A Little Bit About Me

So, I have been blogging for about 9 months now, and I have loved it everyday.  I love reading new blogs and sharing my thoughts and opinions, there are some many amazing people out there that the blog world allows you to interact with.  Crazy!  I'm really trying to expand my blog right now, and I have recently decided to work with  Wacky Jacqui's Designs to have my own personalized layout.  I finally found some time to contact her today, and I can't wait to see how it will turn out.  So stay tuned for a new look!

I decided to share a bit more about myself today, because I like to know a little bit about the bloggers I follow, so I figured you might too :)

1. I'm a nursing student living in downtown Chicago, and I am currently in my last year of undergrad!  Woo-hoo!  Although I complain about school all the time, I actually really do like being a student, and I know I am going to love being a nurse.  

2. Come winter break, I am going to be applying to grad school.  Ahhh, scary I know.  I'm applying for a double masters in Women's Health and Midwifery, which has been my passion all my life!  I remember when I was really young seeing a TV show where triplets were born, and my obsession began!  My Barbies, my doll house people...they were regularly pregnant and giving birth (or what my idea of all this was).  It's stuck with me ever since, and I can't wait to start this journey.  

3. I have a secret (or...maybe not so secret) love for interior design.  A lot of my blog is about inspirational design that I find, because it is the only place I can share these beautiful pictures.  I think it is so fun to transform a plain room into a beautiful place to be, and you can constantly change it as your loves change.  You can design beautifully on any budget, you just have to be willing to work hard at it.   

4. Coming from my love of interior design, I have recently taken to painting furniture.  I love all things white, and over the summer, I began to take this love and put it to work.  I found several old pieces of furniture (Goodwill, some laying around the house, some even garbaged picked) and transformed them to work for me.  Feel free to scroll through my older posts to see some of the transformations, and I have a few more to share!

Well...that's just a little bit about me.  I hope you continue to enjoy my postings, and as always, I love new followers.  Thank you for taking time to stop by!

xoxo, Erin

Friday Follow

I'm participating in another blog hop today!  I had so much fun doing the one yesterday, and found some wonderful new blogs to follow, and have some awesome new followers!  I think this is such a wonderful idea!

Welcome new readers, I'm so excited to have you here!

Blog Hop

Today I am participating in my first blog hops.  I have been writing my blog for a while now, and am looking to gain some new followers.  Right now, my blog is a mismatch of stuff, from decorating, to party planning, crafts, school...and more.  I would really love to expand what I am doing, because I love reading other's blogs so much.


For some reason, I cannot get the Acting Balanced blog hop button or her regular blog button to work on my page right now, I keep re-coping and re-pasting it, but it doesn't work.  Here is the link to her page to join in on the fun:
Acting Balanced

Lately, I have added a lot of "mommy blogs" to my reading list, which may seem strange to a lot of you.  I'm a 21-year old who is not pregnant and I do not have any children.  However, within the next 6 months, I will be applying to grad school, and am applying for a double master's degree in Women's Health and Midwifery.  Women's health, and the process of pregnancy, labor and delivery have been my passion for as long as I can remember, and I can't wait to start school again to be able to do exactly what I want to do.  I have started following some mommy blogs because I think it is great for me to hear real mom's reviews of products, breastfeeding, and just to hear what has been working or not working for them.  Eventually, I will be working a lot with pregnant women and new moms, and I think it is great to be able to make product recommendations based on what other real moms have experienced.  

Anyways, I would love to expand my reader base, so hop and board and follow me along my adventure!  I have begun to get a few offers to do reviews and giveaways, but I feel to be fair to the company, I need to gain some more followers first.  So welcome, I hope you enjoy!!

xoxo, Erin

Some Special Thanks

I have won a few giveaways lately, and I can't tell you how excited that made me!  I feel like I enter them all the time, and within the last month, I actually won 3!  So exciting.  I just wanted to give a special thank you to the women who hosted these giveaways:

I won the Smart Cups from Lipo in a Box from Life with the Lebedas. 

I received my prize last week, and have used it several times.  Thanks again!!

I won the Striking Skincare giveaway from Mommy's "Free" Time.

I also received my prize in the mail last week, but have been waiting to use it until I finish my current product.  But its sitting on my nightstand and I can't wait to try it!

Finally, I won a Phubby from Still Blonde After All These Years Blogmania giveaway.

Still haven't received this one yet, but I can't wait for it to come.

Thanks again for hosting these wonderful giveaways!

Nightstand

Holy cow...can you believe it is almost the end of September? I certainly can't. School is actually flying by, but its keeping me constantly busy. Next week is my last week on my psychiatric floor rotation, then I'm on to pediatrics for the rest of the semester. I must say I cannot wait!

