Personal News and a bit of Crafting

Hello again! I'm sorry I didn't do the Wednesday update last week. I'm glad to see Alex had plenty of crafting news to make up for it. The explanation for my hectic week is pretty simple, Brandon got a job in Ann Arbor and we moved him into an apartment out there. Also, my brother Max passed the bar and I drove home to attend his court ceremony! Everyone is moving forward, it's an exciting time all around.

After Brandon moved out, I wasn't quite sure if he brought his camera with him or left it behind, and now I can't find it. So, this week's photos were taken with my cell phone. I apologize for the poor quality.

My next big project is Gini's graduation announcement cards. She asked for a big "W" for Western Michigan, and something to show that she's a biology major. She's into plants, botany is kind of her thing. So I chose vines.

This is the sketch I did on trace paper

Wow. These photos are worse than I thought. I need to find that camera. Sorry guys.

Here is the linoleum all inked up, ready to be carved.

I may change the placement and size of the leaves as I go, some of them are a bit off. But other than that, I just gotta chug away and get it done. I'm really happy with how it has turned out so far.

Another big project I've got going right now is cleaning out the spare bedroom in my apartment, because there is a possibility that after graduation next month, Gini might be moving in with me! It will be nice to have someone else around, now that Brandon is gone. It's pretty quiet around here.

The first step in cleaning the house was getting my vintage hats up on the wall, and out of the way. Every time I moved stuff, they were getting crushed. Plus I just love how they look on the wall all together.

Again, sorry for the photo quality.

After I get Gini's graduation announcements printed and my apartment cleaned, I can focus on the next big step for Nimble Toad, which is Marmalade Dog 15 here at WMU. We had a company meeting a while back, and we all agreed that this is a big milestone for us, so we're each trying to move our crafts and inventories more in the direction of cosplay and gaming genres.

My big decision on this front is how much I'm going to continue with block prints and knitting, and how much time I want to dedicate to learning other, more useful crafts. By more useful, I mean more relevant to - what else? - my favorite geeky genre, Star Wars. After giving a small pep talk to the group about finding a genre, a product, or a craft that they can do constantly and never tire of, I had an epiphany. That genre for me is Star Wars.

So I've decided to take a crack at prop replicas. My first project is Han Solo's belt. Alex is just lately getting into leather working, so he said he would help me with this project. We met for a while yesterday to look at source photos and come up with a game plan.

It's a surprisingly complex item, but essential to any Han Solo costume.

I think this is a great item to offer, because the rest of the costume (excluding the blaster, of course) is relatively easy to make yourself, but not everyone can just whip up a leather belt, and serious cosplayers will want to avoid pleather or other less realistic alternatives.

I really hope this project works out. It's opened up a whole new world for me in crafting. I'm very excited to dive into star wars props, and I'm definitely glad to have Alex by my side while I'm doing this. He is just as obsessed with accuracy and durability as I am, which I think are qualities any cosplayer can appreciate.

I'll be sure to take 'in-progress' photos once we have materials. This is a big project for me, and I definitely want to document the process.

That's all for this week! I'll take photos once I start printing Gini's graduation announcements.

Announcements from Amanda's personal life

I've got a few announcements for you guys, starting with one big one:

I'M AN AUNT! My stepsister had a beautiful baby girl last Sunday! She's adorable and has a TON of deep brown hair. I can't wait to see her. I live three hours away, so I haven't had a chance to come see her yet. All I get are photos, for now.


Ok, now for the small stuff: I got a job! Moreover, it's the job I wanted! I've been trying to get a job at the local hospital for a long time.

This won't be the first time I've worked there. I did my Psychology Practicum there a year ago. It was a really fun and enlightening experience, I learned a lot, and I found out that I love working in a hospital setting. And - as you saw in the above picture - I got to wear scrubs, check it out:

I was so excited to wear scrubs. I got to carry a clipboard, too!

I even went out and bought a long-sleeve dark blue top to wear under my scrubs, so I could look like Elliot Reid from Scrubs.

Or, you know. A huge nerd. Whichever.

But this time around, I'll be working in the Food Services department, delivering trays to patients in their rooms. And I think it would be a little unsettling to have your food delivered by someone wearing scrubs. So instead, I get to wear this classy ensemble:

Ta-da! Has a bit of a stewardess look to it, don't you think?

I know, I know. The uniform is dorky. But it's okay, because it's an important job and I'm really excited to start.

