CREATING MY 2017 PLANNER

I love planners, I love shopping for them, doing research on them, and finally deciding on which one I want for the upcoming year. For about 3 years I used Emily Ley's Simplified planner and LOVED it. It was so perfect for me during those three years, but now it just doesn't really fit my needs. My job doesn't have the same schedule every day, actually every day is something completely different so the hour-by-hour page just really wasn't working for me anymore. My company actually provides us all with planners, so I have a planner just for work. So back in September when I saw where Blair designed and printed her own planner I got motivated to design and create my own planner as well. I pretty much just took Blair's design (because, hello, it's cute!) and then edited a few things to fit my life and personal wants.

I used Canva to create my planner, I mentioned a few months ago how much I was loving Canva and even had a few of you comment on how much you loved it as well. So if you haven't check it out yet, do it asap. There are so many neat things to do on there!

 I wanted a page dedicated to my blog and our meal plans for the week, and I loved how Blair included a section for a daily cleaning routine via Clean Mama. I also wanted a monthly layout as well as a weekly layout, so I kept playing around until I found the layout that I desired.

For each week of the month there is weekly view like this on the left side...

and on the right side is my cleaning, blog, and meal planner

I had my planner printed through Office Depot. Like Blair, I selected the spiral bound notebook, printed on 65lb cardstock, and I added a clear front cover with cream linen back cover. I love the way it looks and use it daily. Creating my own planner was actually really fun and I enjoyed it a lot.

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CREATING MY 2017 PLANNER

RED, WHITE AND BLUE BBQ INSPIRATION + INVITATION

Matthew and I have decided to host another cookout next month. Our Summer Soiree was such a hit we decided to do it again. Since some of our friends will be out of town or have other commitments for July 4th weekend we are doing it a little after but we are sticking with the July 4th theme. So our theme is...Red, White & Blue BBQ! I am so excited and have been planning away. I finished up our invitations the other day and I am excited to share those with you today, as well as some inspiration that I have found on Pinterest. All pins can be found on my July 4th Pinterest board.

and now for the invitation

And here is my inspiration board

There are so many cute ideas floating around Pinterest, it is hard to narrow it down to just a couple!! 

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RED, WHITE AND BLUE BBQ INSPIRATION + INVITATION

Christmas List...

No not for me, but for others! This week I started making my list of what I want to get family/friends for Christmas. I know, I know it's only September, but last year I kept putting it off and I was still running around and stressing out the week of Christmas. I even picked up a few last gifts on Christmas Eve. I refuse for it to be that way this year. I want to enjoy the holiday season and not be stressed out. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy Christmas shopping, I just want to keep it that way!! :)  

  My goal this year: Have all my Christmas shopping finished by... December 13th   Am I the only one who feels this way? Please tell me I'm not. Some of the pros on Christmas shopping early: 1. Less stress 2. Beat the crowds 3. Enjoy the holiday season 4. Save money   I would much rather spend a little bit at a time and pick up a few things here and there when I see a good sale on it instead of spending A LOT at one time and not catching the item on sale. Which is usually what happens when I wait until the last minute.   I do actually have a friend that has her Christmas shopping completely finished by the end of October every single year. When I first found that out I was shocked and thought she was crazy, but really she's pretty smart. She has the entire month of November and December to relax with her family and enjoy ALL the holiday festivities. We'll see how I do this year with my goal. If I can do it then hopefully it will move up next year. Who knows maybe one day I will have my Christmas shopping finished by the end of October. ;) #wishfulthinking  

  How about you? Do you set a deadline each year for your Christmas shopping?  Any tips for Christmas shopping early?? I'm all ears ;)  

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Christmas List...

