Valentine's Day Link-up

Yep, that's how behind I am!!

Anywho, I signed up for this Valentine's exchange and had the most awesome experience. When you signed up, they randomly paired you with another blogger who signed up. I could not have gotten a more perfect partner!!!

 

This is Brianne from Being Bracco and she is fabulous!!

 

 

 

 

 I mean, is she not gorgeous?? Not only that but we found we had way too much in common: obsessive love of coffee, young adult fiction and crafting.. just to name a few :)

She sent me the cutest goodies! Stuff to make adorable cupcakes and to celebrate our love of coffee - a mug and tumbler (which I'll add is too funny since I sent her the same!!).                             

              

This was just such a great experience and I met a new friend and I would totally do it again in a heartbeat!! I'm only sorry that it took me so long to do this post :)

GET READY...

for blog post overload from me LOL.
I have so many blogs that I need to do this weekend!!!
Thats what happens when you get busy and keep putting it off :)
But, I know you guys are on pins and needles waiting to hear all about my not so exciting life, right?!?!?!?!

yeah, sooo...

Well, I didn't get to do my High Five for Friday post, so I'm doing an "I couldn't sleep so I got up early and now I'm blogging about random stuff" post :)

Since I graduated in December my life has been pretty boring. Lots of sitting at home on the couch while I look for a 'big girl' job. Well, those days are finally coming to an end. I got a job and I start next week. I'm super nervous because it will be my first social work job, but I'm excited to at least be doing something!

Like I said, my life has been pretty boring, so you gotta find the joy where you can. This past weekend my best friend and I went to Putt Putt and then out to my favorite pizza place. Oh my goodness, it was so much fun. I felt like a kid again! Sometimes its just really nice to turn off the grown up worries for a bit. And yes, we got a little silly at putt putt :)

And, that's really the extent of excitement in my week this week lol. Sometimes I feel so boring! But, I know that once I get into a routine, life will start to settle back into a normal rhythm. So hopefully, I'll have more fun stuff to blog about ;)

Electric Run

I ran my first 5k of the year this weekend. Well, let me rephrase that, I had my first 5k (I mainly walked lol). It was soo much fun! I got to walk with some great friends and it was a nice start to all the 5ks I've already signed myself up for. Looking forward to getting better and having more fun :)

Jenna and I before

Natalie and I before

We loved all the lanterns in the trees.. Natalie and I, no flash

Natalie and I, with flash

Jenna and I, without flash

Jenna and I, with flash (see the pattern there lol)

these arches totally lit up along with the music.. so instead of having embarrassing pictures taken of my terrible dancing, I posed ;)

You can't really tell, but that's me at the finish.. yay!!

I love how crazy everyone and everything looks under black light

high five for friday

 

 1. So excited that my diploma finally came in the mail. I feel like a "big girl' now lol.

 

2. I came home from a shopping trip with these. Um, I've never bought leopard print in my life, now all the sudden I bought leopard everywhere I went that day!! Anybody else in love with leopard right now??

 

3. Organization has been the theme of the week. I found awesome printables to get all my stuff in order. I have printables for menu planning, food and workout logs, and expense trackers. I can't wait to really get into using them all.

 

4. Again, organization has been big this week. I used to have a big pile of shoes right by the door every day. It was making me crazy!!! So I finally got something to organize them. It kills Mike that this is only half of my shoes haha. That's a man for you though :)

 

5. I try to like yogurt. I really do. But, really, its just not my favorite. Enter Greek froyo and I'm in love. I found a honey/caramel one and then this dark fudge swirl and I am hooked!! So good.

 

Its definitely been a week of trying to get organized and clear up some of the mess around me. What's been going on with you guys this week??

 

 

well...

Remember this part of Shawn of the Dead?

 

That’s totally how I feel right now. I need to sort my effin’ life out lol. Not that I’m a bad person or a total mess, I just need to have some goals and organization. I’ve been working really hard the last few days on the organization part. I figure if I work on the mess around me, I will feel like less of a mess myself. That’s how that works, right?? I think tonight I’m gonna sit down and try to work on some goals. I feel like this is the year I’m gonna get it together. I can totally sort my life out, right here, right now. Not saying I’m gonna figure out and plan my whole future, but I can work with what I’ve got and make this year amazing.

Guess we’ll have to wait and see how that all pans out haha.

desk redo

Here is today's before and after of my desk area:

 

Pardon the terrible pictures, but our bedroom has the WORST lighting!! I'm so excited to have a desk area that is actually starting to reflect my personality. Also, there is so much DIY here so it was definitely affordable. What I did:

        - bought ugly black plastic wall folder holders ($3 a piece), covered in fabric and added a

          burlap flower (all from my stash)

        - bought some cork ($3) to put in my lovely white frame (from my stash)

        - covered two small canvases in owl fabric (both from my stash)

        - bought a shelf and brackets ($20) {probably could have gotten this for cheaper, but I picked

          stuff I liked rather than what was cheapest}

        - added chevron fabric to an open back frame (both from my stash)

All in all, its still a work in progress, but its starting to come together. My favorite part is how the fabrics all just sorta fell together without a plan. I randomly picked the rust color fabric for the folder holders before I even knew I was gonna do a shelf or anything else. Then I decided to do the canvases to cover some ugly holes in the wall (left over from the fiances bachelor pad days lol) and discovered that the owl fabric matched perfect. Then I wanted something to add some color to the shelf and realized that my chevron fabric matched the owl fabric. And, since I'm in love with chevron, that was a definite happy moment for me lol. So obviously its not some magazine worthy DIY redo or anything, but for me I count it as a success!

 

 

Sometimes you just gotta DIY

 

I was looking to reorganize my desk area and wanted some of these wall folder holder things. Of course all the cute ones were super expensive. So enter my “I can do anything” attitude and I walked out with these super cheap black ones. Grabbed some fabric and burlap flowers out of my stash and voila - cute DIY organization! I’m just gonna be honest, I’m pretty impressed with myself hahaha.

Why so chicken??

Anyone who knows me knows that I have quite a bit of social anxiety. I get really nervous about hanging out with people I don't really know and hanging out in large groups (whether I know the people or not). Well, one of my goals for this year was to work on overcoming that anxiety. I took a super big step this weekend and I'm pretty proud of myself! I got invited to go out with a group of ladies for a birthday celebration. Now, that doesn't sound like a very big deal, but I only knew one person and I've never hung out with that person. So for me, it was like going out with an entire group of people I didn't know. That's huge for me!! But, it was totally worth it. I had so much fun and was able to make some new friends. Step one - accomplished!! I realize that this issue isn't going to be solved by one outing - it may never completely go away. But, with every awkward and anxious situation I brave, I know the next will be a little easier.

Since then...

I can't believe I haven't posted since September! It really doesn't seem like its been that long. What have I been up to since September? Well, I had another birthday, got my second tattoo, started my first quilt, and graduated college! Here's some of my favorite pictures from the last few months.

 

 Well, now its a new year. I know this year will hold a lot of changes but I think I'm finally ready for them. Now that I've graduated, I'm starting a whole new chapter and I couldn't be more excited to see what it holds!!