My Fall Wreath

I am so very proud of myself – I put forward a goal and met it in less than a month!

Now, granted the goal was to make a wreath via inspiration on Pinterest, but it’s the little things in life, right?

Yesterday after work, I got the urge to craft. I saw Katie’s cute yarn wreath at Loves of Life and it pushed me to get off my butt and head to the craft store after I finished for the day. The Joanne’s Fabric store that used to be right near our house had recently moved and I hadn’t had the change to check it out yet! So this was the perfect opportunity.

I started with a grapevine base (rather than a foam core as in the inspiration tutorial), a few bunches of fall flowers,  another few sets of foliage decoration, brown wire to tie pieces together and a glue gun.

Here’s what we started out with:

• One grapevine wreath (preferably purchased with a 40% off coupon!)
• Many bundles of fall foliage, all 40% off
• Other fall accessories, at 40% off – those are the spiky things with the white nubs on them. More on that to come
• Wire strands to help affix the leaves to the wreath
• Glue gun and glue gun refills, just in case the wire strands don’t hold things on

So after preparing my supplies, and my glass of wine, and setting Netflix to play the next episode of Friday Night Lights (yes, I’m addicted), I got down to business.

I removed all the leaves from the stems that connected them together in a bundle. I ended up using three of them in total. There were lots of leaves everywhere on the coffee table!

Once I had all the leaves separated, I began to arrange them on the grapevine wreath. No rhyme or reason, just started adding the leaves willy nilly.

I kept going around and around, adding leaves in places that seemed empty.

When all the leaves seemed to be happy where they were, I went over each of them and bent back their stem around the grapevine, to make sure they would be held in place. Then, I picked it up and gave it a little shake, to be sure everything was still ok.

The last touch was thanks to my husband. Remember those little white nubs? I grabbed four bunches and arranged them at the bottom to look like a finishing bow! I stuck those into the grapevine just like the leaves.

The finished product…

My brand new wreath on my six panel door! I was excited when the property manager replaced our falling apart door with a fancy one like this – not everyone in the place gets one! But you can see why I needed a wreath. It needs some color on that door! What you don’t see, because I didn’t want it in my pictures, is the drain spout that is immediately to the right of the door. It’s ugly and I dislike it. So there.

Here are some more details…

The white nub things at the bottom really set it off, I think!

I am so happy with the way this turned out. Coming home from work tonight and having this greet me before I come inside made me grin from ear to ear. I love having some color on my door!

Now I’m determined to have a wreath on the front door for every season – I think I already have my inspiration picture for a Christmas one!

The Weekend in Review

This weekend seemed to fly by, as they all do lately. So let’s start at the beginning! It’s a very good place to start…

Friday night – no football unfortunately, or Friday Night Lights, but soon we’ll be in the midst of college football! Did you know I always wanted to go to a big state school so we could have a football tradition to follow? Notre Dame would have been great, but then again, it’s north of St. Louis and therefore would probably be too cold for me to live for most of the year.

Oh right, Friday night plans. Yes. We hauled it to Chesterfield to say goodbye to one of my college friends who is moving away from here to follow his girlfriend as she continues her education in theatre by getting a masters at Boston University. We’re gonna miss him and I’m awfully sad that he’s leaving us. Once those hugs were done, we headed back to the city to meet up with one of Husband’s friends who was in town to surprise his sister at his nephew’s first birthday party. We were in on the secret and hung out in the beautiful almost-autumn air at the rooftop bar at the Moonrise Hotel. If you’re coming to St. Louis (or are already here) and haven’t had one of their yummy cocktails under the moon, you must go! Any place with this kind of decoration is ok in my book!

So, knowing me and my reaction to booze, we went home relatively early because we were both exhausted. Saturday morning was time for cleaning and an eyebrow wax. I got my hair cut earlier in the week, to prepare for our quick Disney jaunt, but looking in the mirror earlier, I decided that the jungles above my eyes needed to be cut back. So off to the spa I went. I was so happy when I was done!

