Last August High 5!

Thank goodness we finally made it to Friday! I thought today would never come. This week was a roller coaster with many ups and downs, BUT I made it out alive and even managed to make some good memories!

1.  Milo likes to play with the leftover scraps from the pattern paper (I pretend he is helping me). Isn't he precious?!
2. Breakfast of Champions! Can't beat a little left over birthday cake to start your day off right.
3. I'm so ready for fall and two of these little guys will be the perfect addition to our fall decor!
4. It's official! We are heading to Disney at the end of September! Can't wait to partake in all the fall festivities like Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! 
5. Went to the Redskins preseason game on Wednesday with these lovely girls. Notice how it looks like we are on the field? Because we ARE! We got field passes from work!

What were some of your highlights from the week?

Linking up with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk and Life Rearranged.

What to Wear - Labor Day Inspired Dress

I have been wanting this cute dress I've seen on Pinterest for quite some time, but every time I go to the site, the dress is sold out or the site doesn't work! How frustrating!

I started looking at it closer and decided I could just make it instead! I made it exactly the same as this one, except shorter! Easy enough right?

 

Let's hope this doesn't happen!

First, I had to get the materials. I found a cute blue and white stripped tank top at Old Navy for only $4! This made cutting it in half justifiable. Then I went to Joann Fabrics and got 2 yards of red fabric for $8. This dress ended up costing me $12. You really can't beat that!

I'm going to wear it this weekend, so you will get to see it in action then. In the mean time, here are some shots of it in progress!

In other news, I made a new pin cushion! The dinky little pin cushion that came in a kit I got was just not cutting it anymore. It required two hands to get pins and if you sew, you can only imagine how frustrating that is! Isn't that the point of a pin cushion? A little place to store your pins that you can easily access while sewing.

So, my mom showed me a handy dandy and EASY way to make a new pin cushion! She even had some Ariel fabric for me to use! (I know, isn't she the best?! She knows me all too well)

Here is what you will need:

Just ball up the cotton and stuff into the silicone cupcake holder. Then drape the fabric square over the cotton and use a hot glue gun to glue the fabric to the cupcake holder and VOILA!

Training Tuesday - Week 9

So there is good and bad news to report on my Marathon training. The bad news is: I only did 1 of 2 maintenance runs. I have no excuse, just pure laziness. The good news: I survived my 9 miles! It was the longest run I've tackled since the half marathon in February, so I was happy to finish still standing. Here is the breakdown of the two runs.

Last Tuesday we went to my parent's for dinner, but I was determined to not let eating supersede running. We were meeting them around 6:30 so by the time I got home from work and changed, I didn't have time to run at home. I decided to change into my workout clothes so there would be no excuses to not run at my parent's. Since dinner wasn't going to be ready until 7:30, I had just enough time to get a 30 min run in on their treadmill. Let me just say, their treadmill is HARD! I felt like I was sprinting uphill the whole time! Here is what I did:

Sorry for the blurry picture!

Since my sister-in-law came in on Thursday evening, I skipped that run and waited until Saturday for my next run. The Jeff Galloway program had me scheduled for 9 miles so I was determined to get it done! As you probably read in yesterday's post, I survived! My friend and I met up at the Manassas Battlefield at 7:30AM to run. 1:45 min later, we were done! I never felt so good! Here are some pictures of the beautiful scenery.

 Ran past this sign. Not sure if that was a good or bad idea!

 Just a wide open space right in the middle of the battlefield: Glorious!

 Ran across some emergency vehicles. A lot of runners run this trail on Saturday mornings, I hope everything was ok.

The stone house just 1.5 miles before the end!

Last but not least, here are our stats for our run. All in all I'm pretty happy with them. Not only did I run a very unique and hilly terrain, but I ran it at a faster pace than my half marathon! 

 On the schedule for this week are two maintenance runs and a 4 mile long run on Saturday. It's good to have an easy week after a 9 mile run. After all, it only gets longer and longer from here!

