Night Away in Nashville

Well, my travels continue!  At least this time it was for fun and with my sweet husband.  Saturday we hit the road and headed to Nashville (in the rain) for the night.  His best friend and girlfriend flew into town so we thought it was the perfect way to get to spend some time with them and see a town we enjoy.  Nashville was CRAZY packed!  So much was going on this weekend -- the SEC Basketball Championship games (Kentucky fans were everywhere), St. Patrick's Day Parties and Parades, concerts and the usual tourists.  We picked Ross and his girlfriend Alissa up at the airport and headed downtown for lunch at a Mexican place.  After a much needed meal, we checked into our hotels and freshened up before our dinner reservations at City House.  They had the BEST pizza!!! It was like I was back in Italy it was that amazing.  

The happy couples

The remnants of dessert

The best buds -- we figured out they hadn't seen each other since Christmas 2013!

   

After dinner, we caught a cab to downtown and hit some bars.  Everything was soooo crowded it made it hard to talk and move around and let's be honest, Adam and I were ready for bed.  We are not club goers!!  Plus, give us some credit, we are use to EST.  We walked back to the hotel and called it a night. 

Sunday morning, we met back up for breakfast at The Tavern.  Adam and I got there about 30 minutes before it opened which was good because there was already a line forming!  We waited for Ross and his girlfriend to join us and were ready when it opened at 10.  It was crazy packed in no time at all.  The food was really good there too.  Sunday turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous spring day!  Hello sunshine!!! 

 

After breakfast, we headed to Centennial Park to check out the Parthenon.  It was the perfect day to walk around and just take it easy.  The Parthenon was really cool to see too and again, took me back to Rome!  Looks so much like the real one!  So random that it's just in the middle of a park in Nashville.  Fun place to take some pics though!

and my favorite shot -- a selfie with a selfie!

From here, we grabbed some Starbucks and headed over to another park nearby - Bicentennial Park - and sat where we had a view of the Capital and just hung out in the sun.  

Then, we dropped Ross and his girlfriend off downtown and Adam and I hit the road.  He did let me stop for about 45 minutes at Opry Mills while he took a cat nap in the car.  I picked up some goodies at the Vera outlet and then we headed home to pick up Mr. Henderson.  Fun little getaway!

  

February Goal Progess

Well hello there, March!  March sure did sneak up quickly on me this year but with all the work travel lately, everything is crazy!  I got home from what's my last planned work trip Friday and hope that's it for a while!  We had our Division HR meeting in the beautiful city of Savannah.  I hadn't been to Savannah since 2003 and it's just as gorgeous now as it was then. I can tell with all the traveling I haven't been using up as many beauty products and reading as many books as I would like! 

 

1.  Used Up Products:

1. Only 1 this month - Bath & Body Works Sweet cinnamon Pumpkin Golden Sugar Scrub.  While I LOVE this scent and the idea of a scrub, I find this particular product hard to use.  It also got really clumpy toward the end of the tube.

2.  Books & Magazine

• 12 magazines cleared out this month!
• 1 audible book - Upstairs at the White House:  My Life with the First Ladies.  I LOVED this book and was so sad when it ended!  I learned so much about the different Presidents and First Ladies.  Highly recommend it. 

3.  Blog Posts

• 2 posts

4.  Get More Exercise

• January = 40.71 miles
• February = 41.11 miles

5.  Scrapbook Progress

• January = 30 pages
• February = 66 pages

I feel great about my scrapbook progress this year, especially given how little I've been home!!  I am FINALLY less than 3 years (just barely but it counts!) behind and I feel like I can meet my goal of catching up! 

How is the New Year treating you??

January Goal Progress

Can you believe we are already at the end of February!?  Where is the year going?  Well, I guess my year has been spent traveling all over the us.  A week in Mobile, a week in Niagara, a visit to WV, a week in Las Vegas and next week -- spent in Savannah.

All the travel has been impacting my goals!

1.  Used Up Products:

1. It's a 10 Miracle Moisture Shampoo - not really a fan.  It doesn't lather because it's sulfate free and it's very pricey.  Will not repurchase after I use up the other bottle.
2. Clinique High Impact Mascara - I typically like all Clinique mascaras.  I would repurchase this one.  Goes on night and the black is a great everyday color.  

