Marriage Guest Post @ The Scribble Pad

My friend Shannon and her husband Mark are celebrating 5 years of marriage today!

I am over at  Shannon's blog, The Scribble Pad, guest posting today because she (being the thoughtful, sweet wife she is) is giving Mark the gift of quality time. And part of that is putting their computers away to connect with each other. Pretty great idea huh?

So if you'd like to read my rookie advice on marriage, head over there and check it out.

Have a great weekend friends.

My Aunt, Uncle & Baby Maisy

My Aunt and Uncle have been praying and waiting for a baby for many years now and God is answering their prayers next month.

They have been chosen to adopt a little baby girl who is due October 12th. Her name will be Maisy and she is already so loved and cherished.

They have weathered some very difficult storms during their wait for Maisy with beautiful patience and endurance and I am thrilled that this time has come for them. They wrote a little bit about their journey (before they knew they had been chosen to adopt Maisy) here if you are interested in knowing more.

They are fundraising to help pay for all the expenses that come with adoption. The fundraisers they have chosen are really great and totally win win situations. 

Basically you buy a bag like this:

And you help them out tremendously.

See what I mean by win win?

They have an online store set up here to make it super easy. The bags rage from $18-$35 and are super cute. 

And you can get the bag monogramed for free! Pretty awesome eh? My Mom bought one and had her special Grandma name for Westley monogramed on it. She has big plans to always have little treats in it for Westley whenever she comes to visit or he goes to see her. So cute.

Get yourself a pretty monogramed bag!

The other fundraiser they are doing is selling coffee. This one is a win win win situation. Basically $5 per bag goes toward their adoption expenses. The other proceeds go to help out an Ethiopian orphanage. The coffee is shipped directly to you and you can place the order online which is quick and easy. The coffees are fair trade and most of them are around $13 per bag.

Go get some here!

And p.s. if you buy a bag or some coffee from them I will give you free sponsorship on my blog for a month! This can be for your blog, your etsy store, or any other site you would like to advertise here on lady lee. So add another win unto both of those. After you have made your purchase of either a bag or coffee email me (at candisljones@yahoo.com) to let me know and copy and paste your receipt into the email. We'll then talk buttons and size and get you on the side bar!

Thanks so much!

Westley is 5 Months Old!

Westley turned 5 months old yesterday, and you guys he is amazing.

He is a real little dude ya know? I see his personality showing itself and I am loving what I see. 

When Westley wakes up in the morning he will softly babble to himself. I hear him over the monitor and try to sleep a bit longer through it until I hear a loud "EHH!".  It's not really a cry at all, more of a "HEY! I'm HERE! Come GET ME!" yell. It's adorable. So I stumble into his room already smiling because it cracks me up that at 5 months he knows that he doesn't have to cry, he can just yell "EHH!" to tell me he is up.

When I get there he is on his belly pushing himself up with his hands looking around at his books and toys.

"Gooood morning Westy..." I'll say and crouch down to see his face through the bars of his crib.

And when he hears my voices and recognizes my face in the dark of the morning he'll gives me a big, sleepy, gummy smile. Then I roll him over to his back and kiss his face and sing him morning songs while he smiles at me stretching and kicking his legs.

It really is amazing to wake up every morning to that. I am not a morning person but I have no problem getting up now because I know I will be seeing him and we will be spending the day together.

My little buddy and I.

Want to see that smile I'm talking about? Plus some laughs, squeals, cries and a burp? Push play.



Here are Westley's 5 month stats:

Height - 27.5 inches 

Weight - 17 lbs 8 oz 

Head - 17 inches 

What he is doing:
Squealing/laughing/smiling/babbling
Sitting with little assistance
Flailing his arm around while nursing
Grabbing and holding onto Mama's nose while nursing
Wanting to drink out of a glass when he sees you drinking out of a glass
Leans towards things/people he wants
Being worn in his Moby wrap happily! Success!
Sleeping 8 hours solid at night
Taking one 2-3 hour morning nap and one 1-2 hour afternoon nap per day




What he loves:
Rough housing, although we of course do very gentle style rough housing right now.
Scoutie, he squeals and laughs at her
His excersaucer, we call it the command center
Drinking out of Mama's glass. (which is really just pressing the glass on his gums and backwashing)
When you stand him up on his feet and say "Tall boy staaanding!"
Being kissed and tickled while laying on his changing table
And as always, bathtime




What annoys him:
Reading time, he gets very impatient being read to
If he doesn't get enough cuddle time before sleep
When you take the water glass he is backwashing in away from him
Being up past bedtime
Being in the car for more than an hour (can't blame him...no more long trips for awhile.)