So, the other bit of 'small stuff' personal news is related: Since I have a job, and can stay in Kalamazoo, Brandon and I have decided to move in together! We're moving into an apartment next week. Once we're all moved in, I'll post some pictures for you guys. ^_^


That's all for now! I've got some great crafting updates coming soon. I just have to find time to take photos. My house is full of boxes, it's a mess...

Blog love (Amanda's old blog)

I almost forgot! I wanted to tell you about this hilarious blog I discovered a few weeks ago. It's about fashion, but she talks about a lot of other stuff. She's insanely funny - I've been reading her archives and laughing out loud constantly (my roommates are about ready to kill me, no joke).

Anyway, her name is Winona and her blog is called Daddy Likey, and I kinda want to marry her. She's a lot like me: chatty, opinionated, loves loud/funky accessories, overuses hyperbole and nags her boyfriend and the other men in her life about girly things like fashion. Seriously, she needs to be my new best friend (ironically [or not-so-ironically], that's something she would say).

While we're at it, here's a list of the other blogs I frequent. I highly recommend them all!

The tag line for Cake Wrecks really explains it all: "when professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong." People send in photos of cakes they ordered that turned out terribly for one reason or another, and Jen makes fun of them. And damn, is she funny.

Then there's the ever-lovely Princess Lasertron whom I have gushed about enough already, but in case you're (as Daddy Likey would say) new to this blog and/or have amnesia, I'll remind you: She makes hand embroidered felt-and-button bouquets.

I just discovered Solanah over at Vixen Vintage a few weeks ago. I'm in love with her etsy shop, I'm constantly checking it to see if she has new stuff. She wears and sells all vintage clothing, jewelry and makeup. She looks fantastic and classic, and her shop has a wonderful selection.

I check The Fug Girls' blog intermittantly. I discovered them through Daddy Likey. It's good for a laugh when you're bored - they make fun of celebrities' poor fashion sense. And while I love making fun of celebrities and looking at godawful fashion, it's just not a daily-checker for me. It's one of those blogs that's best when you save it up and read a bunch of entries at once. I feel they're funnier that way.

And of course, the ever-helpful JustBento is my favorite food blog. Maki posts useful Japanese cooking tips as well as recipes and general information about Bento equipment, style, philosophy, health information, budget-friendly bentos, vegetarian-bentos... you name it, she's got it. She's fantastic. This is definitely a daily-check blog for me. I still haven't finished reading the archives. I'm savoring them. At least that's what I tell myself.

So that's my blog love for today. Back to knitting...

I'm REALLY sorry (Amanda's old blog)

It's been almost 2 weeks. I'm a horrible blogger, I'm sorry. These are those moments when I remind myself that I have like, 5 readers, and I talk to you all regularly anyway. So it's cool.

I have been crafting, but I don't currently have photos. I just wanted to check in and give you a little update on what I've been up to lately. My roommates are getting married on Saturday, so like 90% of the stuff I'm doing this week is related to their wedding. Which tells you how totally not-busy I am lately, because I have like 2 responsibilities for their wedding.

So, my latest crafts. Well, I handed off the button bouquet to Val. She's making felt flowers to go with. I'm working on the forwards-H print for their thank-you cards. I made one mistake, but I'm planning on incorporating it into the design. I hope it turns out well. I've really learned on this print that I need to go more slowly. I really rush my block prints - they're more time consuming than I give them credit for.

I'm also knitting a baby blanket for my stepsister Carly. She's having a baby shower the first weekend of June, so I've been knitting up a storm - blankets take surprisingly long (I don't know why I expect all crafts to be quick).
My other stepsister, Beth, got married last week. I brought Brandon and we had a lot of fun. He met my entire stepfamily and a lot of close family friends, which was great and sort of hilarious (one of my dad's childhood buddies threatened Brandon no less than 3 times: "You be good to her or you'll have me to answer to." It was pretty much the funniest thing ever). There are photos on the photographer's website.

I'm also doing a lot of cooking this week. I made a huge pot of cabbage soup yesterday. That should last us most of the week. I'm also making cookies for the dessert table at my roommates wedding, which means I'm baking a batch of cookies pretty much every day this week. It's really hard to make enough - not because weddings are big, but because Eric (the groom) keeps eating the cookie dough. I'm about ready to kill him. I think I should make some banana muffins to fend him off.


