Weekend Wrap Up

Well this is my last weekend of my staycation and I wanted to do something fun for the hubby and I. We had planned on going down to the city and getting a hotel but he ended up working on Saturday so that put a dent in our plans. I'll be honest I was totally bummed (okay bummed is an under statement I was pissed because I knew what the outcome would be) because I knew with my husband working on Saturday that he would be dead tired the rest of the day because he got up so early. However I would try and make the most of it, when he got home we went out to lunch to this local resturant in our town and was the food yummy!

Started off with our favorite- calamari. It was delicious! There was so much to choose from but we decided to stick with appetizers for our meal- keep it fun and light. Next we decided to order this Tater tot Explosion. Yes it sounds deadly and good and loaded with calories (thank god I worked out everyday this week and most days doing double work outs).

Is your mouth watering yet?? Needless to say we barely put a dent into it because it was extremely filling.


In the evening we went out to dinner and then was suppose to go see a friends band play but the hubby was tired so we called it a night very early on.


I also have been having this bug up my butt to finish our house- let me rephrase- our house is finished but I want to do some major redecorating and construction. About a year & a half ago we redid our master bedroom which I thought after that project we may never get married (we were engaged at the time). It's hard because my husband is very handy and well I just have a opinion about anything so we both thought we were right, in the end I got my way. What I hate about redecorating is that well I want to start in one place and I guess logically speaking it makes sense to start in another- as my husband likes to point out which is probably what I get for having a husband who has a construction background. So our first plan of attack is redoing our upstairs bathroom and I mean gutting it- new toilet, bathtub, sink, counter top, flooring, painting, & light fixture. That's a lot to swallow! That's the starting point to get to the room which I really want to redo which is our hallway- I have all these great ideas for it!


So off the Home Depot we went so my husband could see exactly what I had up my sleeve and how much money I was planning on spending oh and not to mention how much work I was making for him. Surprisingly we didn't end up in a fight this time (normally we do because I just want something that looks pretty not even looking at the cost or how to install it that's his job not mine). Now going to Home Depot is not fun for me- so looking at toilets and bathtubs gets old real fast however I needed to stay focused because this was something I was going to have to live with. So here is what I found at Home Depot. . .

Here is a option for a bathtub

The middle toilet is the one I'm loving- never thought I would say this about a toilet. The top of the toilet bowl thing looks like it has crown molding- a nice and different touch

I was feeling very accomplished with what I've picked out and surprisingly hubby was liking or at least in agreence with what I was picking out. We then started looking at tile and stone for the shower and then I had this really cool idea to do this one little half wall a different color than the paint color of the rest of the bathroom. Let me rephrase that not color but a fun tile- so I found exactly what I was looking for and we had agreed on a stone for the shower! Take a look at one of our options. 

This is the glass tile that I want- I would put it on our half wall to add a little POP in the bathroom

This is the stone that I want for our shower and then incorporate the glass tile above- love how this looks!


So with a few things in place and some options on the table we just need to pick out a few more things and we are ready to lock & load!! Trust me there will be many many posts about construction and the fights and options this bathroom will bring. 

Life Planner Accessories

If you have been reading my blog you know that I have found a fabulous new planner called the Life Planner. Now while the planner itself is important I find that what you choose to write with is equally as important. You don't want something that is plain and boring but you also don't want markers that are going to leak through. I had been using my go Papermate Felt Tip markers that worked well but some of the colors are boring. Well over my staycation I came across the Sharpie's that are fine tip and while I was nervous they would leak through I only bought one to test out. It was a success!! I of course ran back to the store to stock up on different colors. 

Now my planner won't be boring with just two colors I will have an assortment. 

As you can tell I have been quite busy @ Crossfit! 

New Post Idea

So we all know how I have this obsession with nail polish and more nail polish it's no secret. So when I was out with Chris we were talking about the nail polish trends and different brands that we love (personally I love Essie) she gave me this great idea. I love nail polish and I'm always getting my nails done and I am a bit OCD on how my nails look (I swear my nail people are saints but I tip well) that I should do a post about what my current color is and the style. Genius! Why didn't I think of this??? 


