sometimes, you just have to spoil yourself (sponsored by the bouqs)

do you ever have those days (or weeks, or months, for that matter) where youre just like "you know what, if i can survive this, im gonna send myself a dozen roses"? or is that just me. 

cause im gonna be completely honest, i say this all. the. time. 

but then i survive whatever it was i was going through and forget to send myself those roses. 

but this week. this week is different. i was prepared to spend a couple weeks in a weird limbo trying to get back on my feet after two weeks of birthday chaos. but i was NOT prepared for birthday chaos to end with james working out of town for six days during midterms and then having school week the next week. 

so yeah. birthday chaos (which included a week of alice being very, very sick). immediately followed by six days by myself, which included both midterms and starting a new class at the homeschool co-op. and now im driving to whittier and back twice a day, on top of school and teaching and all the stuff thats normally on my plate. 

(update: james DID find a carpool on monday for the rest of the week)

but thanks to the bouqs, i was able to preemptively send myself those roses. 

and they are truly some amazing roses:

now the bouqs, they are a totally different animal when it comes to ordering flowers: they just sell flowers. beautiful, incredibly fresh flowers (from either a farm in california or the side of an active volcano in south america), at reasonable, up front prices, with no upselling or hidden fees and the easiest ordering process ever. oh, and no ugly vases to feel bad about throwing away after the flowers die. (also, i totally dig their eco-friendly and fair trade practices). 

seriously. once i had set my sights on the hope full bouq, it took a whopping three minutes before i knew EXACTLY when this was going to arrive:

and when it did, i wasted no time getting them into my favorite vintage vase: 

and holy moly i suddenly feel a heck of a lot better about how tired and cranky and stressed out i am right now, because are those not the most ridiculously bright pink roses youve ever seen? and they were so, so fresh. like, not even opened all the way fresh. like, theyve been on the table reminding me everythings ok for a week and only just yesterday started looking sad. 

so yeah, next time i want to treat myself (or someone else) to something nice, i know where im going first: the bouqs. 

(disclaimer: this post was sponsored by the bouqs and does contain affiliate links. i received a bouq to review, but have expressed my true, honest opinions. i love these flowers, and i hate school week)

arm-knit infinity scarf tutorial.

hello friends! hope everyones having a good week so far! this week is my first week back to juggling all three of my jobs after christmas break, and it hasnt exactly been the smoothest transition. BUT james worked three days (so far) at his regular job AND (thanks to a really weird assortment of food left from last weeks botched meal plan) i managed to pull together a meal plan for this week that only required $15 of groceries! and that makes me pretty happy. 

but not as happy as i am to show you how to make this super cozy giant knit infinity scarf:

which, by the way, is knit using your arms, and only your arms. im serious. i first tried this technique maybe 5 or 6 years ago when i read about it in one of the stitch n bitch books (i made a few scarves from strips of recycled tshirts), and then didnt really think about it again until a recent youtube search for an unrelated knitting technique revealed that arm knitting is totally a thing now. 

then a few days later it was double-discount day at work (meaning we got an extra forty percent off sale prices instead of twenty) and i saw this dash yarn by red heart and i knew that it would be the perfect christmas gift for my sister. 

and then i started making it and realized i HAD to share this project with you guys. why? well one, its super cute and practical and on trend. and two, it only uses one skein of yarn that retails for about $10 (meaning, as long as you go to joanns with a coupon you wont pay more than $6). and three, it takes less than an hour from start to finish. 

so what im getting at here is that you can make a super impressive handmade gift in less than an hour for $6. 

and heres how you do it:

(disclaimer: this was jamess very first time shooting a tutorial with me and we had some lighting issues due to not owning studio lights, so please excuse the inconsistent photography)

you will need:

1 skein red heart boutique dash in the color of your choice (i used meadow)

your arms

and maybe some scissors

step 1: start by making a slip knot about 3 feet from the end of your yarn. if you dont know how to make a slip knot, ill show you right now. start by making a fish shape with the cut end (tail) of your yarn crossing over the long (working) end like so:

next, reaching under the "body" side of the fish closest to where the tail crosses over, pinch a little piece of the "tail" like so:

and pull that little bit up through the "body" of the fish shape:

and pull your little loop away from the two ends of the yarn to tighten:

and ta-da! slip knot:

step 2: cast on your first row of stitches by placing your slip knot over your left hand like so:

next, using your right hand, reach through the loop on your left hand and pinch a little bit of the long (working) end of the yarn (not the tail!):