My other roommate Hal has been getting into bread baking lately. I think he has taken pictures of some of his projects - I'll see if I can get him to lend me the photos. So far everything he's baked has turned out wonderfully. No word yet on whether he has solar hands, though.

Again, sorry for the radio silence. I'll try to be more diligent from here on out. And hopefully I'll get some photos at the wedding this weekend!

Picnic! (Amanda's old blog)

Just a quick update. I did some work today on the "H" block print for Val's thank-you cards, but I haven't done a test print yet, so I don't have any photos to share.

Brandon and I went on a picnic last night. It was very romantic. I decided to pack a picnic bento. I made a batch of onigiri and some carrot salad, and Brandon made a noodle concoction that turned out marvelous. Here's the setup:


At the top is some salad with salami and a slightly vinegar-y soy-sauce based dressing.
Bottom left are 2 onigiri held in place with raw green beans.
The green bento has 2 more onigiri set on top of my favorite spicy-soy carrot salad, with more raw green beans. Then some vanilla yogurt with pieces of banana.
The open spot was designated for Brandon's noodle dish.


He boiled the noodles (duh), then sauteed them with orange marmalade and a touch of soy sauce. They turned out great. I added unsalted sunflower seeds because I add them to everything in my bentos. Theye make everything so pretty, with so little effort!

Then there's always the 'extra stuff:'


I use Kashi bars instead of granola for crumbling into my yogurt. It's my favorite bento trick: it stays crunchy, and you can just throw them in your backpack separately instead of wasting a container. They are more expensive, however. But they are also flavorful. I like the honey-oat ones.
I packed the other half of the banana in a ziplock. There's our napkin and silverware. The tiny blue container has fresh nori to wrap around the onigiri. It was SO MUCH BETTER with fresh, crunchy nori. I can't believe I ever packed the nori on the onigiri itself. Soggy, fishy and gross. Although it's great for making little faces when I'm packing a kyaraben.
Then that bottom container has a piece of bean bread from Kim's oriental shop down on Westnedge. If your'e asking why there's only half a piece, you obviously don't know me very well.



I packed two water bottles and some V8 for beverages. Everything was super yummy.


I wore my black shawl and put my hair semi-up. I was very comfy.


It was lovely and romantic. We went to East campus and sat behind East Hall. You can see the whole city from there. We sat until it got dark out, then the city looked lovely with all their lights on. It was a lot of fun. We were both stuffed by the end.

That's it for now. Just thought I would share my latest bento project. More crafts coming soon!

SUCH a busy weekend... (Amanda's old blog)

But before I dive into my weekend update, some photos from graduation day!

My mom and brother and grandparents came over early for breakfast. I bought bagels and other breakfast food the day before. It was a good way to start the day.

We were all a bit sleepy, but I swear we were having fun!

I curled my hair, it turned out great, especially with the cap on!

I love that necklace.

Here's one of my closest friends, Todd. I sat with him at the ceremony, it made it a lot more fun.

It was rather windy.

Here's my brother Max!

My mom tells me I need to learn to stand properly when wearing heels. I see what she means now. Feet together, one slightly forward, throw your weight back on the back one. Got it.

And my lovely grandparents.



It was a long day, but I'm glad I walked. It helps give a definite end, and mark the occasion.

And as soon as I was done with school, it was time for crafting!
This weekend was Val's bridal shower. I made some cute bingo cards. This was one of the paper crafts I was telling you about last week:


The guests filled in the squares with gifts they thought she might receive, and played as she opened them.
I snipped the corners a la BSG (Battlestar Galactica) and Val noticed! That made me happy.

I also finished up that necklace for her. This is a picture of me modeling it at an early stage. After this was taken, we adjusted the length of a couple of the strands - the big orange button hung in the middle, instead of at the bottom. It was really the focal point of the necklace.


Not a very good picture of me - and obviously my Star of David necklace isn't part of it.
I really have to give all the credit to my mom, she did all the real work on that necklace. Val got a lot of compliments on it at the shower. We're going to fix it up again and probably give it back to val, as much as it pains me (I'm in LOVE with that big orange button!)

It was a crazy weekend, I was crafting during all my free time this weekend (which I didn't have much of). My mom's couch was sort of craft-central:

In case you can't read the labels, on the far left is the purse I bought to match my bridesmaid dress, the notepad on the couch where I should be is a stack of bingo cards I was coloring, the laptop is turned to a bridesmaid blog with etiquette advice (how to interact with the bride's family at the shower), the pile of red buttons is the necklace I made to go with Val's dress for the shower, the tin tray next to it has extra buttons, the little white vases are the centerpieces for the shower (also Val's clue last week) and the notepad on the wicker basket is my to-do list for the weekend.

