Project #1 and #2

Friends, I have two projects under my belt!

Project #1.

Remember last month when I decided to make these cash envelopes from etsy?? Well, they are done!

With the use of my brand new sewing machine, these bad boys were a piece o' cake to make. And here's how I did it:

First, go to a local craft shop and pick out any fabric you like. I went to Jo Anne Fabric and found these 5 fun designs and not only are the super colorful; they were super cheap..I picked from their scrap fabrics. Doing it this way is easiest, because it's just the right amount of fabric.

Now, once you get home, your gonna wanna iron your fabric to get all the wrinkles out and it makes the fabric much easier to work with it.

After the fabric is all wrinkle free, fold it so that the brightest side is on the inside; that way your seams will be on the inside of the envelope. At this point, I cut the fabric down to an 11 inch piece and began pinning three of the edges to sew up

.

When I started sewing I used the 1/2 inch guide on the sewing machine and then cut the excess fabric and turned it inside-out.

We're almost done! Next I measured the pouch again and made it 9 inches long. With the top of the pouch still open, mark off were 8 inches would be and fold down the top in order to sew it up.

After you have that sewn, using the 3/8" guide on the machine, fold in have "hot dog" sytle and sew up the two sides so that the top is open.

And there. You're done and have a colorful, organized way to manage your money!

Project #2

I got our family binder done. Well, done for now. Since this will be a tool I plan on using a great deal throughout the years, it will be something that is always changing as our lives and needs change. But for the time being, I think I have everything I need to start organizing the O'Dell household.

It was super easy to put together, and luckily I had all the supplies at home. I used the binder I had used to organize the wedding plans and scrap pieces of paper from the craft box. Other than that, it was just printing off sheets and fillling in information. Easy, but time consuming. I got a lot of my resources from a link off of this website, along with custom made some sheets, as well as modify templates to meet our needs.

So that's what I've been up to. Hopefully I can get a few more things done before the end of the month creeps up on me. Hope everyone else is getting some stuff marked of their lists!

February Goals

I'm going to try to be a little less ambitious. Start small and go from there. It is a short month, after all.

HOME:
-Finish cash envelopes
-Finish family binder
-Put together living room pillows
-Find fabric to reapholster dining room chairs
-Make something new for kitchen shelf
-Organize kitchen

COOKING:
-1 new recipe
-1 family favorite
-1 new dessert

ME:
-Read 2 books
-Eat 1 piece of fruit a day
-Drink 4 glasses of water

FUN:
-10 pictures for the month
-Trip to Nashville

MONEY:
-Save a least 25% of weekly earnings
-Pay off one credit card.

Maybe I'm being just as hopeful. But it really doesn't seem like much. Wish me luck!

January Recap

Alright...so I was super pumped about January and starting off fresh. I did really well in the first couple of weeks, but then work got in the way...again...and I ended up not getting everything done. But then again, I was super ambitious, right??? Well, let's just see how far I really got on this list.





HOME


-Make my cash envelopes:
I in fact have 2.5 done. For my birthday (which I never posted about, I'm sorry.) My mom
bought me a sewing machine. While we were out I picked out the fabric for 5 envelopes. They are really easy to make, but with scheduling..I only got half way done.
-Make "Our Week" frames : CHECK! Aaaand I even posted about it here.
-Create household planner: I pritned everything I think I need for it, but have yet actually put it all together.
-Start decluttering and organizing house: I failed. I failed so bad, I don't even wanna talk about it.
-Put away Christmas decorations: CHECK!

CRAFTS

-Make new pillows for living room: I got all the supplies for it, just need to get it done.
-Make new wreath for front door: CHECK! I actually just used one of the wreaths from our wedding, added a couple other flowers to it. And a brand new wreath!

COOKING
-Meal plan: The only "mealing planning" I did was last week when I made chili and sloppy joes for Josh to reheat for dinner while I was at work. And I bought a ton of groceries so there would be plenty for us to eat. So, half check?! I think so.
-1 new recipe: CHECK! Remember my Pesto Chicken Pasta? Yup, brand spankin' new!
-1new recipe: I made cookie/brownies one night while Josh made fried chicken. Delicious!

FUN
-1 date night with Josh: I didn't document it, but I'm pretty sure this is a CHECK. We stayed home a lot. Cooked dinners, made desserts, and watched movies. So yeah, CHECK.
-Celebrate 26th birthday: OH Lordy, CHECK! I know I never posted about it, but it was a blast. Good times with friends and family.
-Take at least 10 pictures: I haven't gone through my pics yet, but I'm pretty sure this is a CHECK.

ME
-Find a work out regime and work out 2 times a week: FAIL.
-Read 2 books: I finally finished Water for Elephants (fantastic, by the way) and started The Carrie Diaries
-Have a lunch date with 1 friend: I didn't have lunch, but the other week we had Amy and Jonathan over for dinner and games. That counts, right???

The Perfect Day

Friends and family, we finally got our wedding pictures!!! And now, I'm going to share some of my favorites, which were really hard to pick since we have about 600 images!! How will iI ever decide which ones to frame?! Also check Facebook for lots more pictures. Enjoy!

Already Makin' Progress

It's only the 4th day of January, and I'm already making some progress! I'm really proud at how productive we have been here at 3910. Granted, we did sleep in a little bit later than I had wanted (3:00 pm...geesh! But in my defense, I did work last night.) We got up and hopped right on to our errands. I went to the bank while Josh showered, then we went to get his hair cut and run by the book store.

