Quick Post: Color Story

I've been playing around on colourlovers all day trying to make up some palettes for our new apartment, here's what I've come up with so far!

Living Room

Kitchen / Dining Room

Bathroom

 

 

Bedroom

 

I took the paint colors and colors of key pieces of furniture first and then added to them to make a complete color palette for the room. If you are looking for an east and free way to plan colors for a room I would suggest trying out colourlovers!

Beginner Blogging: Being Nervous About Reaching Out to Other Bloggers

 When started blogging last month the thing that made me the most nervous was talking to other bloggers! Sounds silly I know, but this was one of my biggest fears. I though that people wouldn't really want to talk to me. For some reason I thought of the blogging world as some secluded group that didn't really want an outsider coming in. Boy was I wrong!

When I made my first few posts I think the only people who read them were a few of my friends and family members. I knew I wanted to connect with other bloggers, especially those with blogs similar to mine, but I didn't know how to start! I felt shy and scared, which is a strange feeling for me since I am a pretty outgoing person in "real life". After taking the Blog Love e-course by A Beautiful Mess (read my review on the course here), I realized that I had to make the leap and start chatting with my fellow bloggers!

Here are a few tips on taking the first step into connecting online:

• Make sure you're not just commenting to comment, read posts and comment on ones that you enjoy.
• Make sure your comments have content. Make sure to be commenting about something! Tell the author what you liked about their post, share your own ideas, let them know what you think.
• Add your link to the comment, this is something that I'm not planning on doing forever because I know some people find it a little annoying, but when you are a new blogger and a new commenter on another blog I think it's perfectly acceptable.
• Reply to comments on your blog. This depends on the comments, some don't really need replies but if you can continue the conversation, do it!

Taking the plunge and commenting on a few blogs I liked has made me feel more connected as a blogger. The comments I'm receiving from new readers on my blog inspire me to post and write even more! A big thanks to everyone for being so sweet!

p.s. I found the photo on tumblr, if you know the original source let me know so I can add it!

A Beautiful Mess' Blog Love E-Course Review

I mentioned in this quick post that I had signed up for A Beautiful Mess' Blog Love e-course.I promised you guys a review so, here it is!

Most people already know about Elsie and Emma's wonderful blog over at A Beautiful Mess, so I won't go into great detail describing their blog or small business. Basically these girls are crazy talented at what they do and have owned several small businesses and different blogs along the road to A Beautiful Mess and Red Velvet (their vintage and handmade shop), so they really know their stuff!

I've been a regular reader of A Beautiful Mess for While, and came across this post: "5 Tips for Bloggers", after reading this I was hungry for even more information on blogging and beginner blogs. I looked around their blog a little more and realized they offered an e-course called Blog Love. I had butterflies in my stomach, I read the description and course preview over and over again.

I'm usually a pretty frugal person, so it was a little hard for me to spend $32.00 on something I couldn't touch, see, or feel. I don't usually like online shopping because I can't see what I'm really getting for my money.  After reading a few reviews online and re-reading the description (yes, again!) I finally made the jump and bought the course, and I am so so so glad that I did!

I started working through the course right away, I'm a pretty fast worker so I finished in about four days, working for an hour or two each day. I did all the suggested homework and more! I have a notebook with pages and pages full of ideas now. The course also inspired me to completely overhaul the look of my blog and I am so happy with the new design.

The only thing I would say I didn't like about the course is that there are slight differences in the web version vs. the downloadable PDF version. Just differences with the pictures and where they are placed, not the actual content, but this sometimes makes the content a little more confusing when they are describing a photo that is no long "above". It wasn't so confusing that I couldn't figure out what picture they were talking about though. Another very small flaw is that in the PDF version the links aren't click-able in my PDF reader, so I have to copy paste them (which is fine!) but some of them didn't work and I had to delete a space or two in the URL to get to the pages.

Overall, this course was a good investment in my blogging future! $32.00 may seem like a lot to spend depending on your background/income sources, but the tips and tricks I learned along with personal stories from Emma and Elsie about past mistakes and the story of A Beautiful Mess were well worth the money spent! I would definitely suggest this e-course to any new blogger, or even an experienced blogger who wants to freshen up their blog!