I came home and puttered, watched a bit of Bachelor Pad to catch up for tonight’s episode, and then Husband and I headed out again to a first birthday party. Those are the best! Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay to watch the kid devour his cake. Hubs still owes me cake for that one. We had double-booked ourselves with the Sunday night dinner crew and went to Chesterfield to meet up with them. We put a lot of miles on the car this weekend.

Sunday was church, of course, and I was the first lector at Mass. I really do love proclaiming, especially when I prepare ahead of time and know what the reading is about! The afternoon was for packing – because we leave for Disney on Thursday! We are most definitely prepared…

And then I had to get ready for an audition. I believe my sabbatical or hiatus may be drawing to a close. It was great to print out my headshot and resume and look at it, realizing that I need to get new photos taken. My hair looks completely different than that picture! So it was a great show directed by a friend from college and I just had to go. This community theatre is supposed to be one of the best in the area and by attending their auditions, I can agree on that point! It was so organized and really well run. Unfortunately, I wasn’t cast, but I did get a call from the assistant director telling me how much she enjoyed my audition and that she really hopes I’ll come back and audition again, because she would like to see me on their stage. Which I thought was really sweet!

My acting professor once told me that we as actors must fall in love with auditioning – because it may be the only acting we ever get to do! I enjoyed my audition, met some fun people, reconnected with old friends and made the directing staff laugh. I say that was a success!

Teacup Anything Sounds Good To Me!

Husband did something he really shouldn’t have done this morning – he showed me the following picture:

In retrospect, I’m sure he thought I would love it. Puppies? Check. Small puppies? Check. Bows in their hair? Check. But really, didn’t he know that I would immediately expect him to run and find me one of these adorable little pups?

It’s besides the point that we can’t have dogs in the apartment. Or that we don’t have the money to properly outfit a little pup in cute little bows or outfits befitting her adorable nature. Or that we spend more time at work and in the car between events than we do at home, and therefore, would leave our little Gizmo at home for too many hours a day to be fair. And yes, Gizmo is the name of our future dog, whomever he/she might be. I saw the name in a Google search and fell in love with it! So it shall be.

So this is what I share with you on a Friday afternoon. Love in the form of a tiny little furry pup. Don’t I need one to be complete?

What I’m Loving Wednesday

Oh Wednesdays. You’re here again? As my coach from the lunch room in junior year of high school used to say, “Wednesday, Hump Day, working your way to the weekend!” I always thought it was strange that he was talking about a hump day to a bunch of {AHEM} excitable teenagers.

In any case, it’s Wednesday again. The days are much longer when one wakes up at 6 am to either walk or run, in preparation for a 5K in October.

{one}

So in that trying to lose weight and run thing, I’m also using LoseIt on the iPhone to track my calories. I’m loving it when I add that walk/run in the morning and it boosts up my calorie allowance for the day! It’s the best feeling to know I can splurge on another snack.

{two}

Eight days and counting to the wonderful birthday trip to Walt Disney World that my husband I planned for Labor Day weekend. As I told someone at work this week, I’m going to be insufferable on my half-day of work next Thursday. It’s getting to be thisclose to the vacation and I cannot wait!

{three}

During this crazy hot summer, I’ve been addicted to my Oregon Chai Tea Latte Concentrate. Mixed with some milk makes a great morning drink. I was sad this week when I ran out of it – I have to run by Target to restock!

{four}

Chocolate peanut butter fudge from a craft mall in Branson, MO. Fudge in tourist-type places is just so much better than anywhere else. While we were on vacation last week, I picked up a half pound of peanut butter fudge swirled with chocolate. It’s not helping my diet so much but it is SO good. And seeing as it’s not Husband’s favorite flavor, I pretty much have it to myself. I’ll be happy/sad when it’s gone!

What are you loving this lovely Wednesday?

I Believe I am Certifiably Obsessed

I woke up yesterday  to an awesome announcement by my husband – 10 days until Walt Disney World!

