Life lately? Its been good to us. While some days we’re more tired than others. Usually its just because we either work or because we take advantage that we don’t work the next day and stay up late. Either way life has been good to us and we can’t complain. Besides the daily hustle of work, feeding our bellies and driving endlessly, we are grateful. I was looking through my phone earlier and found myself smiling. Smiling.. one, because I can capture such sweet moments here and there and two because even the smallest little things can cause the biggest warmth in your heart. If you know me at a personal level, you’ll know that I’m pretty much a picture hoarder. Times like this, where i get to sit back and look through all those pictures i have hoarded ‘stored in memories’ i feel a sense of happiness. Happy that we don’t forget that at the end of the day, even the smallest of things have made us smile one way or another in our days. I’m glad i keep a lot of these moments in my phone. Gosh, i am so thankful for my iPhone! lol. I believe we call these, ‘small pleasures.‘ I wanna share with you all some of my simple pleasures within the last couple of weeks and i hope you understand why my heart is full. Between yummy meals, family time, doggy time, diy’s and my handsome boyfriend, my heart is warm and full of love! What are your simple pleasures friends?
Hope you all are keeping track of all the little things in your lives that make you happy!
Happy week!
-Jen ❤
Breakfast on days off are the best with my honey
Coming home to my homemade dyi fall wreath is so welcoming and cute
My new little fall center piece in our dining table, feels so cozy and the smell is delicious!
Coming Home to some homemade Fall diy’s always light up my day
Seeing these two become best friends makes me laugh
Sending my brother silly faces when he’s going to work is always a good idea
Seeing Xavier and Bella become best friends and sending my brother silly faces from the girls always brings smiles
This little lady, is getting too big and reminding me of me when i was her age
She’s so adventurous its sometimes scary.hope she always stays a kid at heart
Seeing her play by the pool was my favorite part of the weekend
Don’t you worry my little Sofia, I will always be a kid with you at heart, play on my dear!
Nutella and strawberries always make smile
and why not fill the croissants with nutella for dessert?
Um.. Nutella with anything? Thats always allowed in our home lol
She’s our little princess and warms our hearts (even if Xavier denies it lol)Spending time with this guy is always okay with me, no matter what we may be doing. This couch with this lady and us together is our favorite
Bringing fall into our homewas high up on my ‘to do’ list during this season! That can only mean one thing for me.. More DIY projects! This is the first time that Xavier and I will be celebrating the holidays in our own place and i want to make sure we
celebrate the holidays full heartily! So that only meant that once we got our door ready for the fall with our DIY door wreath, it was time to bring fall indoors! Long behold, another DIY! So I’ve had some shelves stored from Ikea since we first moved into the apartment and we didn’t know where else to put them for a while.. The other night sitting on our couch I realized how empty the wall behind our tv is and thought ‘perfect!’ Perfect place to put a shelf above our tv! The purpose is to sort of to mimic a ‘mantle’ minus the fireplace? Does that even make sense??!! in my head it did lol (We do live in Florida after all,lol) And even though it really doesn’t look like a mantle, it still looks good in my eyes! So below I will show you my idea!
We put the shelf up and the DIY projects started in order to decorate with some fall goodies for the shelve (Here is a prior post where I showed my readers how we make sure things get hung straight in our home.) I used a lot of left over materials I had from previous DIY projects and from the DIY wreath. I had a $4 ikea picture frame I had not used, only it was black and I wanted white..so my painting skills came out and the painting began! The two vases you will see, I had bought at Michael’s arts and craft store a couple of weeks back when they had a discount and I used a coupon! They were perfect for my left over bundle of fall leaves! The two little pumpkins you’ll also see, I bought that same day and were also super inexpensive! The rest of my materials I already had! Oh and I must mention..do you all know how super handy and versatile washi tape is?!? You will see how so, below in my pictures! Love me some washi tape!
My materials included: remember most i already had..
