SALE SALE SALE

**If you are here to see Top 2 Tuesday only scroll down to the post below**

Hi Ladies!!

There is a HUGE sale going on in my Etsy shop, as we speak!! I coming up with some new designs and I needed to move some older inventory out so, I have made HUGE markdowns. Head over to my Etsy shop for hair accessories for yourself or your little one!!

Stock up for Christmas.....Buy your godchild, niece, cousin, or best friend a surprise "goodie"......treat yourself to something fun and stylish!

Go take a look at Magnolia Hairclips & Accessories and click on the SALE section for amazing deals!!

Here's a preview:







Thanks for looking!

Top 2 Tuesday-Favorite Cities

Sorry I missed out on last week's Top 2, but I am very excited about this week's topic!! It was definitely tough to pick just two, but here it goes!

My Top 2 favorite cities are:

1. NEW ORLEANS - I know that I am a little biased but I think that New Orleans is one of the most amazing cities in the United States!! The history and struggles of this amazing city make it what it is today. No matter where I live, New Orleans will always be home!




2. Austin - This is one of the most fun cities that I have ever been too/lived in. Austin has so much fun and adventurous things to do, and the food is amazing!! You can hiking or rock climb on the Greenbelt, swim in one of the many natural springs, canoe on Lady Bird Lake, drink Margaritas overlooking Lake Austin at the Hula Hut, climb Mount Bonell, shop on the trendy South Congress, and get amazing food from a trailer park!! The hubbs and I were lucky enough to live in Austin for 8 months, and I would definitely live there again if the opportunity presented itself to us!




Happy Top 2 Day!

I need your help...

...I want to get back in shape and I have NO motivation!! The hubbs and I met in high school, and I don't even want to tell you the weight difference between then and now. I understand that I will never be the size I was at 16, but I need to start trying to make myself a healthier person.

Please share you eating/working out motivational tips (songs for your IPOD, tracking, etc.) I really need you help because I am not happy with the way I look right now, and I lack the motivation to get moving :(

Happy Friday!

9 Years ago today...

We were just two 16 year old kids sitting on my parent's couch nervous about what was to come. You finally got up the nerve to ask me to be your girlfriend and I, like a giddy little girl, said yes!! That day has forever changed my life. I still get the same butterflies in my stomach when I hear the door unlock each night when you are getting home from work, and I love that we still make each other feel like we are 16 again. I love the journey that we have taken these past 9 years together and I look forward to what has yet to come in this journey!

During the past 9 years we have gone through a lot together: first kisses, graduating high school, moving to college, fraternities/sororities, losing loved ones, internships that kept us apart for 6 months, graduating college, getting our first big-kid jobs, an engagement, a wedding, a honeymoon, moving in together in Baton Rouge, moving to Austin, an unexpected pregnancy, a horrible miscarriage, moving across the country to New York, unemployment, long hours at work, and thoughts about what is to come. Whether it was good or bad, we have been by each other's side the whole time. I would not change one thing about our life together, even though I complain on a daily basis about being so far from our families. You are my rock and my best friend, and I look forward to many, many, many more years together. Happy 9th {dating} anniversary!

Here is a look back at the past 9 years {wow, I went through a lot of hairstyles}....









*Sorry for the picture overload*

Have a Great Weekend!

Homemade Cleaning Products

I have been thinking a lot lately about making my own cleaning products. I thought that this would not only be a great way to be "green" but it wouldn't hurt to save a little bit of money too! I mentioned this here in my Top 2 Tuesday a few weeks ago.

I have mentioned before that I am kinda of OCD so I go through cleaning supplies pretty quickly!! Well yesterday I ran out of Windex glass cleaner and my multi-purpose cleaner so, I decided that this would be the perfect time to try making my own products...eeekkk!

I had previously researched recipes for these products and I found the "Making Chicken Salad" blog which provided great recipes along with creative labeling for your homemade products. All of the recipes that I am using were adapted from the "Making Chicken Salad" blog.

