welcome to FABULOUS las vegas.

... and fabulous it was. 

When you're in the business of saving lives, its imperative that you spend your days off letting go of the emotional stress that comes with our fabulous profession! Four out of the five of us are NICU nurses so it was only apropos that we borrowed hospital supplies to enable us to do so! A shot of shots, if you will.

We headed to Thunder From Down Under where the bachelorette received a very special dance from one of the handsome Aussies'. Is it pathetic that I have now seen T.F.D.U. three times? I can practically do the choreography along with them... 

Saturday was spent surviving the 110 degree heat at Encore's Beach Club and praying that they put penicillin in the pool... 

although I didn't seem to mind if they hadn't...

After a magnifique French dinner on the Strip with a perfect view of the Bellagio fountains and a special dessert for the "stagette", we strapped on our stilettos and headed to XS for another night out!

Did I mention there were two bachelorette parties combined? #paintthetown

I stole these pictures off Facebook but I didn't see any from Sunday because apparently waking up at 3:00, walking to a buffet and sitting there for four hours to consume breakfast, lunch and dinner in one sitting doesn't warrant any photog opps. 

Happy Bachelorette, Sammi!! Can't wait for 11.11.11.

Tutorial Tuesday: a tutu made of tulle.

There's all kinds of crafting going on in my part of the world with an upcoming first birthday party in the works. I'm up to my ankles in fabric scraps, jute, tulle, ribbon and Stella Artois. It's going to be a fabulous day and while I am taking a break from cutting and pasting, I thought I would share a little tutorial on how to make a no-sew tutu! 

Earlier this summer, I made an orange & blue tutu for Baby Ella to wear during Gator Football Season {which kicks off this Saturday!}. It made my heart melt when I saw these newborn photos this morning of her & her tutu on her precious fifth day of life! Go {baby} Gators!! 


Now for the tutorial:
Supplies:

Ten Simple Steps:
1. Take a trip to the fabric store to pick out a lovely palette of tulle. I usually use a yard each of 4 different colours to make it super swirly. 

  

2. Measure waist of your little cinderella. For Ella's tutu, I just compared the length of elastic to an outfit I had bought her because I don't actually own a newborn... but I do have plenty of baby gifts for all my girlfriends and family who keep procreating that just so happen to make perfect measurements!

3. Cut elastic. Take off two or three inches from what you measured because as you tie on the tulle, it stretches the elastic out! Note: If you know how to operate a sewing machine, you can sew the ends of the elastic together.
Helpful Hint: You can also use ribbon in lieu of elastic... Just leave enough ribbon on each end to tie in to a bow to secure it!
***or I like to get real fancy and {sewless} and use BOTH by glueing the elastic to the ribbon & then I tie knots in the ribbon to mark the ends of the elastic!*** Still with me?

You fancy, huh? 

4. Cut strips of tulle. I prefer to have them all cut before I start because it's the most painful part of the no-sew-tutu-making process. If you buy tulle off the bolts like me, the trick to a quick cutting method is to (a.) unfold the tulle (b.) roll it up and then (c.) cut off little sausage rolls every three inches. 

(d.) Unravel each sausage roll and (e.) cut it in half. Ideally, you want 20 inch by 3 inch sections but I'm not one for attention to detail so I just cut where my scissors feel happy and save the evening out of length til the end. 
Another helpful hint: Discard the first sausage roll cut off which is the uneven end!

5. Loop, Swoop and Pull. Fold strip of tulle in half and create a loop in the middle. Swoop the ends of the tulle over the elastic & pull them through the loop. I believe this is called a lark's head knot. But don't tie your L.H.K. too tight so you can adjust them as you go.

6. Continue the L.S.P. method around the entire length of the elastic. The closer the loops are together, the fuller the tutu... and the fuller your heart will become.
7. Trim. Once it's completely full, I trim the edges to make it even & lovely. For a baby, it should be about 8 inches in length.

8. Admire your work from all angles.

9. Wait three months for your girlfriend to have a baby.

10. Swoon.     

a cause for celebration.

 I did not go in to liver failure this weekend...

...and that is frankly the only thing I have the energy to celebrate on this exhausted Monday night...

 ...and these are the only six pictures I took all weekend...

 #ultrarandom.

...Good night, Vegas.

black vs. pink?

Sometimes, there are tough decisions you have to make in life...

...like whether you want to adopt a pink or black piglet? 

I wish I was a little less indecisive at times like these. I sent an e-mail to all my girlfriends asking for their advice and every single one wrote back a different selection of the five piggies available. "Pink, definitely pink!" "Black is the cutest! Get a black one!" I poled the ladies & gents I work with... which yielded the same result. "Go for the female." "Get a male!" "I like the runt." "I like the big one with the white paws!" But by far, my favourite response was from the charge nurse: "Eww. You will never get married if you buy one of those. No single men with their puppy will approach you at the park if you have a pig. Get a dog." Blerg. 

much-to-celebrate-Monday.

