Five on Friday - All About Brian, the Birthday Boy!

Brian’s birthday is tomorrow, so in honor of his big day, I thought that it might be fun to share a few basic things you may not know about him… the hubs behind the blog…

O N E – College

He has a bachelor’s degree in business from University of Georgia, and he graduated from there the same year that I graduated from high school… c/o 2000!  He’s been a diehard Georgia fan ever since, and he wears a Georgia shirt about 90% of the time… our red laundry pile is always HUGE.  Haha.  My family's love for UGA goes all the way back to the 1940's when my Big Daddy (grandfather) attended, so B fit right in.  ;o)

Unfortunately, I couldn't find his college graduation pictures, so here's one of the two of us at a Georgia football game in 2007.

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T W O – Jobs

B has only had two jobs in his whole life… he worked at a pizza place in high school, and a few weeks after he graduated from UGA, he started his big boy job… he has been there ever since.  He’ll celebrate his 21st anniversary there this summer which means he’s been working there for half of his life.  I would love to explain to all of you what he does, but I’m still not really even sure.  Haha.  But in all seriousness, he’s in the credit card industry to put it (very) broadly.  He typically has to travel a lot (that has ceased during the pandemic), and his travels have taken him all over the world – Brazil, Ireland, England, Germany, Cyprus, Canada, etc.

The picture below was taken in Dublin, Ireland in 2003... he was pulled on stage at a pub by one of the Irish dancers to do an Irish jig.  Brian is on the far right, and my guess is that he was probably about three pints deep at that point.  Hahahaha.

T H R E E – Family

Brian is one of three kids, and he’s the baby… he has two older sisters.  Both of his older sisters also attended UGA, so he followed in their footsteps.  Fun fact, I am also one of three kids, but I’m the eldest… and I have two younger brothers.  So he and I are complete opposites when it comes to our upbringing with siblings… I grew up with boys who are younger than I am, and he grew up with girls who are older than he is.

The picture below is of he and his two older sisters.  Look how cute he was!!  

 

F O U R – Sports

He’s been athletic his whole life, playing soccer for nearly a decade as a young kid, and later making the switch to tennis as a teenager.  He still plays tennis to this day… well, when we’re not in a pandemic, anyway.  He also plays the occasional round of golf, and he's also a boss at skiing, water-skiing, and knee-boarding.

Here he is water-skiing on his friend's boat back in 2004.  I took the picture.  :o)

F I V E – Hobbies

In addition to playing tennis, B loves to watch football (and other sports when UGA is involved), and he loves to play video games.  He also collects coins, he collects rocks (well, he used to anyway), and he loves live music as much as I do.  He’s probably been to even more concerts than I have, and I’ve been to upwards of 120. 

One of his favorite bands of all-time is 311... that's him with Nick Hexum (the lead singer from 311) in the picture below.  It was taken in 2000 a few years before we met.

Friday Funnies

It's funny because it's true!  Hahahaha.

Skinny jeans and side parts for life!

On the Blog This Week

 

Master Bedroom Tour 2021… a Refresh

Our Week – The One with Quarantine, Week 47 (Grandma’s, Baseball, and the Super Bowl)

How to Completely Organize Your Master Closet (My Organized Master Closet)

Happy Friday, y’all!  And happy birthday to our best guy!!  We love you so very much and we can’t wait to celebrate you!

*Linking up with A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites.

How to Completely Organize Your Master Closet (My Organized Master Closet)

*This post contains affiliate links.  As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

I’ve had many requests throughout the years to share how I organize my master closet, so I thought I’d finally share since my closet was recently cleaned out for the new year.  I will go ahead and warn you that this is some next-level organization, though, so get ready!  ;o)  But first a little back story...

When we built our house 12 years ago, we selected our floor plan for a few different reasons, one of which, was because the master closet layout was so fantastic!  Brian and I each have our own large closets and mine has a window… you pretty much can’t beat that!  After living with little to no closet space my whole life, having this large one has been the biggest treat!  I never take it for granted. 

