Dear Halloween Hangover,

Let me start this with saying... not that kind of hangover. Halloween is one of my most favorite holidays. I get to dress up. I get to eat candy. I get to watch scary movies. And I get to do some pretty fun things with some pretty fun people. And now it is over. And I still feel sick from the treats I ate yesterday. My work had an awesome party... which lasted all day. Starting with pumpkin carving contest... I did not carve mine, I painted and rhinestoned it. A little later a few games like the doughnut on a string and shake the ping pong balls out of a Kleenex box while it is attached to your hips. After that, a costume contest... obviously a must on Halloweeny. Then we all ate pizza and drank sodas while watching Hocus Pocus. Besides all that there were buckets or candy, filled to the brim, ALL DAY and EVERYWHERE. I ate more candy than I have in the last three months and multiple times felt sick... but I could not stop... I have a problem. Then I went home and Adam, Drew, and Madison celebrated Halloween with taco soup, homemade maple bars, and Avengers, because what says Halloween better than a bunch of grown men in costumes? But I am not ready to let go completely... so I am going to share the little bit of festivity I have left... DECORATIONS! Not too much and not too little.

  

And now today... I have the Halloween Hangover. Still sick from treats but needing more, sad to see my Halloween decorations come down, no more costumes, and man am I sleepy....

Love,
Deidre

Dear Captain Americanish,

Welcome to July everyone! To me July says America. And I am proud to be an American. Where at least I know I'm free! The 4th of July is one of my very favorite holidays. Everything good wrapped into one. Parades, BBQs, fireworks, and America! I love America. I really and truly do. And nothing says I love America like an awesome celebration for the country I love. So what did I do with the 4th right around the corner? I turned....

THIS

INTO THIS

Classy right? Well. It is super easy and carefree. And considering how impatient I am chances are yours will even turn out better than mine! But... I am even so impatient I forgot to take photos of all the steps. So here we go.

Step 1: Buy all your paint, stencils, tape, and clothing item.

Step 2: Tape off everything you want to stay white.

Step 3: Spray paint the red stripes and then let dry.

Step 4: Tape stars (I highly recommend taping, see below what happens if you do not tape) to sweatshirt, paint the blue, and then let dry. (Step 3 & 4 can be combined)

My helpful fiance probably regrets getting pulled into my craft time... blue hands.

Step 5: Peel off all tape.

Step 6: Look awesome and show your American pride.

And you know what else is great about making American pride clothes this year? The OLYMPICS is coming. I love the Olympics because I love any reason to cheer for the good old U.S.of.A! LET'S DO THIS AMERICA!

Love,
Deidre

Dear Under Construction,

Everyone. It is happening again! I know, seems like it just happened, right? Don't mind the constant blog changes over the next few days. Okay? Oh and if you have any suggestions... pass them to me, I can't make up my mind... obviously.

Love,

Deidre

Dear Crafter Inside,

I knew your craftiness was just waiting to come back out. First baseball bracelets, then printables, and now a bookshelf. Heck, I'm not even mad... that's amazing! (Name the movie.) I am glad some of my friends have their own homes with their own furniture so I can help them in decorating things and making them cute. I cannot wait for my own home so I can decorate and be crafty to my own desire to make my house a home.

White bookshelves that you put together yourself are nice. But they are better when you make them cute. So we covered Cassidy and James' bookshelf in old book pages. Cute, yeah?

Love,

Deidre

P.S. Oh... and thank you Haleigh for my new artwork. One for winning and one just in case.

Now really... Love,
Deidre

Dear Baseball,

Okay... so this post is LONG overdue... not just because I havent blogged in a few days (I went home to promote anti-bullying, details to come) but because I made this gift for Adam for Christmas and I just barely got the clasp attached and I was making him tie it on. So here it is, just in time for baseball season. I turned this...

Into this...

"Are those friendship bracelets?" You bet they are.

Love,

Deidre

Dear Valentines Day,

I am getting all sorts of mixed signals from this holiday... People love it, people hate it, some call it S.A.D. (Singles Awareness Day), people refuse to celebrate, girls use it as an excuse to eat all the chocolate they want, boys use it as a reason to sit around and eat pizza and watch ESPN (any reason is a good reason, right?), a few claim it was created by Hallmark... whatever your feelings are I love Valentine's Day. And it isn't just because for the first time ever I had a Valentine (and he was seriously the BEST Valentine...), but it is because I love love. The best status I saw yesterday was:

"People complain because they are all alone on Valentines Day just because their single, well i'm single and i'm not alone! I have all my friends and family who love me! I love Valentines Day its my favorite holiday & no one can ruin it for me! ♥ Happy Valentines Day!"  

