Hello Friends!  I can not believe it is almost October already! That means it is time for Halloween!  Any ideas what you or your little one will be this year?  I did my Halloween decorating this weekend... and also made a simple picture ledge for above our bed.



I'm teaming up with Blooming Belles for Monday May I... to help plan out my week


{ONE} Start a book:  I've been in a Vampire Diaries marathon over the weekend (new season starts this week!)  and I've been skimping on the reading.  I definitely need to start a new book, or an old one.  Pride and Prejudice anyone?


{TWO} Drink more water: When I was working in an office, my co-workers and I would have water challenges... who could drink the most water fastest!  It was a great way to get rid of two pounds.  I'm going to try and get back into that this week.


{THREE} Crunches all the time:  I used to be CRAZY about crunches.  Like 1000 crunches a day crazy.  I won't lie, when I did that many a day I had some pretty good abs.  I need to get those back, so hello crunches all the time.  I would like to do 5000 crunches by Friday.  1000 a day... lets go!



Hope y'all had a great weekend!

Time for the best day of the week... Friday!  I'm linking up with fellow bloggers Carolina Charm, The Good Life, A. Liz Adventures , and Hello Happiness for some Five on Friday fun :)


{ONE} Monroe:  My new fish friend is most certainly at the top of the list this week!  Monroe is such a cutie and he will follow my finger all over his bowl!  Its nice to have a friend by new desk while I work, and Monroe loves to watch me type!

{TWO} Fall decorations: Now that I finally have an apartment I've been able to put out some of my fall decorations!  I've been saving up wine bottles for a while so I could make cute Halloween bottle decorations :)


{THREE} Vampire Diaries: Unfortunately, I've fallen into a Vampire Diaries marathon.  The new season does premiere soon, and I need to be ready. Can you blame me?


{FOUR} Styling: Even though I don't dress to impress every single day, I wish I would! So i'm really enjoying creating some cool outfits for my blog readers!  I base most of my outfits from the things I already have in my closet... so its nice to go look at my posts of outfit ideas.  You can check out some of my outfits over HERE on my Style page.


{FIVE} GPS: A big new city with a lot of traffic.  I would be totally and completely lost without my gps on my phone!

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Hello friends!  New York Fashion week has ended.  Seeing all the beautiful women in their beautiful clothes makes me want to dress up! BUT! I'm a very lucky lady to be joining the ranks of work from home-rs. I've already slipped into the pajama game.  I'm terrified I'll continue to wake up and walk to my computer. [Okay, maybe brush my teeth as well]

I want to still dress for work, maybe not as business-y as I did when I was at the office, but still nice.  I really think it will help me stay focused on the files for the day.  So I put together some easy cute outfits I could wear to work @ home :) As always, all outfits are actually affordable!  And yes I wear leggings as pants, don't judge, I won't have this butt forever, so might as well embrace it now.

We have just moved to our third state in a year and half!  Gosh, time certainly flies... I wanted to make a piece for our new apartment that highlighted all of places we've lived so far and when I saw this idea on Pintrest, I just had to make a custom one!  And, if we move, again,  we can always add more maps...



What you need:
Your maps from HERE (open the preview and then right click and save as a gip)
a frame or two (your size will depend on how many states you use)

Print out your maps.  Your frame size will determine what size to print out your maps.  My frames are 5x7 (only $3 each from Wal-Mart) but with the matting I had to print out 3x5 maps.  Cut out your maps.


Add a nice piece of cardstock behind the maps.  I'm framing my maps next to a black and gold mirror so I thought I'd stick with the flow and paint my cardstock gold.  Throw the maps in the frame and BadaBing!



Instant Art :)  If you've only lived in one state, you can open the map up to "print" and it will print out as the whole page, this way you can have a nice big map to frame :)


Ps - There is a new friend working in my office... Monroe is the name I've chosen for my new office fish friend :) 

Hello friends!  Today I'm doing another link up with Blooming Belles for Monday May I...  A fun new link-up where you can share you three big goals for the week!  Its a great way to stay on track with plans you have for the week :)  You can link up HERE


We had a great weekend!  We went to an awesome brewery in Deep Ellum on Saturday morning AND I got a really cool cup!  For some reason I have an obsession with cups.  Everywhere we go, if I can get a cup... Ima geta cup!  The rest of Saturday was spent at Oktoberfest in Addison.  We always say we're going to go to the real Oktoberfest each year, but we don't.  So this is apparently the next best thing!  We had a great time and it really was like Oktoberfest!  And I got another cup...


