Workin' on my Wardrobe.

This blog has been a little bit all over the place lately, hasn't it? From missions trip prep to serious posts to fashion and organizing - this blog has been as topsy turvy as I have been. Whew. Sorry if I'm giving you all bloggin' whip lash...thanks for keeping up!

After I put my closet through boot camp two weeks ago, I made a hit list, a few items from which I shared. But now, I figured it would be fun to go back and show you some of the items I've added into my freshly purged and organized collection of wares.


Metallic rose gold flats - courtesy of Lucky Brand & Marshalls (love ya!). I found these babies at Marshalls for $29 and I couldn't resist. I've been wanting to add a little tasteful metallic into my wardrobe. I'm envisioning them currently with a white sundress, my white and rose gold Michael Kors watch, and a fun clutch...possible teal?

Also by Lucky I bought these patent leather flats to gussy up my spring wardrobe. Love.

I got some new shades. Because I do live in Florida, afterall. You can never have too many sunglasses here.
And I've been dying for one of these!

It's a slow process but I'm finally building a wardrobe I'm really happy with!

What are you adding for Spring and Summer?

Love,
B

It's Ok Thursday.

I swear I wouldn't like Thursdays if it wasn't for this post but since I love reading (and writing) it's ok Thursdays I continue to look forward to them. Woot woot.

It's ok...

...to drink fountain diet coke like it's your job.

...to think the coffee you make at home is better than Starbucks.

...to be really proud of a guest post you wrote this week (eee - Darby I'm so pumped)

...to constantly multitask (phone calls while driving, workouts while babysitting, cleaning while the coffee brews)

...to not post on your blog every day.

...to be giddy with excitement about a new home project that involves 7 prints from Etsy I ordered this week.

...to splurge on really nice bath towels (helllllo Lacoste towels for the guest bath)

...to return a great shirt you bought because you'd rather spend money on your home (shocking for me, I know)

...to be excited because you have 2 fun outtings this weekend that will be worth wearing makeup AND your hair down for (this is big)

...to be stoked about traveling very soon

....to have anxiety about packing clothes, sheets, a pillow, and food for haiti in ONE bag.

...to be planning to pay to have your iphone made international for the month of April so you can communicate with your bff from Haiti (and let your parents know you're alive)

...to have the highlight of your week be brunch with the Tampa Bloggers (can't wait til Sunday!)

Happy Thursday!

Love,
B

Budget Cuts.

One topic I consistently get e-mails, text messages, twitters, and calls about is budgeting. It turns out that many of my blog readers are trying to meet financial goals and trying to make cuts in their budget to get there. While out to dinner last week one of my neighbors as well as my friend Jessica were asking me about leading another Financial Peace University class, apparently they'd be the first two to sign up! The next night I had a scheduled phone call with my friend, Mer, in Chicago to help her start towards a budget as well.

For now, it's not looking promising that I will have the time needed to play hostess to an FPU course BUT I would like to continue to share with you all what I've learned along the way in hopes that each of you will meet your goals too! And as always, keep the e-mails coming. I love talking through your budgets with you, I really do.

I'm pleased to share that 2012 has been my best year financially yet. I know it's early in the year but my hardwork at learning the system in 2010 as well as my gazelle intensity to get debt free in 2011 have paved the way for 2012 to be fabulous (on a budget still, of course). However, there's no resting in your current situation...getting ahead and staying ahead takes work. So here's some resources and hints you might find helpful...

Total rookie? Need to make a budget? Start here and make yourself a 'quickie budget'. Note: this is a free resource, take advantage of it!

More of a techie? Try this one. This helps you use Mint.com to get your catagories right. I have several friends who use this and love it! There's an app on your phone that will automatically update when you use your debit card. It does alot of the leg work of budgeting for you. Once you make your catagories, it tells you when you're out of money. This is a thing to know, clearly.

If you feel like you have money oozing out of your house it might be time to look at how you can cut your at home expenses. If so, take a look at this:

Cut your costs by room: via pinterest.

One of the big ones for me that I was pleased made the chart? Making your own coffee! I buy amazing gourmet coffee at Marshalls (yes, Marshalls) for 7.99 which lasts me more than a month v. Starbucks at 3 bucks a day. This is a big money saver. I should, however, confess that I hit up Sonic Happy Hour pretty much daily to the tune of 1.23 per day. I rarely eat out, but this is my splurge. Diet cokes. And you can't judge me because they're in the budget!

If you've been on this blog for a while then you've read a lot of my budgeting advice but what I may not have touched on before and want to make sure you know now is this: pay yourself first. Wait, maybe I should start by saying that if you're a believer - tithe first, pay yourself second! But anywho, put what you've determined into savings BEFORE you start paying bills, spending, etc. And let me go ahead and say for those of you who are anything like me, don't take it out (some of you just started sweating). Pay yourself before you pay your bills because let's be honest, there are never leftovers!

Also, never ever forget to weigh out needs v. wants! This is key. But to assure you that I put my money where my mouth is I will tell you that I've decided to cut my cable as of March. It costs me $108 bucks a month and I watch less than 2 hours of TV per week (on average). So, it's going goodbye in honor of being a good steward of the money I have. I am KILLING my savings this year, blowing my goals per month out of the water and it feels great.

