Erin, Author at The Sunny Side Up Blog

Organization

03.22.17

Kids’ School Work (what to save and what to toss)

Talking about kids’ school work today! What to save and what to toss. I’ve been a bit scattered this week. Attending too many random appointments and meetings. Putting out one fire after another. Hopping from one project to the next. And doing a whole lot of organizing in-between.

So you could say it has been a typical week around here. :) I tore my office apart.. again. And while I’m still trying to figure out what to do about my kids’ albums (that I never have time to work on!) I think I’ve finally figured out how I want to organize all of their artwork. I’ve had a few systems in place that I’ve shared before, but lately I’ve been feeling like I need something better. I’m excited to get everything organized and my new system in place! And to have my family room floor back. ;)

When I posted my reader survey in January and ask you what some of your biggest organizing challenges were, one thing I heard over and over was the challenge of all things PAPER. Especially all of the paper kids bring home from school. It’s quite insane isn’t it? The sheer amount of school work and art work that they produce and bring home. It can definitely be overwhelming and I know it can often be hard to decide what to keep and what to toss so I thought I’d share my thought process when it comes to saving kids’ school work.

First – I don’t save a lot. I really don’t. Often I’ll set things aside in a pile that I think I want to save, but then when it’s time to go through the pile I usually only end up saving a small amount of what I set aside. Because here’s the thing. I have a box of school work that my mom saved for me from when I was in school. I love it and I’m so glad I have it. But the last time I looked through it was about 10 years ago.. maybe longer? And I’m so grateful that she didn’t give me 10 boxes to store. I want my kids to have a handful of special things from each school year that bring back fun memories. I don’t want them to be burdened with too many papers that are a pain to store.

The school work I save usually falls into one of these categories:

1 – It has special meaning to me or my kids.

2 – It shows their personality or growth.

3 – It makes me smile and tugs at my heart when I see it.

Here are some examples of things I saved and things I tossed..

{TOSS}

These are a couple of reports/projects El did in 4th grade. They are informational (happy she learned a lot about the Wood Duck!) but they don’t hold any meaning so they were tossed.

{KEEP}

This is a report/project El wrote on La Jolla Cove that same year. La Jolla Cove is a spot in San Diego we love to visit and spend time together as a family. Aside from researching the area, El also wrote about times we’ve spent there and included lots of family pictures of us playing on the grass and watching the waves and the seals. It will be so fun for her kids to someday see where their mom liked to play and hang out. Keeper for sure!

p.s. A fun spot to check out if you are ever visiting San Diego! :)

{TOSS}

I toss most miscellaneous school work. Daily worksheets, tests, random school assignments. We hang things like this up on bulletin boards in our kitchen pantry for a couple of weeks and then they get tossed. I might save one test or quiz from a school year just so my kids have a sample of how they did in a certain subject, but that’s it.

{KEEP}

A few things I saved. I’m a sucker for notes my kids write to each other so I saved Kole’s birthday letter to Addison. She’ll appreciate that someday. :) The top middle paper is a story Ad wrote about the first time my sister and I took her and her cousin Claire on Space Mountain at Disneyland. It is hilarious! A funny moment we all laugh about and she’ll want to remember. I usually save things that have pictures of my kids on them at that stage (courage page on the top right). ‘All About Me’ books that include lots of fun tidbits about my kids at that age are always saved. And last but not least, I’m a sucker for hand drawn family pictures. I don’t think I’ve tossed one yet. I always look radiant in them. ;)

{TOSS}

Kids come home with a lot of art work. It’s all precious and beautiful and so fun to display in our home for a while. But after it has been displayed it usually gets tossed. I know there are a lot of great apps out there that you can use to take pictures and save kids’ art digitally. Personally I just don’t need to photograph and save it all. If it’s something really special to my child or to me I save it (and I want the original!). Everything else is just part of their learning process and gets recycled. These are all examples of art that didn’t hold meaning for any of us and so it was all tossed.

{KEEP}

This is one art project that I did keep. It is a self portrait El drew. I love this so much. From her short hair (I loved it that length!) to the freckles on her cheeks to the “more rainbows less rain” shirt she has on (her favorite shirt that year that she wore over and over) to all of the pandas in the background (she has had a major panda obsession for years). It’s all just so HER at that stage of her little life. Definitely one to save.

{TOSS}

More things that were tossed. All great work that was displayed for a while, but nothing that holds any meaning or felt special to me or the kids.

{KEEP}

And a few more things that I kept. A couple of Kindergarten math worksheets for Kole so he can see what his handwriting looked like in math that year. A writing portfolio that holds all of the writing El did in 6th grade (I LOVE it when teachers compile things like this!). And Kole’s preschool graduation hat. I kept his hat for two reasons. One because it has his handprints on it and I always save things with handprints!

And two because his Preschool graduation day was so meaningful for us. I cried! We realized when Kole was two years old that he had some delays and I worked incredibly hard for several years with him and a variety of therapists to get him where he needed to be. He had amazing preschool teachers who we loved and were so grateful for. They loved Kole and felt like family! By the end of the year he was completely caught up and ready to start Kindergarten at grade level (an amazing accomplishment that his early therapists didn’t think was possible). So yeah.. special day for our family and I will always treasure this picture and his cute little pre-school graduation hat. :)

So that’s it! A little look into what I keep and what I toss when it comes to kids’ school work. The paper struggle is real my friends! You have to tackle it head on. Deal with paper immediately. Toss a lot more than you keep. Figure out a way to organize and save what you hang on to. I’ll be sharing my new system at some point to give you a few ideas!

Until then you can find me attending too many random appointments and meetings, putting out one fire after another, hopping from one project to the next..

and chipping away at the mess on my family room floor.

;)

xoxo, Erin

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Home Decor

03.17.17

Organized Bathroom Drawers and Spring Decor

Well! Another week down. They sure fly don’t they? Thank you all SO much for the birthday wishes! On the blog and social media. I loved hearing from so many of you! It made my 40th that much more special. :) My parents were here at the beginning of the week (loved spending time with them), then my cute friends threw me a party at our favorite hangout (I’ll share some pics soon!) and then the last couple of days I so needed to catch up on life! And laundry. My suitcase is still packed from the blog conference and Palm Springs so the catching up is a work in progress. And most likely will be for a while. #worthit :) I’m about 3,000 pictures behind on everything I have to share with you all – so many projects going on around here! But before I dive into all of that, I thought I’d share some organized bathroom drawers and Spring decor going on around my house. Because it’s Spring in San Diego! Everything is starting to bloom around here and it’s impossible to be unhappy when everything is starting to bloom. It just makes me want to decorate! And organize! So yeah.. same as every season and I guess nothing all that new around here. ;)

*affiliate links used

{Coral and Navy Towels/Ladder 1/Ladder 2/Silver Tray/Rug/Basket}

I like to keep our powder bathroom decor simple to let my favorite wallpaper shine, but I did swap out a few things to welcome Spring!

These Anthro coral and navy towels had me at hello! They are almost too pretty to use (although they are seriously the softest towels ever!). So I put some on display. :)

I brought back my favorite blue jars I had on display last summer and added some white flowers.

