Grace et Louis

     Hey strumpets, and thanks for tuning into the third episode of the inevitable revival of the golden age musical that is my mothers family blog. If you'll check the sidebar, you'll see that i've updated the casting call. Most noteably since 2012 we have lost 4 intragal members of our family. RIP Gunner, Max, Maya, and Lucy. They have been missed. This leaves Brady as the last dog standing. He stands alone in the invasion of an alien from another tier of the animal kingdom. Louis the cat. 

    Yes, you read that right. The Linares family has a cat! Who could have fathomed this day? Well, the answer, hobblyhodes is me. In fact, it was I, who, one fateful afeternoon on the couth filled the application to adpot a kitty. It has always been a dream of mine to own a feline, and in a state of temporary frenzy created by being locked in my childhood home for 3 months to avoid the plague, I said "ENOUGH. today is the day." the actual adoption day ended up being like a month later, but you get the jist. anyway, without further ado here is Louis "the sun king" Linares.

    Yes, he does know how gorgeous he is. No, he is not looking to sign with a modeling agent right now. He's very young. We will reach out to you when we feel he has a better head on his shoulders.

    and thats it. those are the only things that actually changed from 2012!

........................kidding obviously. 

      But, since we're on the topic of animals I think it would be appropraiate to address the metamorphsis of one Grace Linares. Who, in my last post I named the current It girl of this blog. And while she still has mad main character energy (I mean my dudes take a look at the photo of her in the sidebar. its her world we're all just living it.) I want to set the record straight by outing her for what she truly is deep deep down. A horse girl. That's right folks the 10 year old wannabe vetranarain is an equestrain. After dumping gymnastics as a hobby (and my dream of getting an excuse to spend an absurd amount of money on the tickets to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France) she went back to her roots. Setting up obstacle courses for herself in the middle of the entryway and jumping over them like she's Flicka. Just kidding! (but she did do that. make no mistake.) Now, instead of pretending to be the horses, she rides them. 

       

 Somehow she manages to make it look not so bad. Very sophisticated. I mean, check out her posture in the second to last pic. Straight as a rod. I am coming to the conclusion that she might still be the moment. yikes. I mean make no mistake, she’s still a horse girl. 

  I’m sure you’re dying to see what she looks like when not dressing like a cavalryman, and you know what? I’ll give you that. 

 

 Giving me very much biker gang from a disney tv show. But I don't hate it? Sometimes a good layer is what you need. Plus i can't hate too much the shirt and pants were both mine at some point.

   That's all I have for you today my fiends. Don't want to overwhelm you with information. Plently of the lost decade to come. 

talk soon xoxo,

sarah L.

Happy 20th Sav!!

    Alright harlots, today's post is a special one. I was planning on something else for my second post on this newly reccesitated digital docuseries, but, to stay true to the spirit of the blog my mother birthed so many years ago, I must veer from the unbeaten path. Today there is a birthday in the family. And you know what that means! Lots of photos of said person (flattering or not) splattered across the front page of this publication. 

    Aaaaaannnndd we are opening strong with one of my personal favs. This is from two years ago I think? 2018? See what I love about this photo of Sav is that it truly shows off her most endearing quality. Her wit! Take that government! Consider yourself overthrown.

    Here, she's yelling at...me? Our family freind Shruti who's taking this photo? I'm not sure. But it looks like she's expressing herself loudly. Whats new! If you know sav, then you know that her volume can rival that of a every band on Warped Tour. Plus, the screams of all the emo teens whose parents bought them tickets in hopes their children would do something with thier time other than smoke cigarrates and pretened to know how to skateboard in the local Savers parking lot.

    Here, Savanknah is just Killing It. Who's the main character NOW Grace? Spolier it's the little lady in the middle. With those dimples? And the jean jacket half back hairstyle? Very much giving me "I'm the girl next door you belong with me" energy. (fun fact this pic is from my 20th birthday and i just thought it was funny that it made the cut for sav's 20th bday post) 

For this next one, lets throw it back a little. Smol sav. Here I am, thinkning that I'm the CEO of the bob haircut in my family. For TWO YEARS i rocked that $*&% thinking i was the one and only Linares girl who had dared to try the "rapunzal rapunzal let down your hair" look, and the "bob thats cute, but is one bad wardrobe choice away from looking like Farquad in shrek". And yet, here I am, sitting on my floor realizing that it is not I who first took the risk of resembling Edna from the incredibles with my haircut, but Savannah. And at-what? 3-4years old none the less?!!! She said "I know who I am, and I am the moment." Her confidence was unwavering, even when she was still in the sinigle digits. I believe the reason she wanted this hairstyle is so that she could look like Dora. (also isnt she so cute here i just wanna eat her up)

    I don't think I have anything funny to say about either of these. They speak for themselves. Second image has cursed vibes tho.