{4 months} {3 months} {newborn}

Living Pinterest: Laundry Bag

I needed a laundry solution for Westley's room. The routine had basically been:

Westley spits up/pees all over/poops on his clothes.

I take them off of him.

Stack them on top of his dresser.

Change him into something fresh.

And then when the pile started to flow over to the floor I would take them downstairs. And here I was claiming to be all clean and stuff.

So you see I needed a basket, a bin, a bag of sorts. And I needed it to be close to the changing table, take up very little space and easy to throw things in with one hand while holding a squirmy baby with the other.

Pinterest to the rescue!

And more specifically a Martha pin on Pinterest. Oh Martha, you so good.

• Embroidery Hoop + Pillowcase = Always Open Laundry Bag •

The original pin looked like the perfect solution to my problem. I could hang it on the back of the door right next to the changing table and throw dirty clothes in it easily (and then ate the entire bag in two days).

So, I stopped in Jo Anne Fabrics on my way to the grocery and beelined it for the embroidery hoops. Of course there was freakin' Brach's candy corn on an end cap that I had no self-control about and grabbed that too on my way out. 

I got the hook at the grocery store. It's just one of those 3M On Command hooks that sticks to a surface and pulls off clean when you don't need it anymore. I didn't want put any holes in the door so I went that route.

I already had the ribbon and the pillowcase. My Mom actually made the pillowcase for Westley before he was born using a striped vintage men's dress shirt and a old embroidered handkerchief. The tag on the men's shirt says "Westley" on it. We got so excited about that when she gave it to us. Isn't that so fun?

It works really well for me. I really have no complaints about it. Just make sure to tighten that little metal screw thingy on the hoop nice and tight because I didn't at first and it popped apart on me. It covers all the bases I need it to: space save, easy access, cheap, easy to make and looks pretty cute too.

Original pin here.

Pin It

Also want to remind you that you can do your own Living Pinterest! Just click on the Living Pinterest logo I have up top to make it larger and then drag it to your desktop for you can attach it to your own blogpost, then you can link up your post by filling out the info below.

Also if you have any pins you want me to try leave me a link! I'd love to see whatcha got.

Q&A 8: You obviously have faith. What do you believe?

Q: You obviously have faith. What do you believe?

A: There is no doubt in my mind that I am (and that you are) on purpose. I believe that God is real and actively present in each of our lives. It is easy to see if you are looking for it, easy to miss if you are not.

I believe God is the creator of heaven and earth. I believe that Jesus died on the cross so that we can have eternal life. I believe that when I die I will go to heaven because I accepted this fact and have faith in it.

I believe that God loves everyone. Period. The end. 

I believe that God is good and that He is everything and everything is Him and that he reins over all things.

I do not have a specific religious brand. For all intents and purposes I would call myself a Christian, but I also cringe inside telling people this because of the way us Christians are perceived. I'd like to just call myself Candis, a girl who loves God and Jesus and benefits greatly from this love. I am who I am and part of that is my faith. But I think what God wants from me is to just be myself and not try to fit any Christian mold that us humans dreamed up to make ourselves feel more superior than others or like we are doing it "right". I want to be humble and kind and graceful and real and do that in my own unique flavor. 

Faith and God are endless topics with a myriad of different ways to see and understand them. If you want to know more about what I believe feel free to email me and ask whatever questions you have. I am not a theologian or biblical scholar but I have seen and experienced significant things that have brought me to where I am at today in my beliefs and for me, there is no turning back.

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Country Living Fair 2011

Ashley texted me and was all, "I've got extra tickets to the Country Living Fair!" 

And I was like. "Yes."

So we went and it was fantastic.

 I give you our trip to the fair in photos:

 This is my, "here let me get a picture of us" move. 

Westley fell asleep after nursing in the little chapel.

I loved those little gnome guys.

 Cute displays of pretty things every where you turn.

Still sleeping.

We just loved Happy Chair. Her chairs are so fun and unique. 

