Show Us Your Life - Guest Bedroom

First off, thanks again to Lauren from Blue Lux for the blog makeover - I'm still LOVING it! and I love how it gives my blog a whole new feel!

This week on Kelly's Korner is

Show Us Your Life - Guest Bedroom

[I apologize for all of my loyal readers - I know this is about the 10th time that I have shown this room!]

This is walking in the room. The wall color is Asparagus by Behr. It was VERY bright at first with nothing in the room, but once we added a lot of white and black to the room it became much more tolerable.

[some of these pictures are old and others are new... you will be able to see based off of the empty picture frames and added pieces to the shelf above the bed - its still a work in progress]

I asked a while back for any suggestions on what to put in the picture frames... I didn't want pictures of friends [no offense], we wanted something black, white and pretty neutral, and Justin and I really haven't traveled to too many places together to have scenery pictures... but my sister came up with the best idea of all - to put scrapbook paper in the frames. This is something that I can change out at any time, however for right now, I think i like them they way they are
the bedding is from HomeGoods and the pillows are from Target [the polka dotted one] and the front one is from Kohl's
the two end tables and shelf are from Ikea
speaking of the shelf - it is certainly a work in progress! I try to pick up black and white items when I see them and I am out... much easier said than done! i thought it would be an easy project that would quickly be complete after a trip or 2 to HobLob [boy was I wrong!]

and the tv....

So thats a tour of our guest bedroom. Justin and I are very fortunate to have so many friends come and stay with us... some days I feel like I should run a hotel out of this room.... and I love it!

Now head on over to Kelly's Korner and check out other bloggers guest bedrooms!

SUYL - Bedroom

Happy Friday!

Today we are showing off our bedroom's through Kelly's Korner's blog hop. Let me remind you that I live in a condo - so its not the most spacious living, but it works for now...

all of my furniture is from sofa express. i got it about 3 1/2 years ago - but since then they have gone out of business here in Ohio... do ya'll have them where you live? i loved their furniture - it was reasonably priced and good quality

My bedding is from a hodge podge of places
coverlet - HomeGoods
brown throw - TJ Maxx
brown and blue pillow - Bed Bath and Beyond
Teal pillows - Target
White Euro Pillows - The Great Indoors
Pictures - Z Gallerie

This lamp is the one splurge in the entire room, its from Crate and Barrel and I L-O-V-E it. It matches perfectly. This is JM's nightstand, well the one closest to his side of the bed at least. Before I broke down and let him move in with me (it just seemed silly to have him paying rent elsewhere when he was practically living with me - but thats a whole different post!) the top drawer was the only drawer he had in the entire house. His clothes were to remain in a laundry basket at the bottom of my closet floors - ha! He now has the entire spare bedroom closet - don't worry, and I let him keep the top drawer of the night stand - so i gave in a little and he got a closet! its not that bad - right!?

another dresser
some of my favorite people
all of my frames are from homegoods
and the other side of the dresser
the vase and candle stick holder are from Z Gallerie and my candle lab give me s'more candle that i made [yum!]
and just one more dresser
and this is the view from my bed of the closets
[notice how in one picture their is a oscillating fan and the other there is not - i may or may not have recycled some of my pictures from a previous post]
right when you walk into the room you come across the master bath, just to give you relation to where it is within the room itself - but i'll leave that for another stop through SUYL

Now head on over to Kelly's Korner and check out other bloggers master bedrooms!
I love seeing everyone's room's and how ya'll decorate. Its honestly one of my favorite parts of the day!

I hope you have a great Friday!!

Show Us Your Life - Things that make you Most Happy

This week on Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life is things that you LOVE/make you happy and here are a few of mine - in no particular order of course...

• driving on a beautiful summer day with the windows down and listening to one of my favorite songs (Red Neck Yacht Club by Craig Morgan can put me in a good mood no matter what kind of day it is - it makes any day better!)
  

