Thorne... minus the E.

Did anyone know it's hot in North Carolina in June? And muggy?? Holy moly. I thought I could handle the heat. 90 and humid is just plain awful though!!! Despite the weather, we had so much fun last weekend in North Carolina for the Thorne Family Reunion.

We attended a funeral when we arrived for Stefan's grandmother, Maggie. She passed away just before the reunion, and it was perfect that so many family members and friends could be there to celebrate her life. I loved hearing all the stories about Grandma Maggie because I heard Stefan in so many of those stories. She made sure her kids were well-disciplined and showed respect. Discipline and respect might as well be Stefan's middle names. Her demeanor, love for her family and love for life were truly wonderful to hear about. It made me see so many of Stefan's traits in his dad and now, his grandmother. Simply beautiful.

The family reunion was really fun--- meeting so many Thorne's from all across the country. I thought I had a huge family.... this one is pretty big too. I love learning about genealogy and the Thorne's are uncovering so many different family lines all over the place! We even got more information about the Thorne vs. Thorn differences.... 

This is what we already knew: When Stefan's dad was born, they misspelled his name on his birth certificate. He was supposed to be "Setler Thorne, Jr." However, his birth certificate reads "Sellas Thorn Jr." They completely messed up the first name, and dropped the "e" on the last name. We were known throughout the reunion as the Thorne's without an E. Everyone knew us.

This was new to us: During one of the meetings, another family member was talking about genealogy and she said that in her research, they found that the original name was spelled T-H-O-R-N (no E!) and over time, the "E" was added!!! There's also another line of Thorn(e)'s out there that added an "S" at the end.... Thorns. Very interesting. But we all felt good hearing that the Northwest/Southwest Thorn's have the correct spelling of the last name. :) You know how I am with misspelled words!

Thorne, Thorns, Thorn.... we're all the same family, and I definitely felt that throughout the weekend. We had so much fun and can't wait to see everyone again!

Wannabe Blogger

A couple weeks ago, my friend Dawn and I went to an Arizona Crafters Night Out at Sweet Cakes Cafe in Mesa. It's a fun event for a bunch of crafty bloggers/business owners in Arizona. Before you start laughing that I was at a CRAFTING event because I'm not very crafty, I want you to know that I sponsored the event for my Stella & Dot business. BUT.... because I was a sponsor, I was lucky enough to be able to buy a ticket in advance! (They sell out like hotcakes!) But, since I didn't want to go and just sit there as the only non-crafter, and non-business blogger, and have people wonder what business I was doing there, I got my friend Dawn a ticket too. You see, we're both blog stalkers. 

We got to the event and felt like we were among celebrities. Blogging celebrities. We follow all of these blogs, and then when you meet the people who are behind the keyboard, you kinda feel a little weird introducing yourself. It's almost like you have a post-it note on your forehead saying "I'm the one that got your site views up to 56,000 last month." Two good things here: 1) I didn't introduce myself and say that, and 2) they didn't know how much of a blog stalker I really am. 

See, I can be crafty.

We made these cute cupcake toppers, thanks to Kim at the TomKat Studio. Yes, she was there. Second time I've been in her presence. She's famous to me, okay? 

We had so much fun, and towards the end of the event, Dawn and I had a blogging epiphany. More to come on that at a later date.... :)


And since I don't have a "real" camera yet... these photos were all stolen from Dawn & Jessica from Sierra Studios Photography.  

Long weekend in Seattle

We had a whirlwind trip to Seattle a couple weeks ago... started out with a graduation party for my nephew, Zak who graduated from my alma mater, Curtis High School on Friday... The weather couldn't have been more perfect to have an afternoon BBQ!! Stefan made some delicious ribs, we had my mom's famous potato salad, ham dip, a fruit pizza, fruit salad, corn and cake. My brother and his wife put together a picture collage of different pictures of Zak-- I remember when he was born and can't believe how quickly time flies!!

The graduation was, to be honest, just like any other CHS graduation. Mr. Cowan, my biology teacher back in the day retired after 30-something years teaching. Other than that, it was pretty much the same. :) After graduation, Stefan and I met up with some friends at none other than the Ale House. 


