V-Day Recap and Many Leather-bound Books

Happy Monday!

This weekend was a really nice one, filled with things to do for Valentine's Day and a mini home project that Joey and I tackled.  We didn't have any Valentine's Day plans at first, but when we both got home from work, we were starving and didn't want to cook.  Hubs suggested heading to Aubree's Pizza for dinner, since it just opened right down the street from us.  I had never been there before, so we tried it out and it was delicious.  We will definitely be going back, and that can be dangerous considering it's right down the street!

He also surprised me with a bouquet of beautiful lavender roses!  They are definitely a contender for my favorite flower now and they are making me crave springtime even more. We didn't realize it until we were eating dinner, but last year we did the exact same thing for Valentine's Day.  We ordered pizza in and watched the new Season 2 of House of Cards on Netflix.  Apparently, we like our V Day's laid back and casual.  We will probably be keeping this tradition up!  Unfortunately, Season 3 of HOC doesn't come out for another 11 days, but we were content with watching random shows on tv.

On Sunday we decided to put together the bookcase that his family got us for Christmas.  It's from Target, and we love it!  It was easy to put together with 2 people and only took us about an hour and fifteen minutes.  So excited to have it up, now I just have to fill it!  Isn't it a beaut?

Can't wait to get some cute bookends for this bad boy.  I may end up purchasing another one, too because I like it so much and I think I will need it for all of the books we have.

Have a great start to the week!

Xo

Still Unpacking

It is hard going back to work after that gloriously long weekend!  Like I have said before, we really need to change the workweek to 4 days and the weekend to 3!  I felt so much more relaxed and productive this weekend.

While Joey golfed on Saturday morning, I plugged in the coffee machine, blasted some Britney and decided to tackle our office closet.  The office has been one space in the house that had become the "stash area".  Papers, receipts and general junk (hello random wrapping paper) made their way in there, and eventually began to overrun the room.  The thing that was really bugging me were the unpacked boxes that we still hadn't gotten to since we moved in last December.  They housed our immense book collection, so I needed to get them unpacked so I could see how big of a bookcase we needed to purchase.  Plus, it was making me crazy that I couldn't find one of my books that I wanted to read quickly.  Reader's angst, yo.

Here's the before:

Ugh.  Nightmare.  I started to spaz once I started unloading everything because it seemed to triple!  I threw away two full garbage bags of stuff and broke down about ten boxes after they were unloaded.  I was able to get all of the books up onto the shelf in there until we get a bookcase one day.  I found stuff from middle school!  Hoarder much?

It took me FOUR HOURS but here's the after:

So. Much. Better.  You can't see from this angle, but around the corner to the left is 3 more stacks of books and about 8-10 pictures that still need to be hung on the walls.  It's amazing how much relief it brings to have that cleaned up and cleared out!  I have a few more areas in the house to spruce up, but it's getting there!  Did anyone else wait that long to unpack some boxes from a move? ;)

Weekly Happies.

So I know everyone does the Five for Friday thing, so in my neck of the woods I am going to start listing my Weekly Happies...all the things this week that brought beauty, love and happiness to my soul.  And I will probably go past 5 :)

1.) My husband, Joey.  He is seriously the greatest thing to ever happen to me.  He deserves to have the first place on this list.  I am the luckiest girl to have a man that is my best friend.  The gratitude and love I feel towards him is immeasurable.

2.) 66* weather!  Holy cow, guys, does that feel good to have.  It hasn't stuck around but those fleeting days where it does peek gives me hope that May will bring a sunshine and warm filled month!  (And I would like to see some green outside, yes? ENOUGH with the brown!)

3.)  My powder room.  I did a little sprucing of it the past few weeks to add some personality.  I found the CUTEST little stand at Home Goods which fit perfectly and then I added a lantern, a lotus flower tealight, a little rock that says 'Relax' and some orchids.  I don't know why, but that little corner in my house makes me so happy.  I will put pictures up one day!

4.) Our elliptical.  I have been using that thing every night before I shower and go to bed and it has made sleep SO much better for me.

5.) Spartan Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.  This stuff is the BEST.  No other brand tops Spartan on this one in my book.  My parents had a gallon and I had to go over and inhale some.

6.) My new flats.  This goes along with #2.  I bought the cutest little lace flats that are the most comfortable things to boot.  It just has to stop raining so I can wear them more.

7.) Walking the dogs.  Joey and I love to do this in our sub.  It's so peaceful and it's awesome when we see some deer!

Well, those are my Happies of the week...It's Easter weekend so we will be all over the place, but it should be a good time.  Let's have some warm weather to celebrate, please!

home decor on a dime.

Since we are building a new house, we are trying to keep money pretty tight.  But at the same time, I'm trying to look at and compile ideas for decorating our new house.  But Target.  Ohhh, Target.  Gets me and my wallet every time.

I had basically gone for conditioner and birthday cards and tried to keep myself away from everything else because I can never seem to get out of there for under $30.  As I was looking at the birthday cards, they have this row of those really beautiful Papyrus cards.  You know, the ones that cost like $7-10 PER CARD.  (Do people really buy those for birthdays/special occasions? I sure don't.  That stuff is expensive, yo!) 

They're beautiful cards with sparkles and glitter and sometimes they're just minimal and simplistic and I adore them all.  I just admire and look and wistfully wish that I could bring myself to spend that much on a card and then I put them back.