Ball So Hard Baltimore

Two weeks ago I went to visit Tim, one of my ultimate bestest of best friends, in Baltimore, Maryland. Ever since becoming friends with Tim my freshman year at La Salle, Baltimore has become almost like a second home for me. I love going to O's games, no matter how much we suck, and taking over B-more with Tim. This most recent visit was our "christmas" visit where we exchanged christmas gifts...

One thing you have to understand about Tim and I is that 1) we love everything baltimore 2) we are straight up Gangstas and 3) we ball so hard. If you are unaware of Ball So Hard University, take a quick peak at this video of Terrell Suggs, Baltimore Ravens linebacker, introducing himself on during a Ravens football game. One day I will be best friends with Terrell "Sizzle" Suggs because lets be real, I love ridiculous people and I also "ball so hard." That being said it was an obvious choice for Tim to buy me my very own Ball So Hard University Hoodie! 

After exchanging gifts we went shopping because I was in dire need of a new pair of kicks. My last pair of kicks were great! They were pretty fresh to death, until I brought them to Africa, China and Guatemala...they soon lost their luster. Though they served me well for the past 3 years it was time to get some fresh kicks in my closet once again. Tim is one of my only friends who truly understands and shares my obsession with kicks so it was only right for him to help me find my new pair. We searched high and low and I finally came across these bad boys...

It was truly love at first sight! Fresh blue and black kicks, does it get any better!? I don't think so. After falling in love with my new kicks Tim and I bounced around the mall finding ridiculous attire such as these two lovely hats to try on...

Saturday night was another fun night in Baltimore filled with drinking, dancing, and ballin' so hard. Sunday was both fun and sad. We went to one of my favorite bars, Pickles, to watch the Ravens play the Patriots in the playoffs. Everyone was decked out in Ravens gear, I had some deep fried pickles, and the Ravens were playing pretty well.

Unfortunately, the Ravens lost in the final seconds of the game with a missed field goal attempt. You could feel the high energy immediately die down after the kick went wide. It wasn't the best way to end such a great weekend with my friends in Baltimore, but I suppose there is always next year? Later that night the NY Giants beat San Francisco 49ers, clinching their spot in the Superbowl and forcing the rest of the world to watch a repeat of the 2008 Giants-Patriots Superbowl. 

Anyone else NOT excited for the repeat of the 2008 Superbowl? At least there should be good commercials!

The end is not near, its HERE!

The one and only Buckley's Tavern has officially closed it's doors. I don't think it has quite hit me that I will never work another shift let alone even visit the restaurant again. As any job does, Buckley's had its ups and downs, its good and bad co-workers and of course the most crazy amazing unforgettable memories and friendships. Saturday through Monday was a giant shitshow-celebration-fest and here are some of my favorite memories with the Buckley's crew...

 

 Yeahhhh it got crayyyy on Saturday night!

The girls! 

 

Penis glasses, enough said

Tav Squad! My two favorite people to work with <3 <3

Things just got crazy! Love the buckley's crew!

It may not hit me for a couple weeks that Buckley's is no more but at least I can always look back at all the amazing memories and friendships from the last 5 years. ❤

The Bright Light Social Hour

Last Friday, Kevin and I went to see The Bright Light Social Hour play at North Star Bar in Philadelphia. I had only listened to their music briefly before the show and figured it would be a decent first concert of 2012. Well my friends, I was blown away by The Bright Light Social Hour's performance friday night! From start to finish The Bright Light Social Hour rocked out to the fullest and got everyone full-on dancing.

Some of my favorite songs of the night include Bare Hands Bare Feet, Back & Forth, and Young Man Blues (a Mose Allison cover), though truly enjoyed dancing to all their songs.

I wish they could have played all night but venues have curfews and I had to work the next morning. After the show I was lucky enough to chat briefly with keyboardist/keytarist A.J. Vincent and guitarist Curtis Roush, congratulating them on their amazing performance and talking about their hopeful return to Philadelphia in the summer. I highly suggest taking a quick listen to The Bright Light Social Hour, you certainly won't regret it!

*All photos via TheSwollenFox

DIY Wine Cork Coasters

Whether it's Christmas, a Birthday or any other gift-giving situation/holiday in between I usually try to give at least one hand-made gift. I feel like it's more personalized than buying someone a random shirt that is going to go out of style or movie that will get buried away under the couch. Plus I love crafts! =)

A couple weeks before Christmas I stumbled upon a DIY cork coaster project and I immediately realized it would be the perfect gift for mi Madre! Mi Madre is basically a wine connoisseur. I knew this gift would be a great addition to her wine collection and even if it turned out bad she's my mom so she has to like it. 