2.  Books & Magazine

• 9 Magazines this month!  Working on a few audible books but haven't finished yet

3.  Blog Posts

• Only managed 2 in January

4.  Get More Exercise

• January = 40.71 miles

5.  Scrapbook Progress

• January = 30 pages

What I'm Loving Lately

I've had this draft waiting for me for weeks now but the last few months have been insane!  I've been traveling every other week for work and it's definitely cutting into a lot of my down time.  My scrapbooking is at a lull as well as several other projects around the house.  Hopefully the travel will be winding down soon.  I thought this would be a fun place to collect some things that I've come across since the beginning of the year that I'm just loving!  Read on for more...

I'm a big Fiesta collector and something I've been wanting for a while was a party server.  I was browsing Kohl's website and found that Fiesta now makes a server in 2 different colors!  The only thing I'm not so sure about with this set is that each piece is separate so I'll have to see how it does when I'm actually using it.    

My sweet husband finally put an extra shelf up in our laundry room!  I bought this wire shelf about a year ago and we just never got to putting it up.  Once it was up (and secure in the studs) I thought it was the perfect place to store my KitchenAid (instead of on the counter).  Love having the space to hang up clothes from the dryer vs on the door frame.

How awesome are these coasters?? Don't mind the sideways picture, I couldn't get it to rotate!  I am so pleased with the quality and got them for a great price from Shutterfly.  I will keep these in mind for a gift in the future.

I picked up this adorable snowman when we made our day trip to the Biltmore a couple weeks ago.  I also got one for my Mom and left it for her to find after we headed back home.

This is the first winter in a while that I've gotten all my snowmen decor out.  I forgot about this adorable slate my mom for me a few years ago.  I smile everytime I see it.

My mirror tray was the deal of the month!  I had been wanting a mirror tray since about November but hadn't been able to find exactly what I wanted.  I knew Target had this one but didn't want to pay $35-40.  Well, I ran to Target during lunch one day and happened to find the tray on clearance!  I snagged it for less than $10!  I LOVE it.

Another love is my new Tory Burch perfume!  Smells soooo good!!

I wanted to get a new pair of Uggs and had my eye on the Bailey button but then I saw these blinged out ones on Uggs website and knew I had to have them.  Plus, I snagged an awesome deal the day after Christmas - it was 11% back on ebates, free shipping and no tax since I shipped it to my parent's in WV.

Adam's a coffee drinker and doesn't make many requests so when he asked me to find a Keurig for him, I was on it!  We have enjoyed making his coffee and apple cider in it and have also discovered that hot chocolate is amazing as well!  We got this model and also a storage drawer that the toaster fits perfectly on.

New Year, New Organization Mojo! Shoe Organization

What is it about January that just makes everyone want to rip things out of cabinets, drawers and dark corners and get some order?  I know it's not just me because bloggers and Targets everywhere are showcasing organization tips, storage bins, and everything that just makes my heart race fast!!  I spent my Friday evening wondering up and down the storage aisles at Target checking out the latest must-haves in storage containers... yep, that's right, that was my exciting Friday night and I love it. For as long as I can remember I have had a love affair with all things storage - just.can't.get.enough.  I would be in serious trouble if there was a Container Store here.  I even have a storage container of extra storage bins in my basement!  Maybe I should join a support group? Ha!  But anyway, there's a point to this post.

I thought I would share one of my latest organization projects - shoes!  Like many gals, I have a love for shoes, I also have a limited amount of space for shoes.  My current closet is the smallest I've had in a while and I'm also sharing with hubby so I have to be reasonable in how much space I take over so I've gotten creative.  Here's some pics of the closet the day we moved in - the shoe cubbies are actually on the way behind the door to the left - I didn't snap a pic of that part of the closet in the "before" pics.

This was my closet in Baton Rouge - it was the perfect spot for my shoe cubbie!!  This is two units stacked together.

I'm still utilizing my shoe cubbies that have now found homes in all my houses over the last couple moves but I have too many of flats, tennie shoes and flip flops for the cubbies.  The cubbies only house my pumps.  Let's start with a little before picture... it isn't pretty.  I have this awkward spot in the corner that really was just a catch all for shoes.