1. IKEA shelf
2. Burlap
3. Fall leaf bundle
4. Acrylic paint
5. IKEA picture frame
6. Twine string
7. Gold washi tape!
And of-course scissors.. The vases and pumpkins
It was so exciting bringing a piece of fall into our home, since this is a first for us! I made sure that this task on my ‘to do’ list for the seasons ahead started off well, and I think the shelf looks great! It was great incorporating things I had already that were stored away. With the holidays coming up I want to make sure i get my home up to par! Down here in Florida the weather drops in fall, um.. one degree??lol So, in order to get us in the spirit for a new season our efforts have to be up to speed! I guess that’s a good way of putting it.. Either way, this season i want to make sure fall is felt inside our home if that’s all i can get! The shelf is a start and i can’t wait to add more home decor to suit the season! Fall usually gets me excited for the holidays ahead!! I am already thinking Christmas!! is that even ok?? it is right around the corner after all! None the less, I will give fall the time it deserves until the christmas trees come out! For now, I will make sure my home feels the warmth and coziness of fall, the air a scent of cinnamon and apple pie and that the pumpkins shine brighter in orange than ever! What do you all think of this simple little shelf? I would love your feedback! Any favorite DIY projects this fall??
-Jen ❤
Step one: Getting that black picture frame painted white! I took the glass out first and I used the white acrylic paint i had lying around and painted the picture frame with several coats. I had to take some brakes and wait for the coats to dry a little before adding another coat. After several coats the picture frame was white enough. I then decided to use some pearly white acrylic paint i also had to give the picture frame a tad of shine and a little texture! ( btw, kind of hard to tell in pictures)
Step two: Creating a master piece!! lol, just kidding..well sort of. I gathered some of my material i already had and created a little DIY art work. I took a leaf from the bundle I had used for the wreath, a blank piece of paper, burlap and some washi tape! Below is what i came up! Simple but makes its point!
Bad picture, sorry guys!
Step three: Making a burlap banner..again! can you say, a little obsessed with these?? I used some burlap, washi tape (again!,) twine and white paint for the letters! I chose the word autumn.
Step Four: Giving my vases some spunk with the twine and gathering everything I had to go up on the shelf!
FINAL STEP: Put goodies up on the shelf and ENJOY!
Hope you all enjoy! Lately arts and crafts have become a place for me to escape from the stress of work and something I really happen to enjoy doing! My ideas aren’t extravagant but rather simple. Either way I enjoy them and hope you all do too!
Will you be my Bridesmaid!??That was one of my favorite questions i got asked today. Besides “are you hungry?” lol! In all seriousness, a question like that can make anyone’s day! Especially if its being asked by a special friend that’s so dear to your heart. If you have been reading my blog from the beginning, which i doubt since i think only 10 people did and most were probably my family lol.. Well if you did, you would know that Xavier and I have a mutual friend that means quite a lot to us. Her name is Anita. When i first started blogging, she was one of my very first post, here. In that post i made sure to mention that Anita, Xavier and I all met in nursing school and she soon became Xavier and I’s cupid. Well besides using her beautiful engagement celebration on my blog, it was also a chance to express how dear she is to my heart and how blessed i am to call her my friend.
Today i write about Anita once again, and i couldn’t be more happy to do so. Anita is a person whom i cherish not only as person but as a friend. Even though we don’t see each other daily nor on a weekly basis, she’s a friend that i know will always be there for me. I know this because she always has in the past. As friends that met in nursing school, her and i got to share a huge milestone in our lives together, becoming nurses. There were always challenges.. not only in nursing school but in our daily lives. She was definitely ‘my person’ during those times and i couldn’t have been more grateful for that. We were each other’s cheerleaders when sleep became too little, night’s became too long and when we rocked out exams in nursing school! I will always cherish those memories with her! Did i mention that i met her in orientation while she almost spilled orange juice on me?? lol Well thanks to that orange juice we were inseparable! We pushed each other, we helped each other, we stood up for each other and we made each other laugh when we needed a boost!! And man did we laugh! Till this day, even when we just get to see each other once a month, since sometimes life happens, there is never a dull moment! We can laugh till we wheeze!
