NHL Playoffs, Round two!

Well, round one is over! I may have missed the total amount of games it would take in some series, but I still got all of the teams that would advance correct. So, round one is in the books; lets go to ROUND TWO MY GOODNESS!!!

Minnesota Wild vs. Chicago Blackhawks: This series is going to be tough. The Wild took the St. Louis Blues down without a lot of struggle, as Dev Dubnyk is still on fire. This series won't be easy for the Wild, though. Chicago is battle hardened, and I think this series will be extremely physical and high scoring. Wild in 7(?)

Anaheim Ducks vs. Calgary Flames: I wish this series were the only one in the West, because I like both of these teams a lot more than I like Chicago/Minnesota. I'm going with the Ducks. Seems like the only thing that will hinder the Ducks is their goaltending. But, if Calgary wins, I won't be upset! Ducks in 6.

Montreal Canadians vs. Tampa Bay Lightning: The Lightning really made me wonder during their series against Detroit...Detroit should have wrapped that series up after game 5. Oh well. The Habs are a force to be reckoned with, and with Price still playing lights-out in goal, their defense and offense will reign supreme over the Bolts. The Bolts still have their suspect goaltending, and I think this series will be short and sweet. Habs in 5.

New York Rangers vs. Washington Capitals: Coach Trotz has seen the second round three times now, but alas, he will continue to only dream about the third. Washington struggled with the Islanders when they shouldn't have, and they don't have as much firepower as they have had in previous years. Even if they did, they have a terrible matchup against the Rangers. The Rangers are still hungry for the Cup, and I think King Henrik shall rule this series with an iron fist! Rangers in 6.

My Updated Bracket

Ashley's Updated Bracket

Click on these links to see my analyses and predictions from other rounds:
Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | An Ode to the Champions

All About Yuki

Hello! You may or may not have seen pictures or videos of our new kitten, Yuki. This is everything you need to know about our new ball of fuzz. Also, watch this video for some intense cuteness.

Name: Yuki. Pronounced Yoo-KEE

Birth Date: February 12, 2015. She was adopted by us on April 9, 2015. Supposedly, she was 6 weeks old when we adopted her, but the calendar dates don't line up. Plus the vet said she looked younger. Who knows.

Current Size: The same size as a women's 8 1/2 shoe. Small enough to fit inside pockets.
















Cat Breed: Domestic Short Hair, Gray Tabby

(Fully Grown) Size: Small

Name Origin: We have both really been into watching the TV show "Once Upon a Time." Our favorite character's name is Regina. Regina is no name fit for a cat, so we decided against that name. Our second favorite character is Snow White, but we didn't want our kitten to be confused by being named snow and not being white. Nathan happened to know that 'Yuki' means 'Snow' in Japanese. So now, she's not confused by her name, only by her nationality.

Nicknames: Yucky, Poopsy, Mrs. Grumpy Whiskers

Favorite Color: Purple

Current Hobbies: Sleeping, Climbing, Playing, Biting, Ambushing Koba, Cuddling

Here's the video, if you missed it!

Brown Paper Packages #8

BUSY BUSY BUSY! Its that time of year where winter has faded and all of the fun stuff starts happening! 

Cherry Blossom Festival - We got to celebrate Melanie's Birthday at the Cherry Blossom Festival (click here to learn more). It was a REALLY nice day and good company, which made for this lovely picture. 

After we left the festival, we went to the Cheesecake Factory. There, we had our very own body guard. Seriously, he stood there exactly like that for a minute straight.... It was weird, so I snuck a picture.

5K - This is our 3rd year to do the Russellville Book it 4 your Library race as a family. This year, we all just walked.

But we still ALL got medals. BOO YA, slower walkers and non-participants!!!!! Not Pictured: Nathan, 20-29 Male Bronze Winner.

Something Blue Bridal Shower - It was great, even though it stormed pretty bad that day. My aunt Melissa is awesome, by the way! Click here to read a full blog post about it.

Predators vs. Black Hawks Game 5 - Our readers may or may not know that the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs are currently happening. If you've ever spoken a word to Nathan, you probably know! Click here to read Nathan's analyses of all of the first round matchups. Anyway, my parents, Nathan, and I decided to go to game 5 of the round 1 for the Preds. To be quite honest, I was not really looking forward to it.... please continue reading...

THE GAME WAS AWESOME! Probably the most fun game I've ever been to! Here are the highlights (in order).