It was pretty crazy. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures from the shower yet, but hopefully I will be receiving them soon. I'll tell you more about it when I have some photos to share.

My last project I'm working on lately is a block print for Val's wedding (can you sense a theme?), it's an "H" to go on their thank-you cards. I've only just started carving:


The block I'm using is too large, and it has a wood backing, so I'm only using half of it.
It's such an intricate design, I'm so afraid to get started, so I was lazy and just did all the background first, which I usually do last.



I love making that woodgrain-like texture in the background flow with the design. It really makes the design breath. Unfortunately, this is yet another print where they don't want the background texture to appear, so I had to carve deep to eliminate it. But I still like to make flow-y lines, even if it's just for me.
I know it's technically not a paper craft, but it involves paper. Or will eventually, when I finish it.

Hopefully soon I'll have updates about that block print- it's probably the most difficult design I've done yet. We'll see how it goes.

For now, I'm going to go play with the rats (I missed them so much this weekend!) and get to bed. I'm exhausted. And the rats are bored:


Mom! Please play with us!





Goodnight. ^_^

Busy weekend and upcoming crafty week (Amanda's old blog)

My graduation weekend was busy busy busy! But I don't have any photos back from my parents yet, so I'm gonna go ahead and save that for another entry. I do have one photo, however. And that is of the lovely roses my mom brought me:


When I was in high school, I composed a string duet, then we played it at an orchestra concert at school. My mom bought me some of the most lovely salmon-colored roses. Ever since it has been her goal to find a similar color. These are really really close. And anyway, they're lovely in their own right.

Alright. So. What crafts am I up to this week? A lot. Most of them have to do with Val's wedding or bridal shower. Today I'm going to show you the button crafts. I'm reserving paper crafts for later in the week.

Firstly I want to show you a project I've been working on for a while. A few months ago, Val and I were talking about bouquet options, and we decided it might be fun if we make a button bouquet (a la Princess Lasertron) for the rehearsal. Shortly thereafter, my mom started collecting buttons en masse, and she set aside a baggy full of green and blue buttons for Val's bouquet (green and blue are Val's wedding colors). Well, I've been working on it for a while - it still needs to be cleaned up a bit, and I still might add a few more flowers, but here are some photos of what I have so far:


Most of them are pretty quirky looking


There are a lot lower down on the stems, as well. Sort of like leaves.


Trying to show you as many as I can at once. Not really working that well. That one on the left with four layers is my absolute favorite.


Everyone who sees the bouquet is immediately drawn to this rose button. Unfortunately, it flops over. I need to fix that somehow.


It's a fun little project. We still don't know if Val is going to make white felt flowers to put them in with, or if I'll just buy some white fresh flowers and arrange them that way. We'll see. We've got a month to figure it out, and it's sort of a tiny detail... since it's just for the rehearsal. It's mostly a fun project to keep me busy.

I have another button craft that's a bit more urgent. Val has her outfit for the bridal shower this weekend all worked out, but she's missing a necklace. She said she needs a bright red necklace with big, chunky beads. I suggested buttons instead. So I went to the antique shop and bought some! This weekend I'll grab some more from my mom's stash and mix them in. Val found a Martha Stewart pattern for button necklaces, I'm going to use it as a reference.

I went to the craft store and got some red thread on clearance. I'll double or triple it up for the necklace so it's strong. I forgot to check the website before I left for the store, and now I see that there is such a thing as 'beading string.' I'll look into it. In the meantime, I have some very pretty red thread that I got super cheap! The antique shop was having a sale, too. I'm such a good little shopper!


Everything all lined up.


Some of the buttons have some very cool patterns. I'm pretty excited for how this necklace will turn out.

So, those are my button crafts this week. I'm also working on a block print for Val, but I didn't get any pictures of it today. I'll take some pictures when it's farther along and do a paper crafts entry. Unfortunately, since some of my crafts have to do with Val's bridal shower, and Val reads this blog, I kind of have to wait until next week to show them to you.

But for now, I'll tease Val a bit by posting a teaser photo:


Ooooh, what could it be? Curiosity!


See you in a few days with a graduation update. I hope you're having a lovely week!

