Saying Goodbye

It's been almost three weeks since one of my very best friends in the whole world left to serve a mission for the church. I can't believe I haven't shared pictures of our last hurrah together! We went out to Olive Garden, then made homemade Italian sodas (yum, yum!), then took a Polaroid for the scrapbook. We've also made a time capsule video to watch at our "reunion" in a year and a half. I sure do miss her, but I know she is doing a great thing. Plus, she's in IRELAND, so that's pretty cool.

(tears may have been shed...)

'Till we meet again, Caryn.

have a lovelee day!

-Lee

The [indoor] Garden Party

 hello! I hope you had a splendid weekend. I'm popping in today to share some pictures from our May Day party (see last year's here). Under the perfect, ideal circumstances, the party would have been outside. I know, crazy idea, having a garden party in the garden:) But alas, it SNOWED, so I figured it would not be a super great idea to subject my friends to the weather. And thus, the indoor garden party was born.

 I used these mini chalkboards as little place cards.

 We had these pennants leftover from my sister Briana's wedding (note to self: never throw away party decorations!) so we strung them above the table.

 there was a little teacup and shovel at everyone's place.

 "Shovel?!" you ask incredulously. Yes, shovel. A personalized shovel, to be exact. It just fit the whole May Day, fresh feeling I was going for. And it didn't hurt that the shovels were a dollar at Target. Add a little sharpie calligraphy, and voila! A personalized, super-cute, super cheap party favor!

 The party goin' gals. (Alyssa hadn't yet arrived)

 oo la la, we are lookin' good:) We like to make it a dress-up affair.

 We ate caprese sandwiches (recipe here), our delicious pasta salad (recipe coming soon), and of course, cake! So, so, delicious. Lemon-strawberry custard and creme. Oh yeah!!!

 (oh, hello, 'lyss!)

 Silly gals. (the one on the left is my beautiful little sister, Rachel)

 Oh, so good. Really. I'll probably be sharing the recipe later this week.

Until next time, May Day!

have a lovelee day!

-Lee

A Spring Day with Friends: Film

For my dear friend and roommate Hayley's 20th birthday, we decided to celebrate by heading to Lagoon, the one and only amusement park in Utah. No lie. It's really the only one.

(This is what it looks like to party hard at our place. Shortly after this, the coffee table broke. Was it worth it, you ask? You betcha! You rock, Hayley. You rock hard.)

We had such a great time at Lagoon that day. Don't believe me? Here's some proof!

have a lovelee Spring day!

-Lee

It's May! It's May!

Hello, friends! Sorry things have been a bit slow around here. Finals came and went (good riddance!), and now the doc thinks I have whooping cough. Very fun. But I couldn't not wish everyone a HAPPY MAY DAY! May Day is 100% my favorite day of the Spring/Summer. There's something so magical and whimsical about celebrating the flowers.

Do you want to know how my friends and I are celebrating today? Another May Day Garden Party, of course! (see last year's here.)

this year's party may have to be inside, as it is currently snowing outside (what?!) But it's sure to be cute and I'll be sharing pictures later this week. You know, unless I die of the whooping cough. Haha!

Of course, listening to this song is MANDATORY for May Day festivities:

Ah, Camelot. What a place! (just a note: I'm not supporting the message of this song! haha!)

have a lovelee MAY DAY!

-Lee

Meet Mini-Lee!

Hello, everyone! I'm starting up something today that's pretty crazy-fun. I grew up in the generation of "flat Stanleys" and I loved when I had a school project to send a miniature of myself to my different friends around the world. I still find the idea so magical. It's my dream to travel across the globe, but until I get the finances for that kind of thing, I'm sending out a MINI LEE to go on adventures for me!

I got the idea when my roommate found out she was going to Paris for Christmas break. I'm not going to lie, I was more than a little jealous. But I put that jealously in the trash and drew up Mini Lee and sent her on her merry way to Paris with my roommate. (and I'll be sharing pictures of her adventures there tomorrow!)

After that, I've sent mini lee to different places with many different loved ones (pictures soon! Woo!), and I've decided to have YOU take her on an adventure, too! That's right, YOU!

here's how it works:

-email howlovelee(at)gmail(dot)com to request the .pdf version of the image above. Print out the .pdf

-take loads of super fun pictures of your super fun time together

-you can even use the #whereisminilee for some instagram fun!

-email your photos to howlovelee(at)gmail(dot)com with a write-up of your fun time together

-check back in a few days to see your documented adventure here on the blog!

Alrighty folks, I'm expecting loads of emails from you, okay?!?

have a lovelee day!

-Lee

Good for a Giggle

Hello, everyone! Today was my last day of classes before finals start. AH! So with all the stress going on, I figured that it would be super duper to pass on a giggle. Because let's be honest. I'm a giggler.

Also, if you haven't seen this video yet, I REALLY recommend it. It's not humorous. In fact, I cried. But because it was so beautiful and reminded me of the love and beauty God sees in all of us, and that we should see in ourselves. Enjoy:

Have a lovelee day! And don't forget:

-Lee

ps-Oh, the things I do for you. Actually, I did this one for my roommate. But sharing's caring, yo!

Make a Super Simple, Super Cute Skirt: DIY

The other day I was in a sewing mood. I needed to make something, but I didn't want it to take forever. I quickly sewed up a skirt and it was SO simple. It was about 45 minutes from start to finish, and only requires THREE straight lines of stitching. Don't believe me? Ask the dishes! No, don't do that. They don't ever tell the truth. Just trust me. Or keep reading. That'd work too.

you will need:

-measuring tape

-one yard of your desired fabric

-large width elastic (mine was 2"), about a 1/2 to 3/4 yard

-Sewing machine

-pins

Measure yourself where you want your skirt to hang. you should be so grateful that I am sacrificing my middle's privacy for the sake of a helpful photo:)

fold your fabric in half and measure out half of your waist's measurement. (so mine would be around 16"). I actually decided to just use all 21" as you can see in the picture below, and figured it would just give me more of a ruffled waist band, which ended up being pretty cute.

-cut your fabric to your desired measurement. You can also then cut down the fold if you want a 2 seam skirt. I kept it all in one piece so that I only had to sew up one seam.

Then I cut off the excess fabric on the bottom, leaving about an inch of extra fabric for the hem. See below:

Alright, let's sew this puppy up! pin up the side of your skirt and sew a straight stitch.

Alright, let's set that aside now. Measure your elastic length by putting it around your waist where you want the skirt to sit. You will want it to be just a little bit smaller than your waist so that it stretches just a bit.

Connect the ends of your elastic and sew them together with about a 1/8-1/4" seam. Slip it on to make sure that it's a good fit. It should look something like this when you turn it right side out:

You're so close now! Next you'll need to pin your skirt to your elastic.

Turn your skirt inside out and pin your elastic to the inside of the skirt, every 2" or so. I had my roommate Hayley help me with this step. She would pull the elastic tight and then I would place a pin on the two halves of the skirt, then she'd take one of the halves and pull it tight so I could place pins on the halves of the half, and so on. It really helped to have her do that, so I'd recommend this step as a buddy step.

it should look something like this:

when you're sewing the elastic to the skirt, pull the elastic as you go so that it's just like sewing two pieces of fabric together.

I wanted a little bit of lace on the bottom of mine, but if you just want a plain bottom, fold your seam over about a 1/2" and sew a straight stitch all along the bottom.

and voila! You've just made yourself a skirt, girlfran! And you were so worried.

have a lovelee day!

-Lee