1. The game was sold out, so it was a great and very spirited atmosphere.
2. The intermission entertainment was Phil Vassar. Usually on the intermission entertainment, you just really don't know what you're going to get.... But since he's famous, he was pretty darn good!
3. We got a free frosty! Whenever the Predators score 4 or more goals, every spectator with a ticket from the night gets a free frosty! **cue the scene from Christmas with the Kranks...."Free Frosty! Free Frosty! Free Frosty" **
4.There were several fights. I'm not talking about the players, I'm talking about the fans. In one, some girl even pulled out a knife... It was crazy!!! Nobody is saying fighting is a good thing, but it definitely was a highlight. In fact, its almost sickening of some people's response to this (preds) fan having a weapon surrounded by emotional fans, half of which are drunk. Her actions were celebrated by some simply because of a sports rivalry. This is one of the main reasons that I don't particularly like sports. People get WAY to emotionally invested into something that is LITERALLY just a game... and win or lose, there is no reason why anyone should get hurt or their safety be threatened. This happened about 10 seats away from us, in our row, so we saw the whole thing go down. I'm not going to go on and on about this, because these BPP posts are supposed to be positive. Leave a comment below about your opinions about this.
5. There was a fight on the ice. Its always kind of fun to see them fight down there, you have to admit it.
6. One of the players had a hat trick. This means that he scores 3 goals in one game. Nathan said he has been coming to hockey games for 12 years, and this is the first one he has seen! Whenever the players 3rd goal is scored, all of the fans throw their caps down onto the ice. It was pretty cool! If I had been wearing a hat, I would not have thrown it down....those can get expensive!
7. We won!! Yay! We're still in the playoffs.
8. Nathan has a Predators Twitter account where he tweets only about preds stuff. We have been managing it trying to grow it into a well-known account. Well, last night he broke several personal records:

• 91 Retweets
• 161 Favorites
• 136 Mentions or Replies to unique Tweets
• 42 New Followers

For anyone who doesn't know about twitter, these are AWESOME stats. I know its just twitter, but I am so proud of him! Its the small things, right?!

It was a great night.

Something Blue

Sunday was Lauren and Blake's Bridal Shower at our home church, Oak Grove Baptist. This shower was inspired by a bridal shower I attended several years ago, for my good friend Whitney. They had a theme off of the classic wedding tradition, "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue."

Once the theme was chosen, we started planning out the details, and I began referring the shower to the "Something Blue" shower (because who really wants to say all of that every time you talk about it...?)

Something Old: Pictures from Lauren and Blake's courtship. We wanted to display photos of the happy couple in a unique and inexpensive way. We strung jute back and forth between some a lattice panels, and then used clothes pins to hang the photos.

Something New: Gifts from Guests. This one was the easiest to plan because its pretty obvious.

Something Borrowed: Recipes from Guests. Each guest provided 1 or 2 favorite recipes to give to Lauren and Blake for their future meals. Additionally, at this area we had photos from my grandparents wedding, my parents wedding, and my wedding. This added a bit more interest to this area, plus who doesn't love a good wedding photo?...

Something Blue: Blue-inspired Food. This picture doesn't do the food justice, honestly. First of all, it looked AMAZING, and it tasted phenomenal! My aunt, Melissa, had a friend who does catering on the side, and she was great about working with our blue food idea! We had little salads with raisins and almonds, chicken salad croissants topped with olives, baby ham and biscuits, chocolate covered strawberries (drizzled with blue icing), blueberry cookies, cupcakes with blue sprinkles, blue mints, and nuts. I'll add some photos at the end of this post of some close-ups of the food.

Other Interesting Party Ideas:

"Game of Life" Bridal Shower

Survivor Lingerie Shower

Photos from the Party:

Lauren and all of the "Shower Planners." We made a great team!

 THANK YOU everyone who attended! 

#LamFam15

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Blue Bottle Project

These are the step-by-step instructions of how to make old bottles look new. There are a lot of projects out there for re-using wine bottles. We don't drink wine, but Nathan does like to drink Perrier water, which is pretty much like a mini wine bottle! The projects I found on pinterest were all very nice, but I couldn't find the exact thing I wanted to do, so I made up my own. 

First, what can be the most annoying part. Removing those pesky labels. I have found that some labels on glass containers come off pretty easily after you put them in the dishwasher (spaghetti sauce jars). These little demon bottles gave me much more difficulty. The first two, took me an hour and a half to remove. I used a swiss army knife, hot water, and goo-gone. I would not recommend this method, unless you are just trying to waste your Saturday morning. After these first 2 bottles, I took a month and a half hiatus from the project.