So for a while now, I've been saying how I did all these DIY's this summer, but I keep forgetting to post pictures. Well...here is one of my favorite projects from the summer.

Before:

I picked up this little guy at Goodwill for $4.99.  As soon as I saw it, I was ecstatic.  I have been seeing posts everywhere of beautiful drop-leaf tables used as nightstands, and I wanted to make one of my own.  It was actually in decent condition, just a little sanding was needed on top.  I also found this lamp at Goodwill for cheap too, and knew it would be the perfect lamp for atop my new night stand.

And the after:

A few coats of primer and some white paint, and this baby looks brand new!  I took apart the lamp and spray painted the gold bottom black, and with that lampshade from HomeGoods, it looks brand new!  The plate and silver candle holder are Goodwill finds, and the pink bowl with the decorative glass balls are from Homegoods.  I keep a basket underneath to keep all my toiletries like contacts solution, glasses, etc.  So now I have my own pretty little nightstand :)

Escape!

I wish I could escape to this tree house right now and be in my own little world for a while. I've been having a rough couple of days, and those bright quilts hidden among a forest with an unexpected tree house sounds pretty perfect to me right about now.

Image via Bloomingdale's Lookbook via Elle Decor

Halloween

This year, I've been really dying to host a Halloween party. This summer when I would stop in at Goodwill, I would find so many cheap things that I thought could be transformed to make the greatest Halloween decor, so since then I've been burning to have one. Unfortunately, I have a huge exam the Monday after, so its probably not going to happen. :( I was looking tonight through some of Martha Stewart's Halloween decorations, and found some fabulous place settings.

I think this last one would be better for a fall dinner party than for Halloween, but I love the white pumpkins. These pictures are making me want to host a party so badly! I'll have to try to figure something out.

All images via Martha Stewart

Lightening

I'm sitting in the kitchen on my apartment right now looking at the crazy lightening storm outside. There is some occasional thunder but no rain yet...just tons of lightening. It is making me miss the summer night when we sat outside in my friend's garage for hours and just watched the storm and talked. It's a perfect night to curl up and be lazy. Whats your favorite thing to do when its storming and you've got nothing to do?

Image via

Candice Olson

In my further attempts to procrastinate everything related to school, I found myself wandering around aimlessly online, just clicking here and there. I wound up on HGTV's website, where of course I had to check on Candice Olson's page (my favorite...as you know). I have now found myself dreaming about some of her beautiful bedroom transformations, wishing my room as school was half as cozy as these.

I love the brown pattern everywhere-on the curtains, the pillows, and the carpet. And that chair is fantastic. I'm really liking mirrored furniture lately, maybe this will have to be a consideration for the future (if i could learn to deal with fingerprints...)

I would cozy up by that fireplace and lounge the day away (maybe actually doing some hmwk)

Love the chairs. I think grey is such a soothing color, perfect for a bedroom!

Me wants that carpet!

Ugh...who wouldn't kill to have a master bedroom like this. Its HUGE!

Everything is so beautiful. So tell me...whats your favorite part of your own bedroom, or whats one thing you would change?

All images via HGTV (Candice Olson)

Needing to Study

Today I could really use a room like this and a big comfy chair so that I can curl up and actually get some studying done. I have my first exam of the semester tomorrow, and I'm totally unmotivated right now! But I think this little understated library is quite the beauty...maybe it would inspire me to get something done. So for now, I'm off to work, but I hope to have pics of a DIY project up tonight :)

Enjoy your sweet Sunday.

Image via Traditional Home.

Can't Resist

One more because I simply can't resist. Seriously one of my favorite pictures for a bathroom I've ever seen. I'm dying.

Via Lonny

Lonny!

I woke up this morning to a nice surprise in my inbox...my email from Lonny! I've only had time to start looking at the magazine, but as I sit here tonight and watch Grey's Anatomy I'm looking through the archives of pictures, saving many of them for my "future" files. Here are some of my favs:

I love the punches of pink, and the grey sofa and ottoman! And check out that beautiful carpet!

I love the mantel! Again, the pink candlesticks are perfect, and those candlestick holders are just stunning!

Love everything here...check out those lamps! Love the pillows, the floral prints chairs, and the blue zebra ottomans! I'm really likin' that coffee table too, and the books neatly stacked up. I'm not sure if I would like that look in my own house because I like a little cleaner look, but its perfect here.

Not much to say about this besides complete perfection!!

Blue and white looks so pretty together, especially in this room. And I am completing adoring that mirror behind the dining room table!!

I can never get enough white!

Sorry for the picture overload...and that was just the living room section. If you haven't seen Lonny yet...what are you waiting for?!?

