Vanity

As promised, here is my post on my new vanity! In my opinion, its awesome.  However, I may be a bit biased.  I'll let you be the judge..


A little background info, I have the smallest house in the world.  With an even smaller bathroom.  The only thing big in our house is the bedroom.  I purchased a used desk online to put all my papers and laptop on and keep in my room.  However, my husband had the brilliant idea of turning it into a vanity.  Its perfect because I can neatly store all of my personal items on it, removing all the clutter from my bathroom. 
It was actually pretty simple to make so if you like the idea, I highly suggest you make your own!

The desk (I have no idea the style number, brand, etc) had a backing that was extremely thin so the first thing we did was screw a thicker piece of plywood behind it.  We did this so that it would be strong enough to hold the mirror.  We found a $12 mirror at Menard's that is meant for above a sink.  Its nice because its extremely simple, like we were looking for, but opens to provide a little bit more storage.  We also found a strip light there for around $20.  I really like that the light turns on when you touch a sensor, so its really easy to turn on in the dark!  Its centered above the mirror to give me plenty of lighting when applying my makeup.  On the right side, the desk has a long door with 2 shelves behind it.  We put a power strip on the bottom shelf so I could hide all my cords but still be able to plug them in.  The top shelf holds my rollers and brushes while the bottom is home to my curling iron, straightener, and blow dryer.  For now, my make-up sits on the keyboard drawer.  I don't really like it in that spot but it works for now.  On the shelving behind the mirror I keep the things I use daily (deodorant, face lotion, makeup remover, etc).  There are a couple slots that would normally hold Cd's.  This is where I keep my headbands and a few other random pieces.  On the desk itself I have a bin holding my hair products and a holder for makeup brushes.  Oh I almost forgot! Along the sides of the mirror, we put hooks to hang my necklaces!

Top:  Everything is a little hard to see but I wanted a picture showing the light above the mirror
Bottom:  I opened the doors so you could get the full effect

High Five For Friday!!!

So, I really really love this blog called the Small Things Blog.  I stumbled across her blog while looking at hairstyles on Pinterest and ever since then, I've been hooked!  If you haven't yet, you should totally check it out when you have a chance!  Anyways, through reading her blog, I've started reading her sister, Lauren's blog (From My Grey Desk).  Lauren does this thing where she links up with other bloggers on Fridays and I figured I would link up with her today (even though the day is over halfway over)

So.. the 5 highlights of my week were:

1.  On Monday night we arrived back home to South Dakota from our cruise.  NO, being in South Dakota was not the highlight!  However, seeing my son after almost a week was!  He was surprisingly still awake and he did the funniest thing when my husband and I walked in the door of my friends house.  She was holding him and he kind of looked at us, looked away, looked at us, looked away.  Almost as if he couldn't believe his eyes.  Then his face lit up and the squealing and the flailing arms started.  And then the tears from mama came.  It was such a joyous moment and I cant even explain how excited I was to be able to hold my little guy again!!

2.  Tuesday Matt and I both had off work and spent the day unpacking and doing laundry.  We also got MY LAST NAME CHANGED :)  I'm officially an Engen, my drivers license says so!  And, surprisingly, I didn't even have to wait for long at the DMV or the Social Security office!  The name-change-Gods must have known I had better things to do that day.

3.  I had softball practice and it was gorgeous outside!! I love being able to be active on summer nights and being able to do it with my friends makes it that much greater.  Were definitely not the best team but we have a good time and hopefully we will continue to do better before our games start. 

4.  Matt built me a vanity.  It is hands down the coolest thing I have ever seen.  I have the worlds smallest duplex.  We want to move desperately, but with everything going on right now, we are waiting a little bit to move.  We have one bathroom that's so small, only one person can be in it at a time.  The sink has no counter space for anything.  And I have a lot of things.  More than the normal girl.  Because of this, I have filled the cabinet below it.  Poor Matt only gets room for his toothbrush and he knows better than to try to come in there an hour before were going somewhere.  We do, however, have a rather large bedroom.  I had purchased a used desk from someone in town and set it up in the corner of our bedroom.  I figured I would just use it for our laptop and my piles of paper that are useless but I don't dare throw away, just in case.  Matt had a better idea.  He installed a large medicine cabinet on the back wall of the dresser and put a long, strip of light above the mirror.  The light turns on when you touch a sensor, how genius is that?!  He then hung all my necklaces along the sides of the mirror, and put my jewelry tree on the top (yes, I decided to buy it) along with my million bottles of lotion.  It has a long door on the side and inside are 3 shelves.  He put a plug-in strip on the bottom shelf and my blow dryer, straightener, curling iron, and rollers on the other shelves.  Now all I need to do it organize my makeup on it.  I also want to find a cool vintage chair at a garage sale and reupholster it.  I'm sure he did it so I would stop taking over the bathroom.  Whatever the reason, I'm in love with it.  And it made me so thankful to be in love with the incredible, thoughtful man.  I'll post pictures after I have it organized this weekend!