So here goes my first post . . .


So right now I've been seeing the trend where people either have their ring finger nail painted a different color than the rest or have a top coat of glitter. While the different color isn't an option for me (stupid dress code rules) I can get away with the glitter top coat and I have to say I love. Here are some pics of what I mean . . .

Adorable right?? You can have so much fun with this too. So I decided that I wanted to try this out so I decided to use one of my current fav colors by Essie called ChinChilly

Then for my ring finger the top coat being Disco Ball also by Essie 

Here was the outcome . . . 

What do you think?? I personally love. This may be a trend that I will be sporting for awhile. Do you have a favorite nail polish combo??

Project: Organization

So as one my tasks on my bucket list for my staycation was to organize and get rid of clothes in my closets and drawers. I got up this morning and didn't waste any time getting to the task at hand. Here is my before pictures . . . 

As you can see just very disorganized and not neat and pretty. So I had in mind that I would be getting rid of a TON of clothes however that wasn't the case I only got rid of maybe 10 things in total. Which I guess this is a good thing because I haven't been buying things that I don't need and I'm wearing everything I own. However I can say I never realized just how many work out clothes I actually own- haha. Considering besides work the gym is the next place I spend most of my time it would only be natural for me to have a ton of work out clothes. So I got to work on re-organizing- I tried every item of clothing on and decided if it was something to keep or donate. Yes I did have a couple meltdowns along the way because something wasn't fitting the way I thought it should and for as much as I work out and eat healthy. Thank god for good friends and text messaging because some texts were flying during those meltdowns but I got through it. So here is my final result . . .

Can you tell I'm into neon colors at the moment for my work out clothes?? 

My small pile of 'give away' clothes

My new re-organized work out drawer. These are just my shirts  & sports bras

My daily wear jeans 

Okay so an updated look still a work in progress- I really need to get all new wooden hangers for consistency

I feel very accomplished and happy with my project and better yet I don't feel the need to run out to the store and get new items. 

Vacation Bucket List

So on Sunday I officially started my 10 staycation! Because I work in retail and work for a great company I am given 6 days of comp time because of all the crazy hours we put in during the holiday season, so those 6 comp days plus my days off and a holiday for MLK = 10 days of freedom! I was going to plan a trip down to Austin to visit my best friend 

but my grandma isn't doing the very best so I decided to stay close to home- however I am LONG LONG overdue to a trip to Austin. To maximize my 10 days off I decided to make a bucket list so I could stay organized and not let my days slip by me. Here is what I have so far . . . 

I already accomplished one thing off my list and that was having a Coffee day with Chris (did that yesterday! Check!) and tomorrow I am re-organizing my closets and drawers- get ready for that post. Wednesday I made my appt to get my tires rotated (I know so exciting). Plus I'm trying to get two work outs in a day-- yes a little obsessed I know I know.So seeing as though it has only been my second day of staycation I would say I'm on a good role. I would also like to finish my current read- I'm 56% complete so it's looking hopeful :) 

Weekend Wrap Up

As most of you probably know I don't normally do things on my weekends because first off I work retail so most the time I'm working and secondly I'm perfectly content staying home chillin with the hubs or reading a good book. However this weekend I actually had some plans! A friend from the gym (aka my second home) was organizing a girls night and had invited me. I was so pumped I kinda felt like I was going on a date. Lame?? So if anyone lives in the Midwest we all know that we were suppose to get hit with a snow storm on Friday. I thought to myself, 'Of course the one night I have plans to do something the weather won't corporate.' Plus I could really use a drink seeing as though the only thing that was keeping me from my vacation was one day left of work. I texted my friend on Friday and had asked if we were still on seeing as though the snow storm was coming. Her response: "No snow is keeping me from staying in tonight." That is my kind of response! So since I was heading out for a girls night I felt like I needed something fresh and new so I stopped at my favorite store (The Gap) to see what they had for Spring. While I wasn't WOWed by anything I did find this cute cardigan. 

