Sunbathing Beauty Pics and Deets

Hello blog lovelies – I’m alive. Somehow I let nearly two months slip by since I’ve updated. Whoopsie! So many exciting things happening on my end, I decided to ride the wave a little bit to keep stress levels down. So now it’s time for me to circle back around to my small, (very loved) blog community. I have a couple specific updates I want to share with you soon, but first – my vacations!

If you remember, I had two vacations planned to celebrate my 30th birthday this year (lucky gal, I tell yah)! Here’s a few pics and deets:

Hawaii

I convinced my fam damily to book a trip with me in January to one of my favorite places – Maui! The best advice I can give you for planning a trip to Maui – rent a condo in downtown Kihei from VRBO.com and hit up the Costco right outside the airport to stock your condo with healthy, inexpensive meals. My mom was a rock star and made guacamole, ceviche, crab salads, breakfast scrambles, shish kabobs on the barbecue – the whole shebang. It helped us save money for other more exciting ventures (like stand-up paddle boarding!) and kept the healthy eating in check.

My sis and I explored tons of Maui beaches for snorkeling and sunbathing, the family hit up happy hours (our fav was at Mulligan’s on the Blue), we went to the Old Laihaina Luau (supposedly best on island – it rocked) and my personal favorite, we hiked down to the Olivine Pools (as described in the the Maui Blue Book, a must-purchase for anyone traveling to Maui).

The Olivine Pools were a relatively 20-minute rookie hike down a somewhat rocky cliff to pools naturally created by lava formations at the edge of the ocean in Northeast Maui. The waves crash up against the pools while you sit in them – a bit crazy and scary cause the ocean is pretty fierce, but the edges of the rock formations keep you safe! The pools have Olivine crusted in them, making them a bit sparkly, the water is shallow and warm, and there’s only a few people down there. It was stunning!

This was my mom, dad and lil’ sistor’s first time to the Aloha State, so it felt special to share with them one of my “happy places”!

Dirty 30 Caribbean Cruise

You guys – if you want to laugh your bunsies off and have one of the more epic vacations of your life, book an all-girls vacation and pack lots of theme nights! I have a really special group of 10 high school girl friends (including myself cause duh I’m totes BFFs with myself), and we all decided to coordinate a cruise together since we all turned 30 this year. It was the first time we’d all been together like this, without significant others, since high school! It ended up being one of the best weeks of my life, and I have so many special memories with the girls I’ve known for 15 years! I feel like I reconnected with each of them in special ways, and I couldn’t feel more grateful.

Obvs because I’m a “Theme Party Whore,” my favorite part of the trip was all our theme nights! A group of nine girls already catches attention, our custom Dirty 30 2012 hats began our cruise boat celebrity-dom, and our theme nights sealed the deal. By the end of the trip, everyone knew the Dirty 30 nine! We packed for a neon night, all white party, nautical attire, and a fancy pants dress up dinner. This was the first time most of us had been on a cruise. We went on Carnival Cruise’s “Destiny” boat in the Caribbean with a stop in Grand Cayman (just like America) and Jamaica (awesome, wish I had more time).

All in all, I wasn’t a huge fan of the cruise format. If you like to explore when you travel, then cruising is not for you! It felt too much like herding cattle without any time to really explore when you docked. Plus we were crammed onto a boat with a milz amount of people, and half of us got the legitimate Neuro Virus afterward (or had reverse seasickness for three days)! My advice if you do really want to do a cruise – stick with a well-reviewed, fancier company. I wouldn’t really recommend Carnival. Although our cruise was only $275, the food was salty and the pools were mediocre (I won’t even get into the other clientele on the boat).

Next time (since we decided we’re doing this every time we hit a big ZERO birthday), we’re going to just rent a house and stay together on land! This will be *one* good reason to turn 40. Egads, that number feels frightening.

And that, my friends, are my trips for the year (until Greece in September 2012!)

Currently Feeling: Back pain – gah! Will it never escape me. I need to get my buns back into the yoga studio regularly.
Currently Anticipating: My BFF Kristen landing in SF this weekend! Another girls weekend with her – we’re going to hit up Chef Hubert Keller’s (from Top Chef Masters) restaurant, Fluer de Lys and finally watch The Hunger Games! (Have you seen it? What did’ja think?)
Currently Loving: My sis is getting into the outfit posts, like I’ve been telling her to do! She’s cute and talented – check out her blog: Everything with Bows, Ribbon & Lace.

