Thursday, August 29, 2013

Postcard Scrapbook

One of the projects I just completed recently is my Postcard Scrapbook. This will be volume 1, of what I'm sure will be many scrapbooks in the future. 

I decided to take every postcard that I have received and scan the backs into my computer and print off a copy of the message written. 




I started off by writing the names of  most of the locations of the postcards on the first page. I just used many colored sharpies and quickly wrote them in.

I wanted this to be a very simple scrapbook, not anything fancy. So I simply taped each piece in and that's what I stuck with throughout the entire album.




I think this was a fun idea, because I can now look back on all my postcards and see the actual postcard picture and the message written on the back. I like the idea of having a book I can flip through instead of having a pile of postcards to sift through.

What do you do with your postcards?

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

August Birchbox Review

Happy hump day everybody! (Does everyone else think of the commercial with the camel on Wednesdays? If you don't know what I'm talking about you can watch it here)

Anyways, it's time to review the products that I received in my Birchbox earlier this month- I tried everything except for one product, and I will explain why I didn't try it in a minute...


I wasn't a huge fan of this It's a 10 Leave in conditioner.
Normally I can put all sorts of things in my hair, and it will still be dry and frizzy- this product made my hair feel oily. I have never in my life felt like my hair is oily and this product made me feel that way all day long. I will NOT be using this again thankyouverymuch.



This is the one product that I never got around to using. First of all a half-body application scared me. Where should I apply it? I can't apply it to one leg and not the other! I didn't know what to do and frankly was a little scared I might end up orange. I am for sure not brave enough to try this...



This Party Proof Matte Lipstick that I thought I would hate? I love. It is actually a nude color and barely shows up- my kind of lipstick. Just having lipstick on though, makes me feel fancy, so I wore it and felt  like I was a fancy grown up (which I still am not sure being a grownup is what I want to be....but whatever)


The Dr Jart's product was a great match for my skin tone and believe it or not, it didn't break me out- at all. It is so lightweight and I am definitely a fan. Worth a try if you're in the market for a foundation that has SPF in it and have sensitive skin.


These fresh feet wipes were interesting. They definitely weren't something I would ever purchase regularly but I liked them for sure as a nice way to clean up your feet after a long day. They remind me a lot of simple baby wipes which would definitely be a cheaper alternative to this product.


Overall, not my favorite box-but still quite good. I will be late on posting my September open box since I will be in France for the first half of the month- so look for that later in September!

Hope you have a great day!

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Quick Car Cleanup

One of the things that makes my life feel more together than anything else, is cleaning up my car. I'm sure your car is like your second home, because I know that some weeks I feel like I spend more time in my car then I do in my bedroom. 

It is so easy to make a mess in the car, especially if you are doing things like eating on the go, picking up the mail, and throwing items in the backseat. 

I try to regularly pick up my car, throwing trash away as soon as I get home or when I see a trash can in the coffee drive thru. I also try not to leave clothes in my car, and am constantly taking water bottles to recycle out of my cupholders. 

However, every once in awhile I end up with a messy, dirty car and it needs a quick cleanup.

First up, a couple of before pictures....


You can see trash shoved in the side pocket, clearly I'd been to Dunkin Donuts recently...


Water bottles in the cup holder...




dirty, dirty floor mats...


 dirty seats...


bird poop on the back door...

and a ton of stuff in the backseat...

Now the first thing I do when I clean out my car is take everything out. That includes my dance bag (which I keep in the car at all times since it contains all my dance shoes and other things I need for work at the dance studio), plastic bags from shopping, clothes, and everything else I find.

Then I give it a good vacuuming. I LOVE our Dyson and I swear it works magic on any surface. There was a ton of dirt from the parking lot where I work and crumbs from eating in the car. Everything is nicer after a good vacuum.

Next I take Lysol wipes and wipe down the console, cup holders, and every other surface that needs to shine a little bit more.

I know I'm a little bit weird...but then I lint roll the seats. It takes all the dog hair, my hair, and whatever else is stuck on the seats even after being vacuumed.

Finally, I gave the exterior of my car a good scrub down. I use a tiny little bit of dish soap and a ton of water. I have a huge sponge that I also use (that I found one day in our garage-so I'm unsure where it's from- but any sponge will do!), and it really does a great job at getting in all the nooks and crannies.

Now, here we go with some after photos!


Check out that empty back seat! Just one little bag for work on the floor.


Nicely vacuumed floors and lint-rolled seats.


Nothing in the cup holders.. or on the seats


and no more trash in the door pocket!