Saturday we celebrated our friend Breanne and her husband Danny's wedding at the Tacoma Country and Golf Club in Lakewood. The wedding was absolutely beautiful!! Perfect amount of people, beautiful setting and decor, great food, and such a fun reception! (Stefan even did the dougie). It was great to see some old friends and pick up like there was no time in between the last time we saw each other. We had so much fun creating some fun little words with the scrabble pieces at the tables :) Even though we were exhausted after the wedding, we met up with some friends at E9 for a little karaoke. No, not me.... we watched/listened, and when they kicked someone out, we figured it was our time to leave, too. Gotta love Tacoma.

On Sunday, I had brunch with my good friend Jordan in Seattle before heading to a trunk show in Wallingford with an old friend from intermediate school/junior high/high school! It was great seeing AJ, her sister, mom and meeting some of her friends! 


We ended the trip with a wonderful dinner at Shenanigans. I simply cannot get enough seafood when I'm back home. Definitely one of the things I miss most about the PNW! Until next time!!

pizza.

I have a confession to make. 

I'm obsessed with pizza. 

It's my favorite food by far, and if I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, I'm pretty sure pizza would be the thing I would pick. Cherries would be a close second. Followed by crab legs. But pizza would definitely be my first choice.


I've realized over the past few months that I could be am a pizza connoisseur. Seriously. Whenever we go to a new restaurant and I don't know what to get, I always go for the pizza. I'm not sure if I'm just waiting to find my new favorite, or if I'm just terrible at venturing outside of my comfort zone. I love pizza. 


This isn't going to be a very exciting post, rather, it will probably just point out how crazy and obsessed I am, and what a dull and boring life I lead. I can't believe I'm devoting an entire post to pizza. Anyway--- here goes...


What I like:

• Thin crust (but not too thin where it tastes like a cracker)
• A blend of cheeses (plain old mozzarella is too boring, unless it's fresh mozzarella on a margherita pizza)
• Pineapple
• A good sauce makes a perfect pizza
• Cooked in a brick or wood fired oven

What I don't like:

• Thick crust (I don't want to wait an hour for my pizza to cook)
• Weird toppings (and no, pineapple is not weird)
• Too much grease on the top (probably why I don't usually opt for meat toppings)
• Crust (yes, I leave the crust on the plate like a little kid)

My favorite restaurant pizzas (in no particular order, because I realize that I don't have just one favorite):

• Grimaldis (cheese only)
• Oreganos (pineapple + cheese)
• Howards (a family favorite in Montana-- my family would probably disown me if I didn't include this one)
• NYPD 

When Stefan and I went to New York a couple years ago, we went to the original Grimaldi's under the Brooklyn Bridge. We waited for about 45 minutes outside (in December), and it was DEFINITELY worth the wait. New York definitely has the best pizza. 

I actually waited for 3 hours once for a pizza. Pizzeria Bianco in downtown Phoenix is apparently pretty famous. Not famous enough to wait 3 hours though. It was good, but not that good. 

The frequency of my pizza consumption will probably catch up to me my belly some day because I eat it several times a month. I had a quattro formaggio pizza from Piatti in the U-Village on Sunday with Jordan, and then tonight we had a Naked Pizza, which is a new franchise concept that just opened in Arizona. It was good for being a "healthy" pizza. 

At least once a week Stefan and I have a conversation that goes something like this:

Julie: What do you wanna do for dinner?

Stefan: I don't know, what do you feel like?

Julie: You probably don't want what I want.

Stefan: No, we're not having pizza again.

What's YOUR favorite pizza or food obsession??

A little catching up!

I can't believe it's already JUNE!!!!!!! Here's a little bit of what we've been up to:

We finished the office. FINALLY. After issues with the furniture, Stefan's dislike at first for the color on the walls, and finally getting the chairs. It's pretty much done. Now we just have to put a few more things on the walls to try and distract Stefan from the color.

I've been VERY busy with Stella & Dot (which I LOVE!) I've been doing so many little events here and there, combined with trunk shows galore! I'm having SO much fun and couldn't have asked for a better gig! I promoted to Senior Stylist in April and am hoping to promote to Star Stylist in the next couple months!

Lindsey and Bryce visited us in March... we watched the Huskies win two games in the Pac-10 tournament (WSU and U of A), went to a spring training game and enjoyed spending time with our good friends from WA!

