how to
DIY Kitchen Backsplash
Wednesday, January 17 • california, design, farmhouse, fashion, how to, interior decor, san diego, san diego blogger, style
Backsory: I am a part of a Facebook group called White Walls (if you're a military spouse and aren't in the group you need to go join it now). It is a group for military spouses to show how they decorate their "white walls" in base housing or in rental housing. Since we all move around a lot, we can't really make each house our own. However, some of the people in the group have done amazing things to their rental houses that have completely changed the look! One of them being the removable wallpaper that I'm going to explain in the post!
Last weekend, I went to Target and saw this wallpaper for about $30. I had seen it on the Facebook page awhile back and it sparked my interest. I wasn't going to buy it but my friend told me that she would help me put it up if I got it... so I left Target that day with something I didn't go in there to buy (story of my life LOL).
On a Saturday night, two of my good friends came over and we ate pizza, drank wine and put up wallpaper! (You know you're getting older when ladies night turns into decorating your kitchen.) The wallpaper was a bit challenging to put up because you had to line the tiles up just right and make sure the fake grout colors matched. Lucky for me, my friends were pro at it and they had a system down so that they could line it up perfectly! Overall it took us the whole roll of wallpaper and about 2 hours start to finish.
I highly recommend this to pretty much anyone who wants to make their kitchen more "Joanna Gaines" without it being permanent. We did have to take a couple pieces off after we put them on and the pieces peeled right off the wall with absolutely no damage at all! I was throughly surprised with how real the subway tiles looked and I am absolutely obsessed with the way it turned out. It makes my kitchen look like a whole new kitchen!
Target also has a lot of other patterns so if subway tile isn't your thing or you are looking to do a whole wall, they have you covered! Let me know if you try this wallpaper and what you think of it :)
Pumpkin Pie Recipe
Wednesday, November 22 • california, cooking, diy, how to, quick guide, recipe, san diego, san diego blogger
Pumpkin Pie
1 can of pumpkin (15 oz)
1 can of sweetened condensed milk (14oz)
2 large eggs
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (plus a little extra because I spilt it in the mix lol)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pillsbury pie crust (no, I didn't make my own crust)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Preheat oven to 425
2. Whisk together the pumpkin, condensed milk and eggs (it is very easy if you throw it all into your Kitchen Aid on level 3, like I did).
3. Stir in the spices - you can add more if you want your pie to taste a certain way.
4. Lay pie crust in the dish and pinch sides to create the crust design.
5. Pour pumpkin mixture into crust.
6. Bake at 425 for 15 min. Then, lower temperature to 350 and bake for another 30 min or until the pie is baked all the way through.
7. Serve with a dollop of cool whip on the top and a glass of milk on the side!
I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving full of happiness!
Honey Garlic Shirmp
Monday, August 7 • cooking, how to, recipe
Today, its time for a recipe! This has actually become one of my favorite dinners because it is so easy and healthy(ish) for you. Some of you that know me will say, "but Megan you hate shrimp" and I will reply with "yes, but I will eat shrimp if its cooked like this any day!"
Backstory: I do in fact hate shrimp. I have always disliked the fishy flavor as well as the texture of it. But, one night the only meat we had in the fridge was shrimp. Even though Daniel knows I'm not a fan, he made honey garlic shrimp and made me try a couple pieces. Now this wasn't the first time I've tried shrimp (growing up my family loved the little crustacean) but this was the first time I bit down into it and loved what I tasted!! The honey glaze made it so it was sweet but the garlic and soy sauce gave it a nice contrast. Since we first made it, we have had it for dinner quite a few times and experimented with the original recipe. So without further adieu, here is our best version of the delicious shrimp dinner:
Ingredients:
1/3 cup honey1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon garlic
1 teaspoon ginger
1lb of frozed cooked shrimp (I prefer the Costco bag with the tail off)
Green onion
Directions:
1. Whisk together the honey, soy sauce, garlic and ginger.2. Pour the mixture into a large ziplock bag. Drain the fully de-thawed shrimp (de-thawing takes about a day in the fridge) and put it into the bag with the mixture.
