Perpetual Organizer

I am absolutely a Perpetual Organizer. I get serious joy out of organizing, straightening, and rearranging. Only slightly OCD right?! But for real. There's something calming, stress-relieving and therapeutic about simple organizing and streamlining, to make my life just feel a little bit better! This past weekend I did some major cleaning in my room, and it feels so much better. I tend to keep my floor space pretty neat and tidy, but I pile up all sorts of nonsense in about four different places around the room, and it then proceeds to drive me crazy. But no longer! I tidied ALL of those places up, and it's such an improvement. I literally smile when I first walk into my room now, because the tidiness of the place just makes me happy! (Holy moly I'm a huge dork...)

But anyways...one of those newly super clean places is my bookshelf. I tidied up the top, which had become a catch-all for all sorts of mess, and then actually organized my books as well. I loaded up an entire box to donate to Goodwill, as well as a box of ones I wanted to just store in the basement for a while. Then with all that new space, I was able to reorganize the rest of my books. I actually had huge amount of books in 5 *giant* stacks, (three in my room and two in our family "reading room.") And now they've all been shelved!

These first two photos are the BEFORE shots, and that's my dog Mollie's crate down there. The top of it was one of the spots that I tend to just throw things and forget about ever putting them where they belong... don't worry though, all the stuff has been cleaned up, and her crate has been put in a better/less obvious spot in my room now!

Before any cleaning of the shelf or the crate...

After cleaning/moving the crate, but before organizing the shelf.

And now here are all the pretty pictures of how it looks now! I took off the ribbon of earrings, and did some purging of those as well, threw away some old perfume bottles, stored my college graduation regalia, cleaned and organized the right half of the top of it, and dusted the whole thing. The bookshelf itself is pretty old, and wasn't even new when I first got it. It's had some better days. Maybe one day I'll do some real work on it to get it into better, more attractive shape. But it works for now, and it at least looks nicer than it did before!

See my little penguin friend down there?! So cute :)

However, even with all of this new-found space on this bookshelf, I still couldn't fit all of my books onto it. So I had to house some more out in The Annex (as I've now dubbed it), in the family reading room. Most of these were books from college classes or I've read them already or something like that. Basically, not the ones I wanted the most access to, thus why they were chosen for The Annex. 

 

Quick story about The Annex - my dad and I found it for $10 at a garage sale a few summers ago, and I loved it. I bought it with the intention of painting it, but ended up liking the color more than planned. I think it's actually supposed to be a record cabinet, because there are a ton more shelves that aren't in there right now. I just think it's so cute, and my favorite part is the little scalloped edge at the bottom. Even though I didn't get a good picture of that cute detail, you can slightly see it from the inside of the door on one of the pictures...

So that's that! Newly organized and neatly arranged bookshelves. Makes me a happy, OCD lady :) However, some of the pictures in this post makes me realize that I should bust out my real camera a bit more often, rather than relying on my trusty iPhone for everything...oh well. Next time, right?

And Happy Organizing to you too!

Pumpkin Cupcakes, Purple Flowers & a Pretzel Bagel

Here's a quick weekend recap (including a tiny bit from Thursday night as well), in list form since that's easier, followed by a ton of relevant pictures to my list as well as some not-so-relevant ones as well. Ready...GO!

+Went on another "run" around my neighborhood, and did pretty well

+Took some nature photos during the walking portions of my run

+Friday morning Mama treated me to Bruegger's bagels and coffee :)

+Went to dinner with the Pullen's Friday night, as Jeff's bro & fiance passed through town

+Went for a run and a bike ride with Jeff and my friend Sara Saturday morning

+Cleaned my room a TON, and boy does it make me feel better in there!

+Watched FSU kick Wake's booty

+Organized, stored and donated all my books and bookshelves

+Baked homemade pumpkin cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting. Yum.