How To: Plan Your Space with Graph Paper

 

Even though we haven't moved into our new apartment yet, we wanted to know if all of our furniture would fit! I also wanted to get a good sense of how I was going to set up each space in our apartment for function and design. I've tried out countless floor planning websites and apps, but none of them offered everything I wanted, and most of them were pretty complicated to use. I decided to plan out the space on good old fashion graph paper, here's how I did it:

As soon as I decided to start this project I realized I didn't own any graph paper! I turned to my good friend Google for the solution. I searched for free graph paper and ended up on this website. I chose engineering graph paper, 8.5 x 11 size, and 1/4" boxes. I printed off three sheets, but ended up only needing to use two of them. I also made sure to grab pencils, pens, and a calculator!

Our floor plan was available to see online on our apartments website, if your room dimensions aren't so readily available there might be an additional step here to measure your rooms. Once you have the measurements of the space you want to plan you'll need to decide how much space one box on the graph paper will equal in real life. I chose to make each box be equivalent to 1ft x 1ft square. If you have a larger space or smaller space than mine you might need to adjust this.

Draw out your walls and rooms first, then add windows and doors. Make sure you note on your plan which way the doors open, so you don't accidentally put anything in the way! I also chose to draw in the permanent fixture now like the fridge, oven, shower/bath, sinks, and built in cabinets. These items are shaded in grey on my plan.

This is probably the most tedious step in planning a space, but trust me it is so so so worth it! I looked up the measurements online for most of the furniture I already own (because most of my furniture is from Ikea!). I also had to estimate the measurements of a few of John's things that I didn't know the size of. I wrote down each big item's measurements in a notebook first, then drew each piece of furniture on another piece of graph paper.

After you have the measurements written down drawing them out on the graph paper only takes a couple minutes, then cut them out. This picture shows the jumble of furniture I was going to attempt to squeeze into our little apartment!

Here's the fun part! You have your floor plan, and your furniture cut out, time to find a place for everything. The dining room area was the easiest for me to plan, it's tiny and I only needed to fit a table and a rolling kitchen cart in. The living room was a different story I tried so many different arrangements my head started to spin! I think I've finally decided on the one pictured above, but we'll have to see when I start moving the furniture into the room. After getting everything laid out I glued it down, now I have a set plan to look at when move in comes.

It fees great to have a solid plan, and even though I might decide to move a few things around in the living room I know for sure that all the furniture I was planning on bringing will fit. This way I won't have to send things back to my parents' house three hours away! I'm also glad that I made the final decision to glue everything down, now I have a solid plan to carry with me on move in.

Let me know how your space planning goes!

The Early 20's Trap: Waiting For Your Life to Begin

WHAT IS THE EARLY 20's TRAP?
Scrolling through facebook updates it sometimes seems as if all my old high school classmates are getting married, buying homes, and starting families. When I look through my favorite blogs I see young families with babies, new homes, and amazing pictures from their weddings.
If I look into this too long I start to feel as if I'm behind, I start to think that the things I'm doing now are insignificant compared to the things I'll do when I start my own family. I start daydreaming about how my life will be perfect as soon as I get married, or buy a house, or start a family, etc. etc. etc.

I start feeling as if I'm just waiting for my "real life" to begin. This is what I like to call the "Early 20's Trap". Too many of my friends have told me they feel the same way. They are just going through the motions until their "real life" starts. After thinking about the topic for a long time, I wanted to share with you my strategies for getting out of this thinking trap.

When I worry about anything the best thing for me to do to calm my nerves is to explore all options of the situation. Applying it to the Early 20's Trap I asked myself Why isn't getting married right for me? Why can't I buy a house? Why do all my friends get to start living the life I want? Here's what I came up with:

1.GETTING MARRIED
I've realized that getting married isn't so much a task on a list to growing up, it's more of a personal decision about who you want to live the rest of your life with. When I'm really jealous of the beautiful wedding pictures, invitations, and dresses I see my friends posting about I like to think "You're being immature, you'll end up divorced, you're too young!" When I actually think about it logically marriage is the right thing for these people, or rather what they think is right for them. Instead of getting jealous and spouting off mean judgements I'm training myself to say "That's what's working for them, but it can't work for me right now." Mostly because I don't know who I would marry. Of course, I love to picture myself married to John (who doesn't love to do that when thinking about their boyfriend?) but, we've only been dating for about six months. Although it feels like he might be "the one" I can't know for certain yet. I'm excited to find out!