5.  The last fabulous thing of the week hasn't happened yet.  Its actually happening tonight so I figured it still counts: I'm going to a Pampered Chef party!! I've never been to one before and I'm really excited!  I love to cook, but its a new love.  I'm just getting into and love to try out new recipes.  I don't have a lot of kitchen tools (partly because I don't have the space), but I'm starting to expand my collection.  I cant wait to share with you my new finds!  Hopefully I don't spend too much :)

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!!  Remember to be thankful for the things you have and try to focus on the positive aspects on life!

Wedding

I haven't posted for a few days because I was gone for my wedding!!!  Matt and I got married last Thursday aboard a Carnival Cruise ship.  I was a little nervous that it wouldn't be what I had pictured in mind and that I wouldn't like it.  However, everything went smoothly and we really enjoyed it!  When we arrived to the port, we were able to move to the very front of the line and check in right away, where the wedding coordinator was waiting for us.  She then led my family and I to my room where I changed and got ready for the ceremony.  She then met me at the room when it was time to go and led me to the where the ceremony was.  Everything went off without a hitch and it was awesome.  The one problem we encountered was that they didn't have the song we had chosen for our first dance so instead we danced to "Marry Me" by Train.  With that being the one thing that went wrong, I'll take it!  We had a nice spread of food and it seemed that everyone enjoyed themselves.  After the reception, we were taken by the photographer to various locations around the ship to take pictures.  Then, we had to meet in our muster area (where we would go if something were to go wrong on the ship) and had to do some practice drills.  It was extremely hot and I felt like everyone was staring at us.  It was a little uncomfortable.  I had originally planned on staying in my dress for the whole night but after the muster drill, I was ready to get out of that thing!  I'm looking forward to being able to put it on one more time for our reception next weekend.  We are having a dance for our family and friends that weren't able to attend the wedding at a hotel.  It will be pretty casual, were only serving hors d'uerves and its pretty much just a chance to get both of our families together!  It should be a good time!
My sister is in the works of starting a party planning business and she is just awesome at everything involved in planning a party.  From the organization aspect to the decorations, she is a genius! She made these really cool pomander balls for the bridesmaids at our wedding since we couldn't use real flowers.  Aren't they neat?! I could never in a million years make something like that!  We've also made a couple more decorations for the reception and I cant wait to get it all set up!  Here are a couple pictures of the decorations I have so far.  What do you think?  I'm such a perfectionist and had such an idea in my head of how I wanted everything to look that I just had to make all the decorations.  Had I purchased them, I don't think that would look quite like I had envisioned.  Would you prefer to make your own decorations or is it too much hassle?

The "I DO" will obviously be turned so that its going the right direction.  I'm just not computer savvy enough to figure out how to do that.  Anyways, this will be propped up on the gift table.  The picture to the right is slightly difficult to see (and don't mind my multiple wine glasses) but its a blue wine bottle with seashells hanging down and the top is wrapped in twine.  I plan to set these out among the food tables.  The last picture is a little project I found on Pinterest, my absolute favorite site!  I dyed mason jars blue, put a ribbon around the top, and put a bow in the middle with a rhinestone in the center.  I am planning on putting sea glass in the bottom of the mason jars, filling them with water, and putting a floating candle in them.  These jars will go on the tables.  We were able to get a really good deal on a DJ and he seems like a really cool guy so I'm excited about that!  He has these neat up-lights that will illuminate the walls so that should brighten the place up.  All in all, I'm pretty excited for the reception.  It sounds pretty negative but, I'm kind of excited for it all to be over as well.  I'm ready for life to return to normal and not have to worry about all this planning.  However, my mind can never rest so after the wedding planning, we will move onto planning to buy a house!  How exciting, and of course I will fill you in with all the details :)

Add a little sparkle!!