I mean chevron, stripes AND a denim whale?

Uhhhh yes.

Omg, is that Scoutie on that chair?

 Most def. happy chairs right here.

I'm a sucker for anything with bunnies.

 Look who woke up!

A platter of whimsical figurines on thimbles anyone?

So Halloweeny. 

I can't resist those cheekies. Or a photo of his pumpkin head sitting on a pile of gourds.

It was good times at the Country Living Fair.

Q&A 5, 6 & 7: A Potpourri of Questions

3 for one today lovies:

Q: Other than blogging, do you work? If so, what do you do? How do you juggle that and Westley?

A: Well I really don't make any money blogging, so I wouldn't call it work. Although I am intentional about it and put time and energy into it, at this point it's a fulfilling hobby for me. I do freelance photo editing and graphic design work for Keels Photography. You have probably seen Chris Keels' work a lot on this blog (like here & here & here). It is amazing and I love working for him. I wish I had a good answer for how I juggle that and Westley but the truth is I'm not that great at juggling it yet. What I basically do now is do work at night after Westley is in bed. This is the easiest time because he will guaranteed sleep for a long time. During the day isn't as easy because his nap lengths are unpredictable. So by the time I get everything up and open and going I may have to shut it down because he is crying and awake again. It is the same idea as if you take your umbrella with you it won't rain...but if you leave it in the car it's sure to pour. 

Q: Did you have any other names you were thinking about for Westley?

A: Early on, yes. Before we knew that he was a he we had a few of names we were toying around with. But then when we knew we were having a boy things got more serious and I got all like, "no, we can't name him that." The boy names we considered early on were: Silas, Abram and William. But in the end it was always Westley. I held out telling people his name until the last minute and if I told you his name I usually said something like "but I reserve the right to change it if I meet him and he isn't Westley." But when I met him, he was Westley.

Q: Where can I buy one of your husbands paintings?

A: 1. Go to his art blog: http://drewjonesart.blogspot.com/

     2. See something you like (that isn't sold) and want to buy it?

     3. Email him at drewtjones@yahoo.com

     4. See something you like (that is sold) and want to commission something like it?

     5. Email him at drewtjones@yahoo.com and let him know what you are thinking.

Okay so 3 things:

1. Do you work from home? How do you juggle it?

2. What are your fav baby names?

3. Do you or your partner do something creative? Leave me a link, I want to see!

Living Pinterest: A Hair Tutorial

I have a hard time believing that all those hair tutorials I constantly see on pinterest are as easy as they look. They have like 8 photos of a beautiful girl using a round brush from roots to tips and voila! Look how great my hair looks!

But, I did come across one that seemed doable. No curling iron, no round brush and not time consuming.

• No heat curls using a headband •

You basically just put a headband on, wrap pieces of you hair into it, let it it be for awhile and then take it out. The original pin of the video is here. Check it out for a much more detailed explanation if you are interested. 

So I'm keeping it real with 3 pictures of an average looking girl in her bathroom pulling of the easiest hair tutorial she could find:

I've already used this method twice. One time I slept on it overnight and ended up with much curlier curls. In these photos I only left it in for about an hour, so it was more of a wave. 

What I like about it:

• It's super easy, anyone can do it

• It actually works 

• No heat 

• All you need is a head band and some hairspray (which I think it pretty optional too)

What I don't like about it:

• It's kind of frizzy looking, doesn't have a very finished look. I think that if you touched it up with a curling iron it would look better (but that's more time which I don't always have.)

• I think my hair is still a bit short to do it right because the back constantly is falling out of the headband. 

• The head band leaves an indentation in my forehead. It goes away of course, but makes me feel silly leaving the house with headband imprint head.

So if you try it let me know how it goes and what you think!

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Make sure to link up with your own Living Pinterest happenings! If you would like you can click on the Living Pinterest banner I have up there and drag it to you desktop to attach to your own post as well.

Will Return

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Ya'll, I'm sorry. I got nothing.

The weekend was non-stop go time and I had not one spare moment to sit down and write.

I'm especially sorry if you are a regular because the fact that you choose to read me regularly makes me feel so special.

I'll be back tomorrow. I went to the Country Living Fair on Friday, have questions to answer and some Living Pinterest goodies to share.

Until then!

Another post on cleaning (!?)