I thought it would be adorable with some cute black leggings an a plain white tank top underneath. I figured I'd buy it and see if I was in the mood to wear it later plus I had a 30% off so I couldn't resist. 

 I ended up leaving work 30 min. early to try and get a head start on getting home. Now mind you it took me 20 minutes just to get onto the expressway and then when I got on this is what I was welcomed too.... 

Jealous I know

I mean we live in Chicago and it's the middle of January why am I so surprised??  So an hour and a half  later going no faster than 5 mph on the expressway this was still my view ...


Mind you this is my half way point- looks like a good hour until I get home

I just kept telling myself that I was in no hurry and I had plenty of time until girl's night. Plus I had a well at this point a half a cup of coffee a fully charged cell phone and my ear buds to talk so I was all good. Which by the way THANK GOD for the ear buds for my iPhone because it made the drive totally doable because I was still able to talk away and be hands free :) 
Finally 2 1/2 hours later I finally arrived home! Now just to give you an idea of how long it takes me to commute to work on a normal day- 20 minutes.. tops! Now I had to get ready for a fun night out- thankfully we were meeting up in my downtown area so it was a great middle point for everyone. 
After some appetizers and several glasses of red sangria later I was feeling good! I also had the most amazing sleep ever! It was very hard to get out of bed the next morning. 

I made it through my last day of work and then at 6:00 pm I offically got to say I'm on VACATION!!! Woo hoo! I went home snuggled in bed with the hubby and watched movies until we both fell asleep. Couldn't have asked for a better way to start my vacation. 

On Sunday morning Chris and I had a coffee date at none other but the mall. I just can't seem to get away. But it was good that we met up there because I ended up ordering this amazing handbag- well it's really a men's bag (you can't tell the difference) but it is the perfect size and crossbody! I have an obsession with crossbodies lately. 

Love Love Love! 

I cannot wait to get this delivered to me! It will fit everything that I carry on a daily basis. Plus my boss has it in black and it's adorable on her so I had to jump on the bandwagon on this one. Once I ordered my bag we met up at Starbucks and nice little chit chat over some hot warm coffee.


We then got our shopping on! I found a steal at J. Crew- I got a adorable rubber leopard iPad 2 case for $13! It was orginally $40! I couldn't pass it up. Then I was able to find this new Essie nail polish that I had been looking for. . . 




I'm really into the trend of painting my ring finger nail with a pop of glitter. Chris had an amazing day and found some adorable shirts.
Here is a little photo montage of her options. . .     
A cute top that she got for only $6!



A really pretty necklace that she ended up not getting because it $150- plus she has the exact same thing in black


Oh this fabulous outfit?? This was her shopping outfit she came in- adorable!

Overall I couldn't have asked for a better weekend and a first day of my vacation! 

Favorite Things Party!!

Now before you get excited let me just say no Oprah did not decided to bring back a final episode of her Favorite Things and I was one of the lucky ones who got a golden ticket (would be nice though) but one of my best friends Chris has decided to put together a Favorite Things Party. First of this is genius I thought and secondly only she could come up with something so creative. Getting invited to one of her parties is pretty much like getting asked to the hottest party on the block- she throws these amazing parties with every detail thought of. So when she told me about the idea (I got the inside scoop) before she decided to move forward with it I told her what a great idea and perfect time of year to do this. So the concept is as such: You have to get 5 of the same things that are one of your favorite things but the kicker is that it has to be under $6. At first I thought okay no problem I can do that. Then she asks me, "Well what are you going to do?" I froze. I was stumped I have no idea what I was going to do because once I got to thinking of my favorite things none of which were really under $6. Plus I didn't want to be one of those people who gave just a gift card because well that was lame. So I have been racking my brain out for the last week on what to do for my favorite thing. I finally thought I had decided on something- you may all know my obsession with Essie nail polish and my signature color has become Topless & Barefoot. I receive so many compliments when I wear this color (which has become quite often). I thought PERFECT now I just have to wait for a Ulta coupon to bring it under the $6 price limit and I am good to go. So of course Chris checks in on me to see if I have chosen my item and when I told her she was excited but had said, "Well I think a lot of people are going to do nail polish but you can still do it." Ugh really?? I didn't want to do something that so many others were going to do as well. So I decided I would go back to the drawing board. So after a little guidance from Chris I have come up with my favorite thing and I am actually able to do two favorite things for under the $6 price point. 