I made my supply list and I headed out {meaning walked} to my local hardware store and market. I purchased the following ingredients:


32 oz. trigger spray bottle for multi-purpose cleaner - $3.99
Recycled Windex bottle for glass cleaner - FREE
Distilled Water - $2.00
Distilled Vinegar - $1.59
4 lb. box of Borax - $5.19
16 fluid oz. bottle of Dr. Bronner's Lavendar soap - $9.99
0.5 oz. bottle of Nature's Alchemy 100% Pure Essential Oil "Lavender" - $9.99
TOTAL = $32.75
*Remember that you will only use a portions of these ingredient for one batch of each of these cleaning products and you can save the rest for future use*

Recipe for Window/Glass Cleaner:
2 cup distilled vinegar
2 cup distilled water
6 drops lavender essential oil

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients together in the recycled Windex bottle

Recipe for Multi-Purpose Cleaner:
32 ounce trigger spray bottle
2 teaspoons borax
4 tablespoons distilled vinegar
1/2 cup Dr. Bronners Lavender soap
20 drops lavender essential oil
Hot water (enough to fill bottle)

Instructions:
Fill bottle 1/4 full with hot water then add borax. Shake to completely dissolve borax. Next add vinegar, home soap, and 20 drops essential oil. Fill the rest of the bottle with hot water. Gently shake mixture.

Now you have made your own cleaning products!!



*I decided to make my own labels, much like "Making Chicken Salad", and I love how they came out.

Now onto how much money I saved. I can't really estimate the exact cost of each bottle of cleaner, but when you see the amount of supplies that you have left {unused} I think that the money savings is obvious. A bottle of window cleaner and a bottle of multi-purpose cleaner, when bought at the store cost at least $6-7 each. So I would estimate that the supplies purchased above can make at least 3-4 batches of each cleaner. The most expensive products like the essential oil and Dr. Bronner's soap will last you a long time!

I hope that you enjoyed this post, and I hope that you too try to make your own cleaning products!! Keep checking back with me because as other cleaning products run out I will be switching to homemade.....I will be tackling homemade laundry detergent soon!

Be Clean and Be Green!

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

So my interview/meeting went well yesterday. I keep calling it a meeting because it was not technically an interview...we were more meeting to discuss possible career paths. When I left his office I felt like our meeting was very positive and that a great things was going to come out of it. Today I have hear from 2 different people that work for the person I met with yesterday, and they wanted to schedule official interviews with me....YEAH!!



Keep me in your thoughts because I really want a job {the hubbs and I really NEED me to get a job}!


**By popular demand, I will be posting tomorrow about my first attempt at homemade cleaning products! Stay tuned!


Happy Blogging!

Top 2 Tuesday-Characters you would want to play!

This week's Top 2 Tuesday over at The Undomestic Momma is theTop 2 Characters you would want to play!! My choices aren't really characters...they are real people. I guess my Top 2 are just people that I would want to spend a day {or week} in the life of!

1. My #1 choice would absolutely be Bethenny from RHONY and Bethenny Getting Married. She is so funny and always wears the best clothes and shoes!! I really just want to be friends with her....I mean, I live in NYC...I could totally make this happen!!




2. Carrie Underwood is my #2!! She has an amazing body, hair, style, etc!! I would love to see what she does on a day to day basis!




Happy Monday!

I am so NERVOUS...

...I have a job interview/meeting today at 2:30! We have been in NYC for almost 5 months, applied to at least 30-50 jobs, and I haven't even gotten an interview. So, I am so nervous that I could throw up. Wish me good luck...I will keep you updated!!

The Simple Things

Fresh flowers make me so happy and when I know that visitors are coming over, they are a must!! I absolutely L.O.V.E hydrangeas, especially white ones. Since I have this love of fresh flowers, I am always looking for great vases. I came across the vase below for $7 at T.J. Maxx, and it was love at first sight!





My parents and my grandma are coming to visit this weekend for us all to celebrate my dad's birthday so, that it how I justified the new vase and fresh flowers to the hubbs!! He was aware of my obsession when he married me so, he completely understood!!

I was having a bad, lonely day, and I love that these flowers have just made it better. It is the simple things...

Have a great weekend everyone! (I am aware it is only Thursday, but I will be M.I.A tomorrow and this weekend because of my visitors)

Top 2 Tuesday-Helpful TIPS

This week's Top 2 Tuesday over at The Undomestic Momma is fun because it is so broad that I think the responses will all be so different!! The topic is Top 2 Tips on money saving, beauty, DIY, cooking, cleaning, blogging, shopping, etc.

1. My first tip is a DIY tip. When you go shopping for something that you need in your house/apartment go to the expensive/fancy stores that you would LOVE to buy the item from and figure out how you can do it yourself. Never spend top dollar on an item when you could DIY it for cheaper! I recently did a post about a $10-15 pencil/pen cup that I wanted for my hubby's office, but instead I DIYed it!