So today I said, “I do!!” I said YES to being my beautiful friends bridesmaid! Because I wouldn’t have any other answer but that one. We now share our stories as working nurses, as future wives, and of course of our future as friends! This is yet another moment that we will cherish together and keep in our memories. I couldn’t be more happy for her and her future hubby! I know their future will be full of endless blessings and love! I can’t wait to see her walk next to her hubby as future MR and MRS and i can’t wait to be a part of it! It’s an honor.
So to my dear friend, Thank you! Lets keep on making more memories and laughing till we wheeze! Love you!
MEN TELL ALL!! Yes! I was so excited to share this once i ran into it following some fellow bloggers. It was such a great idea! What is it?? Well the ‘link-up’ is called; ” Blogger men tell all.” It’s basically a way to have our readers get to know the man behind the girl who blogs! Neat right? Well even though I’m a little late, since the ‘link-up’ is the last Tuesday of every month.. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for September’s link up! FYI, we had fun with the question and answer’s! It was funny because once I presented the idea to Xavier, he was so willing to participate. My favorite part had to be having him ask ‘me’ what ‘his’ answers to his questions would be..lol.. Especially in question one. Well he finally figured it out and here it is!
Here’s a little piece of my handsome boyfriend for you all.. Enjoy! ~Xavier
Isn’t he handsome? Love him!
Link-Up #1:
1. If you had a blog what would you call it and what would it be about? It would be called “Experience it with ME.” And it would be about Life, Music and Electronics.
2. If you could live inside any video game, which would it be? “If I could live in any video game which one would it be? WOW!” “World of warcraft. One: its my favorite game of all time. Two: The world in-game is immense, explorable, and interactive. Three: I always wanted to be a warrior that fights giant bosses, kills them for awesome items in order to be and look the best in storm wind! and Four: I get to fly on a unique mount to get from place to place!”
3. Who is your best player on your fantasy football team this season? “I’m not in a fantasy football team this season. I usually do, but not this one.”
4. If you could play for any professional sports team, which would it be? “Whatever team Lebron is in, but if I had to choose one specific.. Id choose the Miami Heat.”
5. What do you typically do with an hour of free time? “Lately, its been playing on my Xbox one, but if not I’d be on my computer that I built.”
-Xavier
Hope you all enjoy and hope you all come back for round two at the end of the month! -Jen ❤
My favorite time of the year is showing up at our door step sooner than I expected.. And… I’m so excited!! Welcoming fall is one of my favorite times of the year, besides Christmas of course. That’s probably because fall reminds me that Christmas is around the corner. Oh, and who doesn’t like a great pumpkin spice latte? Or anything with pumpkin in it for that matter?? In this household, we sure do! Starbucks takes a good chunk of our pay on a regular day. Imagine what it’s going to take around the holidays with all those yummy seasonal flavors?!? We might need a budget soon enough lol. I think I speak for many when I stated that the best part of the year is showing up at our doors very quickly. So I thought, what better way than to welcome fall at our door step with some decorations and a great DIY.. Well fall is literally being welcomed at our “door” step with an exciting entrance! An easy DIY wreath! The best part of it was how easy it was to make and being able to decorate it however you envision it! Oh and did I mention you won’t have to pay a crazy $50 dollars on these online websites?! Score! I’m extremely excited to share a piece of my happiness of this DIY wreath with you all. Below I tried to capture a step by step of my masterpiece for you all! Enjoy and let your creativity run wild!
My basic materials included the following, which I purchased at my local Michael’s Arts & Craft’s store:
1) Burlap ribbon (There’s a big variety in colors, so choose your favorite!)
2) Wire wreath
3) Floral wire & Tacky Glue
5) Fall decor (mine included some fall leaves and small pumpkins, orange ribbon for the bow, different color burlap for the banner triangles and twine string)
First, I grabbed my wire wreath and burlap and began the process of threading in the burlap to make it look full. I found this great tutorial online Burlapwreath.com which demonstrated the threading of the burlap into the wire wreath in such an easy and step by step manner that it was my way to go and tutorial of choice. It was simple and to the point! Just what I needed after some confusion on how the heck I was going to get the burlap to look pretty on the wire wreath!lol I tried taking some good pictures of the steps too, I hope they help. Long behold, STEP ONE:
Here was the start once I got the hang of it. Below you will see some of the wire wreath show, don’t worry you’ll be able to ‘fluff’ it up after you are done.