After doing a lot of research on how to remove the labels quickly, I found a method that I thought might work. Plus I had the ingredient that I needed. 

The Easiest Way to Remove Glass Bottle Labels

1. Fill the kitchen sink with hot water. The hotter the better.

2. Sprinkle some baking soda into the sink.

3. Put the glass containers into the water. I filled my bottles up with water so that they would sink. The labels need to be submerged. 

4. Let them sit fir 30 minutes or more.

5. Simply pull off the labels. Now, all labels are different, so your glass containers might not be as easy, but my labels LITERALLY just slid right off. Some were even floating on top of the water! This was so much easier than scraping with my swiss army knife!!

These are the labels without the labels. These naked bottles look pretty nice, and could be used for decor or for DYI projects!

Although the green is nice, I needed blue bottles, for Lauren's "Something Blue" Bridal Shower. So, I grabbed some old spray paint, and started painting. I am planning on using other types of paint in future projects, but spray paint seemed to work pretty well. There was a little drippage, but overall, the spray paint was great for this project.

After the bottles were officially blue and dry, I bought some jute to finish the project.

Using the jute and a hot glue gun, I created 10 different designs.

The total cost of this project was $3.17! I re-used the old bottles. I already had the baking soda, spray paint, and hot glue! Even having to buy these supplies, anyone could complete this project for less than $10 if you use old bottles!

What do you think of this DIY project? I'm planning on completing more projects using these perrier bottles. Stay tuned!

Related Posts:

Silver Bottle Project

Stanley Cup Playoffs?!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! ...not Christmas, I mean the NHL Playoffs! Time for a new champion to be crowd...or a new chump to be hated on. 16 Teams have qualified, and I'm going to give you my personal analysis of every series.

St. Louis Blues vs. Minnesota Wild: I'm not very good at writing good things about my teams (more on that later...) so I figured I might as well start off with some teams that I hate! Oh, Minnesota...it's not your fault...it's Ryan Suter's fault. I never want to see that scum win the Stanley Cup, but they happen to be playing my most hated team in all of the sports world. So, Go Wild! The Wild have been riding an INSANELY hot goalie in Devan Dubnyk, and have enough superstar talent to hoist Lord Stanley's hardware this year...even though I hope that they only beat STL. I think this will be a very close series, and may end up seeing a winner via a game 7 OT winner. And St. Louis...I hate you. More than I hate UK basketball. And that's saying a lot. I hope that your team is moved and collapses financially, you jerks. Minnesota in 7.

Nashville Predators vs. Chicago Blackhawks: This one is pretty simple...Nashville has played TERRIBLE after February. Was it the Franson/Santorelli trade? Did they peak too soon? Should they have kept Kevin Klein? Answer to all: YES. Nashville has been such a disappointment. You were the best team in the league for months! WHAT HAPPENED?! They make me sick. They could have gotten out of this terrible matchup by winning just a few more games but now they are going to go down like some punks. They are going in on a 6 game losing streak...they're doomed. Plus, the Blackhawk's lineup is healthy(er) and Patrick Kane is back. This one is easy: Blackhawks in 4. SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

Anaheim Ducks vs. Winnipeg Jets: I haven't watched a lot of the Jets, but they have been hot recently. Trading Evander Kane must have been a great decision for many reasons. If Big Buff can stay away from another stupid suspension, they could take this series. However, man, the Ducks have some big names! Perry, Getzlaf, Fowler, Kesler...I like this team (I don't, actually, but I like the way they play hockey). Hard decision, but I'm going to go with Ducks in 6(?)

Calgary Flames vs. Vancouver Canucks: Calgary has been hot as fire as of late (see what I did there?) and I don't think they will slow down, especially with Johnny hockey and Jonas Hiller. The Flames have made a seemly impossible run into a playoff spot while riding a hot goalie, and that always tends to lead to a deep playoff run. And then, there's the CaSucks...I hate this team. The Sedin Sisters (HA!) are getting old, Kesler is playing for the Ducks, and Ryan Miller doesn't have it in him to win a Cup, unfortunately for him. So, I think Flames in 6.

