We finally went and did it.  We purchased a Wii.  And Dance Dance Revolution.

I hate to work out.  However, there is documented evidence, embarrassing though it may be, that I like playing Dance Dance Revolution.

{me on the left, circa 2004 - notice ugly jeans}

So, in the hopes that I will get off of the couch each day and move (and, by the way, the game assures me that NO ONE moves better than I do), I began the Dance Dance Revolution workout.  Two days of 30 minute workouts down, tons more to go. I’ll keep you posted on my progress!  And I’m considering the Wii Fit too.  Anyone have a fun Wii Fit game they love? 

How do you make yourself work out, even if you hate it?

Each year, Charlie’s favorite shop, Tails in the City, has a Halloween parade and costume contest.   As you can imagine, this is one of my favorite events of the fall!

This year Charlie was a lion - and a very ferocious one at that!  It’s definitely the cutest costume he’s ever worn - it matches his fur perfectly.

I think the side view is the most adorable.  When he wagged his tail, the lion tail wagged too.

And here he is with his new friend Brady, who dressed up as a lobster.

What’s your most favorite fall activity?  And you dog-lovers out there, what is your pet going to dress up as for Halloween?

E.

{…Sentimentality alert…}

When I woke up this morning to do my daily check on EADL, I suddenly realized that the next post would be #500.  And I thought… wow - how lucky am I to be doing this?

Being a blogger, which started very innocently (as I’m sure most others will also tell you), has been such a rewarding part of my life.  I have made so many friends, many of whom blog right here on EAD Living and over on EAD Weddings.  And not only that, but I’m lucky enough to have formed relationships with many of ya’ll reading this.

EAD Living has been an awesome experience so far - it’s a completely different creative outlet from EAD Weddings and I can’t even tell you how much I enjoy reading the posts that the amazing women that are a part of this site create and the comments that you all leave.  As silly as it sounds, every little comment means the world to us bloggers!

So… I’ll just close by saying thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading EAD and being a part of our community. And here’s to more amazing times with you ahead!

xo,
E.

Hi ya’ll!  Gosh, I feel like I haven’t talked to you guys in forever.  If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I just returned from a two-week tour of the Baltic sea.  Here was our itinerary:

Sept 1-3 - Copenhagen
Sept 4 - At Sea
Sept 5 - Stockholm
Sept 6 - Helsinki
Sept 7-8 - St. Petersburg
Sept 9 - Tallin Estonia
Sept 10 - Gdynia Poland
Sept 11 - At Sea
Sept 12 - Oslo

I’m going to do a few recaps shortly, but here’s a few photo teasers until you get the real thing:

{Catherine’s Palace, St Petersburg}

{Stockholm}

{Peterhof fountains in St Petersburg}

{Overlooking Tallin, Estonia}

{Fredericksborg Castle, Copenhagen}

{Copenhagen}

Lots more to come!

xo,
E.

PS - In other news, who else is over the moon that it’s fall TV time?  I bawled (naturally) during The Biggest Loser and am absolutely in love with The Vampire Diaries, Melrose Place, and Glee.

Don’t forget to enter the Stinkerpants contest either {here} or {here} before tomorrow at noon CT!

I puffy pink heart Sara from Stinkerpants Designs. She’s so sweet and uber-talented and her hand-drawn stationery is just to die for!

This week, EAD and Stinkerpants are teaming up to give one lucky EAD winner a sweet prize - your choice of:

* 100 Save the Dates
* 100 Thank You Cards
* 1 Framed Family Portrait
* or 100 Holiday Cards!

Just check out this cuteness!

So how do you win? You’ve got up to four chances to enter. You can:

• Leave a comment on this post
• Blog about the contest and link to EAD and Stinkerpants Designs (leave a link here to let us know you blogged about it!)
• Become a fan of Stinkerpants Designs on Facebook
• Tweet about the giveaway (make sure to include the hashtag #stinkerpantsEAD and link to this post or it doesn’t count! And while you’re at it, follow @stinkerpants and @amiatead and say “hi” to us!)

We’ll pick a random winner from all of the entries on Friday - contest closes at 12PM CT.

Good luck!
E.

… to Laura, comment #16, our winner in the Hard Cards giveaway!

If you’re like me, you hate standard greeting cards.  I can’t tell you how often I’ve stood in a Walgreen’s picking up card after card and *not* laughing.

Well Hard Cards is going to change all of that, because I have to tell ya’ll, these things are hilarious.

I have a boxed set of Hard Cards to give away to one of you!  To win, go to the Hard Cards website, click on Shop Cards, and comment below to let me know which card you think is the funniest.  :)  I’ll pick a random commenter on Friday at 12pm CT.

xo,
E.

EADW contributor Juel is stopping by EADL today to share her DIY chalkboard calendar, inspired by (who else) Martha!

{ image from Martha }

Anyone else get Martha’s daily emails? Well, I stored this one in my “collection” a while back and I’ve been excited to do it ever since. We were in serious need of a calendar for our new house and so I decided to give it a shot!

It was rather time consuming but the most difficult part was making the checkerboard. If I had just done a solid color it would have taken me like half an hour, most of which would be waiting for the paint to dry.

So…here’s my final product:

Now, I didn’t do it exactly the way Martha said to do it. Instead, there were some comments to her original directions that I followed instead. What I used:

For each paint color:
4 tsp acrylic paint
1/2 tsp unsanded tile grout

Other than that, I followed what Martha said and taped off the calendar, and put on several coats of each color. After the whole thing was done, I sanded it lightly, rubbed the whole thing with chalk, and then wiped it down with a damp cloth.

I love it! The best part is that you can use any color you’d like so there are lots of possibilities!

Have you tried to make your own chalkboard paint? How did it turn out?

When Feisty twittered about the House of Night series, I knew I had to grab the first one and check it out.  And I must admit, it’s pretty awesome.  Picture Harry Potter only slightly more grown-up and with vampires.

The Premise:  The book is set in present day Oklahoma, only in a reality where vampires exist.  You become a vampire not by being bitten, but by being chosen, or “marked”.  Zoey, a high-school student, is marked by the vampires and therefore is sent to the vampire school, the House of Night.  Hogwarts for vampires, if you will.

The first book in the series centers on Zoey finding her special vampire talents and meeting her new friends at the House of Night.  Zoey is a special fledgling vampire, who is going through the change far more quickly than her classmates, and who has attracted the attention of Erik, an upperclassman hottie.  That, in addition to her very unique talents, quickly make her the leader within her group of friends and also immediately earn her an adversary in Aphrodite, the leader of the ‘popular kids’.

My vote?  Read and love, as I did.  I can’t wait to read the rest of the series!