A nice shiny clean car! =)

Now, you're probably wondering why I didn't include any pictures of my trunk. Well the truth is, I don't really use my trunk all that much. When I did some spring cleaning in my car earlier this year, I shared what was inside my trunk. It hasn't changed at all and all the same things are inside!

Well that's it for my quick car cleanup!

What special things to do you do when you clean your car? How often do you clean your car?

Monday, August 26, 2013

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Laurie!

You have won the MyMemories Suite giveaway!

I will be sending you an e-mail with instructions and a code to get your your prize!



Sunday, August 25, 2013

My Memories Giveaway Ending Soon!!!

Don't forget that the MyMemories digital scrapbooking giveaway is ending tomorrow!

Go HERE to enter!

I will be announcing the winner on my blog tomorrow! Good luck everybody!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday, to my favorite woman in the whole wide world....






my mom.


Love you mom! Happy Birthday! =)

Saturday, August 24, 2013

DVD Organization!

I have been toying with the idea of changing up my DVD organization for a long time now. I started to realize just how much room the dvd cases were taking up.

I was inspired after reading Sam's DVD organization  on her blog and decided that this was the time to get this project done!

First thing first- I needed to figured out what kind of dvd sleeves I wanted to put my dvds in. I did a ton of research online, trying to figure out what kind would be best to use. I looked at plastic sleeves, but in the reviews section people were saying that oftentimes they find colorful junk on their dvds after leaving them in the sleeves for too long. I was a little nervous about ordering any after that.

I decided to go simple...


I ended up picking out simple, white paper sleeves by Memorex. I found them at Walmart for just a little over $5 each. This made my project cost only a little over $15 which was not bad at all!

Now here's where we started...


This monstrosity took up quite a bit of room and there were so many dvds, I knew this project would be well worth it.


I took all the dvds out of their cases and placed each one inside a paper sleeve. I labeled each one appropriately, so I will know exactly what is inside. I know, I know, seeing the dvd through the plastic screen is probably plenty- but as a super organized nerd I decided to go for it! (I also alternated colors as I labeled which I'm sure many of you organized friends out there will appreciate!)



I tossed those dvd cases on the floor while I worked. Sometimes tossing stuff while I organize makes me feel more accomplished!

Now check this out.....




Insane! So exciting! Lots of other words that require exclamation points!

Now check out the difference between the stack of DVD cases, and the basket of DVDs next to it...



Crazy right? So much wasted space that is now saved!



Now I have two beautiful baskets of DVDs that are compact, organized and so much prettier then that huge DVD rack I had before!


My next move was to make dividers for the basket so I would be able to find DVDs even faster.



I simply used oaktag so it it extra thick.



How pretty is that?! I absolutely love how this project turned out!


Goodbye DVD rack!


Goodbye DVD cases!


Hello open space! =)

How are your DVDs organized?

Friday, August 23, 2013

Weekly Couponing Wrapup!

This weeks couponing excursion was very small but definitely not a bad one by any means. I almost didn't go again this week, but needed a couple of things!

So I headed to CVS...


1 Always Infinity Pads @ $5.79
used $1/1 coupon
Paid: $4.79

2 Burts Bees @ $3.29 each or $6.58
used $1.50 CVS coupon
Paid: $5.08

1 Q-Tips @ $3.79

used $2 ECB
used $5 gift card

paid $6.66 + tax for everything!


Honestly, since I went in without coupons for the Q-Tips and the Burts Bees (thank god the CVS MCM spit that coupon out!) I didn't expect to do as well as I did. 

How did your couponing go this week? Did you get anything for free?

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Money Saving Tip- Save Those Soda Caps!

Now today I'm here to tell you something that you might think is really silly and a total waste of your time...but I'm here to tell you that it's definitely not.

Save your Coca-Cola soda caps!

I always just recycled my soda bottles and never thought twice about it but recently started keeping the caps of mine (and anybody else I saw who was about to toss theirs). If you quickly browse the Coca Cola website you might think that the prizes for the points you earn aren't that great but I'm here to tell you that there are some great things!

Recently, I banked enough points on mycokerewards.com to get 50 free photo prints from Shutterfly! Since I print pictures so often (I swear I take a million pictures a year- you see about 10% of them here on the blog) it was a great to get some for free! There are also numerous gift cards you can use your points to get which is a great bonus. 

Since I don't drink a ton of soda anymore, I don't often get the caps myself. Luckily, my dad, brother and all of my brothers friends drink a ton of soda and I often snag the caps from them. I have been known to dig through the recycling bin to grab a cap for a code. 