I have a ton of clothes.  I may even have (gasp!) too many clothes.  But the thing is, I have some clothes in my closet that I have had for at least 5 years.  I just cant bring myself to throw them away.  I always think 'well someday I will wear that'.  However, I have come to the conclusion that if I can only see myself wearing something for a specific occasion, it needs to go.  The first thing I did to organize my clothes a little better was have my fiance go through my closet.  Initially, this seemed like a nightmare.  Now he would know all the clothes I really have!!  And he would see that some of them even still have the tags on them!  However, I had a theory.  We have lived together for a year and a half and have dated off and on for a course of over 5 years so I figured, if he's never seen me wear something, it was time to donate it!  He pulled out about 20 tops that haven't been worn in forever and a few that he said "you should never wear this".  Apparently we have different tastes in fashion!
My sister, who is the most fabulous person I've ever met, came to stay with me for about a month last summer when Jett was born.  One thing that she pointed out was that I have a TON of solid colored t-shirts.  She pointed out that while I had all these plain shirts, I didn't really have anything that was patterned!  So, since then, I have been trying to go out of my comfort zone and purchase clothes that have some sort of pattern or design on them.  I've caught myself a couple times with a solid v-neck in my hand at the store but stopped myself and thought, "no more solids"!! For St Patricks Day, my friend Heather and I wanted to wear something green.  We went to Target and searched but I didn't really see anything that caught my eye.  As she dropped me off at home, I told her I knew I had a green shirt and I would text her a picture.  I had 6 plain green shirts!  Granted they were all different shades but that is a little ridiculous! As you can see, it was time to downsize my wardrobe.
One thing I  have been trying to do is incorporate jewelry into my outfits.  I think it makes everything look put together better and almost gives me a more finished look.  Also, for some reason, whenever I wear jewelry I feel more dressed up and I must say, I like the feeling!  I have a a cute little necklace hanger on the wall in my bedroom and that really helps me to remember them to have them in plain sight.  However, I keep my earrings and bracelets in a drawer.  I never think to take a look at them and so they rarely get worn.  I've been trying to make a conscious effort to remember to wear these.  Today, I chose this bracelet to go with my black shirt:

I'm not sure yet how I feel about the black ribbon that came with it but I can always take it off.  At first, it was a little hard to get used to typing at work with it on but I really liked what it added to my outfit.  I felt like it made it not appear quite so boring. 

I was looking at the Target website and came across this jewelry holder.  Its not very expensive and I thought it would be a cute way to display the rest of my jewelry on top of my dresser without making it look cluttered.  I haven't completely decided if I for sure want to buy it though so I think I'm going to wait until after I get back from my cruise to decide.  That way I will have more time to think about it. It can be found: here.

Where do you normally display your jewelry?  Are you like me where if its tucked away you forget about it?  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Mid life crisis at 24?

To say I'm unhappy at my job would be an understatement.  To begin, its a 45 minute commute each way.  On top of that, I work 10 hour days.  Which equals a VERY long day.  Especially for someone with a small child.  Its frustrating that I leave for work before he wakes up and am only home for about an hour and half before its time to put him to bed.  Also, its not challenging.  Not even a little bit.  I answer the phone with the same greeting, enter numbers into a computer, and mail invoices out to customers at the end of the day.  It makes me feel like a robot.  Lastly, I know absolutely nothing about the products I'm selling.  I am from the city.  In fact, I have never once stepped foot onto a farm.  Yet I sell feed to farmers.  They call and ask me questions and I think to myself "if only you knew the girl you're asking this to, you would surely giggle".  At the beginning I figured, how hard can it be?  I'm a fast learner, I'll catch on!  I was wrong.  I don't know what the problem is; maybe because I have no interest in learning this type of stuff.  Or maybe its that I cant visualize what I'm trying to learn so I just cant wrap my brain around the idea.  Either way, after a year and a half, I have decided this is a lost cause.  I need to move on.
I applied for the nursing program at the local community college, took a test and was accepted!! I was so overjoyed, I couldn't wait to start!  Then, reality set in.  Since I have already received a Bachelor's degree, I don't qualify for financial aid.  Any.  Isn't that a bummer.  On top of having to take out a loan to pay for the schooling, I don't know how on earth we will make ends meet financially with me not working.  Matt and I have been trying to buy a house for some time now and that presents another problem: our bills are going to increase, with our income will be cut in half.  I'm no math genius, but even I know that doesn't add up!
Another thought I had was I should do daycare!  Wouldn't that be wonderful?  I could stay home all day with Jett and watch a couple other kids to make some money!  Then I started thinking of the logistics of it: I would first need our new house to have the space for this.  Also, being that I would be working at home, I would never leave work.  I would constantly be doing something for work and would never be able to leave the stress of it all.  my mind kept wandering and I thought about other kids.  What if they were so misbehaved I couldn't handle them?  Then I would have to deal with letting the parents know that this isn't working.  I hate confrontation.  I avoid it if at all possible.  Shoot, it doesn't sound like this is the right path for me either.
A couple days ago, I was at the gym (yes, I gave it another try), and my friend Ryan was training me.  He was saying how they will be hiring another personal trainer soon and all I would need to do is get certified online.  Since I already have a background in health with my schooling, this would be the perfect job for me!  Then, my mind starting running.  I would be working off commission, so I have no idea how much money I would be making.  The certification is $500(!!) so I would be spending a lot of money on this.  What if I didn't like it?
I wish there was a crystal ball for me to look in or someone to tell me what I should do that will make me the most happy in the long run.  Unfortunately though, nobody has the answers.  I think with everything, there will be pros and cons.  I need to stop thinking of all the negative aspects and think about how each choice will positively affect the lives of my family.  At this point, I'm thinking of doing the personal training and go to school.  If I get certified now, I can keep doing it while I am in school and who knows?  Maybe I'll keep doing it on the side after I become a nurse!  So, that's the plan for now.  Ask me tomorrow what my plan is- I'm sure it will change :)
What about you?  What risks have you taken in your life?  Did they turn out the way you had hoped or did it turn into something you regretted?
I'm going to end with two of my favorite quotes:

 

"Everything happens for a reason..Sometimes things fall apart so other things can fall together, but in the end whats meant to be-will always find a way"

"Never regret anything because at one point, it was exactly what you wanted"

 

Have a fabulous day :)

All the Fuss of BB Cream

if you are like me, you've heard the term BB Cream a time or two.  So what is this cream and what is so special about it?
Bb Creams are a combination of many other products: AKA: time/ space saver!  What more could a gal ask for right?!  it works as a foundation, sunscreen, primer, and moisterizer all under the same cap.  It can be worn alone or under foundation.  One thing I should note is that it should be used sparingly.  With this product, a little goes a long way!  It comes in two different shades- light to medium and medium to dark.  I chose the light to medium shade and it worked perfectly for my skin.  Not wanting to spend a lot of money on this little experiment of mine, I chose to buy the Garnier Skin Renew Miracle Skin Protector.  I was able to buy it at Target for a little over $10 (its on sale this week- score!).  I applied it this morning and also used my regular foundation.  I was very pleased with my results.  I liked how it gave my face more of a finished looked and gave it an almost radiant tone.  It would look okay without foundation as well.  I think it will repalce my foundation for the summer and be used year round, under foundation in the winter. 
So, after my research and my personal trial, I would put this magical cream into my necessities pouch and will make it a part of my daily routine. 
What about you?  Do you think you will try BB Cream or just stick to your normal products?  I'd love to hear your feedback!

Decisions..

My wedding is 10 days away!!! 6 months ago, I thought of all these things I wanted to happen before my big day.  I wanted to whiten my teeth, quit biting my nails, lose 15 pounds, and get a nice base tan going.  Well, the whitening solution hurts my teeth so I had to stop that, I've been under so much stress my nails are as stubby as ever, and the tan and weightloss arent up to par either.
So, yesterday, I was debating what I wanted to do.  I go tanning in the beds at Anytime Fitness and I cant go into the gym and only go tanning.  I just cant bring myself to do that.  Embarassing.  So I here I was weighing my options: either do my Brazilian Butt Lift and not go tanning, or go to the gym to workout and tan.  I figured the latter was the better choice, since I'd be able to accomplish 2 things at one time.  Boy was I ever wrong.  Its been awhile since I've worked out in the gym and last night made me realize why: I need direction in my workouts.  When doing a video, I have someone telling me what to do, pushing me until the end.  In the gym, I'm all on my own. 
I stepped onto the treadmill planning to do sprint intervals.  I started up the machine at a walking pace, put in my headphones, and pushed play on my Ipod.  Dead.  The screen wouldnt even light up.  Not one to give up easily, I plugged my headphones into my Iphone and went to Youtube.  I searched workout playlists.  Nothing longer than 3 minutes came up.  I tried to think of a good pump-up song to get me through my run.  My mind was blank.  I had gone to the gym with a time limit in mind.  I wanted to be  home in time to put my son to bed.  Now that I had just wasted almost 10 minutes, still walking at a slow pace, I decided I needed to get on with my run.  I planned to do my sprints for 25 minutes.  I lasted 20.  Including the 10 minutes I had spent walking.  I had never tried to do it before and I dont think I will ever again: running in silence is pure torture.  All I could think of was how bored I was.  I looked at the time every 10 seconds it felt like.  By this time I had lost all the motivation I had when I left for the gym.  I contemplated what I wanted to do next.  I chose to go tanning.  After my tan, I decided I should get home because it was getting late. 
I walked in the door and Jett had already fallen asleep.  He woke me up around 1 in the morning and we rocked together in the chair with a bottle.  As I was sitting there, I thought what a waste my evening had turned into.  My workout (if you could even call it that) was pathetic.  I was in the tanning bed a tad too long and my skin was now pink.  And I wasnt able to say goodnight to my baby.  But, for once, I chose not to dwell on these things and remember that tomorrow is another day.  My teeth might not be quite as white as I had hoped and I wont look as amazing in my bikini as I had pictured.  But I'm getting married for a reason; Matt loves me just the way I am.  Love handles and all.  Maybe I'll lose the weight by our one year anniversary. 
One things for sure: tonight I will be doing BBL rather than the gym.  My skin needs a break from the bulbs anyways. 