Bon voyage

I’m really lucky to have two vacations early in 2012… both are to celebrate my 30th birthday, and just happened to be planned months ago to occur around the same time. (It feels a bit gluttonous, not gonna lie).

This trip I’m about to embark on is with eight of my high girl besties (nine of us total). We planned a Caribbean cruise together to celebrate all of us turning 30 this year.

I’m so excited to reconnect with all of them – it’s literally been since high school since we’ve all been together like this, in one place, without significant others. How fun! We also have theme nights packed for the cruise. (As you probably know, I refer to myself as a “Theme Party Whore” because I love them so much!) We’ll be doing an all-white party, neon night, nautical night and fancy dress night.

Right now I’m in South Beach, Miami – poolside – waiting for the other girls to arrive tonight. Tomorrow evening we’ll board the boat that will take us to Jamaica and St. Thomas! I’ve never been on a cruise boat, so this is all a very exciting adventure. Bon voyage!

Currently Feeling: Like a sunbathing queen – reading in the sun is my happy place.
Currently Anticipating: Seeing my best friends when they get in, and enjoying a dinner out in South Beach tonight.
Currently Loathing: That’s there’s a lot of smokers in Miami (smoking at my pool, no less!) Gross.

How to Throw a Favorite Things Party

Thanks to the all-knowing, addictive, most amazing website to come out of 2011 – Pinterest – I came across a few blogs that shared the idea of throwing a Favorite Things Party. So, I decided to host one for my San Francisco girls. Here’s the gist of throwing a Favorite Things Party: everyone brings five (or whichever number you choose) of their “favorite things” under a price limit. We did five things for $30. Favorite things can be your favorite condiment, nail polish color, book, amazing product you can’t live without, etc., but it should be five different things, not five of the same thing. Each person “presents” their favorite things one by one, and after each, pulls a name (from a box/hat) for the person who will receive the favorite thing. At the end, everyone goes home with five different “favorite things” from everyone at the party, learns a little bit about each attendee, and learns a lot about great products! It’s super fun, and a great change-up to the usual white elephant party.

Here are a few details I added to my party to give you some ideas if you want to throw your own Favorite Things Party! (P.S. I did it as a holiday party, but it can be thrown year-round without a Christmas theme!)

I bought brown bags, printed out labels that said, “A Few of Our Favorite Things” (you can download the labels here) and tied the bags with string. This was to play off “brown paper packages tied up with strings” from the song, and each person had a bag to put their “favorite things” they received at the party.

I made this fabulous Cranberry Mojito cocktail, also found on a blog courtesy of Pinterest. This might have been one of the biggest hits of the party. Because of it’s festive red and green appearance, everyone took pics and shared it on the social interwebs.

In keeping with the theme, I asked guests to bring their favorite appetizer. One of my girls brought pigs in blanket (or as she said, “Pigs in Down Comforters”) – everyone’s childhood fav!

I was really grateful to my friends who put a lot of thought and energy into their appetizers and presents – it was so fun to just chat, nibble on good homemade food and sip festive cocktails. The holidays are for celebrating with those you love most!

One of the best parts about the party is how fun it is to learn about each other through your favorite things. Like your friends love to travel… or love Owls… or appreciate fine wine… sometimes if they’re new friends, like most of girls in San Francisco, it’s a great way to get to know each other even more.

Some of the “favorites” that made their way to my party were: popcorn box for watching movies filled with candy, chalkboard wine glasses, Mac lipstick in Ruby Woo (I scored this one!), funny suitcase tag, non-slip headbands, Trident layers, Great Lash mascara, e.l.f. lipgloss, Almond Champagne (!!!), Bath & Bodyworks True Plue Paraffin lotion (supposed to be the best for dry hands), Gap thong (supposed to be super comfy), plastic flask for outdoor concerts, massage oil, eos lip balm and a Christmas amerilious plant.

My five favorites were: Forever 31 earrings, The Carrie Diaries(to represent my love for SATC, Carrie and blogging), Space Noodles (to represent my love for Seattle), a lululemon headband (to represent my love for yoga) and Tapatio! I put that stuff on everything.