3. Let it sit in the fridge anywhere from 15 min to 8 hours.
4. Warm a little olive oil in the bottom of a pan. Pour in the shrimp and the mixture that you put into a bag in step 2. Cook the shrimp on both sides until they are cooked through and the mixture looks more like a glaze (about 2 min).
5. Serve with cous cous, rice or quinoa. For a finished look and better taste, add some chopped green onion to the top of the bowl!
Let me know, if you give it a try, what works best for you! Thanks for reading. Happy eating!
5 Steps to Land Your Dream Job
Monday, June 19 • advice, college, how to, milso, quick guide, student, tips
1.
Be prepared: Before you even apply for your next
job, you need to be prepared. A lot of professionals have given me advice to
dress for my next job in my current position. This may sound silly but it can
put you in the mindset of your next position. If you are looking to become a
manager then dress like one!
Also, be strategic in your job hunt. Search
through Linked In and connect with professionals who are currently working for
the company you want to work for or have the title you are striving to get. Some
companies even let you job shadow (if you’re applying within the company) so
you can get a feel for what your workload would be. It is really important that
you take these opportunities and ask as many questions as you can.
Once you find your dream job, then it is
time to apply, apply, apply! I had to apply a few times to get into the
position I am now, and I’m beyond grateful that I kept reaching for my goals. It
is easy to get discouraged when you get turned down, but just remember what
motivated you to apply in the first place and keep pushing forward!
2.
Job description: A job description is the
position roadmap. It will outline what you will be doing and the
minimum requirements to be considered for the position. One technique that I
have been taught is to print out the job description before you create your
resume. Once you print it, highlight everything you do in your current position
under responsibilities and everything you can do under the qualifications. You
can also underline key words such as “analyze, assist, research, provide, etc.”
The job description is the best way to know what the hiring manager is looking
for so make sure you know it very well.
3. Resume: Resumes are a tricky art so I’m going to
try and keep this section to a few key points.
First off, you will want to create a master
resume. This is a document where you will be able to maintain your skills,
qualifications, accomplishments and everything you have done; but never
actually submit to any managers. You want to make sure and update this
periodically so it current.
Once you find the job you’re wanting to
apply for, and have highlighted all the important info, you’re ready to start
creating your specific resume. It is important to have a specific resume for each job you are applying for instead of a general one that you submit to multiple jobs. Your specific resume is going to be portions of
your master resume that are specific to the job you are applying for. To tailor
your resume, it is good to include a key qualification section that will hook
the hiring manager and spotlight what makes you the best fit. Also, tie in some
keywords from the job description if you can.
Finally, format and design play a large role
in building a great resume. A few tips I have learned while talking to hiring
managers are: do not exceed two pages, balance the white space vs text, don’t
have a fancy template that is hard to follow, and use a basic font around 12pt.
Also, your resume must be consistent. Don’t use a period after a sentence on
one bullet point and no period on the next bullet point. Make sure you are
bolding and italicizing consistently throughout; instead of having random bold
words. And finally, remove clutter from your resume. Don’t write “references on
request” because if a manager wants references, they will automatically request
it. Don’t put irrelevant hobbies or clubs that you participated in and do try
to convey your thoughts in the shortest way possible.
4. The interview: Woo, you made it to the interview!
This part can be extremely nerve racking but the biggest tip I can give you is
be confident. A manager’s goal is to get to know who you are, not who your
nervous self is.
The best way to gain confidence is to be
prepared. Ask your friends or family to do mock interviews with you and become
familiar with articulating your answers. Get a good night’s sleep the night
before your interview and set out your professional outfit before you go to
bed. When it comes to interview attire, it is always better to be overdressed
than underdressed. Your attire should be all business, even down to the
notebook and pen you bring with you to the interview (yes, you should bring a
notebook and take notes).
