Simple & Cheap Way to Style Your Furniture! {DIY}

 

College graduation brought on a very busy Summer, which led to very little time at home, which led to quite a long over due to-do list. On my ridiculously long list of things to get done before Summer ends, one was my guest room. Because we live in a 2 bedroom town home and it's only my boyfriend and I, we are lucky enough to have a spare bedroom with plenty of room to host guests that come visit us for the weekend (or sometimes much longer than that). In our spare bedroom we have a bed, a book case, a closet full of my clothes, and my dressing table. I have so many hair and makeup products that I decided earlier this year to stop hostilely taking over our bathroom and move all my dressing bits and bobs to the spare room that doesn't get much use (especially now that I'm out of school and homework free, SO WEIRD I KNOW) . I'm still looking to keep the room presentable for guests while keeping all of my products out of sight as much as possible. I've been using these clear drawers for everything since I was a fresh-faced 18 year old that moved out and couldn't afford real furniture. 

Yes my mattress and box spring still sit directly on the floor in both rooms. Judge me...

Anyways, I've been looking to find a way to hid the mess inside the clear bins and stumbled across the greatest piece of crafting tool ever while puroosing the clearance aisle in Target. So basically if you're looking for a cheap and (semi)simple way to style your eye-soars, here you go! It has made my dressing area so much cleaner to the eye and makes my time spent getting ready (somewhat) more exciting!

Materials you will need:

• Scissors
• Measuring Roll, the flexible kind
• Scotch Tape
• Box Cutter
• Adhesive Drawer Liner from Target. They have a variety of patterns for different prices. I got mine in the clearance/$1 section for $3 :)
• Drawers, like mine from the company Sterilite which I think can be found at most Target stores

 

You will see that on the bottom side of the liner that there is a grid, which is super helpful for cutting straight lines! I basically just measured out the front of each drawer's face. It's important to use a flexible measuring roll so that you can get the curve of the drawer's face. I gave about an inch extra on each side so as to make sure the liner would wrap all the way around.

  

When I finally cut the liner and stuck it on the front, I used scotch tape to make sure to the edges stayed down and didn't get peeled off as I opened and closed the drawers.  I then used the box cutter to cut slits in the liner right where the drawer handles were and tucked the liner around the handle, using tape to make sure the liner stayed in place around the edges of the handle as well. 

  

 

I had extra liner so I then measured out the indent on the top of the drawers to add a little more. I think the top piece really pulls it all together!

 

One more step I thought would be cute is to get stickers and put words on the front of each drawer. I would love to have black letters in beautiful font that said, "live" "laugh" "love" or something like that! 

Next step is the bed, bookcase, walls, and closet! Wish me luck <3

 xoxo

Most Beautiful Coastal Getaway

It's Monday morning now and to kick off a week of paper-writing, note-taking, test-passing, and butt-kicking I want to recap my amazing weekend on the coast! My guy surprised me with an amazing trip to Cannon Beach, Oregon to celebrate my birthday together. The hotel we stayed at is called the Stephanie Inn and it was the nicest hotel I've ever been to!

When we arrived the bellhop brought in our bags (fancy right?!) and gave us a tour of the place. There were balloons and a card on the bed when we arrived as well as two cupcakes with a candle and a cupcake shaped bath fizz. So sweet! The bellhop told us that there were 300 complimentary movies for us to choose from and if we wanted popcorn, just give them a ring because they love delivering it. It was the best service I had ever experienced.

 

 

 

Our back door looked right out on to the beach. We enjoyed much of our day and evening sitting out in the sun, listening to the waves, and sipping our wine.

 

 

There were a couple different little fun events that the hotel did. Every afternoon before dinner they did a free tasting of local wine, beer, and cheese. It was so good. After dinner they had another tasting of some dessert wines and actual desserts. These were definitely little perks that made our trip that much better. 

 

 

 

If you've ever been to or heard of Cannon Beach then you are probably familiar with the monumental  Haystack Rock. Our room had a beautiful view of it. This was taken right from our room. It was the most beautiful weekend in February to be on the coast.

 

 

 

 We were graced with the most beautiful sunset and got to enjoy our drinks, chat about nothing, and take it in with the salty air. I can't tell you how rejuvenating this trip was for both of us.

 

The next morning after breakfast we took a walk to Haystack Rock because low tide allowed us to walk right up to it and see the tide pools. It was very cool! 

 

 

Every once in a while we just need some time away from all the chaos. Every year since I can remember I have had a huge party and a crazy weekend with all of my closest friends to celebrate my birthday. Now that we live 200 miles from all of our closest friends and family you would think that I would want to keep that going. I'm going to be honest, it's been a rough year for me. I really just wanted to reconnect with myself and my guy for a weekend. It just so happens that this is exactly what the doctor ordered. If you are ever over-whelmed almost to the breaking point, I highly recommend taking a weekend away, preferably to the coast. It's important to take care of yourself mentally and the ocean is the best medicine for that in my opinion. Hope everyone is having a great year so far. 

Blessings.

