Saturday, December 31, 2011

The Start of Forever

Christmas was magical...

I spent the first few days of Christmas with my boyfriend's family.. We went to Wicked which was a great production and a lot of fun! 

I came home on Christmas Eve to spend time with my parents, sister and other family members. We had our traditional lasagna dinner on Christmas Eve and I went to bed snuggled up with sister. 

I woke up on Christmas morning to the traditional breakfast and gift opening. A few hours later after my aunt, uncle, grandma, and great grandma came the doorbell rang. Low and behold there was Josh. (Who I thought was still in his hometown and wouldn't be seeing until the following day)

Josh looked as nervous as I've ever seen him. He told me to sit down and that he had forgotten to give me a gift. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!!! 

After lots of tears of joy, I said yes! 

It was the best day of my life! I am having so much fun planning our wedding and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him! As I reflect on this year, and look forward to the new year I can't help but to be thankful for so much:

A cozy home, a cuddly dog, amazing friends, a supportive family, my wonderful fiance, my education.

2011 was a life changing and memorable year. Can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for me! 







Monday, December 19, 2011

Birchbox Review

I began getting Birchbox in November. Birchbox is a monthly subscription (much like a magazine). You pay $10 and get 4-5 beauty samples in the mail. This may seem like a lot of money, but if you buy high quality make up I think it's worth it. They also have a points program for every box you get, and every review you do you get 10 points. When you get 100 points you get $10 to spend in the Birchbox store. For my december box I got 70 points after doing the reviews (Thats almost to $10 =] ). You also get 50 points if one of your friends join..

Okay, enough explaining...

Here is my december birchbox
It looks like this when it comes in the mail...
The inside looks like this..
 When you open the box inside you'll find a card with the "theme" for the month and what products you are getting. It also gives you the price of the full size products.

All of the products I recieved in my December Box..

This is probably my favorite item that I recieved. It is the Incoco nail strips. The picture doesn't do them quite enough justice. They are sparkley and I can't wait to try them out! 
 The next products that I got was the Ahava Body Lotion and the Jouer Lip Gloss. I also really liked both of these products.
 The following products were my "bonus" products. There is always a little extra non-beauty product in the boxes. This months was the show stopper fashion tape and an enegery drink mix. I'm not sure if I'll use these products, not really my kind of thing!
 The next product was the amiko hair oil. I haven't used this, but my friend has and she really liked it. One down side to this product was that it leaked all over my box.
 This box also came with a $20 off a $75 purchase. Not too shabby!

This was my November Birch box.. minus one thing.

Two lotions..

 A lip treatment and a perfume. The perfume is Twirl by Kate Spade. I LOVE this perfume.
 This was Novembers "bonus". It is a hair tie. I am surprised with how much I like this!

The last product I got was a Zoya nail polish.  I was SO excited to get this because I had been wanting to try Zoya nail polish for a long time! I really liked it. I haven't used it a whole lot, but when I tested it out it seemed to really stay!



Interested in joining birchbox?


Wednesday, December 7, 2011

What gets me through..

Whether you are a student or not I think this time of year is pretty stressful. There is so much going on and not enough time to do all the things you want to do. After years of trying to hide under the covers, cry and give up around this time of year, I have FINALLY learned to take the time to smile. So what gets me through an endless to-do list, 14 hour days, and non-stop studying....

..Putting up our first Christmas tree..

(Then watching it fall down =] )

...A puppy who suddenly wants nothing more than to constantly be by his mommy's side..


...Remembering the ones I love...


..Seeing these 18 silly girls...


..Reading Good Books before Bed...

....AND...

RED nails until Christmas


What makes you smile when things get stressful?

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Think Happy. Be Happy.

This week, I've been extremely happy.. Life isn't perfect by any means, but there is just so much to be happy about. I wish we could all remember to focus on the happy. So here is what I leave with you today:
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(P.S. I just got an email saying my first birch box is on its way.. Can't wait to tell you all about it!)

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Something new...

I am obsessed with pinterest.com.... like most girls! There are so many fun ideas on there. The problem is: who actually has the time to make something they find on pinterest? 

Well when I saw this, I knew I was going to make it this weekend..


So I went to a few different Goodwill stores to look for an old spice rack.. Finally on Saturday I found this at Salvation Army for a whole $.99!


Sure, It wasn't as big as the one I saw on pinterest.. But thats the fun with all the ideas on there, you can't make them exactly like someone else did. You have to make it your own!! 

I brought the old spice rack home laid out some newspaper and got ready to spray paint...


I then sprayed and sprayed and sprayed...


