Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Planner Probs...

I've always loved my Erin Condren Life Planner. If you've ever discussed planners with me you know that no planner compares to Erin Condren in my book and I think it without the doubt is completely worth the money.

I was not into stickers, not at all. And then I became obsessed. 

I have been watching Elle Fowler on Youtube for years and when she started her sticker shop I didn't think much of it and then I started watching her planning videos. I didn't actually buy anything until this beauty was released....


Harry Potter?! I needed it. So badly. Now you can see I kind of just stuck all the stickers down, I didn't really know what I was doing..but who does?

I love how some of her sticker sets can be just printed out right at home. I have since purchased a couple sets that will be mailed, but so far only have ones I have printed right at home.


This peacock sticker set is gorgeous too. I have used it twice so far, differently each time but I can see myself using it a lot in the future since it is so versatile.


The last set I bought is for fall and will be used in a couple of weeks:


I love it! As soon as September rolls around, I consider it fall :)

What kind of planner do you use? Stickers or not obsessed yet?

Monday, August 22, 2016

Life Lately: Summer Weekend Fun!

Oh it's always great once the weekend comes around here. I've been working a lot of Saturdays recently doing some overtime but we have been enjoying the last few weekends of summer as much as we can around here. 

We started our Friday night with a trip up to Pawtucket, after finding out we didn't actually need to be up there we ended up stopping by Slater Park and looking for some Pokemon! While walking around I received a text from Brittni asking if we wanted to meet her, Stephen, and Emma in Oakland Beach for some more Pokemon hunting. 


We headed to Oakland Beach and arrived a few minutes early just as the sun was setting.



After walking around for awhile and entertaining Emma with funny faces and noises we settled down for dinner at Iggys. If you've never been to Rhode Island and had Iggy's before you should definitely stop by for a doughboy...and if you have no idea what a doughboy is you are seriously missing out.

We had a great time and were in bed pretty early since I was working nice and early Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon consisted of laying on the couch since we had a big night ahead of us. Un-pictured we ate dinner at The Haversham for my grammy's 75th birthday and then headed off to Fred's birthday party later that night.

I haven't been too great at taking pictures lately, something I need to get better at again!

Sunday however I have a few pictures to share! We spent the day kayaking with Tim's family on Wood River. There were eleven of us; two double kayaks, four single kayaks, and one canoe. It was quite the trip!


Tim's sister Brittany and her puppy Attie shared a kayak for half the trip and then Attie shared with Brit's boyfriend Justin for the second half. Attie loves kayaking!




Tim's nephews Callan and Kason had a blast swimming around when we stopped. They loved floating around in their lifejackets and the river was so calm and shallow they were able to move around easily!



We also stopped at a rope swing which quite a few of the group took a turn on. I prefer to stay inside the kayak and not get covered in river water :)

It was a great day and we had beautiful weather, great company, and nice exercise!


Plus anytime I get to hang around with this guy it's a pretty great time <3


How was your weekend?!

Friday, August 19, 2016

Three Things I'm Loving Lately!


Better Than Sex Mascara



This is one of the best mascaras I've ever tried! The name is a little awkward but the results are fantastic. I have never been able to achieve such great lashes with only a mascara and no primer before! 


Legally Blonde

she is goals                                                                                                                                                      More:

I've been wanting to watching Legally Blonde for awhile now since I saw the above quote. I have always thought that Legally Blonde and Elle Woods character was very inspiring and I'm glad the world seems to be jumping on board. As someone who has grown up blonde and often treated like I'm not as smart as I am, Elle has always been an inspiration. 

Microwave S'mores 

I have been on a s'mores kick lately and I need to back off before I weigh a million pounds. Making them in the microwave is way too easy!

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

August Birchbox

Whenever my birchbox comes in it's a great day! When this beauty arrived last week I was super excited to dig in!


I love the designs of the boxes lately, much more exciting then how they used to be!


So there are a few great products, some that I'm not too excited about but overall a great box!


This Stila liquid lipstick is strange. If you've been reading for awhile you know I'm not a big fan of lip products. This was a very dark lipstick that went on like a gloss. The consistency wasn't terrible but the color I received was super dark. It looked almost brown to me, Tim said it wasn't as bad as I thought it was, but it's probably not something I will wear too often....


This eyeshadow duo from Manna Kadar is very nice! The pigment is great and I love the colors that were included. This is part of of the day dream palette which looks great. I've never heard of Manna Kadar before but so far I like their products!


Oribe Impermeable Anti-Humidty Spray is so cute in this gold tinted container. I tried it out this past weekend which was one of the hottest and most humid on record here this summer and my hair managed to stay neat in my ponytail, so I would say it works!


Hey Honey Trick and Treat Cream Concealer  seems like a great product. I have only briefly tried it on a small zit on my chin. It's not a heavy product by any means which doesn't provide a ton of coverage but for something small it seems to work nicely.


The last product in my box is ProfilePRO Ultra Nourishing Oil. Anything that can tame my frizz and repair my damaged hair is great for me! I always was nervous about putting oils in my hair but now I am a firm believer that a nourishing oil can make a huge difference!

So those are the products I'm trying this month, what have you been trying out lately?

Stay tuned because at the end of the month I will be reviewing all of my summer empties!

Friday, August 12, 2016

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Skillet

If you haven't heard.... I don't cook.