It is no secret with those who know me well, that I like a clean house.

Does this mean my house is always the picture of perfection?

Hardley.

There is almost always a pile (or 2) of things on the dining room table and a load of laundry in a basket that needs putting away looming somewhere around the house. And keeping our red corner cabinet organized is a seemingly impossible task for me.

So what I guess I am saying is that there is a difference between messy and dirty. You get me? I can deal with a mess, but dirty? Nope. I like germs to be killed, the rug to be vacuumed and the bathroom to always be guest ready. Meaning I wouldn't be embarrassed to have a guest pee in there.

side note: this reminds me of the time I lived with three other women and a dog in an apartment. I would literally wait to go pee until I got to work because our bathroom was that dirty. It was like a gas station bathroom. Why didn't you just clean it? You ask. Would you want to clean the BP restroom? Yeah, me either. I'd rather just go pee at work.


Anyway, one way I have been keeping the house clean is by using my weekly chore cards I shared with you. They split things up and make it less overwhelming.

Another way is by just cleaning up after myself as I go along. This has been something I've only learned to do in the past few years. Translation: I got married and my single-girl-leave-dishes-in-the-sink-for-eight-days-until-you-run-out-of-dishes ways had to change. Drew Jones was much too fastidious and tidy to tolerate that sort of nonesense. And thank God, because I needed someone to basically be like, "seriously, just put the dish in the dishwasher."

My poor Mom is shaking her head right now thinking, "I tried for 18 years to make that girl put things away and now she finally gets it."

I do Mom, I do. (and I'm sorry.)

So! It's Friday and the last thing you are probably feeling like doing is cleaning but I am posting about cleaning today anyway. Because lets face it, I have a little baby and I'm not going anywhere tonight. I'll just be thinking about how Project Runway is on but I can't watch it because we don't have cable while I fold laundry watching 20/20.

That has been a big long preface to finally get to my actually point. A nice little roundup of cleaning supplies I use and really like. I mostly like to keep it green & natural, but there are some things that I will make exceptions for, like the toilet bowl (because no ones touching it or eating off of it. Gross. I just grossed myself out writing that sentence.)

Okay, Okay, here they are:

1. Charlie's Soap: I've mentioned it before already in a post or two. I'll probably mention it again in the future. I really love this soap. It's laundry soap and it cleans so so well. Everything comes out fresh and soft without a weird fakey smell attached to it. It just smells like nothing. Which I like. It's hard for me to hand Westley over to someone and have him come back smelling like their perfume or cologne. I kind of want him to just smell like a baby. So this stuff is perfect for that peeve of mine. Also it's the recommended laundry soap for clothe dipes, so again, perf.

2. Bon Ami: Drew Jones' Dad introduced us to Bon Ami. And what a good friend it is. I now use it to wash out our tub. I sprinkle a little in there and use a scrub brush to scrub that baby out, rinse well and it sparkles. It's been around forever and is free of chemicals too. It has five simple ingredients that are biodegradable. Plus the old timey design with the baby chick is so cute, right?

3. Bissel Little Green Pro Heat: I made this purchase when I was 8 months preg and had the nose of a bloodhound. To me our entire house stunk. I would literally be sitting on the couch, get up suddenly, get down on all fours (and we knooow that wasn't easy lookin' like this) and sniff the carpet saying, "It smells like pee in here. Does it smell like Scout pee in here to you?" To which Drew Jones for the 14th time would say "No." But I couldn't be convinced. I bought this little steam cleaner and fell in love. It was small and light enough that I could lug it around the house (big belly and all and by all I mean big butt too) cleaning areas on the rug and couch and ottomans that I sniffed out. It still comes in handy when Scout has an "OMG NEW PEOPLE COMING IN THE HOUSE" accident on the rug. And is friggen perfect for cleaning up the gobs of spit-up that Westley dollops onto the rug in his room when I'm burping him. What I love about it is that you put the cleaner and the water in it and just leave it in there so that anytime you have a place you want to clean you just get it out and do it without a bunch of prep work. Then when the cleaner runs out you just fill it back up and dump and rinse the dirty water. It's one of my fav purchases of this year. I am so cool.

4. Seventh Generation Multi-Surface Disinfecting Cleaner: This green and natural cleaner straight up kills influenza and H1N1, salmonella and e.coli. Bam. A germ-a-phob who wants to keep things green and sanitized dream come true.