This girl knows what it is all about. No matter if you are single, dating, engaged, or married there is SOMEONE SOMEWHERE that loves you. And that is enough reason to celebrate. Even if it is just your Mom... I mean, my Mom is awesome. And she always sends me a DELICIOUS caramel heart from Fredericksons. 

Either way, yesterday was a huge success. I got to work to find these little gems on my desk.

We had a few contests at work as well. First, we had a conversation heart competition. Everyone was given a bag of candy hearts and were to make up any convo they wanted. Second, we had a cookie decorating competition. The cookies were made by Ann and they are delicious. Stay tuned to find out how I placed in the competition... But here is what I made.

About halfway through the day I came out of a meeting to find a beautiful rose and stuffed animal on my desk. Best surprise on Valentines Day. Once I got home Adam took me out to dinner at Malawis and gave me the sweetest card. After dinner had to run to class. While he was there I heart attacked his car.

Once his class was out he came over and we built a fort with his roommate Bret and his girl Jen. We watched Stomp the Yard and ate treats. I gave Adam his present too. Which, I have to say turned out really nicely. I made him a book of all our text messages from 2011. It will be nice to have them to look back on like letters... but since we live in a day of technology the texts win!

After a nice evening together Adam went home and then text me "When is the last time you checked your front step?" So I ran out to check and found a box of chocolates. What a keeper.

Love,

Deidre

Dear Valentines Day,

You are officially one week away. That is right gentlemen. Don't forget to get your special someone a special something. (Why do I automatically think of the movie Elf when I say special someone?) Valentine's Day might have been created by Hallmark and Hershey... but lets honor it okay. Because who doesn't love love? I mean... I love it. To help you in a special valentines celebration I have some printables to share with you. 

Be happy. Be in love.

Love,
Deidre

Dear Gingerbread House,

I must build one of you. So I can smash it to welcome the new year. We all remember how that goes, right?

Love,
Deidre

Dear Halloween,

What should I be?

Campbell's soup can?

Lego people?

Katniss?

Black Swan?

Any other options?

Love,

Deidre

Dear Boo-ed,

Have you even been "BOO-ED"? Well, my roommates and I got boo-ed the other day. It is sort of like Christmas but in October. Someone comes, rings your doorbell, and leaves you a YUMMY treat on your step with a poem. The poem usually goes something like this:

The phantom ghost has come to town

To leave some goodies... I see you've found.

If you wish to make this a happier fall...

Continue this greeting, this phantom call.

First, post this Phantom where it can be seen,

And leave it there until Halloween.

This will scare other Phantoms who may visit.

Be sure to participate, you don't want to miss it!

Second, make two treats & two copies from

www.beenbooed.com

Deliver them to two neighbors, try to stay calm.

Don't let them see you, be sneaky, no doubt

And make sure they put their Phantom Ghost out!

Next, you have only one day to act, so be quick!

Leave it at doors where the Phantom hasn't hit.

Deliver at dark when there isn't much light...

Ring the doorbell and run, and stay out of sight!!

And last, but not least, come join in the season.

Don't worry, be happy, you need no good reason.

This is all in good fun and we are just trying to say...

Happy Halloween & Have a Great Day!

Then you hang up this sign in your window and go BOO someone else. It actually was one of the most exciting parts of Halloween growing up. I am glad we got BOO-ED so I could keep living my childhood dreams.

Love,

Deidre

Dear Gingerbread House,

Every year growing up my family (meaning my Mom while we all hung out) built a gingerbread house. I always remembered building a gingerbread house, but I never remembered what we did with the creation post the holiday season. Over break, I found out what we did. And when I say break I mean Christmas break, which proves how late this post is in coming. My Mom did the cutest thing, she compiled all of the old home videos onto DVDs so we could all have them to watch. One video that came up every year was the annual smashing of the gingerbread house. That is how my family went about bringing in the new year. So after my great gingerbread house date with Conner in which we made this gem (it was also the best looking house of them all)...

... I was wondering what I was going to do with it after the holiday season finished. Those videos were my answer. Hence the gingerbread house smashing Nic and I participated in here...

... this is going to be a great tradition.

Love,

Deidre