 

    Another thing you, my dear reader, were not here for was The Graduation. Don't feel bad because neither was I :/ Big bummer I know. But for some reason when I told my college they needed to stop holding classes because i had a graduation to attend, they said no. We did have a lot of unecessary snow days though. Just saying :) Despite missing this major life event I'm still so proud of this gal and eveything she accomplished in high school. See all those cords?? That means she did stuff. If you wanna know what stuff...stay tuned. What?! I'm not gonna give you all the meat in two posts. Did you think I would? Come on.  

    This day I remeber so specfically. It was the day before thanksgiving? (okay so maybe I don't know the date, but the day I remember.) 3/5 of the Linares siblings and thier famalies met in Virginia for the holiday. We went sightseeing in DC and had an overall fun time freezing our ears off. This trip was exra special to me for two reasons. I'll tell you one, & save the second for later. This little redevue reminded me of the times when I was really young. Grace, Savannah & I would rile each other up as a form of entertainment. You know the kind of weird fun you have with your siblinings thats makes you laugh so hard it can never be recreated somewhere else? It was like that. Savannah has always had a plentiful supply of that feeling. I can see where she has sprinkled it all across my life & this day it is everywhere. 

 In all seriousness, I never thought this day would come. I have an oddly specific memory of turning 16 and thinking "Wow. When I'm 22 Savannah will be 20 and in college. She won't be my kid sister anymore." Don't ask me why I was thinking that on my 16th birthday. I don't know. Guess I was just feeling old already. Anyway, point is that that day, that really weird unfathomable day has finally come. Girl is no longer a kid or even a teen, but instead she's like, a full fledged person. It feels like just yesterday we were playing down in the small clearing of trees and rocks by our gate, battling with twig swords, and making potions in the backyard. I feel like I can picture so clearly what she looked like at every stage of life, and I am just so grateful that I got to see it all. Thank GOD you were born Sav because, jeez, you really do spice up my life. You really aren't my kid sister anymore huh, you're just you. And what a beautiful person that is.

all my love and well wishes xoxo,

Sarah L.

The Comeback

     Hey whores, there’s a new sheriff in town. It’s your girl “Freaky Freshman” Sarah. But, sorry to inform you I’m not so freaky or a freshman anymore. ;) 

    This morning at work I googled myself to feel something. As you do. And upon googling myself I came across a lot of childhood photos that I didn’t know were accessible through the google images tab. Imagine my HORROR in learning that any Jo Shmo from the block could take a look at me aged 14 in my Christmas pajamas on my Mom’s old blog. Needless to say I felt vulnerable.

    Naturally, after re-discovering this digital shrine of my early 2000’s life I scrolled through it in full. That’s right Drew Barrymore wanna be’s, I read this whole &*$% thing. I exposed myself to the cringe inbetween phase of my life where your brain thinks you’re an adult, but on the outside it so evident you were practically born yesterday. The jog down memory lane was honestly lovely. (Particularly the lemonade party. I mean-iconic). I found myself longing for simpler times when my only concern was how ragged my hair had become from over straightening it.  However, after a full perusal I came to the conclusion that my image was just not as cool cash money as I thought it would be. Imagine the cacophony of  terror in my chest when I (through careful examination and the results of a rigorous survey taken by my coworkers) realized I was NOT the IT girl of this blog like I expected to be.  Nay, like I needed to be. To stroke my starving 20 something ego. The IT girl, the icon, the moment, the true legend of this family ( between 2009-12) was in fact: Grace Linares. 

    Shocking, I know. But look at the evidence:

2009-2012 Grace Linares was. The. Moment. The original IT girl. Someone to rival Serena Vanderwoodsen if you will. And, I will. She came to eat and left with a full stomach. 

    While I’m sure Grace would be perfectly happy to see this blog stay sedentary and let her reign as Miss Thang continue in perpetuity, I simply cannot let this happen. As they say: If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. I can no longer stay Swiss on this issue. I have to salvage my image that has been so carelessly dragged through the mud by one Heather “the fabulous mom” Linares. So, if you’ve been looking for the real real, the true lives of the Linares family since we last told you what we were up to, stick around. I look forward to updating anyone who still visits this medieval website with the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 

Xoxo,

THE Linares girl

hey! hey minnie mouse is in the house!

i did warn you that the party after gracie's baptism was fab! she was/is really into minnie mouse and we had a fun time with the decorations and food.  of course, many thanks go out to pinterest and i will post links for everything.  

we started the festivities with a rockin' invite! i had to purchase a small amount of black cardstock, but i am pretty sure i got it for about 10 cents each.  so maybe i spent about $1. the ribbon, i had on hand. the idea came from here. it leads to another link for some invites for sale on ebay. what? like i'm gonna pay for them. i am all about supporting my fellow crafter, but when i can do it myself on the cheap, cheap, that's what i'm gonna do!

