Super easy holiday centerpiece DIY

I have tons of Christmas decorations. I mean boxes and boxes full. But I didn't have anything to put in the middle of my coffee table that wasn't big and in the way.

Well yesterday I went shopping with my boyfriend's mom and saw this really cute table centerpiece set. It was just some votives surrounded by mini ornaments. I knew I could make it though, so I passed on it and started looking for the pieces to make my own.
 

It only takes 3 pieces-
Black or any style candle tray- Target and Walmart have them for around 7-9 dollars depending on what style you want.
Small Votive candles- these are super cheap just about anywhere. I luckily had a few left over from another DIY
Small Christmas ornaments-I ended up getting 2 boxes. One box of smaller ornaments at a local craft store and 1 box of bigger ornaments from Walmart. I paid about 8 dollars total for the ornaments.

Then its just about positioning the ornaments around the votives so they all fit and there aren't any gaps. Isn't it easy?!

The best part about this DIY is that you can easily make the colors match your holiday color scheme. This year Zach and I are going with a silver theme on our Christmas tree, so I was able to make this centerpiece fit in with our colors.  Also you can change it around and add more candles and less ornaments if you like. Totally up to you. I really love it.

xoxo,
Amanda

Light Up Night 2010

For the first time in 2 years, Zach and I were able to go downtown for Light Up Night. I had seriously missed it so much. I think I love it so much because I love the idea of Christmas in the city. Skyscrapers, lots of glittering lights, window displays, and tons of people scurrying about Christmas shopping. It's just magical in my mind.

So we got all bundled up and headed downtown for the fun. I think my favorite part every year is when you round the corner and catch the first glimpse of the tree at PPG Place. The millions of lights that glitter off all the windows are always so pretty. I always get this ball of excitement in the bottom of my stomach that lets me know that Christmas time is here once again.

After that we walked around the area. We went and saw the Macy's windows which were so nifty this year. The theme was Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus and it was all created out of laser cut paper. Then Zach and I got hot chocolate and bagels like we do every year. Perfect way to warm up!

What I really liked this year was this new light display they had set up in Market Square. It was this gorgeous tree made out of light orbs. It was really visually appealing and then at the beginning of the night when they officially lit it, all the buildings in the square had lights on their facades that lit up in turns. It was so exciting.

Finally there were the fireworks which were great as usual this year. There were tons of hearts-my fave! Also they had fireworks set underneath the Clemente bridge so when they went off it looked like a glittering waterfall coming from under the bridge, it was seriously amazing. I was singing Christmas carols all night and it was just perfect. I'm so glad we were back in Pittsburgh and able to do it this, I missed it so.

You can tell that picture was taken later in the night, our cheeks are so rosy. :)

xoxo,
Amanda

Glee-wind "Furt"

So can I first say how happy I am that tomorrow is Thanksgiving?! Yum!

Besides that though last night was Glee, and I won't lie I have mixed feelings about the episode. I like Kurt, I think he is an interesting character but so far this season I feel like other characters are getting shortchanged in favor of giving Kurt hefty amounts of screentime. With the whole Burt and Carol wedding I was expecting some sort of emphasis on Finn and Rachel since Finn's mom was getting married. I just think it would have been cute to see some more focus on them and the possibilities of them getting married in the future. Instead we got Finn lying about sleeping with Santana....bad move buddy. That is definitely gonna come back to bite him in the ass.

Can we just touch on the fact that Just the Way You Are got turned into some weird stepbrother/mom song when it is so clearly a song from a man to an insecure girl. Please, does that not spell Finn and Rachel?! I was sooo disappointed in how that song was treated. I did like the few glimpses of Finchel we got though.

Regardless I loved the wedding songs though. They were fantastic. Sway was so...sexy. Marry you was so much fun and I loved the cute couple dances. Just the way you are was stellar-I loved Cory's version. he sounded so good singing it.

Next week looks......different. The preview was really ambiguous, I am really excited for Dog days are over though. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how the episode goes....

