Easy Men's Knitted Scarf Tutorial

Hello Everyone! How is your week going so far? We've been seeing some pretty horrid cold weather this week, so I thought it would be appropriate to share a scarf I knitted with you in today's post!

When looking for Christmas gifts (that's right Christmas) I decided that this year it would be fun to make one of my guy friend's, Nick a scarf.  Typically I make a ton of hand made items, but this year I really did not have the time to make the gifts, so I opted to only make one handmade item.  As you can see, it only took me an extra month past Christmas to actually get the item done.  Oops!

I found the pattern at I Live on a Farm and tweaked it so that it would be more what I was looking for.  

What You Need:

• Size 6 or 4.0mm knitting needles.  I tend to prefer circular so that is what I used
• 2-3 skeins of Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Charcoal Print.  I wanted a shorter scarf, so I only used 2 skeins.  If you are looking for a longer scarf to double wrap around the neck, I'd suggest using 3 skeins
• If you do not have Vanna's Choice in your area, you will need approximately 340 yards of Worsted Weight Yarn
• Tapestry Needle or Finishing Needle

Pattern:

Cast on 38 stitches
Rows 1 & 2: Knit

Row 3: K2, P3 until the last 3 stitches, K3

Row 4: P3, K2 until the last 3 stitches, P3

Repeat Rows 3 & 4 until scarf reaches desired length.

Knit 2 more rows.

Bind off.

I hope you enjoy making this scarf as much as I did! I'd love to see pictures of them if you do decide to go that route!

Question of the Day: What is your favorite knitting pattern that you've made?

Valentine's Day 2014 Project Roundup & Linky Party

Happy Tuesday Everyone! I trust that you had a lovely weekend and Monday and are not too freezing on this very chilly Tuesday.

Valentine's Day is fast approaching and I am working toward getting my decorations ready! Right now our mantel is still decorated for Justin's birthday, so it is about time I get to making the switch from his birthday to the holiday of love.

I loved all of these crafts as I was pinning them on Pinterest.  I love Valentine's Day and always look forward to celebrating it with my loved ones which means that this year is no different than those passed.  I'm hoping that I will be able to get all of these crafts done before the weekend is through! Plus, I am working on a baby blanket that I would love to finish before the baby arrives next month! 

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DIY Cork Coasters from Sarah Hearts

Paper Punch Heart Garland from Oh!Crafts

Hand-Painted Valentine's Day Tote from CraftsUnleashed

Subway Art Printable from The Bonjour! Blog

Valentine's Day Printable from How to Nest for Less

Love Yarn Letters from My Sister's Suitcase

Valentine's Pins from The Purlbee

Painted Heart Canvas from LollyJane  {Their site is not working so there is no tutorial here}

XO Door Hanger from Unknown

DIY Ruffled Apron from Jojo & Eloise 

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So what do you think? Do these seem like crafts you'd be able to accomplish on your own? I sure hope so!

I'd love to see all of your awesome Valentine's Crafts and projects! 

Question of the Day:

What is your favorite thing about Valentine's Day?

Create Your Own Photo Booth Tutorial

Hello Everyone! I hope your week is going well and you are having a wonderful Thursday! Michigan is seeing another Polar Vortex and it's making for some very cold weather here in Detroit.  I do not think I have bundled up this much since at least 2007, but I am glad we had snow this year.

Today's post is going to be entirely dedicated to how to  make your own photo booth.  If you remember from my New Years Eve post, I made a photo booth for my friends and I to take some fun pictures.  It was super easy to make, and the best part is I get to reuse most of the materials for years to come. 

As I mentioned before, the original idea was inspired from The Pencil Jar.  I loved her props and all of the fun ideas for decorations so I adapted it just enough so that it would work for our apartment!