To see the entire rewards catalogue and get started go here.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

By The Shore Treasures

This past weekend I helped my mom create her very first Etsy shop!

She has been making shell wreaths for quite awhile now and we have been trying to convince her that creating a shop on Etsy would be a great idea. She has been making wreath after wreath with no plan for them other than keeping them in her office closet, so now we have put them online.





Aren't they gorgeous?! She hand picks every shell off the beach in either Rhode Island or Florida, and man she finds some beautiful ones!

I would love for you to check out her shop on Etsy here . She is constantly making more all the time and each one is completely unique so you could buy one for everyone you know and each and every one would be completely different!

But I guess that's enough family-promotion for one day, you should just go check them out for yourself =)


Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Sunday Night Concert and a Kohls Shopping Spree

Good morning everyone!

I'm going to be backing up to Sunday for this blog post, considering yesterday was a rather dull day =)

For my mom's birthday I bought her tickets to the Goo Goo Dolls/ Matchbox 20 concert for the Comcast Center in Mansfield MA. I gave them to her with the intention that she would take my dad and they would be able to enjoy the concert together. However, on Sunday my dad told me that I would be attending the concert in his place. He hasn't been feeling well lately and is on antibiotics. He also prefers classic rock music and this concert was definitely not his thing (something my mom enjoys a lot more).

I was super excited to be able to go! I saw the Goo Goo Dolls back in 2007 and enjoyed it, but had never seen Matchbox 20. Both of these bands represent my childhood since I am a 90s kid, and I definitely enjoyed every second!


My mom and I arrived at the Comcast Center super early so we could avoid traffic. We ended up hanging out in the parking lot for awhile watching the police search cars and hassle people around us. We ended up going to our seats about 45 minutes before the concert started, but it worked out great since we were under shelter and it started to sprinkle outside. We were thankful I bought tickets far enough forward that we were covered!


Kate Earl was the opening act, who I had never heard of. She came out on stage in what looked like a cape, but then took it off before I took a picture of her...

She announced that she had performed one of her songs for Desiree and Chris on The Bachelorette this past season! She said that she takes credit for the fact that they are now engaged. I was surprised that she was from The Bachelorette, I never would've guessed that.


While we waited for the Goo Goo Dolls to start I took a picture of the gorgeous sunset. The pink streaks across the sky were beautiful!


The Goo Goo Dolls were incredible. They sang every popular song that I wanted to hear, and a brand new one that I downloaded right after their set which I loved. It's called "Come To Me" and is one of my new favorites.

The best part about seeing them in concert is that they sound just like they do on the radio or on their cd. There is literally no difference in their voices and sound at all which makes it so familiar and nice to hear in concert.


Matchbox 20 was also great, they sang all of their popular songs and quite a few I didn't know as well. I noticed that Rob's voice sounded just like it does on his cd as well which was nice!

I always think that Matchbox 20 and The Goo Goo Dolls have very similar sounds so I found that the concert was nice and mellow which was very nice!


As we enjoyed the concert my mom and I definitely got a kick out of the people around us.... The woman next to my mom watched the entire concert through binoculars. Yes, she stared through them the entire time, smiling creepily...it was weird.

Also there were two people in front of us that were competing for spazz of the year awards. Their dancing was out of control! So my mom and I giggled regularly throughout the concert.


Backing up to earlier on Sunday, my mom and I headed to Kohls to shop a little. I went in wanting to buy a suitcase for France. I always borrow a suitcase from my parents and the one I use is not very sturdy and is getting worn out. I wanted to have my own, nice suitcase! However, I ended up buying a couple other things too...



I love my new flipflops from LC Lauren Conrad. I ended up wearing them to the concert and found them extremely comfortable. I usually wear a 7 in shoes, but ended up getting a 6.5 because the 7's felt huge on me! You can find them online here, the color that I have is tan.



I also bought a dress from Lily Rose and I can't wait to wear it. I am thinking I will also bring it to France with me. You can find it here .


I ended up purchasing a Samsonite suitcase since I know they are great quality. This suitcase is 25" which is the medium size, and part of the LEVIT8 collection. I chose the medium one, figuring it will be perfect for France, and possibly someday I could purchase the bigger one and smaller one and have a complete set. For now though, I only need one suitcase =)

Originally this suitcase is $380, but it was on sale and I ended up getting it for $140! I also had a 20% off my entire purchase coupon, and only ended up spending $150 for everything- an amazing deal if I do say so myself.

I plan on doing a blog post on packing for Europe if that is something everyone is interested in.


Also, don't forget that currently a giveaway is going on, just visit this page to enter!

Have a great day everybody!