Good luck this week on your fitness goals! If I can do it, then I know for sure so can you!

YOLO Monday - A Weekend in Pictures

Another weekend has come and gone, but boy was it a good one! Why so good you ask? Well, it happened to be the perfect mix of relaxation and downtime combined with fun activities! Hard to put into words, so I'm just going to share some pictures of the highlights.

Friday started off with my sister-in-law visiting from Richmond. We had a great time catching up, shopping and I even made her a maternity maxi dress like the one here for her birthday! I didn't get a picture of it, but I'll have her send me one once she wears it.

I finally buckled down and got curtains for the windows at the front of our house and I think it truly completes that room. I couldn't be happier with them! Your thoughts?!

Saturday was quite a busy day, I woke up and met my friend for a 9 mile run at 7:30AM! (Yes folks, I chose to do this) For those of you who know me, know what a sacrifice that was seeing as I am NOT a morning person! I will get into more details on the run itself tomorrow, but here are some pictures of the terrain. (glad I didn't break anything!)

After the run, we went to see the Redskins play the Colts at the first preseason game at home. It was a rainy afternoon, but we were lucky enough to have seats inside. Here I am getting pumped for the game! (sorry if you already saw this on my Facebook page, but it's too funny not to share)

Sunday was nice to just get up and lounge around the house in the morning, before heading into work for a few hours. We finished the day with dinner at my parent's. All in all, quite an enjoyable weekend! How was yours?!

Don't forget to link up your YOLO Monday post with Molly @ still being [Molly]!

High 5 For Friday!

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I feel like it should only be Wednesday and somehow its Friday (trust me, I am NOT complaining)!

I've had a great week and am looking forward to an even better weekend! I'm linking up with Lauren over at From My Grey Desk for High 5 for Friday!


Here are my top five favorite things from the week:

1. The best part of my week was getting notified that I got paired for the Big Blogger/Little Blogger program! My Big is Kailyn from Wandering Free! I can't wait to work with her and get awesome advice to take my blog to the next level!
2. I am trying to make an effort to make the food dishes I pin on Pinterest. I found this recipe for enchiladas and it turned out great!
3. When I came home from work, I took off my belt and within a few minutes Milo had found a new use for it. :)
4. I love making pancakes on Sundays. It seems to help face the reality that Monday is just around the corner
5. On Saturday we will be going to the Redskins Preseason game in my company's suite. I love that football season is finally here!

Let me know YOUR weekend plans!

What to Wear Wednesday! - Lilly Edition

In case you didn't already know, my favorite designer is Lilly Pulitzer. My mom introduced me to Lilly at a very young (HUGE mistake according to my husband). She used to wear Lilly back in the 70s and when she rediscovered it at a Bloomingdales in the 90s, my Lilly fate was sealed!

Today seems very fitting to talk about Lilly for a few reasons. One is, they are having an ENORMOUS Summer Sale this week! (I'm talking $50 dresses and $20 shirts....that's dirt cheap y'all!) The second is simply because summer is coming to an end what better way to soak up these last few weeks of freedom before school starts and the cold takes over than by wearing your Lilly while you still can?!

Just to be clear: You will NEVER her of me putting Lilly away (seriously, it's against my fashion code). I am a firm believer that you can wear bright colors no matter what season. Why must we all wear blue, gray and black for the next 6 months? Not me! I won't conform!

I know you're wondering, "How do I wear those fabulous short strapless dresses when it's 50 degrees out?" Well that's easy, pair your favorite summer Lilly with tights and a cardigan! Obviously not every Lilly can be worn all four seasons, but there are definitely plenty that can! When in doubt, check out Lilly's fall line. There are always new prints and dresses coming out to go with the seasons! So express yourself and wear Lilly all year round (if that's what floats your boat)!