2.BUYING A HOUSE
Buying a house ties in again with the timing thing. I'm not ready to get married and I'm not read to buy a house. I simply don't have the financial means to buy a house right now! Renting is what makes the most sense for me. In my "plan" for growing up I see myself getting married before I buy a house, or at least being engaged. I also have no idea where I want to be located for my future career. I need to find out where I can settle down before I settle down. This is another time where I have to try to think "This is what is working for them in their lives, but can't work for me in mine."



3.STARTING A FAMILY

I love children, I've always loved children. I used to nanny and it was one of my favorite jobs. While nannying of course I daydreamed about how I would raise my own children, what parenting styles I would use, what types of discipline, how I would teach them life lessons, everything! It seems like everyone I know is having babies, even ladies younger than me. In order to get out of the crazy baby fever that I was experiencing I had to dive a little deeper into their lifestyles and really look at what they were doing. Most of these ladies still lived at home with their parents or planned to do so after their babies were born, most were unmarried, most were not going to college and working part time jobs in my home town, and most were relying on their family's support financially in order to support this new life. There is nothing wrong with any of these things! These ladies are using their resources and fighting the world to raise their babies and I give them a lot of respect for that! however, These are not the circumstances I wanted to be in when having my first child. I want to be married first, settled into a home, and hopefully (at least a little) financially stable. Once again I have to remind myself it's not my time yet.

THE WAITING GAME AND WHY YOUR "REAL LIFE" CAN START NOW
Although you might not be ready to get married, buy a house, start a career, have a baby, or many of the other things you're super excited for, you don't have to feel like you're waiting around. You can start your real life now!

What do you want your career to be? work towards it.

Wish you could make a home but can't buy a house? make your apartment into a home and not just a place you are staying in.

Catching baby fever? try babysitting, nannying, or volunteering with children.

Feeling left behind by friends? try making more friends who are in the same position as you.

Feel like you're just going through the motions? try to start living your life intentionally. Try out new activities and hobbies you've always wanted to try. Check out your community, shop local, scope out a farmer's market. Feeling connected to your community will take your mind of the vicious school, work, sleep, repeat schedule.

Don't ever feel like you should rush into any of these major life changing decisions so that your "real life" can start. I know a few older people who have stories about getting into the wrong situation because they were "playing house". Think of it as a time you have to do whatever you want before settling down. Find a current motivator for your life, challenge your boundaries, and explore, explore, explore!

photo credits:
1. mine
2. http://pinterest.com/pin/167407311118144874/
3. http://pinterest.com/pin/525091637773949437/
4. http://www.etsy.com/listing/68686925/organic-baby-shoes-girl-0-3-6-12-months

If you know the original sources (not just pinterest) for images 2 and 3 let me know and I'll add them!

Spring Inspiration

Anyone in Minnesota know that this winter seemed like it would last forever. We had blizzards in mid April, rain storms for weeks, and cold wind after that. Today the sun has come out of hiding and now we can all breathe a sigh of relief! Now that there is finally reassurance that spring is here I've been thinking of all the new outfit opportunities that spring brings. Hello skirts, shorts, sandals, and sunglasses!

Here are a few of my favorite outfit inspirations for spring 2013:

For a casual day walking around downtown, this jeans and tank combo. I love the bright scarf and embellished sandals. The purse is a cross body bag, super popular right now. But I love that it's in a non-traditional color. I see so many girls walking around campus with brown or black ones, this mint colored alternative would stand out in the crowd! I found this on polyvore, Spring Scarf by styleofe.

I've been loving pale pinks lately, which is different for me since I'm not normally a pink girl. This is the perfect shade of pink in my opinion, not too loud, but not too soft. This outfit would be perfect for a date night, maybe dinner by the river? I love the suede heels, and I'm thinking they are wedges which means easy on the feet! Also found on polyvore, Summer Dress Up by taytay-268.

