Lovely Llorys Turns 90!

Gotcha! The internet isn't even that old! But the namesake of my blog, Llorys, my grandmother, turned 90 about two weeks ago. If you haven't read my about me, my middle name is Llorys after my grandma, as is my mother's, so that's where I got the idea for my blog name. I still like it after a year, which is about how old Lovely Llorys the blog is, but enough about that, here's my grandma!

Llorys was born on March 21st, 1923 in Minnesota. I looked up the year 1923 to see what was going on. Time Magazine debuted, Yankee Stadium opened its doors for the first time, the Hollywood sign was inaugurated in California (it said Hollywoodland back then), Disney was founded, and the first refrigerator was sold in Sweden.

My grandma lived through some major changes. She recalls WW2 and dealing with ration coupons. She considered herself an old maid when she was married at 24 (I'm 24!). She has no interest in getting a cell phone or computer. Just to impress/motivate you, she still drives, lives alone in the house my mom and siblings grew up in, and has no major health issues.

For her 90th birthday, my mom and aunts had contacted some people to card-bomb her. Not only did friends, family, and extended friends send her cards, but she received something from the Detroit Tigers, Barack Obama, our state senator Carl Levin, Mickey Mouse, and the "special tribute" shown above from the state of Michigan. How cool!

My grandma is a very cool lady. She has a monkey collection and also collects Woody (from Toy Story) things. She has a very good sense of humor and is still "with it." She even knows who Justin Bieber is, and made me feel silly for asking if she did. I'm very lucky to still have her in my life!

Here's to 90 more years!

The Best Soirees Have Photobooths

 These photos are from the photobooth we helped create at our friend Gaby's birthday party, the theme of which was bowties and sequins. I've been wanting to share them for so long and she fiiiiiinally uploaded them to facebook, so here are some of my favorites! Above is the group shot, of course.

I love this last one. Where are they going? Beyond the streamers? Or are they just hiding from the camera? It's so artsy.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed these and maybe gained some inspiration for your next party! I love it when people take the time to set up something like this! It creates some silly memories! Happy Thursday. We're almost to the weekend!!!

Photo an Hour / My 24th Birthday!

9am: Enjoying a cup of coffee to start my 24th birthday off right!

10am: Andrew made me Nutella-stuffed French Toast!!! It was soooo yummy!

11am: Andrew gave me a Kate Spade watch that he knew I wanted because of Pinterest! So excited! Then the tweet made it even better!!

 

Noon: We stopped by the Eastown Street Fair. I wanted the black cat named skunk. Gaby and I had cute outfits on, and the weather was so beautiful, so two pictures were necessary here!

1pm: We just barely made it to the Team Trivia tournament. No one on our team could go, so Gaby joined! The questions were ridiculously hard.

2pm: Half time at the Team Trivia tournament. Probably the easiest question we had.

3pm: Finally leaving the tournament. Gaby asks us questions we might actually have a shot at knowing.

4pm: Nap time!

5pm: Checking facebook for happy birthday messages!

6pm: Cleaned up the house for guests/preparing to go out for dinner!

7pm: High-fiving the mural before dinner.

8pm: Our soft-core veggie pizza from Brick Road Pizza! Yummy.

9pm: Pretty accurate group shot post-dinner with Andrew, me, Gaby, Erika, and Ryan.

I had such a nice birthday! Andrew did a really great job of making it all about me. So it was perfect! It's not pictured, but we have some serious ice cream cake from Coldstone leftover as well. So so delicious! Hope you're having a great weekend!

Birthday Boy

It's a few days late, but happy birthday Andrew! My wonderful boyfriend is now 28! He's getting so old! Last Sunday I surprised him by bringing together some of our favorite people at one of our favorite places - during happy hour, of course! 

 Kathryn brought the treats - what a great friend!

Gaby, Ryan, Erika, Drew, Kathryn, me, and Andrew!

I haven't gotten him a gift yet; we have so many things on our wishlist that we are waiting until we move to decide what are the highest priorities. My goal was just to make his birthday really special, and I think he had a lovely time!

My birthday is coming up - two weeks from today. We'll see what he plans for me!

I'll leave you with a song I've had on repeat this week for whatever reason. Happy Saturday evening!

Now You're On the Trolley!

last night we went to our friend annamarie's amazing birthday party! she rented a space in an old building in grand rapids called the herkimer hotel. the theme was 20s/30s, and although i have almost purchased a fringy dress in the past, i had to make do with my wardrobe. i think the headband pulled it together although it definitely made it difficult to think, so tight! there were so many great outfits last night, i was really impressed! anyway, everyone contributed to the bar, so there were some fun drinks to try (mint julep like the kentucky derby!!) and classic tunes from the decades. there was also a photobooth! i love love those! wouldn't it be great if this was a real bar? and if we lived in the 1920s? ever seen midnight in paris? man, that would be an amazing time to live in.
the below photos are of the bar area. it just looked so fantastic! annamarie is a visionary, she throws such great events.

the next photos are behind-the-scenes photobooth fun! the birthday girl, annamarie is the one in the great long peach dress.

a huge thanks to my wonderful boyfriend, andrew, for taking the amazing photos of me! i don't have more of him because i don't have steady enough hands and i wasn't feelin' the flash look. i did take most of the other photos that i am not in though!

what decade do you like to celebrate? i'm thinking of expanding my wardrobe to be ready for all these themed events! it's so fun to dress up!