In our first house, there was so little space that Brian’s clothes completely filled all three of the bedroom closets, which meant that my clothes had to hang on a clothing rack in the middle of the spare bedroom.  Haha.  He bought the house and lived there alone while we were dating, so by the time I moved in, his clothes were already occupying all of the space and I didn’t see any reason to even bother trying to move things around because it wouldn’t all fit anyway.  When I say the closets were tiny, I mean tiny.  They were only about 2-3 feet wide, and a couple of feet deep.

When I moved in, I just bought one of those big clothing racks from Bed, Bath, and Beyond and called it a day.  The clothing rack wasn’t quite large enough to hold all of my clothes, though, so a lot of them were in piles all over spare bedroom.  It was a mess.  Haha.  After dealing with that for a couple of years, you can probably see why I was drawn to the floor plans with the biggest master closets.  ;o)

When we started the building process, we found out that my master closet would come standard with just one hanging rack down each of the left and right sides.  I didn’t think that was the best way to utilize all of that precious space, so we decided to upgrade to a customized layout.  I ended up designing the layout myself (literally drawing it on a piece of paper) and the builder brought it to life. 

Overall Layout Design + Basic Zones

Left wall, first 7 feet – two equally spaced rows of hanging space (zone for tops)

Left wall, back 2 feet – floor-to-ceiling shelving (zone for shoes)

Right wall, first 7 feet – one high row of hanging space (zone for bottoms and dresses)

Right wall, back 2 feet – floor-to-ceiling shelves (zone for shoes)

I like having the overall layout organized into zones because it makes things so easy to find – tops on the left, bottoms and dresses on the right, shoes in the back, bags on the shelves, and jewelry on the door.  Everything has its own zone.  Now let’s see how each zone is organized.

Left Wall

Right Wall

Zone Organization

Left Wall, Top Rack, First 7 Feet (Regular Tops, from left to right)

Regular strapless tops

Regular sleeveless tops

Regular short-sleeve tops

Regular three-quarter length tops

Regular long-sleeve tops

Regular sweaters/fleeces

Regular cardigans

Regular vests

Regular outerwear

Left Wall, Bottom Rack, First 7 Feet (Themed Tops, from left to right)

Workout sleeveless tops

Workout short-sleeve tops

Workout long-sleeve tops

Graphic sleeveless tops

Graphic short-sleeve tops

Graphic long-sleeve tops

Georgia-themed sleeveless tops

Georgia-themed short-sleeve tops

Georgia-themed long-sleeve tops

Fall-themed sleeveless tops

Fall-themed short-sleeve tops

Fall-themed long-sleeve tops

Christmas-themed sleeveless tops

Christmas-themed short-sleeve tops

Christmas-themed long-sleeve tops

Right Wall, Top Rack, First 7 Feet (Bottoms & Dresses, from left to right)

Shorts

Short skirts

Long skirts

Jeans

Dress pants

Hanging canvas shelf that holds PJs and workout bottoms (PJ tanks/shorts, PJ leggings, PJ fleece pants, workout shorts, workout pants)

Tunics

Strapless dresses

Sleeveless dresses

Short-sleeve dresses

Long-sleeve dresses

Sweater dresses

Evening gowns

Left Wall, Top Shelf, First 7 Feet (Miscellaneous, from left to right)

Carrying bags

Hats

Right Wall, Top Shelf, First 7 Feet (Miscellaneous, from left to right)

Wallets

Handbags

Box that holds travel supplies (travel toiletry bag, travel hair dryer, travel bottles, etc.)

Box that holds costumes (Halloween costumes, costume props, etc.)

 

Left Wall, Back 2 Feet (Cold Weather Shoes, from top to bottom)

Tennis shoes

Ballet Flats

Booties

Boots

Right Wall, Back 2 Feet (Warm Weather Shoes, from top to bottom)

Flip flops

Sandals

Wedges

Heels 

Back of Door (Jewelry, from top to bottom)

Rings

Watches

Bracelets

Earrings

Necklaces

(The jewelry organizer can be found here... seriously one of the best things I've ever purchased as there is ample room for every single piece of jewelry you own!)

Back Wall Under Window (Scarves, from left to right)

Scarves 

(B installed towel racks, and that's what they're hanging on.)