and pull it back through the loop on your left hand:

stretching it out until its big enough to fit onto your left hand next to the first loop:

now repeat this process again with the next loop so that you have three:

four:

five stitches on your left hand:

step 3: start knitting your first row by pulling a loop through your last stitch just as you were before:

only this time, drop the left hand loop off and leave the new loop on your right hand, like so (basically you just did a knit stitch without needles):

and repeat this process in each of the stitches on your left hand:

until you have five loops on your right hand and none on your left:

step 4: knit your second row by reversing the process of your first row, using your left hand to pull the yarn through the loops on your right hand:

dropping the right hand loop, and moving the stitches to your left hand:

all the way across:

step five: repeat steps three and four until you end a row with about 3-4 feet of yarn left over. your scarf will look something like this:

step six: begin the bind-off row by "knitting" your first:

and second loops:

next, begin binding off by taking the first loop (the one on the far right):

and pulling it up and over the second loop, dropping it so that only the second loop remains:

repeat this process, knitting one loop:

and pulling the previous loop over it:

until you only have one loop left:

and pull the last of your yarn through this last loop, forming a knot and the end of your bound off edge:

step seven: finish your scarf by first tucking the tail left from your bind off edge back into the scarf so that its hidden:

then, using the long tail that you left in the beginning:

"sew" the two ends of the scarf together:

making sure to match the rows of stitches so that the edges are straight:

finally, knot the end of your seam:

and weave the last of your tail into the wrong side of the seam to hide it, trimming if necessary:

step eight: go out and show off your super cute new scarf:

and when people compliment it (which they will) you can say, "oh, this old thing? its just something simple that i whipped up one afternoon", because, its true. 

hope youve enjoyed this tutorial, please PLEASE let me know if you end up using it, id LOVE to see the scarves that you make!

christmas with the meyers family.

happy friday everyone! so, i had originally scheduled a nice long break from blogging for after christmas, but since i ended up taking a (longer than intended) break before christmas, ive decided that im back. 

and today im talking about our super crazy exhausting christmas festivities. 

christmas for us started on monday (they day before christmas eve) when we drove down to san diego to jamess grandparents house (which btw, is where we got married). jamess grandma throws a giant christmas eve dinner every year, and this year he wanted to go down early so that we could hang out for a while before the big party. 

as much as i hate, hate, hate sleeping at other peoples houses, this ended up working out perfectly, because once the party started, there was absolutely no relaxing happening with alice running around with her bigger cousins:

and tackling and almost seriously injuring her only smaller cousin (alice loves babies, but unfortunately hasnt learned how to love babies gently). by the end of the night they were best friends though:

there was also lots and lots of (some very serious) dancing:

before alice totally flipped out about santa (great-grandpa) coming to deliver everyones presents (which is especially funny because she LOVES jamess grandpa, but, we dont do santa at home so i guess she thinks hes scary):

thankfully she calmed down for presents, which was a little overwhelming (for me) because while she only got a couple toys, she also got approximately three hundred pairs of shoes from jamess mom (though i suppose thats way better than if she had gotten say, three hundred stuffed animals):

then once the party was over we made the very long drive back home to do it all over again at our house:

alice was really excited about her new rairity pony (surprisingly hard to find for a mass-produced toy, now we just need to find an applejack and well have the whole mane six):

but then when i tried to take a picture of her with her cinderella doll she gave me this cheesy fake smile:

after we cleaned up presents we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast (kind of a tradition in my family):

because of going to san diego and my stupid stupid celiac disease, we werent able to have the homemade cinnabon cinnabon rolls that my mom always makes, but the udis makes a frozen cinnamon roll, that when topped with homemade frosting, is pretty satisfactory. no homemade cinnabon, of course, but satisfactory. 

THEN in the afternoon we went to my moms for even MORE christmas:

(alice was not amused at the pajama pants hat my sister made for her):

and now comes the part where everyone gets mad and hates me forever:

my mom made a beautiful prime rib and salmon dinner, with baked potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts (my contribution), and homemade bread:

which we ate outside. on a beautiful sunny 80 degree day. with most of us barefoot. winters here are brutal. 

then once it got dark we (along with my sisters) went for a drive through out local "christmas lights neighborhood" or whatever you want to call it:

alices favorite part? the giant jack skellington, obviously:

so needles to say after all that im pooped, and really, really, really glad that next christmas is a very, very long time away. 

how was your christmas? what did you do this year?