the cupcake tower was actually already something that i had.  we used it for savannah's birthday a few years ago and sarah used it for some math project as well. (don't ask) it got a makeover with some awesome red wrapping paper and ribbon and stickers that i happened upon at michael's.  i would like to tell you that i searched high and low for the ribbon to match perfectly, but alas, i went in the day before the party in a rush and in desperation praying they had something!! voila! it was meant to be! and it was a decent price with coupons and such.  

the minnie sticker came from part of a disney sticker set i happened upon in the scrapbook isle! on sale, of course. used with scrapbook paper i already had in my stash. practically free.

 i tried to work in as much black and red food as possible and found these little nibs.  the kids loved the red ones, but for some reason, not the black ones...

 more yummies. mini oreos and craisins! and this little red velvet box has been a great source for decorating during many occasions. christmas, valentine's, and birthdays. it was well worth the 99 cents i paid for it at the goodwill a few years ago.

 a minnie mouse party would not be complete without some good old red vines! (and the black ones for color, basically since no one wanted those either! but they sure do look pretty. right?) jars, already had and ribbon came from my stash! idea from here.

we totally scored on these mouse shaped chicken nuggets from costco!

the cupcake tower topper was another great pinterest idea! when i was redoing the tower it felt like it was missing something at the top.  with savannah's bday it was just full of cupcakes, but i wanted a little more umph this time around.  i think this styrofoam minnie mouse head did the trick.  inspiration found here. 

the heads in her post look a little more professional, but hey! this one did the trick.  i do recommend using dowels if you have them or can get them before the party!!! ha! i had to use hot glue and well, that kinda caused the styrofoam to melt a little bit...also, be careful doing the spray paint as that starts to disintegrate the styrofoam too.  then i just hot glued a whole bunch of tissue on top and then hot glued the minnie head on top of that! voila! 

lots of red paper and plastic goods.  i had seen the super cute napkins at target over the summer last year and bought them and stashed them away.  so glad i did because they did not have them any longer when the party came around when i was in buying cups and plastic ware. but i did see them on pinterest and maybe this site still has them. it is a link to the pin on my board that should take you to the site.

red and white packaging ribbon from my stash.

baloons! finally used this idea! it is a link to the pin on my pinterest board but it shows you the best photo for what we did.  if you click on the link it will take you to a great blog post about different ways to do balloons. balloons came from target.  i think i spent $6 for a few packages.  that was a pricey item for me, but since most everything else was a bargain or from my stash it was okay.  but don't think i didn't hesitate at spending that much on balloons!! (i am cheap.) it was worth it though because my girls l.o.v.e. balloons! grace had them hanging in her room after the party for about 9 months, so i'd say we got our money's worth, and then some.

i would love to have filled the entire ceiling, but let's face it, i'm cheap, and i really didn't feel like spending the rest of my life blowing up these bad boys and then stringing them and then hanging them, blah, blah, blah.

the cute table in all its minnie mouse glory! and red table cloth? from my closet! it gets used at christmas as well, so totally worth the $14 i paid for it about 14 years ago!!

minnie mouse cupcakes! super yummy! cookies and cream cupcakes and frosting with oreo (target brand) ears.  the recipe is found here.  the idea for the design is from here. on her blog she cuts the circles for the ears out from a larger oreo, but i wasn't having that! seriously? like i have time to be cuttin' out all those mouse ears!! but notice i did have time to tie all those teeeeeny tiny bows! (with help from grandma and grandpa elf.) the ribbon for the cupcakes i also had in my stash, so practically free.  but seriously, what was with all that red with white polka dot ribbon i had on hand? the only problem i had with the cupcakes was that the ears were very top heavy and wouldn't stay up very well. so what did i do? push them down further into the cupcake!! i know, i know, pure genius!

what birthday would be complete without a goodie bag? honestly, i don't really care either way about goodie bags.  isn't the real treat all the fun at the party? but i had an idea after making the invites that i could make matching goody bags.  i don't even remember what we put in these things, probably a boatload of candy.  let's face it, that's all the kids want anyway, not all those cheap toys that fall apart on the car ride home, or get thrown out eventually. am i right?

super easy and inexpensive, especially if you have everything on hand. (which i did. even the white gel pen.) 

and how could the party be complete without miss minnie?

or maybe two? also, we already happened to have these on hand because that's how we roll, double minnie style.

the little, and big, party guests.  the big girls were super helpful with all the little girls.  they entertained them very well outside with lots of fun stuff.  i know at least two of them who are available for babysitting. call me and i can hook ya up!

trying to get them to all sit still and have a straight face was not gonna happen, but i think these pics turned out cute anyway.  grace had a glorious day surrounded by all of her friends and family! it was the best day ever! (she always says this when she has a great day! so cute!)