 

That’s how the different categories are organized within the zones!  I should also mention that the tops are also organized by sleeve type and color.  Why do I organize them this way?  Well, when I go to pick out an outfit for the day, I typically decide first what kind of top I’m wanting to wear that day (that's why I have them in their own little sections – regular, athletic, graphic tee, Georgia football gear, fall-themed, Christmas-themed, etc.) depending on what we're doing that day and the time of year.  

Once that decision is made, I then need to know what sleeve-type to look for (sleeveless, short-sleeve, long-sleeve) depending on the weather that day.  Then I have each section arranged in rainbow order (pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, grey, black, white) from there, so it makes it easier to find what I’m looking for... and also because it's pretty.  ;o)

For example, if it's a Saturday during football season and it's going to be 40 degrees, I know I'll want to wear a University of Georgia top, and probably one that will keep me warm.  That's why I have all of my Georgia stuff in it's own little section... so I can shop that little section and make a quick decision.  

If I'm going to volunteer at the kids' school for one of their class Christmas parties, I just go shop my Christmas-themed tops section where I'm able to see all of the Christmas-themed tops together.  That way, I never have to hunt for anything, and I also don't forget about anything.

Do y’all think I’m crazy yet?!  ;o)

I know this level of organization is absolutely insane to some of you, but this is the kind of stuff that makes my heart sing!  With regard to putting away my laundry, yes, it probably does take me a little longer to get everything in the correct place than it would if I just threw it all in there, but having my closet this way makes me happy and it makes my life easier, so it’s worth the extra time to me.  I’ll happily own the crazy.  This is me, y’all… I’ve been like this my whole life! 

One more thing I'd like to share is that every single article of clothing I own is hanging in this closet.  I don't like storing clothes in drawers, so what you see here is every single thing I own.  My dresser in our bedroom only holds underwear, bras, belts, tights, slips, socks, and swim suits... no shorts, tanks, pants, or shirts whatsoever.  So if you're thinking that I have a ton of clothes, just keep in mind that a bunch of them are basic tanks and tees and jeans that most people probably just store in dresser drawers.  

That said, I do still probably have more clothes than the average person because a) I love fashion, and b) I wear clothes for years, sometimes decades, so I hold onto them for a very long time.  Some pieces in my closet are nearly 20 years old, but I keep them because I still wear them.

I’ve been using this same layout for 12 years now and I don’t see myself changing it, so it’s obviously working well!  One day I’d love to upgrade the materials for the racks and shelving and get rid of that ugly acrylic covered wire, but if I ever do that, I’ll most definitely be keeping the same layout.

Having my own separate master closet was always on my wish list, and it has been the absolute best thing since B and I do not see eye-to-eye on tidiness.  To answer your question, no, I do not organize his closet this way, too.  He has his own much more laid-back approach to closet organization, and I completely respect that.  ;o)

So what team are you on?  Team super-organized closet or team just-throw-everything-in-there?

Happy Wednesday!

Our Week - The One with Quarantine, Week 48 (Baseball, Rain, and Valentine’s Day)

Well, much of the nation had a ton of snow this past week, but as per usual, the snow line stopped just barely northwest of here.  Why are we always excluded?!   Boooo.  Instead, we had a ton of rain, and I think it’s been over a week since we’ve seen the sun!  Let’s get to the very rainy recap!

Monday, February 8 (Day 332 of Quarantine)

Monday morning, I had a checkup with my dentist for my TMJ issues.  I’ve been having lots of headaches and neck pain lately, so it couldn’t have come at a better time.  My bite guard needed some major adjustments, and I’m hoping that will help with the issues I’ve been having. 

The rest of the day was spent working, doing laundry, and getting caught up on emails until it was time to get the kids from school.  Jacob had practice at 5:30, so he had just enough time to do the snack/homework routine with a little bit of time to hang out before it was time to go. 

As soon as he and B left the house, Olivia and I took Maui for a walk around the neighborhood since the weather was decent.  She talked my ear off the entire time… my little girlfriend knows how to fill every single ounce of silence.  Haha.

When we got back home, I squeezed in a quick stair stepper workout while Olivia showered, and then we both headed downstairs to read her AR books together before it was time for me to start cooking dinner.  During baseball season, we still try to eat dinner together as much as possible, so we end up eating at all sorts of crazy times, and Monday night was no exception. 

