My Fancy New Desk Needed Some DIY: Saving Money With Spray Paint

Home Goods: One of my favorite places in the world. There’s so many things to find there and I love that it’s ever changing. The bad this is, though, it’s ever changing so if you see something you like and think you’ll come back tomorrow to get it….nah. I’ve made that mistake more than once in my life. I still regret every single time.

As we begin cultivating furniture and decor for our adult home (no more mismatched plates and hand me down furniture!), I’m always on the look out for the best deals. One of my strengths is research–I do it fast and I do it efficiently. I’ve been scouring sites for the best office desk for months: Wayfair, Target, Ikea, Overstock, World Market but nothing seemed to fit my vision in my mind which I couldn’t even describe. I knew I would just know when I saw it. I was sure I was going to find it at Home Goods but, unless you’re there every day watching the new merchandise come in, there’s no way of knowing what they have.

But then the day came. The sweet, sweet day when I found MY desk. In a HomeGoods somewhere in Long Island we don’t even go to and I didn’t know existed in the mall we were in. My husband actually found the store and took me out of Macy’s Backstage (another gem I’ve discovered) and dragged me over in an effort to be sweet but also a little masochistic because he hates shopping with me. He hates that I flutter around and get distracted by things and that everything is all over the place in that store. And I don’t know if he knows, but I play a game of distract A.J. from his hatred by going “Oh, that chair looks comfy. Why don’t you sit in it.” and he sits until he gets bored of the chair and then I go “Oh wait, I found a chair you’re gonna love! Go sit over there and test it for me!”.

As I walked around I passed a desk and thought “hmm, maybe that’s it”. So I pulled the chair out and opened the drawers and I realized YUP THAT’S MY DAMN DESK! Now, sometimes I have a bad habit of falling in love with beautiful things that are out of my price range and sometimes HomeGoods throws you for a loop like that: $699 for this small sofa?! What are you talking about HomeGoods, I thought we were friends!

The best. Thanks Home Goods!

This desk was perfect and only priced at $199! Unheard of for a wood desk. I was expecting to pay at least $250 from one of those other sites AND have to build it myself which is so tedious and obnoxious at this point in my life. I’m not 25 anymore, I don’t have time to build things! The top of the desk had some scratches but I figured that just gave it character and the store was nice enough to give me 10% off for the damage.

So I brought my beautiful baby home and realized, I have mismatched old desk organizers and I wanted new ones. Since we’re not rich, I decided it was worth a try to spray paint what I had and see what happened so that everything would match. I wiped everything down with a damn paper towel to clean off the dust and lay them out on a tarp in the yard. It was a super

My stuff. It was in great condition just didn’t pop so why spend money on buying new things?

windy day but it was the only day I had. I tried using one of those Spray Paint guns that claim to be easier than holding down the button on the can. I followed the instructions and tried slipping it onto the can thinking I was doing something wrong so I pushed harder until it went passed the can and scraped my hand and drew lots of blood. I’m definitely going to have a scar there and was no so happy that this thing didn’t even fit a standard can of spray paint as it claimed. So annoyed.

The worst. Anyone have tips or tricks for using this? You can see the scab on the bottom of my pointer finger by the knuckle. So much bleeding.

I used the KRYLON brand in hammered gold and started spraying. Half the spray flew away in the wind but it started coating the items without a problem. I did a coat, waited 15 minutes then did another one. The next day I checked over the items to see any spots that I missed and gave it another coat of spray. I’m so happy with how it turned out and I love that everything now matches on my desk. I added my vase and flowers from Magnolia Market in Waco and now I have an adult desk to do all my adult things on like pay bills and organize paperwork. And instead of going out and buying new stuff (which is sooo expensive by the way. I did the research.) for about $8 and a few hours of dry time, I had things that looked like new!

Great stuff, went on super easy

Final product.

Next purchase will be a desk chair. I’m going to be patient because I just know I’ll know it’s the right one when I see it.

The finale. I can’t wait to find a chair for this baby.

Meal Prepping Tips And Tricks: What To Eat And How To Do It

Recently people have been asking me about meal prepping because, if you look at my Instagram feed, it consumes my life. Mostly, they’ve been asking if I can pack meals and deliver it to them. If I had a big enough kitchen, I would totally do that instead of my current job.

