Thursday, July 12, 2012

Apartment Pinspiration


As you all know I will be moving into an apartment that I just found at the end of July. To find out more about that go and read Amazing Blessings. I am so excited to move into my own place and for the first time in my life be able to decorate how I want. This will be my first time living by myself and I am really excited for the new adventure. I think that everyone should live by themselves at one point or another in their lives. Anyway, I have been pinning things for my new place as soon as I made the decision to live by myself and I am really excited to start decorating! So here are some of my favorite pins and what I am planning on doing for my lovely new home. So grab a drink and sit back y'all, picture overload is coming.


I absolutely completely and totally love this gallery wall by Tatortots & Jello. The pops of yellow with the classic white frames. It is just so perfect together and y'all know my obsession with yellow. I like how its not just picture frames and she also put a cute sign and the adorable H on that chevron fabric. I have a couple of big empty wall's in my apartment I could do this with. Now I just have to decide how to arrange my furniture. To see how Jen did this and find out where she got everything go and check out Tatortots & Jello, you won't regret it.


I LOVE this idea. I mean seriously how smart is Bobi for thinking of this?! Depending on where I put my couch this will be happening. I am so glad I found this on Pintrest and it led me to Bobi, she has some amazing things on her blog. To find out exactly how she did this go and visit her at Shoestring Sophistication.


I love this idea, using curtains instead of a door is so smart. Think of how much space you save with a big bulky door out of the way. I have a HUGE closet if you recall and this could defintely be an option as to decorating the doorway. I love this idea and to find out more about it go and visit Girlscene.


I really love this canopy above the bed. I think it is such a great simple way to draw your eye to the bed and make it dominate the room. I really love the way it is draped and I think it looks fabulous. I don't know if this will be an option in my room because of windows but we will see because I really like the way this looks. To see how this is done check out Dwellings by DeVore and all of the amazing rooms in her house.

 
I'm also really digging these candles in jars with the sand. You can bet your bottom dollar there will be at least 3 of these in my new place. I love the way this placement looks and I can already see where this will end up in my place. I'm really loving candles lately in glass jars and lanterns. I think they look so good together and they are so easy to switch out if you change your mind. Simple and cheap decorating! I love it! The only source I found for this beaut was at Wedding Bee, which if you are getting married and you haven't been there you should. You'll never leave but your wedding will be better for it.

Okay so this isn't that many pictures but I have a ton I could put up here and then you would all hate me for my obsessiveness with my apartment. So I limited myself to the big things I am thinking about doing. I can't wait to get started and show y'all everything I have planned. To see all of the plans/ideas I have for my apartment check out my Pinterest!

What is your favorite? 
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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Healthy Choice Challenge Week 5


Well everyone had a few weeks off from our challenge but now we are back in full gear. We took a few weeks off because I was on vacation and then it was the fourth of July and most of us were busy anyway. If you are new to our challenge then go and check out Healthy Choice Challenge Week 1, HCC Week 2, HCC Week 3, and HCC Week 4 to get caught up on what we are doing.
So how was the last challenge? Did you enjoy doing a water activity and cooling off? What activity did you do for our challenge?
In honor of my vacation to Montana and all the time we spent in Glacier, this week will be another out door activity. It is summer after all and the perfect time to be outdoors enjoying this beautiful weather. There are so many things you can do outside, go to the park and walk around, ride a bike, go for a hike, even just playing outside in your own backyard. You can always play some horseshoes, volleyball, shoot some hoops, or a little catch. The options are endless when it comes to outside activities.

Specimen Table from Hating Martha
You could go outside on a nature hike or just in your backyard and collect some goodies to make your own Specimen Table like Janel and her kids did on Hating Martha. I think this would be such a great thing to do if you have little one's. Who doesn't love to collect things when they go outside. We even collected some beautiful rocks in Glacier for Jarr's mom's flower beds. (Don't tell on us because that might be illegal.)

So my challenge for this week is for you to go outside for a hour and do something fun. I have listed many things above but there are also lots of other activities not listed. So go outside and have an adventure!

Don't forget to grab my button on off the side bar if you are participating in this challenge! Also leave a comment so I can come and check out your blog!

What are you going to do this week?

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Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Amazing Blessings

Well I have some great news, if you read my Peaks, Pits, Praises, Prayers on Friday then you know I was going apartment hunting Friday night and hoping to find something wonderful. Well I did, this weekend has been a whirlwind of things and yesterday Jarr and I went to meet with our landlords and sign our leases. He is living with a buddy in a duplex about 15 minutes from me. I found a cute little duplex right by campus, its about 3 blocks away. I am so excited and relieved that I have somewhere to live when August gets here. I am really happy with my new home and I can't wait to start moving things and making it my own.


So let me tell you the story, on Friday we went to look for apartments for me to live in. 1 bedroom apartments in a college town tend to be pretty pricey or really hard to find a good one. So I can honestly say I was dreading this, I was nervous and anxious about what would happen. We looked at 5 apartments on Friday and the last one was the perfect one. It is a duplex and has a living area, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, huge closet, and fenced in backyard. Let me start off by telling you it's a little old, the kitchen is dated and it has built-ins. A built in desk in the bedroom and in the living room. Now I am not a fan of built-ins but this was a great deal and a nice place. So I decided to look at them as a challenge and to take the place.

