Pinterest = DIY Dream!

In about two months, my fiance and I are going to be moving into our new place. It's a two-story rental townhouse with completely bare, completely white walls and beige carpeting. This means just one thing to me - endless decorating opportunities.

When I first started seeking out inspiration, a friend of mine turned me on to Pinterest. It's essentially a virtual version an idea bulletin board. There are bookmarks (pins) that you add to your different categories (boards) and that you can then share with others. If your pins are public, others can come to your boards for inspiration, and visa versa. You can add your own pins as you like, or you can just repin from other members to your heart's content. Check out my boards here to get a feel for the site, or, if you already have an account to follow me if you felt so inclined (hint hint ....).

Most of my pins are DIY or homemaking related, but the possibilities for the boards are endless, because they are chosen and organized by whoever is creating the board. Some pinners use them for fashion ideas, recipe boxes, and even wedding planning. The search engine is is great and lets you search by pins, boards or by people. If you find someone that has great taste, you can follow their boards and get updates whenever they've added new content.

And now, a few of my favorite DIY and home organization pins.

Magnetic strip to hold elusive hair pins, from Superwoman

The ultimate menu board from Once Upon a Chocolate Chip Pancake ... (there is a tutorial here, too!!)

A fantastic and simple wreath from The High Heeled Hostess

Until next time.

xoxo,
Alex

Swap-Bot and the Resurrection of my Mailbox

I love getting mail when it isn't advertisements and bills, so when I came across Swap-Bot.com, I fell in love instantly. Swap-Bot is an online community of people that love receiving snail mail. Community members host a wide array of swaps, ranging from pen pals and letter writing to arts and crafts and Swap-Bot assigns partners and handles the details so that all you have to worry about is sending and receiving your little treasures!

There's a huge variety of swaps that members can participate in, from arts and crafts to dollar store grab bags to pen palling, and tons of stuff in between. Currently, I am participating in a recipe card scavenger hunt. The swap host provided a list of categories and participants find recipes that fit those categories, write/print them on recipe cards and send them to two partners.

I find this swap to be incredibly exciting for a few reasons. First, I love getting and trying new recipes. I'm forever trying to pick friends' brains after they've served a great meal. I will be getting a total of 20 new recipes out of the swap, and I'm just itching to see them and try them out. Second, his swap gave me an excuse to go out and peruse the dollar bins at Michael's for some recipe cards.

If there is one thing I love more than recipes, its the recipe cards they're written on. It's common now to just save recipes in an online recipe box and follow from a laptop or tablet or to just print the recipe out on regular printer paper. And why not? It's convenient and easy.  For me, though, there is something very fun about having recipes written out on cards. It takes just a few extra minutes of your time and it turns a small gesture into something more personal and interesting.

Until now, I haven't taken the time to assemble all of my recipes into a binder. I've got them all sitting in a box on top of the refrigerator. With this new influx of cards, I've decided that I'll take the opportunity to organize and assemble all of my cards into a nice binder. It'll be something nice to hand down to my own daughter someday. :)

Do you have any favorite recipes? Maybe you could share them ... hint hint.

Until next time.

xoxo,
Alex

Oh, the Joys of Moving

In just under ten weeks, my fiance and I will be moving from our hometown to San Antonio, about four hours away. We've lived at our current home for about a year and a half now. I started packing last week, and I have to say - it is amazing how much junk two people can accumulate in such a short period of time! When we moved from our apartment into our home, we thew like madmen, but it seems that everything we got rid of has found us again.

Needless to say, I am feeling overwhelmed and just shy of the freak out zone! Ten weeks may seem like a long time, but the calendar lies. Seeing those ten pretty little rows stacked on top of each other sends you into a false sense of security! It makes you feel like you have all the time in the world, when, in reality, the deadline is just sitting there, stalking you in the grass ... like a creepy person. Plus, my time is being divided between the move and my wedding day - July 15th. I am estimating that, with the planning that I have left to do, I will lose about a week and a half of packing time. So, that leaves me with 8 1/2 weeks.

In an effort to maintain my sanity, I sat down and started putting together an action plan for packing/moving. We have a lot of boxes that are still packed from our last move, so I've decided to inventory and repack those first. Then, I'll deal with the rooms in order of how much time we spend in there. I started with the den and worked my way back through the home office and to the bedroom. We will be doing the kitchen last. When all was said and done, this list looked like this:

Den
Estimated # of boxes:
Deadline:

Things to Move:

Boxes		Furniture
DVDs & VHS Tapes		Sofa
Xbox Console and Games		Loveseat
Wii Console and Games		Bookcase
PS2 Console and Games		Media Stands (4)
Books		Entertainment System stand
4 Wall Plaques		Coffee Table
3 Pictures Frames		Mini Fridge
Photo Album		Filing Cabinet
Arts & Crafts Rubbermaid

I created a general list like this for each room we are moving. The list is divided into two columns - boxes and furniture. I estimated how many boxes I would need for each room, and gave myself an deadline to complete the packing.

I also created a checklist for myself of any other important tasks that needed to be completed before our August 1st move-in date, such as contacting utility companies and designating a turn-on date, scheduling an install date for Verizon and gathering information about our new neighborhood, such as a doctor, a vet for Luna and, of course, any shopping in the area ;D

Until next time.

xoxo,
Alex

Well, hello there!

I have put a ridiculous amount of work into starting my first blog. Like, a seriously ridiculous amount of work. I researched a number of "methods" for beginning that very daunting first blog post.  I drew up quite a few plans for organizing all of my content. I even tried my hand at creating my own graphics, which ended up taking too long in proportion to the success I saw. At the end of it all, I decided to open with a paragraph about my obsessive compulsive nature and how insane it was starting this blog. So, I'll leave you to judge my success in all this research and planning.

My name is Alex Sparrow. I'm 26 years old. I grew up in Deep South Texas, but I'm not going to be living here much longer. My life is changing pretty quickly, and I'm finding myself getting lost in the whirlwind. In July, I will be marrying my high school sweetheart - we've been together eight years. Two weeks after that, he and I are moving to San Antonio and starting a  new chapter. Shortly after that, I will be starting my first semester at the University of Texas San Antonio as a student of the Master's of Social Work Program.

This blog is not intended to be a diary, but I do plan on drawing on my everyday experiences. After all, it's best to write what you know, right? I love crafting, cooking, baking and everything general homemaking. Trying to balance being a wife, working, and going to school is going to be an interesting experience and I look forward to sharing it with everyone. I'm hoping that I can create content that is relevant and helpful and bring a little humor your way, too.

Until next time.

xoxo,
Alex