I've been looking for a way to wear a maxi dress/skirt in a way that looks relaxed and casual. I love the denim shirt and cotton maxi skirt combo here. I wouldn't wear the necklace with the tank top but everything else about this outfit screams first bonfire of the year! I love it. Casual, just warm enough for a breezy evening, and the bangle bracelets add a little something sparkly (: Once again found on polyvore, Untitled #172 by dlp22.

Hopefully this gives you guys a little peek into my spring style inspiration!

"The Happiness Project"

I've been reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin I haven't finished the book yet but, her project to set resolutions for each month to guide her towards a happier life has inspired me to do the same. I don't know about you but I feel like my year has three "fresh starts". The first one is January 1st, the new year. I always view the start of a new calendar year as a new beginning, the next my birthday in May, and the third the start to the new school year in August.  Instead of looking at the year in terms of school or the calendar year I want to make an effort to look at them in terms of age. What did I learn at 20? What do I want to learn at 21? what goals do I want to accomplish by the time I turn 22? This year I wanted to set specific goals for age 21.

Gretchen made a list of all the goals she wanted to accomplish in a year. These goals stemmed from her research on happiness and how to achieve it. After making a list she broke it up into twelve months. She would strive to complete a few of her goals the first month, then the second month add more goals, until eventually every goal on her original list was being addressed. I'm adapting her plan to fit my needs. Some of my goals don't relate directly to happiness but are stepping stones to becoming a happier person overall. I plan on tackling two new goals each month this year, I'll start with two and keep adding more until I am actively working at completing all the goals on the list!

• PAY OFF DEBTS
• GIVE 100% AT WORK
• CREATE A HOME
• SIMPLIFY AND GET ORGANIZED
• GET BETTER SLEEP
• FIND ADVENTURE
• CONNECT WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS
• GET ENERGIZED 
• PRACTICE TIME MANAGEMENT
• KEEP A BUDGET
• CREATE A SCRAPBOOK
• EXERCISE EVERYDAY
• SHOW LOVE
• STOP PROCRASTINATION
• EAT HEALTHIER AND MEAL PLAN
• KEEP A GRATITUDE JOURNAL
• TONE UP
• CREATE ART FOR ME
• EAT CLEAN
• KEEP UP WITH SCHOOLWORK
• START AN ETSY STORE
• LEARN A NEW SKILL
• BE AMBITIOUS
• ENJOY THE LITTLE THINGS

How to Get Over New Job Jitters

Starting a new job can be exciting and infuriating all at the same time. Everyone feels nervous when they are the "new guy" at work, especially when it's a new type of job all together. I started a new job at Perkins a few weeks ago. I started training as a hostess, but after only one week they decided to move me to server training because they needed new servers ASAP. This was extremely intimidating to me at first, I had only served in a drive-in before and that was almost four years ago!

Leading up to my first day I was having anxiety attacks about what to expect, how much training I would receive, how the kitchen worked, and even little things like how to hold the trays correctly. I was especially nervous because when they hired me on as a hostess they only gave me one day of training and then I was on my own. The night before my first day of server training I came home and cried my eyes out to John. Embarrassing to admit, but I wanted people to know that if you come home crying from work out of frustration this is normal! Not the best situation, but it is normal to be nervous about starting a new position.

Today is my first day of serving my own section completely alone, I haven't had any panic attacks or tears leading up to today. I wanted to share a few tips on how I got over my new job jitters so hopefully you can too!

1. TALK TO MANAGERS FREQUENTLY
You need to be able to communicate your needs and worries to a manager. I know this sounds scary, admitting you are struggling to your manager seems like a sure way to get fired. (at least it did in my mind at first) Once I finally gathered the courage to tell my manager that I was afraid that they would only train me for a couple days then put me on my own (like they had done with hosting) he made sure that I would not be thrown into serving. I explained my worries and that although I had some server training it was a completely different industry (drive-in vs. sit down). It was super comforting to hear directly from him the specifics of how I would be trained, how many days of training I would get, and he even threw in a few tips to memorizing the menu!

2. ASK AS MANY QUESTIONS AS POSSIBLE
Don't feel like you will seem stupid or inexperienced if you ask questions during training. I probably asked about a thousand questions a day on my training days and I don't regret a single one. Every answered question made me feel even better about serving on my own.