Yaay!! It's Monday... which is officially my favourite day of the week... It's a fresh start + a thanksgiving + an optimistic outlook + a new leaf + a reflection of fabulousness + a counting of blessings all rolled in to one perpetually awesome celebration {of life}... and while these little loveyolife parties don't always make it to its virtual form of words + photographs, the tiny celebrations in reality always deliver. Every Monday. In the form of new paperbacks. Bouquets of fresh flowers. Extra-strong cups of joe. Contagious, pathological smiles. Added mileage on to my runs. A growing fruit basket. Newly discovered songs that are played on repeat. An ever-expanding album of memories. A suitcase packed for my next adventure. For that is how I celebrate. 

I am celebrating that school is officially out for the summah! I survived my first two graduate classes and get to spend Seattle's nicest month of the year schoolwork-free, soaking up the last rays of sunshine... camping & hiking & paddleboarding & kayaking... getting in touch with my inner outdoors{wo}man. I'm hoping to get all the summering out of my system before Fall classes start... so there's less distractions & more sunless afternoons to spend cooped up in a library come October... where I will buckle down & take school as serious as I have taken summering these past three months. This is my serious face. =)  
I am celebrating the arrival of Sweet Baby E last Sunday, August 14th at 3:55 a.m. I am officially a roomaunt!! I am hoping she is still full of that 7 lbs 1 oz of S.N.G. {squishy newborn goodness} when I get to meet her. Congratulations, Jess & Seth! Ella Rose Cain is absolutely perfect. 

I am celebrating that Kara & Creed came to visit me the last 4 days. It was so fabulous getting to host them in my new city... a city that is starting to feel like {ghasp!} home!!

I am celebrating my urban rooftop office oasis... and the fact that I get to call it mine for an extended three months because my current contract at U Dub was renewed today until Christmas! =) 

Speaking of Christmas, I'm celebrating that I will get to spend the holidays under the magical Parisian lights & ring in the New Year with a little landmark named Big Ben... with none other than my other bestie, Grams! =) 

I am celebrating joining Freggie... a fruit & vegetable co-op that delivered this ginormous box of fresh produce last week... just in time for friends to arrive to grill veggie kabobs on the aforementioned rooftop oasis with my aforementioned guests! 

I am celebrating this week's agenda.. work. work. work. play. play. play. play. I'm off to LA Thursday to get my hairs cut by my hair artist, the amazing Mista Tate before flying to Sin City on Friday to celebrate Sammi's final days of singlehood and snuggle with my Deidre! =) 

I am celebrating that Reese is 11 months old today and in one month we will have the CELEBRATION of a century... for the little girl whose rocked my world from the very first day she arrived! It has been one incredible year with her presence in it.


Happy Monday, y'all! Hope its full of tiny loveyolife celebrations, too! =) 

beach, blades + bon iver.

On Sunday morning after my weekly ritual of waking up with the sun, fueled by a freshly brewed cup of local coffee...

picking out half flats of fresh fruit + beautiful flowers at the farmer's market...

I drove over to West Seattle to take in the view of the cityscape from the other side of the harbour. 

There's a little beach by the name of Alki where all the locals go to find the perfect log in the sand to read & relax upon. 

I strapped up my {rented} rollerblades, steadied my balance + spent all afternoon {wobbily} skating up and down the sidewalk that winded along the water. 

Enamored by the scuba school in session, I stopped to breathe in the smell of salty water & fish markets that pepper the shoreline. 

It was just me, the beach + Bon Iver...

...blading on for miles + miles.   


It was just the perfect Seattleite day.

the stork is en route.

... and will be making a delivery some time tonight or tomorrow! My eyes just well with tears as I write this! Baby Ella is coming + I am so excited for her arrival!! And yes, only Jess could make being overdue look that beautiful!! Thinking of you, J + S!! =)

stories from shuswap.

August long was spent disconnected from the world at the perfect little oasis on Schuswap Lake. After six hours winding along a long, country dirt road to a boat dock... we unloaded our truck full of the bare necessities in to a boat and cruised across the lake to a rigidity dock connected to land by a piece of wood. We carefully balanced walking along the beam carrying load after load up to our cabins. We immediately mixed ourselves a ceasar and began the weekend festivities just the girls eating Sammi's yummy pork chops around the campfire! 
The next day Sammi and I ventured in to the woods behind the cabins to pick berries all afternoon... that we later turned in to cottage jam (tutorial to follow)!

Drifting out in to the middle of the lake, we got lost in conversation as we watched people pour in (about thirty in all) boatload by boatload and finally the guys arrived!

We mixed more drinks and made tofu + chicken kabobs on the fire before spending the night laughing hysterically at the crazy uncles who entertained us for hours Friday night! 

The rest of the weekend was spent making feasts around the bonfire for every meal, consuming beers on the dock soaking up the sunshine and tubing after supper. After the sun set at a cool 11 PM, we crowded around the camp fire to listen to the acoustics and count the stars that speckled the bright sky above. It was serenity in its purest form. 

We showered in the lake. We used an outhouse. We put our nursing skills to good use when we turned a tent in to a burn unit when someone passed out fell asleep a little too close to the fire and might have woke up burning in the embers!! 

Even the road trip back to reality was full of last laughs pulling off on the side of the road for impromptu photo shoots! These are just the highlights as the stories from our five days at shuswap are endless!