Back to Thanksgiving. This year Zach and I are staying at the apartment tonight, so tomorrow we can get up, eat breakfast and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade together. I absolutely love the parade. Seeing all the balloons, and floats and then at the end-Santa!!!!!!! Now Zach and I are starting a tradition and I'm really happy about it.


Oh and P.S. I tried on my rhinestoned beret and it's seriously fabulous. I love it. Once Zach is home I'll have him take a picture of me wearing it. It's cute.

xoxo,
Amanda

Rhinestone beret-DIY

Whelp...its officially winter!!!! I am so excited. Thanksgiving is this week, and oh so soon it will be December, which means birthday-anniversary and Christmas!!! Easily my favorite time of the year. But before I begin my fall into Christmas obsession I'm starting with just focusing on winter in general.

Around here, I'm in winter gear just about 2/3 of the year. Which means I need to really love my coat/hats/scarves/gloves and also I need to have a lot of them. Last year I went over board and bought like 3 new coats so I don't *think* I'll need any this year. And I also have tons of scarves and I just bought another this weekend. One thing I don't have many of are hats. I have one black cloche that I absolutely love and a blue knit beret and one black beret.

Well just a few days ago I was looking for hats and saw this Juicy Couture rhinestone beret on the Nordstrom's site.

The ivory color is my favorite, which I couldn't find a picture of. It's over $40.00 though, and while I really like it I can't justify paying that much for a hat. So my ingenuity kicked into gear and I decided to try and make it.

I picked up 1 package of 7mm silver flat-back rhinestones and an ivory beret which I found for 11.20 at Boscovs. I used E-6000 glue as well. It's super strong.

After that I created a pattern for the back. First I started by planning out a circle shape around the tab in the center. Then from there I created lines from the tab to the edge marking at the one inch intervals.

After that I went and free hand placed the rest of the rhinestones on the hat in circular patterns making sure that they matched up with the lines already glued down.

I was a lot easier than it sounds. It only took about 2 hrs including some short breaks because the glue started smelling too strong.

This is the finished hat. The glue needs to cure tonight but I can't wait to try it on tomorrow.

I think it look gorgeous and just like the original, for a huge fraction of the cost. It will be perfect for this winter!

I need to post about Light-Up Night but that will have to wait until later.

xoxo,
Amanda

Lots of stuff.

Fair warning this post is gonna be a big amalgamation of lots of things.

First can we rewind and talk about the awesome Glee episode last Tuesday?! I'm just gonna skip around and talk about my favorite parts. How hot was the Finn/ Rachel make-out in the beginning?! Woah. The Girl's mash-up? I loved their rocker girl outfits. How adorable are Kurt and Blaine? I absolutely love them together, they are so cute. Oh and the kiss between Kurt and that bully, I literally yelped out loud in my living room, I couldn't believe it.

Remember how I said I needed Finn to sing Bruno Mars' Just the way you are?! Well a few days ago Glee's music producer tweeted someone who asked why Finn didn't have any solos on Volume 4 and told them that JTWYA is all Cory! YESSSSSSSSSSS! I can't wait to hear his version and I am seriously thinking it might give my love for Jesse's Girl some stiff competition.

In more personal news, I start a new job tomorrow. I'm incredibly nervous, I don't even want to talk about it so much. 

For tonight I'm gonna go watch the Steeler game down at Bowser's and just relax and let future Amanda deal with it tomorrow.

xoxo,
Amanda

Let's do the Time Warp again!!

...It's just a jump to the left...

Omg, Rocky Horror was soo much fun. Zach and I were hilarious as Brad and Janet. Someone called us adorable as we walked in, and my clips were a huge success. Some girl behind us even asked me where I got them! I love when people ask me about something I DIY cause then it makes me feel like they actually look professional, and not like a 3 yr old made it in art class. Even funnier was that another Brad and Janet couple sat down right next to us and even asked to take a picture with us. Adorable.

Shock Treatment was playing with Rocky Horror so we had to sit through that first. IT WAS DREADFUL. It was just terrible like not even Rocky Horror, so bad it's funny, just plain crappy.