Friendsgiving

A week from today we are having our 1st annual Friendsgiving and I am SO pumped!! I thought of this idea LAST year while I was still living at home, not even sure if I would be able to move up to Cookeville, while I was watching How I Met Your Mother with Matthew of course. Well a year later and here I am up in Cookeville planning Friendsgiving!!!! I am so excited I just can't even deal y'all.   I sent out a mass text last week to give everyone a heads up and with our schedule and the holiday coming up soon and everyone going home Matthew and I decided next Friday will have to do. So this weekend I am going to get all the last minute things and I have found some very cute pins one Pinterest that I am going to try and make/print off this weekend while I am home!   I probably won't make this but OH. MY. GOODNESS. y'all this is perfect and I love the way she has everything set up!! I mean look at those adorable mason jars for the cider and that silverware jar. Definitely will have to do this someday! 

{Source}   How cute is this?! Definitely a cheap but cute project to make and I'm sure my mom has some of these laying around the house I might have to take haha.

{Source}

  Still have a huge Pumpkin I could write this on!

{Source}

  I have about 2 yards of burlap left over from a previous project so I am thinking about making a banner like this but maybe have it say "Friendsgiving"

{Source}

    I have some left over small pumpkins that I could paint white and use as the centerpiece. Definitely loving this idea!

{Source}

     Those are just a few ideas I found on Pinterest recently and I will be stalking Pinterest this weekend per usual to find a few more idea!! Have you ever had Friendsgiving? If you have I would love to hear about how yours went! :) HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

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Friendsgiving

Tiffany & Co. inspired birthday party

Well my weekend started on Saturday at 1:15...when I got off from one of the craziest Saturday's I have ever worked. Ever. I came straight home and went into full decorating mode. We were throwing my younger sister a surprise sweet sixteen birthday party.  Her original birthday was back in April but with Proms, her sorority activities and graduations going on this was the first weekend we were able to have it...crazy busy. Her best friend invited her over Friday night and took her shopping Saturday morning, so we could set everything up on our back patio. The theme of her party was Madison & Co.  y'all get ready for an overload of pictures.... She was definitely surprised!

If you are following me on Instagram then you have already seen some of these!

The candy and cake table

The candy holders...are from Dollar Tree

I got bowls and wine/martini glasses and just glued them together and then spray painted them!

Three tier candy stand...also from Dollar Tree

plates and candle stands glued together

 The food table 

I found paper mache boxes at Hobby Lobby and painted and added white satin ribbon to them

Absolutely IN love with these straws

The centerpieces

Balloons lining the drive way

and the cake...

oh.

my.

goooooodness.

not only was it absolutely adorable but it was absolutely delicious.

My mom's friend recently started her own business and we were so thrilled when she said she would make it for us.

Wendy over at Million Dollar Desserts, out did herself on this one! Go look at all her other adorable cakes!

I have been DYING to share all these decoration ideas with y'all and I am so excited I can now!

I will be doing different posts on certain items we used for her party and the "how to" so don't miss it!

I have definitely been

 staying crafty my friends ;)

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Tiffany & Co. inspired birthday party

Day 17 of Things I Love

Day 17 of Things I Love: Planning

 

I plan all things out and to be honest I sometimes get a little frustrated when things don't go as planned. I'm working on that!

 

I LOVE planning anything and everything...birthdays, parties, get together, work meetings..you name it and I'll start planning away.

 

Here recently I helped plan a baby shower back in September for a coworker and this past Christmas I helped plan a Christmas party at work, so much fun! Also around Christmas time I planned our first annual couples Christmas party. Seriously had the best time with good friends, good food and funny gag gifts!

 

I have already planned Matthew's Valentine's Day presents and surprises.

I would go on and tell you what it is but Mr. Impatient might get on here and look if he thinks I posted something about his gift on here, ha!

 

I am also already planning for his 21st birthday, it's not until March 11th but if I don't start now I will not be able to get everything that I want! I honestly think I am more excited for his birthday than he is. Although he did throw out a birthday present suggestion...little does he know I already have it picked out with a few other things,ha!