Here are some pictures of me in my favorite Lilly :)

Celebrating the first day of summer with our official "Wear your Lilly to Work Day"

Way too excited about a Lilly nightgown I purchased and turned into a tunic dress.

I LOVE this picture of Molly @ still being [Molly] and I when we met up in Chapel Hill :)

A picture of my mom's vintage Lilly!

 

I even found (husband purchased) Lilly on the cruise ship!

 

Lilly at the Atlantis!

 

Even Walt likes Lilly :)

 

My manager took her scrap Lilly and made me bows!

Share your favorite Lilly looks with me. I would LOVE to see them! Or just tell me how you wear your favorite Lilly looks.

Training Tuesdays - Week 8

I had a GREAT training week! As you know, my marathon training plan has me running 3 days a week; two short, maintenance runs and a long run on Saturday. I just completed Week 8 and am pumped to start week 9!

Week 8 recap:
Tuesday: 3.3 miles in 30min
Thursday:3.5 miles in 30 min
Saturday: 4 miles (35:47)

This week, my maintenance runs will be 40 -45 minutes so I can be prepared for my 9 mile run on Saturday! (I know, scary) For this run, I will be running a beautiful outside trail just a few miles away, but what's even better is I will have company! Below is the route we are following:

Here's to hoping I don't embarrass myself and  my partner and I keep a similar pace so we can train together!

To help keep me focused on training, I have also signed up for a few races before the marathon. I will be doing the Heritage Hunt Half Marathon on October 14th and then the Army 10 Miler the next weekend on the 20th. I can't wait to get a decent proof of time that I can submit to Disney for the full. I'm hoping to submit better than the 2:44 half marathon time that is currently on file (that's about a 12:30 mile pace). Normally I wouldn't worry about a proof of time, however, when you're running such a large race like the Disney ones with a bagillion people, it helps to be in the front few corrals. Otherwise, you end up in the last coral and having to bob and weave through everyone. We ended up running an extra half mile because of this!

I have a ton of race bibs and am looking for a crafty way to display them. I have some ideas, but am looking for more. Leave me some inspiration!

Manic Monday

Whew! What a whirlwind of a weekend AND a Manic Monday! This weekend went by wayyy too fast, but Monday is almost over so I'll take that as a good sign.  Work. training and crafting (I have some good posts scheduled) is definitely keeping me busy this week, so that should make the weekend come before I know it!

I am getting very excited for my 2 upcoming Disney trips! (Yes, I said TWO, and no, that was not an accident). As you all know, I am partaking in the Disney Marathon in January, so that will be trip #1. In March, we (in laws, parents and my husband and I ) are all going on a....wait for it....DISNEY CRUISE! (DUH) The husband and I went on a Disney Cruise last October for our anniversary so this will be our second time, and this time it is for a whole week! (we only did 4 nights last year).

Nowt hat you know all that, lets talk about what made today stressful yet exciting! Some of you fans out there already know that Disney is opening an expansion to Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, FL. A big portion of this addition to Fantasyland is due to open Dec 6th. (I am so happy I get to see it all in January when I'm down there!) One of the much anticipated parts of this expansion is the opening of a new restaurant. Not only will it be a full service/sit down restaurant, but it will serve as a counter/quick service dining location during the day. It will be called "Be Our Guest" and is located inside the NEW Beauty and the Beast Castle! (Check out the menu!) There has been a lot of hype with this new restaurant, so of course, I couldn't be left out! 

Be Our Guest is opening to the public on Nov 19th and they started taking reservations on Aug 20th. (Yes, I am aware that is today!). Knowing that I will be down there in January, it would be a travesty if I did not get to dine there during my Marathon trip. My first mistake was not setting a calendar reminder at 7am this morning to call Disney dining, instead I went on my merry way to work. It wasn't until I was checking one of my favorite blogs: Orlando Park News Blog, that I realized today was the day! How could I have forgotten. (It is not until 11am when I  put two and two together). I immediately start calling the number only to find a BUSY SIGNAL. What?! They aren't even going to let me sit on hold for an hour?! That's ok, "I have a BRILLIANT idea", I told myself.