What You Need to Make this Photo Booth:

• Camera with timer
• Tripod
• LOTS of card stock in the colors of your choice.  I used silver, gold, black and white sparkle paper from JoAnn's.  However, you can change the colors up and make a cute design for any occasion.
• Tape
• String lights
• Scissors
• Hot Glue
• Cake pop sticks or thing wooden sticks
• Miscellaneous Props

To make this photo booth, I arranged the card stock on the floor in the pattern that I wanted I wanted.  Then I began taping them together to create a grid for the background.  Once the grid was alllll taped together, I began hanging the whole thing up on the wall.  In total I had 25 pieces of card stock which gave me a 5 x 5 pattern big enough to fit the space on my wall.

Once the background was hung, I took some of our extra Christmas lights and hung them up to add some more sparkle.  If you decide to add lights on the background, make sure to play with your camera to get the correct setting with the added light.

Once the camera was set and the background was hung, I began cutting out my props.  If you are willing and able, you can freehand your props and cut them out.  I had a bowler hat, 2 mustaches, a pair of glasses and a bow tie that I cut out of the leftover glitter paper from the background.  If you are not bold enough to make the props yourself, you can try these and these and print them yourself.  

I also had some props from when we celebrated 2013 in a box and I pulled those out.  All of the extra props you see I bought at Walmart.  They have cute options at reasonable prices {especially if you go on New Years Day}.

Nick, Sarah & Myself

Sarah and Kelsey - Such silly siblings

If you would like to make your own photo strips, you can use PicMonkey.  To make the strip you see above, just create a collage and add a border with a large caption space for you to add your own words.  It is very easy, but it does take some time.  

For some other fun ideas for New Years Eve, check out my Pinterest Board! 

Question of the Day:

What other props would you use for a photo booth?

Weekend Getaway

Happy Tuesday Everyone! I trust that you had a wonderful weekend and made some wonderful memories!

This weekend Justin and I made our way up to the Upper Peninsula with Justin's parents for a weekend away of relaxing and snowmobiling.  I love going to my in-laws cabin because it is just so relaxing of a time every time I am up there.  There is nothing better than the peace and quiet of nature to help settle your brain from all of the hum drum of daily life.



Plus in the winter, the snow is absolutely beautiful up there.  Michigan always sees a great deal of snow, but the southern side of the state does not see anywhere near the snow that the UP gets.  To give you an idea of how much there actually was, when standing straight up the snow was over my riding boots and up to my knee.  That was about 18-20" of snow!

Sunday my father-in-law got the snow mobiles up and running for us to go for a nice ride.  The weather was a perfect 25° and sunny which made for not too cold temperatures while you are going around 30 miles an hour on the sled.

While out on our ride, we made our way to Kitch-iti-kipi which is the largest natural occurring spring in the state of Michigan.  It was pretty neat to see because the water was not frozen.  Apparently, the spring will never freeze over even in the coldest of weather because the water is coming from underground.  This spring is also protected by the state, so no one can catch the fish there which means that there are some very large trout in the spring.  They have a little boat on a trolley that you can use to cross the spring, but we were not able to make our way across as someone else was using it when we got there.  Maybe next time we go, we can make our way across to see the big fish under the water.

Once we were done at the spring we made our way around on the snowmobiles for a little while longer before heading home for the night.  I love snowmobiling and would love to go back next month! Hopefully we will get that chance!

One of my other favorite parts of going to the cabin is having the time to work on a few projects.  While we were there I finished a scarf for my friend Nick and started working on a blanket! Once I have a chance to grab a few pictures of the scarf, I will make sure to share the pattern with you! And here is a sample of the blanket that I started.  I tried to use similar colors to this one, but my colors are a bit darker.  There is a link to the pattern below the picture, but I will make sure to share that with you when I am done with the blanket as well! 

Playful Stripes Pattern

Well that is it for now! Be looking for a pattern review and book review this week along with some other fun and exciting posts!

Heading to the U.P.

Good morning all! Just wanted to check in to let you know that I will be heading to the U.P. for a long weekend and will have limited to no access to Internet while I am up there!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I cannot wait to share my trip with you!

Question of the Day:

Where is your favorite place to go for a quick weekend getaway?

