For Valentine’s week, I did an all-red mani featuring five shades from Holo Taco, starting with my darkest shade, “Devil’s Advocate,” on the thumbnail, followed by “Crimson Void,” “Sacrificial Lacquer,” “Red Licorice,” and “Favourite Sister.”
At Once Upon a Valentine in St. Charles, MO:
Over the weekend, we went to “Once Upon a Valentine,” the newest micro-festival in St. Charles, MO, for the second year. We had a great time collecting valentines and finding the new characters, including the Dating Game Show Host and the “Harlequin Hunk”:
Plus all of our favorites from last year who we were hoping to see again:
I really love this excuse to head west to beautiful and historic St. Charles and do something fun in this otherwise bland time of year!
Now that it’s February, I figured it was time for a pink and red mani inspired by Valentine’s Day. From thumb to pinky, I used Holo Taco “Pink Fizz,” “Favourite Sister,” “Blush Money,” “Red Licorice,” and “Life in Plastic,” with just a splash of “Red Flake Taco” and “Silver Flake Taco” on two nails.
This week’s Mani Monday is inspired by the classic Valentine’s Day colors of pink and red. I used Holo Taco’s “Crimson Void” on my thumbnail, followed by “Pink Fizz” on the next three nails, and ended with “Sacrificial Lacquer” (a limited release magnetic shade that didn’t make it into their first magnetic collection). I also added a coat of “Red Flake Taco” over the pink on my ring finger, and I really love it…I can’t wait to pair it with other colors!
This is a very exciting weekend, because it’s the inaugural weekend of the “Once Upon a Valentine” micro event on Historic Main Street in St. Charles, MO. I absolutely love these character events (Christmas Traditions is one of my most-anticipated activities of the year, and Legends and Lanterns has become a family favorite, too), so we were there when it kicked off yesterday at noon. If you’re interested, it’s running from 12-3 today, too!
Here’s a brief rundown of how the event is set up. Like Legends and Lanterns, the characters have specific locations, so you know exactly who you’re looking for and where. There were 10 different stops, and in keeping with the theme of “Stories for the Loved & Loveless,” they were split into pro-Valentine’s Day and anti-Valentine’s Day stations…can you guess who of the following belongs to each group?
We saw my favorite characters of the event first thing…the Six Wives of Henry VIII. The actresses all know their characters really well, and the costumes are outstanding. I even got to join in their protest! Sadly, we missed out on their piñata party…yes they have a heart piñata to demolish at 1 and 2!
There were two familiar faces from Legends and Lanterns…the Queen of Hearts, who also has an outstanding costume, not to mention a candy “kiss”ing booth:
And Miss Havisham, who is still lamenting her ruined wedding, but does offer you the opportunity to burn your frustrations with art therapy.
We also met Casanova and Femme Fatale, who have wooing tips to share, plus valentine making:
I was amused by the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Gangsters…nothing suspicious going on there. You can even get your mugshot taken!
I’m pretty sure you can’t have a Valentine’s Day event without those star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, but you might not expect them to have a Plinko-style game featuring rewritten Shakespearian love sonnets!
The French Tango Trio are a classic love triangle, with the whimsical addition of dueling with baguettes:
And Cupid, another Valentine’s Day staple, even shares his arrows so you can see how true your aim is!
There are two singing groups…The Lonely Hearts Club:
And The Conversation Hearts:
Historic Main Street is decorated nicely for the event…I especially like the decorated hearts that are themed to the characters…Romeo and Juliet’s is my favorite!
And the International Heart Photo Op is really pretty!
The character events always have something to collect…this time, the goal is to collect valentines with vintage photos of St. Charles on the front and Valentine’s Day history facts on the back (did you know that the future president Theodore Roosevelt’s wife and mother died hours apart on Valentine’s Day 1884?!?). The photos are really cool, and we learned a lot from reading the facts (and in keeping with tradition, managed to collect only 10 out of the 11 cards available!)!
I was really happy that we ran into Ryan Cooper, the genius behind all of these events. He is a true gift to the city of St. Charles and the greater St. Louis area!
I hope this is an event that sticks around…I really enjoyed having an excuse to visit St. Charles at this time of year, and as always, we had a really good time! And even I have some ideas for other characters they could add in the future, so there’s definitely room for the event to become even bigger!
Valentine’s Day is almost here! Or, if you’re German, Valentinstag. From what I understand, it’s pretty 50/50 whether or not you celebrate this holiday in Germany, but even if it’s not a popular holiday there, I still wanted to use my red Everyday Dirndl from Rare Dirndl as the basis of a themed outfit! I added a bright pink apron, plus flowers and hearts to celebrate the day:
Here’s a closer look at my accessories, including both a heart edelweiss necklace and an edelweiss wrap bracelet turned necklace with a red cord. I also added a touch of retro with my pink and red stack of Splendette Duchess Bangles and an Erstwilder brooch:
I love a good twirl!
When I was younger, I always thought you couldn’t wear pink and red together, but in retrospect, I have no idea why, because I really like the combination!
You can’t have Valentine’s Day without flowers, so I added my red floral crown:
I love a bright and cheerful outfit, especially in the middle of winter!
Happy (almost) Valentine’s Day!
We’ve made it past the halfway point of February!
Ladybug graphed parallel and perpendicular lines as well as inequalities in algebra 2. She learned about solubility in chemistry, and did an experiment with various temperatures of water and table salt to discover how temperature effects solubility. In creative writing, she wrote a poem about an object. The trial began in To Kill a Mockingbird. She read about Krum, Khan of the Bulgarians, who was known as “The New Sennacherib,” in history.
Chickadee added and subtracted mixed numbers in math. We started reading The Journey Begins, the first of the Kaya books in the American Girl series…we’re hoping to read through all of the historical characters’ stories. She started a chapter on reptiles in science, beginning with snakes. She learned how to properly write direct and indirect quotations in sentences in grammar. In history, she learned about Siddhartha Gautama, and how Buddhism came to be.
We also did a simple but fun craft for Valentine’s Day. I had some wooden hearts left over from Christmas, so Chickadee and Ladybug painted them in shades of white, pink, and red…I really like how Ladybug made hers look like candy melts!
Just one more full week of February to go!
Today started with Conversation Hearts and flowers:
I made bolognese sauce to go with my new favorite bucatini noodles for dinner:
And Ladybug and I tried a new brownie recipe that used avocado oil for dessert:
I don’t know which was the most delicious part of the day!