My idea was to call the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) number and book a dining reservation through them. They can't be nearly as busy as the regular line, right?! CORRECT! After only sitting on hold for 15 min, I was able to get a reservation booked for January! I am THRILLED!

Now that you've read how my morning was considered a bit "manic", go ahead and read how other bloggers' Monday's have been! I'm linking up with Molly @ [still being molly] for her YOLO Mondays!

I am trying to create a more structured blogging schedule so you can know what you are getting into when you sop by to get your daily dose of me! (Exciting, I know) :) So here it is:

• YOLO Mondays with Molly @ [still being molly] and Weekend Updates - self explanatory
• Training Tuesdays - Catch up on how my Marathon training runs are going
• What to Wear Wednesdays - See what I'm wearing these days or better yet, what I'm making!
• Tips and Tricks Thursdays - All things Disney :)
• High 5 for Friday (H54F) with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk - My top 5 things from the week!

High Five!

Another summer week has come and gone and Fall is just around the corner! I am already planning outfits with colored jeans and boots! Can't wait!

Here are my top 5 things from this week! Linking up with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk.

1. As mentioned in last Friday's post, a) I was contemplating buying a white lace dress (I DID, from Target!) b) I got tickets to my company's suite for the Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw concert, so here is a picture of both! I met up with my friend, Keri from work and her friend Vicki. It was GREAT (and long, but worth it) day!
2. The materials for my newest sewing project. I want a Chambray shirt like this, but can't seem to find one that fits the way I want, so I'm going to make one! I think it will look super cute with leggings and boots in the fall.
3. I am trying to eat out less and cook at home more, so here is a Pinterest inspired meal: Peperoni Pizza Rolls! They were super easy and super delicious.
4. Dr. L is my absolute favorite Riesling. I am always looking to try other wines, but end up reverting back to ye old faithful. You should give it a try!
5. I'm sure you've already read about me signing up for the Disney Marathon, but it is such an exciting commitment I felt it deserved to be documented twice!

Hope your week was as exciting as mine! Stay tuned for a What to Wear Wednesday post where I will show how I made my Chambray shirt.

I DID IT!

No, this medal isn't mine....YET. But I assure you, it WILL be!!

By now you know that I'm training for a Marathon. (In case you might have successfully missed my many blabberings on the topic, you can read all about them here, here, and here!) There is one major detail that I've continually left out....I'm not registered! OK, I know what you're thinking....MAJOR detail.

I have been procrastinating on signing up. Registering for the half marathon last year was easy. But a FULL marathon? I've got to be out of my mind right? So I decided to take one day at a time and train and see if I was actually serious about this. Every day, I would check the RunDisney site to make sure it isn't sold out (OK you caught me, I was secretly hoping it would sell out).

After my 7 miles on Saturday, I realized I actually WANT to do this (scary right?), so I told myself I would register. I even told the husband it was time to bite the bullet and do it! You have to understand, not only is this a huge commitment physically, but financially as well. The registration went up from $150 to $170! Once I register, I will have to book a flight and buy park tickets since my annual pass will be expired, (we'll talk about why I have an annual pass to Disney World in Florida when I live in Virginia another day). Not to mention I want the husband to be able to be there, supporting me, so now double everything.

Enough excuses! At least hat's what I told myself today as I was driving home from work. You are running 3 miles tonight and have been doing a good job keeping with the training program, just REGISTER! Browsing Facebook as so many of us do throughout the day and into the night, I noticed RunDisney popped on to my mini feed (yes, we're friends). They were debuting the new medal design for the 20th anniversary of the Disney Marathon AND unveiling their new and improved site! To celebrate these two things, they are offering a discount on registration until noon on Wednesday! If this isn't a sign, I don't know what is. I immediately seized the moment and registered at the early bird price for $150.

