Expanding!

Heeeelllllloooooooo!

You know when I add tons of extra letters it means I'm trying to convey my excitement.

My fingers are shouting that at you.

Anyways. 

I'm super duper excited because...

....

Are you ready?

I just started a Facebook page for my blog! 

Click here to go see it! 

And like it.

Because you are all awesome.

I better see a bunch of yo faces likin' my page, dawg.
And while you're at it...
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
You guys are the best!

PS. I'm working on gettin' a twitter! So whenever that happens, all your bright shiny faces better be following! 

Sleepy Days

Rainy days in the LBK do not come about often.

In fact, any precipitation at all is pretty scare.

                                            So that fact that in one week we've gone from this 

To sunshine.

To rain.

Back to sunshine.

And now to fog and rain.

Well, lets just say I'm ready for the sun to come back.

The rain makes me sleepy and sad.

I'm ready for the sun to wake me up in the morning again.

But since the rain is here, I'm gonna do the responsible thing.

Hide in bed all day and catch up on TV on my computer.

I hope all of your Fridays are as wonderful as mine. 

The Intelligent Blonde

Hello lovebugs!

{The glasses I mentioned in yesterday's post.

 You can't see them but there are some super cute polka dots on the inside of the frames}

Today you are in for a treat.
A guest post!
Awww, yeahhhh.

My life has been a tad bit crazy lately.
Actually, incredibly crazy. I am just about losin' my mind.
Due to all this craziness, I decided we could all use a little change of pace.
And Ms. Alana from Life & Times of the Intelligent Blonde was sweet enough to tell us all about how she manages her buys, busy schedule.
Something I need to work on these days.
Take it away, my dear.

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Time Management 101

Hey y'all, Alana here, from Life & Times of the Intelligent Blonde!

Today, y'all are gonna "learn" (I'm clever, I know) about how how I manage my time.  

I hate to be bored and thrive under pressure, so I tend to take on a little too much.  

I've done this for as long as I can remember.

Between my foster kids (appointments, daycare drop-offs/pick-ups, visits, and events), work, MBA schoolwork, church events, blogging, and any other random things I get volunteered for, my life is very chaotic.  

I've tried many, many time management methods over the years, and have finally discovered a system that works for me.  The arc customizable notebook is an efficient and cost effective way to stay organized.  (for the record, I have not been paid to advertise for them--I just really love this product haha)

Let's take a look at my notebook, shall we...

This notebook gives me the ability to keep everything I need in one place!

Above all else (whether you choose to utilize a planner or not),

MY BIGGEST TIP IS TO USE TO-DO LISTS!

I'd recommend writing down EVERYTHING you need to do, even if it's something that you consider to be mundane.  I typically write my to-do lists on a weekly basis because that's how my MBA classes are set up; however, when I'm super busy, I write to-do lists for each day.  

This allows me to better manage my time because I can see everything that needs to be done & can plan when to do each task.  

Plus, when I can check something off my list, I feel accomplished : )

If you don't like using a planner, you can always do what I did in college/still do when I feel super overwhelmed, write the to-do list on the top of your hand with a fine point Sharpie.

This way you can't possibly lose it, it won't easily wash off, and you will see it all the time.  

I must tell you, though, this method can get a little messy...

 I hope you guys will start using to to-do lists (if you don't already), because I swear by them!

Until next time, 

The Intelligent Blonde

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She is just the sweetest. 

Go show her some love.

And notice her super cute layout.
And I honestly could not agree more! 

It's why I never go anywhere without mine.
Plus, mine covered in sail boats.
Although lately, my Lilly's been lacking a few things.
I just keep forgetting to write all my stuff down.
Then I forget to do my stuff.
It's not good.
So hello Lilly, goodbye chaos!

For next year, I've got my sights set on an Erin Condren Life Planner.
 They're a little pricey.. But so, so cute.
And clearly cuteness is where my priorities lie when it comes to planners. 

Later friends. 

Speaking of Valentines

How cute is my grandma?

She's wonderful and loves her emoji symbols on her iPhone.

So.. I just got through watching the Bachelor.

{Don't judge, it's entertaining and very addicting}

And I just about died when he gave Courtney a rose.

This is not acceptable.

Emily was way cuter and way nicer.

You shoulda kept her, dummy.

If Courtney wins, I will be very angry.

Or if she loses and becomes the next Bachelorette... I'll be fuming. 

Can you even imagine her as the Bachelorette?

Yuck.

I'm rootin' for Kacie or Lyndsi. 

They are too cute.

But really, who wants one rose from Ben, when you can have 12?