• Laughing so hard that your cheeks hurt, and you have tears in your eyes
• giving gifts to others
  
• boating
  

• snowboarding

• being completely caught up with laundry
• OSU football

• getting a manicure/pedicure
• getting a new shampoo and conditioner

• planning parties/cookouts/things for all of our friends to do together
• Fountain Diet Cokes with crushed ice in a Styrofoam cup

Head on over to Kelly's Korner to see what other bloggers favorite things are... what are yours?

Show us your life - Favorite Children's Books

This weeks SUYL topic is favorite children's books... which is ironic because my sister, mom and I were just talking about our favorite children's books a few weeks ago at Sunday dinner. When we were younger we would make a weekly trip to the library and my sister and I would get the same two books EVERY week.... my poor mom for having to read the same book over and over again.

Alli and I loved Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni. When we were talking about it recently we realized the underlying diversity lesson it had in the book, however, we didn't realize that at the time we were reading it. It is about little blue and little yellow meeting and creating green, even though the rest of the community was against the two colors "together".
i also LOVED any eric carle book i could get my hands on, but my ultimate favorite has always been the very hungry caterpillar

but my favorite newer children's' book has to be Chica Chica Boom Boom, I love the colors and the rhyming in the book, and KIDS love it - which is the best part!

What were your favorite children's books?

Don't forget to head on over to Kelly's Korner to check out other bloggers favorite kids books! you may get an idea for yourself of maybe a great shower gift for someone expecting!

Show us your life - Favorite Kids Names

Today over at Kelly's Korner the topic is

Kids Names

Sorry that this is a duplicate post from a few months back.. however I cannot miss up a chance to talk about baby names... I love them and I can't get enough of naming my futures kids!


I love when families have traditions or family history behind their child/children name(s)... and as of right now, my family does not have any traditions.. but with Justin and my middle names both being "R" (Justin Ray and Lindsey Rene), i want our kids to have an R middle name - so that we all have the same last 2 initials.... so with that being said - here are my kids names

Girls

Vera Rea
Emmerson "Emmie" Rian

Boys
Everett Ruggerio
Graham Robert
Corbett or Corbin Ryland

** Ruggerio was my mom's family's name before they came over on the boat from Italy, they had to change it when they came to America to Rogers - and I have always loved the idea of having the middle name of a child as Ruggerio - and I think its a way to carry on part of my Italian heritage**

***Robert is my dad's first name and Justin's dad's middle name - so its appropriate to incorporate it into a boys middle name (And it starts with an R)***

So not to put the cart in front of the horse -I completely realize that I am happily dating my boyfriend, I don't think there is a child in our future anytime soon... but its never too soon to plan - right?!!?

Stop on over to Kelly's Korner to check out other bloggers top baby names!

Happy Friday :)

Show us your life - how you met your husband/fiance/boyfriend

Today over a Kelly's Korner its all about how your met your husband/fiance [boyfriend]... and yes I am that annoying blogger who is going to participate even if Justin and I are still dating.

I always have a plan in life... surprised??? i planned on graduating from school, getting a job, living at home for a year, buying a condo and then potentially start looking for a boyfriend...

well those plans came to a screeching halt within 24 hours of moving back home from school...

my sister and i were both on semesters so we both moved back in the same day to our parents... and my mom has a 1 box rule - you unpack the box in the garage, dust detox it, and then put everything in the box away, or put it in the attic for your own place later down the road.. so alli and i had been unpacking boxes for 5 hours that morning, and i told her that i had been home for almost 24 hours without any chipotle, however we are going to wait until the lunch rush because i don't want to see ANYONE... we are to go with our diva sunglasses on, get our burrito bowls, not collect $200, and come RIGHT home to enjoy them before heading back to work on our unpacking...

so sure enough I roll up to chipotle looking lovely as ever i step out of the car wearing this...

i had to put back on the exact same outfit so ya'll could see how pitiful it actually was - the pink pants are terry cloth - i got them from the boat dock down in kentucky [what was i thinking], my hair was a HOT mess. and i had the ever so attractive soccer adidas sandals on - i mean who could resist this outfit! i'm surprised instyle didn't want me for their latest edition!