I love this arrangement because it’s so easy to maintain. These flowers are inexpensive from the grocery store and they last over two weeks!

I also found a fun striped coral soap dispenser. Simple! But very Spring. I can’t seem to get enough of all things coral lately!

New toothbrushes for downstairs so I snapped a pic of how I have these bathroom drawers organized. In our previous house there wasn’t a bathroom big enough on our main floor to hold some toothbrushes so I kept some in a kitchen drawer. Sounds crazy but it worked for us! When my girls were little they would get ready for school, come downstairs to eat breakfast and then when we would send them back upstairs to brush their teeth we’d lose them! They would get distracted by their toys and take forever and we were always running late to school. So we put some toothbrushes in the kitchen for back up on those days we were running behind. We could brush their teeth quick in the kitchen sink if we had to and then run out the door! When we moved into this house I did the same thing and put some toothbrushes in the kitchen (just out of habit!). Then about a year later it dawned on me that I now have a bathroom on the main floor that might be a better spot for them. {I have some serious blonde in me ;)} So toothbrushes have lived in the powder bathroom ever since! They only get used maybe once a week. Most mornings my kids have time to go to their bathrooms to brush after breakfast and we don’t lose them to toys anymore.. :) But it’s still nice to have toothbrushes downstairs on those mornings we are short on time! Also some deodorant because 5th and 7th graders don’t always remember important things like that. ;)

This is just a simple silverware tray I use to separate the toothbrushes. With labeled names of course. :) I don’t have one for me because I work from home which = no scrambling to brush teeth most mornings.

The second drawer has always held extra hand towels and in the cupboards below the sink I have a few more towels and toilet paper. There isn’t much stored in this bathroom and I like to keep it that way.

An organized and clean bathroom decorated for Spring is like a breath of fresh air!

{Console Table was from Restoration Hardware – similar console table here and here/Similar Baskets/Sign/Vase/Similar Faux Flowers}

The console table got a new sign! Probably my favorite sign EVER. IT’S SO GOOD TO BE HOME. Isn’t it though? My thoughts exactly. :) I’m such a home body and nester that this sign just spoke to me! It’s from my talented friend Caroline (Vine and Branches) and I couldn’t love it more. This sign will always have a spot in my home somewhere! And yes.. you can see to the right of this picture that our snowflake stair wall is still up and going strong.. might be time to switch that out for some flowers or something.. ;)

I also picked up this fun new vase (love the texture!) and filled it with more grocery store beauties.

I love this table in the Spring time! The stackable mirror trays were a Tai Pan find and the white faux flowers were from PB. They’ve been favorites for years! These faux stems are similar and I might pick up a couple of them because I always wish I would have bought more of the white faux stems that I have. They look good everywhere this time of year! I’m always explaining to my husband what an investment my faux branches are because I use them again and again year after year. The two of us have different ideas of what the term “investment” means so I have to keep explaining it to him. ;)

{Faux Fig/Basket/Rug (on sale right now!)/Wooden Oval Tray/Coral Tray/Vases/White Tray/Striped Box/Coral Throw/Coral Pillow}

Hydrangeas and a fun new throw and pillow in the family room brightened up the whole space!

Isn’t it crazy how a new throw and a new pillow or two can completely transform your living room and make it feel alive again? I’m always watching for fun new Spring/Summer throws and pillows because they are little cost for a big impact when you are giving a room a little re-fresh! Below are some of my favorites I’ve found lately..

FAVORITE SPRING THROWS:

FAVORITE SPRING PILLOWS:

And if you need a little more Spring decor inspiration.. how about the lovely picture I shared on IG/Facebook this week?

Yup. This is what happens when mom takes a week off to celebrate her birthday. Things start to unravel QUICKLY. Ha ha! Always nice to know that I’m missed. ;)

Enjoy your weekend friends!

xoxo, Erin

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Blogging

03.12.17

Design Blogger Conference (what I wore) and hello 40!

I’m back. What a week it has been! Busy! But the best kind of busy. I was in LA last week for the Design Bloggers Conference, home for a few days and then spent this weekend in Palm Springs celebrating my 40th b-day with my husband. So much fun. I took way too many pics along the way (of course I did!) so today I’m doing a major cell phone picture dump. (And sharing what I wore to the conference for all of my fashion friends!)

(*affiliate links used)

{left to right – Brittany, Bree, me :), Shauna} {my outfit: Shoes/Cargo Joggers/Shirt /Necklace/Crossbody bag } – SO in love with these grey cargo pants! They are darling and comfortable and two of my friends ordered a pair after they saw them on me. A new Spring/Summer staple for sure!

The conference was held in LA about two hours away from my house so a few of my friends flew in the day before the conference to stay overnight at my house and then drive up with me. I was so excited to pick these three up from the airport!

We left the airport, went out to eat and then came to my house. It was so surreal to have them over! We have been close on-line friends for so long and to finally have them in my house was just the best. They wanted to see everything and then after the house tour we plopped on the couch and talked the night away. Kenny snapped this pic of us talking. I loved that my friends got to meet my family! We hung out with my family for a while and then Kenny took the kids upstairs so we could have some girl time. With my new favorite coral throw and Fritos of course… because what’s a party without cozy throws and Fritos? :) *If you are new here you can tour my family without food all over the coffee table here. ;)

Love them.

Brittany spent some time teaching me how to do IG stories.. oh my word. We got laughing so hard this weekend! I am so technically challenged. It’s sad you guys. We made a deal that I’ll makeover her pantry in exchange for her technology assistance. Ha!

{Love this new green top! I wore it with my Anthro belt but it’s cute without it too.} {Shirt/Belt/Jeans/Shoes}

Early morning ready to head to LA!

We stayed at the Beverly Hilton and they had lemon trees…

and black and white stripes. I felt at home immediately. :)

View out our hotel room window. My friends from colder states were loving our sunshine!

{Left to right: Kris/Sita/Brittany/me/Randi/Jen/Shauna/Jen/Bree}

We met up with the rest of our crew when we got to the conference and were so excited to all be together again we had a hard time sitting still in the first few sessions! I was so excited to meet Sita because we’ve been on-line friends for so long but I hadn’t met her in person yet. Love her! I can honestly tell you that every one of these girls are just as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside. And talk about talent! I’m so honored to call them all friends.

Time to work! Or take more selfies. ;)

Heading to dinner the first night. This grey purse is so cute and looks a lot more expensive than it is!

Day 2 of the conference! Summer joined us! Loved meeting her in person for the first time too.

K I have to tell you all that I LOVE my new ruffle gingham skirt. It was a hit! It’s fitted, but comfy and I love the length. So cute with these navy espadrilles and my new favorite saddle bag purse (it comes in several colors). My friends all looked so darling. We always want to buy each other’s clothes after trips like this!