...

Anyone?

Yeah, thought so.

My guy is the best. 

Ok, now on to more important things than my television preferences.

My packages.

I have the best family in the whole world.

In the past two weeks I've gotten not one, not two, but five packages.

My sweet mom sent me some of my mail, my new glasses (come back tomorrow if ya wanna see em), and some yummy dark chocolate M&M's.

My awesome grandma sent me a big box full of some very yummy treats including my favorite thing in the world, dark chocolate peanut M&M's. 

Send me a package of those bad boys, we'll be life long friends.

I don't have a picture of it, but my dad sent me some goodies from his recent trip to Australia including a super cute kangaroo charm for my Pandora bracelet. 

My lovely boy sent me flowers, a precious teddy, some chocolates, and lavender shower goodies for Valentine's day. He even made sure the vase was ruby colored since it's my birthstone. Talk about a sweetheart. 

And then finally package number five..

My first ever Birchbox.

I put myself on the waiting list a while back and was pumped when I recieved this pretty little package in the mail today.

I can't wait to play with 'em.

Plus, this sucker came with 6 free song downloads from my newest music obsession.

I am a kid in a candy store right now. 

Now it's time to go eat my goodies, play with my new samples, and listen to some Green River Ordinance.

Talk about a perfect Wednesday Afternoon. 

Snuggles and Kisses

Happy Valentine's Day.

I'm sure St. Valentine would roll over in his grave if he knew what his day has become.

But I'm not going to lie, I'm thoroughly enjoying it this year.

My boy did great.

He sent me beautiful red roses. 

And the precious bear.

And some chocolates.

And a very, very sweet note.

You did good, kid.

I hope all of you had days as lovely as mine.

Smell The Roses

While clickin' around the blogiverse, I found some awesome posts from this week.

One even has me in it.

I'm just as surprised as you.

Go check me out here.

But one was something that I need to do a little more of.

Show myself some loving.

Check out the inspiration post here.

{One}

I laugh. A lot.

Sometimes too much.

But sometimes not enough.

But mostly at myself.

Life isn't meant to be so serious, so I chose to laugh my way through it. 

{Two}

I am focused and driven.

I work my little tail off to make sure I get everything I need to done.

And it mostly pays off.

{Three}

I love with my whole heart.

I don't hold back anything.

Just ask my momma.

Or my amazing boy who is more than I could ever ask for.

{Four}

I can generally roll with the punches.
I try to stay upbeat most days and just go with whatever is thrown at me.
Recently, this has been a bit of a challenge for me, but I'm working on it.

{Five}

I'm incredibly empathetic.
Like seriously so.
If you feel it and you tell me about, I feel it right along with ya.
It's a gift and a curse.
But mostly just a gift.

In other news,

It snowed today!
Sorry for how terrible this picture is..
Ignore the graininess and focus on what's really important here, it snowed.

Sunflower

'Sup homeslice.

Today I'm wearing red in honor of Congenital Heart Defect Week! 

It's from February 7th-14th.

See this post or this post at one of my new favorite blogs to find out more information, plus homegirls got some killer style.

I hope you are having a nice, relaxing Friday. 

Especially if your week has been anything like mine.

I've been crazy people.

Two projects, a test, and events every night.

It's been like this for the past two weeks people.

I'm gettin' worn out. 

But I thought I'd share with you my first completed project as an interior design student. 

The assignment was to take a picture or piece of art and make a concept board for a room.

I chose Nadia Isakova's picture "Sunflower"

Sidenote, if you're feeling like sending me flowers (and who isn't), sunflowers are my favorite.

And then I chose a ton of materials from our resource room.

It's filled with fabrics, wallpapers, paint samples, flooring.

You name it, it's in there.

And the best part, everything has been donated to the university for us to use. 

Some pretty great stuff right?! 

Then you take the stuff you grabbed and you use a dry mount machine to attach it to a piece of board.

It's in the basement of a building.

I spent a good 5 or 6 hours down there by myself at night.

It was just as scary as it sounds.

My bones were jumping out of my skin.

And when I wasn't on the verge of tears from fear, I was actually crying because I slammed my finger in the bar on top. It was a sight to see. 

Anyways, once all your materials are attached, you get to cut them out. 

With an X-Acto Knife. 

Welcome to injury number two.

A few hours and a couple bandaids later, I was done cutting out everything. 

Then came the arranging and the gluing.

Ready for the final product?!

Hours and hours of work and I think it looks pretty darn good.

It better after all the time spent and injuries sustained. 

Now go out and enjoy your weekend!