While I was impatiently waiting for it to dry I found a piece of scrap paper I really liked.. And cut it to fit the back of the spice rack..


After it was done drying, I hot glued the edges and placed the scrap book paper on top. (I wouldn't recommend using hot glue. Maybe you could use a staple gun, I didn't because we don't own one!)


Next, I screwed on some hooks. This might not have to be done on everyones because they may already have hooks on them. 


Finally, I hung it on the wall.. and placed my favorite nail polishes on it!


Ta-Da! An up-cycled $0.99 spice rack becomes a display rack for my nail polishes!



The best part about this project was told to me by my wonderful boyfriend. Josh told me, "When you get sick of using it as a nail polish holder, you can use it as something else."

The possibilities are limitless!

Have you made something off of an idea you found on pinterest?!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

The simple things in life..

So many times in life we spend too much time in life worrying about the big things: politics, religion, bills, etc...

While these things are important and they help make us who we are, they often cover up all the little things in life...

...The little things in life that make us happy: footie pajamas, movies, candy, apple cider in the fall, and my favorite....

Nail Polish

...okay, I know.. there are much more important things in life than nail polish.. but nail polish is my little thing.. the little thing in life that just makes me so stupid-ly happy...

Last night I made a little trip to Ulta. A few months ago I saw this magnificent little thing in a bottle starring at me:
Pinned Image

Crown Me Already! from the O.P.I. Miss. Universe line.. I took one look at it, and new I needed it. So last night I marched into Ulta and went to make it mine..

The picture doesn't even begin to do it justice, it is so sparkly! I mean, who doesn't love a little sparkle..

Naturally, today I haven't been able to stop looking at my nails, and while on pinterest this afternoon I came across this beautiful little thing:

Pinned Image

Rainbow Connection from the Muppets O.P.I. collection. I couldn't resist and just had to order it. How fun is that?!

Even though life has been stressful, I still need to remind myself to take the time to smile about things.. even if it is just a silly sparkly nail polish.

What little things in life make you happy?
Take time to enjoy them today, you deserve it!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Home Sweet Home

After 3 weeks of un-packing, we've finally created a little, cozy home. It's not perfect, but it's ours! Moving consisted of: 90 degree weather, my dad cooking for us, my mom decorating for us, sleepy nights, and a confused puppy. (P.S. Rosco turns 2 on Sunday!)

Here's a peak into our little home...

I got this desk at the Salvation army. I picked up for around $25. Here is what it looked like when I got it..


And after sanding and a few coats of paint, here is the after:


I wanted to get some fun knobs for the drawers, but I never got around to it. Notice: The junk I try to hide in the corner and the giant stuffed dino.=]

One of the house-warming presents we got from my mom:

This clock is really neat. It has a lot of different colors in it and can be used with pretty much any decor.

I love this picture of the messy/half-empty book shelf wall in our living room:

Things I love about this picture:
  • Rosco laying by the door on the cool tile because it was probably 90 degrees in the house
  • The heap of shoes laying by him
  • The coat rack that sat in my parents first house by the door in their living room. (And the fact that it is totally unnecessary to have a coat rack out during this part of the year)
  • The stuff on the book shelves: A picture of my grandpa (Who my dad and myself were both named after) in his army uniform, A bamboo plant we got as house warming gift from L.D. and Amy, The Handy Man Encyclopedia's my mom gave Josh. They belonged to my other Grandpa and are super old, The emptyness of the top shelves (which have started to fill up already),  and some of the books that I have read this summer.
  • The basket of little Rosco's toys.

Another favorite part of my new house (and Rosco's)

The backyard is just big enough for little Rosco to run, play, and use as a potty.
Hidden on the side of the yard this picture was taken on is the patio. We have a little patio set completed with an umbrella my mom got us.

Now if only I could have a craft room like hers. =]

Friday, July 1, 2011

Hello Summer

Hello Summer.


Hello Beautiful Lake Michigan.


Hello FREEZING cold Lake Michigan water.


Hello Summer outings.


Hello again Lake Michigan (Are you catching a pattern? ;) We do live on the West Side)


Hello tranquility of our family farm.


Hello outings with friends.


Hello cheerleading open gyms.


Hello doggie play dates.


Hello trips to the dog park.

Hello lots of reading.
I am getting excited for a summer of fun. Although it's quite a ways into summer already, can you believe its July??
I can't wait to continue spending the summer with my friends, family, puppy, and getting our new home put together (I'll post about that soon).
As for now, it's Hello Kentucky! We're headed off to a wedding this weekend.
Happy 4th of July!