and who do i see? none other than Justin and Bret [who i have known since middle school], so of course I had to say hi to them, I couldn't just ignore them, we sat there and talked for a few minutes and Justin invited me up to a bar on Wednesday night where a bunch of guys from the home town hang out... and i thought to myself, why not? i have no friends now that i have graduated and left them all up in toledo, i might as well go up and join them for a drink... and the rest is history...

our first date was to the memorial tournament. i was all excited because i had tickets to the sunday's final round for the first time ever - and i was looking forward to it, but then my mom and dad told me that we had a memorial service for one of our family friend's dad's who had passed away, and i was going to have to miss the golf tournament to be with my family, which i was fine with, but a little bummed that i was going to be missing the tournament for the first time in 10 years... and thats when Justin said if i can get tickets for us, would you like to go on saturday.. i should have known at that point, that he would do anything to make me happy.. because he pulled through and got us tickets for the tournament - and we had so much fun. i will never forget standing talking to a girl i work with saying, if this guy can figure out a way to get us tickets to the memorial tournament this weekend, i will marry him... and low and behold here we are 4 years later...

i am so lucky that i have found him, he is my best friend, my rock, and the person i go to when i need support. he knows when i need a text message that simply says "i love you" or he knows when i need a hug even if i don't ask for one.. its amazing to know that i have someone in my life who knows me better than i know myself...

its amazing when you think you have your planned all figured out.. but then it goes to the wayside, because God has much bigger plans for you than you will even know. I'm beyond thankful that my plans didnt end up the way I initially planned them to be - my life is perfect - and i'm living my life one day at a time, with an amazing man right beside me!

go check out how other people have met their significant others on Kelly's Korner! Happy Friday ya'll :)

Show Me Your Life - Daily Routines

Today at Kellys Korner it is Show Us Your Daily Routine.... and although mine might be VERY boring, I thought I would share it with you!

If you know me very well, I live for a routine! and I LOVE LOVE LOVE having a plan in my head and executing it - and I like for my daily routine to be the same way....

• I lay in bed until I figure out my complete outfit - perhaps I should take Aly's approach and plan my entire wardrobe for the entire week on Sunday - I may get out of bed a little faster each morning
• I head into work hoping that I have left in enough time to beat rush hour traffic - about 3 out of 5 days this is true, however there are a few days when my outfits are hard to come by and it takes me a little longer to get out of bed
• When I get in the office I listen to all of my voicemails that have been left from the night before, and then return all of my emails - and after that - I make a list of what needs to be accomplished before I can leave every night. When I get to the office my desk looks like this (yes I have a SLIGHT obsession with Post It notes)
  

• By about 3:00 my office looks something like this

and I feel like doing this
but thats when I realize that I am thankful to have a job, and my job of finding the perfect candidate for the job at a wonderful hospital organization, so I continue on through my day.

• I typically head home between 5 and 6 every night, depending on the day and how hectic it is. My own rule for myself is that I will not leave the office until every person has a response to my voicemail or email .... well at least I try to
• When I get home, I immediately go to the gym and run my miles that need to be done, or on my cross training days I do a work out video in the basement
• 

• I then make dinner for JM and I
• And then its finally time to relax, facebook, blog, watch some reality tv (yes I'm officially a junkie!), and/or make a craft. (i blame this on my job not allowing me to be overly creative - so I need to use my creative juices when I get home!)
  
• AND THEN ITS TIME TO DO THIS ALL OVER AGAIN ON REPEAT!

So this is my life on repeat, and I look forward to the days when I meet up with the girls for dinner or drinks, however I realize right now I need to be focused in order to be ready to run the marathon in a little over 2 months! Are you a creature of habit? Do you have a daily routine?

I hope you have a wonderful Friday - and dont forget to stop by Kellys Korner for others daily life routines.

Show me your Life - Valentines Day - Favorite Date and/or Gift

Before dating Justin, I had no interest what so ever in Valentine's Day, I would have rather been with all of my single friends wearing black all day and being miserable by myself (nothing that says look at me I'm single than wearing black on 2/14 - ha!)

So when I first started dating Justin, I was excited because the closer and closer I got to February I realized that I might actually get to have a Valentine on February 14th!