I roomed with Kris and Bree and we were laughing that we all got dressed in navy and white. So in sync. :)

Me and my partner in crime. :)

{New favorite Denim Dress/Navy Clutch/Necklace/Similar Shoes}

Dinner out with Traditional Home Magazine and Ferguson! The brands at the conference were all amazing and I met so many wonderful people. This denim dress is a new favorite that I couldn’t love more. SO flattering you guys! If you look on-line it looks shorter. I’m only 5/3 so it’s longer on me, but the petite size was short. I liked it a bit longer so I bought the regular. True to size!

We all got our own marquees with our IG handles at dinner. :)

The conference was filled with classes but in-between we managed to play as much as we could! We went to lunch one afternoon at the iconic IVY in LA.

It was the most charming restaurant I think I’ve ever been to! You all have to go if you’re ever in LA. These colorful bouquets of fresh roses were everywhere!

Everyone together at lunch!

After that we split up for a few hours. Some went back to the hotel while a few of us hit Rodeo Drive baby. (Can’t you just hear Kit on Pretty Woman?) ;)

I found this cute new dressy/casual layered top for the conference and it was darling with jeans and black heels but I knew we were going to be doing a lot of walking so I changed shoes and put on my comfy Adidas sneakers. Not the most fashionable.. ha! But I was comfy hitting the streets. :)

We found Macaroons..

and a HUGE Pottery Barn. That might have been my doing. :)

And Tory Burch! Love all things Tory.

We bought these fun “Embrace Ambition bracelets” to remember our trip and donate to their woman entrepreneur cause. I also picked up this Tory double wrap logo bracelet that I’ve loved forever as an early b-day gift from me to me. :)

{Jeans/Shoes/Crossbody bag/Coat is a few years old and sold out}

The last night of the trip a lot of my friends flew home. It was hard saying good-bye to everyone! My friends above and I stayed one more night and went out to dinner to celebrate my 40th birthday. It was such a fun trip and I felt grateful to be surrounded by so many close friends leading up to a birthday I wasn’t all that excited about. Took the sting out a little. ;)

Something else exciting that took the sting out of turning 40 this year? You guys.. we won! I won! Which means we all won! :) I’m sitting in the conference and they gave out all of the awards and we clapped and were excited for the winners and then they dimmed the lights and starting sharing a bit about each blog nominated for “Best Design Blog.” When I was listening to all of the amazing things the other candidates were doing and have done I honestly started feeling silly for even being nominated for this award! They said some wonderful things about my blog when they got to me and all I was thinking was “phew! They made me at least sound good enough to not be embarrassed for being in this category.” Ha! Then they announced the winner: Erin from Sunny Side Up! I think my jaw hit the floor. I honestly was so not expecting to win. My friends were cheering and everyone was clapping and it was a surreal moment. Then I had to speak. Oh my word… not expecting that one either! I rambled something off about being honored and grateful and I thanked my friends and readers and then said “if my husband were here I’d thank him for all of his support with my late night blog shenanigans..” Um Shenanigans? Really Erin? WHAT prompted me to say that!? Ha ha! I was so nervous and just rambled off the first thing that came to my mind! My friend filmed it and we all had a good laugh after that one. :) I sent the video to my family and they were all excited and proud but my brother wanted to know why I didn’t thank him for all the creative inspiration he adds to my blog and my mom wanted to know why I didn’t thank her for being my spell checker (I get daily texts from her saying “cute post today hun.. you need an apostrophe in you’re third paragraph from the top.. stop staying up so late to blog..”) :) I told them all that I was caught a little off guard and didn’t have a speech prepared or time to thank the entire academy. ;) But I do want to thank all of you! The vote was 50% judges choice and 50% reader vote so thank you so much to everyone who voted for me. I’m so grateful for your support and know without a doubt that I have the sweetest readers EVER.

My close friend Kris at Driven by Decor won in her category too for “Best Design Blog Graphics/Photography” and I was so excited for her! Kris and I are always roomies at these conferences and I love her to pieces! We have so much fun together. We snapped this quick early morning pic before we left the hotel. Some strange lighting is going on with my neck so let’s ignore that! And how strange our hands look holding our awards because they seriously weigh a ton. I was glad I was driving home because my bag would have been WAY over the weight limit for flying if I would have had to toss that award in my suitcase. Plus I always pack one too many pairs of shoes. ;)

{Shirt/Jogger pants/Sunglasses/Adidas sneakers}

Comfy clothes for the drive home! And a few teary good-byes. It was a great trip.

Home with my sweet kids for a few days and then my parents came to town for my birthday and Kenny and I spent the weekend in Palm Springs.

SO nice to get away! It was 90 degrees in Palm Springs this weekend! Hello summer and couple time. :) This week has been the best. I thought I would be so sad to turn 40, but I’ve been surrounded and loved by so many wonderful people (and still have a few things planned with my San Diego besties next week!). I’m feeling pretty grateful and blessed right about now.

And thinking that maybe 40 doesn’t look so bad after all.

*Outfit links are below and you can also find them on on my “Shop My Favorites” tab at the top of my blog header along with other recent favorite clothes and home decor!

xoxo, Erin

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Blogging

03.07.17

Hello from LA!

Typing this quick post from my hotel room in LA! I’m here for the Designers Blog Conference and have been having so much fun with some of my blogging besties. I wanted to pop in to let you all know that I am working on updating my header! I know some of you are waiting on home sources and they are coming. Do you like the new blog design/layout? I have to say that I’m loving it! So I hope you are too. :) Huge thank you to Tana at Your Marketing BFF who put it all together for me! She is amazing and the best if you want to start or update a website. We are missing her this week!

(affiliate links used)

For all of my fashion loving friends I have to tell you that I did some early birthday shopping to find a few new things to wear for this conference and I scored big time. SO many cute clothes and bags for Spring! I’m excited to share them all with you and re-cap my fun trip in a post soon. If you want an early look at the new clothes I found you can check out the “SHOP MY FAVORITES” page in my new blog header (on the far right). I’m excited about this page! It will always be updated with my favorite home decor and fashion finds. Things I’ve bought that I absolutely love like this cute new gingham skirt and these fun navy Espadrille Wedge sandals I’m wearing in the picture above. DARLING. All of my favorite home decor items throughout my home will also be shared on this page. It’s a fun spot to hang out. :)

K – it’s almost 2 in the morning so I need to head to bed. We always stay up way too late chatting and then I stay up way too late blogging. Some things never change. :)

Back soon with lots of fun things to share!

xoxo, Erin

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Home Decor

03.02.17

White Master Bathroom (ready for Spring!)

Hello hello friends! Welcome to the Decked and Styled Spring Tour hosted by Bree at ZDesign! If you are visiting from Just a Girl and Her Blog (or any of the other fun blogs on this tour) I’m so happy to have you here! Bree and Abby are both close friends of mine and aside from loving them to pieces I also love their blogs! I’m so happy to be joining the two of them along with other talented friends to bring you more ideas for Spring decorating this year. YEA. Such a fun time of year to spruce up our homes, isn’t it!? (Check here for some fun Spring updates I added to my kitchen if you missed my last post!)

*affiliate links used

Today I’m finally sharing my master bathroom with you all. What’s the occasion? Our white master bathroom is ready for Spring of course. :)

When we built our home I knew I wanted lots of storage in our master bathroom (mostly to make up for all the years I lived in small places without enough bathroom storage!). ;) I designed some tall cabinets on each side of our vanity and decided to make the top half of them glass to store pretty things and add some color to this mostly white space.

