Baby Steps

If you know me at all, you know that I'm very much a Type A personality. I like lists, binders, and organization. I do this pretty well at work {one of the reasons I wanted to be Chief Resident this year}, but I wish I was better with the whole organization thing at home. Don't get me wrong, my house is no pig-sty {I would be very stressed out if it were!}, but there are soooo many things that I'd like to do to get things in their place. I tend to blame my lack of neatness/organization on a lack of time and money, and I wish I could take a couple weeks off work to just focus on our home and make it "pretty." Alas, I can't really do this, so I'm forced to tackle these projects one step at a time.

Yesterday, I was lucky and ended up getting out of work early {woo hoo!}, so I decided to head out to the mall to do a little shopping. I found a couple good deals at the Gap {yay skinny jeans and a new fall jacket}, drooled over perused everything at Crate & Barrel {but didn't buy anything}, then went over to Bed, Bath, & Beyond and Old Navy. I really only planned to get a couple boxes of K-cups for my Keurig, but ended up going through the whole store. Well, I came upon a clearance section that had some basic shelving for $9.99 and $6.99 {originally 29.99 and 19.99}, and I thought, I'm sure I could use these somewhere in the house. So, I got one 24" shelf unit and two 16" units. I love a good deal!

I've been dreaming of huge kitchen islands recently trying to think of some way that I can "fix up" mine. My biggest wish would be a big square island with room for seating and also some shelves for my cookbooks. Here's some inspiration....

all images via Pinterest

Unfortunately, a kitchen like the above isn't possible right now. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my kitchen, but it's not the kitchen I want in our future forever home. Well, to get back to the point of this post, I decided to use one of the cheap-o shelves I bought, put it on one side of the island, and use it for my cookbooks {and candy bowl}. Here's a pic of the finished product and placement:

Not perfect, but definitely an improvement...AND my cookbooks are now IN the kitchen {and not upstairs!}

A view of the whole kitchen

Our little nook

So, that's one little project checked off the list. Next, I need to go through a ton of coupons from the last several weeks....

That's a pretty big pile o' coupons...

 ....And finish organizing a bunch of recipes I cut out from at least 2 years' worth of Cooking Lights into my recipe binder...

At least now when I'm done putting them in the binder, it'll find a home in the kitchen and not the upstairs hallway!

What projects have you been working on recently?

Happy Organizing!

Tasty Tuesday!

Hey everyone! I hope your weekend was great. It was another busy one for me....I ended up driving to Cincinnati on Saturday to surprise my parents and aunt and uncle when they got home from Europe. They were surprised, and I got to spend the day with them as well as my cousin & cousin-in-law and their kids (ages 2 and 5 months). Great weekend, but it flew by!

Today marks the first use of my Crock Pot this season. I didn't even realize till I walked out the door that it was pretty chilly outside today, so I was really glad that I had put dinner together before I left for work. Nothing too exciting, just some beef stew meat, onions, and carrots that we'll have over egg noodles, but still good nonetheless.

A couple weeks ago, I had a few REALLY ripe bananas that I needed to use, and instead of making my go-to banana bread, I decided to search for a banana cake recipe. I ended up making this one along with chocolate cream cheese frosting. Can I just tell you, YUM!?!!

It was a big hit with the hubs and my parents, and I will definitely make it again! {and I thoroughly enjoyed every last bit of the leftover icing!}

Have a good night!

Friday Randoms

It's Friday, and I think that deserves a random post, partly because I can't think of anything clever or really interesting to write about, but also because it's almost the weekend, and none of us have long attention spans today. So here goes....

-- Tomorrow, my parents get back from two and a half weeks in Europe, and I'm excited to hear about the amazing time they've had in Germany and France. It'll also be nice to have them back state-side...I talk to my mom almost everyday, and I'll be honest, it's been really weird not to just pick up the phone and call her on my drive home from work. We're a pretty close-knit family, and I only live 15 minutes from my parents' house, so not seeing them for over two weeks is kind of strange. I also can't wait to see the pictures my dad took with his new camera...I'm hoping some of them are frameworthy and can go on my hallway walls.

