Mission:Organization Mondays: Kitchen Pantry and Food Storage Areas - Results

I know, I know.  It's Tuesday, and this post is a day late.  I was very tired last night and before I knew it, I was asleep.  Sorry this is late!

I am VERY excited to show you my results from this week.  I worked very hard on my pantry, and because my pantry and laundry room are all-in-one, I worked on that, too.  So maybe I will get to take a break when we get to week 23 in June.  Yeah right.  :o)

Anyway, here are the before pictures of my pantry/laundry room.    WARNING:  OCD Organizing goddesses should choose to look away momentarily.  Go grab yourself a nice glass of lemonade or cup of coffee for just a moment....

Okay....if you are still with me, here goes:

Pretty bad, huh?  Okay, for those of you OCD Organizing goddesses, it is safe to return.  Here are the results:

I'll admit, it's not perfect, but it is SO much better than it was.  Behind the door, we are planning to attach a spice rack, as well, but haven't gotten around to that yet.  Maybe this weekend.

Up next is Organizing the Refrigerator and Freezer.  My refrigerator isn't TOO bad, but my freezer is very full.  We'll see how it goes.  For those of you following along on my journey, thank you so much!  See you next week!

Mission:Organization Mondays: Kitchen Cabinets - Results

Happy Monday!!  I did not get a lot of organization accomplished this week.  The reason for this is 3 fold:  First, this was an incredibly busy week for me, both with work and socially.  Second, I started working on my cabinets a few weeks ago, and got many of the worst offenders taken care of then. And finally, this upcoming week is kitchen pantry and food storage areas, and I tend to use my pantry as an additional cabinet for storing serving dishes, as well as for food storage, and once you see my pantry, you will understand why I did not get some of my cabinets cleaned out this week.  It's utter chaos!!!!

Let's get to what I DID get accomplished, rather than focusing on what I didn't.  Afterall, the point of this is not trying to be perfect, just making some headway in my mess.  Here are some before pictures of the cabinet and drawers that I worked on:

 

The junk drawer was especially bad.  But really, so was what I affectionately call our "drinking" cabinet.  There were glasses with coffee cups, party supplies mixed with travel mugs and more Rudy's and Dickie's Barbecue cups than I can count.  And here are the results:

So I will admit, from here, the drinking cabinet doesn't look much better, but from where I stand, it is SO much better!

This week's challenge, as I said is Kitchen Pantry and Food storage areas.  This one may take me more than a week.  I'll let you know next week how it goes!

Mission:Organization Mondays: Kitchen Countertops - results

Happy Monday, all!  I have a very busy week ahead of me, so I wanted to start the week by posting my results for Week 1 of the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge.  This week's mission was Kitchen Countertops and Sink.  Here are my before pictures:

Pretty Bad.  I had stuff everywhere, with no rhyme or reason to what was supposed to go where.  So the first thing I did was clean everything off of my countertops, and then cleaned and disinfected them.  For some reason, these are the only pictures I got of my cabinets completely cleared off:

Once that was finished, I carefully selected what was going to go back on my cabinets.  I have to say, so far, I am very pleased with how they look:

I feel like I can breathe again.

This weeks challenge is Kitchen Cabinet Organization.  Another biggie for me, although I cheated a little and started on this last night.  I still have a LONG way to go!  See you next Monday with the results.  Have a great week!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year celebration.  I can't believe it's already 2012.  Time sure does fly.

I know I haven't posted in a very, very long time, but in thinking about what goals I want to set for 2012, the blog fit nicely into those goals.  Laura over at Hollywood Housewife has set a mantra for this year of Start Where You Are.  It was like she wrote it just for me.  I have such a problem with starting projects and tasks, and then not finishing them.  Then I feel guilty and don't let myself start anything new until I can go back and finish those items.  Even if it's been years since I started them.  So that's my first goal for this year:  Start where I am, complete projects/tasks as I do them, and not feel guilty if I can't for some reason.

My second goal for 2012 is home organization.  I have decided to take the Home Storage Solutions 101 52 week challenge.  We'll see how I do (refer to goal #1).

My third goal for 2012 is to blog more.  In addition to regular blogging, I am hoping to use the blog to help keep me honest with goal #2, as well as other projects that I start.

Because the 52 week challenge runs Monday-Sunday, I plan on blogging every Monday about where I am in the challenge, how I did that week, and also tools/ideas, etc, that helped me accomplish the goals for that week.  Week 1 Mission is Kitchen Organization (Countertops and Sink).  Wish me luck!