My 2014 Physical Challenge: Challenge Two

Photo rights belong to 30 Day Fitness Challenges

Happy Thursday everybody! I hope your week is going well and your Thursday is going quickly for you! For today's post, I wanted to share with you the physical challenges that I have given to myself.  Like everyone else, I would love to lose some weight for the new year, but in years past I have not had a solid plan for how I was going to accomplish that and I honestly was not successful. 

This year is a bit different though.  I decided to give myself monthly challenges that will go along with my other workouts to help keep me accountable during this whole process.  I have already started with the 30 Day Easy Push up Challenge.  As you can see, they are pretty simple and start out with only a few push ups a day.  For me, it seemed better to start with counter top push ups and increase the amount by 10.  So tomorrow, instead of 12 push ups I will be doing 22.  

On top of doing these challenges, I have a goal to workout at least two times a week, run another 5k, run a 10k, and possibly run a half marathon.  I had a half marathon on my goals list for 2013 and was not able to do it because of my physical issues.  But now that I have all of that lovely stuff worked out, I am going to try my hardest to do one this year.

|| Easy Pushups || Wall Sits || Crunches || Squats ||  Tricep Dip || Little Black Dress ||
|| Plank || Arms || Beach Body || Butt || Abs || Burpee ||

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I have provided links to each of the challenges for your reference, but if you'd like to look at them feel free to check out my 2014 Challenges Board on Pinterest! These seemed like reasonable challenges to me to at least try, what do you think? I tried to layer them out so that one month would be arms, one would be legs, and one would be core that way I am not focusing entirely on one part of my body as you need to give your body rest.

As I continue doing these challenges, I will be sure to give you updates! I'm hoping that by doing small challenges daily I will help myself reach my ultimate goal of being in a healthy weight and healthy shape.

Question of the Day: What physical challenges have you given yourself for 2014? 

**Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored by 30 Day Fitness.  These views are my own and have been discussed at my own free opinion. 

Blog Topic Series: Part IV

Hello Tuesday people! Thanks for checking in on the blog so late in the evening (I mean it is late for me).  Today I'm continuing on with my Fun Topics for You Blog Post series and will be sharing another five fun topics for you to use while you are blogging. 

+ Recreate an outfit from a pin on Pinterest and share how you did that with readers.  I have been wanting to do this with my girlfriends for a long time and thought it could be a fun thing to share with my readers.  The idea came up from reading Shull Family Blog and Pinterest Told Me To.  Here's a link to my Clothing Board on Pinterest.  Want to help me pick an outfit to try and recreate? 

+Share your favorite music playlists.  I saw this idea on PBFingers and loved it.  Take some time to compile your favorite playlist and share it with your readers! If you do not have a playlist, share your Pandora or iHeart Radio playlists with your readers.

+ Share your top 10 favorite apps on your phone.  I saw this on Lauren Conrad's blog and thought it was such a neat idea.  It is a way for the readers to learn something about you while getting the opportunity to check out some fun new apps.  

+ Just answer questions! Often times our readers have tons of questions about our day-to-day life and the best thing to do is just answer them in one foul swoop with a post dedicated entirely to answering questions.  See some examples here and here.

+ What's in My Bag Post.  I saw this idea on my friend, Danielle's, blog and loved it.  The best part is as a woman I carry many different bags.  You could share a makeup bag {like Danielle}, your purse, your gym bag, your baby bag or your briefcase! The options are endless! 

That is all for today's blog topic series! I hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday and have a wonderful Hump Day tomorrow! 

We are supposed to be getting snow again here in Michigan and I'm hoping so! We are heading to the U.P. to hopefully go snowmobiling this weekend! But just for fun, here is a picture depicting what the last week has looked like here in Michigan!

Is that not just too crazy? I took both of those pictures out of the window at my work almost exactly one week apart! Hello menopause, Mother Nature.  We are supposed to get more snow between tonight and tomorrow, but I doubt it will last long!

That is all for this post, but be looking for a DIY Photobooth Tutorial and another 2014 Challenge! 

Happy Birthday Justin!