5. Scrubbing Bubbles Fresh Brush: I start talking green and then get all Scrubbing Bubbles up in here. I just can't pass these up though. Why? Because I am so grossed out by a toilet brush scrubbin' away the poopy rings on your toilet and then just hanging out in your bathroom in its little holder with its perpetual puddle of poop water. I just can't do it. With these you flush the brush on down the toilet and then the wand hangs hidden on the side of the toilet without any bacteria-ridden brush on it at all until the next cleaning. I will sometimes put an extra squirt of green toilet bowl cleaner in there if need be, but most of the time these are just fine.

6. Method All-Purpose Cleaner: I have one I keep upstairs and one I keep downstairs. I pretty much use this on every surface. Non-toxic, natural and works great.

7. Dry-Heat Nursery Sanitizer: Okay, so this one isn't keeping my house clean but it is keeping things in my house clean. Specifically things Westley puts in his mouth. I get it, its my first kid, by the second one I'll let him eat stuff off the floor, yadda yadda. Trust me when I say I won't. At least not if I can help it. This thing sterilizes his toys with dry heat. I just throw em' in there push a button and it kills bacteria and germs for me. Thank you my little germ-a-phob machine, I love you.

8. Murphy's Oil Soap: My Mom used Murphy's Oil soap to clean the wood floors in our house growing up and so just the smell of it makes me feel all homey. Also it's made of 98% natural ingredients so that is good too. And finally whenever I wash the floors with it people always comment on how great they look.

9. PurAyre: This product was on that show Shark Tank on ABC. Another Friday night show that I watch because I'm awesome. I was intrigued because the dude pitching it took the product and sprayed it in his mouth. It's made of food-grade ingredients! He also sprayed some on some cat pee and had the lady shark sniff it and she was all, "It smells great! Like nothing!". Of course, I was 8 month prego me sniffin' carpets at this time and so you better believe I got my big butt on amazon and ordered some. It does work and I don't feel bad spraying it around the house and on things like I would with febreeze or something chalk full of chemicals.

Okay - so now I want to hear what you use to clean your house. I love a good recommendation. And don't feel judged if you use a regular toilet bowl brush. I still love you.

Drew Jones and Westley James: A video

You guys, I'm slacking this week. Too much going on in my world wide world to give time to the world wide web. So what does a good slacker do in blog-land? She posts an adorable video of her husband and newborn dancing.

Westley is no more than a week old in it and Drew Jones has bed head (but somehow his hair still looks cool...how does he do it?).

You better believe I teared up when I watched again this morning and that Westley stopped playing and looked in the direction of where the music was coming from for the entirety of the video like, "I remember that song" because we played it continuously when he was a little little. It was one of the only things that soothed him.

I give you my two favorite people in the world, in their pajamas, dancing:

A busy day - An old draft

I know - I was supposed to answer another question today. I started answering like 3, but haven't finished a one. Westley demands my attention and all I really want to do is give it to him. Then I got some bad news about a dear friend of mine and all I wanted to do was hug her and cry and I couldn't bring myself to finish any questions at all. So I looked in my dusty draft archives and found a post that may be almost a year old that I never published for whatever reason. So here it is, a b-side post. I hope that you will forgive me for slacking on my questions this week and enjoy this post anyway.

This is me.

It was taken in the summer of 2006.

I was 22 years old standing on a steep hill covered in wild flowers overlooking the ocean in Half Moon Bay, California.

I was not married.

Not dating.

Not even close to pregnant.

I lived alone in an almost-one-bedroom 2nd floor apartment on Michigan Avenue. I painted the living room "butternut" and the dining room "meander blue" without asking the landlord.

I was only just friends with my future husband who I had asked to cut off my long hair that had never been cut so short before. Ever.

I had him cut my hair because I loved him and loved every moment I spent with him.

He didn't know that.

I think his Mom did though.

....................................

My friend Sarah recently came for a visit to the Jones Cottage. It was a short stay, but oh so nice. It felt good to spend time with someone who knew my past without me having to explain it. Who  knew me before I moved to this city, before I went to college, before my parents split, before I was a grown up.

