Harry Potter party

Since today is my sister Hannah's birthday, I thought I would post some pictures from the Harry Potter party we did for her a few years ago. 

My whole family really likes Harry Potter, so it was really fun to throw this party for her! 

My dad wanted to help with Hannah's party, but we weren't sure what to have him do. I asked him if he maybe wanted to make a wand. He came back a little while later with this! I thought he did a pretty good job! I think Ollivander has some competition ;)

All of the labels and images were printed from random websites. I can't find the link to the labels we used on the Honeyduke's candy jars. I'll add the link if I come across it sometime.
Looking for more Harry Potter content? Check out the pictures from when we went on the Harry Potter studio tour!

Currently

Reading - I just finished Cold As Ice by MK Gilroy. I was really looking forward to this book because I really really liked the first two in the series, but unfortunately this one just wasn't that good. 

Watching - Pretty much just Shark Tank reruns and The X Factor UK. I'm looking forward to all of the fall shows starting up soon. Castle, The Amazing Race, Hawaii Five-0, and new episodes of Shark Tank.

Drinking - Water and coffee are my typical drinks. Coffee in the morning and water the rest of the day. I just opened a bottle of Trader Joe's sparkling French berry lemonade, which is really good!

Eating - I've really been liking having salads lately. I've been making a southwestern chicken salad for dinner pretty much every week all summer long. It's SO good! I'll have to share the recipe sometime.

Wishing - I was back in Europe! We had such a great time and I really miss the slower, more laid back pace of life there. I miss being able to take the metro or walk places instead of having to drive.

Needing - To wrap my sister's birthday present. And I need to bake her cake. And go to the store to get the ingredients to bake Hannah's cake. I really need to get started on that.

Working on - I have a lot of projects I'm working on. Some knitting, scrapbooking, photo editing, some fall crafts, as well as a few others. I always seem to have a ton of projects going on!

What are you currently up to?

Five for Friday

Hey and welcome to my Five for Friday! I hope you all had a great week! I am linking up with Della Devoted, Cup of Tea, Bright on a Budget and Coffee With Caitlin!

This week was really uneventful and I am having a hard time coming up with 5 things!

1. My church is starting up small groups and I signed up for one. I just don't know what to really think about it. 

First I'm all "Eh, what the heck. It can't be too bad."

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Then I try to tell myself that it might even be fun!

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And then the social anxiety side of me is all "WHAT HAVE I DONE?"

(source)

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So I'm really hoping the experience will be a positive one. I've never done a small group, so I really have no idea what to expect!

2. I saw this idea for a fun fall decoration over at Snippets & Snapshots. I don't have very many decorations for autumn, so this looks easy and cute! And I have a ton of felt; so it's nice finding craft ideas with stuff I already have.

3. Tonight we're going to a neighborhood block party/barbecue. So I now have a salad to make. We weren't sure if we were going to go or not, but we really don't know very many of our neighbors. And the neighbors next door to us that we do like are going, so at least we will know someone!

4. I was at Target earlier this week. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did pick up a few things from the Dollar Spot.

5. And in case you needed something to laugh at today...

My sister and I saw this at JoAnns and we couldn't stop laughing. The guy is just so freaky! And then we saw this:

Just. Why. I just can't even imagine why someone would want to buy something like that! "Why yes, George. I DO need to dress Twinkle, Fluffy, and Sparkle up like Anna, Elsa, and Olaf." I just don't understand why anyone would want to put clothes on their dog in the first place, let alone go to the trouble to sew an actual costume for their dog. Very, very strange!

Anyways, hope you have a great weekend!

Lake Cascade hike

A few weeks ago we drove up to Lake Cascade to go hiking. It had been quite a while since we had been hiking, so it sounded fun! Unfortunately, to get to any decent trails you have to drive at least an hour and a half away. 

We had a student from France staying with us for a few days, so we thought it would be nice to take him out and show him the area a little. 

We picked up some sandwiches for lunch and started our drive north. We stopped at one park and ate a picnic by the lake. The weather was nice by the lake - not too hot and not too cold. We had planned on hiking after lunch, but the park we were at was super smokey (there were some huge wildfires pretty close to us) so we drove a little farther and found this trail.  

Does anyone know what kind of bird this is? We were debating on whether it was an eagle or a hawk. It soared like an eagle, so we thought maybe a golden eagle? But I don't know for sure.

We only came across a few people, so we liked that it wasn't crowded, unlike the trails in Boise. The scenery was definitely nice too, although it would have been better without all of the smoke!
I think we would all like to go back up there sometime. 

Do you like hiking?

Five for Friday

Hey and welcome to my Five for Friday! I hope you all had a great week! I am linking up with Della Devoted, Cup of Tea, Bright on a Budget and Coffee With Caitlin!

1. Well, as I am sure you've noticed, there is a new blog layout! I was getting a little tired of the old one and have been thinking about redoing it for a while. I've spent the last couple of days designing, editing, and fixing everything, so I hope everyone likes it! I tried looking around for some inspiration, but everyone seems to be doing the boring black and white look. I wanted some color! And I added a button on the side if anyone is interested in one!

2. My mom's birthday was last Friday and one of the things I got for my mom was a bag of Lindt chocolates. We all really like Lindt chocolate, so everyone really liked this gift! They had several different gift bags you could pick from, and then you can select 3 different flavors to fill a bag with 75 chocolates! I picked the orange, raspberry, and salted caramel. Definitely a great gift idea!

3. It seems kind of crazy that it is September already! I am pretty happy that it is almost fall. The temperatures have cooled slightly here, it's only supposed to be in the 70's next week. Which is okay with me! Bring on the cooler weather! And I'm looking forward to fall TV. Haha!

4. In case you missed it, I shared a tutorial on how to make cold brewed coffee. If you've never had cold brewed coffee, you should try it, it's pretty good ;)

5. I came across this website that has a bunch of free printable vintage maps. I printed out the one of the British Isles and I really like it! The quality is great and I want to print out the one of Paris next!

Hope you have a great weekend!

How to make cold brewed coffee

So you want to make cold brewed coffee? It's super simple! No need to spend $4-$5 at Starbucks or even more money for a jug from the store. All you need is a few ingredients!

Coffee - either whole coffee beans or ground coffee
Filtered water
Jar with lid (I used a mason jar with these lids)
Cheesecloth
4 cup glass measuring cup

1. Start off by measuring out 1/2 cup coffee beans and grinding them in a coffee grinder. (You can use more or less beans depending on how strong you like your coffee.) 1/2 cup coffee beans will get you a little under 2/3 cup ground coffee. 

2. Pour your coffee grounds into a large mason jar, then pour in about 3 - 3 1/2 cups of water. 

3. Screw the lid on, then give the jar a few shakes to mix the grounds around. 

4. Leave the jar on the counter for 18 - 24 hours, shaking occasionally. 

5. After the 18 - 24 hours, pour the coffee and grounds into the glass measuring cup. Then rinse any remaining grounds from the jar. 

6. Cut a piece of cheesecloth large enough to cover the opening of the jar with about an inch or so extra around the outside. You need to make sure you can form an indentation in the cheesecloth and still be able to hold the cheesecloth so it doesn't fall inside the jar. 

7. Carefully pour the coffee and grounds through the cheesecloth, so it strains out the grounds from the coffee. 

8. You can either drink the coffee right away, or put it in the fridge for a few hours to completely chill. 

Otherwise, fill a glass with some ice, pour the coffee in and then add milk or creamer.

If the coffee is too strong, you can add more water to dilute it some.

Enjoy!