I just wanted to do a quick post to shout out a happy birthday to my wonderful husband, Justin! He turns 27 this year and I am convinced that he is never going to age a day {but honestly, I'm glad}.

Justin has always been a bit of a stinker when it comes to celebrating his birthday, so this year we did not do anything too exciting to celebrate.  Friday night we went to see Hercules.  Overall, I really enjoyed the movie.  It has action, romance and hot men, so it got an A+ in my book.  Saturday we spent the day at home relaxing and he went to try out some new golf clubs that he is interested in, and on Sunday we celebrated with his family with pizza and cake.

I made sure to quickly put up some decorations so that we could feel festive for Justin's birthday! I found this super cute banner on Pinterest and had to make some fans to match it.  Thankfully, I had a few fans leftover from my cousin, Nicole's, bridal shower.  The green ones I threw together quickly and finally said goodbye to our Christmas Decorations.

I also tried a new recipe {one of my challenges I will later reference} from the awesome Better Homes and Gardens Baking cookbook Justin bought me for Christmas and I am excited at how nicely they turned out! The recipe is for Island Bananas Foster Cupcakes and I was a bit nervous to try them, but what is the fun in only staying with what you know? The only thing that was not my favorite about the cupcakes is that they have coconut in them.  I love the taste/smell of coconut, but the texture is a whole other story.  Maybe if I make them again, I will pass on the coconut inside the cupcake on half of the recipe.  I also substituted the Rum with Rum Chata in the topping and it turned out delicious! 

Our day ended with us hanging out at home playing video games and enjoying some quality time together! Plus, as the birthday boss, he got to decide exactly what we do, and this was his choice! We're going to go to dinner later this week to do some proper celebrating.

Happy Birthday Justin! I love you! 

My 2014 Reading List: Challenge One

Over the past few years, I have always set myself up with a goal to read more books for personal enjoyment.  The only problem is, with so many other things on my plate, I often put reading on the back burner.  Well not in 2014! I have picked twelve different books in twelve different categories for me to read this year, and I have even assigned each of them to a month.

The goal is to read one book each month and on the 25th of each month do a book review for you! The best part? I will be giving away a copy of the book I just finished for one lucky reader! 

So here are my books!

|| 1. The 3.1.2.1 Diet by Dolvett Quince || 2. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn || 3. Tell Your Time by Amy Andrews || 4. The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank || 5. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green || 6. The Places That Scare You by Pema Chodron || 7. The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel || 8. The Maze Runner by James Dashner || 9. The Book Theif by Marcus Zusak || 10. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay|| 11. You Knew Me When by Emily Liebert || 12. This Year I Will by M.J. Ryan ||

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I think that 12 books for the whole year is a reasonable goal, what do you think? I think it seems like a reasonable goal for myself considering that I have given myself other challenges for 2014! 

I've already started The 3.1.2.1 Diet and am liking it so far! I cannot wait to share my review with you on the 25th of January!

Question of the Day: What books are you looking forward to reading in 2014? 

My Word for 2014

We all give ourselves resolutions.  Resolutions to lose 20 pounds.  Resolutions to save X amount of dollars by the end of the year.  And resolutions to try something that we never have tried before.  Yet I would have to guess that over 95% of the time, most of us do not complete our resolutions.  

Well not this year for me! This year I am giving myself challenges.  It may seem strange that I would pick a word something so similar to resolution; however, I believe that even just the slightest change of a word can change our entire outlook on life.  And with these challenges, I am going to change my life. 

This year, I have given myself a wide variety of challenges that will change my life in so many different areas. These areas include: Baking, Cooking, Cleaning, Knitting, Reading, Physical Fitness and Financial Stability.  Or, basically the list I shared with you above.  However, with a challenge, I believe I am going to be able to be successful.  Everyone is meant to break their resolutions, where as when someone challenges you, you are expected to succeed.

Just like Barney in  How I Met Your Mother Says...

Challenge Accepted! 