When you get into the interview room, shake
hands and make eye contact with each person. Make sure you engage each
individual in the room if you have a panel interview.
To conclude the interview, the hiring
manager will probably ask you “do you have any questions for me.” You
absolutely have to have questions to ask them! It is a good idea to come up
with three to five questions to have ready for the interviewer before
you even step foot in the room.
There are a lot of do’s and don’ts to
interviewing but the best thing to do is be authentic and show the interviewer
why you deserve to be in the position.
5.
Follow up: After the interview, follow up by
sending the manager a thank you note (handwritten is best but an email works
too) no more than 24 hrs after the interview. If you get the job, congrats! If
you don’t, get feedback on how you can improve your next interview and keep
pushing forward.
-->
Finding a job and developing your career are very
challenging. However, if you put your heart into it and are motivated to reach
your goals then it is 100% possible! Good luck to everyone out there!
HGTV Dreams Come True
Wednesday, May 24 • advice, diy, how to, interior decor, question and answer, quick guide, room tour
About a month ago, my husband painted a wall in our house and I posted this photo on my social media pages. I received so many sweet comments and had quite a few questions about it! So, I wanted to do a little FAQ on how we painted our walls...
1. What color is that?
The current color on our wall is the color "Anonymous" by Behr (can be purchased at The Home Depot). We also tried "Flannel" by Behr but it was a little too light for us. Flannel is between white and anonymous, which works well if you don't have a lot of natural light in the room. We also tried Georgian Bay by Sherwin Williams but we hated the color. Originally we thought blue would look good but it was definitely not our style!
2. How did you tape off the wall?
We originally used Frog Tape but found that it does not work well with textured walls AT ALL. So, we went back to Home Depot and picked up 3m blue tape. The blue tape worked a little better but it was still not creating crisp lines like it should. Finally, we went back to Home Depot and picked up an angled brush. My hubby ended up painting all of the lines by hand! It took him quite awhile but it was so worth it when we ended up with perfectly straight lines.
3. Where did you get your couches?
We actually purchased our couches from a sample sale so they are not yet on the market. However, they are the brand Michael Nicolas and Mor Furniture should be selling them in the near future!
4. Where did you get your "adventure awaits" sign?
We got our sign as a wedding gift! I'm not totally sure where it came from but I have seen some similar signs on Etsy and in Hobby Lobby.
5. How many coats of paint did you use?
We did two coats. The paint we purchased was the Behr Marquee so it was only supposed to be one coat coverage, but we preferred the look of two coats.
6. Can you paint even though you're renting?
Yes!! We can paint any wall we would like as long as we paint it back when we move out. Our landlord will either give us their paint color or we can have them to paint it back. *Make sure you check with your landlord before you paint a wall because some places have a list of approved colors that you can actually leave on your wall when you move out.*
7. Any tips?
Use a 3/4in nap foam roller when you paint. Also, buy a plastic paint tray because they are easier to clean. Have patience (or a husband who has patience)!
Let me know if you have any further questions, or have redecorated your house recently, in the comments below!
Let me know if you have any further questions, or have redecorated your house recently, in the comments below!
Name Change After the Wedding
Sunday, October 2 • advice, engaged, how to, milso, photography, quick guide, review, round up, wedding
Social security: Do this first thing because it will take awhile. Bring marriage license, old social security card and birth certificate or passport.
DMV: Be sure to update your license and voter registration. Bring your marriage license and old drivers license.
*Military only* Dependent ID Card: This is huge! Make sure you go into the base ID office and get your ID card as soon as possible. This will get you enrolled in DEERS. Bring your marriage license, birth certificate and drivers license or passport.
Auto Licensing: Update both your registration and title. If a bank owns your title make sure you contact them to get it updated. You will need your original registration, marriage license and drivers license.
IRS: Make sure you update all of your information at work to match your new name. Update the pay system and your tax exemption status to make sure you have no issues when tax season comes. Your company will notify the IRS of the change. Supply them with your new social security card.
