Monogrammed Pumpkin

I am a bridesmaid for my bff from high school (and junior high), Chelsey. She is getting married Saturday in a town next to the one we grew up in. I came back home (parent's house) last night and will be staying through the weekend. I wanted to carve a pumpkin with the monogram they used on their invitations. I went to Wal-Mart and picked out what I thought was the perfect pumpkin. This is very hard to do! I changed my mind a million times and kept sitting them all out in a row. There is NO such thing as the perfect pumpkin. Finally, I just grabbed one and checked out.
I was relying on the parentals to actually be able to carve the pumpkin. They both thought that the monogram would be really difficult, so I decided to paint it on instead. My mom had black and brown paint for me to choose from. It was the little acrylic bottles from Hob Lob. I decided to go with brown because I wanted it to look more fallish and not halloweenish.
In case you get a hankering to paint your monogram on a pumpkin for your doorstep here are the easy step-by-step instructions. I would love to have one sitting on my doorstep!

Start with a clean pumpkin.

Luckily, Chelsey had e-mailed me invitation proofs and monograms to help her choose, so I had her monogram. (This is a surprise, so I didn't want to have to ask her for it!) I just printed it out from My Pictures on a full sheet option.

To transfer this image onto the pumpkin, you will need to turn the paper over and trace over it with pencil. I taped mine to a window so I could see what I was tracing. The light coming through it made it easier to see. Make sure you color in all of the monogram.

Then tape your monogram onto your pumpkin. You want the side that you just colored in with pencil to touch the pumpkin. Then just scribble over the computer printed image of the monogram. It will transfer the pencil outline on the other side of the paper to your pumpkin.

Ta-da!

Next, select your paint and get to painting! It is hard to get the paint to stick to the pumpkin so I had to do 2 coats. Maybe someone knows of a certain type of paint that will stick to pumpkins??

I think it turned out great! It might need a little bow to tie around the top but that will be up to Chelsey. I will give you all an update if this actually gets used somewhere at the wedding. Even if it doesn't it will make for a good prop for their photographer to use in pictures. I'm off to get ready for a day full of wedding stuff and rehearsal dinner tonight. I LOVE weddings!!

Dark Polish

I am so happy it is Fall so I can bust out my dark nail polish. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE dark nail polish. There is just something about it. In ancient China, only royals could wear dark polish. If you rebelled and wore dark polish without being a royal then the penalty was death. Thank goodness this is not the case today!

I remember the first time I wore dark polish. I was in college and just happened to be going home that weekend to watch my little brother play basketball. My mom has learned over the years to just ignore what I wear, but my little brother on the other hand has not. He loves to make fun of what I am wearing. Even though, I know all his little girl friends will be wearing the same thing in a few weeks. (Not that I am a trend setter by any means--sometimes it just takes longer for things to catch on in smaller towns.) I'm sure he considers this part of his duty as a little brother and it doesn't bother me.

This is the color I had in college. I still have a little left in the bottle but it is starting to run out. It is OPI Lincoln Park After Dark.

I almost bought a new dark plum color last night at Wal-Mart but something made me put it back down. I think I am going to have to go back and buy it and the navy polish that I found. Sephora sold this Chanel polish last fall/winter that was dark navy. The only problem was it cost $16. I just couldn't bring myself to spend that much for a bottle of nail polish. Lucky for me that Sally Hansen and OPI have come out with it this fall! In fact, I am going to run out to Wal-Mart and pick it up tonight! I don't know why I didn't pick it up the other night. It probably had something to do with my overflowing grocery cart. I am going to be travelling a LOT in October so I need to stock up on snacks and quick lunches and dinners for Ty. He has a billion tests this month and I didn't want him to worry about what he was going to eat.

I am currently wearing a dark burgandy color. I am in a wedding this weekend and my bridesmaid dress is red...don't worry Chelsey, I will take it off before then! I don't want my burgandy nails to clash with my red dress! I'm so excited to see her get married. They are such a cute couple.

Family Feud

I work in the Student Affairs office where my husband attends medical school. It is a great job and I love being a part of it all! There is a club on campus called Club SPINE. I cannot tell you the what the acronym for SPINE stands for...I can't remember. Just asked Ty; it means Students Participating in Neighboring Events. Last year they hosted a Rocks, Paper, Scissors tournament. I know what you are thinking, "Really, a rock, paper, scissors tournament--How much fun can that be??" These students had the room dimly lit with a disco ball hanging over a huge chain link dog cage. It was probably 9 ft. tall. You had to go inside the dog cage to face your opponent. They had a referee decked out in a striped ref shirt and short baseball shorts and an emcee. Even the school president participated. It was so much FUN! You had to bring paper or scissors to be donated to the elementary school a couple of blocks from the school.

This year they decided to host a Family Feud tournament. I was so excited. I LOVE Family Feud. My family and Ty's family owns the dvd game. You should go out and purchase it--fun times! The first couple of games was MSI's vs. MSII's. (Medical Student 1st year or 2nd year) The winner of these games faced off against 5 of their professors.

Let me show you how medical students have fun....

Ty is up for his turn against the faculty.

He pushed the buzzer first or in this case pressed the light first. He is now in deep thought about how is going to answer.

We came home after an evening of fun and Ty hit the books. I walked back there to check on him or in Ty's mind to bug him and I saw Nuts studying with Ty. I ran back down the hallway to grab my camera off the coffee table and ran back as fast as my short little legs would carry me all the while hoping that they were still in the same pose. I was in luck! Aren't my boys cute!?!

Check out Wandering D.C. for a great giveaway.