A Quick Project (Amanda's old blog)

I had a long day on campus today - I had my hardest exam at 8AM (genetics!) and then my neuro exam in the afternoon, which had enough content to count as 2 exams on its own. I spent the time in between on campus, studying.

So, this evening I had a bit of a studying break. My last exam is on Thursday at 8AM. So I did some cleaning, trimmed the rats' claws, and took a much-needed nap. And I also did one quick craft!

I don't remember where I got the idea. I just remember that at my mom's graduation, people decorated the tops of their caps with their initials so their parents could find them, or they put something pertaining to their area of study. So I thought it would be fun to put a brain on my cap. I decided a white-out pen was probably the best material.

It took probably less than an hour to do. I just jumped online, did a google image search for 'brain' and found the least complicated image (no shadows or labels). I used some trace paper and a soft pencil to transfer the image onto my graduation cap, and then went over it with the white-out pen and VOILA!


Now my parents will be able to find me in the crowd!

Obviously, there will be a tassel over it, but it still looks pretty cool, even with the tassel.


Just a few more days, and then I'll have a bachelor's degree! After that, I've got a long to-do list for this blog. Lots of crafts coming up. I'm really excited to share them with you guys. I hope you're pumped!

Back to studying so I can rock the socks off my last ever final exam in undergrad!

Hair Trial (Amanda's old blog)

Ok so I lied. It turns out that blogging is a really nice way to take a break from studying. So is playing with my hair, apparently.

I've been working on growing my hair out for a while now. I try to do this about once a year, and I usually give up after a certain point and get it cut again. But this time I had a good reason: weddings. I'm going to three weddings this summer, and they're all weddings that I feel pretty close to. One is my stepsister, so obviously that's a big deal. Another is my roommates - so I've been around for a fair bit of the planning process for that. And the last one is my best friend, and I'm the maid of honor. So I want to look nice for all of them. Which means a couple of things, mainly I've been trying to work out, and like I said, I've been growing out my hair.

But there's a problem. I haven't had long hair since I was a kid. And I was a bit of a tomboy growing up. So I don't really know anything about doing hair. So, it's time to experiment.

Now that my hair is reaching shoulder length, I'm noticing it has a bit of a curl to it. So I thought it would be fun to experiment with a curling iron. I kept putting off buying one for myself - for fear that it wouldn't work out. Then, it turned out that my roommate Stacy has one! Enter, the hair trial:

Brandon looked up an instructional video online explaining how to use curling irons. It turns out, if you want the curls to stay for more than five minutes, you have to use hair gel and hairspray. I have neither of those things. So this was a temporary trial.

Before pictures:


So, this is my hair after I slept on it. To be honest, this isn't really a bad hair day. I would consider this 'viable.'



From the side. See how it has some natural curl to it?


And then silly faces started. It's inevitable.


The funniest part of all did not end up on camera, unfortunately. The online tutorial said to section my hair and use clips to hold the sections in place. Well... I don't own hair clips. So we went to the kitchen and used chip clips. We have a ton of them, so it worked nicely. But looked HILARIOUS. Sorry we didn't get any pictures.

But we did get action shots of the actual curling, thanks to Brandon and his wonderful photography skills. My new nickname for him is my 'blogtographer.'


Action shot!


Check out those luxurious curls.

I really have to give some credit to Stacy. She came in halfway through and showed me what I was doing wrong. It helped a LOT.


This is a really good picture of me. Even if the majority of it is bathroom wall.


A view of the back. I had a hard time with the back, it turned out pretty flat. I'm gonna have to work on that.


I really like this picture of me. I might use it for my Facebook profile.


Ok, the finished product:




For some reason, the left side of my head has curlier hair than the right side. Even in the before photos.


The back was sort of a failure. I definitely need to work on that.


So this was more or less a success. My hair looks much better this way than if I just blowdry it and brush it. The nice part was, Even when I brushed the curls out, it still had body and a bit of wave to it.

So I think I'm going to do this for my graduation next week. I went to the drug store when I dropped Brandon off at work and got some gel and hairspray. I'm pretty pumped about it!



Okay, back to studying. This was just a quick break.

Overview of this week (Amanda's old blog)

It's been crazy, guys. Absolutely crazy.

Next week is finals. So, this week I was getting in all my last papers and presentations and assignments. It's all over now - all that's left is studying for finals. Just one more week. I can make it... I hope.