So in 2014, I have accepted the challenges that I have set forth for myself and look forward to sharing those challenges with you! Over the next week or so, I will share with you in great detail how I plan to be successful and maybe, just maybe, I will inspire you to try something different for your 2014.

Remember, if it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you! 

Question of the Day: What types of goals have you set for yourself for 2014? How do you plan to succeed?

NYE 2014 Celebration

Happy New Years Everyone! 

This year for New Years we decided to invite everyone over to our place because we really did not have the extra money to be paying to go to a party.  It ended up being a super fun evening!

Everyone arrived around 8:00 which was perfect because I had just finished up our decorations and all of the props for our photo booth! This year to switch things up, I made my own photo booth with props and everything.  The idea originally came from The Pencil Jar on my Pinterest Board.  I loved how The Pencil Jar incorporated some fun props and a easy-to-make backdrop.  My backdrop was also very simple to make but I will share the tutorial on a separate post!

After everyone arrived, we played a few rounds of The Big Bang Theory Game and Big Bang Theory Uno.  It may not seem like something all that exciting, but we switched up a few rules in each game which made it more exciting and fun for everyone to play.

About the time we finished playing those game, Sarah and Kelsey arrived at the party and the photo booth fun began! They had just arrived home from Mexico about two hours before the party so when they got there, they were very tired but also ready to have fun!

After the pictures were finished, we all made our way to the living room to play one more game before the ball dropped at midnight.  This time we played a card game, but by the end of it, I think everyone was ready for it to be over.  I think we were all just getting tired and were ready to celebrate ringing in the New Year!

The night ended with us all hanging out and talking until everyone was ready to go home or go to bed.  We offered for everyone to crash if they needed and a few people took us up on that offer, so the next morning we were all up early working on getting ready to start the day and get things moving. 

Happy {Belated} New Years Everyone!

Question of the Day:

What fun things did you do for New Years?

A Sleepover, Ninja Turtles and LOTS of Presents!

Hello There! How is your day going so far? I hope well!

This post is dedicated to catching up from the last Christmas celebration we had this year with Justin's family! This year we did something a little bit different with his family than we normally do.  Instead of all just getting together on one day to exchange gifts, we all went to my in-laws house to stay the night and basically have our own "Christmas morning".  So we packed up the car extra tight with gifts and made our way up to their house! 

Each of us was responsible to bring our own appetizer and cocktail to share with everyone.  My in-laws made 7-layer dip, we made pigs in blanket and pizza in a blanket and his sister brought Brie cheese with strawberry jam on french bread and everything was delicious! I never thought that just the appetizers would be enough food, but I sure was full!

After dinner, we hung out and played a round of Phase 10 until midnight then watched Tom & Jerry until everyone was ready to crash.  Justin made sure to get some snuggles in with JP before we all crashed for the night.  I love getting pictures like this of them because it captures their relationship.

Of course we had to put the gifts out from "Santa" for my nephew before we went to bed and let me tell you, I've never seen a tree so full of gifts before!

 

My nephew, JP, was so excited the next morning and could not wait to open all of his gifts up right away! In Justin's family we each get our own wrapping paper and JP knew which one was him and quickly began opening them up.  I loved to see how excited he was.  Us adults passed out our gifts and began opening them all-the-while watching JP and McKenna have a blast.  You would think that it would have taken forever to open them all, but I think all together it took about an hour! I am so excited about everything I received and feel so blessed by my in-laws this year.

This year for Christmas, JP got a bunch of Ninja Turtles stuff.  Can I just point out how old ancient it makes me feel to know that 20+ years ago I was watching and playing with Ninja Turtle toys, but boy does he love those Turtles.  Plus, there is nothing better than getting a chance to play it with your uncle!

The morning concluded with my father-in-law cooking us a delicious breakfast of omelettes, bacon, potatoes and fruit! Justin and I then made our way home for the evening to catch up on laundry and other miscellaneous chores around the apartment.  

Such a fun Christmas celebration with my in-laws! I hope we continue to do this for years to come! 

Month at a Glance

Happy Monday Everyone! I trust that you are having a wonderful Monday morning! Michigan has been having a nasty snow storm since yesterday which has resulted in about nine inches of snow covering the ground since Saturday night.

