Fun Archives - Page 26 of 75

A Non-Traditional First Birthday Gift

August 1, 2012/2 Comments/in Fun, Photos /by Megan

A few weeks ago one of my best friends’ little babes turned one year old! Hooray for toddlers! Welcome to the world of broken everything and lots of whining and temper tantrums! Luckily, it’s also the world of “I love you mama” and huge hugs and recognizing animals and all sorts of other wonderment, which pretty much makes up for all the bad stuff.

I knew I wanted to give them something special for their little one’s big day, but since they live in a tiny apartment in NYC, I figured any toy or gadget would just take up space they couldn’t afford to lose. I thought about giving them a book, but I knew they had a ton of reading material already and, again, there’s the space issue. I wanted to get them something personal, but I’m not much for monogramming or embroidering blankets, so that was out. In the end, I chose a super simple idea that turned out amazing! Personal, sweet and won’t take up too much space…behold, an Instagram canvas!

I snapped this picture of their little family while waiting for the subway when I was in NYC in May. I loved how it was an unplanned moment (right after this shot, we tried to pose some, but this one turned out the best) and it totally exemplified their lives in the city. Making the image into a canvas was so simple. There are tons of ways to go about it, but I ended going to Acme Gifts in Manhattan, Kansas, when I was in town for family events. I took my phone with me, uploaded the image to their computer and a week later, tadaa! A beautiful canvas. I loved using Acme because they are locally owned and they had examples on hand of Instagram images on canvas. I was worried that the image would turn out pixelated, since Instagram dramatically reduces pixels when it compresses your images, but on a 12×12 canvas, it looked great! Having those examples on hand squashed some of those fears.

Another shop I’ve used for canvas in the past is Canvas OnDemand. I’ve never done an Instagram canvas through them, but their larger canvases are great quality and reasonably priced. Plus, they have Groupons a few times a year, so I try to get those when I can to lessen the price a bit more.

I wrapped the canvas pretty simply, using Kansas City newspaper clippings (which I knew they’d get a kick out of in NYC) and red and white bakers twine. I attached a little homemade card, where I used some of Elise’s stamps to personalize it a bit. You can see the final wrapping here (it’s the main photo on the weekly wrap up post).

There you have it, a simple, easy first birthday gift, that is personal and will be loved for years to come! Happy Instagramming!

Daredevil

July 31, 2012/0 Comments/in Fun, Lucy, Trent, Videos /by Megan

While spending time at the lake has always been fun for our little family, it can sometimes be, well, a bit boring. My parents have a pontoon boat, which is lovely, but slow and with the kids being so little, it’s hard to get them excited about putting around the lake at 2 miles an hour while they overheat in uncomfortable life jackets. Lulu is just now getting to an age where she likes being on the boat (mostly since she can now wear a skiing lifejacket which is lighter and way more comfortable…see here for an example of how uncomfortable it can be), but when it’s so hot outside, as it’s been this year, we pretty much all want to skip the boat all together.

Enter, the newest lake toy, a jet ski! I’m as surprised as you are that my depression era parents sprung for a jet ski, but apparently my sister and her husband are very persuasive (thank goodness for siblings!) and convinced them it would be a good buy and a way to get people out at the lake more often. I was worried Lulu would be scared, since it’s loud and she’d never been on anything like it before…but holy moley, was I wrong. She LOVED IT. When she and Trent first went out, we could hear her laughing all the way from the other side of the lake. When I rode with the two of them (it’s a three seater), all she wanted was to do doughnuts over and over, while flying over our huge wake. She couldn’t get enough!

On their last time out on the water, Trent took our little underwater HD video camera with him and captured some video of the fun. They were going so fast the sound was horrible, but I think you can still tell how much fun they were having. Viva la jet ski!

Happy Olympics!

July 30, 2012/3 Comments/in Fun, World /by Megan

So the above picture very accurately describes what we’ve been up to the last few days (and plan to be doing for the next week or so). Good god, I freaking love the Olympics! Who knew I was so passionate about archery? I didn’t…but the Olympics sucked me in. And the swimming. Oh goodness, the swimming. Between Michael Phelps’ will-he-or-won’t-he-be-good-since-he-smoked-pot-and-took-a-few-years-off drama and Lochte’s ridiculous American flag grill (you’re a hot, hot man, Lochte, but you’re making yourself way less hot with that grill) I am glued to the television! And the girls swimmers are so adorable and strong and fast and they all have the best teeth, you know?

Then we have the gymnastics. Oh, the gymnastics. Have I ever told you all how obsessed I was with the “Magnificent Seven” back in 1996? So obsessed that when they did a world tour the year after the Atlanta games, my sister bought us tickets and I cried. CRIED. Lu is so excited for this portion of the program that she keeps cartwheeling everywhere. Last night we stayed up way too late watching those insanely strong little girls (really, they are tiny little girls) fly through the air. In fact, I feel like we may have a few late nights in our future.

So, since I didn’t have time to come up with a post, due to my Olympic-related hysteria, here are a few links from around the web that will get you sucked into the Olympic fever:

– If you’re not following Samuel L. Jackson on Twitter, get on that. He’s live tweeting the Olympics with such enthusiasm. I might love you, Mr. Jackson.

– Need some Olympic gear? Gap and Old Navy are selling some fun vintage-inspired Olympic tee’s.

– The swim team did a version of “Call Me Maybe.” I love the swim team!

– Speaking of the swim team, how charming is Missy Franklin? So charming!

– This video of an Olympic greeter at the opening ceremonies is amazing. Who says Brits have a dry sense of humor?!

Ed. Note: I may or may not have stayed up way too late watching said Olympics and am now hyped up on caffeine and breakfast bars. That should explain all the squealing and use of the word “and” over and over in the above post. I’ll probably be back to normal in a week or so. Go USA!

Summer Loving

July 25, 2012/1 Comment/in Fun, Gimme, Style /by Megan

I looked at the calendar today and couldn’t believe it! Summer is nearing an end here in the Midwest, where school starts in three short weeks! THREE WEEKS! Bah humbug. We are going to have to squeeze every drop of summer out of these last few weeks/weekends. Here are some fun things we’ve been loving and/or coveting this hot, hot summer.

1. Friendship Bracelets from Madewell. // 2. Polka Dot Anything, but these cute shorts from Splendid will do the trick! // 3. We’ve been making tons of popsicles via the ole’ freezing juice method, but I’d love one of these Zoku makers for an instant treat! // 4. Curl Creme from Bumble and Bumble is how I make my wavy hair look beachy even when I’m in an air conditioned office all day. // 5. My Saltwaters have been my go-to shoe this summer…I can dress them up or down and they go with everything. // 6. The XX is coming out with a new album of more soothing, magical loveliness that just sounds like summer to me.

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Psssssttt…looky what I found! Similar polka dot shorts at Old Navy of all places! And $18! Get on that, people!

Just Dance. Seriously.

July 23, 2012/1 Comment/in Fun, Tunes /by Megan

Whenever I find myself feeling sulky and mopey, a good song can switch up my entire attitude. Lately I’ve been playing a long rotation of songs from a playlist I call, “Over it. Let’s dance.” It’s Monday, so I figured many of you might be feeling a bit mopey too.

I’m over it.

You too? Great. Let’s dance.

Here are my top five tracks for getting out of a funk.