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    oscar party / best picture themed menu

    hosting an oscar party? we decided to come up with a very festive menu to serve — best picture nominee themed dishes!

    oscar party themed dishes | almost makes perfect

    THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING : the theory of everything bagel crackers
    THE IMITATION GAME : the imitation crab dip (you can use real crab, but for the first time ever, say it’s imitation) (alt : crab ragoon, crab salad, california rolls)
    AMERICAN SNIPER : american sliders
    WHIPLASH : whiplashed sweet potatoes
    BIRDMAN : buffalo birdwings (alt : you could also just pick up KFC)
    THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL : courtesan au chocolat (alt: just buy some french pastries)
    SELMA : i have a dreamsicles
    BOYHOOD : boyhoodsen berry spritzers (sub the blackberry for boysenberry) (alt : boysenberry crumble)

    + ps. don’t forget to download the printable ballots!

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    almost makes mixtape ⋅ vday makeout mix 2015

    i’m pretty excited that we have a long weekend + valentines day in one. gid and i are making plans for going out during the daytime, and then as i said — we’re going to stay in and cook ourselves dinner. so i made a mix for us to listen to. but also for you.

    btw… track #1 was our processional song at the wedding (so now i can’t listen to it without getting super sappy)

    valentines makeout mix 2015 | almost makes perfect


    HEART BALLOONS VIA

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    5 last minute valentines gift ideas for your guy

    when i realized yesterday that valentines was on saturday and it was tuesday and i hadn’t gotten gid anything yet – i decided it wasn’t too late. so i wanted to share my five go-to ideas that work every time if you still need a little help.

    5 last minute v-day gift ideas for him

    01. when in doubt, give him a book. and get him a pretty coffee table book so it doubles as a gift for you.
    02. most guys will not get designer grooming products for themselves. this is your job.
    03. seriously though. i do not know a guy that doesn’t want more socks.
    04. also, all the guys i know love candy + chocolate. um duh.
    05. lastly, dudes seem to love brown liquor. why, i have no idea.

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    printable oscar ballots

    printable 87th oscar ballots | almost makes perfect

    it’s almost time for the oscars, you guys! i’m actually more excited than usual, because this year — I SAW LIKE MOST OF THE MOVIES. that’s right, i totally did. i can’t tell you how.

    SEE:
    the grand budapest hotel, birdman, nightcrawler + guardians of the galaxy

    DON’T SEE:
    inherent vice (snooze), foxcatcher (snooooze), american sniper (ok, kinda meh)

    I STILL WANT TO SEE:
    whiplash (SO BADLY), selma, the theory of everything (although i’ve heard VERY mixed things)

    I STILL DON’T WANT TO SEE:
    imitation game (meh), instellar (like no not whatsoever, unless you liked it?)

    ok so maybe i didn’t see that many, but it felt like i saw a bunch more than usual.

    printable 87th oscar ballot | almost makes perfectprintable oscar ballot | almost makes perfect

    also – remember last year when i said i was the best all the time in the oscar pool? well that same last year, gideon demolished everyone. he got ONE WRONG. ONE WRONG!

    oh and last also – don’t judge me on my movie stubs. i see a lot of comedies and a lot of horror movies in the theatre. and yes, i saw stepford wives in the theatre for some reason. but i’ve been collecting my movie stubs since i was a teenager and it’s really fun to look at them every once in a while and remember how i saw the royal tenenbaums — alone, 6 times, at the same theatre. (it was when i first moved to LA at 16 and i didn’t have friends or a car yet, ok?!)

    printable 87th oscars ballots | almost makes perfect

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    the new blogzilla studio (+ win a free theme!)

    blogzilla studio | almost makes perfect

    after a LOT of hard work and time spent — we have given blogzilla studio a HUGE facelift. you can now buy themes directly through our website and we’ve hopefully made it much cleaner and more streamlined process for our customers. we now have a ton more info + answers on the site for customers with questions! AND – we have a dope new logo by jay adores – which we are stoked on. go check it out!

    blogzilla studio | almost makes perfectblogzilla studio | almost makes perfectblogzilla studio | almost makes perfect

    we’re also launch a brand new theme today, because we’re totally in “new” mood. and now for the fun part — to celebrate the launch of the brand new blogzilla studio, i’m giving away a free theme of your choice! all you have to do is check out the site and comment here with the theme you love most.

    blogzilla studio giveaway | almost makes perfectRead More

  • heading to tahoe

    off to tahoe

    even though i used to ski all the time when i was a kid on the east coast, i haven’t been in waaay over a decade. but today i’m heading to tahoe on my husbands company trip. we’re getting a snowboard lesson but i’m mostly going to be drinking cocoa and hopefully enjoying snow for the first time in years. if i never blog again, i totally died.