So my first attempt was to get 4 of the individual Sterlite drawers that stack from Wal-Mart for my flip flops (they are sorted by color).  I left my flats in a basket on top of the drawers.

  I didn't take the labels of the drawers for a few weeks as a trial run to see how I liked this arrangement.  After giving it a go, I decided it was a success!

The existing cubbies

 

I added another drawer for flats and some pink labels 

I am not a fan of the wire shelving that's in our closet.  I go back and forth with putting the expense into redoing our whole closet system and may eventually do it.  I decided to buy a few more drawers to put under the bottom shelf for the rest of my flats.  I love that I was able to sort them all out by color - it makes finding the pair I want a snap!  The basket holds my house shoes which I should really just get rid of since I have lived in my Ugg ones that I purchased in May!  I don't typically keep shoe boxes but these 2 hold "special" shoes - my Kate Spade wedding shoes and then dressy Badgley Mischkas.

I'm trying to be conscious of how many shoes I have and the limited amount of space -- as I purchase new ones I'm trying to purge the ones I don't wear.  I do have a few pair of boots that I slide under my hanging tops on the other side of the closet and hubby keeps his shoes in the garage if you're curious.  Thanks for stopping by! 

November & December Progress Toward Goals and Results!

Happy New Year!

WOW - Can you believe it's already 2015?!?!  I spent NYE sick on the couch, talk about feeling crummy!  I still don't have my taste buds back yet which I really miss, my sweet husband had bought be a bottle of pink champagne for the celebration but I couldn't even enjoy it with him.  Hopefully I'm on the upswing now though!  I think I must have picked up some germs from my cute niece and nephew last week when we were in WV for Christmas.  This year we did our traveling a little different - we traveled via Air Gray - Adam flew us from destination to destination!  That meant several things:  I had to really plan who was getting what gifts because space is limited (esp for 2 families and lots of kids), less clothing options, less driving time and more time with our families!  We left on the 19th and flew to West Bloomfield, MI and were with Adam's family until Monday and then headed to Bluefield, WV to spend Christmas with my family this year.  We got to be there until Saturday the 27th and then had to come back to TN a day early because the weather was turning bad.  We did get to make a surprise trip with Abbie and some of my family to Biltmore for the day on the day after Christmas and that was a ton of fun.  She was so surprised and it was her first time to fly too.  We had great weather for our day trip.  

As the year wraps up, so does my personal goal challenge for the year!  I'm behind on posting November so I'm going to do both months and then the results! 

NOVEMBER & DECEMBER

1.  Only buy the absolute necessary toiletries/cosmetics/etc

I was bad in November due to the Black Friday deals.... and Sephora had a big 20% off sale.  I did buy things I knew I would repurchase soon anyway so nothing new per say.  

December I was more on track and more focused on holiday shopping! 

I did use up quite a bit of products over the course of these 2 months.  

• Lancome Blush in Miel Glace - I think this is a great color and would possible repurchase
• Lancome eyelash primer
• 2 Clinique mascaras
• 2 Bamboo pink lipsticks
• Victoria's Secret Hand Cream (This is from college!!!)
• Raspberry Sorbet body wash.. will not repurchase
• Paris body wash from Bath and Body Works - really like this scent but ready for change!
• Laura Mercier flawless skin cleansing oil make up remover - I think this is a great product but I found the bottle to be very messy.  The oil leaks all over the counter and I would not ever take this with me when traveling.  Would not repurchase because of those issues.
• Glitter black Sephora eyeliner - an ok product but not blown away
• Tarte lipgloss - not my fav shade
• Travel size Keratin Suave shampoo - again, not blown away
• Pantene hairspray that lasted forever
• Mary Kay black eyeliner - not repu

2.  No more magazine subscriptions (unless they are free).  My goal is to finish reading the backlog  of magazines in the living room and then start on my actual book collection!  My goal is 1-2 books per month.  

November was a light reading month!  Two magazines and two books - Allegiant (HATED the ending!!!) on Audible and The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks - such a sweet book, can't wait to see the movie here in a few months!

December was the month of the magazines.  

