Olympic Party!

So we did have a party for the Olympic opening ceremony and it was a ton of fun! Here's what we served:

Savory set of Olympic rings

Sweet set of olympic rings

Pao de queijo

The Teddy olympics!

Swimming

Beach volleyball

Rowing

The spread!

The Olympic Torch cocktail

Do you do anything special for the Olympics? I'd love to hear about it!

Reading Wednesday: Corporate Husband by Beverly Farr

Lately I've been going through a kick where I love super-predictable, definitely-a-chick-lit romance novels. And today I'm going to share with you my latest read, a book called Corporate Husband by Beverly Farr. It's the first in her "Love and Chocolate" series, and falls into the genre of "marriage of convenience" romance.

The book centers around a woman named Louis who is the CEO of a chocolate company. She fears that the company will fall apart after the death of the founder, her grandfather, if she doesn't inherit a large portion of the shares. Unfortunately, her grandfather is sexist and although she excels at CEO, she doesn't stand much of a chance of inheriting without a guy by her side. Enter Justin, a fellow chocolate company employee, who agrees to marry her until her grandfather passes away and she inherits the company.

This book was, although predictable, incredibly adorable and just what I wanted to read. If you're in the mood for a warm and fuzzy chick-lit romance, with a touch of chocolate, I would recommend this book. :)

Olympic Party?

So my roommate and I just had the best idea every... host an Olympic party for the opening ceremony two weeks from now! I can't guarantee it will happen, but we have a Pinterest board going, and so far, this seems to be the (very tentative) plan:

Food
1 savory set of rings
Blue - Corn chips?
Yellow - Cheese and crackers
Black - Olives
Green - Celery, cucumbers, Snap peas
Red - cherry tomatoes, ham

1 sweet set of rings
Blue - Blueberries
Yellow - Pineapple
Black - Oreos, Blackberries, Chocolate
Green - Grapes
Red - Strawberries, Watermelon

Some pin-spiration

Brazilian cheesy bread
Pao de Quejo, since the Olympics are taking place in Brazil this year.

An adult "house" drink for the night
Most likely, the Olympic torch cocktail

Ridiculously cute Olympic activity food (I think these are hilarious)
Barbells
Swimming Teddy Grahams
Rowers
Beach volleyball Teddys

Decorations
Mostly paper chains, because they're fun to make and a great throw-back to elementary school.

Entertainment
Possibly do trivia, or something else we can use for our own "Olympics"

Any other ideas? Hopefully you'll see a "success" post in a couple of weeks! :)

Learning French!

My sister and I are trying to learn new languages, one of which is French! I've been poking around to find ways to build my French vocabulary (which is, as of right now, pretty much non-existent). So far, here is what I've found:

Duolingo
If you've ever tried to learn a language, chances are you've heard about this app. But I love it so much I'm going to share it with you anyways. :) Basically, it's an app that guides you through mini-lessons towards learning a language. You can choose how many lessons you want to aim for a day (each lesson takes 5-10 minutes), and the lessons include reading, writing, speaking, and listening portions, but all mixed in. It honestly feels like a game, which just makes it so much better. You can also switch between multiple language if you have dreams of being a polyglot.

This is what the app looks like.

Each of the icons repesents a section of lessons. You can see there are 7 "food" lessons and I haven't done any of them. The gold color on the top three indicate that I have finished all of the lessons and that I'm up-to-date on them. After a while, they lose their gold status, to remind me that I still need to practice stuff I already know.

Miraculous Ladybug

This is honestly the show that made me want to learn French in the first place. It is an adorable and awesome cartoon that you definitely need to give a chance. Even if you're not interested in it to learn French, I suggest watching the French version with English subtitles, because the English subtitles are far better than the English dubs.

(Source)

Pop Music
Today I've been dabbling a little into French pop music, thanks mostly to this blog article that I found. So far, my favorite artist is Frero Delavega, and my favorite song is Le Chant des Sirenes, which I've linked below.

So that's what I've got so far! What do you like to do when learning a new language?

New Years Resolutions

I know what you're thinking - "why is she writing about New Years resolutions in March??" Because this year, I'm actually doing stuff towards my resolutions, and I wanted to share. I've learned new things and I'll have follow-up posts throughout the year to share. Hopefully this will allow you to learn new things and provide motivation to do new things yourself. And for me I will hopefully be able to look back and the end of the year and see how I've grown.

