As of lately...

What a busy week or two I've had!  Obviously getting ready for the school year as I've said before has kept me busy but also this past weekend had a lot going on.

I've been playing around more with Instagram, so here is my life from the past week or two via my Instagram pictures!

I picked these up from the new Sugarland bakery in Cameron Village on a date night with the hubby. The one on the left is chocolate chip pumpkin and the other is chocolate peanut butter cup. Yummy!

Photo by Heather Griffin

This past Saturday, my mom and I held our tradition of going to Lazy Daze in Cary.  It's a once a year festival in downtown Cary that has local vendors selling all sorts of things.  Below is a picture that I took of a lovely building and also a bracelet that I picked up from local jewelry designer, Designs by Rego.  I got one from them a few years ago that I wear all the time.  I was also hungry and picked up some Hot Pepper Jelly!

Photo by Heather Griffin

Photo by Heather Griffin

Photo by Heather Griffin

 Then afterwards, Josh came home and told me to get in the car because we were going shopping (this NEVER happens!).  We ended up at Best Buy and bought this little toy! The new IPAD with a pretty cover.  He will now use our laptop for school work and so I'll use this for the main things that I do.  I have trouble putting it down...

Photo by Heather Griffin

I've also downloaded an app recently that I'm in love with called POST.  It's from the designers at Gadabout which I also love browsing at.  Below are my new iphone and ipad wallpapers that I created with it.

I hope you're all having a great week!

This Week...

I hope y'all are having a wonderful week! We watched the "family" dog (Brewster) for a few days while my family was on vacation this past weekend. We've really enjoyed having him with us.  They live an hour away from us now so I don't get to see him as much. We had a showing for the house Saturday morning so after tidying up a bit we went to visit my grandparents and let Brewster play with their dog.  Then Sunday was a pretty laid back day with some cooking, watching the PGA championship and then the Olympics closing ceremony.

Brewster going for a ride... he was licking his lips but it looks like he has on lipstick! ha, photo by Heather Griffin

Loving car rides, Photo by Heather Griffin

Monday and Tuesday wasn't all too exciting.  I took care of errands and what not then met friends out for a little while in the evenings.  Yesterday was the last day of break for the hubby who starts grad school today, then we both start back to work on Friday.  We wanted to spend the day doing something different and fun so we took our time getting ready and then headed to the NC Art Museum and tried out lunch at Iris.  I had the chicken salad (peach and bbq) which was great and then had watermelon sorbet for dessert which I don't know if I liked or not.  Afterwards, we walked around the museum, admiring all the artifacts and artwork.  I don't think too many people know this but I really love museums.  Seeing something that was created and/or used so long ago and with such talent really amazes me.

Yummy chicken salad, photo by Heather Griffin

Iris, photo by Heather Griffin

We finished the day off with dinner with friends which is always fun.  As you can also see, I've been playing around with Instagram.  For some reason I don't think it's the easiest app to use on my phone but I guess I've just got to get use to it.  For today, I plan to just hang out at home.  I'm not feeling well whatsoever and have to get better for tomorrow!  Hope you have a great Thursday and have some exciting plans for the weekend!

Words to Live By

Turning to meaningful words can help give me strength and remind me of what I believe in, who I am and who I want to be.  These particular words are helping me today.

Sunday Shares

I hope you all had a great weekend!  I just got in from a long walk with the Josh and am now catching up on the Olympics.  The athletes competing are such an inspiration and shows what true hard work and dedication can accomplish!

So this will be my last full week off before going back to work to start another school year.  I can't believe how fast the summer has gone by!  In preparation, I decided that I needed a new planner.  I'm a bit obsessed with planners and have tried several different kinds throughout the years of being a student and then a teacher.  It's something that I use all the time so it's really necessary to have one that I can easily write things in and refer back to.  I really like the ones that are bound rather than spiral.  I find they tend to last better throughout all the use and me shoving it in my tote bag or purse.  It also has to have monthly and weekly pages as well as note pages.  So, I headed over to Barnes and Noble to check out what they had in stock and ended up getting this one.  The hubby laughed at me for how long I deliberated over which one to get.  This one has what I was looking for and the price was great compared to other bound, leather planners.

Gallery Leather Weekly Desk Planner

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Sharpie Pens

Having great pens are also necessary for work or any day.  I really like these Sharpie pens that I started using a while back.  They write smoothly and don't bleed through the paper.  However, they tend to run out a little faster than other pens. They also now come in a wide variety of colors now which is fun and good to use when color-coding.

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Accordion File

Filing is also necessary whether at home or work.  This is great to have to organize papers to take on the go!

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Other than these particular things, I also use a lot of basic paper clips, binder clips, sticky notes, index cards and notepads.  I plan to do a post in the next week or two about my summer goal completion and how I've been doing as far as trying to live more healthy!  I hope you all have a great week ahead!  

Pattern on Pattern

Mixing patterns can be tricky and turn into a hot mess.  It can take some trial and error but if done right can have great results!  A few easy tips to follow when mixing patterns is that patterns using the same color work well together and also using a neutral as a base like with the navy and white stripe shirt below (I like to think navy is a neutral) work well too.  What do you think of patterns on patterns?

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Original source not available

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Wallpapered Closets

I've come across several pictures lately of wallpapered closets.  I love the idea as it would be fun and unexpected when you open the door.  I've thought about painting our master closet a different color for fun but never thought too much about wallpapering it.   What do you think of the idea?

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Eclectic Kitchen design by Los Angeles Interior Designer Charmean Neithart Interiors, LLC.