Our first VDay day together was in 2007 and Justin and I had planned on going to a nice dinner however, mother nature had other plans for us... we were under a Level 2 snow emergency in Ohio that day and Justin was concerned about going out into the poor weather. I had other plans though - I wanted to go to dinner and I wanted to be with Justin, so I made sure that we made it to dinner (there may or may not have been a minor temper tantrum thrown by yours truly) but we made it to dinner and I enjoyed every little bit of our time together.

So after dinner we exchanged gifts, and Justin gave me a Pandora bracelet. It was PERFECT gift! And I have received a bead (or 2) for the past 3 years and every time I look at my bracelet I think of Justin and just how lucky I am to have a guy like him!



My director at work gave me this bead last year for my birthday. I love it - the pink matches the pink rhinestone in the middle of my first years bead, as well as it picks up the pink in the mother of pearl bead from year '08. She picked out this bead because it was closest to purple (my birthstone as she could find). She's so thoughtful!
And here is my entire bracelet. I love it! I love pandora because its your very own, no one else has one like it, and I have a meaning behind every bead. It is also nice because Justin doesn't have to worry/think about what to give me each year for VDay and all of my beads are hearts - so there is a theme and it is currently symetrical (lets hope it stays that way - hint hint!)
Please stay tuned for my new additions to my bead after this weekend.

Do you have any valentines traditions? or do you have a pandora bracelet? If so, I would love to hear about them!

Happy Friday and I hope you have a WONDERFUL Valentine's Day!!!!

Show us your life - Beauty Tips

I'm very thankful for Kellys Korner because not only does she give me topics to blog about but her Show us Your Life Friday posts give me so many ideas, and opportunities to view other blogs that I might never have found on my own! So today is all about Beauty Tips.. and if you know me very well - I do not spend much time getting ready - all I need is about 35 minutes :) The more simple it is - the better in my opinion.. so these are my every day products that I use....

My variety of shampoos and conditioners. Its always good to change up the type of shampoo that you use, so I have one for moisture, volume, and damage control. I try not to use the same type of shampoo two days in a row and I am very particular about the scent of my products - so all of these have a very light scent to them.

I'm pretty sure the Bjorklund's inspired me to have a larger variety of shampoos and conditioners because when we were out in Boston this past fall Justin got out of the shower and said - "I feel like I just went shopping for shampoo in the shower". I think Stacey probably had 5-6 different types of shampoos to choose from - ha! it makes my selection look small!

I also have a routine for when I get out of the shower. I have to add as much product as possible to my ULTRA fine, flat hair to see any/some volume. I first wrap my hair up in a towel as soon as I get out of the shower to absorb all the moisture that I possibly can, which cuts down on my hair dryer time considerably. I leave my towel on my head when I apply my mascara and then I start in on the hair process.

I wasn't thinking when I took this picture and I should have put them from left to right in the order I use them, however i put them from right to left.

1. Heat Shield - it helps protect your hair from the heat - whether its from the hair dryer or straightener
2. Garnier Fructis Style XXL Volume Thickening Mousse - I typically fill my palm full with mousse and then I run it through my hair distributing it evenly throughout my damp head
3. Depending on the day I can use either of the next 3 volume hairsprays. If I am wearing my hair down with little volume I will typically just spray the Aussie Volume hairspray all over my head, if I am wearing my hair down but a little bit of a bump created by teasing then I will use the Herbal Essences Set Me up Hairspray, but if I make a TDP (Tri Delta Poof - I swear all of my sorority sisters who graduated 2-3 years after me created the bump-it effect way before the bump-it ever was thought of - so we call it the TDP) I load up my teased hair with the Garnier Full Control Hairspray.
4. Before I ever leave the house I will always finish my hair off with the Aussie Hi Hold + Hi Shine hair spray... I swear it might as well be super glue for your hair. If I didn't have an issue with constantly re-teasing my hair for my poof this product would work 100% better for me! ha

I also would recommend anyone who straightens their hair to splurge a little and get a Chi Hair straightening iron. I can't use any other brand now that I have been spoiled with this one - it gets so hot that it glides through your hair! its awesome. I would also recommend buying a cover for yours as well - it only took me burning my hands a 3-4 times before I realized that this Vera Bradley cover was a necessity. It also helps for traveling purposes.