What are your resolutions/goals for 2012?

Vacation all I ever wanted....(part 2)

At the end of June/beginning of July, we took a much needed vacation, and it was WONDERFUL!

Here's a glimpse of our itinerary:
Tuesday, June 28 - San Antonio/New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys Concert
Wednesday, June 29 - Galveston
Thursday, June 30-Monday July, 4 - 4-day cruise on the Carnival Ecstasy to Cozumel

Yesterday, I posted about San Antonio and Galveston, which you can find here.

Today, I'm going to talk about our cruise.  We had a great time!!  We were on the Carnival Ecstasy, and the itinerary was:
Thursday, June 30 - Set sail!!  Wooh!!  :o)
Friday, July 1 - Sea Day
Saturday, July 2 - Cozumel
Sunday, July 3 - Sea Day
Monday, July 4 - Disembark (Boo!)

When we woke up Thursday morning, I looked out our hotel window and saw this:

It was the funnel for our ship!!!  All the way across the island.  Now you know how narrow Galveston really is.  I was so excited!

We got to the port and checked in by 11:30, and we were boarding by about noon, so we didn't have to wait long at all.  We did have to wait until 1:30 to get into our room, though, so if you are taking a cruise, be sure your carryon bags are light.

We chose an outside view room, because we didn't really feel like we needed a balcony, but I just couldn't deal with the idea of not being able to at least see outside.  Our room was small, but it was all we needed, really.  We didn't spend too much time in there.  The bathroom was tiny, which I was expecting, so that wasn't so bad.  Here's a picture of our cabin:

 The ship was really cool, and I was amazed how big it was and how much there was to do between meals.  LOL!  Here are some pics of the ship itself:

Grand Atrium

Sun deck overlooking the pool stage area

Waterworks, which is like a mini-waterpark

Pool

I can't believe I didn't take more pictures of the ship then that.  The food was amazingly good, with so much to choose from.  We generally ate breakfast and lunch in the Lido (which was the buffet), and dinner in the dining room.  I could not get enough of the shrimp cocktails.  I wish I had one now!  I don't know why they were so good, but they were!

The only port we went to was Cozumel, and it was absolutely beautiful.  The shore excursion we did was the Mayan Ruins and Beach Break.  They took us to the Mayan Ruins at San Gervasio, which is a temple to a fertility goddess, and then we went to Punta Morena where we ate an incredible lunch before spending a few minutes on the beach.  The only thing I wish is they would have built in time for lunch without cutting into your beach time. There was one other thing I didn't like/didn't consider.  Being in a jungle during rainy season means one thing:  mosquitos!!  They were awful!  And we even brought bug spray and practically bathed in it.  It was great fun, though!  Here are some pictures:

The original entrance to the city

There were iguanas running wild

This iguana didn't want to let us by.  Notice he is nearly as long as the path is wide.

Punta Morena

Punta Morena

 Overall, we had a great time.  I totally want to go again, and I would really like to take a Northern European cruise.  I highly recommend considering a cruise, if you don't get seasick.  We were both fine, except the first night was a little rough getting used to it.

One final word of advice:  No, you do not HAVE to have a passport for this cruise, BUT the U.S. Customs line for those without passports was probably a good hour and a half to 2 hour wait to get through, and we walked right up to the customs agent, and went on through.  So I highly recommend getting a passport!

 That's all for today.  Have you taken a cruise?  How has your experience been?

Vacation all I ever wanted....

It seems like it's been forever since I've posted, and it really has been over a month.  I need to do better.

At the end of June/beginning of July, we took a much needed vacation, and it was WONDERFUL!

Here's a glimpse of our itinerary:
Tuesday, June 28 - San Antonio/New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys Concert
Wednesday, June 29 - Galveston
Thursday, June 30-Monday July, 4 - 4-day cruise on the Carnival Ecstasy to Cozumel

We had a great time!!  Today I will post about San Antonio and Galveston, and tomorrow, I will post about the cruise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday, June 28
This morning was a little rushed, because, well, I didn't start packing until about 10:00 Monday night.  I think I did manage to have all of my laundry already done, though, which was good.  After dropping Sugar off at PetSmart, we had breakfast at the Monument Cafe in Georgetown (love that place!!) even though it was going the wrong way on IH-35 from San Antonio (yes, we ARE crazy, and we do detour for food.  Bad, I know).
From there, we ran to Target for a few last minute items, and then home to throw our stuff in the car, and we were on our way!  For some reason, we did not take 130 down to Buda, and for the life of me, I cannot remember why.  Luckily, though, we did not run into any traffic on 35, since it was mid-morning, and we were getting into San Antonio in just a little over an hour.  This was when we took detour #2 for food (last one, I promise!)  We wanted to eat lunch at Earl of Sandwich, one of our favorite counter service restaurants at Disney World.  Well, come to find out, they are a chain, and they have a few locations in San Antonio.  Woo hoo!  It was only about 15 miles out of our way, though, so not too bad.