Once we got home, I got started on some of my to-do list. Josh played video games, but let's be honest, he has no interest in arts and crafts, and frankly, I have no interest in him having an interest in arts and crafts. It's just better that way. :)

I had started my project the other night, and only needed to a few finishing touches, so it really didn't take too long. I got the idea from Pinterest and thought it would be super helpful around the house. And the best part?? I had all the materials to make it at home. I already had the cluster frame from college and tons of scrapbook paper. The only thing I actually have to buy is a dry erase maker so Josh and I can write down things we need to do or remember. I'm pretty excited about it! And drum roll please.....THE FINISH PRODUCT!

Isn't it adorable?!?

My other accomplishments for the day consisted of packing up the Christmas stuff; which might I add makes my house look ridiculously empty. And you know what that means??? More arts and crafts to revamp my house! YAAAAAY! I also decided to cook tonight for dinner ::enter moment of pause for a gasp of shock::.........

I was really hungry for some pasta and pesto and chicken...and mushrooms. So, I decided to try out a Chicken Pesto Alfredo. I searched on Pinterest for some ideas, but in the end, came up with my own recipe. Which totally counts as a trying one 1 new recipe...right?? I think so. And since it was so super duper yummy (Josh and I each had a bowl full, and seconds. Josh is also still sneaking bites of it "without me knowing"). I shall share this new concoction with you!

CHICKEN PESTO ALFREDO:

Ingredients

1 12 oz. box of pasta (choose your favorite kind)

2 chicken breasts

Sliced mushrooms

Minced garlic

Garlic pepper

Oregano

Pesto

1 15 oz. jar alfredo sauce

Olive oil

Shredded parmesan and Romano cheese

-Cut chicken breasts into 1 inch pieces and cook with olive oil (enough to cover bottom of pan), 2 tsps. minced garlic, garlic pepper, and oregano ( season to your liking with garlic pepper and oregano).

- While pasta is cooking (just follow directions on pasta box), sauttee mushrooms the same way the chicken was cooked.

-Combine mushrooms and chicken. Cover to keep warm.

-In a medium sauce pan, combine alfredo sauce and pesto. Stir until warm. Now, we really like pesto so the more the better for us, but if you are unsure, definitely add a little and keep adding until desired taste is reached.

-Drain pasta and combine with chicken, mushrooms, and sauce.

-Keep on low heat until all the way heated through.

-Top with the shredded cheese.

-ENJOY!!

If my calculations are correct, I believe that makes THREE things off my monthly goals crossed off already! And I still have 27 days left!! ::WOOP WOOP:: Hopefully I can keep it up.

January Goals

I'm probably being overly ambitious, but everyone's gotta start somewhere!


HOME
- make these fun cash envelopes

These can be found on etsy but I plan to make my own.

- Create something similar to this, but with our chores instead of weekly plans.

idea found here
- Create a household planner with all of our important information and other useful tools. With the help of Miss Poppins.



-Start organizing and decluttering the house with the help of the 52 Week Challenge and the 2012 Declutter Calander.
- Put away Christmas decorations

CRAFTS
- Make new pillows for the living room
-Make a new wreath for the front door

COOKING
- Meal plan
-1 new recipe
-1 new dessert

FUN
- At least 1 date night with Josh
- Celebrate my 26th birthday
- Take at least 10 pictures to document the month

ME
- Find a work out regime and do at least 2 days a week
- Reat 2 books
- Have a lunch date with 1 friend







Oh man, it's gonna be a busy month. I'm already nervous!

New Year, New Home

Or at leat rejuvenating our now home. This is my major goal for this year, which I'm really hoping it can be done in less than a year. And this is not just limited to our actual living space. I want to create an organzied, money smart, and efficient lifestyle for Josh and myself.


1. Money
I know it's really hard to create a budget on our income; we never really know exactly how much we are going to bring home in a week, month, etc. However, we do have a general idea, and I would love to start using our money more resposibly. I know we can save, we did it all last year and were able to have an absolutely beautiful wedding and amazing honeymoon. What I hope for is to be able to take care all our montly bills by the middle of the month and be able to save for the up coming month. I also want to start being a smart shopper when it comes to groceries and household goods. And while all this is going on, I want to put money into a savings account and start a "nest-egg" for us, just in case anything happens and we need some emergency money.





2. Organization
Since my focus most of last year was the wedding, my house has been less than organized. I tried to work on this after we got back from our honeymoon, but with the holidays, there wasn't much time. I really want to go through the whole house and add new ways of storage and just get things in permanent homes. I never took the time to do this when we moved in, and it's just gotten way out of control. Once we have the house organized, it will be 100x's easier to keep it clean. And a clean house will make me super happy!





3. Laundry
I HAVE to find some way to keep the laundry organized and not allow it to pile up. We don't have a whole lot of closet space, so I need other ways of storing it. This will make Josh super happy!





4. Josh and Me
Yes, this has nothing to do with the actual shape of the house, but in order to have the best family possible, Josh and I really need to work on spending some time together. With our crazy work schedules, we only have one full day off together. The rest of the time we see each other for maybe an hour or so when we get home from work, before we go to bed. Let's be honest, this is not a whole lot of time.

This is just an outline..we will see where our year takes us and how we are progressing. I plan on doing monthly goals, also. I will be keeping you guys posted on all our happenings. Let's get this year started!

P.S. If any of you have an helpful tips, or favorite websites when it comes to cleaning, budgeting, orgazination, etc. PLEASE PASS IT ON! I would love to hear what you guys do to keep things going as smoothly as possible!