My blogging is all sortsa out of order from real life right now! I've been trying to get as much done in the small amounts of time I have each day, so chronology is not something I'm worried about. [It's currently my 12th hour in the office for the day after 16 spent here yesterday. Not complaining because I know I love my job and I'll have a reckless weekend to make up for it, but this is the excuse I use for lack of blogs.]
Do I still have ya? Okay, phew. That was close. ANYWAY.
I've shared things from Plogerpalooza before. It's my family's epic annual party. Multiple bands. Yard games. 200+ Jello shots. Belly flops. Rocket car racing. A moonbounce to sleep in. Classy white trash dancing in the driveway. And this year- coozies and a "photobooth."
My brother finally edited his first GoPro video to show ya some of the fun, but the truth is: No videowill ever do it justice.
Here's a look at my ghetto DIY photobooth. Some streamers, a tripod, a camera with a timer, and all sorts of props in the box beside it.
As always, so many props to my parents who are forever young and know how to throw a good party... and obviously taught me my ways of living! :)
I've been wanting to do a swap party for a long time, and now that I'm back home with a bunch of my girl friends, I've been super antsy for the past couple months.
The idea: Everyone brings over a bunch of clothes they don't wear much of for whatever reason, and then you pick through them! At first, you or everyone might be apprehensive when you're picking out clothes to bring, but don't be! The more and better someone brings, the more they'll walk away with! and hopefully you'll walk away with things you'll actually wear more than once.
There are a ton of ways to do this, but here's what I did:
Send out an invite. I say to invite as many people as possible, or you can keep it smaller. Explain how everything works, and tell them to bring a dish or beverage to share.
Decide if you'll have a limit on things to bring. I said to bring any clothes or accessories. You could open it up even more and have people bring home decor, or just anything they want to get rid of.
Decide on a system. I expected ten people to come, so I came up with a trade and raffle system. I said we'd have two categories: For trade and for donation. The trade items would only end up in a new home if the owner received something they thought was worthy of a trade. The donation items would find a new home with someone here or where I take them afterwards. To keep it orderly, I got some raffle tickets. Everyone would get one ticket per item they brought to donate, and we'd pick the tickets out of a bowl, and if it's your number, you get to pick from the collection!
Set up. Make sure you have plenty of space for people to move around, lay out their clothes, and try things on. I had my bedroom for a changing room with a mirror, and another big mirror in the living room. I also bought some clothing racks to hang things on. [They're only about $20 and could totally be taken back afterwards if need be.]
Have everyone over, mingle and warm up to strangers, then get to it! At the end, you may be able to have everyone just go through the 'leftovers" after the raffle is over.
Unfortunately, I had a ton of people back out last minute [that lead to a bit of a Twitter rant about people not knowing how rude that is], but even with only three people coming over, we had a ton to choose from! I was a little iffy about seeing some things of mine go [and shocked that some of them didn't], but looking at what I ended up with.. I'm not mad!
My loot:
black and white chiffon tee, metallic/floral peplum top, Jessica Simpson purse, floral/fun dress, jean jacket, heart tank, sequin skirt, and scarf...
tan blazer, striped dress, pink cardigan, striped tees, green skater skirt, and zipper denim dress
Besides getting a bunch of new clothes, it's also fun to get stuff I wouldn't normally buy. The peplum, dresses, and jean jackets... I've always looked at that stuff but have been apprehensive about buying it. Now they were free!
And when it's all over.. put the leftover clothes in a box, and take them to a donation center! Unless you have a cat that it attached to them for some reason, of course.
Have you ever done one, and done it differently?! Let me know how you did it!
This is the most simple, but most necessary party item I think I have ever seen.
If you're planning on having any parties this fall, you must have a homemade pumpkin keg.
It's the easiest thing ever. Carve a pumpkin, stick a spigot in it, and fill it with Octoberfest beer. And then be the coolest party host your friends have ever seen.
Just when I thought I had seen or thought of all the possible pumpkin recipes, this gem comes into my life. Looks like it's time to start planning a party.
Happy Super Hangover Day! [As I dubbed it last year, anyway.] Apparently 1.4 million people will try and call out sick today. Luckily I get to lay in bed all day and recover from this food hangover.
Instead of going over everything all the other websites are recapping, I shall share with you how I celebrated Super Sunday, and my favorite moments of the game and the aftermath.
I had a couple people over for a homemade pizza night with some snacks and 6 different kinds of beer. [Each person brought a different kind, it was neat!] My choice: the new Bud Light Platinum. You better believe I felt really freakin' cool every time those commercials came on. Plus! The bottles are so pretty! I can't wait to make things from Pinterest with them!