Sunday, we finally bought my desk for my home office!  It came from Ikea and I put the whole thing together myself!  Dillon offered to do it for me, but I'm a woman's woman!  Psh, I'll do that myself!  And success!  I'll have you know I only messed up three times... We also watched World War Z last night.  Have you seen that movie yet?  One word: INTENSE! So good!  I think I might even buy that one of Blu Ray!



Without further adieu... Monday May I...



{ONE} Fall Decorate:  I am going to fall decorate, I am going to fall decorate, I am going to fall decorate!  If I don't do it now, I may not ever :-)  Pintrest has been a big inspiration...

{TWO} Pillows:  Our couch pillows are... well they're not the best.  I made them last year to go with our green living room.  We now have a blue/grey accent wall.  I am definitely going to go to Joanne's this week and pick out some fabulous grey fabric for our new couch pillows 


{THREE} Driving:  Dallas driving = TERRIFYING!  Everywhere you go, you have to go on a highway and there are always a million, bajillion cars... I have a nystagmus (my eyes shake back and forth) and when I'm nervous or stressed it gets worst.  This condition does not make it easy to drive...  Needless to say, I'm scared to drive in Dallas.  I must conquer this fear and I will!  Wish Goldie and I luck!

Wishing you all a Happy Monday!

Thank god its Friday night and I just, Just, JUst, JUSt, JUST... GOT PAID! money, money, money... Okay so I didn't just get paid, but that Nsync song always comes in my head on Fridays!  This week has been exausting.  Getting the apartment in order has been exhausting.  Not having internet and traveling diner to coffee shop to computer lab for work has been exhausting.  But... Thank god it's Friday!  I'm linking up with bloggers:Carolina Charm, The Good Life, A. Liz Adventures , and Hello Hapiness for the Five on Friday Link-up. And the lovely Lauren Elizabeth. who hosts High Five for Friday :)


{ONE} Colder weather: Okay so its not much colder than Tampa... but Thursday morning I walked to my new favorite little diner to grab some breakfast and I was wearing my typical maxi skirt, tank top, old navy combination and I was kinda chilly!  It was awesome! I'm really hoping Dallas has a nice fall this year :) Buh-bye all year long swimming pools! Please note my legs are actually ghastly pasty, I don't know why they look like golden brazilian legs here...


{TWO} the BEST Chai Latte: I've been a Chai fan since I was introduced to the wonder of Soy Chai Lattes in college.  But this Chai Latte. OMG. It was perfect and it was very foamy on the top, which added to my "chilly" fall-ish day yesterday

{THREE} J.Crew necklace:  I will never, ever be able to afford this necklace... the price is steep at $155, but its still gorgeous to look at!  I've asked my Mom, MaddieCat and Me, if she could make something similiar... here's to hoping!

{FOUR} Printables:  I created this printable for Blooming Belles yesterday. Its a way to keep my html color codes in check, since I designed my blog design.  This was the first printable I ever made and I gotta say, it was pretty fun!  I'm falling in love with creating graphic-design-esque things!  Click HERE to print out your own copy!

{FIVE} A fish friend:  One of the first times my boyfriend and I went out, we went and bought me a Beta Fish.  Her name was Oceana and she was the best... I think it is almost for me to get a new friend... What do you think!?  I'm thinking of naming her Moss...

Have a great weekend everyone!

These five tips have saved me tons of time.  You should start using this tips NOW!


{ONE} Tissue box meets bags:  Plastic bags, Plastic bags, Plastic bags.  Do you have any idea how many plastic bags were under our sink?  Seems like a cajillion.  I am trying to switch us over to the fabric bags as I am on a mission to save the world by making an effort I can, but somehow we still have a million bags.  So what you need is an empty tissue box... thats it!  Stuff the bags in there... I don't know how but all of our bags fit into this tiny box... such a space saver1



{TWO} Straws meet necklaces:  This saved me a lot of hassle when we moved.  Slip each of your delicate necklaces into straws.  I was able to put all of my necklaces into the same bag and NONE of them got tangled up! Thank you Sew Many Ways for this awesome idea!


