notch (for times I feel like going out, which seems to be nearly never anymore!). So now it is between Bloomington and Washington to relocate too next...  I like them both so much!  If I lived in Peoria again, it would have to be the Heights.  One thing I did not like about Peoria is how it takes 30 minutes sometimes to get only a couple of miles.   I also do not like how hood it can seem at times.  I would much rather live in a nice surrounding area.  

Jake is sitting next to me playing Sim City making himself laugh. He's addicted!  We had very good conversation today while bike riding.  I am sitting here in a black face mask! 

Yes, I look ridic...but great skin comes with a price!  Well...I officially can't move my face because the mask is dry. Time to peal!

Chalkboard/Halloween Wreath/Headband Curls

Here we go!  I was just thinking to myself today how I really wish I had a place to put everything I make or do.  Then I had an AHA moment, some may call it a stroke of genius.  A blog!  Yes, such an obscure concept, I know.  I have had people ask me how to do headband curls and my chalkboard...so hopefully I can pass this onto them as well.  I will also include my wreath I made today...just because I'm excited about it! I actually plan on updating this quite often.  I am a fan of the blogo-sphere.  I also apologize in advance I have no makeup on in the pictures I'm about to share.


First and foremost, can I just take a moment to express how superb the band FUN. is.  I never put together that the lead singer of FUN. is also the front man from the band The Format (also equally as superb).  I finally downloaded FUN.'s album Some Nights tonight, and every single song on it is wonderful.  I sort of became uninterested when top 40 picked them up and everyone decided to jump on the FUN. bandwagon.  I'm so glad I downloaded this album finally! I will probably be listening to it for the next couple of weeks nonstop. Specifically the songs "Why am I the One" and "One Foot."  Yes Yes Yes!!!  I get so excited over great bands...I have to see them live now!!

Anyways...onto the reason for this blog post!

FIRST:  My Chalkboard Calendar.

Supplies needed:
-A photo frame
-Paint color(s) of choice
-Non-sanded grout
-Paint brush

Mix grout with the color of paint you want your chalkboard to be (I used black).  Paint on the glass of the photo frame. Voila!  Chalkboard.
I bought a white, vintage looking photo frame.  I painted the white frame with a really pretty blue color.  Let dry.  Easy! I write the date on mine every day in my office.

Next:  Halloween Wreath

While I was at Hobby Lobby today, I was in search for some sort of attractive Halloween wreath I could use to put on my front door.  After only seeing a scrawny, pathetic looking plain black wreath, I decided to get creative.  Total I spent to make my wreath: $15

I bought a floral wreath from Hobby Lobby, some Halloween themed ribbon, and then some miscellaneous Halloween crafting decorations.  

And did I mention...I had my favorite helper by my side!  Meet Todd the dog!

Todd did a good job of sleeping on my feet and keeping them warm.  He knows me so well.

This project is rather self explanatory and took me a total of 10 minutes.
Wrap the wreath in the ribbon.  I secured with small push pins.

Then I hot glued on the
knick knacks I bought.  Done!  

FINALLY, headband curls.  DUN DUN DUNNNN.

Let me preface this by saying my hair was horrific in the morning when I woke up!  My head looked like Carrot Top met Donna's dad from That 70's Show. However, I did end up being thoroughly pleased with the results in the end.  Sexy beach waves with zero heat damage?  Yes please!  My hair is very thick and naturally wavy, but not quite the beach wave look I was wanting.

Shower the night before.  Let hair ALMOST dry.  Leave a little bit damp.  Place an elastic  headband over your head like so:   Please ignore the half duckface.  Embarrassing!

Next, wrap hair around the headband until you are left with this weird Star Wars looking thing:

Now for the best part...sleep!  If you hair naturally has a lot of body, is extremely thick, and naturally wavy like mine..you may wake up looking like this!

What a great picture of me!  Wearing my poker face in that one.  My hair already looks like Donna's dads in That 70's Show, no need to show my face! 

Don't fear if you wake up and your hair looks like this horrific fro!  All I had to do is spray my hair down with a squirt bottle and run a comb through it, and it ended up coming through! 

I'm tired...it is way past my bedtime!  Finally got it done though...enjoy!  Until next time...