Hell YES I was wearing Redskins stuff! Including my "Hail Yeah" earrings! And I wasn't the only one repping a team that wasn't in the game. Say hello to "Party Girl" from the station and her ugly shirt:
Now onto the important things: The food. I made this delicious Beer Cheese Dip that I found on Pinterest [duh.]
It was REALLY good. People couldn't stop scarfing it down. I did have a little leftover this morning, and the beer flavor was twice as strong as it was last night. So if you do make it, and you want the beer flavor stronger than the cheese, keep that in mind.
We also did a pizza night, where I bought 4 doughs and sauce, and then each duo of people makes their own pizza with their favorite toppings, then you share and try everyone's! It's super fun and super easy! [And really not that expensive, either!]
That's an olive, pepperoni, and pepper pizza, a barbeque chicken and pineapple pizza, a buffalo chicken pizza, and your average pepperoni pizza. All of them- SO GOOD.
As for the game- I'm pissed. I was definitely rooting for the Patriots, but whatever. We won't get into that.
The commercials: I'm kinda obsessed with the "Here WeGo" commercial for Bud Light.
I'm also super pumped for the new M&M. She is SASSY! And the alcohol may have helped, but we totally LOL'ed at this commercial.
And then there was Madonna. Ugh. What a let-down, right?! It could have been so epic, but, it just wasn't. I think the dancers were more epic than her, her fall, or MIA's stupid, selfish finger.
Now, before any of us get entirely too sick of one of the greatest American holidays, I need to go wake-up my roommate and take care of my house's hangover. Hott damn it's a mess down there.
love, elizabethany
PS: If you wanna ruin your day with the most awkward picture of the Super Bowl, click here.
I could have helped you by posting these absolutely amazing items that are 100% necessary if you plan on having the best St. Patrick's Day party ever, but that would have been cheating. Instead, I shall use it as a checklist.
So... If you have any of these items, you're pretty cool. If you have most of them, I think we should be friends. If you have all of them, I bow down to you, and you and I need to be BFFs. Pronto.
1. This T-shirt. It may not be the weekend, but who really cares when you're drunk?! It's fabulous, and it absolutely nullifies the don't-wear-stupid-logo-shirts rule.
2. Das boot. Duh. How can you honestly say you're havin' a bangin' drinking party without it?!
3. The Hopside Down glass Just because it's cool and different, and the host shall never drink out of a Solo cup. You're better than that.
4. Reef sandals with built in flask. This is absolutely the most important thing on this list. You thought your bottle opener sandals were cool? That's so last decade.
5. Beer mug purse C'mon... It's a holiday! You've got to get decked out, even if you look absolutely ridiculous.
6. Spinning beer pong rack Ummm... AWESOME. I'm so bored of regular beer pong. Spicing it up is way better. Spinning rack?! Fannntastic.
7. The Bongzilla 6 beer bongs all in one! It even has it's own stand, and stoppers! This is the most beautiful piece of drinking fun I've ever seen.
So... Holler if you have any of these pieces of gold. I'm still looking for something to do tonight, and I'm open to anything involving such fun.
Everyone always tells me I'm an idiot for sticking with PCs, even after all the trouble they give me time and time again. I never really had any reason for not switching to a Mac other than the fact I'm broke... That is until now.
While Steve Jobs is busy coming up with some new product that apparently does everything and has the entire world laughing about its name, Bill Gates is doing one of my favorite past times at Sundance: Dancing on a table.
Is that a fist pump in the last one?! Oh man. It really IS taking over the dancing world! I need to perfect mine!
Anyway, now that I've realized why I'm okay with the fact that Windows Vista has crashed on me 6 times since starting to write this post, I can only imagine the magic that would happen if I attended the same party as my rich BFF.
He likes me! He really, really likes me!
Take THAT, Steve Jobs! Let's see YOU dance on a table!
The Super Bowl is coming up and since the halftime show won't be exciting [as usual], and the post-season is also not too exciting this year, you're going to need to put a little effort into your Super Bowl party.
So, here I am again, coming to save the day! Giving you two things that should absolutely be in attendance on February 7th.
Why explain the need to have this?! Could it get any more perfect?! Delicious salami to munch on in the shape of your favorite pigskin ball! Imagine the football crackers, and maybe cheese cut out in the shape of helmets with the help of cookie cutters... OMG!
Everyone is going to have beer at their party... The trick is to have magical beer. Magical beer= beer that floats, spins, and is lit up. Sure, it doesn't serve much of a purpose other than looking cool, but sometimes that's what ya gotta do. I can only imagine a beautiful Blue Moon floating and shining like the top of the Chrysler building.
Stay tuned because I will absolutely have more for you as it gets closer! You can't have the most kickass party around without the most kickass items.