Overall, my New Years resolution was to be better at "adulting." As a twenty-something year old, I feel like I still don't quite have it down. I broke my resolutions into general categories. (You could also do this by role, eg. aunt, daughter, professional, daughter of God, etc.)

Cooking
Cleaning
Budgeting/Finances
Excersize
Hiking (which sort of falls into the other category)
Familial roles (aunt, sister, daughter)
Beauty
Planning ahead
Volunteering
Blogging
Crafting
Reading
Furthering Education

As you can see... there's a lot. But the goal isn't to do everything at once, and I'm not going to be disappointed in myself if nothing happens. Because I know people often give New Years resolutions a bad rap, but if the worst that can happen is nothing and the best that can happen is you become a better person... it certainly can't hurt.

So far, I've been improving about one of these areas a month. I want these to be permanent, part-of-my-life changes, so even if I don't master "adulting" in one year, I know I'll be better at the end than when I started.

Anyone have advice for me? In any of the above areas? School definitely doesn't prepare you for this!

Oh! And I'm going to try to start posting regularly, on Mondays and Thursdays. Hopefully for real this time. :P

Look! It's me! All bundled up in Washington D.C. :)

Musicmicetro Pinterest Feature Board: Baby Ideas

So I originally created this board for ideas for my nephews, but they are growing and now I save ideas for them on my Toddler Ideas board. Either way, it's a great place to keep all of the ideas for baby things I would love to make/do/buy. Below are my favorite 10 pins from this board. You can see the whole board here. Also, if you do choose to link to any of these, please do so via Pinterest or via the original website, so the original creator/poster, etc., can be credited.

An adorable home-made swaddly blanket. I know from working at a child care center that these blankets are great for babies, so I would love to someday make one as a gift.

Crochet dinosaurs!

A cute baby shower card

Home-made baby booties! Aren't these adorable?

An adorable nursery printout. Might make a great baptism gift?

Another great nursery print.

I love this idea. I think it would be a great thing to do, especially if you didn't live close to your niece or nephew. I remember my Mom used to read books aloud to us as a kid - the one I remember most is the Trumpet of the Swan. :)

A super cute crocheted baby blanket.

Airplane fabric from Spoonflower!

An earflap penguin hat. Squee!

So those are my favorite baby themed pins. How about you? What are some of your favorites?

Top 5 Books of 2015

This year I read 53 books. My goal was to read 100, so I fell a bit short, but 53 is still impressive, don't you think? Anyways, here's my list of the five favorite books I read this year.

Anna and the French Kiss
This was just your classic cute love story. About an American girl sent to a Paris boarding school who falls in love with a classmate. Nothing extraordinary, except for the fact that it was adorable. :)

The Martian
If I hadn't had to take a break to sleep, I would have read this all in one sitting. I read it before the movie and found it soooo good! It's been a long time since I've ready something I enjoyed this much. This book is about a guy who gets stranded on Mars with not nearly enough food and supplies to last for four years (when he can get rescued), and he has to work to survive. It was super logical (which I loved), as well as witty, and full of surprising turns. (If you saw the movie, there are twists and turns you still won't see coming. Plus, the book explains everything the movie did not.)

Cinder & Ella
This was another fun story I found as an ebook. About a girl who is scarred in a car accident and must move home to her father, stepsisters, and stepmother to finish her last year of high school. It's also about a famous actor, who just wants to be heard as he is... who connects with a book blogger (read, the girl I originally mentioned) via the Internet. A super cute, super fun Cinderella retelling.

Think Like a Freak
I love all of the Freakonomics books, and this was no exception. I also read this one in about a day. It is an entertaining book, full of anecdotes that show you a different way to look at the world... how to "think like a freak."

Significance
I read all four (and a half) books in this series and loved it. I do want to point out that the books have a ton of spelling and grammar mistakes. Which only goes to show you how much I enjoyed it. Another young adult romance, about a couple that gets together in the first book, and stays together through the whole series - which I loved, since it wasn't the cliche chick-flick storyline. The main characters are somewhat paranormal and have to navigate the ups and downs of their paranormal society. (They call themselves "Aces"... I honestly have no idea if this is book specific or a widely accepted paranormal form.)

So that's it! What are your favorite books you read this year?