The Perfect Mai Tai

I tell my boyfriend Chris that he's a "mixologist" (Portlandia reference anyone?). And one of his specialities is definitely the Mai Tai. He's perfected this recipe over the years, and it's pretty good if I don't say so myself, and I'm not big on mixed drinks or hard liquor in general. But we do love ourselves tropically fruity Mai Tai.

Ingredients
Three rums:
1oz. white rum
1 oz. dark rum
2 oz. amaretto
6oz. pineapple juice
1 oz. orange juice
mix together, and then add a splash of myers jamaican rum

Garnish with a maraschino cherry and pineapple or any other garnish you have

This makes a 16oz. glass, and let me tell you it  goes a long way, and will definitely warm you up!

Our favorite places to get a Mai Tai here in LA are Tiki-Ti's, a little, hole-in-the wall bar, in Hollywood, famous for their tropical drinks, and one of the only places in LA where you can still smoke inside. Not a huge fan of that detail, but it does add to it's character. And 2) Damon's restaurant, a little tiki-themed steakhouse in Glendale that make THE best Mai Tai's (and brunch!) If your ever in the LA area, I definitely recommend that you check these two places out.

Sit outside and enjoy the sun and your Mai Tai! Chris and I paired our tropical drinks with the soundtrack from the film the Descendents. It's all Hawaiin music, both classic and contemporary, and it's just lovely. I'm dying to go back to Hawaii again. siiiigh.

Team Coco

i can read

Happy Cesar Chavez Day. I just love this quote. Any Conan fans out there? Chris and I just recently watched "Conan O' Brien Can't Stop" on Netflix. It's a documentary following his comedy tour, after he lost the Tonight Show, and before he started Conan on TBS. It's pretty funny, and I came away loving him even more :) Did you know he went to Harvard?

Bits & Pieces

Last night Chris and his band Blackwood Harvest played at an Ale House in Pasadena. It was a lot of fun. I always love listening to him play his music. We had a couple of pitchers of Stone IPA, and I had a cup of Guiness Irish stew. So good! Here are some shots that I took. 

You can listen to some of his songs here!

10 Things I Dig

/1/  have to remind myself of this all the time. It should be my mantra.

http://www.minted.com/art-prints

/2/ I know it's all about color blocking this spring/summer. But I'm still a sucker for flowy polkadot dresses like tis one. And belted with a leather moto jacket. Yes please.

/3/ This couch, with the blue crochet blanket. Gosh.

/4/ She looks cuter than me on my best days. I wonder what she has in that little leather messenger bag?

/5/ The coziest study I've ever seen. I want to go to there.

/6/ Love this picture of Audrey reading.

/7/ This illustration of George...

and John...

/8/ How pretty are these?

/9/ I want to try this skinny fettuccine alfredo with spinach recipe SO bad. This picture makes me hungry.

/10/ Three of my favorite funny guys...

Happy Monday!

Recent acquisition. Love this needlepoint. It's dark and inspiring. Now I just need to find a frame for it. 

I was looking for some images to practice drawing in my watercolor sketchbook. And I found these lovely botany illustrations. I like the way the cilantro plant is dissected.

Totally random but I was excited to find out that my Terrarium DIY was featured in Crafts Beautiful Magazine. Craft Party! hahah

No biggie, but it made me smile!

Happy monday.

Katniss Braid DIY

So I totally nerded out and saw midnight showing of the Hunger Games with some friends on Thursday. It was awwwsomme! I know some of you guys did too, admit it. I tried my best to dress up, I was by no means as prepared as Manzanita with her Hunger Games screen print DIY, but I was rather proud of my Katniss braid if I do say so myself.

I got the idea form this article at Refinery 29. I'm not the best French braider, but I was happy to rock the district 12 braid! 

1. I parted my hair in half
2. Then I began to French braid, keeping the braid close to the left side of my hair.
3. As I came closer to my neck, I began to grab hair from right side of my head so that the braid would travel right.
4. when I came around to the other side, I picked up pieces and pulled them over so that the bra it would lay flat.
5. I fixed my flyways and sprayed it down.
6. I tied it with a leather cord to look more rugged.

Here's some pictures of Katniss's braid from the film, I tried my best.
I've had several people comment telling me that I the Katniss braid is a Dutch braid, or inside-out braid, rather than a French braid. They are correct. However, like I said above, I'm not a hair stylist, I can barely French braid. This is just my attempt at the Katniss braid, using the French braid, and it is easy enough for anyone to try on themselves. L
 

 Happy Hunger Games!

