Mod Mischief

Saturday night, we invited our friends over to watch Six String Samurai . This movie has pretty much everything you could possibly want in a film: Buddy Holly, Slash, cannibals, post-apocalyptic wastelands, martial arts, soviet soldiers, rock and roll... We set up the living room as a theater and somehow managed to cram in seats for 17! We covered the walls with sheets and put all the movie props we could scrounge up from around the house out on display. We made up a drinking game to go along with the movie and Chris built a wheel for people to spin to choose their drinks. It made a delightfully perfect ticking noise when it was given a spin. Everyone got a bag of popcorn and we premixed the drinks and kept them on ice in a cooler so no one needed to go to the kitchen to top up their glass.

Chris at the grill Our friend Charles has a great backyard that usually goes unused, so yesterday we teamed up with him to throw a garden party barbecue. We helped him bring home a grill from the Great Glebe Garage Sale so we could cook homemade burgers, sausage and grilled veggies. watermelon punch It was a great chance to make a watermelon keg ( full instructable ). We wanted something fun for the folks driving home, so instead of the usual vodka, we mixed fruit punch and sprite with the watermelon juice. homemade wine chilling on ice But there was no shortage of alcohol! We brought lots of homemade wine and beer which we served in mason jars. chocolate strawberry jello shots And I made chocolate strawberry jello shots ( full instructable ), always a huge hit at parties. Once it got dark we brought out the projector to screen Jaws . Movies, especially cheesy old movies, just seem more fun outside. citronella candles to keep the b...

Common scenario chez nous: I pile a stack of records on our turntable and then plonk down on the loveseat, only to immediately turn to Chris and say "I think we need a drink" But what to drink? Drinkify has come to our rescue by providing an online tool to instantly match a cocktail to the tunes on the stereo. When the needle drops on the Sheepdogs album, it's time for Southern Comfort, tonic and honey vodka. Seriously, where can I find honey vodka? That sounds fantastic. When Home hits the airwaves, we should break out an entire bottle of organic wine. Johnny Cash calls for Jack Daniels and honey , King Charles takes dark rum, milk and gin , and Metric goes well with straight vodka , but the best I've found so far, is the pairing for Chris' occasional morning dubstep craving: garnished with cocktail onions? 

Last week we threw a party. A party of awesome. Basically, it was an excuse to test out a bunch of ideas for the Ultimate Party Challenge on Instructables , but since neither Chris nor I really did anything for our birthdays we were overdue for some celebrating. Having recently organized the den ( resolution #1 ) we were finally able to open up most of the apartment and throw a real party (as in more than 20 people mingling about). We asked our friends to give us their best or craziest party ideas and this is what we wound up with: Bubbles! While we couldn't pull off a full ballroom, we filled the stairs with bubbles thanks to a bubble machine picked up on clearance at Wal-mart.  Glow-in-the-dark drinks! A little tonic water and some B100 complex vitamins go a long way under the glow of black lights. Full instructable here . Watermelon punch fountain! Unfortunately we left this one to the last minute and it shows, but version 2.0 should be epic.  French onion dip i...

photo by Sampsel Preston Chris and I have both been sick for the past few weeks, so we haven't done much beyond sitting on the couch watching post-apocalyptic movies. Maybe it stems from the zombie movie marathon we hosted on New Year's day, but lately I've had an appetite for movies about the end of the world. On the list of the movies we've watched in the last two weeks: Tank Girl , Mad Max (all 3 - although the second is by far the best), Waterworld , The Road , Cherry 2000 , Hell Comes to Frogtown ,  Cyborg and Cyborg 2 (not nearly as good as the first one despite having Angelina Jolie in it). One thing most of these movies have in common is fantastic fashion. The movie costumes have got me fantasizing about future outfits worthy of Burning Man's Death Guild or a killer post-apocalyptic party. Having recently signed up for pinterest , obviously I started a pin board to save all my favourite inspiration for dieselpunk disaster wear . photo by Shannon Cottr...

  After being gone for a month, Chris and I were eager to see all our friends again and tell them all about our travels. What better way to show them what we saw on the road than to subject them to a slideshow party? With the help of a borrowed projector and gifted screen, we projected the best of the 1065 photos we took on the way to and from Burning Man onto our living room wall. What we ate: Since we were already feeling a little nostalgic about our vacation, we served foods that reminded us of the road trip. squeaky cheese curds in honour of Wisconsin diy ice cream in a jar (we used soy milk to make a vegan & lactose-free option) chips and salsa - a major part of our Burning Man diet Most popular drink: Thanks to Duty Free we currently have a very well stocked bar, so we were happy to serve up some potent mixed drinks for our friends.  Chris and I discovered the awesomeness that is a Black Rock City Pickletini after one of our bikes broke down and we spent an...

