Wedding Countdown!

Well we are 144 days from the big day!!! Our engagement is flying by and as excited as I am for the big day to get here, this time is so fun and I don't want it to end! We have been super busy working on the wedding, house shopping, etc. I don't find wedding planning that stressful but house shopping....whew! I can see why people do not move often. It's hard to find the perfect house! Thank goodness we have an AMAZING realtor (Matt Schell, Century 21 --- highly recommend) who keeps the process fun and as stress free as possible!

It's been a flurry of celebrations and busy days since we got engaged!

          Absolutely adore these two!

                      So happy : )

   KFL Fundraiser with my future husband :)

      Fun weekend with great friends at

                      Rough River!

                            <3

    Oh yeah, and it's sno cone season!

    Lots of sno cone dates in our future 

                   this summer : )

           Golfing fun with my granny!

Talk Derby to Me

Derby weekend!! Although we were super busy with wedding stuff and didn't really get to celebrate the Derby, I wanted to do something to celebrate. I decided to make a derby pie for the occasion! It had been probably close to 10 years since I had made one but luckily it turned out really well!

My Recipe:

1 C sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1 C chopped pecans

1 stick melted butter

1 C unsifted flour

6 oz. chocolate chips

1 frozen pie pan

Mix all of the above together and bake at 350 for 1 hour.  I think it's best warm and vanilla ice cream served with it is delicious!! 

                                                                             Before

                                                                  Finished product : )

We're Engaged!

Jared and I are engaged! What?! It's been almost 3 weeks and I can't believe it. I've been wanting to write this post for a while but between telling everyone and wedding planning I am majorly behind on blogging! 

We are so excited and are having so much fun planning our special day : ) we've been researching, spending a lot of time on Pinterest and house hunting! We have gotten quite a bit done so far and I can't believe how lucky we've been! When we decided to get married this year, we thought we would have to give up some of what we wanted since planning a wedding in 6 months can be a little last minute for a few decisions. Imagine our surprise that it all just started falling into place! There is still a lot to be done but I'm glad. As excited as we are to be married, we also really want to enjoy our engagement and soak up every minute of this exciting time : ) 

Since I'm so behind on blogging I will be finishing up my spring cleaning posts throughout May. Now my focus is spring cleaning and what I need to get rid of before moving! I will be blogging our wedding journey as well! Below are a few pictures from our trip to French Lick where Jared proposed. It was a perfect, romantic and joyous weekend! I was definitely surprised and we had so much fun : )  I'm so excited to marry my best friend and the love of my life! 

Feel free to share any wedding planning, marriage or house tips! 

     Dinner & Tasting at the French Lick     

                         Winery

               French Lick Railroad

I was supposed to be paying attention to the sights on the train ride but I had something much more beautiful I had to keep looking at ; )

                       So happy : )

    First Easter as an engaged woman : )

Shoe Organizing

Organizing shoes to me is a major part of having an organized closet! I hate having shoes spread out everywhere! It looks messy and isn't helpful when you're trying to quickly find what you're looking for. I am working on going through my shoes to get rid of ones that are worn out or that I just don't wear! Once I narrow down my collection, I will be working on organizing them in the best way possible for my closet. Stay tuned for the final product! Below are a few of my favorite shoe organizers I have found thus far! I will be utilizing a couple of these for my closet! 

I have a similar shoe organizer to this one but mine is one row taller, however this organizer is currently on sale at The Container Store (yes, I'm addicted to this store)!

I actually ordered this exact underbed shoe organizer from The Container Store a while back and love it! It gives me more storage for my shoes and allows me to keep pairs that I do not wear as often under my bed.  It definitely helps declutter the shoe section of my closet.  

I will be utilizing these two products that I already have but I have also found these and will probably be adding them to my collection soon:

4-Pair Boot Rack from The Container Store found here.