So there you have it folks, I saw my sign, and am now OFFICIALLY registered for the Disney Marathon in January! "No turning back now!" (Quick, what Magic Kingdom ride is that from?!) Best part is, I might have convinced my friend to come down and do it with me! It just gets better and better. :)


In other news, I did my 30 min training run today. Here's how I did:

Are you training or signed up for any races? Even better, are YOU doing the Disney Marathon?! It's not too late to sign up and start training! Price is $150 until Noon today!

Training Update

It's been a while since I've updated you on my Marathon training.  So here it goes!

I have not been as consistent as I want need to be. I am only running 3 days a week so I don't get burnt out (plus that is all the training plan calls for) or hurt. I have no excuses, 3 days a week is a piece of cake and not that big of a time commitment. I just can't seem to get into it.  That is until last week....

I finally bit the bullet and ran 4 miles on Tuesday. Like I mentioned in a previous post, my Tuesday and Thursday runs are just 30-45 min runs. I used to only do 3 miles but decided that since on the weekends I am now doing more than 5, I should run closer to the 45 min threshold (4ish miles) during the week. I was super excited about starting the week off right and getting my first run under my belt.  I hadn't run in about a week, but I was determined to run 4 miles non-stop.  I did it in 36:45! (Excuse my blurry picture. I wanted a picture of the 4 mile time even though my workout wasn't done). This was exactly the ego boost I needed to stay on track and make sure I got through this week's long run.

I ended up skipping Thursday's run due to pure laziness (I need to get it together!). I wish I could tell you I had a better excuse, but I don't. I just didn't want to run and kept putting it off until it was Friday.

I have promised myself that no matter what happens during the week, I WILL do my Saturday long runs. So I woke up Saturday morning not wanting to run (go figure) and decided it was now or never. The weather was mild and perfect for a run and I knew I would regret being lazy.  I have told myself that any run over 5 miles needs to be done outside so I can get used to running in the varying terrain and elements.

Saturday's long run was scheduled to be 7 miles. I have not run that much since the Disney Princess Half Marathon in February! (Ooops) How was going to make it?! I realized pacing myself was going to be key in getting through.  I know I can run 5 miles without stopping, but I would be totally dead and never make it the remaining 2. So to avoid this, my strategy, even the day of the Marathon is to run .9 and then walk .1 of every mile. During the first 2 miles I had a hard time stopping to walk. I was feeling great and didn't want to mess up my grove! I buckled down and stuck with the plan and made it the entire 7 miles! Huge accomplishment! (I seriously contemplated turning around at 4.5 miles but knew I would deeply regret it if I did.)

My goal for the Marathon is to complete it in 4:45 which translates to 11 min miles. Not a super fast pace, but for my first Marathon I think it's a good goal.  Afterall, during the Disney Princess Half I ended up running 12:30 min miles. So this would be a HUGE improvement: twice the distance and 1.5 min off each mile. I'll take it!!

With all that said, I wanted to complete this run in under 77 min. I was so excited that I finished with a 10:59 min mile average pace, but forgot to stop the clock! (AHHH Rookie mistake!) That's why what you see below shows my mile pace as 11:01 and 77:12 for my time. Oh well, close enough!

This week, I am running my Tuesday AND Thursday run plusSaturday's run is only 4 miles! I've totally got this! I guess I better enjoy it while it lasts, next week is 9 miles for the long run! I guess the good news for adding up the miles this early is I will be more than ready for the Army 10 Miler in October!

Are you training for anything? Leave me a comment below telling me about your training plan!

Liebster Nominations!

I was VERY flattered this morning to wake up to a LEIBSTER AWARD nomintation from the lovely ladies over at Vanilla and Lime! How exciting!