I just recently added some of my favorite baskets (the large size) to these cabinets and some new favorite towels above them. I’m sure I’ll add more to these cabinets at some point, but I recently organized my bathroom and am loving having very little on these shelves (and nothing in the baskets at the moment!). The basket ads some texture and warmth and the towels add a small pop of color. Mission accomplished. :)

Bathrooms are some of my favorite spaces to add seasonal decor because it doesn’t take much to transform them.

I recently brought my favorite Chevron vase and apple blossom stems (you might remember them from my living room Spring tour last year!) into my bathroom and that along with my new towels made the whole room feel like Spring time.

I kept my bathtub shelves the same aside from adding a few new hand towels and my small dough bowl to hold sponges. That dough bowl looks good in every room in my house! I want three more so I don’t have to keep moving it around. :)

I have a huge crush on coral.. did you know that? :)

Thought I’d show you behind the door next to the towels in case you were wondering what’s there. ;) The door on the other side of the towels is my closet. A post for another day!

When you walk into my bathroom you see my shower. One thing I really wanted was a private shower because our kids are in and out of our bathroom all the time! The shower looks skinny at first glance, but if you go inside the door it actually wraps around..

I didn’t get a picture of all of it, but you can see how it goes back around that wall. Marble for days! My favorite. :)

Next to the shower is my vanity where I have all of my organized jewelry. The cute little stool is a new addition!

You can read details on how my jewelry organization came together in this post.

My favorite colors! Mint and coral greet me every day in this bathroom and instantly put a smile on my face. So do fresh hydrangeas. :)

Here are 4 simple ways to add a touch of Spring to your bathrooms…

1- Give your bathrooms a good cleaning and organize the drawers. This is the best way to get your bathroom ready for Spring! (I’ll be sharing how I’ve organized mine at some point to give you a few ideas.) :)

2- Add natural elements to bring in texture. (Things like baskets and wooden bowls and sponges are my favorite!)

3- Buy a few new colorful towels. Even just a couple of new inexpensive hand towels in a bright color can add a lot to a bathroom!

4- Add some flowers! Real or faux or both like I did. Flowers always represent Spring and bring life to any space.

I always do those 4 things to our bathrooms around this time of year to welcome Spring. It’s an instant upper to walk into a clean and decorated bathroom. :) I’ll be sharing other bathrooms in our home with you this Spring along with how I organize them all so stay tuned! Coming soon to a blog near you. ;)

Here are sources for almost everything in my bathroom! (Or something similar if what I have is sold out.)

*Paint color is ICI paint “Silver Trophy”

Next up on the tour is my darling friend Shauna at the House of Silver Lining. Shauna is so much fun and her home is beautiful! Plus she just made a fun announcement on her blog! Make sure to check it out along with the rest of my friend’s Decked and Styled Spring Tours! Inspiration galore.

I never get tired of saying that.. ;)

ZDesign At Home

Just A Girl And Her Blog

The House of Silver Lining

Four Generations One Roof

Life On Virginia Street

Driven by Decor

Kelley Nan

A Thoughtful Place

Style House Interiors

Honey We’re Home

xoxo, Erin

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Home Decor

02.28.17

Kitchen decor ideas for Spring!

Today in San Diego it rained all. day. long. Crazy rain! Outside it was dark and cloudy and cold. And rainy. And wet. Because rain tends to be rather wet. :) But inside my house? It feels like Spring! I’ve been making some colorful updates to several rooms in my house and today I’m joining some talented blog friends for a “Styled for Spring Tour” to share some kitchen decor ideas for Spring! YEA. If you are coming from Kathleen’s fun blog Lindsay Hill Interiors (or any other blog on the tour for that matter) welcome! So happy to have you here. :)

A lot of my Spring kitchen decor is the same as last year (you might remember my “kitchen re-fresh” from last May) but I did switch out a few things. When we moved in our house over three years ago I bought some gray rugs from Target for our kitchen that have been great, but they were starting to look pretty worn. It was time to replace them! I wanted something that was neutral (because I’m constantly changing my decor!) but that would also add something fun to the kitchen. Hmmm.. a great neutral that’s also fun.. let’s see.. wait! I know. How about some black and white stripes?

I can just see the surprise on all of your faces right now. ;)

(affiliate links used)

I’ve been so in love with the striped rug in my upstairs laundry room that I decided to bring it into my kitchen to give it a try and what do you know? I was in love. :) Aren’t they fun!? It’s ok if you don’t like them. One of my daughters (Addison) wasn’t sure. She said she loved them but that they also made our kitchen look like a pirate ship. Ha! That made me laugh. I’m head over heels in love with the new look – and I’ll sing yo ho ho to prove it. ;)

I love the way these rugs compliment my favorite colors (blues, greens and corals) so well – really stripes compliment any bright colors. These rugs have definitely become favorites of mine. They are the Olin black stripe Dhurrie rugs from Crate and Barrel. I ordered the runner (2×6) for this spot in front of our largest sink (that’s the exact same rug I have in my laundry room) and then I ordered two shorter rugs for in front of my islands (the 30×50’s). I also ordered rug pads for the two smaller rugs because we get the most traffic in those areas and I didn’t want the rugs sliding around. So there you go. You too can have a pirate ship kitchen if you want one. Eye patches for all!

K – I’ll stop now. ;)

They also work great with the coral rug in my nook. Bright dishes are back in my glass cabinet and of course there are lemons popping up here and there. It wouldn’t be Spring in my kitchen without lemons!

These beautiful pots are also new (from my photoshoot with BHG!) and I planted some herbs in them. You know.. to ~~look pretty~~ use when I cook. ;) They smell so good! I’m a little nervous about keeping them alive so cross your fingers for me.

{similar tiered basket}

I kept this fun tiered basket basically the same.

But I changed up this corner. I’ve had my eye on this beautiful coral lacquer round tray for a while now and snatched it up when it went on sale. It’s so perfect for this corner and I love the pop of color it adds. A simple plant, my oil and vinegar jars and some favorite bowls and done! Spring in the corner of the kitchen. :)

Because I added the striped rugs I felt like my striped utensel holder was overkill (even I know when to chill on the stripes..) so instead I used another one of my favorite white kitchen canisters (it says tea on the other side of it.) I turned it around and added my wooden spoons.

This is what this corner looked like last Spring.

And today. Small changes and I love both looks. But it’s always fun to mix things up! We don’t always have control over circumstances in our lives, but we can certainly control a happy corner in our kitchen. :)

You might notice an unplanned Spring accessory in a few of these photos. Can you spot it? My cell phone adds a nice touch on the island don’t you think? Ha ha.. oops!

I switched the decor around in my butler’s pantry too. Mostly just so that I could add my favorite new mixing bowl and my marble/wood serving board. The Thankful and #5 sign are staples on this shelf and are from Caroline’s fun shop.