My friend Sarah writes a blog and the day after she went home she wrote this about me in a post about her visit here:

"I met her when she was a spunky freshman cheerleader. Even back then she stood out. She was different than the typical high school girl. She's a carefree spirit. A soul from a different time. A creative heart full of life and compassion. She was vivacious and she has the ability to take someone at their worst day and make it their best."

I don't share this with you to toot my own little lame horn. The truth is reading this short unexpected paragraph is like water to my soul. I have been in a funk internally with myself for awhile without even really knowing it. 


Reading those words reminded me that I am someone.


My internal dialogue tells me I am not. My internal dialogue records all my wrongs and failures. It remembers what I look like in the mirror when I first wake up. It smirks at myself. It is unforgiving and unkind to me. It carries shame.


Do you have this trouble too?  


After I read what Sarah wrote I felt hope spring up inside of me. I remembered what it felt like to believe in myself. To see myself as good and kind. I experienced a flash of what it felt like to stand on top of that hill looking out at the ocean. The cold wind slapped at my bare legs and arms, my wild hair flying in my watering eyes.


I was believing in God, thus believing in myself.


Knowing God, thus knowing myself.


Sarah's words are my Father's words for me. And I intend to let myself begin to believe them again.

A new addition: Living Pinterest

So I've been pinning.

and pinning.

and pinning.

And I saw this trend of me spending my time pinning instead of actually using and creating what I pinned in real life.

So I made a decision that at least monthly (probably/hopefully more than that) I am going to take a pin or two and use them in real life.

I'm calling it Living Pinterest.

I tend to like:

diy projects
pretty desserts
mimicking outfits I find
slow cooker/super easy yummy meals
organizational tools
beautiful photos or words that inspire me in different ways
home decorating ideas

So I am going to try the things I pin and then I'll share with you how it goes.

And to start us off I did an ultra easy one.

Get ready.

• Binder Clip your sponge to air dry and prevent mildew and other icky wet germs •

Bam. Did It.

Original pin here.

Overall, it works just okay. I think maybe the binder clip I had is a little small to really hold the sponge up well because it took some balancing for me to get it to not topple over. So use a larger clip and I think you'd have better luck. Also, after doing it I realize how I really like everything to have a home and be put away. There are already so many appliances and things that end up having to be out on the counter - putting one more thing out just kind of annoys me -  I like a clean uncluttered kitch. So I may end up scrapping the binder clip and just microwaving the sponge when I want to kill those germies.

Okay! More to come. I am doing a hair tutorial, a laundry bag idea, a couple recipes and making Westley some baby leg warmers in the near future so stay tuned.




*If you want to follow my pinning there is a little link over on my sidebar to the right there you can click on that will take you there. 


*Don't know what Pinterest is? Go here or click on the link on my sidebar that says "follow me on pinterest" to get there check it out and get pinning.




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Weekend Away

We spent the weekend with our Jones family hiking, eating, hot-tubbin', playing games and laughing it up together in a cabin in the woods.

It wasn't until my eyes were able to rest on the wide open sky and my ears heard nothing but it's quiet that I realized how much I needed a weekend away in the woods, with the best family a girl could have married into no less.

I am already looking forward to doing it again next year.

Thanks for a great weekend Jonesies. I'm proud to be one of ya.


{I interrupted answering reader questions today to post about the weekend as it was a special trip. I'll be back with the regularly scheduled Q&A on Wednesday as planned and then Monday again.}

Photoboof

I was looking through the photo booth photos on our Mac.

We only have taken a handful of photos with it but none-the-less it was fun looking back.

Here are some of them. Half the time I'm in my pajamas and Drew Jones mostly used it to be funny. Classic.

in the kitchen - probably nauseated

sleepy scoutie

big bellies make for big babies

Scout missing my lap

beautiful infant boy

one of 2 times he allowed me to wear him this way

swaddled and sleepy

turtle jammies

head suuuuuuck

striped jammies for westley, under eye circles for mama

 handsome

 nothing, just shirtless on the moon

someone cut me some bangs

 Saturday morning cartoons

Do you use your photo booth? Drew myself and a friend spent a good part of Sunday night playing a game I made up where you use the effects to make yourself look as gross as possible. Whomever is the grossest wins. 

I laughed so hard I cried. 

And won every single round.

Yes that is what we do on the weekend. We're awesome.

I leave you with one of my winning photos: