High 5!

What a stressful week it has been with school work. I study so hard for quizzes and take notes, but the professor always has to throw trick questions in there that makes you think about it too much and change your mind. I am looking forward to a busy weekend to keep my mind off things and maybe a little retail therapy :)

Here are my 5 favorites things from the week, linking up with FMGD:

1. Fall = Football season. We are flying our Spartan flag proudly outside

 2. I love fall nights. We got our quilt down for the season and changed the duvet cover around. So cozy!

3. I made one of the best stuffed pepper recipes this week.

4. I also had a little extra time to do some baking. Hello Pumpkin Roll Cake, check out the recipe here

5. Greg cut the pavers to finish off the patio. Now we just need to work on growing the grass back, always something...

discoloration is due to the tiles being wet from the saw

Never before have been so thankful for weekends and happy hour!

xo, Erin

Life Lately...

Here are some updates on my life over the past week:

1. My sister got engaged this past weekend! So happy for her and her fiance and excited for the planning to begin! Here's the gift we got them, aren't we so sweet ;)

2. Greg installed recessed lights in my office. Now I can work in there extra late (yippe?)

3. My desk looks something like this every night while studying and reading for class

4. While I am upstairs doing school work, Greg has been busy in the basement building a work bench

5. ...and a tv stand for a tv that came with nothing (it was free, can't complain)

That's my life lately. It's been crazy hectic and I have been swearing by coffee every morning. I never wanted to get into that habit, but late nights studying and working with preschoolers every day sure requires caffeine! 

xo, Erin

Organizing 101: My Jewelry

Back in March, I briefly touched on my closet and how I organize my jewelry. I have since gained more jewelry, and was in need of eliminating and re-organizing. Unfortunately the fabulous dividers I use are no longer available at IKEA, but I am sure you can find some kind of alternative.

Here's what it looks like all closed up and open:

I have 3 dividers which I broke into different categories. The first one contains earrings, rings, watches and bracelets. The second divider consists of silver and gold necklaces and the last one contains all my colored necklaces. Everything is easily seen and if I'm looking for something specific, I know right where to look. Below are some detail pictures of each divider. (Sorry for the poor picture quality, it was a cloudy day and the closet gets no natural light. I was competing with the closet light and flash)

Divider 1

silver and gold/rose gold bracelets

popular studs are placed in this cushion, all the backings are in a small box

multiple earrings in each divider, normally sorted by similarities

Divider 2

some silver necklaces

and some gold

Divider 3

All the drawers open

How is your jewelry organized? I have seen some great ideas on Pinterest! I am contemplating adding some hooks in the closet for my statement necklaces that don't fit in the dividers very well.

xo, Erin

Fall Cleaning & Organizing

Phew, this weekend was busy. I can't really explain what made it so busy, but we did not stop going.

Between reading and studying I found some time to organize a few spaces in the house and decorate a little for Fall.  Greg was busy building a work bench in the basement and installing new recessed lights in my office.

Posts about everything in the next few days.. here are a few teasers:

Bathroom organization

Hall closet organization

How I organize my jewelry

Check back soon!

xo, Erin

High Five for Fall

Wow. This week was rough getting back into a routine. This year my Masters has thrown a kink in my otherwise relaxing evenings. My evenings consist of dinner around 5:30, gym until 7:00, studying until 9:00, then hopefully spending at least an hour relaxing with my hubby before I pass out.

The only thing that got me through this week was the cooler fall weather. It got me thinking about drinking cider, watching football and cuddling by the fire :)  I am linking up with FMGD to share my five highlights:

1. Snuggling with this guy. On our travels, we had to leave him behind with a pet sitter for 8 days.  We rewarded him by letting him sleep in our bed for a night (normally this is only allowed on weekends)

2. I painted my nails a nice mocha/gray color to get me ready for these cooler weather outfits

- OPI You Don't Know Jacques -

3. I have been dragging all week. Back to work is exhausting, along with reading for my Masters on top of that. I have been rewarding myself with coffee most mornings

4. Favorite outfit from this week: polka dots and leopard print... perfect

5. Cooler weather during the day and at night! I am hoping our air conditioner is off for good and our heat stays off for awhile too. I love this in between weather with windows open and lounging around in leggings and a hoodie

Looking forward to watching Michigan State football along with doing some organization projects around the house.  Oh, and catching up on some sleep too!

xo, Erin

Just A Few More...

I couldn't resist sharing a few more pictures from our trip with you. While looking through the pictures, some are too funny not to share. We did a lot of driving and sightseeing... and saw some very crazy things. I promise this will be the last of my vacation posts :)

The sea lions at Pier 39 in Fisherman's Wharf were hilarious to watch

In a jail cell at Alcatraz

'Playing' baseball in the recreation yard at Alcatraz

Of course we drove down Lombard Street.. three times

Super foggy on the Golden Gate

Ate at the infamous In-N-Out. I think Five Guys is better

Saving Greg from falling off the mountains in Tahoe

HUGE stump we found

Exploring and rock climbing

The water was only 67 degrees. I refused to put my arms in

Ridiculous gas prices around Yosemite, next gas station was 75 miles away

Random stop to see if a cactus really is sharp

We kept seeing cattle warning signs and finally caught up to them. They were just walking down the highway in Nevada

Looking over the edge of the Hoover Dam literally makes you weak in the knees ;)

Yup, those people who pull off the road to take a picture by a sign. Greg even u-turned for this one

Signs in Red Rock Canyon, we didn't see any though..

We did see wild mules though

Super cool tornadoes in the Aria hotel. That hotel in general is amazing

Stopped in the famous pawn shop. We did not get to see Chumlee or Hoss

There you have it. It was a whirlwind adventure full of lots of memories. It is good to be back home, but that doesn't mean I can't start planning our vacations for next year :)

xo, Erin

Vacation Souvenirs

Saving money for a vacation can be very time consuming depending on your budget. After planning all the fun activities you would like to do at your destination or the surrounding area, prices add up! Souvenirs are something that can get expensive quick, and are usually not meaningful purchases.

Since Greg and I have been traveling, we try and collect a shot glass from places we visit.  This is probably the cheapest souvenir (besides a postcard), with prices ranging from $4-$7. We would rather spend more money going to zoos, parks, sporting events, museums, etc. that are highly recommended, then spend $50+ on a t-shirt or tote that will get shoved to the back of the closet. Our shot glass collection is multiplying. I would like to find a place to display them and bring back memories of some of our favorite spots. We don't grab one everywhere we stop, but mainly places with meaning or where we remember to snag one. This past vacation, we added one from San Francisco and the Hoover Dam to our collection (we already had a Vegas one from our trip in 2007). 

Another thing we have been doing on vacation, is grabbing sand from beaches/oceans/lakes we visit. I only started doing this a few years ago, so my collection is not that big. You can check out the start of the collection here. This year we went to two different spots in Michigan with sand and also two places in California. I need to grab another RIBBA shelf from IKEA since my other one is full!

A new shelf will be added above the current one

Sand from Lake Tahoe, Muir Beach, Long Lake and Empire Sand Dunes

The variation is crazy! That darkest sand is from Muir Beach in the Pacific

The last thing we do to remember our travels is to add pins to a United States map that is located on our gallery wall. We have marked all the places that we vacation together. This trip, I added a pin to Lake Tahoe, San Francisco and the Hoover Dam. This gives me insight on vacation ideas and places we would like to explore. You can see we don't get West much :)

At the end of each year, I create a picture yearbook of all our memories. This highlights our vacations photos, along with many others, and we are easily able to look back at all our adventures. What do you do to remember vacations? Are souvenirs something you budget for?

xo, Erin