Other than it being very close to our vacation, this particular announcement is great for another reason. Yesterday was the day that I could check us in online and confirm our reservation with Disney. It’s the last thing that has to happen before we arrive in the World for our birthday vacation weekend. Mostly, it just makes our check-in next week even smoother when we get there.

Then, a friend posted this video on my Facebook wall. For 90% of the statements, I can say yes to – I think that makes me obsessed!

And God Blessed the Broken Road, Part 4

To catch up, you can read Our Love Story here.

Now that future-husband and I had reconnected after poster-ing a Bread Company, we were now chatting on Facebook every few days.

But we had a show that was opening shortly and there was lots going on with that. I was a senior, and had an internship at a local professional theatre. Big things were happening and a boy really wasn’t in the cards.

Even more than being busy as a senior, I was going to audition to be a walk-around character at Disney or maybe be a cruise director and see the world. I was graduating in the spring and wanted to set myself up to hit the ground running when that happened. There didn’t seem to be any time for dating.

So when future-husband suggested we go have coffee, I thought that would be nice. He was such a cute guy and he seemed really interested. But then again, I was really busy. I ended up saying saying yes and we set up a time to meet at the student union to grab a cup of coffee.

Future-husband claims that I stood him up three times but it totally wasn’t the case. Like I said, I was busy! And I honestly thought “grabbing coffee sometime” wasn’t a date. Would you have thought it was a date? I didn’t think so.

He would email me and set up a time, and then I would call him as we got closer and say that I couldn’t make it because there was another monologue to rehearse or something had to be done for the professional theatre’s street team.

Finally, we connected at the student union. Third time’s the charm, right? I showed up at the place we were agreed to meet and he was so cute sitting there, with his backpack and spiked up hair.

We headed up to the coffee shop, but halfway up, I asked him if he was hungry. Turns out he hadn’t eaten dinner yet, and neither had I. So the only logical solution was to get dinner rather than coffee. Which is exactly what we did.

To be continued…

Apparently, I Am An Old Lady

Source

This weekend showed me the epitome of my old lady-ness as of late.

Example A: staffing a work event on Friday evening at the local science museum with over 380 people in attendance and cooing over one of my volunteer’s most darling two month old baby! I spent a lot of the event cuddling her. Made my uterus ache something fierce.

Example B: going to bed early after previously described work event on Friday night. I’ve always been exhausted after a work week, but I spent three days on vacation this week in Branson with the family. I shouldn’t be that tired after two days of work!

Example C: waking up early on Saturday morning to run with my husband. And not being able to get through the Couch to 5K program, even though I was doing the third week of it on the treadmill a few months ago. Working out is definitely in the sucking position right now.

Example D: eye exam and shopping at Costco after our run. What a Saturday morning

Example E: picking up a bottle of Arbor Mist for the party with the law school kids that Saturday night, rather than drinking their Bud Light

Example F: after drinking that bottle of Arbor Mist at the hours-long party, needing to nap in one of the bedrooms while Husband continued to hang out with his friends

No, ladies and gents, I am not proud of that last one. Everyone apparently kept asking where I was and Husband explained that I had a bit too much to drink and had to sleep it off. An hour after I laid down, he came in to take me home. All the kids were asking if “Mrs. L” was ok – they call me by my full name for some strange reason. It was sort of awful.

The next time Husband wants to go out with the law school kids, we are definitely taking two cars so I can put my old lady self to bed at a reasonable hour. Because that was ridiculous.

This Fall, I Will…

It’s been entirely too hot this summer. Something like two and a half weeks of an extreme heat advisory in the St. Louis area made me cry when I woke up every morning and had to get dressed for work. I just wanted to lay in a cold bath all day. Alas, I had to get my butt in gear and get going. I just focused on the fact that this too shall pass! It must, right?

The heat wave has finally broken and I’m so looking forward to the fall. Lots of people on Twitter and the blog world have said they’re looking forward to the fall because it’s their favorite season. I realized that I don’t have a favorite season. Each time a new one comes around, I get excited about it, no matter what! I don’t love the end of winter, with the cold and snow, but then again, I don’t like the end of summer with the heat. I just like getting to switch it up clothing-wise and the various activities that the different seasons bring.