{THREE} Binder clip meets wallet:  Every time I go to the Coach store I want to buy one of those pretty tiny card holders, but I don't.  I switch purses often and when I go out I end up carrying a tiny wristlet that my wallet doesn't fit into.  Have a binder clip?  Keep all your cards and your keys on that! Wanna make it cuter?  Paint the binder clip :)


{FOUR} Tilex meets mold:  When we were moving from Tampa to Dallas the caulk in our shower had mold on it.  Since its caulk I was puzzled how to get the mold off.  I scrubbed, I scrounged, I used vinegar, I used toilet cleaner. Nothing would move this mold.  I was about to give up, but then I found Tilex Mold and Mildew.  Spray a ton on and leave it on overnight.  Come back in the morning and the mold is gone! I didn't even have to wipe it off!  Its like the bathroom angel came and it scrubbed it away for me!  Get this stuff, pronto!


{FIVE} Wash meets uh wash:  I started menu planning recently and its been a big success.  I actually make different dinners every night and I don't get the "chicken again?" look.  I'm on a quest to become a domestic goddess, hahaha yeah, and doing wash all Sunday used to be my thing.  I'd do eight loads on Sunday, sit on my bed, watch True Blood and Sex and the City re-runs while I folded.  But now! I've started a new system.  One laundry basket in the bathroom, when it fills up, I do the wash.  Thats it!  I do have to do a load a day, but its so much better than wasting my Sunday...

Hope at least one of these tips help you have an easier day!  Taking care of one man is hard, I can't image how all you Mommies do it!

Its easy to get wrapped up in our lives.  We want to be perfect wives and girlfriends, we want perfect houses, and perfect dream jobs.  As you might know I recently moved across country.  We had issues finding a perfect apartment for us.  We had to drive 16 hours in an air-condition-less car.  We had to sleep on an mattress while we waited for our belonging to arrive. I didn't pack any knives so I had to cut vegetables with plastic silverware...

Even writing this makes me gawk at my lack of humbleness.  I'm so lucky to have a wonderful boyfriend, a beautiful apartment and to live in a big USA city.  Please remember today how lucky you are for what you have!

I would love to buy one of the beautiful blog layouts seen on my favorite blogger's sites.  But I'm such a newbie, I don't want to invest until I'm sure of "who" my blog is.  So I've been teaching myself how to make my own buttons, banners, and how to write dreaded HTML code. 

I started with a blog layout that I had found on a free layout blogger site.  While it was pretty, it wasn't what I wanted.  I've always adored the blogs with their all white backgrounds and simple banners, so I decided to make one myself... the banner was vital.

Today I'll share how to make your own header for Blogger using one of my favorite free online programs: PicMonkey :)


1.  Go to your blogger home page and click on the template tab





2. Click on Customize




3.  Click on adjust widths and write down your widths for the next step...




4.  Go to Picmonkey.com and click on edit a photo.  Choose any picture you have on your computer.  Really it doesn't matter which picture :) Once you have that open, click on resize





5.  You want to pull out your number from you "adjust width" step.  [Mine is 1170].  Unclick the ''keep proportions'' and type in the first box your number minus 20 [1150] and in the second box 200 [if you want a bigger banner you may need to adjust your height] the press "apply"





6. Click on the sticker tool on the left side of the toolbox [butterfly]  Click on the geometric shapes and choose the rectangle




7.  Drag the rectangle over you entire picture and change it to whatever color you want.  I choose all white so it blends right into my blog background.  Now click on the merge tool on the top [DO NOT FORGET THIS!]



8.  Now you want to click on the text tool [Tt, right about the butterfly].  You now can add the name of you banner and change it to whatever color you like! If you have any images you want to be in your banner you can add them by using the "Your Own" button in the sticker tool :) Now click save on the top tool bar. [Don't x out of this window, your banner may not fit perfectly the same time and you can simply update the size using "resize" if it doesn't fit]



9.  This is important!  If you are using a white background banner save you banner as a PNG, this way the background will be transparent and will blend in properly! Save it to where is easy for you to find and head back over to your blogger homepage


10.  Click on the layout tab





11.  Click on edit on your header box



12.  Add your banner image from you new computer, make sure "shrink to fit" is NOT checked off and click on "instead of title and description"




13.  Click save and then preview your blog!  Your new banner should now be in place of you old one!  Again, if the size is not perfect, click back over to picmonkey and use the resize tool to get the right size :)  Make sure you press "save arrangement" out on your main layout page as well!




Hope this helps you make a perfectly Taylored banner :)