Chris and I decided to try out The Exchange the other day. After several hours of shopping, we were in need of some drinks. Chris ordered their ceasar. Yes, that's a piece of meat nestled between the cucumber and jalapeno. I think it was peperoni. Does this mean that meat garnishes are catching on? How long before I can order a McNuggetini from Ottawa's finer establishments? I'm not going to lie, I totally have a huge girl crush on Alie and Georgia . But especially Georgia .

Our Midsummer Night’s Dream Pajama Party was so much fun. We transformed the living room into the site for a magical slumber party and enjoyed spiked watermelon juice well into the early hours of the morning. What we wore: I found a beautiful 1960s nightgown set at Ragtime ; very Betty Draper , even though I only wore the gown since summer has finally hit Ottawa. I started the night with my fairy wings on, but it wasn’t long before they were gracing the backs of other party guests. Chris paired his donkey ears with a swinging smoking jacket we found on our big Value Village spending spree . My roommate Mike rocked a housecoat and a pussy willow circlet he made himself. Our guests joined in on the sleepwear fun in varying degrees of undress. Most popular drink: Am I really going to mention the watermelon keg again? Sorry. It was just that awesome. How we set the stage: Most of the furniture was moved upstairs in order to clear the way for the queen-sized futon that dominated the livi...

After our successful trial run , the hardest part of putting together the watermelon keg for our Midsummer Night’s Dream PJ Party was finding a big enough melon downtown. We eventually found this beauty at Hartman’s. The stand was created by placing an Ikea bowl on top of an inverted casserole dish. It was a perfect fit! Brad, our very own Vanna White

My little melon is making the rounds. That's my hand pouring delicious spiked watermelon juice on Apartment Therapy’s green page, Re-nest . This is probably the closest I’ll ever come to having my apartment featured on AT .

In my inbox today: Hi! Your Instructable " Tap a Watermelon! or How to Make a Watermelon Keg " was just featured by one of our editors! Look for it on the Instructables homepage within the next 30 minutes. Being featured means we think you are awesome. Keep up the great work! http://www.instructables.com/ Yup, there it is. My little watermelon keg is on the front page.

Behold the wonder that is the watermelon keg! After seeing this , I knew I needed to try it for my next party. This Sunday was the perfect summer day to do a test run before our Midsummer Night's Dream Pajama Party. Andrea was kind enough to escort me to Home Depot where I picked up the following essential pieces: -Hose Bibb, Quarter Turn (that's the tap) -Faucet Lock Nuts (those black circles) -Brass Pipe Nipple 1/2" (the piece with threads on both ends) -Coupling 1/2" (what looks like a hex nut) For the trial run we found an adorable baby seedless watermelon at the grocery store that was the perfect size for 2. We cut the top off like you would with a pumpkin. We scooped out all the delicious watermelon inside. Chris used a drill bit to start a hole where the tap would go. He cut the hole to size with a paring knife. The perfect fit for the coupling. We connected the hardware. All the watermelon guts went into the blender. We then strained the juice and added a gene...

To celebrate my new roommate’s 27 th birthday, and me becoming his 27 th roommate, we hosted a Hooswarming party on Friday. Good times were had by all, but unfortunately most of the photographic evidence is not suitable for the interwebs (and it’s taking all my willpower not to post some). Most popular drink: Do jello shots count as drinks even if they’re not liquid? Coming in a close second was anything drunk out of gummy bear shot glasses (really made from gummy bears!) . Last minute surprisingly cool decoration: Bar display thrown together from random stuff kicking around the apartment. What does it say about me if I can instantly produce mirrored tiles, glowing stir sticks and black lights?

I'm still reeling from my fabulously 50s Christmas cocktail party on Saturday. I'm currently fantasizing about all things swanky and cool. Most popular drink: Polar Bear Martini with an After Eight straw Bonus feature: Didn't stain my sofa and guests walked away with minty fresh breath Soundtrack for the night: Classics from Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra Don't forget Eartha Kitt ! Must-have decoration: Vintage aluminum Christmas tree The real deal is a little pricey so I made ours out of a bamboo pole, some wood dowels and lots of silver garland.