But schoolwork isn't what made this week crazy. I'll spare you the details and just give you the list in bullet-point form:
-I got a flat tire, wasted about an hour trying to change it myself before realizing the car jack we were using was too short, and had to call AAA.
-My computer crashed in the middle of writing a paper. Good thing I'm a compulsive saver.
-My rat Kashyyyk had an issue with his eye and I had to take him to the vet. He has a prescription now - it's actually quite adorable.
-I busted my back somehow. Don't ask me how, I have no idea. But I've been sitting on my roommate's heating pad for about two days now, and it's still bothering me.

On top of it all, I've been having strangely insatiable ice cream cravings all week. Brandon and I have gone out for ice cream three times this week. That's excessive. I think it's stress. I'm cutting myself off. I mean, I might just go on ice cream probation for about a month. Three times in a week is too much. The worst part? It's a SPECIFIC craving, for an ice cream shop all the way out on Gull road. So it's been a time consuming endeavor every time. I get like this during finals, though. I give into cravings more easily.


Anyway, that was this week. No crafting, whatsoever. And definitely none next week. But! It's my last finals week of undergrad, ever. A week from tomorrow, I will be accepting my degree. Get pumped, people. This is the good stuff.


I promise I'll be back after next week! And hopefully my back will be fixed.

An emotionally charged day (Amanda's old blog)

So, Giselle came back. Right when we started to be proactive about finding her, she just trots right back up to the porch.

Eric and Hal were standing on the driveway, talking, when they heard a mewing across the street. Giselle just kinda came back home. We have no idea where she was. Stacy and I promptly drove to the pet store and got her a tag.


Sooooo that's over. How strange... Why would a cat just go on a 3-day vacation?

Giselle is Missing (Amanda's old blog)

Remember that photo I posted a while ago of my roommate's cat, Giselle? Well, I let her out around 11AM on Friday, and she hasn't come back. Stacy and I spent the morning driving to animal shelters and filling out missing pet forms. I'm going to give Stacy the photo. Maybe she'll make up posters.

It's really sad. I've never had pets before. It's such a strange feeling, wondering where Giselle is and if she's okay. When we went to the shelter and walked through the cat room to look for her, I started to cry. It was a little embarrassing. It's a really sad place; the animals are in tiny cages. Some of them have injuries. I've never seen anything like it.

Anyway, if you live in the Kalamazoo area, will you please keep an eye out for her? She's all grey and has green eyes. She has a bright green collar with a bell, but it's a breakaway collar, so it may not be there anymore. I'll post the photo one more time.



She's very friendly, and very VERY talkative. Say her name a few times and she should start answering. She also answers to Kitty- that's my fault, I just started calling her Kitty when Stacy first brought her home.


*sigh* it makes me so sad. I hope she comes home soon.

Passover (Amanda's old blog)

I have lived in Kalamazoo for four years now. Most schools - especially universities - do not have breaks for Jewish holidays. This is true for Western, which means that for the past three years, I've been away from my family on Passover. This is usually a difficult time of year for me. Passover is my very favorite holiday, and it's really important to me to be with my family and celebrate.

But this year we did things a little differently. I decided to hold my own seder at my house in Kalamazoo and invite all my friends. Everyone was really excited - everyone brought a dish and we had a lovely seder. And of course, I want to share it all with you!

I've never cooked a big meal before, so there was a lot of coordinating and planning ahead of time. I emailed back and forth with my mom for weeks, getting recipes and instructions and compiling my grocery list. Last weekend, I did the grocery shopping and as much of the cooking as I could get done ahead of time.

Then I cleaned the house on Wednesday, attended my lab section a day early so I could have Thursday off, and I spent the whole day Thursday cooking, cleaning and getting ready. I got out my beautiful Menorah-pattern table runner and matzo cover that my aunt made for me for my Bat Mitzvah. I borrowed my brother's cup of Elijah (thank you, Max!) and my mom's haggudahs (thank you, mom!). The table looked lovely:


I got that plate at Pier 1 years ago. It makes a lovely seder plate - look how well it goes with the table runner!
I love Stacy's tiny purple wine glasses. I'm very jealous.

Check out the table runner:

It's so hard to find Jewish-themed prints that aren't tacky. My aunt has such a good eye, I'll really cherish that table runner forever. I was so excited to finally use it, it's the first time!

Most people sat on the couches - you're supposed to relax on Passover, so it worked out nicely! So I just stacked the plates and let people get food cafeteria-style from the kitchen.


