It's check in time with Stephanie at Bourbon and Glitter! July is just about over and I will say I did a pretty good job at completing some but not all of my goals.

The biggest task completed: 12 hours of grad school credit!


HOLLA! I may have only just finished my classes on Wednesday but they are done and I'm ready for a nice little pay raise when I return to work in August.

I also found some time to get crafty in July, prettifying my teacher toolbox steal.
Washi tape is my new jam, it's going to be all over my classroom this year.

The pool and I got acquainted in July but unfortunately we didn't become BFFs. Three trips total including one at a million dollhair mansion. Gotta love when the boyfriend's mom housesits for Richie Rich!


My birthday is only 20 days away and so I did update my wishlist on Pinterest. Can't wait to ease the pain of turning 28 with some retail therapy.

Things that didn't get accomplished: going to the gym 3x a week and updating the bloggy blog. But there's always next month!

This week on Pinterest it seems my theme is organization and booze...two things that probably don't go well together.

Let's start with the libations...







And the organization...








Like what you see? You can follow me on Pinterest and see more good stuff on the daily.

Pin anything good lately? Link up with The Vintage Apple and leave me a comment so I can check them out!

This week, I sat down and actually planned out all the meals for the week and even went grocery shopping on Sunday. I even printed this cute meal planner from IHeart Organizing - it was simple and perfect!

It felt great to come home after school each day and already know what to prepare and have everything on hand. How have I not done this sooner?!

One of the recipes I made this week was the bomb.com (do people still say that?)

It was found on Pinterest on one of the many marathon, procrastinatory pinning binges that have become my weekday nights. What is it about online grad school homework that makes you not want to do anything but what you're supposed to?

But back to the crazy good recipe, it's known as Penne a la Betsy from The Pioneer Woman (who I am quickly becoming a big fan of). Basically, it is some garlic, onion, tomato sauce, heavy cream, white wine, and basil that come together with some penne noodles to  really blow your mind. The first time I tasted the sauce I immediately thought I didn't make it. It was like restaurant good.


It was quite the production to make, at least at our house it was. When it came time to add the wine (why I wasn't drinking any already, not quite sure) we realized we still have not purchased a cork screw. No problem I thought, just Google "alternate ways to open wine bottle".

Which then lead to this scene.


Needless to say we weren't successful and had to pause cooking to run to the store to pick up a corkscrew and a new box of penne because I had already cooked the noodles and lets just say noodles are food not meant to be "rested"

Anywho, I highly recommend trying the recipe out for yourself, you won't be disappointed.

Have you tried any new recipes lately? Ever try something from Pinterest that was a total flop? (I am just waiting for the Pinterest fail blog to pop up**). Tell me about it!

** Someone's already on the ball, check out PinterestFail

My friend blogged about her favorite things this summer so I thought I would do it too. Here they are in no particular order:

My go-to cup, the Tervis Tumbler.  It doesn't sweat and keeps my drink cold (or hot) for hours. Do you know how great it is to leave my cup on my desk and not see one ounce of condensation? Oh the things that make me happy! I even brought it to the pool in 100 degree weather and I still had ice after 3 hours of lounging.
The Thirty-One Organizing Utility Tote. I recently purchased this tote from a fundraiser at school. I love the bright colors and that I got it personalized with my first initial. When I first got it I was disappointed at how small it looked, but once I started filling it I was surprised...this baby holds a ton. I was able to get my laptop, a 2 inch binder, 2 textbooks, my Tervis Tumbler, keys, and purse all inside. I am going to use it as my teacher bag this year, hopefully I can keep it nice and white.



I finally cut the cord between myself and my flash drive thanks to Dropbox.

I discovered Dropbox from our tech. integration specialist at school after complaining about losing my umpteenth flash drive.... I signed up and haven't looked back since. After downloading the program you get 2 GB for free for any personal files. It also automatically syncs to the web for immediate backup....no more lost files. And when you get someone else to sign up they reward you with more space, up to 8GB. There is also the ability to share files and folders with anyone. It has been awesome for use at school, I have my whole team on a shared folder as well as my department.

Get your own Dropbox and help me earn more space too..it's win-win!

So what have you been loving lately?