What is a Liebster award you ask? Well I was wondering the same thing! It's a German word meaning: sweet, kind, nice, dear, beloved, lovely, valued and welcome.

Here are the rules for the Liebster:

• Post 11 random facts about yourself.
• Answer 11 questions the tagger has asked you, and give 11 questions to the people you’ve tagged.
• Choose 11 deserving bloggers and tag them in your post.
• Tell them you’ve tagged them.
• No tag backs.

11 Random Facts About Me:

1. I worked in Disney World for a semester in college at Disney's Hollywood Studios. I was a hostess at Hollywood and Vine.
2. I danced for 13 years of my childhood. My favorite is Tap, so much that I even took adult classes these last 2 years! (yes I did the recital and everything!)
3. I drink wayyy too much diet coke. (I can't help it, I love it!)
4. I hate cooking and love going out to eat...if only my wallet liked it as much as I do
5. I despise fruits and vegetables (however, I am getting much better and will eat 6 bites of vegetables if I need to. Yes, like a child)
6. I am obsessed with Lilly Pulitzer!
7. My husband and I got engaged AND married in Disney World!
8. Fall is my FAVORITE time of year
9. I treat my cat, Milo, like he is my child....it's an issue
10. I have more freckles than any human could count (I'm hoping they all blend together one day and will make me super tan!)
11. My dad was in the Navy so I moved around a lot as child, but surprisingly enough, we moved back to VA 3 times!

Here is what Sam and Sarah over at Vanilla Lime asked:

 

1. What's the clumsiest/silliest thing you've ever done?

I worked at a restaurant that had just opened, so you can imagine how crowded it was on the first weekend! The kitchen was backed up and so tables were waiting 30 min or more for their food! One particular table was a nice family of four who looked like they had been waiting for forever! I was not their server, but wanted to help out so I saw their pizza was ready and took it upon myself to run it out to them. Literally just 1 foot from their table, I lost grip of the pizza and down it went!! This poor family was forced to watch their dinner fall to the ground right in fron of their eyes! You should have seen their faces. I felt awful. We of course, got another pizza in the oven as soon as possible and all was well. That was the first time, but defintely not the last time my clumsiness got the better of me when working in the food industry.

2. What's your favourite smell?

I am super weird and like the smell of different types of paper. Money (who doesn't love that smell?!) and fancy brochures to name a few. I'm not going to go any further for fear of coming across strange.

3. Chocolate or Vanilla?

Chocolate! I love anything and everything chocolate.  Don't get me wrong, vanilla is a definite close second. But I realized when I have vanilla, there is chocolate mixed in there somehow. I can't stay away from chocolate!

4. Can you tell us a funny joke? Pretty please. We love jokes.

I am the WORST at jokes. The only way I could tell you a funny joke would be if I cheated and looked one up online. I didn't want to do that and give you a false perception that I am witty and funny. I'm not boring...I'm just one of those people who say/do witty things on accident.

5. Do you like candles as much as we do? What's your favorite candle?

Oh man, do I LOVE candles! I have a stockpile (much like you!) I used to work at Yankee Candle just so I could get a discount on what I spent all my money on in college! If I had to pick one candle that I always go back to, it would have to be Lemon Lavender.  It never gets old to me!

6. Chevron or Polka Dots?

I'm definitely a Polka Dot girl.  Chevron is so hot right now, but polka dots NEVER go out of style.  It's a timeless classic.

7. If you could have a super power what would it be?

I would love to be invisible! Not because I'm shy and don't want people to see me, but because I am so curious nosey to learn about how people are in "real" life.

8. Tea or Coffee?

I am part of the minority that dislikes both! I am a Diet Coke fan through and through.

9. What's your guilty pleasure?

DISNEY! DISNEY! DISNEY! I love going to Disney multiple times a year. My husband and I can't get enough of the parks. We listen to park music from attractions and rides between trips. It's definitely our "happy place".

10. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?