While I cooked, Olivia worked on her Valentines for her class party, and the four of us sat down to eat together right at 7:15 when the boys got home.  Jacob’s practice had actually ended about 15 minutes early (which is a rarity), so we were able to eat a little earlier than expected which was really nice!

When they arrived home from practice, Jacob had some great news to share… he had won the game of 3, 2, 1 during practice!  In 3, 2, 1 the boys all take turns batting and the last kid remaining without striking out wins.  Considering he just moved up to B-Ball and is one of the youngest on the team (his team is made of 9, 10, and 11-year olds), that was quite a feat!  We have been a little apprehensive about B-Ball since it’s much more competitive than C-Ball, and the kids are waaaay bigger, so I’m really glad that he’s holding his own so far!

After dinner, I tucked Olivia in the bed while Jacob showered, and then once he was finally in the bed, B and I started The Bachelor and managed to get all caught up before it was time for us to get in the bed!

 

Tuesday, February 9 (Day 333 of Quarantine)

Tuesday morning was rainy and yucky, so I dropped the kids at school and then headed straight home to wrap up in my blanket with my cup of cinnamon tea.  I worked the whole morning, and then B and I had lunch together. 

My tension headache has been present nearly every day for the last couple of weeks, but Tuesday was one of the worst days.  I ended up ending my workday a few minutes early so I could lay in the bed for a while, and even then, I didn’t feel any better.  The drive to pick up the kids was awful, my head was hurting so bad, and I also kept having dizzy spells, too. 

I spent most of the afternoon and evening laying on the couch with my ice pack and my neck massager.  Thankfully, I’d put dinner in the slow cooker, so I didn’t have to do much that evening.  I grabbed a glass of wine and 800 mg of Ibuprofen just before dinner, and I finally started to feel better shortly after that. 

B and the kids and I played a round of Matching game and a few rounds of Strike, I took a catnap while the kids got ready for bed, and then we got them in the bed a little early.  Jacob was supposed to have had baseball until 8:45 which would have meant a really late night, but it was canceled due to the rain all day… I was incredibly grateful for that.

B and I watched Saturday Night Live with Dan Levy, and then watched the new episode of This is Us, and then it was off to bed.

 

Wednesday, February 10 (Day 334 of Quarantine)

Wednesday morning, the tension headache was back first thing (arrrrgh) so I did a low-key dance workout, and then spent the rest of the day working and taking little breaks to keep the headache at bay.  I recently stopped taking my Flonase Sensimist to give my body a break, and I’m wondering if my body is having withdrawals since it’s a steroid.

By 1:30, my head was feeling so bad that I decided to stop working for the day, and I got outside with Maui for a quick walk before I had to leave to pick up the kids.  It was nearly 70 degrees Wednesday, and even though it was really dreary, the fresh air and getting away from the computer screen seemed to help my headache a good bit. 

Olivia had dance Wednesday afternoon after school, and then we rushed home to get a quick dinner done before Jacob’s baseball practice, but it ended up being canceled again because the fields were still wet from all the rain the previous day.

 

Thursday, February 11 (Day 335 of Quarantine)

Thursday morning, the tension headache was still there, although not quite as bad, so I did a stair stepper workout before sitting down to work for the day.  After lunch, I headed down to take Maui for a walk, but realized it was still raining.  Instead, I headed back up to my office and I got my desk, craft table, and closet all cleaned out and organized.  I’m really good at putting stuff back where it belongs, so it didn’t take long at all to go through everything.  I did manage to find a few things to donate and toss, though!

After school, the kids had their snacks and got their homework done, and then Jacob had baseball practice at 5:30.  Although, it had been raining most of the day, practice wasn’t canceled because it was at the indoor cages. 

While the boys were at baseball, Olivia and I took Maui for a walk to get out and enjoy some fresh air during a break in the rain, and then she and Maui and I all piled in the car to make a Starbucks run for some gift cards.  We gave those to all of the kids’ teachers for Valentine’s Day and I also sent them to a few of my girlfriends for Galentine’s Day since we can’t all get together right now.

By the time we got back home, it was time to start getting dinner ready, so I started on that while Olivia got her shower.  The boys arrived home a few minutes early from practice, so we were able to eat earlier than expected again and get the kids in bed nearly on time.   

