I'm Dreaming of an Organized Closet

This post is about some much needed organization. Yes, some much needed organization in a little baby closet that acts as our utility closet. Here it is in all of it's current glory...no sprucing it up or anything.

Beautiful, right?! So I feel like slowly I'm getting more and more organized in this house. Yes, the steps are incredibly small, but progress is progress. So I knew pretty easily that the next place that would be best to organize was this space.

Why, you ask? Besides the obvious of it being hideous. Well I can't tell you how many times I can't find the tape measure, or the laser level, or a screw driver, or anything in there. It's a pain. So my wheels started turning and then I went to Pinterest for some utility closet inspiration. Oh and I found some...feast your eyes on these beauties...

Link (BHG)

Link

Link (IHeart Organizing)

The above one is my favorite. I love the use of the drawers to conceal all of the small items, and that peg board. So functional and cute...

Link (IHeart Organizing)

So with using some of the above inspiration, here are some items I am looking at purchasing for our little space to bring about some major rehab...

1. Green bin - $1.49 (Ikea) - Thinking of using these to store light bulbs and extension cords...they should fit perfect on our shelves.

2. ClosetMaid door organizer - $16 (Amazon) - Since I don't really have wall space in our little closet, I thought over the door would be best to hang all of our brooms and mops.

3. Drawer Unit - $39.99 (Ikea) - I'm thinking this little guy will be perfect to store all of the little items, screws, nails, tape measure, laser level, screw drivers, and it has little slots for labeling...score.

It's only three items but I think they'll make a huge difference. We went to Ikea tonight and Rob laughed as I handed over some of my birthday money to purchase a few things. What can I say? The thought of better organization makes my heart soar more and more...okay, maybe that's an overstatement, but it does bring me some much appreciated sanity.

Oh yes, I'm talking to you, tape measure. Pretty soon you won't be able to hide from me ANYmore.

More Kitchen Counter Shenanigans

Who knew that our kitchen counters could be so much fun? Finn woke up from a nap and ran over to the sliding glass doors to our backyard and said "wawa". Lil guy wanted to play in his little sprinkler or pool but we had to leave soon. So a little dip in the kitchen sink did the trick. I'm not sure why I'm so late on the play-in-the-sink train, but it worked. I don't know if Rob and I are the only ones, but internally we do a happy dance when we realize another "station" in our home for Finn to play with. 

 

At one point he stood up to shimmy his little body into the whole sink...my how nice it would be to have a big white farmhouse sink...

So we're all pretty pleased with this newly discovered "station". With Finn's drawing area and now water play, these formica counters never looked better. ;)

Lately

Thought I'd share another quick post of what's been happening lately. I've been working mostly on art for my up and coming Etsy shop, and I gotta say, my painting/drawing hand is pretty tired. Twitching even. But you know what they say, no pain, no gain. Lol...so anyway...

Well this week Rob and I finally decided to go through Finn's toys and reorganize them, mostly because it seemed like he wasn't playing with anything. Some toys were just spread out throughout various baskets that just needed to be grouped together. Others we just put away for a later time. And the beautiful thing of it all is that Finn started walking around his room playing with various toys like they were brand new. Organization win!

Rob and Finn came and picked me up for lunch one day this week. Finn played with the buttons on the dashboard like it was his very own playground.

Toward the end of the week, Finn discovered Rob's Tough Mudder headband and was pretty insistent on keeping the thing on his head. We almost walked into Chipotle with it, but he took it off just before.

Afterward we had ice cream in the same park that his mama used to play in after gym class...full circle craziness I tell ya.

Oh and I couldn't help but take pics with the big camera of him and this headband...

This sweet kid...

You know he also loves to draw. The latest preferred drawing spot is on our kitchen counter. Not sure if we created a bad thing here or what...lol. Hoping not to find him up here on his own one day.

I had intended to write up a post about this one verse I've been mulling over, but I'll hopefully get to that sometime this weekend. Hoping you all are doing well and staying cool!

Coming Soon!

Hi everyone, I just wanted to share a quick post with you as internally I’m bubbling with annoying excitement that only Rob gets to hear about it – thankfully he’s so sweet, he doesn't mind.

Well I am super excited to announce that I will soon be opening an Etsy shop!

Hip hip!!!

I’m beaming about this venture and am thankful that I FINALLY have some wind under my wings moving me forward with this dream.

For any of you who aren’t familiar with Etsy, Etsy is an online community of artisans who sell various handmade items. It’s a fantastic platform for anyone who wants to sell on the side or create a full time business.

So the big question is what will I be selling? I’ve been drawing landscapes, buildings, cities and stick figures since I was in elementary school and I’ve certainly nailed down my art style. My shop will offer colorful, childlike art prints…perfect for nurseries, kid’s rooms, or anywhere. My art style is generally clean and simplistic but with interest in each piece.

I’m going to bite my lip before sharing the name of the shop as branding will soon be created; however after it is, I’ll be sure to share with you. I’ll just say that naming things is very hard for me, but I am actually really pleased with the name and brand that will be built around this shop.