All images via Lonny

Candice :)

It's no secret that I absolutely love Candice Olson. Seriously, love. I just recently got DVR, and I have every episode of Divine Design recording whenever it is on. Great thing for me to watch at night before I fall asleep. I just came across a few images of hers, and they have left me stunned as always.

Hello beautiful! I love all the mirrored glass, it looks so elegant. I think this would be the most stunning dressing table.

Welcome to my dining room...I WISH! Black and white are my favorite colors together, and I love when dark furniture is mixed with light furniture. I think it brings such depth to the room. I love the wingback chairs at the ends of the dining table, and that chandelier is simply divine :)

Images via

Drooling...

I'm sure most of you have seen this image from House Beautiful, but this tablescape by Marchesa is leaving me drooling.

Via House Beautiful

Seriously, I'm dying right now. I love the pink flowers mixed with the blues and browns of the china, and I love the different heights all the floral arrangements take on. So beautiful. I have had a stack of magazines sitting on my desk that I have been needing to read, and finally got some time over this past week. This image is certainly the winner of them all!

This one is my other favorite, its making me sad for summer already. Here in Chicago we have had an unexpectedly chilly few days, its only 50-something degrees right now. Yesterday I even had to wear jeans and a sweater to dinner. So this beautiful outdoor seating area designed by Kristen Ewart makes me want those warm summer days back.

Via House Beautiful

I just adore that tablecloth, and I love the white patio furniture with the thick pink cushions. Looks like any girl's outdoor spot of heaven if you ask me :)

Dinner from Last Night and a DIY Makeover

So I made the dinner last night that I posted about here and mm mmm mmm was it delicious! I basically did everything the recipe said, except that I didn't use an entire onion because that seemed like it would be a bit much. I had the leftovers for dinner tonight, and it was actually almost better! (and this is shocking if you know me because I am not a leftovers person). The flavors must have just mixed more and it gave it a little bit of a kick, it was amazing. I would definitely recommend it, and will definitely be making it again!

Before the school year started and before I moved into my new apartment, I mentioned that I was doing a ton of DIYs that I have been planning to share, but haven't quite gotten around to it yet. The only one I did manage so far was the bar cart. Anyways, because I am being extremely lazy with schoolwork again tonight, I decided its time for another reveal. Of course I forgot to take before pictures, but I want to show you anyways because I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

I found this chair at Goodwill for $4.99 and was so excited because I was looking for a desk chair with a pretty back. I was originally planning on using it as a nightstand on one side of my bed for some magazines/books and a pretty vase, but alas, it didn't quite fit the way I planned, and I wouldn't really have been able to see it. I decided instead that I will actually use it for my desk chair. When I bought it, it had a very dark stain and was quite beat up with a coffee-stained seat. When I took the seat off to recover it with some new fabric, I saw to my surprise that this was the 4th time the chair had been reupholstered. Yes...4th. So this chair has definitely gotten a lot of love.

I ordered the fabric from Tonic Living after being unable to find what I was looking for at the fabric stores around my house, and was thrilled with what I got. Besides this pattern, I ordered a few other fabrics that I fell in love with and couldn't choose between, so now I have them on-hand for future projects. If you've never checked out their website before and are in need of fabric...go now! They have some really beautiful designs!

I really loved the design on the back and the details on the front legs. It goes perfectly with my new desk (pictures to come hopefully next week!) Excuse my lovely background and the darkness, its quite a gloomy night here in Chicago. Hope you're having a great evening!!

Plan for Tonight

Its only Wednesday? This week has been seriously exhausting! I'm still not totally used to being back in school, and then having two days of clinicals kicked my butt. Like I said before, I'm on an adult psychiatric unit this semester, and its very tough to deal with. We've all heard about people with diseases such as schizophrenia or bipolar, but I've never actually known anyone with these disorders. Talking to these people and listening to their stories at the hospital is really eye-opening, and has given me a whole new perspective on things. So tomorrow is Thursday, meaning I don't have class! woo! Here's my plan for tonight:

Take a trek to UPS to pick up my package since I missed them early today. I finally bought:

Yes, yes, I finally gave in and bought it. For some reason, I usually don't buy books, but I couldn't resit any more. Can't wait to finally get my hands on my own copy. After the trip to UPS will follow:

A delish dinner. I get almost daily emails from Kraft with dinner ideas, and this one has been sitting in my inbox for a few weeks and I've been dying to try it. It's called Capellini Caprese and you can get the recipe here. I'll let you know how it is tomorrow!

And finally, my roomie and I planning on having a totally lazy night and watching my favorite movie ever.

Titanic! I can't wait. I hope everyone else is having an equally relaxing night!