52 Week Challenge: #9 DIY Dreamcatcher

I've been wanting to make a dreamcatcher for some time now. I just think they are so lovely and 70's-esque and what they symbolize is also very cool. But the knotting and threading part always seemed so complicated. Then, I came across this awesome tutorial over at Lune Vintage, which uses a vintage crocheted doily for the center. How cute! I was so excited to make my very own because I had remembered seeing tons of vintage doilies at a thrift store near my house. But of course, when I actually have a use for them, I couldn't seem to find them anywhere. So, I'm keeping my eye out for pretty vintage doilies when I'm out and about. But until I find the perfect one, I just bought some from Joann's. Here's my take on the doily Dreamcatcher.

Here's what you need. 

Most of the materials are pretty self-explainable. I put the tea bag in there because I didn't like the look of the starch white doily, so I died it with a some hot water and a tea bag and I let it air dry. I thought it gave it more of a vintage look.

At first, I wrapped a thin strip of this faux leather I had, but the fabric began to fray, I wasn't happy with that. So I wrapped some multi-colored yarn around the hoop using a really simple macrame knotting technique that I learned over at Lune's tutorial. It looked complicated at first, but then I looked at her video tutorial, and some other online resources and I got the hang of it!

Place the doily in the center of the hoop, and tie four corners using a bow. Then stretch the rest of the doily using bows. I did this so I could adjust the tension evenly. Then I doubled-knotted each tie, and left the tails long.

I used matching embroidery thread to sew on beads and shells. And used leather cord to create feather tassels. I tied some corresponding wool yarn to create extra fringe. This project is great because you can really use whatever you want to make yours unique. I made one for my sister and she loved it! Happy Crafting!

Sponsor Calico Skies in April

March is coming to an end, I cant believe how fast it went! I'm happy to open up sponsorship for the month of April. Currently, I'm offering free button swapping, and I'd LOVE to add you to the list of lovely ladies on the right. Along with that I'll include you in a group sponsor post highlighting your blog or store, and give you the option to guest post. And guess what? Last month Calico Skies had a total of 18,109 page views! Just saying'.

Email me for more info at laurenteresa86@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you!

Collection: Tacky T-Shirts

I guess you could say that I have a little thing for tacky, men's outdoors t-shirts. I love anything with moose, deer, bears and especially wolves. I started stealing them from my boyfriend, and now I search for them specifically. They're not very pretty or "feminine", but paired with leggings, boots and a cardigan, I'm set! These are some of my favorites. The unicorn is a new edition :)

Here's how I rocked the wolf.

Finally!

I finally joined the rest of the blogosphere, and I started a Twitter and Facebook account for Calico Skies! Why did I wait so long?

Well, at first I was only silently blogging, so I didn't think that social media outlets were really that necessary. But, now I've met so many new awesome and talented blogger friends! I'm loving how through blogging, I can share what I love, and connect with other people who have similar interests. So, I figured why not jump on the bandwagon, and provide other ways to follow Calico Skies. Before, you could follow me by email, or with Bloglovin, and if your a google user, GFC. But now...

you can follow Calico Skies on Twitter here

or

you can like Calico Skies on Facebook here

It feels good to finally come out of the dark ages. All I need now is to dump my Blackberry and join the iPhone and instagram race. One thing at a time, baby steps.

Thrifting

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Mine was nice. Saw some friends, did some crafting, watched the season finale of Walking Dead, and hung out with the boy. I had some time to stop by a thrift store near me. It's pretty cool, you can find some pretty awesome stuff on a good day. It has a kind of mildewy smell, and I've encountered some pretty nasty spiders in some dusty boxes. But it has soul. It was my lucky day because I walked away with a few gems. Not with exactly what I went in there looking for, but that rarely happens.

Loved these matching "whiskey" glasses, and this little needpoint was precious, and I'll ad this dish to my countless containers for jewelry :)

Came across a bag of this vintage lace ribbon for 5 bucks! I love the mustard ric-rac. Now I'll have to find a use for them!

And I was so happy to find this needlepoint package. The yarn the pattern came with is so 70's. Definitely going to be starting tis project.

Some more sheets to add to my growing collection!