New Decor!

My floating shelves in my living room have been bare since Christmas. I have fall and Christmas decorations to put on them but not anything else. When I was at Target I found some Valentines decorations that I couldn't pass up. So I give you my newly decorated floating shelves:

I got good deals on everything that I decorated with. The silver pillar candles were in the last chance section at Ikea (everything else is from Target) for .99 each. The tea light holders were .99 each and the hearts to fill them were 2.50 for a box (I only used half of the hearts). The Love blocks in the center were 2.50. Grand total 9.00 for the whole thing. 

Keeping On Track

While taking a break from my homework (yep, I'm doing homework on the first day of the semester. Let's see how long this lasts!) I was checking my blog reader and found a post that I wanted to share with you. Simple Organized Living had a post on Time Management & The Internet that I think has some great ideas in it! I am looking for a good way to keep me on track with all the things I want to be doing this year. The tip I liked the most was setting a timer when you are on the internet. I waste a ton of time pinning and Facebook stalking and hopefully this will curb some of that wasted time! Next time I am just goofing off on the internet I am setting a 15 minute timer. Lets see how that goes!

Random Musings: Scaredy Cat

I wanted to be three for three with blog posts this year (even though it is technically day four) so I am giving you a random musing for the night. Who came up with the term scardey cat? I have four cats and let me tell you they are not scared of much.

Adventurous Twiggy 

Twiggy is getting older and just hangs out in the apartment but when she was younger she was not scared of much. Hell this is the kitten that was jumping off bookcases within hours of returning home after being declawed.

Watch out Nala will eat your food right off your plate!

Nala...Oh Nala. She was an outdoor cat, Stephanie rescued her from the humane society, she ran away for a few weeks and now he is back. The only thing that she is scared of is the vacuum cleaner. If I even plug it in she runs and hides.

Pinky (the white one) and the brain (aka Luna)

Pinky and Luna are crazy and dare devils. They will get into anything at anytime. They run around play fight and tumble everywhere. Pick them up and they will wriggle out of your hands and jump no matter how high. They play in the tub and investigate sounds everywhere!

So now that Stephanie and I look like crazy cat ladies...lol. Hope you enjoyed the introduction of our kitties!

Sidenote: I am also three for three on daily cleaning/cleaning list! I'm kind of three for three, I had to flop Tuesday and Wednesday because I did the Wednesday cleaning task today. Oops. :)

A Organizing Tip...

..that I thought was obvious. Apparently not. Do not plan more stuff to do then you have hours in the day.   I woke up later then I wanted to today but I still wanted to be organized and plan some things to do. Well I planned way to much, here it is at 11:24pm and I have about half my list done. I feel like I didn't do well but if you look at my list I didn't do too bad (the finished items are green):

• take car for an oil change (I had an oil leak so it's still there. Yay rental car.)
• take car to get tires rotated
• get new work shoes
• do daily and Monday cleaning task
• year end Mary Kay inventory
• organize Mary Kay stuffs (only about half done)
• make 2012 tax binder
• make a menu plan
• blog post
• dinner with the parents
• running
• strength training
• dye hair
• shower (Yes, I do put shower on my list. I am counting this since I am going to shower as soon as I hit Publish.)

One of the things that I am most proud of accomplishing is the daily tasks AND my Monday cleaning task. I swear that I am going to stay with the cleaning schedule! I leave you with a picture of my clean kitchen:

New Year!

Happy New Years! I hope you and your families had a great time and have a wonderful 2012! Instead of making resolutions this year I am just going to roll them into my "25 things to do before I turn 26" that I posted around my birthday. So here is a recap of how I am doing on those goals.