Montreal Canadiens vs. Ottawa Senators: I like the Habs. P.K. Subban is a beast, as well as a hot head, but I like that about him. Carey Price has been playing out of his mind this season, and Les Habitants have enough scoring power to at least make it past round one...and hey, they don't have to give up every bit of energy this year to beat the Bruins! The Sens have played well coming into the playoffs, but it won't be enough to even out a terrible matchup. Canadiens in 5.

Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Detroit Red Wings: Tampa Bay has spent the last few years building a team around Steven Stamkos, and now the Stammer Hammer looks to make an appearance in round two! I hate the Lightning, but just like the Wild, I like the team that they play even less. Detroit has an uncanny ability to take a roster with the average age of 75 and still make it to the playoffs, but this year, the bones will start to creak a little too much. Tampa Bay in 6!!

New York Rangers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins: Hey, Pitt...have you been watching Nashville play too much? What happened to you, O Mighty Scoring Machine? The Penguins have won about as much as Nashville has since the trade deadline...less than 40%. LESS. THAN. 40%. Near 35%. Unbelievable. Fleury has somehow managed to stop a couple of pucks for what seems like the first time in years, so good for him, but they are TERRIBLE. If Nashville and Pittsburgh played each other, it would almost be like two good teams playing each other! Except that they aren't, and they're not. The Rangers seem to be on a warpath since their defeat in the Stanley Cup Finals last year, and I'm picking them to win the Cup...I guess. I hate to pick them, but they are better than the Blues. Rangers in 4. SWEEEEEEEEEEEP!

Washington Capitals vs. New York Islanders: I can appreciate Jaroslav Halak now that he's not a Blue Note, and he's a great goalie. He also has a defense and offense around him to complement him. Tavares is a scoring machine! However, so is Ovi. The best scorer in the league will be out and about during this matchup; he looks to (finally) make it to the Cup Finals. And I love Coach Trotz. And don't worry, Coach! Your system lives on in Nashville! The Preds have suddenly remembered what you taught them in how to lose in the playoffs! But now that Trotz has a much better team around him (like, one with some actual OFFENSE) he may get to coach more hockey into April. Tough decision, but I'm going with Capitals in 7.

So, there is my analysis of Round One! Nashville is a disgrace and I feel sick to my stomach even thinking about them, but as long as the Blues go down eventually, I don't care! If you disagree with any of my analyses, please feel free to leave a comment below. Ashley and I have filled out our brackets, and they look like this. As Paul McCann would say, Goodnight, and Good Hockey!

My Bracket

Ashley's Bracket

Click on these links to see my analyses and predictions from other rounds:
Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | An Ode to the Champions

Cherry Blossom Festival

This weekend, for Melanie's birthday weekend, we all met up at Nashville's Public Square to attend the Cherry Blossom Festival. This year was the 7th annual Cherry Blossom Festival. Each year the city plants 100 new Cherry Blossom trees and celebrates spring and Japanese culture with this festival.

"The Candyman." This dude was street performer who made sugar sculpture and did other Japanese culture "tricks." Nathan and Kevin were chosen to participate in parts of his act. Both were thrilled, of course.

Taiko Performance. The Taiko are large Japanese drums and other percussion instruments used to create high-energy rhythms. I really enjoyed this musical performance!

Kamakura-Nashville Partner City Band. Picture this: Elderly Japanese people dressed in cowboy hats and stirrups, singing country music. It was unique to say the least, and quite entertaining! They were great! Sadly, I did not get a picture of this.

Arts, Culture, and Marketplace. Vendors were set up all over the square giving information about Japanese culture. There were many tents where you could buy Japanese arts and crafts. It was neat! There were bonsai trees, origami, Japaneese jewelry and clothing, etc. The only thing I looked for and couldn't find was a tent where someone writes your name in Japanese. They also had a whole section called "Taste of Japan" with tons of Japanese food vendors. 

Nashville DoJo Isshinryu Karate. I honestly think this may have been an advertisement to get people to sign up for karate, but they put on little exhibition shows, which I thought were awesome!

Throughout the day, there were other events that were happening. We decided to go have lunch, so we didn't get to experience some of these neat events. Some include: other music and dance performances, Japanese culture lectures, and Sumo Wrestling (people dressed in sumo costumes, not actual Sumo wrestlers). We barely missed the Cherry Blossom Walk, which happened at 9:00 through downtown Nashville. 

It was a really fun experience, and we all had a really fun time experiencing Japanese culture and celebrating Melanie's birthday! Happy Birthday, Melanie!