Organization Inspiration

I've dedicated my remaining free time left this summer to get myself organized. I've had a need to get my shit together and refocus. It all starts within the home, for me. I've got big plans as far as putting everything into a permanent place, keeping the house orderly and clean, and throwing away a ton of junk decluttering. I have plenty to do I'm sure I'll be busy well into the fall!

I need to get all of our china into our new buffet server. This comes with a little assistance from the hubby, as I need him to finish the shelves for the two cabinets. We're thinking about finishing our basement this fall/winter, and half of the basement is filled with bins and boxes of china! The basement also houses tons of stuff that I took from my parents two years ago is still sitting in boxes. Oy vey. 

I'm picturing bookshelves, baskets, labels, the whole nine yards! Here's a little of my inspiration to clean house.

 

Here

 

Here

 

Here

 Here

                                

Here - These are just for fun, but I think I need some in the living room.

Here - Thinking of these for the bar in the basement!

 

 

This is my laundry room inspiration for sure! 

So instead of spring cleaning, I shall dub this, the fall purge! We won't get started on the basement reno until we've got the upstairs completely set, so I've got a bit of time. Nothing a little pre-planning won't help! But, time to take some action!

Happy Monday Friends. xox.

Independence Day Wrap Up

I was going through some of our photos we took over the long weekend and decided to share them.

Husband had to work on the 4th, so I ran a few errands and did some house chores. We had a family dinner at my parents later on, including some fireworks which puppy did not like whatsoever. Saturday included some relaxing in the morning, cooking a few things and a party at a friends house. Sunday I got to meet a friends brand new baby for some newborn photos and tons of girl talk with the new momma! We spent the afternoon at Wayne's parents boat, trying to prep my ghostly pale skin for Florida on Sunday. SPF 50, you will be my friend!

I hope everyone had a fun and happy holiday weekend!

 

i made this garland myself!

28 before 28

I’ll turn 28 just 6 short months from today, and I’ve been preparing a list of “28 before 28.” This is just a personal list of goals, be it silly, fun, things to improve upon, places to see, etc.  We’ll see how many of these I can cross off! Starting fresh from today. I plan to update this with my standings a few times in the next 6 months.

1.     Travel to another country.

2.     See a Broadway play.

3.     Walk across the Brooklyn bridge.

4.     Go to the top of the Empire State Building

5.     Spend an afternoon at a vineyard.

6.     Become a better cook.

7.     Clean the basement.

8.     Hike Sleeping Giant

9.     Go to the movies.

10.  Stop biting my nails.

11.  Declutter the house.

12.  Master my camera.

13.  Make the bed almost every morning.

14.  Buy more organic products when grocery shopping.

15.  Get a 6 pack. (if all else fails, buy a 6 pack of beer).

16.  Ride a bike.

17.  Blog more.

18.  Save $4,000.

19.  Make my wedding album.

20.  Start to make “yearbooks” for the past years photos.

21.  Get all of our important documents together in one place, as well as copied and somewhere not in the house.  This includes a copy/backup of all photos on usb’s!

22.  Learn how to sew.

23.  Learn how to cut chicken.

24.  Open my Etsy shop.

25.  Go to a football game.

26.  Try a new food.

27.  Go to a zoo, aquarium, or museum.

28.  Help someone, somewhere, with something, as often as possible.

Have you ever done a list similar?! How’d you do? If not, it’s fun! Try to come up with X number of items to do before a certain date, a certain amount of months, etc!

And because no post is complete with out a photo, here's a little throwback to my 25th!

 

Father's Day!

Just a quick post to say that I hope you all had a wonderful fathers day! I hope that everyone had a great family filled day celebrating Dad's everywhere!

Dreaming of Italy

So, W and I have settled on a spot for our next vacation and yep, you guessed it: Italy! 

I wanted to pick somewhere to explore, had great history and food, and that we had both never been. We're headed to Anna Maria Island in July for 6 days, and to Ocean City New Jersey for a weekend; I was craving something not so beachy. Well, I am trying to squeeze a stop to the Amalfi Coast in on this trip as well, but the majority will be discovering Italy!