I figured I would share some tips and tricks I’ve learned in the last 6 months and also share what my typical purchases and preps are. I’ve always had a lot of food containers but prepping for two people at least 3 days ahead of time showed me that I didn’t. So the first thing is to invest in containers that you actually love. Ones that don’t spill in transit and that aren’t too big to carry around. I HATE carrying around containers. I usually carry my meals in my bag because I also HATE lugging around 2 bags (especially in the winter when I’m freezing and barely want to be outside). I take the train to work and

My beloved oatmeal containers by Sistema. So convenient to pack ahead of time

walk a lot so I need things that fit in my bag–that usually includes 2-3 food containers, a travel coffee mug and a small shaker bottle–also my usual wallets, keys, 6-8 lipsticks/glosses, charger, tissues, pen, small planner, etc. It’s a lot.

 

Once you have those containers sit down and plan the upcoming week. I consider my start of the week as Sunday, so I start thinking about cooking on Thursday or Friday. It’s a lot easier if you’re solo and you don’t have to cook for a whole family, trying to please everyone throws you for a whole other loop, but meal planning is also easier if you’re not on a program because you don’t have to count out specific measurements. But always look for meals that can carry over as leftovers. I don’t mind eating the same thing for 4 days, I hear some people are picky about that but just consider all the time and money you’re saving and get over it!

Write out the meals you plan on making then figure out the ingredients you need. I write everything out on a paper then cross off when I confirm I have it already in the kitchen. If you’re like me and you’re on a budget, then you have to compare prices at different

What my desk at work looks like every day

stores. It’s a lot of extra work but I got it down to a science now. I usually shop at BJ’s Club and Stop n’ Shop–I love that both their apps have coupons you can load right onto your card so there’s no more clipping. I look at the coupons first then go to the circulars for that week and compare pricing at my local stores.

 

We try to do our shopping on Saturday that way I don’t have to leave the house on Sunday and can focus on the actual cooking. But sometimes I start the cooking on Saturday, shop on Sunday, and then finish the prepping Sunday afternoon/evening. It depends on how much we have going on during the weekend.

When I started the Transform App, the first few weeks was trial and error—determining what meals we liked to eat, what was easiest to make, the amount of 1 ingredient we would need for the week. At first I tried to make a lot of different meals during the week which would leave me with leftover foods that would spoil because I wasn’t making the same meals. Then I started only making 1 or 2 new recipes each week and made sure to use ingredients that I already shopped for and used. Once we had a list of the 10-15 meals we constantly ate, it was A LOT easier to shop at the store.

Protein powder and meat are the biggest investments. For powder, shop around until you find the one you like that will also not break the bank–there are some expensive ones out there! There’s a brand I like but at $68 a bag, it’s not practical. I found a powder on Amazon that is super cheap and made for women (my hair and nails look amazing btw)– Nature’s Bounty-Amazon . I usually end up drinking 1 shake a day and then the powder goes into smoothie recipes or oatmeal for the most part.
Meat is expensive and I found that BJ’s Club is the best for that. Supermarkets also have sales on meat and if you have the space in your freezer I would definitely recommend stocking up during a cheap sale and freezing it. We don’t have the space so I can only hoard 2 packs of ground turkey at a time. I’m obsessed with the rotisserie chicken at BJs. For $4.99 you get a whole bird that can give you at least 3 days worth of meat. I break it down when I get home and put it in a container, then anytime I need chicken I just take from there. In the beginning I was getting chicken and ground turkey then it would take me an hour just to prep the meats which was such a waste of my time.

Vegetables are the easiest and it makes me so sad I don’t have a farmers market close to me. Or a garden so I can grow my own. One day. At first I was buying fresh and breaking down the cauliflower and broccoli then cooking it. That took a lot of time. I’m obsessed with those steamable veggie bags–they make meal prepping so easy, are typically cheap, and a lot of different brands are doing them now so you can always find a sale. I always have steamable bags of broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, and cauliflower rice in my freezer for when I need quick preps. It takes about 4 ½ minutes in the microwave and while that’s going I can prep other things. Super convenient!

