Congratulations Meredith and Ari!

On Thursday afternoon I got a text message from my best friend, Meredith.  The text was a photo of her wearing an engagement ring!  I was at work in Manhattan and immediately took off running to catch the express train home so Abe and I could meet Mere and Ari in Rhinebeck for celebratory drinks. We crashed their dinner at Terrapin and then the four of us went to Liberty Tavern for champagne and wedding talk!

In less than a week my two best friends got engaged!  I'm so excited for 2012 and 2013 - we are going to have some major fun.

 

Congratulations to Jaime and Ezra!

On the Friday before Christmas Eve, while they were packing their bags for the weekend, Ezra and their dog Wesley proposed to my little sister.  Needless to say, it was a very exciting Christmas weekend filled with extra celebration!

Jaime is my little sister, best friend, and I love her more than anything in the world.  When she introduced me to Ezra it felt like he was meant to be part of our family (not to mention that we also love his family).  I feel so lucky that he'll be my brother-in-law. 

Peppermint Salt Scrub

I finally got around to making my own salt scrub and not only was it inexpensive to make, it was also super duper easy.  Just three ingredients (epsom salt, essential oils, and a carrier oil.)  I bought a ton of supplies and put a few containers together to give as Christmas gifts.  I followed the Martha Stewart instructions and made a few adaptations.  My version is below.

SUPPLIES

2 cups Epsom salts or organic cane sugar

1/4-1/2 cup carrier oil (TIP:  unscented is best if you're using essential oils.  Carrier oil is a term for any vegetable based oil used for massage or moisturizing skin.  Keep in mind that if your oil has a color tint to it, your scrub will also have that tint.)

10 drops of essential oil

mixing bowl, spoon, jars to store your finished salt scrub

HOW TO

1. Stir together Epsom salts or sugar and carrier oil in a bowl.  Add the oil a little bit at a time and stop adding when constistancy seems correct (should feel like a paste - not too dry and not too oily)

2. Add essential oil, 1 drop at a time. Add food coloring, and stir until color is even throughout. Spoon into canning jars.

The contents of the jar may separate over time.  Simply stir if this happens. 

Glitter Christmas Cards

My friend Piper gave me an amazing set of Martha Stewart glitter a couple years ago and I've been hoading it.  I LOVE glitter, I would drape myself in glitter if it were socially acceptable, but it's really hard to come up with grown-up crafts involving sparkles.  This year I decided to put it to use and whipped up some Christmas cards, which you can buy for $4 at Clay Wood & Cotton on Main Street in Beacon, NY.

Feather Art

A few months ago I found a red tailed hawk feather in my backyard.  It took me a while to decide how to display this gift from above, but I finally got around to mounting and framing it.  I already had the Ikea box frame so I just had to buy some pretty teal scrapbook paper for the background. Voila!