 

I will more than likely post about his birthday so watch for it closer to time!

 

what events do you plan?

 



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Day 17 of Things I Love

Day 22 & 21 of Things I Love

Oops! I forgot to post yesterday. So here it goes!

 

Day 22 of Things I Love: Rotel Cheese Dip

 

Is it bad that most of my posts are about food? Oh well.

One of my favorite (unhealthy) meals is Rotel cheese dip! Probably because it is SO incredibly easy to make.

 

All you need is:

Velveeta Cheese (1 block)

1 Can of Ro*tel diced tomatoes

 

 

 and since me and Matthew don't really like tomatoes we pour the whole can into the blender and puree it first THEN pour it over the cut up cheese blocks (in a microwave safe bowl)

 

 

Seriously it is so EASY.

 After that you just heat it up in the microwave one minute at a time and stir it after each minute.

 

Here is our cheese dip and chips from this past Sunday for the Super Bowl

 

 

 

Day 21 of Things I Love: (Colored) Skinny Jeans

 

Here lately I have been obsessed with colored skinny jeans. They have been popular since probably last spring and when they first came out I wasn't too impressed with them, I'm not sure why, I just wasn't.

I have been on the hunt for a good deal on red skinny jeans (I am a bargain shopper and I hardly ever buy any clothes unless they are on sale or I have a coupon)

Well yesterday I was doing some online shopping and I found them! I found the PERFECT pair of red skinny jeans. I found them at Kohl's. They are put out by LC Lauren Conrad.

 

 

They are regular $54.99 and they were on sale for $29.00 AND

I found a promo code for 15% off.

Score.

 

They will be here no later than the 14th...Just in time for Valentine's Day.

 

 

So excited to mix and match different tops with them!

 

Here are some other colored pants I'm in love with.

My next search is going to be for green.

Just in time for st. Patricks day!

 

 

 

 

I found some other really cute colors at Kohl's but after I read their description I found out they were jeggings.

Not a fan of jeggings. At all.

 

 

What are your favorite color pants?

 

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Day 22 & 21 of Things I Love

27 & 26 Days of Things I Love

Well I already failed this test...I forgot to post yesterday on day 27 (I actually planned on writing it last night after Matthew went home but I fell asleep on our couch..oops!)

So this one will have two days in one!

 

 

Day 2 of Things I Love: Hot Rollers

 

I absolutely love hot rollers!! I have super thick and super straight hair and to actually be able to find something that will work to curl my hair is so fun. One of the things I love most about the hot rollers is that it doesn't take long at all. I just layer my hair into sections and start adding them into my hair. I usually let them sit for about 5 to 6 mins and while they are sitting I begin on my make up.

 

 

Here they are!

 

 

 

 Remington is a great brand in my opinion.

 

 

 

Day 3 of Things I Love: Get Togethers

 

I am probably the chessiest person and I don't really care.

I LOVE when we have get togethers with our friends and I usually try to turn every get together into something fun and festive with some type of decorations.

 

We decided to invite our best friend Kathleen over and her boyfriend Braden over to watch the Super Bowl. On the menu was hot dogs, chili (Matthews mom made it. It was DELICIOUS and just hit the spot!) chili and cookies!

 

I looked on Pinterest to find some ideas and with little time I had this was the best I could do.

 

 

I used a empty soup can and spray painted it brown and just painted the white stripes on it.

 

 

 

 I bought oreo cookies and used cookie icing on the top to create a football.

 

 

 

 I was so excited to finally use my pottery dish I had made a couple of weeks ago.

 

 

My football oreos!

 

All the tasty food!

 

 

It is so so wonderful to have close friends and to be able to get togher and have a good time.

We had a great night and I am already planning another themed get together. I am thinking Breakfast Club.

 

 

We ended up watching Pitch Perfect...such a great decision.

We did catch the last 6 seconds of the game.

 

 

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27 & 26 Days of Things I Love