Plates and silverware, ready to go. And my cloth "napkins." Look how clean that couch is! I've never seen it look so good!


You don't even WANT to know what it looks like the rest of the time.
You can probably just barely tell, but that red bit behind it is another couch. We have stadium-style seating in our house, the couch behind is on a big wooden platform. It's pretty much the best living room setup I've ever seen. And it's GREAT for throwing parties! ^_^

And I got out all my favorite serving dishes. If you didn't know this about me yet, I'm a huge Fiestaware enthusiast. I also have many other non-fiesta dishes that I absolutely love. So, having people over gives me a chance to use some of my nicer serving platters that spend most of their time packed away.


That green disk pitcher is the crowning glory of my Fiesta collection. I LOVE having an opportunity to use it. And the little black bowl with the geometric designs inside. Everything was lovely.

So, I got the turkey in the oven that morning, made stuffing, heated up the soup, boiled some carrots.... And then people started arriving!

I didn't get any photos of the seder itself, I took 2 breaks while we were eating to get photos of everyone sitting around the room. And they ALL turned out fuzzy! I was in such a rush to get back to the party, I didn't even hold the camera still. Well, I suppose it's the mark of a good party, right?


On the right is my good friend Josh, who was the only other Jewish person there. Next to him is Todd and Todd's beau Rogan.
Can you see the seder plate? Shank bone and everything!


Todd and Rogan again. I love Rogan's quirky fashion sense. The bow tie! The horn-rimmed glasses! So fifties. I love it.


Val and Mike drove out all the way from East Lansing. You can barely make out Eric through the glare.


Om nom nom! I'm totally digging on Mike's hat. It's kind of hard to see here. Shaky camera hand. I should've put Brandon in charge of pictures.

Eric was a huge help. The timing of the meal and the seder were perfect - because he helped me serve people and manage the food. I couldn't have done it without him. What a great friend.


Stacy looking lovely!

I told people it was casual, but Stacy loves an excuse to dress up. I wish you could see the whole dress, it's adorable. I'm so jealous. She got it in Japan!


Apparently Hal didn't want it on record that he attended. Or something. He was on his laptop during the whole seder. Silly man. ^_^




Gini and Will sat on the loveseat in the corner. Gini wasn't feeling too well, so I gave her EXTRA matzo ball soup. She's trying to go vegetarian, but she ate the soup because she knows chicken soup made by a Jewish woman is a miracle cure. ^_^



I'm not really sure what's going on here. Someone off to the right must have said something awfully strange.


We played musical chairs a lot - people kept changing seats. Here, brandon is getting some boxed wine.

We had 3 kinds of wine: Manischewitz because I thought everyone should try it at least once - most people ended up liking it! I also bought a bottle of Mogen David, and I wanted a white wine. This seemed like a good opportunity to try boxed wine. I've never tried it before, and it's supposed to be a good way of keeping the wine. Most people won't switch over, though, because boxed wine has a reputation for being bad. Anyway, we had one box of white and 3 bottles of red.


And then, there was the aftermath:

All in all, not that bad. We were really responsible and put everything straight in the dishwasher right away. All that's left are wine glasses and serving platters.


See? Mostly wine glasses. No biggie.


OH! And I almost forgot! We didn't get ANY pictures of it ,which I'm very upset about because it was gorgeous, but I ordered a flourless chocolate cake from Waterstreet, a wonderful coffee shop in Kalamazoo. They have their own kitchen and they make delicious foods using local ingredients. They have lots of gluten-free options, which means their cakes are Kosher-for-Passover! Todd and Rogan picked it up. It was gorgeous. It was so fudgy and delicious, everyone enjoyed it.

While we ate dessert, Eric thought it would be fun if we watched the Passover episode of Rugrats. We were all laughing and reminiscing about old cartoons. And scarfing down cake - there was none left!

It was a fantastic evening. Honestly, the best Passover ever. I'm so happy to know that my friends take an interest in my religion and heritage - plus, most of them are history geeks or religion geeks, so they all really enjoyed the seder for intrinsic reasons. We sang Diaynu, we did the ten plagues, we dipped parsley in salt water. They were all fascinated by every tradition and they all read from the haggudah. It was so much fun. I feel so loved - truly, this is the way to spend Passover, surrounded by your best friends.

Chag Sameach! Next year in Jerusalem!

And I hope you all have a lovely Easter this weekend, as well. ^_^