I love this for storing my boots next fall/winter that I wear on a daily basis.  It would prevent having to get them out of their boxes each morning which saves time.  Yes, I keep my boot boxes and put the shapers back in and put them back in the boxes after each wear.  It keeps them in their shape but this rack would allow me to easily grab the boots I wear the most while also keeping the shape of the boots intact.

Clear Boot Box from The Container Store found here.

These boxes would be perfect for boots that don't have a box and I love that they're clear so you can easily find the ones you want.  Plus, they're on sale!

And, last but not least!

Clear Shoe Boxes from The Container Store found here.

If shoes that I wear regularly don't fit in my 12-pair shoe organizer, I stack their boxes on top for easy access.  These clear boxes would be perfect for that because they're stackable and it would be super easy to grab the pair you needed!

Weekend Recap

This was a very busy weekend! Two of our friends got married which made Friday and Saturday busy and then Sunday was full of Easter celebrations!

       So fun getting to see old friends!

          My handsome groomsman : )

                           <3 him!

                                  : )

              Easter celebration #1

                 Easter egg hunt!

    The wind was not good for hair in       these pictures!!

Closet Organization

I have a lot of clothes.  There.  I admit it!  I have a lot of clothes and that requires serious strategic planning to fit everything in my closet while keeping it looking neat and having the ability to find what I'm looking for in there.  I have discovered a few things this year that I am incorporating into my spring cleaning that have been really useful!

1. Non-slip Hangers

I have been considering using these hangers for a while.  I just couldn't decide if they were worth it but I finally decided to splurge on a few to see if I liked them.  Umm the answer to that would be a definite yes!  Not only are these hangers good for any clothes that tend to easily fall off the hanger, they are also a space saver in my closet!  These hangers are extremely thin compared to the plastic hangers I normally use.  The amount of space my clothes took up greatly decreased using these.  As a result, I've basically converted my whole closet to these hangers and LOVE it!  I found a great deal on mine at T.J. Maxx and there's always a pretty good supply at our local store!  They can also be found here at the Container Store.

2. Swing Arm Pant Hangers

I own a lot of dress pants for my job.  Hanging these individually takes up a lot of room!  I had been thinking of buying one of these hangers for a while and decided to purchase two and give them a try!  They are quite the space saver and it's easier than I expected to get to each pair.  I purchased mine at T.J. Maxx when I bought my non-slip hangers but you can find them here at the Container Store (they're on SALE).

3. Tiered Skirt Hanger

Similar to the pant hanger above except for skirts.  I purchased mine at T.J. Maxx but they are currently on a great sale here at the Container Store.  

4. Day of the week tags

One of the longest processes in getting ready each day for work for me is deciding what to wear.  I found these handy tags online so that I can pick out outfits at the beginning of the week and go ahead and have them hanging and ready to go before the week starts.  This really helps as a time saver in the mornings!  That's not to say that I don't sometimes make a last minute change because I want to wear something else.  However, it is nice to have options pre-selected to save time when I can't decide.  I found these just by using Google. There are lots of DIY sites with other design/color options.

I am in the process of sorting through my closet to get rid of things and using these organization tools to get it in order! Stay tuned for pictures of the finished product!

Spring Cleaning

I don't know about you but I am in MAJOR spring cleaning mode!  I have been working on switching my winter clothes out for my spring & summer clothes and it has been a job!  I don't think you realize how many clothes you have until you have to individually pull them all out or put them away as the seasons change.  It has become apparent to me that I need to do some serious de-cluttering.  Once I get on a cleaning kick it tends to really take off.  This closet clean out has since created a desire in me to really clean out my possessions in general.  It is amazing to me how much stuff I have acquired through the years! I cleaned out a lot when I moved home but now I realize that must have been a surface job!  

In the spirit of getting organized for the season, I am going to be blogging about my cleaning and organization efforts and the tips I have found that make this process easier.  In addition, I have a lot of clothes, accessories & jewelry I will be getting rid of as well so if you need any of the above stay tuned because I'll post them on here!  

Here's to a month filled with less clutter, more method to the madness and a more organized life!