Passport: This will need to be done at your local post office or through the mail. You need a photo, birth certificate, marriage license and either a license or current passport.
Loans - student, car, mortgage: I'm not totally sure how to change your car loan or mortgage name but I know for student loans you need to mail in a copy of your marriage license and new social security card.
Bank Accounts: It is much easier to do this in a branch. Just take your marriage license in, show your new ID and get a new debit card.
Other: These are other things you need to change your name on but I'm still in the process so I don't know exactly what is needed. For insurance we ended up changing companies so I just needed my new license number. Bills, subscriptions, airline frequent flier miles, reward cards and social media should just need your license and possibly marriage license.
Well, if you are reading this because you just got married then congratulations!! If you're reading this for fun, I hope you enjoyed it. If anyone has any questions, shoot me an email and I'll try to help you to the best of my ability. Thanks for reading y'all!
How to Make a Gold Monogram in 10 Steps
Wednesday, February 17 • diy, girly, gold monogram, graphic art, how to, monogram, quick guide, southern belle
Have you always wanted to know how to make your own gold textured monogram photo? Well I did.. so I decided to figure it out and do a tutorial for everyone else!
1. Search Google for the "monogram kk" font and click on the first one from www.dafont.com. (P.S. Dafont has the best free fonts!)
2. Click on download on the right side of the webpage.
3. Once it is downloaded, open the file and double click on the "monogram kk sc.ttf" file. When you do this, you will need to follow the on screen instructions to download the font. This is how I did it on my Mac but it is a very similar process on a Windows computer!
4. Go to www.picmonkey.com (my absolute favorite place to edit and create photos) and hover your mouse over "design" at the top of the page and click on square. This will take you to a screen that looks like the photo below. From there, click on "Tt" and then "yours" under add text. You will then select the new font that you downloaded and click "add text."
5. Type your initials into 3 SEPARATE text boxes, set each initial size and then move them together. I set my initials to the sizes 450, 720 and 450. You can play around with the font size to create your favorite look! Also, if you aren't aware, monogrammed initials usually go: first, last, middle or wife, last, husband.
6. You will then need to click on the button in the grey bar above your picture that looks like 2 sheets with a down arrow. When you click on it, you are combining the layers and saving your initials the way they are (so make sure they are perfect before you combine).
7. Go back to Google and search gold foil (or whatever color you want) in images. For this project, I used the first one in the second row. Make sure you save the Google image to your desktop or downloads folder.
8. Under the overlays tab (butterfly picture) click on "your own." Then upload the gold foil photo you saved in the last step. Expand the image to cover your entire monogram and then select "add" under blend modes. From there, you can move the photo around to get your desired look. Feel free to play around with different colors and shades to make it unique to you!
9. Save your monogram by selecting "save" in the grey bar at the top of your canvas.
10. Set your monogram as your background photo on your computer, print it out and frame it or just look at how pretty it is! Please note that this font cannot be used for resale so you cannot sell any monograms that you have created using this method.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me! Thanks for reading my blog!
Beer Budget, Champagne Taste
Wednesday, January 6 • beauty, fashion, girly, how to, quick guide, review
I absolutely love shopping, high end clothes and beautifully crafted purses but lets face it, I can't afford it right now. This is why I have found ways to buy the things I want while staying within my college budget. So without further adieu, here are my secrets..
1. One major thing that I do is buy clothes that will be in style for awhile, will hold up over time and match a variety of my other clothes. Another factor that needs to be considered is where I live. Living in Washington, we get a lot of snow, long springs and short summers which means that I can't dress head-to-toe in Lilly Pulitzer, unfortunately. However, I can and do buy classic/preppy pieces that can be worn in a variety of different ways to match the different seasons.