1. Train for and run a 5K. I am signing up for a race on Super Bowl Sunday! (Doing good on the training program. Having mono threw me off but I am back and loving running. I have a race scheduled for almost every month this year! Hopefully a half marathon in October. I even have a pinterest board dedicated to it!)
2. Maintain this blog on a consistent basis. (haha. I am going to try really hard to get better at this!)
3. Learn how to make sushi. (I looked into supplies and when I get some 'fun' money I am going to buy them and  try out sushi making.)
4. Advance myself to the next carrer level in Mary Kay. (In progress)
5. Pay off my credit card debt (oops. I just joined Mint so hopefully that will help me out.)
6. Make a plan for each week and stick to it (Failing at this one. It is so hard to cook for one person.)
7. Make a cleaning schedule and stick to it (Made it and put it in the side bar. We just deep cleaned the apartment so maybe I'll actually stick to it.)
8. Cook more often (uhhh yeah..got to work on that one)
9. Be healthier (I'm getting there. Coke is my vice right now. I need to kick that habit.)
10. Do my hair and make up more often then not (Check!)
11. Take a cooking class in something that I am uncomfortable with (pastry?) (Hopefully in the summer)
12. Volunteer more with my sorority (Check!)
13. Work on being more "green" (I am doing real good with using my reusable bags.)
14. Get my breaks fixed on my bike and ride it more in the summer (Hurry up summer!!!)
15. Plan a fun vacation (Florida to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon in 2013!!)
16. Go to as many Tiger's games as possible (Opening Day will be here before you know it.)
17. Keep my car clean (I am doing pretty good on this one.)
18. Take more pictures (Yep! Thanks to iCloud and the Photo Stream.)
19. Spoil my friends and family as often as I can (I did for Christmas but funding is going to be low for a while.)
20. Grow my hair out. Only trims until at least July. (It is getting so long!!!)
21. Get a puppy! (This most likely won't happen. :( )
22. Keep playing soccer (Check!)
23. Dress more "professionally" less time in sweatpants (Check!)
24. Try cooking something new at least three times a month (Fail.)
25. Keep POSITIVE!! ( So far so good!)


So far so good on the goals in my opinion. In the spirt of blogging more I made a header and updated the look of my blog. I even added some buttons in the sidebar. I used this tutorial from Oikology 101 to make my button. Enjoy!

Christmas Ornament Tutorial

Let me start off with mono sucks. I am so glad that I am not sick anymore and have the energy to be a human again. Back to living life and blogging!

I have a Christmas Party tonight and we are doing an ornament exchange. I had left over empty clear bulbs from making ornaments for earlier in the month so I just bought some more paper and went to town. I remembered to take pictures this time so I could blog about it. I got the idea from pinterest (follow me!) and here is the original post.

Supplies

Scrapbook Paper or Wedding Invitation (if making the original)
Scissors
Pencil
Ornament
Ribbion

Tutorial

Cut the paper into strips that will fit into your ornament. You can use thick or thin strips depending on how you want it to look. I only used about a 1/4 of a large sheet of scrapbook paper for one ornament. 

Wrap the strips of paper around a pencil to make the curl then put the into the ornament. I used the pencil eraser to move them around once I got them in there.

Once you have the ornament as full as you want it you can put the top on and then adda ribbon to the top. Here are a few pictures of ones that I have made. The first one is a wedding invitation ornament from my friend's wedding, the second is one that I made with regular weight paper , and the last one is the one that I made today with heavier weight scrapbook paper. 

                                


Sam

Monday Weekend Round Up

Well I didn't do as well as I thought I would but there is always next week right?

Friday:

• Do laundry
• Clean my car inside and out (well I did the inside but then decided it was too cold to go vacuum and get it washed)
• Pay bills (did this Saturday)

Saturday:

• Clean apartment (have to finish it today)
• Meal plan (added it to the sidebar)
• Grocery shop (did this Sunday night)
• 5k training (2.2 miles in 29 minutes, not bad for me :) )
• Clean car inside and out (vacuumed and took it to the car wash)
• Pay Bills

Sunday:

• Church (didn't make it because my cousin's work schedule changed)
• Make cleaning schedule (added it to the sidebar) 
• Make next week's plan
• 5k training (too windy, going to the gym in a few to do it today)
• Grocery Shop

Other:

• Apply for a few more jobs 

So that was my weekend. How did you do?