I would love to be able to stay at home and craft, decorate, and clean! I love the sense of accomplishment I get from doing those things. Plus it would mean I would never have to get out of my PJ's!

11. Where would be your dream vacation destination?

I guess I can't say Disney World because I get to go there a lot already. Hmmm I think my dream vacation would be....wait for it.....to visit EVERY Disney Park in the world!!!! (Surprised? Yeah I wasn't either)

And NOW I will tell you the 11 blogs I've nominated for this special award!

Elle Apparel

Runs for Cookies

Mama Laughlin

Laughter, Love, and Necklaces

Still Being [Molly]

The Small Things Blog

From My Grey Desk

How Sweet It Is

Glitter and Gloss

Two Thirty-Five Designs

[Insert Sarcastic Remark Here]

Here are the 11 questions YOU get to answer! Enjoy!

1. What is your favorite board game?
2. What book are you currently reading?
3. Falling asleep at night, do you need absolute dark and silence? Or do you like a little light or the TV on?
4. What is your go-to dinner when you've had a long day?
5. How many pairs of shoes do you own? (this can be a guesstimate)
6. Favorite soda?
7. If you got handed 5 million dollars tomorrow, what would be the first thing you would do with it?
8. Favorite form of exercise?
9.  Where would you build your dream home?
10. Are you a planner? Or a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kinda girl?
11.  What is your favorite sport to watch?

 Now that you know ME a little better, let me get to know YOU!  I look forward to reading your answers!

H54F!

AND it's Friday again! I hope everyone had another great week.  I can't believe we are already a few weeks into August. I was just thinking about buying a super cute white lace dress and then realized how impractical that would be considering Labor Day is less than a month away! Oh well,  I'm ok with saying good bye to summer. Fall is my absolute favorite time of year!

Moving on....here are my top 5 things from this week!

1. Best part of my Monday was when I was sitting in traffic and looked to my right to see this little gem.  I love that a hardcore motorcycle dude and a stuffed Mickey Mouse secured to the back. It's the little things that make me smile. :) (Now I'm trying to plan a Disney trip in the near future)
2. This weekend I'm taking my mom to see Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw in concert! I got the tickets from my work so we get to watch the concert in our company suite!
3. I re-purposed some hooks that I found at Kirklands. They are meant to be hung vertically, but when I saw them, I thought they would make perfect curtain tie backs by hanging them sideways. What do you think?
4. I can't help but share this perfect little picture. How does a sweet little face like this not make you smile? This is my niece, Hadleigh, she is 4 months old.
5. Lastly, on Wednesday we celebrated my dad's birthday! We all went out to a great restaurant in a small town nearby and had a great time! I got a great sound clip of all of us ending the night with a Beetles sing-a-long in the car! (I think it's too incriminating to share) It's so fun to make memories like these even though we are all grown up.

I'm pretty excited about my weekend with Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw. What are YOUR weekend plans?

Link up here!

Couponing Fun with Liz

You've probably seen these cute little angelic faces on here before. Ever wonder who they belong to? Well today you shall find out! I have an older sister, Liz, who is the proud Momma to those little girls. She is your typical modern woman, works full time AND cares for her family. She recently got in to couponing and has really saved a TON of money (we're talking hundreds of dollars here people!) Her couponing focuses on groceries and everyday needs. (I tend to use coupons to justify buying the things I WANT not NEED....guess I should learn the latter). Anywho....without further ado, here she is as my first guest blog post: "Couponing Fun with Liz"!

First and foremost, I want to thank my sister for letting me do a guest post on her blog.  A lot of people have seen my success on Facebook and often ask "How?!" Well, here we go!

COUPONING!!!  It's one of my favorite things to do! I have been doing this on and off for about 2 years now, but recently I have gotten into it more hard core. I have a binder FULL of coupons, and each week, I see how many coupon fliers I can get. Then I organize them into categories like meat, dairy, paper products etc. I follow multiple coupon blogs (like The Krazy Coupon Lady and Coupon Connections) that tell me which coupons to use and which store to go to get the items at the best value. I can go into more detail with the process and deciding which coupon to use where in a later post. But for now these are the basics.