2. The second thing I do is shop second hand! Don't worry, I'm not going to go all Macklemore on you and tell you to go get the fur coat from the thrift shop down the road.. But I will tell you that there are some amazing apps and websites that you can buy nice quality second hand items from. I buy and sell almost all of my clothes on websites like these:
Poshmark - This is my favorite app and website to buy from. I have always had good experiences with sellers on there and will continue to use it to buy and sell my clothes. My favorite purchases: a new Coach purse, a Lilly Pulitzer wristlet and a pair of like new Steve Madden wedges (all for $50). If you download this app, make sure to put in the code HOCBY to get $10 off your first purchase!
Facebook Free and For Sale - Almost all cities and college towns have one of these pages, you just need to find it and ask to join it. The only thing is, there can be some bad pieces and people on the page. Always be careful when meeting someone and make sure you inspect the item before you buy. My favorite purchases: new Lululemon leggings, Hunter boot socks, Coach purse and Lululemon 1/4 zip (all for under $100).
Mercari - I love this app to sell my clothes on. For the time being, they are offering no commission which means that prices are significantly lower than Poshmark since the seller gets all the proceeds. The only thing that I don't like about Mercari is that they don't have a website so you have to shop through the app. Overall, I love Mercari and find myself gravitating toward it. One thing to be cautious of on any site like this is the quality and condition. If you are ever not sure, make sure and ask the seller for more pictures. My favorite purchases: Rebecca Minkoff Mini Mac, Lilly Pulitzer workout tank and Vineyard Vines Shep shirt (all under $100). If you download the app, use the code CCFYTV to get $2 off!
Keeks - This is a website that I have not purchased from but know is reputable. I have heard many wonderful things about Keeks and when I purchase another designer purse someday, I will definitely purchase through here! They buy designer bags and shoes from people and resell them at amazing prices. Go check it out if you are in the market for a beautiful bag!
3. Another thing I do is shop at stores that carry the same amazing clothes as designers but cut the prices. I love to find cute pieces that are similar to a certain design but don't carry the hefty price tag. Some of my favorite places to shop for things like this are:
TJ Maxx - I am a Maxxinista! I love all of their clothes, home items and shoes. TJ Maxx also sells some name brand things at a major discount. I recently got a Guess dress for NYE that was originally $108 but I took it home for only $30.
Ross - I love Ross for the same reason I love TJ Maxx. They have the best deals that I just can't pass up sometimes! I always go there to get wall art because they have the best canvas prints for the best prices. I found some Steve Madden combat boots for $20 last year and a fur vest for $15 this year.
Shop Riff Raff - I love this online store! If you didn't notice, the picture for this post is from Shop Riff Raff because I love their clothing. They have some wonderful shirts, dresses and accessories that won't break the bank. They also offer free shipping on everything so its perfect for a college student who has to get everything shipped to her door. If you are looking for some cute clothes then check them out!
Target - I am obsessed with Target. Everything about Target makes me happy! My absolute best secret is how I got Hunter look alike boots for only $40. I purchased a pair of coral rain boots from Target that look exactly like Hunters but don't have the label on the front. I then purchased Hunter boot socks on Facebook and put them into my perfect Target boots. The Target and Hunter boots are the same material, same size/shape and have the same tread. I received a pair of real Hunters for a gift and honestly, I liked the fit of my Target boots better!
4. Finally, I have to admit that I do splurge on some things. I have splurged on a couple North Face and Columbia jackets because I need them and wear them everyday. Another thing I splurged on was a pair of Nordstrom ankle booties. They are real leather and are absolutely perfect for my style so they were worth the splurge. The final thing that I splurge on is nice business clothes. Being an accounting student, I need a nice wardrobe for interviews and meetings so I splurge on blazers, pants and under shirts.
Overall, I try to be a savvy shopper and not overspend on clothes. At the end of the day, a lot of brands are just expensive because of the name (but don't get me wrong, I still love them). Also, a lot of second hand clothes are really nice so make sure to check them out next time you are looking to update your wardrobe. Let me know if you have any other smart shopper tricks, I'm always up for finding deals! Thank you for reading my blog!
Shop this post:
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