One more pic of my new rugs. They make me happy. :) And a few more I took of Spring the kitchen…

I hope this post gave you a few fun kitchen decor ideas for Spring! I’ll be sharing more fun Spring updates around my home soon so make sure to sign up for my e-mail list if you haven’t already so you don’t miss a post. Good things are in store. :) I love this time of year. Happy Spring decorating everyone!

KITCHEN SOURCES:

Next up on the tour head to my darling friend Abby’s at Just a Girl and her Blog! Abby is my organizing partner in crime (love her!) and she just moved into a beautiful new home. I can’t wait to see what Spring touches she added! Also check out the rest of the beautiful homes below for more fun Spring decorating ideas! This is going to be good. :)

Just a Girl and Her Blog

French Country Cottage

Thistlewood Farms

Decor Gold Designs

So Much Better With Age

Craftberry Bush

Zevy Joy

Lindsay Hill Interiors

Be sure and check back next week when the following talented bloggers each share a room decorated for spring!

Life on Virginia Street

I Don’t Know How She Does It!

Eleven Gables

A Thoughtful Place

xoxo, Erin

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Organization

02.24.17

Organized Blankets and Towels

How is it seriously Friday already!? This week has escaped me. My six year old has been out of school all week and home with me. He’s at a different school than his sisters which = different schedules which = two weeks this year he is off without his sisters which = two weeks this year that mom gets nothing done. Lovely. ;) Actually.. I can’t say that I got nothing done. I got nothing done on my blog that I was hoping to do (more posts up this week and work on my new header menu) but I was able to spend a lot of quality time with my little buddy. And get a few spaces organized. So I’ll call the week a win. :) Today I’m sharing our organized blankets and towels. A couple of linen closets that have been on my “to organize” list for quite a while now!

When we were designing the floor plan of our house I knew I wanted a closet upstairs by the kids’ rooms to hold blankets. I also needed a place to store our upstairs central vacuum so I decided to add this built-in closet at the end of our upstairs hallway to meet both needs.

It’s a great closet and I love having the extra shelving for blankets. The only problem is that it has looked like this since we moved in! The bigger problem? This was only half of our blankets. The other half were spread around in different rooms and I kept putting off organizing this closet for two reasons. One because I don’t see it every day (out of sight out of mind!) and two because I knew it would be a big chore to round all the blankets up throughout our house and somehow make them magically fit in this space.

I finally decided it was time to tackle this project head on. I pulled everything out of the closet.

Then I started rounding up extra blankets in bedrooms and tossing them all in the hallway too. (Btw.. just so you can get an idea of where this hall is located in my house.. if you look over that railing you are looking down into our entry.)

Which isn’t decorated at the moment but there you go anyway. :) (You can see how I decorated it last year for Easter here.)

I started sorting the blankets and deciding what to toss and what to keep and this is what the hallway looked like about half way through. (I just had that shiplap on the right wall added when I put shiplap in Kole’s bedroom and I love it! This hall will be a fun place to decorate at some point. The list never ends!) Anyway.. back to my blanket closet..

Kole was a huge help as always. ;) Finally after doing some serious purging and folding this is what I ended up with..

Oh my word. This closet! Who knew folded blankets could make me so happy!? Oh wait.. we all knew that. ;)

Larger blankets that get more use and the special quilts my grandma made are on the bottom shelves next to our central vac.

Blankets we use less often, a few other special family blankets, and baby blankets I just can’t part with are on the top shelves.

{BEFORE}

Let’s have one more good before and after shall we? Just so we can hear those angels sing. ;)

{AFTER}

While organizing this closet didn’t take that much time, it was a harder project for me. We had accumulated way too many blankets over the years so I needed to get rid of quite a few of them and parting with some of them wasn’t easy! I know this is a roadblock a lot of us face when organizing. In order to have an organized home we have to only keep what we use and/or love, but sometimes we get sentimentally attached to so many things we think we love them all! I had to keep reminding myself that certain blankets had served us well, but it was time to let them go. When letting go of some of my kids’ baby blankets made me sad I reminded myself that I have pictures of my kids with most of them and that I only really needed to keep the special few that brought back the most/best memories. Now that I’m through the rough part, it feels wonderful to have our blankets all in one place and so nicely organized!

The next time we are headed to a drive in movie with the kids finding the blankets we need will be a breeze. ;)

I was so happy with my blanket closet that it motivated me to quickly tackle another linen closet on my list. My girls’ bathroom towel closet was in need of some help! I forgot to take a “before” picture of this built-in, but imagine it looking just like the blanket closet originally did.. stuffed way too full of messy towels!

{Bathroom rug source}

Finished organizing! I got rid of so many old towels we didn’t need anymore. They were much easier to part with.. ha! I just kept the newer, nicer towels. They were the towels my girls were using the most anyway! Nothing on the top two shelves because none of the females in our family are tall enough to reach them. :)

I also got rid of a lot of my girls’ old bath toys that they haven’t played with in years. I probably could have tossed them all – they have pretty much out grown playing with their mermaids in the tub.. {tear}. But these were their favorite bath toys and I didn’t dare toss them without permission. These two cute baskets I’ve had for years from Target were perfect to hold the few things I kept.

I know my girls won’t keep the towels folded this perfectly, but this towel closet will stay organized regardless because it isn’t stuffed full of old towels they weren’t using! It’s nice for our things to have room to breathe isn’t it? The wonderful benefit of only keeping what we really use.

Because I organized my girls’ bathroom drawers in January I can completely check their bathroom off of my list! Feeling pretty good about that. :) I couldn’t be more happy about having organized blankets and towels! Btw.. if you are short on space you can see how I organized our blankets and towels in my last house here. I had one small oddly shaped hall closet that held all of our blankets, towels and some cleaning supplies. Ignore the lousy photography in that post. Yikes! You could say I’ve learned a few things since then. ;)

Kole and I also managed to sort through a few messy drawers this week too. These sacks that are heading to Goodwill are the sign of a productive week! Despite having so much “help” from you know who. Who would have thought. ;)

Enjoy your weekend friends! And happy organizing.

xoxo, Erin

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Family

02.20.17

Fashion, Favorites and a trip to remember

Happy President’s Weekend everyone! I hope you’ve had a good one! Ours has been one for the books. :) We have a tradition of taking our girls skiing in Utah over this long weekend every year and this year we were planning on taking Kole for his first time. We bought him ski clothes and had him all signed up for ski school and he was excited to go.. until he found out his cousins were going to be at my mom’s house and begged to stay with them instead. So we dropped him off and away we went with just our girls excited for a long weekend of skiing. These pics are from last year. Last year we had perfect weather! Sunny but cold with lots of snow.