What “favorite things” would you bring?!

One of my girl friends went home with Mac lip liner in “Cherry” and a lesson from a make-up artist friend on how to apply it – doesn’t she look fab?!

Again keeping with the theme (*cough* theme party whore *cough*), I made “warm apple strudel” (part of the Favorite Things song lyrics) for my dish and topped it with homemade eggnog ice cream! It was my first time making either, and they were quite the hit. Apple strudel is a crowd pleaser with all that butter and brown sugar, and eggnog is pretty much ready made ice cream mix in a carton! And of course, I had my “whiskers on kittens“ tied up in a pretty red party bow.

It was truly a night filled with our favorite things – each other, great food, drinks, conversation and the little things in life that make us smile. All recipes for an awesome holiday party with close girl friends!

Happy holidays, blog lovelies!

Currently Feeling: Like the holidays are even MORE crazy when you have to squeeze in meeting up with everyone you don’t see all the time. Whew – I’m tired! But it’s so much fun too.
Currently Anticipating: A girls night tomorrow night – dinner at Pearl and a tour of Snowflake Lane.
Currently Loving: Spending so much one-on-one time with my high school girl friends – it’s been awhile since so many of them have lived back at home, and it feels so special to catch up and stay good friends after all these years.

Everything is made better with mustaches

Last week this San Francisco thing started to feel REAL. I might have mentioned in this blog post that apartment searching felt REAL real. But now it’s REAL, real, REAL.

I’m sure I’ll come back to you after tomorrow and Wednesday – the pack the move truck and drive out of Seattle days – and then it’ll be REAL, real, REAL, real, REAL.

Um, yeah. This is happening.

I’ve been talking about the move and going through the motions for a month now, checking off my laundry list of to-dos. But, up until last week, I don’t know I really sat down to think that this all means I’m leaving Seattle, specifically the Queen Anne neighborhood – my home for the last eight years. Eight.years. How did THAT happen?!

I started off the week with packing up some of my apartment, which was the first moment that I was all, “Um, what am I DOING?!” I fought back a few tears only because my roommate was home. Otherwise I think I would have been blubbering with snot on my face in sweats, spooning cake frosting into my mouth ala Goldie Hawn in “Death Becomes Her.” Remember that part?! Love that movie.

After making it through the “packing up my entire life” hump, I ended the week with a Cinco de Mayo going away party with MUSTACHES. This is the third party I’ve thrown with fake mustaches. Some of you might think that’s weird. I think it’s awesome. Throw a mustache party, and I promise it’ll be the most you’ve laughed in a long time. And afterwards the photos are even more hilarious. Everything is made better with mustaches. Even moving away from your best friends and family.

So, this is where the move gets the hardest. The Space Needle view can be replaced. The 25 restaurants I was dying to try and never got a chance to can be visited when I’m home for Christmas or the summer. The fabulous Seattle summer weather will be replaced by fabulous San Francisco Indian summer weather. The festivals I love so much that I go to every year – Oktoberfest, Summer Solstice Festival, The Bite of Seattle – those will all be replaced with San Francisco’s version.

But the people – oh the people of Seattle. Those of you who have made me laugh daily, met me for brunches and happy hours and barbecues at Golden Gardens, shared cabins in Eastern Washington with me and the drive over with Sparks, attended birthday parties and dressed up for each and every one of them, eaten drunken nachos and fried macaroni triangles, sat next to me while I cried, cheered on my dreams and career moves (or lack there of during my summer of Funemployment), held my hand occasionally or ever loved me as much as I loved you, and worn mustaches for me every time I’ve asked. You know who you are. YOU can’t be replaced, my friend. And that is what makes this move to San Francisco to exciting, so freakin’ freakin’ exciting. But so bittersweet at the same time.

Currently Feeling: Pretty good with where I’m at timing wise – almost all packed up and ready to go.
Currently Anticipating: One last Peso’s visit tonight for happy hour. All roads lead to Peso’s. If you ever find yourself in Seattle – GO! Best happy hour in the city.
Currently Needing: A picture frame for my new San Francisco Ork Poster my BFF bought me!

How to Throw a Roaring Twenties Party

As one of my blog tags suggest, I am totally a theme party whore. I loooove them. I love going to them; I love throwing them.