For today, I am going to use my trip to Harris Teeter yesterday. It is “Super Doubles” week (this will go on until Tuesday, August 14th so get your butt over there and try it out!), this means, any coupon you present that is between $1.00 and $2.00 will be doubled!! I pair these coupons with the items they have on sale and usually get a great deal!  This picture shows what I got on my trip, all of that before sales and coupons was $77!. After sales and coupons I spent $26!!

 

Let's break this down a little. The storage bags were “Buy 1 Get 1 Free” and I had a coupon for $1 off 2. They were $4.65 each, therefore, with the sale $4.65 for 2 boxes, then my $1 off, made it $2.65 for 2 boxes because the $1 coupon DOUBLED! Not on sale and without coupons, I would have spent over $9 on 2 boxes, that is about a 70% savings! Now, I dare you to tell me you don’t want something for 70% off! The gum you see in the picture – FREE!!!  Yes, you read that correctly, FREE! They were $1.59 each, on sale for $1, I had a coupon for $1 off two, that coupon DOUBLED therefore, it’s FREE! I also got 6 boxes of pop tarts, yogurt, 4 boxes of Wholly Guacamole. I could go on and on, but I just wanted to give you a taste of how I get amazing deals so you too can be successful at saving money. Let's face it, everyone operates on some kind of budget these days.

I hope you found this post helpful and will give it a try! Leave a comment here if you have any questions or are interested to learn more. I'd be happy to help!

Happy Couponing!

Our Home

Today I thought I would take you on a tour of our house. For those of you who follow me on Facebook, you have seen a lot of these pictures already, BUT there's something new.....I have the BEFORE pictures to go with them! (exciting, I know!)

In January of 2012 we closed on our first home. We didn't move until the beginning of February because I had some serious painting to do! You will notice that there aren't any major changes structurally, such as missing or added walls, because the house is still pretty new and for us, the layout is perfect! (Not like we could have handled a reno anyway) All this little house needed was a little paint and decorating to make it our HOME!

Shall we begin?....

Here is the main living area. paint and blinds are the major changes. (you will notice this is a theme throughout).

These next two pictures are the other side of the living area. This is our kitchen and dining area. As you can see, we were fortunate to have a gorgeous kitchen that didn't need any updating!

Powder room on the main level just needed some blinds and curtains. We kept the color mainly because I was tired of painting.

This is our upstairs loft area. It has been converted to my office. One day I might paint....but we'll see considering the paint will have to go all the way down the stairs and through the hallway....ugh

Here we have the guest bedroom (As I so lovingly refer to it as the Lilly room) and Husband's office. Blinds were the main updates. Could use better window treatments for the doors to the upstairs deck. Any ideas???

This is probably where the most change happened. We couldn't handle ANOTHER blue room (2 is plenty), so we painted it "Mickey Shoe Yellow" (it was really called a "Smackeral of Honey" but we changed the name to better suit our theme) The awful mirror and lighting had to go next. We got the light fixture at Lowe's and the mirror at Kirklands.

The master bath got painted and some of you may recognize this bird painting from my H54F post last week! I was so happy to finally get that! It really fills out the space and matches my paint perfectly! The next project is to frame out the mirror around the vanity to look like what I found on Pinterest. I'm not sure If I should do a brown or a white. Our towels and mats are brown.

Lastly, is the master bedroom. This room is the famous "stenciled room" from here and here. Only other changes were the blinds.

As you can see, our house is not completely done or perfect, but we like how far it's come! Our priorities were furniture, paint, and blinds. Now that's all out of the way, we can look at doing more customization projects like the framed mirror in the master bath.  Inspire me to do more by telling me about YOUR home projects!