We even tried tubing for the first time and had a blast. This year? Not quite the same story! We got there our first morning and suited up in our ski clothes, got all of our ski gear and finally hit the slopes. We rode up the first lift and it was COLD and WINDY. Like not fun cold and windy. We skied down the hill and when we went to get on the lift again they closed it! The weather was too bad. Then they closed another.. then another. They closed almost every lift because of the wind. We took a shuttle over to the one lift that they had open, took one look at how snowy and windy it was and how the chairs were rocking back and forth and decided to call it a day. We only skied down ONE hill! I didn’t even get a picture. We were so bummed. And so cold. We went back to the lodge and after checking out the weather for the next day (even worse) we turned in our ski gear and decided our trip was going to take a new course! A warmer one hopefully. ;)

We were determined to have a fun trip regardless so we made a new plan! First swimming and the hot tub back at our hotel because we were seriously FREEZING. The warm pool and hot tub helped, but then it was time to walk back to our room and the pool was in a different building. We were all standing by the lobby door soaking wet in our towels strategizing how best to do this. I was telling the girls “K… when I say RUN take off as fast as you can but don’t slip!..” There was a group of guys checking in to the lodge watching us and they were cracking up. We told them we were from southern California and weren’t used to this frigid snowy weather and they said we looked too good to not get a picture. Ha!

They followed us outside and snapped this with my phone and then we all had a good laugh between chattering teeth before we followed my plan and RAN (without slipping) to our cozy room. A funny memory from the trip we are still laughing about. :)

We turned on the fire and all showered and then called room service and pulled out some DVD’s we had brought and made beds on the floor and had a huge dinner/movie party. It was such a fun night with our girls. The next morning we woke up to a blizzard and we loved watching the snow fall from our cozy room by the fire. Snow is so much fun when you’re watching it from the inside, right? :) Finally we packed up and drove off the mountain.

We stopped on the way to my mom’s to visit my husband’s grandma (love her!) and then it was back to my mom’s for the rest of the weekend. We had a fun couple of days there and are now back home in San Diego. It was a great weekend. Not the weekend we originally planned, but a fun trip nonetheless. I’m still bummed we didn’t get to ski, but we definitely got our snow fix and it’s a trip we will always remember.

Alright! Time to talk fashion and favorites! But first two things: First I have to thank you all for your sweet words about my recent “10 ways to keep your marriage strong” post. I loved hearing from so many of you! So thanks for that. :) And second: my blog is sort of mid makeover at the moment! I’m working with a friend to get it all wrapped up, but it’s not quite finished so ignore anything that looks off and don’t try to check things out in the header quite yet (home sources, etc.) because it’s not done! But hopefully will be soon. :)

Ok.. clothes! And home decor! There are some cute things coming in and cute things on sale I’m loving right now.

(affiliate links used)

This turtleneck I mentioned my sister gave me for Christmas is darling. So soft and such a good fit. I also love that it’s lightweight so I can wear it in the Spring before it gets hot. I’m wearing it with Kenny above and here with my little buddy at his class Valentine party. :) It’s still available in solid colors and is on sale for a great price so I just bought another one in the grey.

Speaking of my little Valentine.. still leaving him notes in his lunch until he gets old enough to be embarrassed by them. ;)

{tee/jeans/shoes}

You all know my obsession with finding the perfect tee’s. Well I found another one. :) This is the “Whisper” cotton v-neck and it’s perfect. Long and lightweight and I love the length of the sleeves. V-neck is always a must for me. I picked up a few different colors. It’s still a bit cold to wear them without a jacket, but they will be perfect for spring!

It runs a little big so you can size down for a more fitted tee. Nothing fancy, but I’m always happy in my favorite jeans, my favorite necklace and a favorite tee. :)

This long sleeved tee by Free People is another recent fun find. It’s casual and comfy and I really like the blue!

It’s double layered but the layers are sewn together at the top.

I look silly here! But wanted to show you a side view of it in the black so you can see how cute the double layers are. I ordered it in black and blue to see which one I like best. I like them both! Of course I do. :) But I have a lot of black already so I think I’ll be responsible and just keep the blue. Probably. Maybe. Or I could keep them both. Just an option.. ;)

Ok.. do you all remember one of my all time favorite tops from this Fall? This Hanna Split Neck Top has been a serious staple for me. It’s the shirt I just want to reach for every day and I wear it all the time. This picture doesn’t do it justice! It’s so cute with the hem down the middle and the layered look at the bottom.. and I love the way it fits! Really cute tucked in a little in the front.

I was at Nordstrom a couple of weeks ago and saw that they have my favorite shirt in short sleeves for Spring! Oh my word.. I can’t tell you how excited I was! I seriously want one in every color! Isn’t the white tee cute!? The white is a bit see through (I find that most white tees are) so you will want to wear a tank or a thin white tee under it. I don’t buy many white tops for that very reason (I don’t like all the layers!) but this shirt was worth one more layer to me. ;) I love it with my Koral peep toe booties (which were just marked down btw!).

Peep toe booties also look cute with capris or rolled up jeans btw so they will be fun to wear into Spring too!

{tee/shoes}

Of course I bought it in the black too. #noshame

You can’t see the detail on the top in this pic, but trust me.. it’s cute. This really is a top I know I’ll wear again and again. I also ordered my tanner bar necklace in silver a few months ago because I wear the gold so much. It looks so good with this black top!

This is another darling top that I want and am trying to resist. And because of my obsession with stripes and all things white and black I also want this throw, this pillow, this pillow and these vases.

And this purse! Too cute right!? On the wish list! My favorites in black and white:

I’ve also been in LOVE with this purse for quite a while now and have dropped more than one subtle hint to my sweet husband about it. I have a birthday coming up (a big one!) so I’m hoping he reads this. (LOVE THIS PURSE BABE.. is that subtle enough for you?) ;)

{rug/chair/lamp/pillow/wooden oval tray}

My shelves are still so bare and now that we are home from our trip I’m excited to start decorating for Spring. I picked up this fun coral pillow for some inspiration!

I think it will eventually make it to my mudroom, but the options are endless because coral is my favorite color to accent with for Spring/Summer and it’s all through my house.

This is another cute pillow I have my eye on. I have it in red (you can see it in my Christmas decor below) and now PB has it in navy. Home. My favorite. :)

PB is having a big sale this weekend (like most sores are!) and you’re all going to think I’m crazy, but look what I picked up on major sale. It’s a Santa countdown! Because who doesn’t love Christmas in February!? I know. Most people not so much. But me? I can go there. Especially for a darling magnetic countdown that is such a good deal. (It’s big you guys! And just Vintage beautiful.. I can’t wait to use it next December! Totally bought this one for me the kids.)

{Coral and Ivory Ileana towel/Coral and Aqua towel/Coral Chevron Towel}

More Spring coral inspiration! World Market has darling towels right now and they are such a good price! I buy most of my towels from World Market because I love their fun patterns and designs.

The rugs and towels in my girls’ bathroom are also on sale this weekend if you’re in the mood to brighten your bathroom for Spring!