Throughout my 20s, I’ve thrown some pretty good theme parties, including but not limited to: a silver birthday party for my silver 25th birthday party, a Dirty 30 party for my ex-boyfriend’s 30th with a boob cake and dirty mustaches, a Mustache and Sombrero birthday party (what party is complete without mustaches?!), a Sexual Chocolate party (Passion Party + chocolate fondue)… and now a Roaring 20s theme for my 29th Birthday!

Since 29 is the last year of my magnificent 20s, I decided to celebrate it with a Roaring 20s theme. I researched decorations, food, costumes and all the details. Here’s what I did, and how you can throw your own Roaring 20s Party.

Location:

I chose a private party space in Seattle called The Upstairs, which had a “speakeasy” vibe. The entrance was a nondescript door in the city, and guests had to walk upstairs to what looked like an underground bar during Prohibition… lights were strung across the ceiling, handmade art adorned all the walls and guests could dance or sit on velvet couches and chairs to chat. (If you live in Seattle, seriously have your party here! It’s owned by Cory, the brain behind Pinxto – and he is AWESOME at accommodating needs and wants to make your party special!)

Invite:

To get the guests into the Prohibition mindset, I sent an invite with an address that said the party was at “a door next to” a popular bar in Seattle, and gave them each a password to give at the door to get in (something that was often done during Prohibition for entrance into underground bars). Then I hired a door guy to ask guests what their password was at the door. (Gin Fizz!)

Decorations:

Tall vases of feathers and Cali lilies were on tables, feathers adorned bar and tabletops, and I purchased boxes of candy cigarettes to set around the party too. I also had glass candy dishes with gummy bears and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups – candies that were both invented in the 1920s, and bowls of nuts on the bar top – another popular snack food in the 20s.

Food:

My mom catered the party, and we researched popular party foods in the 20s, and dishes invented in the 20s. The menu included:

Shrimp cocktail (popular party food in the 20s)

Zucchini chips (zucchinis came to the U.S. in the 20s)

Deviled eggs (egg creams were popular in the 20s)

Waldorf Salad (served to President Coolidge in 1924 at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in NYC)

Brie cheese platter (popular party food in the 20s)

Olives (popular party snack in the 20s)

Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes (dessert invented in 1925 after Dole’s pineapple recipe contest)

Then I created and printed little tags with rhinestones that said the food, the year it was invented and were displayed using photo holders I bought at Michael’s Crafts for $1!

Drinks:

The bar created a custom cocktail list for me, which included:

Mint Julep (whiskey, mint, soda water)

Gin Fizz (gin, lemon, powered sugar & soda water)

French 75 (gin, lemon & Cava champagne)

Roaring Jeanna (whipped cream vodka & soda water – my fav drink!!)

Costumes:

All my guests dressed in 1920s costumes! What do these look like, you ask?! Mostly flappers in fishnets, black wigs, feather headbands and garter belts for the ladies – but also slip dresses with a low hemline, pin curls and pearls. For the boys – gangster gear or just plain suits, suspenders and fedoras.

Party Details:

I hired a photographer and set up a “photo booth” area for my guests with 1920s props such as feather boas, a fake cigar, pearl necklaces, a martini glass and a chalkboard to write fun messages on for the pics. I also created a box and a sign that said, “What Should I Do the Last Year of My 20s?” and asked guests to write their advice for me on little white cards and place them in the box. I’m going to spend this year actually trying to accomplish all the advice from my friends (another post coming on that soon!)

And now… all the photos! My favorite part of the whole shebang because it shows how AWESOME my friends are, who are the “detail” that really made my whole party:

Twenty nine looks pretty good from up here

So, yesterday was my birthday. I’m TWENTY NINE. Hard to believe I’m *this* close to kissing my sweet, sweet 20s goodbye. Everyone always says the 20s are some of the best years of your life… I don’t know any better, but I’ve certainly LOVED being a 20-something. I’m going to make this last year the best one yet!

I spent my birth day responding to a ridiculous amount of text messages, phone calls, emails and Facebook posts. If there’s one thing your birthday does for you, it makes you feel extremely loved.

