date night at the drive-in:

So a couple weeks ago, Nicholas & I headed for a little date night at the drive in theater! There is something so nostalgic and awesome about drive in theaters and I'm really glad they haven't shut this one down yet! (since all others in this area are closed) We grabbed some snacks, pillows, and blankets. Thought I'd share some pics with you!

$8.50, not bad since they feature 2 movies!

I'm not a big popcorn fan but I do like cracker jack!

So we grabbed some of our favorite snacks and some fruit.

Fruit dipped in Nutella is also good too ;)

Nutella with pretty much anything is yummy.

*Note: We didn't keep the lights on the entire time.

I just thought they were cute for pictures ;)

If you're in the orange county area, I totally recommend going to the Drive-In for a fun date night with someone special or with friends!

So that was it! We saw bridesmaids and we were going to stay for another movie but it started raining! How random is that - for June summer weather. I'm not complaining though, It was so cozy and I would have stayed in the rain but our blankets were getting all wet.

ps: Not sure how updated this site is but there's a list of drive in's by state at this website if you want to check and see if there are any in your area!

most of these photos were taken by Nicholas,

i snapped some too ;)

doughnuts:

So about a month ago, I asked Nick to take me to M & M donuts. This little donut shop is family owned, and has crazy hours. (Opens at 9pm, closes at 12:30!) The hype is seriously there. People start lining up at 8:30. Nick & I got there at 8:45. We waited over an hour to get our donuts, yikes! I think we got back on the road at 9:55 or something. I don't really even like blueberry but these are really good.

They handed us a pizza box and we were like, huh? We opened up the pizza boxes and there were our doughnuts, how charming. Look at all that grease! Yum? Ew. But the donuts are just sooooo good, it's so hard to care ;)

Since we waited so long, I thought I'd get some extra to share with Lillian, since we were meeting for lunch the next day. I couldn't find any good boxes and I didn't want to stick these bad boys in a bag (that wouldn't make for cute packaging at all!) so I found an anthropologie gift box and the donuts fit perfectly!

Adding some japanese tape really does the trick to make anything look nice.

and it worked out perfectly, since anthro boxes

just happen to be so darn cute already.

Yum. Oh, funny ending to the story - Nick didn't even like the doughnuts! He doesn't like cake donuts, bummer. Well, more donuts for me! Just pop them in the microwave for 15 seconds and they melt in your mouth. I'd recommend trying them at least once. I probably will never wait in line for an hour again, but at least we can say we did it once. & it was worth it since at least I got some photos out of it ;)

sewing class:

so i mentioned that i'm taking a sewing class at the local community college and our recent project was a skirt! i chose this simplicity project runway skirt pattern 2698. it was probably a little more complicated for a beginner, and i was super lost. but it had pockets, and i love pockets! well, needless to say i fell super behind so luckily, my very talented aunt linda was able to help me out. she spent the day with me (and i mean, the entire day!) showing me how the pockets worked, learning how to sew the waistband, and pleats!

but when i tried the waistband, it was super small! so then i was super bummed the skirt wouldn't even fit! (and after all that work, it better fit! hehe) so she asked if i wanted to make a new waistband. i thought, why not, how hard could it be? little did i know how much more complicated it would make the skirt! so we took new measurements, made cut a new waistband, and we had to take the pleats out of the skirt and shorten them so the skirt would match the new waistband. after lots of measurements, many hours, and complete brilliance, (all on my aunts end, i was totally clueless!) it was done!

A+ for the class! jk. to finish it off, my teacher thought a hand sewn hem would be nice. so that was lots of fun ;) and that is my sewing adventure on this skirt! our next project after this is making a button up blouse with collar and sleeves. yikes!

easter:

happy easter dear friends!

hope you have a lovely day with your families full of quality time: hunting for eggs, and eating candy, or whatever your tradition may be. nick and i are exchanging some easter baskets, i got him some yummy see's chocolate eggs with a white chocolate bunny inside. i have such fond memories of a chocolate bunny that my grandma gave me when i was younger, with another chocolate inside, so i was so delighted to find these. we're taking my grandpa to church and then having lunch, i've mentioned he's 83 so i'm excited to be able to go to Easter service with him.

the picture comes from some pretty floral pieces i recently ordered in such pretty colors: mint, ivory, and pink and they really reminded me of easter when i received them the other day, so appropriate.