+Went to Awaken Saturday night, followed by movie night at Sara's with friends

+Sang with the praise band Sunday morning at church

+Had delicious Mexican food for Sunday lunch with our group of friends

+Cleaned a little bit more of my room Sunday afternoon

+Had a kick-off dinner for the start of youth small groups

+And hung out at Sara's house again afterwards

Good times, great fun, exhausting activities. All-in-all a successful weekend. Wish I could do it again sooner than another five whole days from now. BUT - the good news is that this weekend is a trip to St. Augustine, and I'm thrilled about seeing those girls and such good friends over there! Yay! 

Now, here's some a ton of iPhone pictures for your viewing pleasure :)

Bacon, egg & cheese on a pretzel bagel. Whoa baby that thing was tasty.

Tomorrow will be some pictures and stuff of my books/bookshelf extravaganza, because that's just too many more pictures to add to this already very long and picture-heavy post. And I love the organization I achieved with my books, and I'm proud to show it off. Maybe a little too proud for just a bookshelf, but I don't care...

Hope your Monday's have all been OK, and that your week is off to a good start! Happy Monday! And welcome to any of you who have stopped by from the Monday Meet Up!

Painted Chevrons & Mint Polka Dots

Below are TWO nail designs from this last week. Figured it would be fun to show two completely different designs all in the same post! Hope you enjoy :)

This is my second attempt with my nail tip sticker guides. I think the first time I tried them it worked out a little better, but I still like these as well! If you're interested, the instructional steps for these are the same as my first attempt, so just copy those again. But this time I did a little reversal for the accent nail on my ring finger!

But then it started chipping and peeling, and I had some time, so I took it off and set off about painting them again! So last Thursday night, I did this easy, simple design, but I'm absolutely loving it. I love the pretty mint color, as well as the simplicity of the single line of polka dots. So cute, in my humble opinion :)

And I'm again linking up with Heather at Glitter & Gloss and Heather at JustLove.Ly for Mani Monday! 

Perry Como Love Songs

I usually try to stay away from the super sappy lovey dovey posts, because I know not everyone wants to read all of that. But occasionally it just has to happen, and this is one of those times. I just don't want to forget this night and this experience, and since this is my own digital journal, I've got to write it all down.

Jeff and I went on a date night to Marie Livingston's Steakhouse, which is one of our favorite places for a fancy night out. And luckily, I'm the Queen of Groupons (I'm getting my crown and scepter later this month in fact), we always end up getting awesome deals for our dinner. But that's not the point of this post, so I digress...

The dinner and conversation was normal for us and free flowing (we are both chatterboxes - big surprise right?!), and we had a good time telling stories from our day, watched a young couple on a nervous (probably) first date, had fun laughing at ridiculous co-workers, eavesdropping on the silly ladies at the table next to us, and a thousand other random things. We even sat on the same side of the booth, which I used to make fun of other couples for doing. But now I totally get how it can seem sooo far away when your boyfriend is on the opposite side of the table from you. Usually I can handle opposite sides, but sometimes it's date night, and you just gotta sit on the same side.

Anyways, we had a great dinner and a great time together. And then we get back in the car, and he puts on Perry Como music, and is just singing along to all these super cute little love songs. He had been listening to it earlier that day, and had actually texted me saying that some of the songs reminded him of me, and was just so cute about it. It was absolutely adorable riding around town listening to him sing all these cute little love songs. My heart was full, and I couldn't stop smiling.

Then he even stopped at a Blockbuster kiosk to rent "The Lucky One" to complete our romantic date night. What a sweetheart :)

But when we got home, before we watched the movie, we just hung out listening to the rest of the Perry Como songs. We decided that since we didn't have "a song" yet, that one of his would definitely be it. So we just listened to all these precious songs, with Jeff singing right along. Then we got into some super sappy ones. As he was singing along to "More," I actually teared up while he was singing, it was just so sweet. And then when he started singing "Till The End of Time," we were both tearing up. Actually, I was full-out crying by this point, and starting to get all snotty, so I buried my head in his chest and tried to pull myself together. It was so sweet and romantic and my heart just felt so happy and in love. It was such a great feeling.

