Five on Friday - Favorites

It’s been another productive week!  We have a couple of extra fun things on tap for this weekend so I’m ready to get it started!

But first, some favorites!

O N E – Valentine’s Day Decorations

Earlier this week I posted about our Valentine’s Day decorations, and I completely forgot to photograph my coffee bar.  It’s nothing extravagant, but I did want to document all of these cutesy mugs that are perfect for the LOVE holiday.  If you missed the post, you can see it here!

T W O – Returning to My Tried and True Mascara

My go-to mascara for the last decade has always been Cover Girl Lash Blast Volume.  Well, I decided to try something new a few months back (Cover Girl Super Sizer Fibers) and I was very disappointed.  Not one to waste money, I used it in its entirety and then had every intention to switch back to my tried and true, but the Cover Girl Full Lash Bloom caught my eye at Target, so I decided to try it instead.  Y’all, it was severely disappointing, but I went ahead and used all of it as well.  (I guess I could have just returned the ones I didn’t like… not sure why I didn’t.)  Well, I finally finished the tube yesterday and I immediately made the switch back to my beloved Lash Blast Volume.  Y’all, I’m never straying from it again!  Gracious, it’s amazing!  And I have definitely learned my lesson… I’ll be sticking to what I know and love from here on out.  My thick, long eyelashes will thank me for it.  ;o)

T H R E E – The Weather

We have had an extremely cold winter this season, and I have actually mostly enjoyed it, but I’m starting to get pretty sick of it at this point.  Well, this week we have had highs in upper sixties to mid seventies almost every day and it has been glorious!  Granted there were a couple of rainy days thrown in, but on the sunny days we took full advantage of it!  We did lots of playing in the back yard and Jacob and I even got to squeeze in a nice, long walk.  I think Maui was even more excited than we were!  She always misses her walks during the winter! 

Oh, and speaking of Jacob, I posted a Things Jacob Says post this week, and it is hilarious.  Give it a read if you didn't already!

F O U R – The Great Purge of 2018 Continues…

Yep, I’m about to give you yet another update on the great purge of 2018!  Y’all, it is going SO well.  And I’m honestly at the point where I just want to be done with my office so I think it’s making me be even more ruthless which is a good thing. 

This week I tackled my old school papers, report cards, awards, and other memories leftover from my school years.  My “To File” pile has also been out of control for over a year, so I whittled away at that until everything was either put out for recycling, shredded, or filed.  Then I also started cleaning out my old “Pretty Things” files.  You may have seen this on Instagram stories already, but in case you missed it, here’s a little fun fact about me.  Before Pinterest was around, I kept file folders for pretty things that I would see in magazines.  I would tear them out and file them different categories.  I had files for fashion ideas, home ideas, ideas for the kids, recipes, work outs, and so on.  It has basically been like a tangible version of Pinterest right in my file cabinet.  So you can probably imagine how ecstatic I was when Pinterest was started.  (And MAN, I don’t know why I didn’t just think of Pinterest myself!  Sheesh!)  But anyhoo, now that Pinterest is here, I no longer need my paper files, so I got rid of loads of them this week, too.  I did keep a few things that I loved but 90% of it is GONE!  And y’all, I have been doing this since I was probably eight years old so you can imagine how huge my files were!!  And if you don't already follow me on Pinterest, you can find me here!  :o)

So the office is coming along but there’s still a long way to go.  So far the following things have been done:

Bookshelves – cleaned out, dusted, rearranged for maximum functionality, updated picture frames with new pictures

Craft table – cleaned out, rearranged everything in drawers and shelves to meet my current needs

Desk – cleaned out, wiped down, rearranged for maximum functionality

Storage cubes next to desk – cleaned out, reorganized, added “daily box” to the top

Walls – took down a bunch of pieces I was no longer loving, added a couple of pieces to my Timeline Gallery Wall

Closet – cleaned out all old memory boxes, purged LOADS of old stuff, organized remaining memories in three storage containers and labeled them by stages of life – birth through junior high, high school through college, and adulthood. 

You guys, when I started this purge, I had 23 boxes that were slightly larger than shoe boxes PLUS three large storage boxes PLUS one gigantic storage box, so the fact that everything now just fits in those three large storage boxes is a HUGE deal.  #PattingMyselfOnTheBack  #SoMuchRoomInMyOfficeCloset

And here’s what’s left to do in my office:

-          Patch holes in walls from old nails

-          Clean out huge three-drawer file cabinet and reorganize papers to keep (this is a big job, y’all.  It’s going to take forever.)

-          Get rid of old huge file cabinet and replace with a smaller one

-          Paint small file cabinet (it’s B’s old one and I want it to be white)

-          Finish organizing old photos (I just found a pile that I had never organized)

-          Relabel all drawers and boxes appropriately since so much stuff was moved around

-          Finish ripping old CDs and sell (this will take a fair amount of time as well)

-          Make a 2018 calendar for my office with Shutterfly (I’m SO behind this year!)

Looks like I have my work cut out for me… and after I’m done with all of that, it’ll be time to move on to the rest of the house!  Eek!

F I V E – Christmas Card Storage

My friend Emily over at ALittle Bit of Emily posted about her Christmas card storage this week and she inspired me to finally get my past Christmas cards organized.  I have had this on my to do list for probably five years, and seeing her post this week was the kick in the pants I needed to finally get it done!  So far I’ve only done five year’s worth, but it’s coming along and I’ll hopefully be done soon.  And the most exciting part is that it will be so fun to store them in a pretty basket during the Christmas season later this year!

Well, was that long enough for ya?  I hope you all have wonderful weekends!  We have some fun things in store, so I’m sure we will! 

Happy Friday!

*Linking up with A Liz Adventures and Carolina Charm for Five on Friday, A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites,  September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for Oh Hey, Friday, Meet @ the Barre for Friday Favorites, and Cup of Tea for High Five for Friday.