Then for my birth night, I headed to a favorite local neighborhood Mexican restaurant – Laredos for enchiladas, wine and a birthday cake shot, wrapping up my evening at a couple of fun bars in my neighborhood with friends. I live in a really fun, vibrant neighborhood of Seattle that has a lot of 20-something and 30-somethings, and there’s always someone to run into or a friend behind the bar. It was the perfect way to spend my birthday.

Tomorrow I’m throwing a HUGE shindig. I’m not getting married in my 20s, so I decided, why not throw a big, decorated, catered, themed party similar to all the hooplah people put into a reception? Notice the little tag in the sidebar to the right that says “Theme Party Whore”? Yeah, that’s me. I’ll be adding a new post to that category next week with all the photos from my “Roaring 20s” theme party – complete with flappers, gangsters, feathers, candy cigarettes and prohibition cocktails at a speakeasy.

Happy Birthday to me!

Currently Feeling: Excited to stay in watching movies with my little sister tonight – we always have such a good time together. Good laughs for sure.
Currently Anticipating: My party tomorrow, of course!
Currently Loving: The XX – their album is so good!

Here is where I serenade you and offer up a BIG giveaway

Last week, I was given the opportunity to host a Wrapped in Goodness party courtesy of Lean Pockets, which means I was sent a HUGE ass box stocked with Snuggies for my guests, a questions party game, coupons for free boxes of Lean Pockets’ new Culinary Creations, and $100 for additional food and wine. (That was my disclosure part). What ensued was 12 goodnesses wrapped in a party… And yes, I did really make all my guests pose with their chosen number of snacks while I sang probably the crappiest version ever of The 12 Days of Christmas, using a YouTube karaoke video. Oh the laughter! Sometimes I wonder if my life is real.

What I’m giving YOU, lovely friends and readers for suffering through my high pitched craziness is a chance to win an entire YEAR’S supply (183 coupons) of Lean Pockets. Heyo! All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me your favorite Christmas song (Here’s hoping it’s my awesome rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas). For an extra entry, you can head over to the LP Facebook page and like it, and let me know here. AND, if you Tweet about it, tag me @jeannabarrett and use the hashtag #goodnessparty & #giveaway, and I’ll throw an extra entry in there. I’ll choose the winners at random by Friday at 5 p.m. and announce by Monday! Good luck!

Currently Feeling: Tired from staying up till 2:30am to knock out that video. Once I get my mind on something, I can’t stop.
Currently Anticipating: Girl Power Hour’s Cocktail Holiday party on Thursday!
Currently Loving: That I can wear yoga clothes to work every day. Love my job.

Te amo, amigos

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!

/From my 28th “Mustaches & Sombrero” birthday party

I wish you all the tacos, burritos, cervezas and cheese dip in your future.

Currently Feeling: A little burnt out after two bootcamps, Zoomba (which I’ll elaborate on later) and kickball in two days.
Currently Anticipating: Heading to the neighborhood Mexican joint tonight, but first – a TweetUp my company is co-sponsoring at a jewelry store.
Currently Needing: A new crush.

Ain’t no weekend like a successful weekend

The mustache party Friday night for my boyfriend’s 30th was a hit. It’s endlessly entertaining to take photos with ‘staches – I think I’ll bust them out on the next gray Seattle day. By the time everyone showed up to the bar (people are always notoriously late), I was a pitcher and a half deep, and I completely forgot to take very many pictures, sing my boyfriend happy birthday or take a picture of him with the cake. Some host I am.

Saturday I stayed in bed and watched movies with the BF – Bride Wars, super cute, but just confirms my suspicions that brides are crazy and weddings are the devil; The Uninvited – sorta creepy, but super confusing at the end; and Twilight – I broke down and rented it, but fell asleep. Oh bummer. Boyfriend said he didn’t mind it.

The only thing productive I did that day was hit up The Cheesecake Factory for 30th birthday celebration #3! I’m going to get fat from the BF’s birthday. I ordered BBQ salmon and it was delish. In fact, everything slathered in BBQ sauce is delish. I could probably eat baby diapers and frog eyeballs if it were covered in BBQ…BF’s dad ordered a slice of banana cream cheesecake, and I about died and went to heaven. I stole approximately three bites off his plate, am definitely going to order that next time and am seriously contemplating making banana pudding this week.

