Master Bedroom

Hello! It's been a while since I've shared some pics of our master bedroom, so I thought I'd share a few today. 

I was tagged on IG the other day to share a pic of my nightstand, so I took this pic. In true blogger fashion, I first stepped out back to clip some flowers for that vase. :) 

Normally I don't have flowers in it because of Holly. She LOVES flowers. A little too much, if you ask me. Lol!

Here's a close up of the vase. I bought it on clearance at The Bombay Company many years ago...

Our bedroom has a lot of grey and white, but there are touches of blue here and there, like these prints from my grandmother...

This chair also has a little blue in it...

Here's a close up of the fabric...

I'm still loving my cotton stems from Michael's. I keep moving them around the house, but for this moment, they're on the armoire in my bedroom. I really need to invest in a few more when Michael's has them again in the fall. I love decorating with them. 

Here's a tiny change I made in the bathroom. I decided to corral all my makeup brushes into this IKEA knock off planter from the Target Dollar Spot. I think I bought six of these planters. You'll notice there is another one on the armoire in the pic above. They're scattered all over the house. :) 

I used to keep all my brushes in a drawer, but I was always scrounging around looking for the right one, and putting them all in one place just made sense. It's so much easier getting ready in the mornings now. 

Well, that's all for now. Hope y'all have a great day!

~Lisa

Wilton Sugar Sheets, Williams Sonoma Dish Towels, and $1 Starbucks Travel Cups

Hey, y'all! I'm back today to share a neat discovery. Have y'all heard of these edible Sugar Sheets for cake decorating?

How cute is that houndstooth?!

They're made by Wilton and come in a variety of solid colors and designs including this cute zebra one...

This screen shot kind of explains how to use them...

It's basically edible paper with a sweet taste that you can cut (or even use your punch) to cut out different shapes, then just place them on your cake! So easy and convenient! What a great way to fancy up a regular ol' birthday cake. :) You can find them in the cake decorating aisle at craft stores. 

Here's a pic I took at Joann's...

I also wanted to share my favorite dish towels with you. Not very exciting, I know. But these are by far the best ones I've ever had. They're from Williams Sonoma and it's $20 for a four pack. That's only $5 each! I've paid more than that at Walmart. Here's a pic of mine...

I tried to provide a link to them on the WS website, but it wasn't working. Here's a screen shot from my phone.

Anyway, I've had mine for over a year now and they've been washed at least once a week and have held up great! They're very absorbent, made of Turkish cotton, have a loop for hanging, and are a generous 30"x20"size. I always get the "dish TOWELS" instead of the "dish CLOTHS" because the towels are so much bigger. I think the cloths are only 15" square. 

They come in grey, black, red, navy, khaki (this is what mine are in the pic) and yellow.  

I also wanted to tell y'all about these Starbucks reusable travel cups. Lots of Starbucks locations have huge bins of these for only $1! I posted about them on IG and apparently people have been buying them up like crazy. :) You could even wrap it up with a Starbucks gift card and give it to a teacher or co-worker as a little pick me up. :) 

Here's a funny pic for you. I picked up Chick-fil-a for dinner the other night and wanted to make sure it arrived home safely, so...

Lol! I have not been into cooking lately. We've been picking up dinner more often than not. :)

My mom and aunt have a saying that every woman has a set amount of meals in her to cook and once you reach that number, it's over and you don't want to cook anymore. I think I reached that number. :)

Oh, one more thing. Here's an interesting read if you have a few minutes...

What I wish I had known before buying an older home

I've always loved older homes, but this perspective really makes you think before you buy. 

~Lisa

Spring Gardening and Favorite Sunscreen

Hi there! Have y'all started gardening yet? We spent a recent weekend fertilizing the grass, putting down Preen to prevent garden weeds, and planting Zinnia seeds. 

I know I've mentioned Preen before, but since it's almost summertime, I thought it deserved a repeat mention. Here's a pic so you know what I'm talking about...

You just sprinkle it on the mulch around your flowers and it prevents any weeds from coming up for 4 months! Now, you do have to pull the existing weeds first, but other than that, you just sprinkle it on and lightly water it in and that's it!

Be sure to keep the Preen off the grass though. It'll kill grass. Also, try not to disturb the flower beds after you apply it. If the area gets disturbed frequently (from walking on the mulch, digging, etc.) it won't work as well. 

Anyway, I've been using it for years and I really don't have to pull weeds. Love this stuff! It's about $15 at Home Depot or Walmart. I'm sure you can get it on Amazon too. 

Like I said, we also planted some Zinnia seeds. I had three pouches of seeds in my cart before I noticed some of them had a little pic of a flower pot with a check mark on it. I assume that means they'll do well in pots and since I'm only planting them in pots, I had to switch a couple out for the checked kind. :) 

Are you ready for the pretty pic of what my flower pots look like right now???

Hee hee! I usually don't have the patience for seeds, but last year I had some Zinnias, and after the flowers bloomed, I sprinkled the dried, spent flowers (which contained the seeds) into a pot filled with soil and was really surprised at how quickly they grew. In just a couple of weeks I had pretty good sized plants. I'll try to keep you posted on these. 

I will say that I was really disappointed in the amount of seeds per packet. Most only contained about 6-7 seeds. What's up with that?

Here are a few more pics from around the backyard...

The bottle brush tree is beginning to bloom and the plumbago in front of it is going to be covered in little blue flowers soon. 

I always look forward to this Saint Joseph Amaryllis blooming. It's proven to be very hardy and comes back every year like clockwork... 

A closer look at some roses and the red bottle brush blooms in the back. 

