I Went to Texas.

I’m writing this with help from Princess Leia – she hasn’t left my side since I got back from Milwaukee today. The last week and a half have been absolutely crazy; I haven’t spent more than 48 hours in one place. Between Neenah, Milwaukee and Houston, I’ve been bouncing back and forth and spending a ton of time in the car. On Sunday, I’ll be heading back up to Minneapolis and will hopefully be there for more than a day and a half. Ha!

Before my crazy recap, I want to share a card with you. I made this using a fantastic stamp set from Creativity Prompt – Everday Hexagons to create a sweet and simple card. Word on the street is that she will be releasing a new stamp set soon, too!

I used Everyday Hexagons and Hero Arts Mid-Tone Inks in Bubble Gum, Butter Bar, Tide Pool and Wet Cement to stamp out the background and sentiment all onto one layer. A little touch of Diamond Stickles, inking the edges with Wet Cement and popping the whole piece up on some Sunshine Hero Hues cardstock. Just a little stamping and only two of the fab stamps from this set, and we have this lovely, happy one-ish layer card.

Make sure to check out Avital’s website, Creativity Prompt, to see the stamp set! I’ll share more about the new set when she releases it. She may or may not have sent me one to give away during the release. ;)

A Road Trip

On 26th, I headed out for a real college style road trip with some of my best friends. Four boys and li’l ol’ me in a Chevy Impala. Yeah, man.

It took us about 22 hours to get to Houston with the bad ice in Arkansas – they didn’t have the resources to clean up from the storm that went through a few days earlier. It was a mess! I was so grateful to get out of the car and promptly fell asleep in my hotel bed for about 4 hours while the guys went out to eat.

We spent so much time just sitting around talking, laughing, playing cards, drinking beer and watching sports. Every single one of my friends is a comedian in his own right, and there were a couple times where I was rolling around clutching my stomach from laughing so hard. My abs still aren’t really the same. ;)

Thank goodness we finally figured out how to open the window to get some ventilation  because 4 smelly boys and five showers make for a stinky, humid environment that a measly bathroom fan doesn’t cure. My hair gets BIG in humidity. I snapped this golden shot of the hair craziness:

But all in all, it was a lot of hilarioty and happiness. And beer. Lots of that too. Lots of this:

We call that Bro Love. It’s real and alive, my friends.

We went to Houston to watch our football team (the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers) play in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Reliant Stadium. It was a fantastic game. The stadium is gorgeous, and Texas Tech fans (for the most part) were really nice to us.

We lost. It was a heartbreaker. We went into the game expecting to lose by at least a touchdown, but we were TIED until our QB threw an interception in the last minute that allowed the other team to win by a field goal in the last second of the game. There were tears. That one hurt.

We recovered, though, and are all grateful about the entire experience. Even the game was awesome! The best part, though? The food. Ohhhhh the food.

I found Pizzitola’s on a random website online and knew we had to go there. And oh yes, it was perfect. The owner came over and talked to us and was probably the coolest person we met in Texas. He was hilarious. If you’re ever in the area, make sure to go there and tell him that the Gopher fans from Minnesota sent you! The food is AMAZING.

My brisket and chicken. Texas BBQ might be my new favorite kind. You pour on the sauce yourself, and it’s thin and a little tangy. Pure amazing.

We also hit up Frank’s Pizza in downtown before we hit the road to come home. I was a little skeptical at first, but this pizza is the real deal. I had the mushroom pizza, and it was the best mushroom pizza I’ve ever had at restaurant. Kudos, Frank’s.

At Pizzitola’s, we got our first taste of Saint Arnold’s Brewery and then spotted the brewery on the way back to the hotel. It was destiny! We planned a tour immediately and went back the following day.

The place was absolutely packed with beer lovers. Hundreds of people paid the $7 just to hang out all day long and enjoy 4 beers. They even brought board games and tupperwares full of snacks. The people were amazingly friendly. I love beer culture! It felt just like going to a brewery in Minneapolis with an awesome accent.

Here are the boys and myself. From left to right: Jake, Alex, Dan, Kenny and me. We had so much fun.

We did a really fun thing and documented our entire trip on twitter and instagram with a hashtag: #bigmistakebowl. It was fantastic, because we could record our little funny moments and situations throughout the trip from all angles.

When I got home, I was able to throw everything into a shutterfly book and send the link to all the guys. Bam. Five scrapbooks. And we all did the scrapbooking just by tweeting throughout the weekend. :)

Click here to view this photo book larger

Check out the photobook I made above or click this link to see it up close. I love this idea for trips and using a hashtag to organize memories. It’s really making me think. ;)

At Home in Neenah

I couldn’t share pictures without sharing some of the kitties! Blue Eyes and Mika have been adjusting to having Leia around. We thought Blue might be mean to her at first, but it turned out it was Mika that we had to worry about! She hissed up a storm the first few days I was here. They’re all cool with one another now, though. :)

While I was on my road trip, Leia took an intense liking to my mom. I’m not sure my mom is going to let me take her back to Minneapolis without a fight! ;) Leia’s the sweetest lap kitty, and she loves it when my mom does embroidery so she can chase the threads.

We noticed a couple of wounds on her, though, and knew the other cats didn’t do it since they hadn’t so much as licked the one another. It looked pretty icky, so we took her to the vet. The diagnosis? Ringworm. Ugh. So we’ve been cleaning the house like crazy and keeping Leia in two rooms to keep the other cats away and the ickies confined. Poor baby. :( Good news is that she’ll be fine, but it’s a pain in the butt to get rid of and constantly clean!

I have been enjoying the comforts of home, though, including my parents’ super fancy Keurig and a Christmas present I got from Jake – a color-changing heart mug. Perfect! (You can find it here from ThinkGeek – one of my favorite stores.)

And of course, we celebrated the New Year. I was designated driver as usual, and I love getting all dolled up. I can’t wait for another fun year of creativity, happiness and joy with you and all of my wonderful friends and family.

I’m so lucky. Leia says hi! She’s tried to delete this post with her butt twice. Finishing it up before she does it for real! Will be back tomorrow with my One Little Word. I finally found the one!

Love,
Britta