It is also a great idea to find a DIY blog that can give you ideas too!! Here are some of my favorites:
-Casa Sugar
-Young House Love

2. My second tip is a cleaning tip. It is kind of ironic that I am writing a tip about this since I have yet to try it, but.....I think that everyone should try to make their own cleaning products. I promise that I will be trying this as my current cleaning products empty out. I have been researching this topic a lot lately, and I think it is a very interesting idea because it is not only green but also money-saving!! So, stay tuned for a post in the future about this exciting experiment!!


(Source)

Here are some blogs that I have found about making your own cleaning products:

-Passionate Homemaking
-Making Chicken Salad
(This site also has the cute labels in the above picture that you can print out for your homemade products!!)

Happy Blogging!

Happy 25th Birthday Hubby!

Today is my hubby's birthday!! I am pretty proud of the cookies that I made for him. They took forever but turned out great and taste like the cookies you get in a cookie bouquet :)

I wanted to show y'all some pictures from our trip to Newport, Rhode Island this past weekend. Like I said in my earlier post, the hubbs has been working crazy hours at the office (like, not leaving until 11 or 12 at night) so the getaway to Newport for his birthday was a nice break for him!! If you have never been to this part of the Northeast, I HIGHLY recommend that you take a trip there. It is truly, unbelievably gorgeous! I could really live on a sailboat with the hubbs in Newport for the rest of my life. I mean look at it:



I think that we fit in, right??


(I just realized that this is the first picture of the hubbs and I that I have revealed!! Now you know the face behind my ramblings!!)

Well the whole reason that we went to Newport was for the Folk Festival. The hubbs loves music and music festivals, and I have to be honest if every festival had this amazing of a backdrop, I would love them too! The festival was held on an old military fort that was almost completely surrounded by water (I think that is called a penninsula...maybe not though)! It was breathtaking and the weather was in the 70s all weekend! Here are a few pictures from the festival!



(These pictures were taken from the water taxi on the way to the festival)


(If you have never listened to the Avett Brothers...you must check out their song "I and Love and You"! The hubbs tries to introduce me to new bands and this is one of those bands that really stuck out to me...the are very mellow and their music is really beautiful!)


(This jazz band walked around both days and kept popping up in random places and playing impromptu songs...they must have been exhausted by the end of the festival!!)


(I wanted to post this picture to show you what the backdrop was when you were at the festival...I know the weather looks questionable, but it wound up not raining just cool, overcast, and breezy!)

That was our weekend in Newport!! Like I said before, I recommend the you all take a trip there at some point. It is very romantic and relaxing, and the bed and breakfasts in the downtown area are adorable. It would be a great "babymoon" trip or just a romantic couples getaway, and it is just a few hours train ride from either New York or Boston!!

Happy Birthday again to the hubbs!! You are so good to me and I could not ask for a better husband or best friend!

Happy Blogging!

Crafty Organizing

*Top 2 Tuesday is below this post so scroll down if that is what you are looking for*

Let me start off by saying that I like to keep our apartment super clean. It is not very big so when it is dirty it really looks like a disaster. With that being said my husband is definitely not the neatest person in the world. Well every time I walk into our guest bedroom/office this is what I see...



I know it doesn't look that bad, but it gives me a small panic attack (ok...I'm exaggerating). My husband is in the art and design field so he always has sketches and drawings all over the desk, but I think it was the pens and pencil clutter that was really getting to me. Last time I was in Target I saw a really cute pencil cup, but I just couldn't justify spending $15 on it so, I knew I wanted to DIY something. When I decided to make white bean and chicken enchiladas for dinner tonight, I knew that I could use the cans that the beans were in for DIY pencil holders. Here is my process:

1. Wash and dry the can. Remove the label. Pick out some scrapbook papers and get out your supplies.




2. Cut the paper so it will fit around the can.




3. Put glue on both ends of the paper strip, and then wrap it around the can. Here is the final product!!





I definitely think that it helps to organize all of his pens, drawing pencils, and colored pencils and it looks cute! I hope he likes it!! And it definitely makes me feel better when I go in the office!

Happy Crafting!

I love this week's Top 2 Tuesday because I think that it is the simple pleasures in life that make it SO GREAT!

TOP 2 Simple Pleasures:

1. Candles - One of my favorite things is having candles lit around the apartment. I love to clean our place and then lite all of the candle so, when the hubbs gets home the place look romantic and relaxing. Candles make me happy!!




2. Rainy Days - I agree with Taylor @ The Undomestic Momma, I LOVE rainy days especially when we don't have anything to do. One of the reasons I love rainy days so much is because it normally means that the hubbs and I just lounge on the couch all day and watch movies or Mad Men or Dexter!! These really are my favorite days!!



Happy Blogging!