Speaking of spending time outside, I recently got some new sunscreen I wanted to share with you. Big surprise, it's Neutrogena brand! I promise y'all I'm not getting paid to endorse their products, I just really love them. :) 

The one complaint my family has about sunscreen is how their skin feels sticky after applying it. So, I did some research and kept coming back to this stuff. The "ultra sheer" Neutrogena is non-greasy and very light weight. It doesn't really feel like you have sunscreen on and it absorbs into the skin quickly. We usually start with the cream and then follow up with the spray every couple of hours. 

Here's another really good one we like...

This one is by Kiehl's. It's oil free, lightweight, fast drying, non-greasy, paraben free, and non-comedogenic. What else could you ask for in a sunscreen? :) 

Do you have a favorite sunscreen to share? I'd love to hear about it! Hope everyone has a great day and thanks so much for stopping by!

~Lisa

Covering Up Those Kitchen Outlets

Hello all! I've been rearranging things in my kitchen and had to come up with some new ways to cover up a few outlets. Y'all know how much I hate cords and outlets, right? Lol!

Here, I'm using the Keurig and my stand mixer to cover up two outlets. Actually, the Keurig is plugged into one, but the machine hides it. I just rolled up the cord for my mixer and stuffed it into the mixing bowl. 

The addition of those little cabinet feet still make me smile every time I see them. One of the best $6 purchases ever!

I just discovered how great cutting boards are at covering outlets! We use this one all the time, so I brought it out and propped it up in front of an outlet.

Over here, I'm using the planter with a faux boxwood ball to cover up an outlet.

And this sweet nest printable is covering up the outlet the lamp is plugged into. I was happy to bring out my nesting measuring cups again. I think I've had them stored away since I started decorating for all the holidays back in the fall. 

My diy boxwood wreath frame is covering up this outlet that never gets used. If you look closely, you can see the outlet behind it. 

And here's one I just can't do anything about...

I've tried to store our toaster in the cabinet, but my boys had a fit since they use it daily. Turns out they were right, so I pulled it back out. :) Speaking of the toaster, have y'all tried the limited edition Chocolate Toaster Strudel? So good!

And can I just say I'm still so thrilled with how our painted and stained kitchen table looks? I can't believe spray paint did such a good job! I'm so happy with the stain we chose for the table top too. 

What clever ways do you hide outlets and cords in your home?

~Lisa

Laundry Room Changes

So, I made a few changes in my laundry room. It all started when I replaced the little wooden box in my kitchen with this diy boxwood frame...

I've had the wooden box there since we moved in many years ago. Here's an old pic of it...

I bought it at Target about 15 years ago. It's got two drawers in the front for storage and I still like it, but it was time for a change. 

So, once I moved the boxwood frame in that spot, I had to find a new home for the wooden box.

I decided to put it in the laundry room. I'd been wanting to move things around in there anyway because for some weird reason, I've always kept the extra paper towels on the top shelf where everyone had to stand on their tippy toes to reach them. Why we lived like this for years is beyond me. Lol!

Here's an old pic of the laundry room...

I must have been out of paper towels when I took this pic, because they're normally stored on the top shelf, next to the soup tureen. I eventually moved the soup tureen to the dining room, but kept the paper towels way up on the top shelf. See how high we had to reach? Ridiculous. 

So, I moved them to the middle shelf where they're a lot easier to reach. I also moved the yellow wooden box to the bottom shelf and swapped a few accessories around...

Ahhh...so much easier to reach now!

I don't know if I've shared a close up pic of these prints before. I got them at Walmart years ago. I think the prints were $1 and the frames were $2. So inexpensive!

Here's two more. I hung them with some black and white checked ribbon. 

Here's a close up of my favorite one. Doesn't that looks like a lovely place to spend an afternoon curled up reading a good book? 

Hope you have a great day!

~Lisa

Cardigans, Earrings, and Donuts

Hello there! Hope everyone had a nice Easter weekend. I spent this morning boxing up all my bunnies and then trying to remember where all my everyday decor goes. I usually take a pic before I decorate for the holidays, but skipped it this time. Oh well, I'm constantly rearranging anyway. :) 

I spent the longest time in my kitchen trying to decide where to put things. It took me two cups of coffee before I figured it out. Lol!

I had to share my Kohl's finds with y'all. I had a $10 off $30 coupon and $10 in Kohl's cash to spend. I intended to pick up some Keurig coffee pods, but found out you can't use those coupons on "consumables." So, what's a girl to do but browse the clothing section? I'm calling this an early Mother's Day gift to myself. :)

I found this cardigan on sale and fell in love with the light weight feel of it. I love wearing cardigans. I can be wearing capris and a blouse, but when I add a cardigan, necklace, and earrings, it just seems to dress it up a bit. Sounds corny, doesn't it? Lol! 

I have one major requirement when shopping for cardigans. It HAS to be very light weight so I can wear it pretty much year round. And this one fit the bill! I held it up to the light so you could see just how light weight it is...

I love it! I now have a nice little collection of cardigans in my closet. :) 

Here are the earrings I got. They were 50% off. I thought with all the colors, they'd go with lots of things.

Y'all are going to think this is so weird, but every time I buy a new pair of earrings, I immediately come home and clean them with rubbing alcohol. I guess I'm afraid someone tried them on in the store or something and the thought of them being in some stranger's ears kinda grosses me out. Lol!

Okay, are you ready for the bottom line? I got BOTH the cardigan and the earrings for a grand total of $15! Yay for a successful shopping trip!

Have y'all ever made homemade baked donuts? I was wanting to try my hand at it, so I used THIS recipe from Ina Garten. Here's what they looked like when I took them out of the oven...

That cute little donut pan made it so easy! Here's a pic of the finished product I shared on Instagram...

They were very easy to make and everyone enjoyed them, but I think they might need a little chocolate drizzle next time. ;)  

~Lisa