 

Friday, February 12 (Day 336 of Quarantine)

Friday was yet another rainy day.  We originally had some really cold weather in the forecast for Friday, plus snow for Saturday and Sunday, but instead, we ended up having very mild weather and lots of rain and fog.  Sigh.

The kids dismissed at noon for President’s Day weekend, so I worked up until it was time to go get them, and then we picked up Chick-Fil-A for lunch on the way home.  I had some stuff to pick up from my parents, so the kids and I drove over there after lunch and chatted with my dad for a bit before heading back home.

Because of all of the rain, Jacob’s baseball practice was canceled yet again, but I don’t think any of us minded since it was Friday and we were all ready to relax.  We grabbed some pizza and watched Finding ‘Ohana on Netflix.  I’d heard it was really great, but it didn’t quite live up to the hype like I’d hoped.  That said, the kids enjoyed it, and it’s still worth watching if you have kiddos who will appreciate it.

 

Saturday, February 13 (Day 337 of Quarantine)

Saturday morning, B grabbed some donuts to kick off Valentine’s weekend, and then I squeezed in a super fast cardio workout before it was time to get ready to get Jacob to his eye appointment.  It was his first eye appointment ever… we’ve never taken him since he has a vision screening at his pediatrician checkup every year.  But since we had to take Olivia last month, we just decided to go ahead and schedule Jacob for an appointment, too.  Doesn’t hurt!

His appointment went very well, and we were told that he actually has 20/15 vision, which is even better than 20/20.  I never knew that there was anything better than 20/20 since it’s considered “perfect,” but apparently there are some people who can see even better.  We’ve always made jokes about how he has “eagle eyes” and I guess we were right.  Haha.

We headed back home after that where we stayed for the rest of the day.  It was cold and it rained all. day. long. Saturday, so we didn’t even want to leave the house.  Jacob’s baseball practice was canceled yet again, for the fourth time that week. 

Saturday evening, I set the table all fancy for our Valentine’s dinner.  I’d wanted to do it Sunday evening on actual Valentine’s Day, but the restaurant we wanted takeout from is closed on Sundays.  B went out to pick up the food, while I decorated the table with a bunch of hearts, set out the gifts, and mixed up some winter white cosmos, and when he got home, we dined on filets, mashed potatoes, green beans, asparagus, and mac n cheese… oh, and chicken fingers for the kiddos.  ;o)

We got dinner from the same local place that we had for New Year’s Eve, and the food was AMAZING.  Such a sweet little dinner with all of my favorites.  The rest of the night was spent watching Godmothered, and then watching some more New Girl.  Y’all, how did I never watch New Girl when it was on TV?!  It is so dang good!  Brian also surprised us with macarons for dessert, so he and I sampled those during our TV-watching.

 

Sunday, February 14 (Day 338 of Quarantine)

Sunday morning was church, leftover donuts, planning the week ahead, washing sheets, and tidying up a bit.  We had a light lunch at home, and then we decided to head downtown for the afternoon since Jacob’s baseball practice was canceled yet again… for the fifth time that week.  Gracious!  It was cold and dreary, but there was no rain in the forecast for several hours, so we thought we’d get some outdoor time while we had the chance. 

The kids rode their scooters on the river walk while B and I trailed behind, and we did nearly three miles.  On the way back home, we swung by the frozen yogurt place, and we also stopped by the Kelsey Montague mural while we were in the area.  Being downtown was so nice, but it made me miss normalcy so much.  We typically spend a lot of time downtown, but we’ve barely made it that way during this pandemic. 

The rest of the day was spent hanging out at home, picking up Five Guys for dinner, watching the movie Charming on Netflix, and then starting the new season of American Idol with the kids.  They were off Monday for President’s Day so we had a nice, long, three-day weekend!  I’ll recap Monday in next week’s post!

Happy Tuesday, y’all!

Master Bedroom Tour 2021… a Refresh

*This post contains affiliate links.  As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Well, this post is loooong overdue, y’all. 

Way back at the beginning of 2019, I collaborated with Sam’s Club for new bedding in our master bedroom (post here).  That was supposed to kick off an entire bedroom refresh, and I’d hoped to complete the entire project and share it on the blog that same month.    