Another product that I have recently discovered that I LOVE LOVE LOVE is liquid eye liner. I swore that I would never again wear liquid eye liner after so many years in dance competitions and so many times that I was poked in the eye with the wand by either my mom or another dance mom - but this stuff is awesome now that I have control of applying my own make up! It doesn't end up half way down your face by the middle of the work day it actually stays on my eye lids - and I love it!

I also have a slight obsession with lip gloss - At any given time you can probably find at least 7 or 8 lip glosses on me at any time, and typically when we travel my entire quart sized Ziploc is filled 3/4 of the way with lip gloss (the other 1/4 of a bag is filled with hand sanitizer!- Surprised?) But my favorite lip glosses are lipLITES by bonnebell - yes the same brand that you probably liked when you were 12 -ha! i love the cappuccino and creme brulee colors.

My last beauty tip is to help your hands during the COLD winter months. Every time I get in my car I put Bath and Body Works Body Butter on my hands and then put on these cheap gloves, and then when I get out of the car, I take of the gloves and leave them on my seat. This has really helped my hands from getting completely dried during the cold winter months in Ohio.

Thanks you for stopping by and I hope some of my beauty tips may help you as well! Have a wonderful Friday and don't forget to stop by Kellys Korner for other ideas!

I'm so excited for this weekend, we have a lot planned, a Girls*Night*Out scarf exchange tonight, we're babysitting Molly Saturday morning and we have a wedding Saturday night, and then were having a super bowl party - make sure to stop by I will have lots to blog about this weekend:)

Show us your life - Fashion Tips

I am definitely not someone who is "proud" of my style... but its me, its who I am, its what I am comfortable in.. and most of all its VERY simple!

Here are my winter staples... I have a few of these - simple cotton black dresses, this one is my favorite, it has an elastic band under the bust.. its very simple, and you can either dress it up tall black boots or dress it down with Ugg boots. (Since ya'll have asked - this dress is from New York and Company)

There are not many outfits that I don't wear a scarf.... not only is it a great accessory, but it also hides the girls when needed in a low cut shirt! Thank goodness they are in style (well at least I think they are still in style) because they give me so many more options for outfits




As of last year I had one of these lovely long sleeve white tee shirts... as of now - I have at least 5 of them... I swear I wear them at least 3 or 4 times a week under short sleeve sweaters. Because of the beaut (a long sleeve fitted white tee) I am able to extend my wardrobe by 50%. It also looks cute under short sleeve tee's as well... I wear them just plain or with a vest over top... its all about the layering. I love layering UNTIL its laundry time..

And my last MUST have for the winter... my gray Uggs. I LOVE the color gray this season - and these wonderful shoes allow me to dress down a pair of jeans or dress.
So there is my simple/boring fashion tips... I think a few staple items can make or break a wardrobe... and these would definately be my staples!

Visit other blogs ideas of fashion tips by visiting Kelly's Korner. What are your winter staple items?

Have a great Friday Bloggers :)

Show us your life - Favorite Shopping Places

Although I wish that I loved shopping - I really dislike crowds, and I'm so impatient when it comes to trying on clothes.... so I am NOTORIOUS for shopping online, and then going to the store to pick up the item (now this also comes back to bite me from time to time... when I can't find in the store what I found online!)

If I have to go shopping you will probably find me at Marshalls, TJs or Target. Since watching my budget much more closely over the last few months (which is a new trend for me) I have tried to stay away from these stores because I end up buying things that I do not need.

My other favorite places to shop are New York and Company (inexpensive trendy items), Target (only if the price is right - I think they forgot they used to be trendy and inexpensive, they are officially now trendy and their prices are creeping up), i LOVE LOVE LOVE the Gap outlet (except when I go down there I just need to prepare myself that I am going to take a big chunk out of my budget/allowance), and Walmart (only online however, the walmart that is near my house is not in the best part of town, and I think shopping from the comfort of my home is much safer!).