Hardly a Quarter Life Crisis

As my 23rd year of life slowly stalks me and threatens to swallow me up in about two short weeks, I'm beginning to really think about what the heck I'm doing with myself. Is it nostalgia? Sleep deprivation? Or perhaps it's the insane pressure our culture puts on us at a young and naive age to choose what we're going to do with ourselves that pushes me to the brink of insanity as I write this post.
I look at myself now as I sit in my office with my steaming cup of coffee, pumpkin buttercream candle flickering, and fat stack of textbooks on hand and wonder if every 22-almost-23-year-old is feeling this same way. It's an age where I feel like I've had my fun and now that I am almost a college graduate (just 114 days!!) and have been out of my parents house for almost 5 years, that I need to start my career, get married, have babies, etc etc. This is where I'm just plain confused because I feel stuck in a rut. Or maybe it's more of a limbo between feeling like I should be doing something more, but not being able to because I'm still in school and only working part time. But wait! Isn't this a time that I'm supposed to go travel the world and be free and not have anything holding me down?! What have I been doing renting homes, raising a dog, maintaining a healthy relationship, and planning for my future these past five years?! Everyone tells me that this is my time to be "selfish" so am I supposed to throw this all away? Will I regret the decisions I am making right now when I look back on my twenties in 50 years? Questions with no answers. It's all a matter of perspective and opinion. Our perception is our reality and we accept the life we think we deserve, but we also create the life we think we deserve.
2015 has been the most challenging year I have gone through so far, but I have very high hopes for it and big plans that need to be set in place. It's only February and much to soon to write off an entire year. I hope that no one forgets that your life is what you make it. Hard times may be happening, but this too shall pass.

Blessings & Love

Christmas Baking

It's Christmas Eve and I spent all of the eve of Christmas Eve getting my baking done to bring to family today (and yes I did in fact jam out to Frank Sinatra's Christmas album as I baked)! It was a lot of work, but so much fun. I feel that the holidays are the best excuse for getting carried away with over the top treats :)

This year I made Christmas tree brownies, white chocolate dipped pretzel rods sprinkled with different things, Andes mint cookies, and peanut butter loss cookies.

Above are my Christmas tree brownies & pretzels

For my pretzel rods I used Ghiradelli white chocolate melted over the stove top. Then I coated each with either sprinkles, crushed candy cane, M&Ms, or coconut flakes! Yumm! It's my first time attempting these and I'm very pleased with them.

Above are my personal favorite; the Andes mint cookies. I used Devils food cake mix to make the cookies then placed an Andes mint on top when they were fresh out of the oven, swirled it around, and here's the delicious outcome! I put some sprinkles on as well, but as you can see...it didn't really work out. 

I made my usual brownies then cut them into little triangles. I just used some green icing and red M&Ms to decorate. I attempted candy cane tree trunks, but I figured people probably wouldn't eat them anyways and they were a pain to break and shove into the brownie so I gave up lol!

Hope everyone has a very blessed holiday in whatever you celebrate. I'm off to watch How The Grinch Stole Christmas, my favorite! 

xoxo

Tis the Season!

It's finally the season for warm fires, dark lips, hot coffee, cuddly puppies, cozy sweaters, the cutest decorations ever, late night shopping, spending time with loved ones, gift wrapping, and beautiful Christmas lights on the tree!

I'm dreaming of Maui since that's where I'll be spending my December :) 

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!

3 Ways to be a Better Student

1) Manage Your Time
Nothing makes life more difficult than having 5 assignments due tomorrow morning and you have to work an 8 hour shift until 10:00pm tonight. There are a couple different ways to manage your time better.

• Plan your day out, scheduling homework as the first task to be finished before doing anything else
• Plan your week out, scheduling an assignment for each day & stick to it!

 2) Get a Planner
Planners save my life. They actually aid me in accomplishing better time management. I write everything down in my planner and mark something off once I have accomplished it. It helps me to take on a big paper little bits at a time and to make sure I don't get overloaded with assignments the night before they're due. Here's a little picture of my planner:

3) Take Time Off
Don't be afraid to take a day off to just relax. I personally get anxiety over having homework that isn't done that I know is going to take me a long time, so sometimes I can't relax until I finish it. Other days, I know that I need to just relax before I lose my mind so I sit my butt on the couch and watch Netflix, bake something, clean my house, or do some shopping to ease my mind and reward myself. Treating yourself to a day off (even when you think you shouldn't) is really important! Last month when I felt like I hadn't had a day off in ages, I took a day to go anywhere I wanted (Target, Michaels, Fred Meyer, etc) and didn't hurry myself at all. Then I went home and put some cute little decorations in my home that I bought for 70% off. It was a really great feeling.
 

These tips aren't only applicable for students, but really for anyone that is busy! Don't forget that the hard work will pay off one day friend! What are some things you do to help you be a better student/parent/friend/employee?

Autumn Days

Lately I've been enjoying all the beautiful autumn scenes, much more than years past. I have become quite obsessed with trying to capture the beauty on camera and here I want to share what I've got. Keep in mind that each picture Is literally not even a fraction as gorgeous as the real thing was. Enjoy!

I find it so difficult to do the Earth justice through the lens of a camera..it's something I definitely want to work on. What's your favorite camera to use? I'm looking to getting one soon!