The Ending of "Date Month"

Well, I am going to admit I am a little disappointed we did not get to complete all of our dates, but truth be told, money was tight last month and I am glad for what we did accomplish.

Date night involving LED lights a couples years ago...

Dates we completed:

# 4 Volunteer somewhere. DONE!

# 6 Go to a local sporting event. DONE!

# 19 Try out a new restaurant. DONE!

#13 Romp around the great outdoors and have a photo shoot. DONE! 

# 14 Look up our favorite restaurant's menu online. Recreate their food and add a fancy dessert!

#16  Have a game night. Every kind of game! Cards. Console. Board games. DONE!

#8 Go to the Seattle Art Museum when it is a free Thursday. MISSED EVENT :( 

#11 Exercise together. It is not glamorous but it makes it a lot more fun! 

# 17 Take a drive. Here, there, anywhere. DONE! 

#5 Make a very fancy breakfast. DONE!

#2 Go to an arcade. DONE!

#9 Make lemon meringue pie together. DONE!

Things we are going to do later: 

(At least that is how I like to think of it!)

# 1 Fly kites.

#3 10$ Thrift store contest. May the coolest findings win!

#7 Have a picnic. Indoor-outdoor doesn’t matter!

#10 Make indoor s'mores and camp out in the living room.

#12 Have a movie marathon and make snacks.

#15  Have a spa night. Get the mud masks and cucumber slices out!

# 18 Have a coupon date.  Only go to places you have coupons for. 

#20 Visit a bakery and choose treats for each other.

#21   Take a free factory tour. Anywhere will do! 

#21 Have a "crazy dinner." Each person gets 5$ for any gas station food. Each going to different stores and go home to combined what you got!

# 22 Be a tourist in your own city. Go to a free movie night and take cheesy photos around town.

There is always time to be together. 

FREE Biodegradable Autumn Wreath Idea

A little while ago I took a walk with Jared on the local trail which is such a beautiful place. I try not to take it for granted and I'll definitely miss it when we move from here. The leafs were blowing around everywhere and were still in good condition. We made a game of trying to find the biggest leaf, Jared won by a long shot. :) I still did not know what I was going to use them for but I gathered a TON and when I got home we looked around the yard for anything colorful or with an interesting texture. I ripped out my sad little corn stalks, trying to tell myself, "They were just baby corns! That was the problem!"  I also possibly ran into the neighbors yard with scissors aimed right at their shrubs... possibly... and I hacked off a few little branches of the multi-colored young trees in the garden. (Man, this is sounding violent!) Suddenly *BINGO* The idea of the wreath was born!

Maps "helping" and looking at how beautiful these decaying leafs are

My corn did horribly this year! So I figured I better use it somehow...

Off the topic of wreaths, but I looked over to my kitchen sink window while taking pictures and I wanted to show you this really neat rock we found that looks just like a skull, am I right??!!

Step 1. Layer all the biggest type of leaf you have into a circle, one on top of another and so forth...

Don't worry about any sticking out stems, we will fix that later.

Step 2. Once your done there is a little problem... some stems will be on top of other leaves which does not look so nice. Not too fear....

 

Step 2. (Continued) Lift the leaves from where you very first started making the circle and simply tuck the stems in...

This is how it should look when all the stems are tucked under

Perfectly flowing all one direction

Step 3. I grabbed a very big serving bowl and put it directly upside down on the center of the leafs like so...

Step 4. Now with one hand on the bowl and one hand UNDER the leafs, quickly and carefully flip the leafs over...

Ta-da! Flipped over and still in one piece!

Step 5. Now that the leafs are flipped and heading into the the same infinite direction, the stems should be as well. Since we need the wreath to stay together, I tied a few stems together all over, over and over since I kept seeing a stem untied. Make sure ALL the stems are tied to other stems or the wreath will fall apart. It needs to be strong enough you can pick it up for the next steps...

I just double knotted mine and ended with a bow so the knots would not come undone

See how there are STILL stems poking out? Ugh, it takes a while but they all must be tied for support and so your wreath will have a clean hollow hole in the middle

Step 6. If you are sure your wreath is now steady, go ahead and give it a flip.

Step 7. Anything and everything else. My second biggest item would be my corn stalks so I bent the leafs over and tucked it right in. Then, you guessed it!!! Tie it to the leaf stems.

Step 8. Add anything else you would like in the same way I added the corn.

Step 9. Fix it up! Move leafs around pull things closer to make certain parts fuller or less full and once your happy with it, hang that biodegradable sucker up! I bet it looks awesome!

Here is mine all done and up on our door! Hope you enjoy! 

Also When your done you can just throw it in your garden or compost or wherever you want! :)

Going Easy on the Ornaments

I have been living out of the nest for quite a few years now but as anyone who has ever moved out of their parents house empty handed knows, it takes a LOT of time to get the furniture, dishes, decorations and bed set you want. I always dreamed that when I moved out I would buy everything brand new from IKEA. Hahahahaha!!!!! What a laugh now. I still am borrowing desks, couches and coffee tables. The house we moved into came with an entertainment center and kitchen table (think goodness, since we lacked both) and it sounds silly but it is actually very nice to not have to own a bunch of "stuff". We don't have a ton of money, this does not bother me since I always find ways around it, but we still don't have a ton of ornaments. I want this Christmas to be really special for Jared since it our first house together (last year he kinda just moved into my apartment) and our tree looked rather bare which saddened me since the emptiness reminded me of my wallet. SO  I found some cheap ribbon and ran it threw the branches of the tree a few times to fill up space. Ta-Da! A million times prettier! What do you think? :)