Planner Supply Collection & Storage

I have a confession to make..................................

I have become a plan-a-holic.

It started as a simple idea. I wanted to get my life in order. Stop forgetting things. Start making time for important things that I needed/wanted to do. I thought to myself, "I'll just get a planner! That should help!"

Little did I know at the time that this simple idea would start to take over my life in the best way possible! I now have a new found love and appreciation for all things planner, including stationery, stickers, stamps, post-its, pens...the list could go on and on! Thanks to the Target DollarSpot, these items seemed to accumulate overnight and I was desperate to find a portable, compact-yet-spacious storage solution for all my planning needs. Thankfully, I found one!

This is a weekender cosmetic bag that I found at Fred Meyer.

I really wanted an Orla Kiely for Target one, but I really don't like the prints that she has out right now.

This bag is the same size, and a much cuter print, for $5 less than the Orla Kiely bags. I think that's a pretty good deal! 

The main difference in this bag is that it doesn't have a center pocket attached, so I just place this $1 WalMart pencil pouch in the center to hold all my pens and planning tools. I actually like this setup a lot because I can just take the pouch with me on the go! It makes planning a portable experience at home and on the go! 

On the right side, I have all of my sticky notes, paper clips, binder clips, and list pads. 

On the left side, I have all my washi-tape, stickers, and journaling cards! 

For a more in depth look at what I keep inside, be sure to check out my video!!

Thanks!!! :) 

Inexpensive Fall Wreath

I love fall. Absolutely. LOVE. Fall! It is my favorite season. There's just something so comforting about the changing leaves, the cooler air, and the excitement of back to school and holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving!

However, even though I love fall so much, I don't really do a lot to decorate my own home for the season. In the past I've gone straight from regular every day decor to Christmas (which usually goes up right after Halloween. I know. I'm Christmas crazy!)

This year, I wanted to change that! So as soon as labor day rolled around, I decided it was time to put up my front door wreath!

This wreath was done very inexpensively with supplies found at Goodwill and Dollar Tree! 

The twig wreath I found at Goodwill for $5. It had some really old and sad looking decorations on it, so I just ripped those off and started fresh! I've had this wreath for a while, and it has had quite a few different decorations on it since I got it. That's what I love about twig wreaths. You can change them up so easily with the seasons!

The berries, flowers, and pumpkin cutout I found at Dollar Tree. I was actually pretty impressed with their selection! And unless you look really really really closely, you can't even see that "dollar store quality" that I usually find in their fake flowers! 

To secure everything down, I just used a bit of wire. Super easy, super cheap, and super pretty!

I hope to have more inexpensive fall decorating ideas soon! 

Thanks for reading! 

Happy crafting!

Whole30...FAIL!!! :(

I have unfortunate news....we have fallen off the Whole30 wagon :'( I am not proud of this! We thought we were doing really well, and then on night ten I didn't feel like cooking, and BAM...Dominoes was knocking on the door!

I can't say that I regret it though. It made us realize just how TERRIBLE food was making us feel, because after we ate that pizza, we both felt like we had been hit by a truck! We couldn't do anything. We were so tired, and sluggish, and our brains were basically mush! I now know that no food is worth feeling like that!

So, we are going to continue on with our Whole30 journey starting back at day 1. I wont be sharing every meal we eat because it is too difficult to keep track and post every day (hence the reason I only got through day 4 on here!) But, if I make something that I'm proud of, then I will absolutely share the recipe here, and I will keep updating you all on our progress.

Since I had waffles for breakfast, then tomorrow will be day 1.

Here we go again!

Whole30: Day 4 Meals

According to the official Whole30 timeline, on this day I might want to kill all things. I didn't feel like that today. Actually, I felt quite happy and peppy! Hopefully I'm not doing this wrong haha...

Anyways, here is what we ate today!

Breakfast

When it comes to breakfast and lunch, I am a creature of habit. We had scrambled eggs and fruit again this morning. Something easy for a Monday. Before the Whole30, my breakfast of choice was yogurt, fruit, granola, most mornings. I don't mind eating the same things multiple times in a row. I actually like it. Except for dinner...gotta switch it up for dinner! 

Lunch

Leftovers from dinner on day 3, carrots, and some cherry tomatoes. I was driving a lot for work today, so I had to eat in my car. It felt good having food on hand and not wondering what drive thru I was going to drive through....haha. 

Dinner

Mixed baby greens with chicken, avocado, cucumber, mango, pear, sliced almonds, and raspberry vinaigrette dressing. This was a really delicious salad, and perfect for a hot summer evening! Eric wasn't a fan. He made up his own salad that was a little more savory than sweet, but then he tried the new ranch dressing I bought and nearly gagged. So...he had more leftover pot roast and random other ingredients thrown together. This was the first meal he didn't like. Can't complain about that! 

Another awesome day! Maybe tomorrow I will want to kill all things? I sure hope not!

Thanks for reading! 