We didn't actually pick one song, because we liked both of them so much. I guess both of them will be *our songs.* And I'm totally OK with having two sweet songs with my super sweet boyfriend. I've never cried tears of joy with him before, and I've never seen him cry at all actually. So it was an extra special night for both of us, and our relationship. It was all just so incredibly sweet and adorable, and I just love him oh so much.

P.S. - I hope it was okay to share such a sappy, lovey story - but I just really don't ever want to forget this night, and my blog seemed like the perfect place to chronicle this romantic story :)

People Need Love

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." --John 13:34-35

We all know about the 10 Commandments, right? They're "simple" things like: honor the Sabbath, don't lie, don't steal, do not commit adultery, do not murder, serve only one God... But when Jesus came, He gave us this new commandment. It wasn't meant to take the place of the original 10, but just an addition to them -- LOVE PEOPLE. 

The "easy" part is though, if we are truly loving people the way we've been commanded to, then all those other 10 commandments are much easier to obey. I mean, if we're truly loving people like Jesus did, then we would never want to break those first 10 Commandments. If I'm loving the people around me, I don't want to lie to them, or steal from them. If I'm loving people like Jesus does, then all those other commandments seem to fall into place much easier. 

"Love God. Love People." is a motto I try to live by. It's certainly not easy. Let's not try to pretend that it is. But it does help keep things in perspective sometimes. But which people are we supposed to love? The Bible tells us to love our neighbors. But who are our neighbors? Everyone. It's the homeless man on the street, the single mother who needs a little help, the elderly man who's lonely, the teenager who just needs a friend, the popular girl who seems like she has a million friends (when maybe she really doesn't...), or the college student who's searching for something more than just a party. Everyone deserves to be loved. Everyone needs love. 

And LOVE is how we as Christians are going to stand apart from everyone else. Because let's face it - loving everyone (the people that are hard to love or seemingly unlovable) is WEIRD. But that's what we've been called to do - love the ones that need it most, because Jesus did the same.

(Hey Bloggy friends! This is now a link-up. My first! So please join in with me and submit your link! Please also put the Thoughtful Thursdays button either on your post or your page, so we can spread the word! Yay!)

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Peasy Pinterest Recipe

I made a Pinterest recipe for my family! And it was so Easy Peasy. It's so great to actually use a few of the couple thousand pins on my boards. Yeah - I have almost 3,000 pins right now on my 36 boards. Slightly out of control? Maybe. Definitely necessary? Oh absolutely.

So I made Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas, with cheesy skillet corn and Spanish rice. And since I'm too lazy to copy down the whole fajita recipe again into this blog post, please visit the link I've included... :)

They turned out so amazingly good. I'm not trying to toot my own horn or anything (OK so maybe I am a little bit), but that stuff was delicious! I think it turned out exactly how I wanted it, except I made it non-spicy for my non-spicy-liking-family. If I could have added in some more spiciness, it would have been exceptional. Maybe next time I'll just sneak some red pepper flakes in there, just for fun. (Except my family reads this blog, so now they know the secret...)

The cheesy skillet corn however was a variation of my own from a recipe I found, so I will actually share that. Although it's super duper easy, so it's not exactly a "recipe," but more "guidelines."

Saute diced onions and diced yellow squash in some olive oil in a large skillet. Once the onions and squash start to brown and become more transparent, add in 2 cans of sweet, yellow corn, and half a can of diced (drained) tomatoes. Spice it all up with chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Once it's all hot, serve it up and sprinkle a healthy dose of shredded Mexican cheese on top! So yum.

And then I took the easy route with the Spanish rice, and made some out of the little baggies. I think the brand was Knorst? Anywho, it was BOGO at Publix, so obviously it was calling my name at just $1.49 for enough to feed my 4-fam, and still have leftovers. Score!

This was also one of the easiest meals ever to make, since you just dice up the peppers, onions & chicken and then throw it in a dish with some spices to bake. Easy Peasy. And then the same with the corn dish - some simple dicing, and then some simple stirring is all it takes to create a great tasting meal. I'd recommend this Pinterest recipe and my other side dishes for sure!

So if yall like Mexican inspired meals at home, try this stuff out, and then of course let me know how it goes!
Happy Fiesta Eating! :)