Kind of like this pic I found on Google

-- It's officially fall! Even though I broke out my fall decorations a couple weeks ago {I couldn't resist}, it really is starting to feel much more like fall around here. I've noticed that the leaves are beginning to change color, there's more of a chill in the air, and I've enjoyed a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte {or two}. One of these days, I'll really clean the house, straighten it up, and take some new pictures of my fall decor to share. First, I need to find the time {and motivation} to do that...

-- I've been staying up waaaay too late the last few days, and it's catching up with me. I've had a lot of meetings, dinner events, etc to go to this week, and I come home and still spend a lot of time on the computer, then before I know it, it's past 11:00. The last couple mornings, despite staying up too late, I have gotten up to work out, which is good, but cuts my sleep time down to 5-6 hours a night. It hit me yesterday afternoon as I was driving to the Training Room, and I vowed to get to bed earlier last night because I wanted to get up early again this morning. I'm looking forward to hopefully sleeping in at least one day this weekend.

-- I think the hubs and I are going to try and see The Lion King in 3D tonight. I was obsessed with that movie for many years, and I'm really excited to see it again. Love the animation, the music, and, of course, Pumbaa {he's my favorite}. And I'm sure I'll still remember most of the lines.

Hope you all have a great Friday and a great weekend! Happy Fall!

The United Plates of America

Yesterday afternoon, I was stumbling around Pinterest {so addicting!}, and I came across the following...

shorthandedstudio.com

....a piece of art that featured asparagus in the shape of the state of Indiana. I thought, well, that's kind of fun, so I repinned it to my board, then decided to click on the link. {Note to those who may not know me well: I LOVE asparagus.} I soon found a whole print collection of ALL 50 states {and Puerto Rico} using food to trace their outline. They are so fun, bright, and would look great in my kitchen. I think I might buy the Indiana print, but I'm tempted to buy Michigan and Louisiana, as they're the other two states I've lived in.

shorthandedstudio.com

However, I also have a love affair with cereal AND I love going to Florida, so this one is tempting too...

shorthandedstudio.com

I'll keep you posted once my Indiana print is in place. Go check out your state, or just take a look at all the fun prints! He has ones for some of the Presidents too!

Wordless Wednesday {Owls}

With the official start of fall only a couple days away, and the fact that they're a big part of my fall home decor, I thought I would pay tribute to our friend, the owl. I can't resist 'em.

Click here for more adorable owls.

Happy Wednesday, y'all!

I'm Baaaaaack!

Three and a half days in Florida go way too fast. Can the rest of this week go as fast as our trip did? Please....

I know the answer is no, but a girl can wish, right?

Anywho, TJ and I were in Orlando, FL last Wednesday afternoon until Sunday morning. I had to go for the second part of a Chief Resident Leadership Conference, and TJ tagged along for the ride. The Leadership Conference was in conjunction with the AAFP Scientific Assembly, although I didn't really go to any of those lectures. The stuff that I had to go to was only Wednesday night, Thursday morning, and Friday morning, and the rest of the time was free time, so we were able to take full advantage of being in sunny Orlando. We had some good meals {especially here}, had some good drinks {here and here}, and soaked up some rays by the pool and lazy river.

Cafe Patachou's sourdough toast with cinnamon & sugar + Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte = I could eat this EVERY morning.

The AAFP in Orlando!

TJ and Me at Pat O'Brien's

Lamborghini in front of the hotel...this one's for you, Dad

Universal's Island's of Adventure closed down for 4 hours for just the AAFP...got to ride everything with hardly any lines!!!

Hogwarts

Us by the Hogwarts Express

Owls!

Grinch gloves

Margaritaville

TJ pondering when we can go back...

It was a great mini-vacation....do you have any vacations planned soon?

Wordless Wednesday {vacay edition}

I'll be doing a little of this in the next couple days....

Ahh, sunny Orlando, here we come.... :)