Summer Projects

One of the (many) perks of teaching is having the summers off. You work for most of the year and get an extended "break" to recover, get new ideas for next year, and have a little fun.

This summer marks the first summer where I have officially had off and let me tell you, it has been glorious! I have been doing a number of projects around the house that has been occupying a good part of my time. 

The first project that I did was to redecorate our apartment. Since Phil and I didn't live together until after we were married, it was a bit of a struggle to have to merge together all of our stuff. I mean, seriously, I have enough stuff to keep the apartment full on my own, but we had to bring some of his belongings over and we needed to make some space for it all. This project has really been more of an on-going task as new things come and go, but it has allowed me to not only go through and organize things, but to decorate as well. 

The next project was to cook more at home and eat out less. It's really unhealthy and expensive to eat out all the time and cooking is really something that I enjoy...so I was able to sign up at e-mealz.com and have an affordable meal plan with recipes that we can choose from each night for dinner. Score!

The most recent project has been a favorite of mine. I am in the process of fixing up a chair for my sewing table. I found a cute chair for $8 at the Goodwill and was able to repaint it to a nicer color and I'm going to change the wicker seat to a cushion seat. I have everything I need except for the wood for the seat itself, which I plan to get *hopefully* this weekend.

As you can see, this summer has been great for getting things done around the house and I'm so happy to have another month until we go back to school. I've already started shopping and planning for my classroom, but I am thoroughly loving getting things done around the house.

What have you been up to this summer?

Wedding Wednesday

DIY Unity Candle

Phil and I debated whether to have a unity candle or unity sand as part of our ceremony. At first, we thought that unity sand was better, but after a lot of research we decided on a unity candle. Once we had decided to have a unity candle, the next step was to find one that we could both agree on. Phil had set a budget of $30 for a unity candle set and was less than thrilled to find out that we would have to spend even more money on a unity candle holder. So, I decided that there must be something I could do to make it less expensive...I'd make one myself!

I saw this one online and wanted to imitate it.

After looking online on how to personalize candles. I came up with this...

And the close-up...

I am thrilled with how it came out! The same unity candle online would have been $30 and I spent a total of $5.50 to make this one! I can't wait until Phil can see it. I love being able to personalize things especially when we can save money doing it ourselves!

What do you think?

Planning, Planning, and Oh, More Planning!

It's no secret that I have been working on finishing my degree online for the past couple of years. I am proud to say that in January it will all be over and I will have my bachelor's degree!

To celebrate, Phil and I have have decided to attend the graduation ceremony in December! The school is located in Iowa so we have a lot of travelling to do to get there.

Being that flights, rental cars, hotels, gas, and food is expensive I have been searching for hours to find all of the best rates. I have looked up the special "College Rate", AAA Rate, and even the Federal Employee Rate for everything. Yes, it is a hassle, but it is already paying off! Between using all of my resources we have been able to save $100 from the best "package" price without skimping on any of our "must haves" during this trip. I must admit, I am a fantastic online deal finder if I do say so myself.

I will be really happy tonight when we book most, if not all of it. The headache will be gone and I will be able to stress a little less about one more thing