My biggest goal for this year is to stock up on dresses. I have never really been much of a dress girl, however since I have started to follow more and more blogs (especially everyone from the south) i have noticed how cute, trendy and comfy dresses can really be. I have started my dress collection, however I am quickly finding out that a girl can never have too many dresses! Do you have your favorite place to shop for dresses? I would love to hear your suggestions. I'm pretty sure Stacey and Clinton could surprise me at any minute because my wardrobe could definately use a lift!

Also my other last favor to ask, if you happen to live in Central Ohio, do you have a favorite boutique... can you leave me a message with the name and where its located. I love asking people where they got something super cute and its a small little boutique - however I don't even know where to begin to look for one....

Sorry this post is asking a lot of you - but I do need a little/a lot of fashion advice - and I will greatly appreciate any advice possible!

Show us your life.... New Years Resolutions/Goals

New Years Resolutions

I have never really sat down and made a list of resolutions for myself for the upcoming year nor have I ever stuck to my resolution (except one year I went an entire year without ANY chocolate - I was probably 14 and 15 and I apparently I didn't have much stress in my life back then because we all know that chocolate is a way to cure a stressful day!) I digress... so here's my list of resolution/goals for the upcoming year....

• Overcome my fear of numbers... and by numbers I mean my bank account and my weight. I never like looking at my bank account number because the number is constantly going down and I hate looking at my weight because it is constantly going up... so I am hoping this year my fear of numbers will go away because my bank account will creep up and my weight will dwindle down
• While were on the topic of weight.. I have really struggled since college with my weight (actually my entire life) however, I have really noticed since I have been dating Justin (not that it is his fault at all - but just because I am more comfortable than ever) I have lost interest in working out and focusing on my physical health. My goal for this year is start towards my ideal weight loss goal - to loose 23% of my current weight, and I would be where I would ideally want to weigh
• Back to saving money - I want to save enough money to fly down and see my grandma and great grandma in Florida. I miss both of them dearly and the older I get the more time they spend down in Florida
• I would also love to furnish the basement with Justin's help. It is currently a big heaping mess! We had a funny conversation the other day after leaving Best Buy after buy a headset for Justin's PS3
  

Lindsey: Are you close to paying off Best Buy credit card (18 month no interest) from your Play Station 3?
Justin: Yea, I think the next purchase that I will get is a new tv for downstairs, and if I get the tv will you get the surround sound?
Lindsey: I don't mind buying the surround sound, however don't you think we
should work on buying furniture for the basement too?
Justin: I suppose
It just goes to show you how differently boys think than girls, all they want is a nice tv and the equipment to make it look and sound that much cooler - forget about the comfort level of the room (i.e. couches!). Now I just have to find couches that I will also fit down the stairs - the entrance is VERY narrow...

• Although I'm not a runner I would like to participate in one race this year - like a 5k - lets start off small and work and I can work my way up to a bigger race or more 5ks throughout the year if I get really ambitious
  
• I would also love to find a way to calculate walking/running 2oo miles this year.
  

SOME FUN RESOLUTIONS

• Blog 350 days this year... so far were off to a good start
• Paint my nails so they don't look trashy like this

• Go on a date with Justin once a month... Although we go out to dinner together, sometimes its just so I dont have to make dinner and I'm being lazy or have no creative ideas - I want our dates to be planned
• Host a a girls night out once a month for my girlfriends. I am so fortunate to have such a large group of friends who live here locally, and I love it when I am able to get together with them frequently (scarf exchange, Saturday morning movie and breakfast, dinner, ect)
  
• Have my parents and Justin's parents over for dinner once a month
• Write notes to my friends who may need encouragement, thank you notes to people who encourage me, just saying hi letters to my friends I might not get to see all the time, and an occasional love notes to Justin
• Continue to volunteer at my church nursery once a month

I think those are plenty of goals for the upcoming year. I am really looking forward to a fresh start... I think 2010 is going to be a fun and eventful year! Please help me stay on track with all of my goals and I will definately help you with yours!

Make sure to stop by Kellys Korner to check out other peoples New Years Resolutions!

Happy Friday