So to celebrate the new season, I’m borrowing the idea from Centsational Girl, but adding a fall twist!

A Fall List, via Pinterest

This fall, I will…

Bake something with pumpkin. This Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle sounds like a good contender…

Giggle at the outfits that kids wear for the season…

Decorate with fall flowers. This would be a great centerpiece for Thanksgiving!

Make a fall wreath for our front door. It’s always decorated at Christmas and I feel like I should start earlier with this DIY fall wreath!

Make a roadtrip with my mom to land of the Fightin’ Irish – South Bend, IN! We’ve got tickets for Notre Dame vs USC – cannot WAIT for this one.

Speaking of football, I plan to watch a bunch of episodes of Friday Night Lights to get caught up!

I love the fall!

And No, I Did Not Buy The T-Shirt

This kind of sums up my first few days in Branson. The wine was a-flowin’!

I love vacations. :)

They Sell That In Kids’ Sizes?!

“Beer is not just for breakfast anymore”

A local brewery has this slogan and sells shirts at its stores. We were at Baskin Robbins last night, eating our ice cream cones, and we saw this little girl walk into the store. We all burst out laughing when we read her t-shirt. Two of us pulled out our phones to get a camera – at the same time.

I understand that we’re a beer town and all but honestly – this type of shirt should be sold in kids sizes! It just seems wrong.

And with that thought, I will be quiet for a few days, as we’re spending a bit in Branson with the family. Silver Dollar City, here we come again!

The Beginning… Again

Remember when I removed all excuses to getting into shape? Well, they’re still gone. But getting myself out of bed at 5:45 am to work out has not gone as well as one would have hoped. It’s kind of unfortunate. I’ve always been that person that needs at least 8 hours of sleep (on a side note – I have no idea how I’ll function when I’m faced with a newborn who doesn’t have the same ideas of sleep as me). So in order to get up to run that early, I must go to bed a bit earlier. Which sometimes proves more difficult than one would think (what? Those Friday Night Light episodes on Netflix will NOT watch themselves… and I do have to turn in the library book soon, so I have to read another chapter!).

In any case, this morning when the alarm went off at 5:45 am, I hopped out of bed with a plan. I saw two of my inspiration images next to the phone and that helped me to not hit the snooze button. I woke up Husband and we got dressed for a quick 2.2 mile walk down the greenway near the townhouse. He decided to get up with me and we had a great conversation while walking in the relatively cool (72 degrees!) morning air.

Why did I wake up with such vim and vigor this morning? Because my dear friend, the Bachelorette from the 2011 Quesadilla Adventure and I made the decision to train for a 5K in October. We are going to run 3.1 miles that Saturday morning in the Chesterfield Chamber of Commerce Pumpkin Run! We are both going to use the Couch to 5K program and get ourselves ready to run in the race.

This is my first organized race and to be honest, I’m ridiculously nervous that I’ll fall on my face. But the Bachelorette will be with me and if we end up walking towards the end, the main thing is that we will finish it together. It gives us a goal and something to work towards. So getting up at 5:45 am from now on is going to be a way of life – because working out after a long day at the office just is not going to work for me. I’m excited to finally get my butt in gear!

And God Blessed the Broken Road, Part 3

To catch up, you can read Our Love Story here.

My future-husband and I spent most of college apart, not really hanging out. Every once in a while, I would see his name pop up in the AIM friends list and wonder what he was up to. But he had his friends and I had mine.

Our paths crossed again in our senior year of college. We hadn’t seen in each other in at least two years.

It was September, and I was once again involved in a production in the college theatre. I had auditioned, and unfortunately, wasn’t cast. Over the years, there were many auditions that didn’t go my way, many parts that I didn’t land. That’s the life of an actress and I am prepared for it. But as a senior, it kind of sucked that I didn’t get a mainstage role in my last year at the theatre. I thought I kind of deserved it after all the blood, sweat and tears that I’ve put into the program. So not getting cast – kind of sucked. And I wasn’t happy about it.