So is the rug in my powder bathroom. I also have this rug in Kole’s bathroom and this is reminding me I need to take pics of his bathroom to show you! Add it to the list. :)

{Sidney two-tone rectangle basket with handles/Sidney two-tone totes}

These baskets are another favorite I have been meaning to share with you all and keep forgetting. I wanted these the second I saw them because we all know how much I need more baskets, right? #likeaholeinthehead As soon as they went on sale I couldn’t resist! I keep moving them around and can’t decide if I want to keep them together or split them up. I love the slouchy, casual look of them. They look good everywhere! You’ll be seeing them pop up in my house soon. :)

Ok last favorite and I’m too excited about this not to share it even though it makes me sound like a dork. I’ve never liked fancy restaurants and one of my favorite places to eat is California Pizza Kitchen. It drives my husband nuts because he always asks where I want to go on date nights (hoping I’ll say somewhere new and different) and I always say CPK. They have a salad I’m in love with.. the Waldorf Chicken Salad to be exact. It’s my all time favorite! I also love their Avocado Egg Rolls even though I don’t love avocado and I pick the avocado out of them. Something else that drives my husband nuts.. ha! I’ll be pulling out avocado and he’s like “what? too much avocado in your avocado egg rolls?” while he shakes his head.. :) Anyway.. I’m getting off track! Sometimes I make salads for lunch so last time we were at CPK I asked our waitress if they by chance sell the salad dressing that goes on my favorite Waldorf salad (totally thinking that was a dumb question) and what do you know.. they do! For only $4.00! So I bought some and used it all week on my lunch salads and they tasted so good! That was a happy discovery. :) If you happen to have a CPK near you try the Waldorf Chicken Salad! And don’t go thinking that I’m all healthy eating salads for lunch because I usually follow them up with this..

Another favorite of mine and the reason I can’t lose the 5 pounds I want to lose. {sigh} Oh well! If eating chocolate chips and peanut butter (and my favorite CPK salad dressing) is wrong..

then I don’t want to be right.

xoxo, Erin

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Marriage

02.15.17

10 ways to keep your marriage strong

Happy Valentine’s Day friends! It will be over by the time you read this, but I hope you had a good one. :) In honor of this recent holiday focusing on LOVE I thought it might be fun to talk marriage. Because I’m married. And because I’ve been married for what feels like forever. Ha! (Sorry babe..)

This year my husband and I will celebrate our 20 year anniversary. (see.. forever right?) ;) We are high school sweethearts who got married young (you can read the story of how we met and fell in love here) so we have really grown up together. We certainly don’t have a perfect marriage, but overall we are happy and definitely still in love. We have learned a lot through the years about what works for us so I thought I’d share 10 ways we keep our marriage strong.

I said to Kenny a few days ago “babe.. I’m working on a post about marriage. We aren’t doing everything right, but I’m going to focus on the things we are doing right. Do you have any words of wisdom to contribute?” His answer..

“Well I’m doing everything right…”

Thanks babe. Such a huge help as always.

Clearly I’m on my own with this post. ;)

Before I get started (and for those of you who don’t already “know” us) you should know that we are complete opposites. Like in every way possible.

He loves sushi. I hate all food from the sea.
He is intense. I am low key.
He snacks on cookies. I snack on candy.
He likes things clean. I like things cleaner than that.
He struggles with creativity. I live to create.
He plans for our future. I plan for our next party.
I don’t like contention. He loves to debate.
He is a saver. I am a spender.
He loves country music. I love all music but country music.
He loves to challenge the kids. I just want to keep them young.
He is a realist. I am an optimist.
He drives cautious. I go for speed.
He is logical. I am emotional.
He is extremely competitive. There’s not a competitive bone in my body.
I am a peace maker. He is a trouble maker.
He loves spreadsheets. I love 1,000 thread count sheets. ;)
He is a morning person. I am a night owl.
He could travel for months. I get homesick after a week.
He craves change. I love routine.
He is hot tempered. I am level headed.
He is a long term planner. I live week to week.
His ideal vacation is go go go. My ideal vacation is veg veg veg.
He hates surprises. I love to be surprised.
He is analytical. I am ana-what?

I could go on for days! But you get the picture. :) We really are so different! We’ve had to learn how to make our differences work for us instead of against us over the years. So despite our differences.. these are the things *I think* Kenny and I are doing right. :) 10 ways we keep our marriage strong.

1 – We talk things out and are quick to apologize.

We fell in love over the phone and have always been able to talk about everything and nothing. We love just talking to each other! We are not the type of people to silently stew over anything. If we’re having a disagreement or something feels off in our marriage, we don’t wait to deal with it. We don’t like to be mad at each other so one of us always apologizes quickly (usually him because I’m always right) ;) then we talk things out and either agree or we agree to disagree and we move on. Our talks usually end with Kenny saying something sarcastic and me laughing and all is right in the world again. I think we’ve learned to do this well over the years because of our different personalities. We think so differently sometimes which means that we disagree often! But like I said, we really hate to be mad at each other so we’ve learned to just accept that we have different opinions, compromise when we can and resolve arguments quickly.

2 – We laugh together every day.

{An oldie but a goodie from our dating years. My hair and those sweats are HOT. ;)}

Life is busy and when you’re married with kids it’s so easy to get caught up in the mundane management of schedules and work and kids’ activities and bills and projects and to-do’s, etc. As different as Kenny and I are, one thing we do have in common is our sense of humor. We laugh at a lot of the same things. I’ve always loved sarcasm and my husband invented it. We joke around a lot and he teases me constantly and we have funny moments together daily. Usually at my expense, but it has made me tough. ;) I really love this about our marriage. We have always had fun together! Joking around and laughing with each other keeps us close.

3 – We don’t sweat the small stuff and we focus on what each other brings to the table.

Our opposite personalities are what brought us together and what we love about each other, but those opposites can also be frustrating and hard to live with sometimes! Whenever Kenny does something that drives me crazy (happens daily!) I try to remember everything he does right. Yes.. he left his clothes on the closet floor AGAIN. But he also drove the girls to school so I could exercise, worked hard all day to provide for our family, came home to help El with homework, picked up Ad from dance, played with Kole for 20 minutes and then helped me with technical issues on my blog. I think I can let the clothes on the floor slide. ;) Just an example but these things come up daily. I know there are little things I do or forget to do that drive my husband crazy, but he also recognizes how hard I work every day and all the balls I’m juggling and he lets the little stuff slide. If he doesn’t, I remind him to. ;)

4 – We have set roles that focus on our strengths.

Because we are so different we’ve learned to really focus on each of our strengths. We have very set roles of who handles what and we stick to it. It just works for us! My husband is amazing at handling our finances. Because you all know how many Pottery Barn pillows I buy you might speculate that I’m not.. ha! That is something he has always been better at so he handles the finances in our marriage. We discuss all big purchases and saving plans together of course and I always know what’s going on, but he handles the bills and our accounts and saving for the future because if I was running things our retirement would be safely spent at The Container Store. ;) I handle most things with the house (cleaning, maintenance, etc.) and the kids (homework, activities, day to day details) because I’m better at managing those things. Although now that El is in 7th grade I have happily passed her math homework off to Kenny. I’ll still help with all writing and English, but I just can’t get excited about re-learning Algebra every other night. ;) There are hundreds of little day to day things that we just know who is doing what. He always gets the cars washed, I always do the laundry. He always plans our vacations, I always do all of the packing for our vacations. He is tech smart so he always handles computer and technical issues, I am more level headed so I always handle kid drama and emotional issues, etc. Bottom line.. we both bring different strengths to the table and because of this we make a pretty good team when it comes to being efficient and managing life together.