After lunch, we headed straight to the hotel.  We stayed at La Mansion Del Rio, and it was very lovely.  I don't know that we will stay here again, because it's very pricey, but we had a great time! Here are some pictures:

Our room from the entrance

The view from our balcony

Lobby

Pool

 

 

Before the concert, we decided to take a little walk around the Riverwalk, and have dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.  We've eaten at several Landry's-owned restaurants, and have never been too impressed with the food, but we were pleasantly surprised with this location.  It was delicious!  After that, it was time to head to the concert.  Here are a couple of pictures, for anyone who may be interested.  It was a great concert!

Jordin Sparks opened

NKOTB

BSB

After the concert, we hit the sack.  We had to wake up and drive to Galveston the next day.

Wednesday, June 29
This morning, we had breakfast at Las Canarias, which is the hotel's restaurant, and then we headed east on I-10.  Traffic was backed up in a couple of spots, due to construction, but not too bad.  We got into Galveston around 2 or 3, checked in at our hotel, the Hotel Galvez, and headed straight for the beach.  We walked around and picked up some shells, and then we were starting to get hungry.  We had dinner at Benno's, which had really good seafood.  Then we drove around a little bit, and walked to Murdoch's to see all the fun souvenirs.  By then, we were ready to head back to the hotel, and go to bed.  Tomorrow would be a big day!  Here are a few pictures of the Hotel Galvez:

Our room (it was not very large at all, but it was nice)

We only had a shower, but it was an awesome one!  It had a rainfall shower head and a hand held shower head, which was handy for getting sand off your feet.

Our hotel from the fishing pier across the street

The lobby

Tomorrow, I'll be back with the rest of our trip!

Anniversary Week

I hope everyone is having a great week!  This week has been very hectic, but very nice all the same.

Tuesday was our 8th wedding anniversary.  It is so hard to believe it's been that long.  This year actually made 11 years that we have been together.  Time sure does fly.  I've never taken the time to actually scan our wedding photos, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to scan a couple.  Jonathan and I remember so little from that day, that it's fun to go back and look at pictures.  It's been a long time since I've done that.  Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from the big day:

 Photographs by Lawrence

Photographs by Lawrence

 

 Last weekend, we took an early anniversary getaway to Dallas.  We started by going to one of my favorite spots in Dallas, the Dallas World Aquarium, where I could watch the penguins for hours.  Particularly the Fairy Penguins at the entrance/gift shop.

We had dinner that night at Nick & Sam's which is a wonderful steakhouse.  It's very pricey, but very worth it, I though.  We shared a porterhouse.  Next time, I want to try the Ribeye.  The lobster mac and cheese is to die for!!  The service was very attentive as well.

We stayed at the Four Seasons Dallas (actually in Las Colinas).  My sweet hubby even upgraded us to a corner room, which was wonderful!  We loved the Four Seasons Houston when we stayed there last summer, and we love the Four Seasons Dallas now, too.  He spoils me.  :o)  Here are some pictures of our room, and the resort pool, which was incredible!  They have 4 pools, but we only made it to that one.

Sitting room/living room area from entrance

Doesn't Jonathan look like he could be in a brochure for the hotel?

It was quite a large room.  The TV stand held the mini-bar and lots of snacks for purchase.

Jonathan looking distinguished in a little cowboy hat that was sitting on the nightstand.

View of the resort pool from our balcony

View of the Sports Club/Golf Course from our balcony

Bathroom - Very deep bathtub!

Bathroom

Resort Pool

Resort pool leading to hot tub.  You can't see it very well in this picture, but the hot tub had pile of rocks with a fountain/water cascading into it.

Resort Pool

They had little alcoves of chaise lounges where you could relax in (somewhat) privacy.

On Sunday, we went to the Galleria and Sprinkles Cupcakes (I think Hey Cupcake! is much better).  Sugar even got a present (we felt bad for boarding her 2 weekends in a row).  It's a little small, but it's a dress with Sugar embroidered on the back.  So adorable!!!

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband!  I still can't believe we've been married for 8 years.

Have a great weekend!