The Beginning

There are many fabulous parts of my life that lead me to feel extremely blessed.  My job definately not being one of them.  While I make very good money for the type of work I do and where I live and I absolutely adore my co-workers (most of them anyways), I'm surprised I haven't died of boredom.  It is seriously killing me slowly.  Lucky for me, the end is near (but thats a story for a later date).
Let's start with a little about me.  I'm a 24 year old gal that enjoys the finer things in life.  I recently had my first child (10 months ago to be exact) and I adore him to pieces.  He is so stinkin cute he should be a model.  I'm not being biased- he REALLY is that cute!  And he's starting to get a personality as well finally.  I can already tell this one is going to keep me on my toes :)  Then, there's my fiance, Matthew.  Oh, where to even begin with him.  We met when I was 18 and our relationship has had enough drama to be its own soap opera.  The drama is finally behind us and we are getting married on 4/19/12!! Its so exciting and overwhelming at the same time but I've never been happier.
Back to myself- I graduated from Minnesota State University Mankato with a degree in Community Health.  This is why I'm obsessed with everything health/fitness related.  I'm constantly reading blogs and magazines, looking for new work outs to try out.  Right now I'm doing the Brazilian Butt Lift.  After I got over the strange name (and the constant making-fun-of that Matt provided), I really really like it. I grew up in a suburb outside of Minneapolis, MN before I attended college.  I moved back there after graduation and realized it wasnt the place for me.  While I loved being so close to so many malls (who wouldnt?!) it was just too big for me and I felt lost.  I was teaching preschool at the time and Matt lived in South Dakota,about 4 hours away.  I figured if we were ever going to make this relationship really work, we would have to live in at least the same city and there was nothing really holding me in the cities.  So in September 2010, I took a chance and moved to Watertown SD.  I think in life, everything happens for a reason.  There is a reason why Matt and I were so drawn to each other, and a reason for why I moved away from everything that was comfortable to me.  It hasnt always been easy- there have been many times when I was so homesick and missed all my friends so bad that I didnt think I could do it much longer.  But the way I see it, home is where your family is.  And right now my family is in South Dakota.  And I'm okay with that.  Maybe we wont always live here, maybe we will.  But wherever my life takes me, I am definately ready for the ride!
Through my looong boring hours at work, I became a facebook junkie.  I swear, I had seen every photo in every album that was ever posted. Even of people I hadnt seen since I had graduated high school. And then finally, (thank God!) that became old.   My new love became Pinterest. I could look at that stuff for hours!  I would find all these fun new recipes that I couldn't wait to go home and attempt to cook!  I would look at food for so long that I would become starving two hours before it was time to eat lunch!  One day, when I was looking for a hairstyle that would be easy enough for me to do myself the day of my wedding, I came across a picture of a cute little blond girl.  I clicked on to a tutorial and it brought me to her blog.  Its called 'the small things' by Kate Bryan and most definitely worth checking out!  I loved reading all her posts so much that I thought to myself 'why don't I do this?'
So, that brings us to the present.  So here I am, without much knowledge on blogging, startng my very own blog.  Its all very exciting to me.  A few topics I intend to write about are:
•parenting
•cooking
•fitness
•fashion
•hair
•planning my wedding
•buying a house
•decorating
•attending school
•my amazing friends (and the rare times I get to spend with them)
I hope you enjoy what you read and maybe even come across some tips to try on your own, but mostly, I hope you enjoy my story!  Thanks for making a stop on my page and I hope you visit again soon :)

My Little man (upper)- and yes, he does have toys.. pots are just so much more exciting.  Matthew and I celebrating St Patrick's Day