So loves, make those budgets, cut those expenses, pack those lunches, and manage those wants because I want to see you all reach new levels this year!

Love,

B

Getting a System: Revisited.

I awkwardly borrow this photo from here.

This is a follow up to this post.

What I learned from your comments on my 'getting a system' post, is that many of you are desperate for the same, an organized system that keeps you on top of everything. For those of us who are working at LEAST one full time job (or in my case 1.5) - it's tough to make sure we keep our house company appropriate and our sanity intact! I'm gone 6 nights a week for work, bible study, etc and if I don't keep organized things don't get done.

I wanted to revisit this because there's an aspect to getting a system that I'm still very much a rookie at...this is the friendship portion of having a system. I made 2012 the year of no excuses so I'm no longer allowing myself to use my crazy life as an excuse not to be the kind of friend I desire to be and this includes faraway friends!

I'm not a great phone talker. I usually dodge my phone, especially on the rare nights I actually get to be at home and awake for more than an hour. But I desire to contribute to my long distance friendships and not to be a slacker about 'catching up'. I'm great about sending cards, I do well at face-to-face, and I'm a loyal texter and facebook stalker...but phone calls really are important!

Last night I finally caught up with my sweet friend Jon (if you're on twitter follow him - @JonBausman) he's smart, funny, solid in his faith, and he gives great advice. Jon entered my life in what can only be called God's timing as both of our family went through really similar, tough situations. It is my dream that someday our families will finally meet and we'll be able to tell them how hard we've been praying for them these past 2 years.

I not-so-jokingly shared with Jon last night that he is one of the only people I don't dread calling! I LOVE when we catch up on the phone. I always leave our conversations feeling uplifted, encouraged, inspired, and spurred on towards my goals. That being said, why don't I call him every week? Seriously.

I also had an amazing catch up chat with my original college roommate last night. Alyssa is awesome and again, I love when we catch up but I am an epic failure of a long distance friend at times. Our lives have headed in very different directions both geographically and really, all around. She's up in New Jersey now, married with an adorable son. Obviously I am in Tampa, alternating between refusing to go on second dates and only dating long distance (because it takes less time) and still holding on to the idea that I will never have a child. But as always, halfway through our chat I thought, 'I love this, so why don't I call more often'?

So maybe the answer is that I need a system. Maybe I need some sort of weekly carved out time for phone calls. And maybe I don't actually hate talking on the phone after all, it just depends on who it is?

My first thought is that this may start taking place when I lay out by the pool on Sundays - might as well combine it with something I love, right?

How do you make sure that you stay in close contact with your faraway friends? What do you do to ensure that you're a great friend and not at epic failure like I sometimes am?

I finished off a great night of phone chats and bible study with a fro yo date with my sweet friend Kayla who I am so proud of! We got to celebrate an extension of what was originally a temp teaching job. Couldn't be happier for her and glad I finally got to see her pretty face and hear all about her life.

I raise my coffee (because it's 7am) to all the good friends out there. Make time for what and who is important to you. Don't make excuses because friendships are too important for that. And a special thank you to my patient friends who like me even when I'm a horrible friend!

Love,
B

Weekend Recap: Purchases, Productivity, and Style.

Well Happy Monday to all -

Hope your weekends were fun, productive, and restful. I also hope you all start this work week feeling as prepared as any of us every feel for our weeks! ; ]

This weekend was anything BUT restful for me considering Saturday night I slept for less than 3 hours BUT what it lacked in rest it made up for in productivity (this is the part where you pretend me be shocked).

I worked A LOT this weekend but inbetween I managed to get a few other things done. I finally broke down and bought the towels from Nordstrom Rack I have been stalking weekly for MONTHS. These will be for the guest bathroom and they are huge and plush as all guest towels should be, in my opinion.

If I haven't shared before this is the bedding for the guest bedroom which will be black, white, and kelly green....

As of the end of a weekend spent working I'm over halfway in my savings for having my whole place painted in the spring (April or May) AND I've made some headway on saving up to furnish the guest bedroom hopefully before my summer company influx. I'll keep you posted on that but I'm feeling good about the progress.

I did find time to put together and try out my new vacuum which I also saved up and bought in cash (delayed gratification is so HARD) - Dave would be proud.

I will enter the honest box long enough to say I'm impressed with this beast of a vacuum BUT vacuuming the stairs is still a pain in the rear. Such is life with 2 carpeted staircases I suppose.

Since I worked the majority of this weekend and drank caffiene like it was my JOB I pretty much looked like this all weekend (yes, I'm drinking out of someone else's Annie mug):

I did take a break from working to attend a NASCAR party on Sunday. I had nothing to wear (my mom suggested cut off jean shorts and showing my middrift would be most appropriate) so below you can find my NASCAR party wear and my feelings about A. having nothing to wear and B. the race getting rained out and ruining my neighbors party....

Who doesn't love a good mirror pic? I sported a flowy tank top, skinny jeans, and sandals. Though I was completely unfestive - I did get several compliments on my top.