3. IF YOU NEED HELP ASK FOR IT
 On my last day of training I was given one table all to myself, and eventually two or three tables all to myself. Even though my training was almost over I still ran into situation when I needed help. Sometimes I wouldn't know which dressings went with dishes, or where things were in the kitchen. Don't be afraid to ask co-workers for help! I have never had a negative experience when asking someone for help with something. Usually people are eager to give assistance as long as they aren't too busy, it makes them feel accomplished and like an "expert" at their job.

4. TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND GO FOR IT
Sometimes I would feel myself getting nervous and jittery right before my shift, I would force myself to take a few deep breaths, calm myself down, and then just go in. You can't let fear keep you from doing something you need to do. There have already been situations where I want to just call and quit just because I was scared to try something new. Now that I'm starting to get the hang of it I'm so glad I didn't quit right away! Just breathe and remember that as long as you smile and let customers/co-workers know that you are new they are generally nice about your mistakes.

5. LOOK GOOD FEEL GOOD
This may seem like a small tip but getting ready and looking good for work will make you feel so much better. If you already have to worry about the new tasks you need to complete, you don't want the additional worry of "I look like such a scrub today" entering your mind. Also spending time to get ready before work lets you prepare your mind for work mode.

These are just the things I've learned so far about starting something new and scary. These tips relate to my job specifically, but can be used for most new jobs too! I'd love to know if you have any more tips and tricks for starting a new job, leave a comment and I'll add it to the list!

We Signed a Lease!

Last week, John and I signed a lease on our first apartment! Both of us have rented with roommates
before, but this will be the first time we live together and the first time we don't have other roommates to worry about. It's a tiny one bedroom apartment but it is perfect for us because we love the location (right between campus and downtown), we love that it's in an old historic building (one of the first apartment buildings ever build in Winona), and it has a roof top terrace that has the most amazing views of the bluffs, campus, downtown, and the river.

Back to the tiny factor, this place is itty bitty! It's not so tiny that it won't work, but creating space for all the functions we need out of this apartment will be a challenge. The bedroom and living room are both okay sizes for what we need but the kitchen is one of the smallest I've ever seen.

 

This is our floor plan, for some reason the oven isn't noted on here but it's across from the sink, next to the bedroom door, where there used to be a built in cabinet. I don't really know how I'll use this space successfully yet, but I've been having a blast looking at pinterest for ideas for small spaces!

Some of my favorite pins:

PULL OUT PANTRY

This is the most clever use of the awkward in-between-the-fridge-and-wall space I've ever seen! This pantry drawer is completely hand made, even though it looks store bought. It remains hidden most of the time, but can be pulled out to access the food (and the beautiful chevron print) inside. I'm thinking of all the patterns I could use for the backboard and my ideas go way beyond chevron. I was thinking of a map or newspaper print. I'm super excited to build this ( or watch John build this (: ) for my tiny kitchen. Here is the link to the tutorial by classyclutter on how to make this pull out pantry if you want to build your own.

 BATHROOM ORGANIZATION
A spice rack in the bathroom?! genius! I have so many hair and body products that when I put them in drawers I constantly find myself digging through the pile for my favorites. These specific spice racks are from Ikea, but if you're like me, the nearest Ikea is a bit of a drive away. You can also find cheap spice racks at Target, Walmart, and even the dollar store. Although, if you're buying from the dollar store test the strength of them before you buy, hair products weigh more than spice jars. You can find the complete tour of Rachel's bathroom here. She has a lot of great ideas on how to organize a small bathroom space.

ENTRY ORGANIZER FROM AN OLD DOOR
As you can see above, we have a very small entry way to work with. Right now we both struggle with rushing through the door and setting everything down in a pile somewhere in our rooms. I have a "chair" in my room that never gets sat in, just houses a pile of jackets, scarves, and other junk that I've carried in throughout the week. I wanted something in the entry that would help solve this problem and then I found this hall tree made from a door, it's simple, small, and efficient. I'm not sure if we'll use an old door or new wood, but this is another apartment project I'm super excited to build. You can find the tutorial here on the friendly home.

And if you want even more cool apartment ideas, here's the link to my entire "make a home" pin board.