see you tomorrow!

shop packaging:

well, i thought i would do a post on packaging for the oh, hello friend shop. it's quite simple really. the elements you need are some basic notions + office supplies that you may have around your house. seam binding, baker's twine, envelopes, business card, and extras like a button or sticker.

so i like including extra little promotion items with my orders. i have a little bookplate sticker that i designed that goes in every envelope. and a small 1inch "you are loved" button that also is included with the orders. i get my business cards printed at overnightprints.com or vistaprint.com. i can't remember where i got the stickers printed but if you're interested, i can find out where.

items get packaged in this coin envelope and tied with bakers twine. little note is written on the air mail envelope.

everything goes inside!


envelope gets wrapped with seam binding. button is attached.

then lastly i wrap it up with some brown kraft paper (i reuse the brown packing paper from companies that send yards and yards of it to protect one tiny dvd set or something.)

and it is finished off with some cute japanese deco tape!

prettiest puzzle books:

i was sent some of the most lovely pocket game books the other day and they are simply fabulous! published by Andrews McNeel publishing, the designs on these little pocket posh books are so fun and they come in all kinds of puzzles like sudoku (my favorite!), crossword, logic, and lots more! they are lovely to take on a trip. pick up a couple today! they'd make a great gift and are perfect for your travels! i especially love some of these covers here:

thrift finds:

hello friends! well, i thought i would post some pictures of some lovely plates i found while thrift shopping in missouri. i actually own the floral tray in the top picture, on the left, but i found the exact same one in missouri and it is so handy for holding random things so i had to buy it. and i love the white doily candy dish right above it, only $2!

i love collecting these patterned plates. i think i once saw an article in domino or martha stewart living with different ideas on how you could use vintage plates. one idea from domino was using them to hold jewelry. anyway, think about picking up some vintage plates on your next trip to the thrift store or flea market. so many good finds.

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so nothing much to report about my weekend here. today i am going to disneyland with my roommate, nick, and his cousin! it is nick's cousin's birthday - and what better to do than go to disneyland for free on your birthday. ;)

then, some very exciting news which is not certain yet: but i may very well be meeting someone i would consider an 'online bff' - a very dear friend who is making a long roadtrip down to eventually meet her husband in texas! she was going to pass by through my little city and it would be so amazing to finally meet her. plus i've never met anyone from the blog world yet, it's going to be awesome!

congrats:

a while ago i posted a 'must share' when i received my order from made by hank. the packaging, my favorite, and the product was so lovely! it was one of those things that you just had to grab your camera and take a picture of it.

i later received an amazing custom made banner from katie. (shown above in picture) and i was so excited this morning when i saw that she is etsy's featured seller this week! i feel like i know someone famous ;) when you look at her packaging and all her attention to detail, it is no wonder why she is so fabulous.

be sure to check out her shop as it's stocked with lots of her lovely signature bags, and they probably won't last long since she sells out super quick! everyone wants to own a made by hank bag!

anyway, i just wanted to say congrats to katie and if you haven't heard of her yet, be sure to stop by for some fabulous inspiration.

book:

so i said i'd post pics of the book that nicholas made me, so here it is! it was made entirely out of construction paper, he was super proud and now has a new found love for it. he thinks it is the best and that everything should be made with construction paper. ;) anyway, it was super sweet. it basically was a book of all the things we were doing throughout the day.

front cover..

the morning started with crepes. he brought me a strawberry nutella chocolate crepe from a local place nearby that we like to eat crepes at. he made the table and eiffel tower pop up and plates and everything. it was cute.

the second page was a penguin, and then it flipped with a mask (didn't take a picture of it) but it was supposed to represent phantom of the opera, the show we saw.

then we went to dinner at this restaurant on the beach. he had heard of it from his friend, and it was really nice. it was right on the sand... the food was good.

then he planned to to our favorite park..so this is supposed to represent the park and since he wasn't sure if it was going to rain, he made this slide down part under the clouds..

that shows rain, my favorite!

so after i flipped the page of the park, i flipped this page up which was supposed to be a laptop, his plan was to go watch a movie at the park on his laptop. we ended up being pretty tired because it took 2 hours to get back from la after the show in the traffic so we just went home. heh.

it was a fun day though. and i loved the book. it was pretty detailed and legit with the pop ups and everything, i was impressed. his cousin joked that his art school education really paid off. haha.