I'm the worst "housewife" going and haven't exactly cooked gourmet meals for my lovely boyfriend. Poor guy ;)

Sometimes I do get in the mood to cook and this past Tuesday was one of those days! At work I kept thinking about how I wanted to make something yummy for dinner so I found a recipe online and after work headed to the grocery store to pick up what I needed and voila!



Here's the ingredients I used:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 chicken breast, cut into small pieces
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 package of Knorrs rice pilaf
2 1/4 cups chicken broth
1 can of cream of chicken soup (10.5 oz)
2 cups broccoli tops (chopped up very small)
1 cup cheddar cheese

Here's what I did:

1. Put olive oi, chopped onion, garlic, and chicken in a large skillet on medium heat. I cooked this for about five minutes until it seemed like the chicken was heating up nicely.

2. I added rice, cream of chicken soup, and chicken broth. I started with two cups of chicken broth but ended up adding about 1/4 a cup later on. I cooked this for about 15 minutes, adding the 1/4 chicken broth right before the 15 minutes were up.

3. I then added half the cheddar cheese and all the broccoli and let it cook for two minutes.

4. I sprinkled cheese over the top, turned off the burner, and let it sit for a few minutes before eating.

It was absolutely delicious! I was very pleased with myself and I thought it was a great dinner.

I adapted my version from jocooks.com which called for slightly different ingredients and instructions. I improvised with what we had in the apartment and I think it turned out pretty darn good!

Happy cooking and happy Friday everyone!

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Shutterfly Freebies!

On Monday when I shared my bill paying checklist there were a couple of super cute magnets holding them up!


Every couple of weeks (or even more often!) Shutterfly has freebies which is an awesome way to get personalized free stuff! These magnets were something I picked out right when we moved in. I chose a few pictures, paid for shipping and they arrived at my door.. pretty cool!

Even more recently I've managed to get more items for free!


These four coasters came in last week and they are a great item we actually use!



Lastly I ordered a notebook with a picture I took of Charlestown Beach. What a pretty notebook right? I just paid shipping for all of these items!

If you haven't signed up for Shutterfly yet you definitely should, and once you do select to receive e-mails so you get notified every time they are giving away free items! It happens more often then you think and all of these items would make great gifts (which I haven't done yet...but I may start stocking up on gift items!)

Sign up here!

**This is not a sponsored post! Just me promoting something free that I love!**

Monday, August 8, 2016

Bill Payment Checklist

Living together means having to pay bills together. This has been one of the adjustments we've had to make since moving in together and it can get a little confusing who has to pay what when! Each of us has our own credit cards, insurance, etc and now we share responsibility of paying for rent, cable, and electricity. We are very lucky that our rent also includes gas heat (which also works the stove), and water so that is one less bill to worry about. However, we have plenty on our minds every day that I was getting nervous we might accidentally miss a bill deadline.

I have used bill checklists before but it was only to keep track of my own payments so it was time to make one that we could both utilize. Keeping it in a binder seemed like a great idea until Tim mentioned he wanted something that he could look at every day; like a calendar. I wasn't totally sold on the idea of a calendar marking our bills and having to write them in every single month so I came up with a solution that seems like it's the best of both worlds.


I put everything in order of when it's due each month so we can visually see how the month is progressing as we pay everything off. Some bills are ones that only I need to worry about so I've marked them with my name. Some are ones Tim worries about so the same goes for him. We also have our own way of paying things- when I paid $100 towards our couch payment, he paid $100 towards groceries for the week. It all works out in the end :)

This chart was made easily on Microsoft Word and I printed and laminated it so we could mark off each payment with dry erase markers. So far I manage to get to the chart first and Tim is a bit jealous he hasn't had the opportunity to check anything off :)



It hangs nicely on our fridge, an easy reminder for what's coming up and easily accessible!

So that's how we are organizing our bill paying now, how do you?

Also, if you are intrigued by the photo magnets on our fridge come back Wednesday to learn how to get your own!

Monday, August 1, 2016

Life Lately: Bronx Zoo

When we woke up Saturday morning we had no plan as to what we were going to do that day. After watching a little bit of tv in bed and slowwwwly waking up we decided to head to the Bronx Zoo. It has been on our bucket list since last summer just like Six Flags New Jersey was so we were excited to stop there on our way home.

First we had to stop at a Wawa and get some Wawa mints.


In college my friends and I took a road trip to NJ and had to get Wawa mints while we were there, so I grabbed two so Tim and I could eat them! (Side note: We didn't....and they are sitting in our candy bowl right now)

After quite a bit of driving we finally arrived!



The Bronx Zoo is absolutely amazing! There are so many animals and the habitats they live in are gorgeous. As animal lovers it was great to see different animals then we have at the zoo here but also see what different habitats they created at a larger zoo like this.




















The zoo it set up really nicely with a bunch of buildings separating exhibits. Birds in one building, insects in another, etc... There were so many areas to see and not enough time in the day!






















As much as I loved seeing all of the animals; my favorite of the day had to be the gorillas!











The babies were absolutely adorable and we stood there watching all of them interact for a long time! 

Once we had seen pretty much everything (and gotten 14,000 steps I might add) we headed back to the car. We made a quick stop for dinner at Longhorn which was decent, and an even quicker stop at the outlets, but then it was time to head home after a wonderful weekend vacation!