My assignment that semester, instead of being cast, was the publicity team for the production. It was an obvious choice, because PR was my major after all. Since I was the only one of the committee that had a car, I was assigned the role of putting up posters in the Central West End, since no one else could easily get there without a car.

To be fair, I should have put up those posters earlier. I was sulking for most of the production, annoyed that I wasn’t cast, and wondering what was going to happen if I didn’t get cast the next semester and didn’t have any recent credits on my resume when I graduated. But things were busy with school and my internship, so I avoided putting up those posters until the week before the show opened. I put it off as long as I could.

One Wednesday after classes, I loaded up the posters and my route list in the car and drove to the CWE. It’s a neat little neighborhood of great restaurants and coffee shops and old homes near the campus. Lots of the managers of those places allow us to put up posters to promote the show. We had a list of those, and that was where I was supposed to go. St. Louis Bread Company was the first stop on my list.

I walked inside the restaurant and started looking around for the manager, to get his permission to put up the poster. As I stood in the entrance, holding a poster and push pins, I heard someone call my name.

Thinking that it was someone calling another “Jessica,” I didn’t turn around right away. When he called my name again, I did turn and saw him. Future-husband sitting on one of the comfy chairs near the window, with a book in his lap. He was smiling.

I went over to say hello and we started to catch up. Honestly, I have no idea what I said in that meeting. It went by in a blur. I remember I put up the posters and then went back to hang out with him some more.

We exchanged phone numbers and a promise to Facebook each other when we got back to our dorms. We had graduated from AIM to Facebook in those few years of college. He asked me if I wanted to get a coffee sometime and catch up, and of course, I said sure.

I had to finish putting up posters and he was waiting on someone for a meeting.

The best part of this story? Husband wrote down the time wrong – he was an hour early for his meeting. I put off the poster work until the very last minute. Something pushed me to do the posters that day.

And the name of the play we were producing that semester?

“All in the Timing.”

Mums

While I was sick with a 36 hour stomach bug last week, the only thing that made it a bit better was streaming Netflix. A few friends on Twitter had suggested Friday Night Lights as a great show that they were all addicted to recently. Since I didn’t have anything else to do, I started up an episode – and boy howdy, was it addicting!

It’s about a Texas town and their love for football. And with Texas football comes Homecoming. I know other high schools and colleges have Homecoming, but in Texas, it’s just special. We take it to another level.

For those that aren’t familiar, Homecoming in many Texas towns has a special tradition – mums. And we’re not talking the normal flowers:

We’re talking fake mums that guys buy their Homecoming dates so they can wear them to the big game the day before the dance.

Enter exhibit one:

This is a sophomore me, with T, the love of my young high school life. Boy, was he wonderful. He’s now a Navy man with a beautiful wife and a few kids, I think. It’s crazy how things change.

Tradition in Texas has it that a gentleman purchase his lady a mum before the big Homecoming game. In the beginning, that was a real mum but over the years, people started using plastic flowers so they would last longer (I’m guessing in the Texas heat, because in October, it’s still awfully hot). They started adding ribbons in the team colors and little trinkets to make noise when they walked. Then, more elaborate ribbons and teddy bears in the middle of the mums. And then you have my wonderful mum from sophomore year.

Homecoming tradition also holds that the lady purchase her gentleman a garter to wear. If he’s on the football team, he can wear it during the school day, but if he’s just watching the game, then you can wear it the whole day.

Yup, that’s right. We wear these things to school that day, to classes and then to the big pep rally at the end of the day, before the big game.

Enter exhibit two:

 

This is my senior year of high school, after I transferred from one Texas city to another, hence the different colors in the mum. Typically, the mums are in the color of the mascot – whatever that may be. The teddy bears in the middle of the mums were usually dressed up like little cheerleaders and carry megaphones.