Sunday I was uber productive – amazing what a day without a hangover can produce. I was like the Energizer Bunny after three shots of espresso and a RockStar energy drink. I made the BF breakfast, finally used the Starbucks espresso machine my parents handed down to me more than a year ago, finally cleaned and cleared the last little bit out of my old apartment (hey – have I mentioned how much moving sucks?), wrapped up a work project I didn’t complete (or start, haha) last week cause I was slacking, took an hour bike ride on the Burke-Gilman trail, did a wine tasting at Columbia Winery, ate dinner at a super great place in Redmond called Ooba’s Mexican Grill, and washed my car/cleaned out my trunk/detailed the inside for the first time since last SUMMER. I’d been driving around with an egg that some jack a$$ threw at my car last July, if that tells you anything. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the greatest at car maintenance.

All in all, the weekend was great success!

Currently Feeling: Super excited about the press my company is getting for my work in social media.
Currently Anticipating: Cinco de Drinko potluck tomorrow at Bestie Amanda’s BF’s house!
Currently Loving: Breakfast sandwiches made with herb cream cheese, a melted Kraft single and Canadian bacon! Mmm.

Breast wishes

Today is my boyfriend’s 30th birthday – a HUGE milestone!

Personally, I believe birthdays are super special because it’s the day you get to celebrate YOU. Not your mom, not Jesus, not a dead Irish saint, not secretaries – YOU – the one person you’ve had around, and always will have around, for the rest of your life. That’s a pretty important person, so I think birthdays are cause for a big celebration.

But, boys tend to be lackadaisical in the party throwing department, especially birthday parties, so I’ve decided to throw a celebration for him because he’s grande. Tomorrow night we’re co-hosting a “Dirty 30” birthday part at a dirty dive bar in Seattle. Because I am a theme party WHORE, I tried to squeeze in a little bit of the dirty theme… Last night I went to a fabulous store in Seattle called Archie McPhee’s – a novelty item store with kitschy gifts and trinkets – and picked up some fake mustaches for everyone to wear (dirty ‘staches). They even had a set of PINK fuzzy mustaches for girls. How perrrfect. If I am going to sport a ‘stache, it had better be pink.

And then there was the cake. I wanted to pick up a “dirty” cake from The Erotic Bakery – a shop that creates cakes and cookies in the shape of man and lady bits. I was going to post a few of the options here and take a vote on what to order, but when I called last night, I was too late for a rush order and they were $50 a cake anyway. Boo purdue. But then I realized, that’s really okay because they put vaginas on their cakes, and who knows what that would taste like anyway.

So I scrambled for plan B.

I started calling the party stores within my general area and asking, “Um. Do you have boob cookie cutters?” Not gonna lie; it was kinda awkward. But after calling a few places, even Lover’s Package, there were no boob cookie cutters to be had!

Time for plan c.

I started Googling, “How to make boob cookies.” No luck. Then, “How to make a boob cake,” brought up this result, and I was like, “Hey! I can do that!” So I was up until 12:30 a.m. last night, making boob-shaped cake pieces and flesh-colored frosting for Baby Daddy’s birthday cake. I’m SUPER excited to bust it out at the party… get it, bust it out. Haha. I think boobs and mustaches are a great pair. Well, unless you’re a lady with a mustache, then that’s just gross. Or, if your boobs are being tickled by some guy’s mustache, that’s gross too… uh boob cakes and fake mustaches are a great pair. Here’s how I did it:

First came the flesh-colored cream cheese frosting – a couple drops of green, red and yellow food coloring.

To make the boobs, you bake cake batter in two round mixing bowls and the base cake in a 9×13″ pan.

I saved some of the frosting and added a little more red and some blue food coloring
for the nipple area, which was made with a Peach-O ring with a Dot stuck in the middle.

I frosted the cake, then placed the breastesses on top, frosting each, and then finally the nipples.

TA DA!

Currently Feeling: Fancy in leopard print, a pink silk bow and my hair straightened for the birthday dinner tonight!
Currently Anticipating: All the surprises I have up my sleeve. I love surprises! And giving gifts!
Currently Loving: Mrs. Meyer’s Lemon Verbena Laundry Detergent. I picked it up on a whim last week, and while it’s a bit spendy for detergent, it’s SUPER fab and worth it! It makes my whole house smell great every time I do laundry!