Below, was after I ran out of the first roll of Burlap and had to tie in the following. These pictures will give you an idea of how to start applying the burlap onto the wire wreath. I helped secure each beginning burlap roll with some of the floral wire.
THE FINAL Stage of the Burlap wreath and how I finished it off is below. After the last 3 loops were in place, I flipped the wire wreath to the back side, twisted the end of the burlap and made a secure knot tied into the actual wreath to secure it in place.
Step two: consisted of decorating and making a small bow I came up with. This is your chance to be creative and decorate as you please! We are not big on the whole “Halloween” concept, so we went for..FALL! =)
I literally used the floral wire for everything and having everything stick! Worked like a charm!
Here is my attempt on the bow and my cute little burlap banner and some paint to write on each individual triangle!
There you have it… MY very own DIY wreath! The best part about it is that it’s my own.. and I spent the time making our home ready to welcome this new season at our very own ‘Door’ step! What are your favorite DIY’s bringing in the new seasons?
We finally have an update for you all on our fitness/healthy challenge! In the beginning of August we shared with you all that our lifestyle was slacking a bit in regards to being healthy and challenging our bodies to be better and healthy for us! Well, I think we are happy to share with you all that we have pretty much stuck to our goals. We are so very proud of ourselves that we have been working towards a better us, a better lifestyle and healthier choices. In August, we shared with you all a handful of specific goals Here to get us started on our journey.
Since then, we definitely have been trying to meet all of them on our list to our best capabilities. We have been very successful at cooking more at home and eating out less. Eating out lately has been more of a treat for us from time to time, rather than an everyday thing. It really has been better, not only for our health but also financially and for our relationship. We get to work together more often in the kitchen and do things together. One of our most exciting things now come dinner time is to GRILL! Yes! we bought a grill and it was so exciting for us lol. We grill just about anything we can find and can go in our lovely grill! The food taste so much better and we get more excited to eat at home. Plus, it makes food so much healthier! Goals one and two of eating cleaner and eating in more are getting checked off the list for sure!
Goals; three, four and five were more for us outside of our home and they all have been just as successful. Some are more limiting at times, like including more outdoor activities into our schedule. But for the most part, the chances we have had, we have taken the opportunities to do so ( like our kayaking adventures mentioned here and here.) Going to the gym was also a main priority for us, especially since it had been such a big part of who we were before we started slacking. We have been very good in keeping up with the gym for sure. After work we make it a priority to make it to cross-fit at 8pm, which is the last class. At the beginning it was definitely challenging, taking into consideration we are so tired from our 12 hour shifts. But we fought through it and now it’s a lot easier to actually make it to class.
All in all, I am proud of our efforts in sticking to our challenge. October is right around the corner, which was our original beginning goal, and I am certain we will have our goals met. We are on the right path and its keeping us motivated. This challenge was not to be hard-core organic or hardcore body builders. But it was most certainly to be more healthier and to get us out of falling into a sedentary lifestyle. We feel healthier, our clothes are fitting us better and we are seeing the results. It feels great! ..Don’t get me wrong, due to our jobs inconsistent schedules, we at times run late and don’t make it to our workouts, but we make sure to go another day in the week. We also treat ourselves to some good comfort foods from time to time and enjoy a good dessert! We just don’t do it as often! Or.. we make up for it in another way by cutting some other foods out.
Our Fitness/Healthy challenge has been a journey for sure, but a journey we are making sure stays in our lives until we can’t anymore. We are loving the idea of creating new foods, or at least trying new foods and incorporating them into our daily menus. We feel better, we are getting results, and we are still motivated to keep going. That’s really all I could wish for or even ask for in order for us to keep going. We will keep updating you all from time to time on our healthy challenges! Again, any questions and or suggestions are always welcome! Motivation from others is always helpful!
Thanks for the support always!
❤ Jen and X.
Below are some our favorite dishes lately, whether we created or re-created and our new grill and cross-fit gym! (p.s Im not a cross fit junky lol) Enjoy!
gracefulfillinglife.com 