 3.  At least one blog entry a week. 

I did 2 posts for November and only 1 in December!

 

4.  Use the elliptical that's literally just  accumulating spider webs in the basement -- get in 20-30 minutes a day on the elliptical and walk Henderson 1-2 times  a week.

January - 56.53 miles 

February - 64.57 miles 

March - 62.27 miles

April - 46.23 miles

May - 68.84 miles 

June - 61.61 miles

July - 65.74 miles

August - 92.91 miles 

September - 44.36 miles 

October - 57.13 miles 

November - 45.41 miles

December - 39.78 miles

   

 5.  Less eating out at work.  My goal is to only eat out 2-3 times a week.  

Doing great with this one!

6.  Since I beat my scrapbook page goal for 2013, I think I am going to go with ... 300 pages for 2014.

Working my way through Memorial Day 2011 and also did some work with Mom and Grandma on her scrapbook/family history project while they were down for Thanksgiving!
52 total pages for November.

Time was super limited in December with the focus on holidays and a lot going on at work.  I did finish up my big Memorial Day trip to NYC and ended the year with June 2011 complete.  30 total pages for December.  

RESULTS FOR 2014

1.  I think I was more aware of what I was buying this year and it allowed me to focus more on using up a lot of the items I've purchased. 
   
Would repurchase -

• Nuetrogena oil-free eye makeup remover
• Purity facewash by Philosophy  
• Vaseline aloe fresh hydrating lotion
• 2 Paris Amour Bath & Body Works Shower Gel
• Quiver Layers bodywash by Scentsy
• 5 Bamboo Pink Long Last Clinique Lipstick
• Sephora's brand lipstick in the shade "Star" S06. 
• Tarte Lip Surgence in Glitzy
• Tarte Lip Surgence in Pink
• Blistex Complete Mositure Lip Gloss
• Benefit They're Real Mascara
• Smashbox Hyperlash Mascara in Black
• 2 Clinique mascaras
• Lancome eyelash primer
• Urban Decay Eyelash Primer Potion
• Laura Mercier Foundation Primer
• Lancome Blush in Miel Glace
• Baby cakes baked blush palette
• Black Eyeliner by Stila
• Bluefin Eyeliner by Stila
• 3 Bath and Body Works Purse Hand Soaps
• Brown Eyeliner by Stila
• Pantene Shampoo
• Pantene hairspray
• Suave Keratine hair
• Sculpting gel

Would not repurchase

• Carmax Complete Moisture Lip Gloss
• 3 Chap sticks
• Herbal Essences Shampoo
• Travel size Keratin Suave shampoo
• TreSemme Conditioner
• Bath & Body Works Brown Sugar & Fig Body Scrub
• Raspberry Sorbet body wash
• BBW Soap
• Shower Gel
• Purple Sephora Eyeliner
• Glitter black Sephora eyeliner
• Mary Kay black eyeliner
• Eyelash primer
• 3 Mini mascara
• Laura Mercier flawless skin cleansing oil make up remover
• Eye make up remover pads
• Jergens Natural Glow
• Victoria's Secret Hand Cream

2.  For 2014, I ended up reading 72 magazines, 22 books and listening to 7 audiobooks
3.  I had 27 total blog posts last year which was much less than my goal for the year but averages out to about 2 a month
4.  I walked 705.38 total miles for 2014 - and still didn't use my elliptical!!!  Putting this into context, this is like walking from my house in TN to my parents in WV and back to TN!  
5.  I did well with my goal of limiting eating out, can always improve on eating healthier.  
6.  In 2013, my scrapbook page goal was 200.  in 2014, my goal was 300.  I'm happy to say that I blew this goal out of the water!  My total page count for the year is 447 pages!!!!  Super happy with my progress for the year but still only to July 2011.  I'm not really sure how far behind I am though because I've already done everything related to wedding planning, engagement, the wedding and our honeymoon (much of 2012 and half of 2013) so maybe those years won't be too bad.  

I think I will keep most of the same goals for 2015.  I have felt challenged this year and have enjoyed keeping tabs on myself.  I do want to keep myself better organized at home and spend less time watching TV and more time being active/scrapbooking.  I hope each of you have a wonderful 2015!