So stay tuned. I’m working on more and more pieces and am looking forward to “opening shop” soon!

Storage For My Birthday

It finally happened…last weekend we made our attic usable. Well Rob did it all. He bought some floor boards and laid it down in our little attic space and shoved all of our tubs up there. This was another big step that needed to be done to complete our office/guest room. 

Because although the office looks like this…

The other side looks like this…

It’s organized chaos, but chaos indeed. There are still a few large items that we need to get rid of/give away. That closet was full of tubs of Christmas and childhood stuff that is now in our attic. What’s left are still a few odds and ends left to sort and organize, so we purchased this lil guy from Home Depot to help. It’s a Martha Stewart cubby and surprisingly pretty sturdy feeling for $35.

It fit perfectly in our closet space. 

Yes, I own the Twilight books...don't hate. I could probably purge a number of my books from that bookcase. But anyway, once everything else is clear from this room, I’m looking to probably purchase another storage piece. This will be for along the wall of the desk to hold a printer and overflow books (from our packed bookcase) and paper supplies. So we’ll see where we end up…but there’s been progress, and I’m happy about that.

We had a good rest of the weekend. It was my birthday weekend and on Saturday we celebrated with my lovely family and then on Sunday we ended up going to Busch Gardens for some splash pad fun. Seriously I need more splash pads in my life. Finn too. It’s the best thing seeing your little one light up as soon as we set him free from his stroller to play. It was a good day. Long naps and a date night were pretty sweet as well. 

Hoping you all are well!

Hallelujah for Vacation - Part 2

Well I'm back with pictures from my "big camera" as I like to call my Nikon. You may notice that barely any are taken of the beach or pool (besides those taken from our balcony). I didn't really take a ton of photos...only like 200 and something. It just felt nice to pull the big thing out sometimes and leave it during others. 

Anyway, this trip was really nice. There's nothing like the feeling of running your key card through your room and opening the door for the first time. We got there before my brother and sister-in-law, and within minutes of being there, Cheerios were already on the floor. Oh the life of having a toddle. (I like to say it without the "r" because I tend to shorten everything)

The crazy beautiful view from our bed. A few nights we slept with the sliding glass doors open. That was pretty amazing.

Never will look at the moon the same, as mentioned in this post. Speaking of the moon, I tried some nighttime pictures when it was shining bright across the water, however, there was not one good one. Moon photography is harrrd.

Some of the crew...and Finn and his obsession with markers (the kind that only color on special paper, hallelujah)

Although he does sometimes "color", he mainly loves just taking the cap off and putting it back on.

In some of the "outtakes" of us on the bench below, I'm not sure if it was my posture or my dress or both, but Rob said I looked like I could be the first lady. I'd share that photo if my legs were positioned better...Lisa's not in a dress too often.

I know some mama's may say that we're late, but we're just now (18mo) closing the book on giving Finn a bottle at night time. I think we'll stop tomorrow...but it was a favorite of mine to go out on the balcony with him. Overlooking the gorgeousness outside. Precious moments indeed.

We broke a lot of rules over the vacation. We're weaning him away from his ducky pacifier (only using it for sleeping time) but on vacation apparently rules were thrown out the window. And I'm okay with that. One day Finn even got ice cream with daddy at 10:30 in the morning. Lol, oh and watching Pooh on the iPad, not a normal thing at all either.

Although we didn't get down to the beach to do some family photos, we tried on the balcony one day. That was until my crazy brother snuck up and stuck his head in there. This picture makes me laugh and creeps me out because you can't see anything but his face.

Then he went on the other side of the lens and tried working the entertainment to get a smile from the serious boy.

He did good and it was hard not to crack up ourselves. Obviously. (thank you sister for taking these photos!)

Then some couple shots...my hair was in a top knot pretty much the whole time and I loved it for the ease. Rob's so jealous. His hair is obviously grown out too...my man and his beautiful hair. One day he'll maybe have a samurai top knot on his head. ;)

Love love...

It was July 4th while we were there so we had the ease of watching the fireworks from our ninth floor.

Out of the 30 pics I took of the fireworks, this is the only clear shot I got...goodness, I need to figure out nighttime photography. Maybe it's a lens thing...probably. And the user.

The next day we were beached and pooled out so we headed to a park. Well we originally wanted to rent some bikes, but all of the bikes with baby seats were rented already. I was bummed, but Rob kept the spirits alive while I pouted for a few minutes and then we ended up here.

This boy and a swing.

We then put him down to run around this huuuuuuuuuge field, thinking he'd love it. But of course, all he wants to do is step up and down from the curb. :))

The last night's sunset was by far my favorite...

I told Rob that the big cloud reminded me of the Star Trek Enterprise...kept expecting to see the huge metal ship break out of there. (Rob's so proud)

Love these last two shots of the cousins. She was so sweet with Finn letting him hold on to various toys throughout the trip. Goodness and that sunset...wow.

Oh vacation, you were lovely. Now to somehow turn our backyard into some sort of oasis. I guess we should just start with keeping it mowed, then move on to the other stuff. :))