Fruits are mostly used in the smoothies or my oatmeal so I buy a bag of strawberries and blueberries from BJs and that usually lasts about 1-2 months (depending on how often you use it). The first month of shopping I took a big hit on my grocery budget because I had to stock up on big things like oatmeal, protein powders, peanut butter, and frozen fruit but the trade off is that it usually lasts for 2 months so it’s not too bad when you break down the cost.

Things I buy at BJs Club (starred are weekly or biweekly) :

1. Rotisserie chicken*
2. Ground turkey*
3. Frozen blueberries
4. Frozen strawberries
5. Brown Rice
6. Jars of salsa
7. Peanut butter
8. Quaker 1 minute oats
9. Feta cheese crumble
10. Shredded or grated Parmesan cheese
11. Jarred marinara sauce
12. Almond milk*
13. Peanut butter powder
14. Cans of black beans
15. Rice Krispies
16. Almonds
17. Quaker Chewy bars
18. String Cheese
19. Franks Red Hot

Things I buy at Stop n Shop or the local grocery store:
1. Fresh fruits: apples, grape tomatoes, bananas
2. Fresh herbs: cilantro and green onion
3. Fresh vegetables: cucumber, sweet potato, onion, avocado, baby spinach, bell peppers,     zucchini
4. Frozen steamable bags: broccoli, cauliflower, cauliflower rice, snap peas, green beans
5. Shredded cheeses
6. Laughing cow cheese wedges
7. Deli turkey and cheese

Some of my favorites: BJ’s rotisserie chicken, ground turkey, steamables and rice

And the most important thing to putting these meals all together are: SPICES.
If you spice your meals properly then you don’t need to cover them in heavy sauces. I used limited amounts of salt and have increased the use of my other spices and I don’t even miss the salt. Also, I use hot sauce on everything–Franks Red Hot is my go-to because it’s not too spicy, just gives it a kick.

When I’m browning my ground turkey these are the spices I use to give it a little kick before adding it to my specific meals. There’s no measurements (if you read my previous posts you know I’m a pinch of this and a dash of that kinda girl) because it’s how you feel—maybe you like a lot of paprika, maybe you hate it–who am I to tell you how to live your life

Spice mix for ground turkey (sprinkle it over the turkey while it’s cooking in the pan):
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Paprika
Chili powder
Cumin powder
Dried basil
Dried oregano
Cayenne pepper

Next post I’ll be breaking down the actually meal prepping. This was just set up, people!

THE Wedding Dress

When you think of your wedding dress you have a particular vision in mind. But usually that’s not what you end up with, and I’ve heard that from A LOT of brides so I kept my options open when I began shopping. I saved some pictures of what I liked but tried on every style, and ended up with one I wasn’t necessarily looking for. Luckily, fourth time was the charm. The first two trips I started narrowing down what I liked and what I didn’t. The third time we came down to two choices, and the last time we scratched those two choices and went with something similar.

My consultant, Natalie, at RK Bridal was the best. She listened and made suggestions and once she realized that I wasn’t one of those brides who nitpicked over everything, brought me out THE dress to try on. Yes, THE dress. A dress from the upcoming season that all the consultants fell in love with but no bride was ballsy enough to have. It was traditional with unique touches and apparently brides would actually ask the consultants if they could CHANGE those unique things! Ummm, that wouldn’t be the same dress, dummy! I can’t with people. And that idiocy happens pretty often I’m told.

After I tried on a bunch of dresses which elicited a pretty neutral response, I asked Natalie if brides have those “Oh my god! This is the perfect dress! (tear) I’m saying yes to the dress” moments like they do on tv. She looked disappointed and said, “When I started, I kept waiting for that to happen. But there were no crying brides. Most people just say ‘yeah that’s it’”.

I felt better about things since I had started to feel like a bad bride when people would ask if I was excited and I shrugged my shoulders with a half smile. Side note: I’m one of those people who don’t get too excited over things in general–I’m always expecting the worse so that I’m pleasantly surprised when it turns out better.

I put the dress on, smoothed it out, checked to see if the ladies were in the dress and lifted (check!) and then walked out. Everyone smiled. Another consultant walked by and said “YES the dress!”. I smiled at Natalie and said “yeah, this is it”.

I didn’t post any pictures because I’m trying to keep it a semi-secret at least from my fiance. Will post pics after the wedding! Which is 19 days away–I can’t even believe it!