But as a senior? Your mum got to be special. Yours got to be white – to denote your seniority of the school. I waited three years to be able to wear one of those white mums! I was so happy when I finally got to do it. This one was particularly big – the ribbons went to my knees. It was so heavy that I had to wear overalls to the Spirit Day that year, because pinning the thing to a regular shirt would have pulled my shirt clean off me! Lots of the girls came to the same conclusion, so we all matched in our overalls that day.

I was never one of the extra special girls who got a double or triple mum – multiple flowers on one thing. Those were extra expensive and my boyfriends never loved me that much. ;)

When I brought up my love of Homecoming mums, my Sunday night dinner crowd looked at me like I had two heads.

I explained what it was, and then the laughing started.

So let me ask you – did your high school have any traditions that other people might find ridiculous? Because I loved my mums and wouldn’t have traded the tradition for anything in the world.

And God Blessed the Broken Road, Part 2

Read Part 1 here.

I hung out with future-husband’s friends for the first few weeks of school, and they were a lot of fun. I would join them for dinner or snacks after class. On the first anniversary of 9/11, I was there outside the residence hall for the memorial service hosted by one of his friends. He was from New York and was very close to the attacks. It was an emotional experience, lots of tears in the darkness, punctuated by candlelight in the parking lot.

But as things happen in college, people come together for a time and then float apart. With a good distance between his residence hall and mine, and his classes in the business school and mine in the theatre, it got harder and harder to find the time to meet up. After all, I was dating someone and so was he. He was just a friend I met that first week of school and somehow, things just start drifting apart.

Whenever I signed on to AIM, I would look down the lists of friends and every once in a while, I would notice his screenname at the bottom and wonder what that cute kid from the local high school was doing then.

A few months into my freshman year, the boyfriend that I followed to college broke up with me. And immediately started dating the girl he insisted he wasn’t into. That was a tough pill to swallow. I was 18 and thought the world was going to come crashing down on my head.

And still, every once in a while, I would see future-husband’s name on my AIM list and wonder about that cute guy in the residence hall across campus. But the thought would pass and I would head to rehearsal. That’s where I spent most of my college years, in the theatre.

I never realized that the cute guy I saw on my AIM list would eventually come back into life in a HUGE way.

Removing Excuses

You know how you can always talk yourself in or out of something?

I don’t know about you, but I can always convince myself that one more piece of candy won’t hurt my waistline or that the extra half hour of sleep is SO much more worth it than working out. Later on, those decisions always tick me off, because they really were the wrong decision.

Pinterest has a bunch of inspiration pictures that I’ve been pinning lately – they’re helping remove the excuses that I’ve thrown up to not run in the mornings. Like this one. Or this one. And this one just makes me laugh. I tried to insert the images here but Pinterest isn’t playing nice right now.

In any case, I’m trying to use these quotes to really remind myself why getting up at 6 am and walking/running 2.2 miles is a good idea. In the mornings, when no matter what I put on my body to clothe it for work, nothing is looking the way it should. I am not liking what I see in the mirror. And seeing a picture of me at the work event last week? Yuck. I want to scrub it from the internet.

So I am removing all excuses. I realized I didn’t have any comfortable work out shorts that weren’t inappropriately short to wear in public. So on Monday, I stopped by the thrift store on the way home and found some black work out shorts for $4. Awesome. That’s one excuse I can’t use – I have outfits to wear.

Another excuse is being tired in the mornings when the alarm goes off for the work out. So I need to be in bed by 10:30 pm and that means lights off – no more reading until 11:15 pm because I’m not tired yet. No matter how awesome the book is.

They say that nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels. I’m really trying to concentrate on that one and prevent myself from eating crap. I don’t know if it’s working. But there has to be a change. Something has to give.

One last quote I’m centering on? A year from now, you’ll wish you had started today. I so do want that. I’m starting today.

A Bit Like a Voyeur

Am I the only one who loves seeing how other people set up their iPhone folders? No? Really? I guess I’m kind of a weird one.