5 – We care about things the other one cares about.

I heard a quote once that has always stuck with me because it made me think of my marriage. “Care about the things the people you care about care about.” My husband and I have very different passions. I have zero interest in motorcycles and marathon training and he certainly doesn’t care about decorating and fashion. But we care about each other. So I patiently look at on-line pictures of certain ad ons that he’s excited about for his bike (they seriously all look the same to me!) and he patiently gives me his opinion on whether my new vase should sit on the console table or the coffee table (which most certainly makes no difference to him!). But when you share a life with someone I think it’s important to value the things they value and to care about things they care about. Even when you have to try. Hard. ;) That’s one way we show how much we care about each other.

6 – We encourage each other to pursue hobbies and things we love and to take breaks.

This sort of goes hand in hand with #5. Kenny and I have very different interests and hobbies and recognize how important it is for each other to do the things we are passionate about. He is happy to watch the kids certain evenings so that I can enjoy dinner with my girl friends (he knows I need and love this!) and I am happy to run the kids around on Saturday morning so he has time to exercise. I’m always telling him to take a break and go do something he enjoys with friends or to take a nap if he’s overly tired and he ~~practically pushes me out the door~~ encourages me to attend blog conferences even when they initially intimidate me and this means he is flying solo at home for a few days. We have both learned over the years that when we give each other time to do things that we love or to take breaks from kids and work, we come home refreshed and happy and in great moods. I always tell Kenny that I’d rather have him around half of the day Saturday in a really good mood because he got some down time, than to have him home all day in a not so good mood. We all need breaks! Especially parents. Raising kids is hard and can be exhausting. If you aren’t allowing yourself and your spouse time to recharge every once in a while that can affect your overall mood and marriage big time.

7 – We connect often throughout the day.

Not just to talk about schedules and to-do’s, but also to check in with each other and see how the day is going. We share funny things that might have happened or tease each other in text messages. It always brightens my day to get a phone call or text from my husband and to hear.. “hey babe.. thinking about you. How is your day going?” :)

8 – We prioritize time together as a couple.

We have always prioritized date nights and the two of us go out once almost every weekend. Usually on Saturday because we are always exhausted from the week on Friday night! Our date might just be to grab a quick sandwich and make a Costco run, but it’s time spent together with just the two of us. Now that El is 13 she can babysit (this has been LIFE CHANGING for us!) but when the kids were younger, we prioritized finding good sitters that could watch the kids for a few hours once every weekend. We also try to go on one trip each year with just the two of us. It’s so nice to get away together without the stress and busyness of life to just be a couple and remember why we fell in love in the first place. :)

9 – We prioritize family time.

As our kids get older this is becoming harder, but it’s something that is so important to us! Making family time a priority usually means that we miss out on other things, but we never regret time we all spend together. So many of our best family memories come from our little weekend outings. We go on hikes, go on rides to get yogurt, go to dinner at our favorite pizza place, or just spend an hour or two in our backyard hanging out together. Whatever it is, we always try to do something together as a whole family every weekend. We also prioritize a couple of bigger family trips every year. Connecting with our kids and as a whole family definitely strengthens our marriage and keeps Kenny and I close and on the same page.

10 – We’re still into each other.

This blog is rated G and my girls now read it once in a while, so I’m not going to go into details on this one. (I can just hear their “Ewwwww … MOM!!”) But I’ll just say that physical intimacy is important too! Even just the little things.. holding hands, hugging often, telling each other “you look really good today”. These things bring us closer together and have always been important in our relationship.

So those are the 10 main things that keep our marriage strong and work for us! Like I said before, our marriage isn’t perfect. I’m sure I could just as easily list 10 things we could be doing better. (Or 20 things or 100!) He could start by hanging up his clothes (for the love!) and I suppose I could stay away from the Pottery Barn pillows. Or we could not and pretend that we did. ;) But we do love each other and respect each other and we work hard to keep our marriage strong. I feel like the longer we’re married the more we learn what works for us and what helps us to stay close to each other.

Alright.. I’ve spilled it all and then some! I’d love to hear what things you’re doing to keep your marriage or relationship strong!

Or just what you do to get your husband to hang up his clothes.

;)

xoxo, Erin

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Home Decor

02.09.17

Decorated and Organized Laundry Room (with color!)

Friends! I’m so excited! I’ve decorated our upstairs laundry room and finally got around to taking pics to share with you all! (Before pic above!) But before I show you I have to tell you 2 things..

1) A few days ago I did eleven loads of laundry in one day. Yes.. you heard me. ELEVEN LOADS! I’m not kidding. Lights, darks, towels, and sheets for me and my husband. Sheets for each of the 3 kids’ beds. Kids’ towels, lights, darks, and one load of kitchen/extra towels. BAM. Eleven loads. Every one washed, folded, put away and all beds made. I went to bed that night exhausted.. it was literally almost all I did that day in-between running kids around! I had to share because it was a new all time record for me. Has anyone hit that record or surpassed it? If so, I’m taking us to lunch. ;)

2) I’m going to a design blog conference in March and a sweet friend recently let me know that I’ve been nominated for two awards at the conference! Best Overall Design Blog and Best Writing on a Design Blog. I have no clue how I was nominated but I’m so incredibly honored. I wanted to share my fun news with all of you because I have all of you to thank! Some of my blog friends were also nominated for different awards and I’m so excited for them. You can check out the blogs nominated and cast your vote for a winner in each category HERE. I feel a little silly saying “go vote for me” but I don’t know.. after doing eleven loads of laundry in one day I sort of feel like maybe I deserve to win something. Ha ha.. kidding! Kind of. ;) If you do take the time to vote for me and my blog THANK YOU! Huge thank you. (It’s a super quick survey and should take just seconds!) If not, thank you for your support and for reading and I still love you. :)

Ok.. on to our decorated and organized laundry room (with color)!

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xoxo, Erin

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Fashion

02.04.17

Fashion/Favorites/Life Lately

{mint sweater/similar jacket here and here/jeans/similar boots/monogram necklace}

Happy weekend friends! Sharing some recent favorites with you today! My first Fashion/Favorites post of the New Year! It’s about time. :) And it’s a long one! I’ve got lots of pics to share so grab a snack and settle in. Let’s hit the fashion first! Then on to other things I’m loving and things we’ve been up to lately.

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xoxo, Erin

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Blogging

02.01.17

Reader Survey Responses!

Hi friends! I’m short on time tonight.. (what a day.. I feel like I’ve been putting out one fire after another! Is it the weekend yet!?). I wanted to pop in quick to share some of the results of the Reader Survey I posted in the beginning of January. HUGE thank you to everyone who took my survey! So many of you took time to comment (thousands of you!) and I can’t tell you all how much I appreciate it! So much great feedback. Sometimes blogging can feel a little one sided.. I seem to be the only one doing all the talking around here.. ha! ;) I love having this survey to hear all of your thoughts and opinions! You are all my people! And so kind. Your feedback means a lot to me. I had so many favorite comments. Here is one of them..

Continue reading “Reader Survey Responses!”

xoxo, Erin

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