Whole30: Day 3 Meals

On to day 3! This was probably the most difficult day so far. My husband and I are snackers to the core. Even when we aren't really hungry, we still like to snack on things. This is a habit we are trying to change with this diet, but that habit was begging for attention this day! It was also a very eye opening day. Eric and I went grocery shopping together so he could look at foods and find things that he likes that maybe I didn't think of, and what we discovered was that every grocery store item has added sugar in it! It's so frustrating trying to find things in a conventional grocery store that are Whole30 compliant! (Besides fruit and veggies, obviously) Anyways, on to our meals!

Breakfast

Kiwi, strawberry, and banana topped with coconut cream, sliced almonds, pumpkin seeds, and shredded coconut! I loved this! Eric did not. He's not a coconut cream fan. Our daughter didn't like it too much either. It is a taste that we aren't used to, but I still liked it a lot. I also learned that the trick to finding canned coconut milk that will actually give you coconut cream is one with no guar gum! Guar gum is the ingredient that keeps the coconut cream and the coconut milk from separating, but you want it to separate for this delicious yogurt-whipped cream replacement. 

Lunch

Leftover Cauliflower Fried Rice from day two, and some grapes. It made for an easy, no fuss lunch that we all enjoyed!

Dinner

Easy Crockpot Pulled Pork w/ Apple Cranberry Sweet Potato Bake

This is going to be a Sunday tradition I think! This was absolutely wonderful! Is there something missing though??? A salad! I know, I know. I needed to add a salad to this meal to get a good veggie intake. But it's been tough to find store bought compliant salad dressing, and I tried making my own and I just couldn't stomach them! I'll do better next time! This side dish was amazing! Since cranberries aren't in season right now, I subbed for tart red cherries (from a can, packed in water, cause I'm lazy like that) and I think they were about as close to cranberries as you can get as far as taste goes! I will definitely be making this side dish for Thanksgiving!

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for day 4!

Whole30: Day 2 Meals

I've been spending so much time in the kitchen so far this month, that I didn't have time to post our meals for the last couple of days! Sorry!

Day 2 was another success, and included some of my favorite meals so far! Here's what we had!

Breakfast

 This breakfast was so amazing, and really simple! Eggs fried in pepper rings (I used this recipe here, and subbed butter for ghee) some bacon (any "diet" that lets me eat bacon is a-ok with me!!) and fresh fruit! I'm pretty sure I will be making this every weekend! It was also very filling, so we didn't even need to eat a lot for...

Lunch

Turkey-Cucumber Roll Ups. These were ok. Not my favorite. I probably wont make them again. I'd much rather have a salad or the Turkey Avocado Rolls from day one. 

Dinner

Cauliflower Fried Rice

This was a dish that I had been wanting to try for a while, even before starting the Whole30. Mainly because I didn't believe that cauliflower could actually taste like rice! Well, I am here to report that not only did this taste like fried rice, but I think it was even better! I changed the recipe up a bit to fit our needs. I desperately tried to find a suitable soy sauce replacement before dinner time but was unsuccessful, so I seasoned it with just salt and pepper and it still turned out great! I have since gone to Whole Foods and picked up some coconut aminos to try next time! I also added some canned chicken breast (cause it's easy, and that's what works best for me!) and left out the onion and peas because I don't like onions and we can't eat peas. Oh, and I also only needed half a head of cauliflower! It made plenty of "rice." We finished this off with some grapes for desert and called it a day!

So there's day 2! Another pat on the back for us! 

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for day 3!

Whole30: Day 1 Meals

I'm going to do a little celebration dance, because Eric and I successfully finished day one of the Whole30!! Woohoo!!! It may not seem like a big victory for some, but for us, it's huge! Every single day matters, and deserves a pat on the back!


So, what did we eat today? Here it is!

Breakfast

Breakfast was simple and easy. Two scrambled eggs with strawberries, blueberries, and bananas. It was delicious and kept us quite full until....

Lunch

Lunch was pretty simple as well. Turkey rolls with avocado and a bit of mustard in the middle (couldn't really get a good picture of that!) and some cherry tomatoes.

A couple hours after lunch we had Ants on a Log for a snack, with almond butter instead of peanut butter. Don't mind how messy they look...I had never used almond butter before and had no idea it was so liquidy! Yes..I know that's not a real word. Oh well!

That brought us to...

Dinner

Dinner was absolutely delicious!

Baked Lemon Pepper Salmon (I used the method found here for cooking it, but subbed salt and pepper for lemon pepper. SO easy!!)

Steamed Veggies (used my trusty Ziplock Steamer Bags for that!) cooked in ghee (clarified butter) with salt and pepper
And a baked potato (cooked in the microwave, because who really has time to wait 40 minutes for baked potatoes!?) also topped with some ghee and salt and pepper! Thank goodness the rules for Whole30 were recently changed to allow for white potatoes (but no fries or potato chips, obviously!) I LOVE me some potatoes!!! mmmmmMMmmm good!

After dinner Eric and I got a sweet tooth, so we snacked on some frozen mixed berries (not pictured) and my hunger monster took over again before bed so I had a Larabar. I didn't need it, but it's my bad habits shining through. I'm definitely going to skip on eating before bed from now on!

So that's day one! Make sure you subscribe for more Whole30 meal ideas!