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sharing my love for swedish organization

Published on January 16, 2017January 17, 2017 by blonde rosieLeave a comment

I went to Sweden!

Okay, just kidding… I went to Ikea!

Ikea’s philosophy is when you make room for organization, you make room for a better start to your day. In 2017, I think we can all make room for better days.

Last week I started a new series on the blog called “#goals”. We all create resolutions in the new year and create goals for ourselves, but do we actually keep them after February? Every week I want to update you all One of my biggest goals that I have every year is to clean my house and declutter my life. Last week I started a Home Organization Challenge on Facebook and started with the kitchen.

Last week my family and I went to Ikea for a day trip. I love Ikea because everything in the store is made to create an organized home. If you know me at all, you will know that I love everything in my life to be organized. Now that doesn’t mean everything in my life is always organized either (currently staring at a chair in my room covered in clean laundry that still has to be put away). I was walking through the store and I kept gasping with things I *needed*. My mom kept saying I was having an “O O” or an Organization Orgasm LOL GUYS, I just really like to have a clean and organized home. While I was there I picked up a few things to help me in my Home Organization Challenge. You can’t have an organized home without the right tools and a plan.

You can have a big kitchen or a little kitchen, but if you don’t have a proper organization system, your kitchen will always be a mess. When I was at Ikea we picked up some drawer organizers and I immediately rushed home to organize the drawers. Everything has a place in the kitchen. Doesn’t this drawer look so much more organized? Even the junk drawer is organized (ish).

I swear one of my favorite hobbies is cleaning my kitchen. I usually spend two to three hours cleaning it. Yes, I am that crazy! But now that I spent all last week cleaning, organizing and purging my kitchen, my weekly clean up will be a lot easier. Everything has its own place in the kitchen. If it didn’t fit, I donated it or moved it to another place.

While I was cleaning and taking every thing out of the cabinets, I also collected Christmas and summer kitchen items and put them in their proper boxes downstairs in the basement. It’s something that always happens every year as the holidays go by and we forget to put away kitchen items, but once I put everything in its proper place I found a lot more room in the cabinets. Who knew under the kitchen storage could look so organized?? This organizer came from the dollar store, so if you can’t get to an Ikea you should go to the dollar store to pick up some storage containers.

This week I am continuing the Home Organization Challenge and working on my pantry. I just cleaned and organized it in September, so I am sure this will be an easy week. The pantry in our kitchen is big and it is where everything just gets thrown in when we want to clean the house quickly. But after I created a new organization system in the pantry last fall, it is very easy to tidy it up a bit every few weeks.

Let me know if you are joining me in the home organization challenge and know how your progress is going in the comments!

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Published on December 31, 2016December 31, 2016 by blonde rosieLeave a comment

I have never been a big fan of New Years Eve and have spent the last few years in bed watching When Harry Met Sally with a glass (bottle) of wine. The last few weeks I have been busy at work, working both jobs seven days a week, spending all of my free time shopping for presents and then staying up late to wrap. Christmas was a very somber day in my house. It was just my parents and I, and without little kids around the house the day loses its magic. I had a few days off for my birthday and Christmas, and for the first time in months I was able to sit and do nothing. My body would not let me sleep and I was a little restless lounging around on the couch all day. I am used to doing laundry, reorganizing drawers or purging my closet on a day off, but I forced myself to lay on the couch and watch Gilmore Girls for hours. It was harder to do than it sounds, I promise!!

A few days of doing nothing made me appreciate doing nothing. I need to schedule doing more of it during the months ahead. With my anxiety and mental health, I work best when my schedule is constantly booked and I have a million things to do. But in 2017 I need to have more lazy days to sit around with dirty hair in a sloppy bun and fun pajamas. During my hours of Netflix binge watching, I had time to reflect on the past year. A lot of these memories are hard to relive, but I am happy they are in the past and a new year is beginning.

2016 was the year of postponing my own happiness. 2015 was a year of accomplishments and chapters in my life ending. 2016 had so much to offer, but instead, I put a pause on my life to take care of others. I do not regret the decisions I made, but I hope in the next year I can start to make some decisions of my own. For months I kept telling myself that I will start working on my career later, or start to build friendships when I had more time, or start to date again when I was in a better mental state. I went through so much pain, worry and difficult times this past year. But now that I can sit around with my family in our newly renovated house, and I know that everyone is happy and where they need to be. Of course when I write this my dad is recovering from surgery from earlier in the week. I hope that 2016 brings good health to my family, because I do not think I can go to a hospital one more time! I have also learned that if I can make it through this year, I can make it through anything. I don’t have a lot of career victories or life accomplishments this year. I just quit my job and got a part time job in retail while working at a college office a few days a week to pay the bills. I went to college hoping to get a degree in something that will let me help people. But now in the real world I realize that financially I am not able to get a job in social services and still be able to pay rent. Hopefully this will be the year that I move out of my parents house and unpack boxes labeled “future apartment”.

The one good thing about a new year, is that it gives us this time to reflect on the past year, see what we want to change and find ways to improve our life. Cheers to 2016!