On Friday night after we had looked at everything we went to dinner and talked about the pro's and con's of every place as well as the price and what I would have to provide for each apartment. Some of the apartments you had to provide your own fridge or pay extra for the one they have. I'm a college student I don't have a fridge laying around. So I had narrowed it down to two apartments, I decided on the last one because the neighborhood was safer and that's a big issue for me. I'm a girl living by myself, I have to be in a safe neighborhood. It was also quite a bit cheaper then the other one. Like $150 cheaper and money is a big issue for me also, like I'm freaking about needing a job. So I choose the more affordable one with the HUGE closet and safe neighborhood.

I don't have any pictures of the place for you yet, I turned in all of my information yesterday and paid my deposit and first month's rent so I am good to go. Now I just need to get my key's and I can start moving furniture and things in.

So I have one thing checked off my list, place to live is taken care of. Now the big one, the scary one, and the hard one: finding a job. I applied to some places yesterday when we went back to sign everything and pay for my apartment. One of the places I applied to yesterday called me about 5 minutes after I left and asked me to come back, they wanted me to meet the CEO. Now let me just tell you I screamed like a little girl I was so excited. So I hurried back and got to meet him, he was very polite and said he would be in touch very soon about the position. So I am keeping my fingers crossed that that will work out.

It's been a very busy 4 days for me and I haven't worked on much but I am finishing a project tonight when I get off work. So hopefully something new for you tomorrow. I couldn't contain my excitement about finding a place and I hoped you would all join in on my little celebration.

What have your amazing blessings been lately?


Friday, July 6, 2012

Peaks, Pits, Praises, Prayers

This week has been great, we got a break on Wednesday for my favorite holiday, Independence day! I made Yummy Homemade Ice Cream for our celebration of the 4th and last night we celebrated Jarr's Papa's birthday with his family. Every day of my life God gives me more and more blessings. I am so thankful for all that he has blessed me with. This week was mine and Jarr's anniversary and we are going to the city tonight to celebrate it. I'm really excited for today because I also have a few apartments lined up to go and look at. So I'm crossing my fingers I find the right one and don't have to keep looking. I will also be applying for a few jobs today since I will have to find a new one when I move in August, so please say a prayer for me today.

Yesterday I applied for a few jobs online and got back some weird e-mails. I definitely don't recommend doing that and I won't be again. Who knew people were such creeps, I guess I just want to believe the good in people. So hopefully today when I go and apply in person I will find the perfect job for me and get an interview. The whole process of finding a job is so nerve wracking to me. I am a very private person and although it might seem hard for some to believe I'm an introvert so putting myself out there is very stressful for me. So hopefully things go smoothe today and I can find a job and an apartment! That would be such a relief to me, I've been worried about what my future will bring and those are two pretty big things I have to get figured out.

Since I'm on my own and paying for everything this is pretty big deal for me. I don't get any financial help from my mom because she really just can't afford it and I don't expect her to. So I pay for everything on my own and I'm really proud of that fact. I haven't taken out any student loans because I have full scholarships that pay for my school, I worked hard to get those and I'm so glad I have them. So I only have to pay for my living expenses, food, car insurance, and cell phone. Which isn't much compared to my school but its still a lot on what I make as part time. I know God will help me make it through this and I know that he will provide I'm just very impatient when it comes to waiting for his plan. I like to make my own plans, so my faith is my anchor and it's keeping my head from exploding.


Now onto what this post is really about, I always digress.

Peaks of the week- My peaks this week are many, the 4th of July (my favorite holiday), and it was mine and Jarr's anniversary which makes my heart happy. I am so thankful that I have such an incredible God loving man in my life. We may butt heads but I know at the end of everyday we will always work things out.

Pits of the week- I've been slacking off on my DIY's this week, I had a lot of plans for myself and then life got in the way. I do all of my crafting at Jarr's house because he has a big sun room that isn't used for anything so I claimed it as my craft room and its covered in my things. Anyway he didn't get working air conditioning until Monday night and then we started our new work out routine Monday. I know excuses, excuses. It's just been one of those weeks but tomorrow I have some projects that I am finishing for sure.

Praises of the week- I praise God for letting us have air conditioning. That may sound silly but go without it for a few days and you will too. I'm also praising God for giving me so many wonderful opportunities in my life, the job I'm at right now has been such a blessing. I have made some lifelong frienships and I have learned so much about myself and my work ethics, which ended up being better then I thought. :)

Prayers of the week- I pray that God helps me find the perfect apartment, if not today then in the future. I pray that God helps me find the perfect job for me and it will help pay my bills. I also pray that God blesses my friend Kenton who is in Afghanistan and gives his heart peace. I know Kenton has been at turmoil since he was shipped out a few weeks ago and I just pray that he turns towards God and relies on him.

What are you Peaks, Pits, Praises, and Prayers for the week?
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