Stefan's mom spent her 65th birthday with us the following weekend in March and we had so much fun shopping, wine tasting and exploring new places. We ate at this FABULOUS place called Cafe Monarch. It's one of those places where the owner is the chef, who is also the waiter, and also the dishwasher. It's a tiny little place in Old Town Scottsdale, no set menu, just whatever he feels like serving that day. I told him to surprise me, and just not to include any melons in my lunch because I'm allergic. The food was AMAZING!!!! And the restaurant is BYOB... so fun! We will definitely be going back again!!

Stefan got a new grill. Ever since we've been co-habitating, I think this is his 6th grill? I don't keep track any more, but I can't complain when the food is so delicious. :)

I went to Seattle the first weekend in April for some trunk shows and to visit family. I had so much fun seeing old friends and eating fabulous food. Lots and lots of seafood. Nothing like it. As my dad was going through some old boxes in their house, we found a giant box full of old notes from when I was in junior high and high school. Talk about hilarious! I found so many funny notes from my friends, I was able to share some of them at one of the trunk shows that weekend and we couldn't stop laughing. The things that were important to us back then: boys, who liked who, when we were going to get our FILM developed from the prior weekend, who was going with who to upcoming dances, and who was mad at who. SO funny.

We've got a busy summer ahead of us... hopefully this will make the hot months go by quickly and we won't even notice the 115 degree weather! Here's what the rest of the summer entails:

• Seattle next weekend for a wedding and graduation
• North Carolina for the Thorne family reunion towards the end of June
• San Francisco the first part of July for the annual Stella & Dot convention
• Montana in July to see my nieces's baby and a Stella & Dot trunk show at my cousin's boutique
• Colorado the last weekend in July for my nephew's wedding!
• Possible trip to Vegas in August
• Vegas the last weekend in September for a mini-family reunion and a wedding

Bring on the frequent flyer miles!!!

Weekend with the Horners

What a fun time we had with my sister and brother-in-law this past weekend!! It was such a short weekend and went by WAY too fast. In just a few words, here's what our weekend consisted of.....

Bottle of Crown.

Bottle of Vodka.

BBQ.

Breakfast casserole.

27 holes of golf for the boys.

5 hours at the spa for the girls.

Shopping.

Pool time.

Sunshine.

Relaxation.

The Keg.

Good food, good times, good company.

30 before 30...

I'm turning 30 next year.

30.

3-0.

Thirty.

Dang.

While I continue to try and deny that I'm no longer in my mid-twenties and soon will exit my twenties all together, I decided to come up with a list of 30 things I'd like to do before the big three-oh. When I hear the words, "bucket list" I think of myself as a gray-haired woman jumping out of an airplane. If 30 is freaking me out, I sure don't wanna imagine myself with gray hair. So this is not a bucket list. Got it? 

Moving on. Here's my list, in no particular order:

1. Sew myself an item of clothing
2. Start a new blog
3. Swim with dolphins
4. Buy a pair of Louboutins
5. Go on a cruise
6. Plan a fundraising event
7. Go zip-lining
8. Go sailing
9. Join a women's networking group
10. Spend an entire day doing absolutely nothing but watching movies
11. Face my fear of ladybugs
12. Visit the Grand Canyon
13. Go on a hot air balloon ride
14. Be my own boss
15. Sleep outside under the stars
16. Meditate regularly
17. Eliminate red meat in my diet
18. Own a digital SLR camera and learn how to use it
19. Go wine tasting at a vineyard
20. Become a Director with Stella & Dot
21. Get into a regular fitness routine (yoga, ballet aerobics, etc.)
22. Learn how to get my hair to look like this
23. Make more crafty things for our house... like this
24. Make wine
25. Complete another 30 day Bikram Yoga challenge
26. Host a fancy dinner party
27. Make a decision about having children (note how that one is worded)
28. Buy a new house with a bigger yard
29. Try a float spa
30. Learn how to cook like my husband a few decent meals

Other things that didn't quite make the cut.... not because I didn't want them to make the list, but because I wanted to at least make the list realistic. We're running low on time here, remember? Maybe for the 40 before 40 list. I can't believe I just said that.

1. Go on a Safari in Africa
2. Visit NYC in the spring
3. See the Northern Lights
4. Build a custom closet (or have one built)
5. Refinish an old piece of furniture