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year! I started this blog over a year ago because I was bored and needed a hobby. My parents still don’t understand how this thing works!! Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and like my photos on social media. I hope my life adventures have encouraged you to go to Target because you saw something I found or you like an outfit I posted. I know that we are all on similar paths and journeys, and I hope my posts give you some inspiration. Love ya lots!

xoxo,

Rosie

Mother’s Day Gift Guide

Published on April 27, 2016May 19, 2016 by blonde rosieLeave a comment

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Mother’s Day Gift Guide by justarose featuring a drink cup holder

It is almost Mother’s Day so be sure to start finding unique gifts to remind your mom how much you love and appreciate her! Don’t forget a card! It is best to start shopping now instead of the Saturday before when all of the cards are gone at Target and there is nothing but leftover St. Patrick’s Day decor! It will be here before you know it.

My mom loves William’s Sonoma so I try to go in and get her something little since I cannot afford anything in that store! My go to is kitchen dish towels and they are almost always on clearance. Also, you can’t go wrong with one of their mugs! You can also ask them to gift wrap it with tissue and ribbon- free of charge!
My family is slowly getting away from using plastic water bottles so a Swell water bottle is the perfect gift for at work and the gym. It keeps beverages cold all day and is so cute!
An easy gift is an Alex & Ani bracelet because it allows for a personal and thoughtful touch! And a girl can never have too many!
My mom LOVES flowers in the home. But because to keep up with fresh, live flowers is so time consuming and expensive we have a lot of fake flowers around the house. If you buy good ones they look just like the real thing! And no mess of having to throw dead flowers out at the end of the week. At Marshalls or TJ Maxx you can purchase a vase with fake flowers that look so real! Target also has some more fancy ones but are a little more pricey.
It is a nice thoughtful gift that literally lasts foreverrrr.

My families Mothers Day tradition is to go to the flower nursery because it is something my mom did with her mom when she was an adult. We buy our flowers for the summer as a family and spend the afternoon gardening outside. It is a lovely tradition but also makes us productive. The end result is a house surrounded by beautiful flowers grown with love.
What are some traditions you and your family do?

Breakfast Nook

Published on April 26, 2016May 19, 2016 by blonde rosie1 Comment

When the weather starts to get warmer the furniture in my house gets rearranged. A lot. One of my favorite summer rooms is our breakfast room in our parlor. In the winter, it’s a library and rarely used. In the summer, it’s a room that receives the best sunlight from the windows so it’s no question it’s my favorite room in the house. I am looking forward to many meals in our new eating area nook!

Over the weekend we moved our drop leaf table out of our old tv room and into the parlor. When it comes to decorating it’s best to keep it simple because it will primarily be used for eating. The chairs are Ralph Lauren we found at a Goodwill for cheap! Hopefully in the next few weeks flowers will start popping up so I can decorate this space with fresh flowers. I was reading a lot of Southern Living magazine getting inspiration and asking myself WWCJD (What Would Chip & JoJo Do?). Slightly obsessed with the show Fixer Upper can ya tell?! Instead of going out to buy items I am just shopping our closet because we already have the rustic items but now we have new inspiration for them!

I took the wrapped up twigs out of our winter decor box and put them on the table to create a rustic look. It is old from Pottery Barn but we still use it every year! The twine spools with scissors are an item I picked up at Magnolia Market while I was in Texas. If you have anyone in your life that likes to sew, this is a perfect gift! On Sunday, my family and I went to the new Whole Foods in town and I found this succulent that I neeeeeded! It was also just $3 so if I kill it, I won’t feel that bad!

This is definitely a space you will see a lot in photos this summer!

Spending the day with Chip & Joanna at Magnolia Market

Published on April 21, 2016April 21, 2016 by blonde rosie1 Comment

On a Saturday a few months ago I woke up really sick and was confined to the couch all day with a box of tissues. I put on HGTV and started an all day binge watch of the HGTV show Fixer Upper. After just one episode I fell in love with the show. When our family trip to Texas was getting closer I started planning the sites to see and things to do. Texas is a very large state. I mean like it is a few hour drive or a plane ride to get to another city large! In New Jersey, in an hour you can be in NYC or Philadelphia! We had to be strategic and smart with our sightseeing while in Texas. But then I remembered that Fixer Upper was filmed in Waco, Texas. I started to do some research and learned it was only a two hour drive from where we were staying.

On a rainy and chilly Wednesday we got in the car and started our drive to Waco, Texas. More specifically, we were on our way to Magnolia Market, the shop that the Fixer Upper co-stars own and work at on the show.

While I was there I “checked in” on Facebook and a lot of friends were intrigued and jealous! I thought I would share some photos of Magnolia Market with you along with what I purchased and some items on my wishlist! Continue reading “Spending the day with Chip & Joanna at Magnolia Market” →

Published on March 18, 2016March 18, 2016 by blonde rosieLeave a comment

currently-reading

Call me crazy but I love to read for pleasure. In college I spent too many hours reading hundreds of pages of research, articles and books for classes. In the summer I would have a book with me constantly and living on the beach makes the best place to read.

But now that I am out of school and I have no deadlines to read a 300 page book by the end of the week, Netflix in bed is a lot more tempting than reading before bed. I have so many books started but no interest to finish them. But lately I picked up a book and could not put it down!

I am currently obsessed with The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. It is an easy read with a mystery that doesn’t get solved until the last few pages. It is definitely a page turner! And good news, the movie comes out in October so here is the deadline to finish it by if you are one of those people that NEEDS to read the book before seeing the movie like I am!