Luckily for Justin and I, we were given permission to work from home today which saved is the hassle and risk of driving in terrible work conditions.  The only bad thing is that now that we have the snow, it will be getting extremely cold in the next few days which can sometimes be worse than the snow.  

Can you see Justin's car under there? I think it is easily going to take us an hour to get his car all cleaned off.  I am hoping to get out there in the next hour or so!

Month at a Glance

January is usually a pretty busy month for us due to it being right after the holidays, plus Justin's birthday, and this January is no different from any other!

• Justin's Birthday
• Celebrating Justin's birthday with my family and his family
• Girl's Night Out at my mom's church
• Going to the Upper Peninsula for snowmobiling
• Cousin's dinner at my cousin's house
• Double date night with Dwayne and Wendy
• Nestie Post Holiday Extravaganza!
• Get together with my girls 

On top of all of that excitement we will also have other fun activities for just the two of us! I am very excited to see what this month brings!

Over the next few days I am planning on catching up on some posts from the Holidays and sharing some of the exciting things coming up on the blog!

Happy Monday Everyone! 

Question of the Day:

What are your favorite things to do when you cannot leave the house for the day?

Christmas in the Vore Household

Christmas this year was extra fun for Justin and I because we were able to spoil each other a tiny bit more than normal.  On Christmas morning Justin made Monkey Bread while I slept in for breakfast.  I love Monkey Bread because it is pretty simple and super delicious! Plus, there is nothing better than waking up to the delicious smells of a home cooked breakfast.

After we finished our breakfast, Justin and I took time to exchange our gifts with each other.  I am so very excited because he gave me a ton of things to help with my baking! I love baking and the tools he gave me will make it so much easier!

After exchanging gifts, we hung out around the apartment talking and enjoying each other's company until we needed to leave to head out to see his parents.  Every year we try to see both sets of parents for every holiday because they live so close together.  So this year we stopped by his parents house to give them each one of their gifts and to wish them a Merry Christmas.

After that we made our way out to my parents house to go see a movie with them.

Have you heard of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty? This movie is seriously one of the most creative movies I have seen in a long time.  I know it is a remake of an old movie, so I plan on trying to get a copy of the original to see if it is better than this one.  If you are looking for a good movie to go see, this would be my first pick.

While our Christmas was not too exciting, it was exactly how we wanted!

Merry {Belated} Christmas Everyone! 

Christmas Eve

This year we spent Christmas Eve with my family since last year we were with Justin's.  Because my brother, Jared, was not around for Christmas this year, we did a laid back dinner and went to church at my parents church.

Michigan has been seeing some crazy weather this past few weeks that left several thousand people without power the week of Christmas, but it also left us with some of the most beautiful scenery I have seen.

The basketball net was even frozen solid! Such a beautiful sunset on Christmas Eve but it sure was freezing outside!

 For dinner my mom made a homemade Pot Pie and it was super delicious! She just used a pie crust and filled it with cream of chicken soup, cooked chicken and mixed vegetables.  It is such a simple recipe but it was very delicious! 

After dinner we made our way to my parents church for a very special Christmas Eve service.  This year was extra special too because both my parents and my in-laws were there.  It was so nice to celebrate with everyone at the same church.

Typically the church does a candlelight service, but this year they did something different.  This year they brought in a children's choir from Durban, South Africa.  It was so awesome to hear these children sing and it filled my heart with joy to see the opportunities that are being provided to them through the efforts of a small group of people.  If you are interested in checking them out, check out the video below! I will also provide a link for you in case you are interested in checking it out further.

Key of Hope

After church Justin and I made our way home for the evening and made sure to snag a few pictures of our very festive Christmas outfits.  Justin wore his green golf pants to show his festive spirit and I was not too sure how I felt until I saw how handsome he looked.  I always appreciate when he dresses up.

Once our pictures were done, we got ready for bed and went to bed with excitement in our hearts for Christmas morning!