Step 1: Drink lots of wine and collect tons of corks! 

If you have a short period of time to do this gift like me and don't want to kill your liver you can buy corks online here. Luckily I have connections to bartenders at a local restaurant and had them collect the corks for two weeks straight (I didn't want to take my mom's collection of corks on the off chance she noticed them missing and discovered my awesome present). 

Step 2: Get your supplies:

-Lots of corks! - Each of my coasters were in a 3-4-5-4-3 shape = 19 corks per coaster. 

-Hot glue gun

-Rubber-bands to help keep the corks together while the glue is drying

-Ribbon to wrap around each coaster

Step 3: Start Gluing! 

Like I said earlier my coasters were in a 3-4-5-4-3 shape, meaning a row of 3 corks followed by a row of 4 corks, and so on. I glued each row separate before gluing all the rows together to form a circle.

Step 4: Wrap It Up! 

Now that you have your coaster in a circle, use a rubber-band to hold it all together while the glue dries. 

Step 5: Ribbon time

Of course I was putting this present together on Christmas Eve (no surprise there) and didn't want to risk the glue not drying/holding properly so I left the rubber-band underneath the ribbon. But if you have let the glue fully dry and the coaster seems sturdy you probably don't need the rubber-band. 

Measure out your choice of ribbon and use the hot glue gun again to attach the ribbon to each cork. 

Step 6: Enjoy! 
Now that you have attached the ribbon to all of your coasters you are ready to go! Enjoy for yourself or give to a friend.

If you love wine and want to do something interesting with your collection of corks there are a plethora of projects you can do such as these epic masterpieces or these simple, yet fun projects. It all depends on how intense you want to get, either way get a little crazy and have fun with it! If I do this again I think I'm going to go with bright colored ribbon just to add some funk to each coaster.

<3Kasando

New Year's Weekend Shenanigans

This weekend was the best end and start of a year: Reuniting with old friends, dancing the night away with Kevin, eating lots of good food, and enjoying lazy days off from work! Goodbye 2011, hello 2012 fun =)

My friend Nolet was visiting from San Diego for the holidays so we all went out to our favorite happy hour spot Finnigans Wake on Friday night. It was so great to hang out with my favorite snuggly bear one last time in 2011.

I'm not really sure what Kevin was trying to do in this photo...

New Year's Eve was fantastic! Kevin and I cooked our last meal of 2011 (Falafel salad) before heading out to THE dance party of the year!

Since Kevin and I are both officially living in Philadelphia we decided it would make the most sense to actually stay in Philly for New Year's Eve this year. We went to R5 Productions/Making Time's New Year's Eve HyperRager! 

We danced the night away to hipster dj mash ups and enjoyed a glitter explosion at midnight! Quite possibly the best New Year's ever =)

2012 is going to be the best year yet!

New Year, New Blog!

Last year was a great year with many amazing adventures and memories [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] [*] but it was also a very tough transitional period of my life. I learned from all the ups and downs of 2011 and I couldn't be happier to take on the new year.

2012 New Year's Resolutions...

• Run, run and run some more! Last year I realized that I truly enjoyed running and completed my first half marathon. I hope to do another half marathon in addition to the broad street run!
• Read more, bored-internet-roaming less. This may seem kind of hypocritical to say since I'm writing a blog but I have found myself bored, checking and rechecking for a notification or new email when I could be doing more productive things with my time, such as reading! 
• Do more "Do It Yourself" Projects. I love creating things and with the help of pinterest I have become obsessed with trying out any and all DIY projects I come across
• Visit a new country...hopefully Spain with Elizabeth! (crossing my fingers!) 
• Work less, hang out with my friends and family more. So many times over the past couple years I have found myself working multiple jobs to pay for bills and my student loans but now that I have found my big girl job (and my restaurant job is closing) I will finally only have one job! This opens my weekends to enjoy the company of the people I love the most =)
• Eat better, eat fresh. I have removed all meat and poultry from my diet for over a year now but every now and then when things get hectic I forget to stick to balanced diet. This year I am going to attempt to cook more, eat fresh-local-organic, and hopefully enjoy more balanced meals. 
• Keep moving forward. I have grown so much in the last year, I hope 2012 brings just as much growth and improvement! 

<3 Kasando

 
Photo via*