I really do like peeking into other people’s phones and look through their folders. What apps have they downloaded? What’s on their homepage? What’s in the quick access bar at the bottom? I think it’s similar to peeking into someone’s purse or their medicine cabinet when you’re a house guest.

In that vein, I thought I’d share my organization. After the Great Screen Shattering of 2011, I had to start over and reload all my apps from last back up done in June. Because I had the chance to spend some time reorganizing, I thought I’d reorder the apps.

Don’t get me wrong – I love the folder option! But there’s something overwhelming about ALL of those apps, even in folders. I read somewhere about gathering up all the apps into a logical folder order, but having that at the beginning of the line, and then having three of your most used apps on that line. Seeing your favorite apps on the line makes it easier to remember what’s in the folder at the end, even if you have the name of the folder listed there.

So if any of you love to see how others organize their apps, here are my screen shots!

 

My main screen. My favorites. Calendar in the corner, Remember the Milk Pro (to do list) and of course, maps and the Disney countdown. 28 days until the Poly – not that I’m counting down the days or anything.

Twitter, Facebook, Gowalla (check in game), of course.

Games like Words with Friends – I’m clearly behind in my games.

Photos, Instagram and Camera not in a folder because they need to be easily accessible. 

Here’s where it gets a little more complicated on the second page. Some random apps and then around – things like Yelp and Urban Spoon. Awesome apps. then we have entertainment things and shopping of course! Gotta have my Groupon.

 

Third page continues from the second. We’ve got travel and my beloved TripIt app. Seriously, it’s the best itinerary planner out there. And then Lines – thank you for my Disney fix! You can see how long the waits are for any ride in WDW or Disneyland at any given time, and carry your touring plans for the parks in your app as well. Awesomely worth the yearly membership fee if you’re a fan like we are.

 

And finally – the dregs of the apps. Random things that I can’t delete or don’t want to have on more readily accessible pages.

On a side note – how adorable is that cupcake background? I can’t remember where I found it but I love it! So cute. :)

Ok – am I weird or was this interesting? How do you organize your phone?

Organizing My Basement Storage Room Almost Killed Me and My Husband – But It Was Worth It

Saturday morning…

10:18 am – Husband comes in, pokes me, tells me it’s time to wake up, that’s it past 10 am. I slept in after staying out late on Friday night for a work event.

10:26 am – Managed to drag ourselves out of the house and into the car for a quick donut run. Decide on one dozen in order to get us through the cleaning weekend.

11:12 am – First fight of the day. It revolves around the question of what someone means when they offer an item up for either the trash or donation pile. We resolve this and move forward. I won’t say who won it, because I’m pretty sure it might bring up the fight again.

2 pm – It’s time for a break. There was a donation run as well as a snack at QT. Do you know how awesome those fountain vanilla cokes are? They’re my addiction lately.

4:52 pm – The doorbell knocks as we are just starting to place boxes back where they go. There’s lots of extra room and we have combined many boxes. I’m feeling good! I go upstairs and who is standing there but the Sunday night dinner crew. We spent that night drinking and playing video games. It was an awesome diversion.

Sunday morning…

10:45 am – We woke up late. It was a late night driving home after playing games. :) But we get moving and finish going through boxes and finding new ways to stack all the boxes we were keeping.

2:03 pm – Husband and I stand back, and admire our work. We have lots of room for a laundry folding table, Husband’s tools and even an organized corner for luggage next to the deep freeze.

5 boxes and a few random things to Goodwill… 15 bags to the trash… and an entire pile of empty moving boxes that need to be broken down to be recycled. It is awfully impressive. I’m so happy – I even want to fold laundry in there! It is so true that if you like the spaces in your house, you’ll stop avoiding chores there. When we get the next house with a real laundry room instead of space in the basement, I’m definitely going to be decorating it to make me happy there too!

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I wish I could show you pictures, but unfortunately, my iPhone took a nose dive this morning and the replacement I got today didn’t allow me to back it up beforehand. Plus, taking pictures in a basement is just so boring. And hard to really show what it looks like. So there’s just my little narrative!