We've decided on Venice, Florence and Rome. I think they're the pretty cliche trio when travelling to Italy, but I am beyond excited! We are in the process of getting an appointment with our travel agent and trying to map it all out for this September! It will be a little anniversary trip so to speak. I've been day dreaming of the Trevi fountain, delicious wines, a slice of tiramisu (or 6) and a gondolier ride! Also thinking about a day trip to Pisa (insert cheesy photo of said tourist holding up the tower), a trip south of Florence to a vineyard, and pasta overload.

And I'm dreaming of Positano. I can picture myself right there under one of those orange umbrella's on the beach, napping in the midday sun. AGH! Is it September? yet?!

And just to leave you with a photo of our little puppy!

Life as of Late

I cannot believe that May has basically come and gone. It just seemed like the warm weather started, and now we're headed full on towards summer! I'll be the first to say that summer is/has never been my favorite season. I'm all for the ice cold beverages, pretty blooms and beach days. I am not a fan of bees or any bug for that matter, the heat, thunderstorms, and humidity. I enjoy summer, but fall is where it's at for sure. 

Today in CT it's in the high 50's, and I'd be lying if I said I was not already 

thinking about sweaters, boots, and all the color changing leaves...

Back to May, here's what we've been up to lately in iphone photos and all. 

These were taken at our friends beautiful wedding! I spent too much time dancing instead of taking pictures. My bad on that one. 

We bought Mr. Mack a kiddie pool from Walmart. Let me tell ya, it was interesting at first and now he's obsessed! I posted a video on instagram, go check it out. At first he would not get in, he just circled the outside. We put his ball in the middle of the pool and he stared at it, not knowing how to get it. I stepped in and felt how freezing it was, so I didn't blame him one bit. Once he saw I was in, and Wayne started getting the ball and throwing it back into the pool he got a little more curious. One paw led to two, to all four and that's it! He did not want to get out. This is where we will spend the majority of our summer, with out a doubt.

My brother in law's burger creation during a contest at a local burger joint. His was selected to go head to head in a competition for a week long promotion. It's two fried dough buns, marinara sauce, basil, and a slice of fresh mozzarella. Yum! 

 

Talk about good lighting. No filter needed for these beautiful peonies I bought at Whole Foods this weekend! 

 

This was from the weekend before last. We went to a local brewery for a friends birthday. We had a great day outside drinking delicious local beer!

Also new, I'm working on changing up the business website and getting the new logo out there! 

Here she is! Loving it! 

Loving Lately

I've decided to start doing a regular, weekly, biweekly, monthly, whenever post 

about some of the things I've been eying lately. So, without further adieu, here is what 

I've been loving lately! 

#1. Wire Baskets - Perfect for storage, or to appear organized, or to be organized. I'd be fine with appearing organized! 

 

Source: Crate&Barrel

#2. Star Mirror - The one below is from Pottery Barn (swoon), but I do think I recall seeing one at Target! I am obsessed with stars lately. They just give such a whimsical touch to anything.

Source: Pottery Barn 

#3. A garden gnome - W and I are working really hard on our gardens, flower pots, etc. I'll post some photos of our progress soon! Anyways, how sweet would this little Mister be to guard my flowers?! 

I think I need him. 

Now.

via pinterest.

 

#4. Purity - Normally I go to a dermatologist and have a prescription face wash to keep my face clear of breakouts. I was gifted this little bottle of Purity, ran out of my face wash and needed an appointment to refill my prescription. I decided to give it a go and I'm now obsessed! It has worked really well so far, and contains Sodium and Sulphur, two of the ingredients in the prescription face wash. I'll use it a bit longer before I decide, but I think I've officially jumped on the Philosophy bandwagon! This stuff is great. 

Source: Sephora 

 

#5. Star String Lights - We scored a strand of these at Home Depot I believe. So excited to get these up this weekend! All I need is a fire and a yummy cocktail to go along with!

Source: Target  

Happy hump day everyone!