    you might be wondering what this amazing vintage snowsuit is? it’s my failed attempt at finding an outfit for the weekend. i bought it and paid for expedited shipping to get here, but it is HUGE on me. so if you’re interested in buying it, please buy it from me. PLEASE. it’s a size small and if you’re interested, email me and i can give you more size + price details.

    anyway, hope you have a great weekend! check out some links i like this week :

    + a really insightful article about copying + crediting
    + also, i love love love these beaded coasters
    + beautiful printable abstract gift wrap for your next gift
    + a pretty pattern to pretty up your desktop
    + perfect inexpensive valentines day gift idea
    + six hacks for homemade french fries
    + i kinda feel like i need a dozen of these
    i’ve watched all of these — just wish they’d do them with more celebs i like (SJP + daniel radcliffe are my faves)

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    how we spend valentines day

    #loveuo

    when gid and i first started dating, we would get dressed up and go out to dinner, like most people do – on valentines day. but then we decided we were never doing that again. those crazy expensive prefixes and the huge crowds of people is just not our thing. so we made a new tradition a few years ago that we’d stay in and cook ourselves a fancy dinner in our pajamas. this year we decided on mussels. they’re so easy to make and they’re also really hard to screw up. want the recipe? ok i’ll post that too!

    our valentines date night

    urban outfitters asked us to show how we celebrate our love on valentines day, and i was so excited because i love UO as you guys know from years of wish lists. they have a pretty dope curated gift guide for valentines day this year, whether it be romantic records or gifts for him or gifts for you (you can just send it to your guy and let him choose)

    i was also excited to have the excuse to clean up and show you a lot more of our apartment than you’ve ever seen.

    valentines date night #loveuoour valentines date nightvalentines day night #loveuoour valentines date nightvday date night in #loveuovday date night in | #loveuo

    in case you and your valentine aren’t big on cooking — our other favorite valentines day date to avoid the crowds at restaurants… the early bird specials. no seriously. we went to a fancy restaurant one year at 5pm and not only was the prefixe menu like 50% cheaper, but we had the place to ourselves and every waiter was there for us, along with our own live music. (sadly, the restaurant was red o and they don’t seem to be doing early bird specials anymore)

    valentines day night #loveuovalentines day night #loveuovday date night #loveuovday date night in #loveuovalentines day night | #loveuo

    SHOP THE POST


    PHOTOS BY LILY GLASS
    THIS POST IS IN SPONSORSHIP WITH URBAN OUTFITTERS. ALL OPINIONS ARE 100% MY OWN.

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    diy marble valentines chocolate box makeover

    diy marble valentines chocolate boxes | almost makes perfect

    it seems like forever ago that we were seeing bill cosby perform on valentines day, last year. ick. so much can change in a year. but my love of marble still hasn’t! here’s a super easy way to makeover cheap chocolate boxes from the drugstore, along with an item you can also buy at the drugstore, contact paper!

    diy marble chocolate boxes | almost makes perfectmarble valentines chocolate boxes | almost makes perfect

    so basically, you wrap contact paper onto your chocolate box! it’s a little tricky around the sharp edges and rounded curves, and it really doesn’t look that amazing once you open it — but it’s valentines day so it’s the thought that counts. also, they won’t notice because it’s filled with chocolate.

    to do the edges of the box, i just layered little pieces on top of each other. the sides i use long skinny pieces and the top i just laid a big piece on top. then trim. then give.

    marble valentines chocolate boxes  | almost makes perfectdiy marble valentines chocolate boxes | almost makes perfect

  • favorite not too mushy valentines day cards

    cute + not too mushy valentines cards | almost makes perfect

    it’s almost that time of year when you express your love in a big way on the day they tell us to. i am big into valentines cards when they’re not too girly or cheesy — so here are some of my favorites.

    01 / 02 / 03 / 04 / 05 / 06 / 07

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    riviera maya, mexico

    the viceroy riviera maya

    after we left tulum — and i have to be honest, i was crying as we drove away from our new honeymoon friends and our hotel, we headed past playa del carmen to the viceroy riviera maya for the last couple days of our trip.

    i originally wanted to stay in tulum the whole trip, but we got a really great deal and decided the last leg of our trip would be for complete R&R since we were going going going in tulum. it was SUCH a different experience than tulum, the resort is insanely gorgeous – and they make you feel like royalty. no joke, they have “butlers” that do whatever you want. it’s pretty cray.

    Processed with VSCOcam with a1 presetthe viceroy | rainy day

    all the rooms come with their own private patios and pools – we got to our amazing room and it started raining. remember how i said it didn’t rain once in tulum? so we just relaxed and ordered room service and rented DVDs from the lobby. until it kept raining and we got a few leaks in our roof, so they moved us into a new [bigger!] room.

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