Rocky Horror was fantastic though. The shadowcast director called everyone who dressed up to the front, which I didn't know was gonna happen, so it was fun having everyone see our costumes. Yelling at the screen and throwing stuff was ridiculously fun. Toilet paper was the funnest though, just cause it was like a canopy over the seats afterward. I really can't wait to do it again next year.

Once we got home though I was like a zombie. I was exhausted. By the time we got home and in bed it was 5 and thank goodness I didn't have anything going on Saturday, cause I slept in till 2 and didn't do anything all day. Overall fantastic night!

xoxo,
Amanda

Drools...part deux.

Yet again I ask, how freaking gorgeous is he?!

I don't even remember what the photos are for but DAYUM this guy can wear a suit. Like I just wanna keep staring at this picture.

I will tear myself away from that picture to continue on with this post.

A track listing for the new Glee album came out and while I knew about most of the songs, I didn't know they would be doing Marry you and Just the way you are by Bruno Mars. FYI, I am currently freaking obsessed with those two songs. I would love for Finn to sing both of those songs but I NEED him to sing Just the way you are. The song is just so heartfelt and would totally fit Finn and Rachel. So I am totally putting mojo out into the universe for to Finn to sing that song. NEEDS TO HAPPEN!!!

Now it's time to go get ready for the Steeler's game-Let's Go Stillers!!! Rocky Horror post coming soon! :)

xoxo,
Amanda


Image Credit-tumblr but I forget which one-sorry!

...and I am a material girl.

I already posted about my love of the Madonna material girl costume. Well now I can actually post a picture of myself in it. It's kind of awesome-

This isn't the actual pre-made costume. I used my own heels, leggings, top, and sunglasses. I made the tutu and lace hair bow. Only thing I bought was the beads and the lace gloves.

I absolutely LOVE this costume idea and so did Zach. He kept saying what a great idea it was and how awesome it looked. Since I was my Madonna costume, we relaxed and watched the Madonna episode of Glee-seriously one of my favorite eps ever!


...They can beg and they can plead
But they can't see the light, that's right
'Cause the boy with the cold hard cash
Is always Mister Right...


xoxo,
Amanda

 

Halloween!

As you can tell by the flood of recent Halloween-centric posts, I love Halloween. Candy, carving pumpkins, costumes, I love it all. This year for some reason I was lacking in creativity though. I had a hard time picking a costume and it took me a while to decide on a Jack-O-Lantern.

In the end though it all turned out wonderful, I'll take that as a miracle from the Great Pumpkin. :) Speaking of which, here are our pumpkins this year!

Right-Zach's--Left-Mine

Since Halloween was on Sunday this year; same day as the first evening game for the Steelers, Zach and I decided to just postpone dressing up until Monday so we could dress up and watch HIMYM and Gossip Girl.

Zach originally wanted to go as Tom Cruise in Top Gun but like all Halloween costumes anymore jumpsuits are crazy expensive. Instead he decided to go as Sherlock Holmes, the newer one with Robert Downey Jr. Which he is totally obsessed with at the moment. At first he looked like a complete mess but after I styled him a bit it looked 10x better. I seriously just now noticed that I inadvertently matched his ascot to my dress!!!

I still went as Esmeralda/gypsy but I added stuff to the costume to make it better. Around the bottom of the teal sash, I added some more Gold coins. It made an awesome jingling noise as I moved. I also added a ton of bracelets and bangles and four huge rings. Oh and the most fantastic purple eyeshadow. It was so vibrant and shimmery. It was the loose eyeshadow from the Twilight collection that Hot Topic released around the holiday's last year. I love it. It went on really easy, stayed on all night, but came off super easy when I washed my face before bed.

xoxo,
Amanda

Cool.

How cool is this beverage dispenser?! With three different sections it would be totally awesome for entertaining. I want it.

xoxo,
Amanda

Finn and Rachel!

Last week was Glee's Rocky Horror episode-which was fantastic BTW-so since it was so close to Halloween Zach and I decided to become Finn and Rachel for the night!

I'm wearing my Finn necklace too! <3

xoxo,
Amanda