The food was amazing, which spoiled my dinner @ the Lodge with Joy and her new hubby! I ended up having to opt out of dinner (which was probably a good thing considering I sat too close and therefore ate a whole place of nachos at the NASCAR party...oops).

I'm feeling good about starting off week two of the daily cleaning crew with the girls prepared! My mom stocked me up with all the household essentials via Sam's Club last week (thanks Mom!) and I not have a year (literally) supply of TP, paper towels, laundry soap, dishwasher tablets, etc. Whew. Let's do this, work week.

Love,

B

Red Velvet Cookies and Creme Cupcakes.

After a tough week there are few things that fix my mood like baking. I also hate to let items just sit and sit in the pantry, so frequently I will work with what I already have. I had previously made a version of this recipe from Bakerella - at the recommendation of a coworker who gave me a recipe for a chocolate cake mix I liked better than the one used by Bakerella.

I decided on Thursday night to make a red velvet version for a few reasons: A. I like easy AND delicious to come as a package deal and B. I had a red velvet cake mix that had been sitting.

The experiment was well received by my belly and that of my coworkers (Happy Friday!) and I kept a cute box aside for my Saturday clients who I adore, and will be delivering those as well. So here's a quick how to:

Supplies:

- Red velvet cake mix
- Eggs
- Oil
- Water
- Double stuffed oreos
- Shortening
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Milk
- Cupcake liners
- Icing kit (I use disposable bags, a 1M tip, and coupler is what I used)

Go ahead and mix your red velvet cake mix as instructed.

Place cupcake liners in your trays, place 1 double stuffed Oreo in the bottom of each one. I use an ice cream scoop to put one scoop on top of each oreo. Then I baked them for 19 minutes on 350 degrees. (don't overfill - one scoop will be enough).

I food processed about 4 oreos for the icing and then followed these instructions from Bakerella (credit where it's due!):

Frosting:
1 cup shortening
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3-6 Tablespoons milk
2 or more teaspoons Oreo cookie crumbs

For the frosting:
Beat the shortening in a mixer until smooth.
Add vanilla and mix until combined.
Add the powdered sugar in three additions, scraping down the sides after each addition.
Add a Tablespoon of milk at a time and mix together until you achieve the consistency you like. Add the cookie crumbs and mix until completely combined. You can add more if you like, but I just wanted a light speckling to show off the white frosting.
Place frosting in a decorator bag with a 1M tip and swirl on top of each cupcake.

If you want to go oreo crazy, you can insert one in the icing on top of each of your cupcakes (I did this when I made the chocolate version, I did not when I made my red velvet version).

My argument for the red velvet way: it's cheaper, it uses less ingredients, red velvet is super moist, AND it made 24+ cupcakes where Bakerella's recipe made 12. I like to go big.

Here's a peak at how I did the first batch which were complete with an oreo on top, for those of you who might like that better:

Happy baking!

Love,

B

I'm 'Getting Around to It'.

If you've ever seen the movie 'He's Just Not That Into You' you know exactly where today's title comes from. And if not, well, I found ya a picture. Ben's character in the movie is hanging a picture when Anniston comes home and asks what he's doing. He says, 'I'm getting around to it'.

We all have a running list of things to do when we 'get around to it' don't we? Here's a few I've gotten done recently (and I think many of you will relate):

- Under the kitchen sink. Sometimes you have to face it, clean it, organize it, and hope it doesn't suck you into the black abiss.

- Clean out your car. My neighbor mocks my dirty, disorganized car. I think because in comparison to my house he finds it shocking. Anyway, it no longer looks like I live in it. I took everything out, vacuumed, armor all'd, spot shot my floor mats, etc. It even has an air freshener. I'm trying hard to take my junk out of the car with me every day now.

- Clean out the garage. Another never ending black hole (like my purses). I finally purged, organized, and even swept my garage this month.

- Filing. Gr. There's nothing I hate more than filing warranties, service notices, receipts, etc. But I finally filed all of 2010 and 2011 (yes, they were in a giant pile for 2 years).

- The great wardrobe purgery. This is when you actually go through every.single.piece.of.clothing and you face the cold hard truth that something things will never fit again, some things never looked good on you, and somethings that you've never worn you still won't wear if they sit there for another year. Goodbye.

- Spot cleaning. I finally shot all the spots on my carpet. Which weren't many but you know how you think 'I should spray these spots that pop up on the carpet' and you respond to yourself 'when I get around to it?'. Well, I did. Finally.

- Oil change. This is the ever looming task I hate. Even though with a Jiffy lube literally on my street, this shouldn't overwelm me...I hate it. BUT with a free night, finally, I decided it had to be done. You're welcome, car.

The yet to get around to list:

- Going to the dentist (blah)

- Reading every book on my shelves (working on it)

- Organizing my cleaning closet (pinterest style)

- Phone calls (I always have a running mental list of people I need to call - sorry if you're on it)

- Menu planning (I've been lax for a few weeks now, time to get back on it)

- Updating my recipe books (doesn't this always kind of hang over your head?)

- Pantry organization

What have you been meaning to get around too?

Love,

B