You'll have to wait until Feb 18th to see what I chose! 


So what is your favorite thing under $10?? 

Life Planner

I am the type that needs to be as organized as possible and for me that involves planners. I don't have a lot going on in my social life but I do like to plan out when I'm going to work out and when bills are due and get my nails done, etc. As for my work life that is non-stop and an on going lists of To-Do's. So for the last 6 years I had been using my Coach planner for my personal life and it was doing the job but when it came time to buy my refill I was having hard time doing it because I felt like I wanted a change. I use a Franklin & Covey for my work life and I know the Franklin & Covey "way" is to integrate both work & personal but I had a really hard time doing that. For example if I was at work and I come across something that I need to do at home I don't want to get sidetracked at work with my personal stuff and vice verse. Plus with me amping up my work outs at Crossfit we are suppose to keep track of our daily work outs and I haven't been the best at keeping track of all that so I wanted to get in a good habit of keeping all that information. 
  Awhile back I had remembered that Groupon had an offer for this website called Erin Condren but I never purchased the offer (kicking myself now!) but I bookmarked the website. I checked out the website because I remember it had some cute stuff on it. I saw that they had planners but not just any planner but what they called a Life Planner. Which just the wording Life Planner was totally something I would go for and the fact that it had all these great tools for my personal life was amazing. Check out exactly what I'm going gaga over here. Amazing right?!? I know I know. 
 The life planner was a little expensive and since I couldn't see it and feel it I was a little hesitant to purchase. So I googled some reviews and there were TONS! Some people even did video blogs and while I contemplated this idea for you guys (and still may) I just couldn't do it quite yet. All had been very positive so I decided to bite the bullet and just order it. I picked my pattern and customized it with my name on the cover. It took almost 3 weeks and it was a long 3 weeks of me waiting and waiting. FINALLY it had arrived!! I was stalking the Fed Ex website for two days to track my package because it couldn't come soon enough. But when it did I couldn't have been more excited. I swear this could have been my only Christmas present and I would have been okay with it. 


Of course I documented every moment of the arrival and me opening it... 

My current COACH personal planner

The front of my planner

The box that holds my long awaited Life Planner

How cute is this box?? 

This was my cute surprise when I opened the box

My cute little goodies I got from Erin Condren

In my shipment I received this cute brown envelope filled with some little personalized surprises 

How adorable?! They are cute little note cards in case I wanted to drop a little note to a friend

Here is the front of my planner- I'm in LOVE

The fabulous tabs that were a new addition to the Life Planner this year 

Months for the whole year with any special dates you want to put in for a later date

Your month at a view- what I love is that every month has a different color scheme. Also perfect for logging all my bills

To Do's & Goals for the month- great way to give a big picture of your month

Your Week at a view- It's split into Morning/Day/Night- at first I didn't think I would like this layout but I've actually grown to really enjoy the separation during the day

Lots & Lots of room to write notes for any many of reasons

A spot to put any important numbers you need for quick reference  

A note page behind every Month at a View 

These amazing cute stickers to mark certain events- Wedding, No Work, Party, etc. Who doesn't love a POP of color from a sticker?? 

More Stickers w/different events

Blank stickers to add your own events- Love Love Love! 

A great double sided folder to keep any loose papers and such

A fabulous clear pocket to keep any important things- I keep my goodies from Erin in her in case I want to drop a little note to anyone. 

I have to say now that I've had a few weeks to really utilize my planner I'm completely obsessed with everything about it. I would also like to mention that I've become very diligent in writing down all my work outs. I would def. order this again for next year.