However, things ended up progressing very slowly after the bedding was in place, and I got majorly stuck on what to hang on the walls, especially over the bed.  I was so frustrated that I ended up shifting my attention to other areas of the house, and before I knew it, an entire year had passed and we still had nothing hanging over our bed. 

Last summer, we made the decision to remove the wedding canvas from our living room because we thought it was a little odd to have that as the focal point in the house since our wedding was 13 years ago.  Haha.  After taking it down, I thought that just maybe it could work over our bed, and it ended up being a winner.  Once that was decided, I was ready to roll, and I had the rest of the room complete within a couple of weeks.

The room has been done for several months now, and I had wanted to share it late last year, but there was so much seasonal content to be posted here on the blog, that I had to keep bumping it.  I decided to wait and share it at the beginning of this year, and I think that actually ended up being perfect since this is the time of year that people are focusing on New Year’s goals and projects, a lot of which probably include home improvement projects. 

Okay whew, that was a much longer introduction than I’d anticipated, so let’s get to the reveal.  Two years later, I present to you, our refreshed master bedroom…

And in case you don’t remember what it looked like prior to the refresh (or if you’re new here), you can see the original tour here.  We built our house in 2009, and hadn’t changed anything since moving in then, so the bedding was outdated (check out that damask pattern!), and most of the accents were random things I’d just thrown in there that were leftover from my college apartment.  Haha. 

Here are the changes that were made in the room:

1. New bedding
2. Changed wall hanging over bed
3. Painted frame on wall hanging over bed
4. Added new mirrors over side tables
5. Removed wall hanging left of bathroom door
6. Changed wall hanging right of bathroom door (travel gallery wall)
7. Changed wall hanging over TV
8. Painted hope chest
9. Moved curtains higher on the wall
10. New lamps for side tables
11. New throw pillows for bed
12. Added area rug under bed
13. New TV
14. Removed a few accents that no longer matched the room
15. Added new white, pink, and natural wood accents around the room
16. Moved chair from Olivia’s nursery in our room to create a cozy reading nook
17. Added a new side table next to the chair
18. Added a lamp next to the chair
19. New faux flowers for wall vases
20. Added another faux tree to the other side of the bed for symmetry
21. Added twinkle lights to both trees ;o)
22. Added four live plants for greenery
23. Added Nana's mirror that I inherited and I painted it

Most of the items that we added to the room were ones that we already had on hand (all of the wall hangings, the chair, the lamp next to the chair, the other faux tree, the twinkle lights, etc.), because I’m a big fan of shopping my own home.  And for the new items – the bedding was free since it was a blog collab, and I received the lamps and a few of the accents as birthday gifts, so we really didn’t spend very much money on this transformation.  I also inherited my Nana's old mirror.

Prior to the refresh, our room was really dark – the furniture, the bedding, the accents, the curtains… there was way too much brown.  This refresh has made the room so much lighter and brighter, and it makes me oh so happy!

I'll link as many things as I can below...

Sources

Bed

Bed (Ashley Furniture)

Bedding

Pink Throw Pillows (similar)

Mr. & Mrs. Throw Pillow (similar)

Pink Quilt

Cream Pom Pom Blanket

Area Rug

Night Stands

Night Stands (Ashley Furniture)

Mirrors

Lamps

Faux Peonies

Basket Trays (similar)

Diffuser

Essential Oils

Hello Glow book

Beauty book

Reading Nook

Chair

Pink Throw Blanket

White Throw Pillow (old from At Home Stores)

White Side Table

Dresser

Dresser (Ashley Furniture)

White & Sign (similar)

Embracing Couple Figurine

Hanging Wall Vases (old from Hobby Lobby)

Faux Hydrangeas

Mirror (old from my Nana)

Chest of Drawers

Chest of Drawers (Ashley Furniture)

White Serving Tray (similar)

Media Chest

Media Chest (Ashley Furniture)

Mirrored Love Sign (similar)

Square Frames in Gallery Wall (similar)

Miscellaneous

Hope Chest (old from a family friend)

Striped Curtains (similar)

Faux Trees (similar)

Happy Monday!