Jewelry Storage

I was recently introduced to Stella & Dot and fell in love with pretty much everything they have to offer. Their merchandise reminds me a lot of j.crew in terms of it being feminine and somewhat preppy but it's very reasonably priced -- especially when you have a friend who shares her discount with you!

My jewelry collection is sparse to say the least. I tend to rotate between the same two necklaces and earrings but definitely was searching for a 'statement' necklace and a few other simple pieces that could be worn more often. I wasn't initially drawn towards S&D's pearl necklace but after trolling their instagram I was sold.

As my collection expands, I definitely need to update my jewelry storage situation. Right now I store it all on a jewelry 'tree' but there isn't that much room and it doesn't accommodate any of my longer necklaces.

I was searching around the web and found these that I really like:

one // two // three

Someday I want to pimp out our master bedroom closet and put in some awesome jewelry storage like Jenny from Little Green Notebook did in her Ikea Pax (third picture) but for now, I think I'll follow the tutorial by Emily Henderson and make those little jewelry blocks to put in my bathroom. As for stud earrings, I really like the thought of using something unconventional to store them like the egg holder in the second picture. Small bowls in a shallow drawer would also look cute and be more functional then my current solution i.e. leaving them wherever I take them off.

The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Wedding Planning

Mike and I are about six-months out from our wedding and I'm starting to feel the stress. We were sitting pretty after we got a bunch of stuff accomplished in October but the holidays flew by and we are up against deadlines again. My sister jokingly asked the other day if I would be mad if she eloped and I told her I hoped she did!

Okay... half kidding - but as fun as it is to pick the venue, dress, and stationary there are just as many frustrating aspects of getting the big day to come together. For any of you who just got engaged, I thought I'd share.

1// Vendors Not Getting Back to You - or even more frustrating, not getting back to you with information you requested. A lot of websites don't have their prices explicitly stated on their website but rather ask you to email them for more info. I assumed most vendors have a packet they send you upon request with options and pricing but was surprised to get responses like "the price depends on what you want."

My take on this is if they are too busy/disorganized to get back to you within a week or with a response that doesn't directly addresses your questions then you probably won't get the attention and quality you want for your big day anyway. The vendors that have won our business were all quick to respond, upfront, and interested in helping us figure out what we wanted for our wedding.

2// Finding Hotel Accommodations - this one is on me. I should have started asking around about blocking out rooms in hotels a few months ago but didn't realize it would be this difficult. July is high season in Tahoe (especially around the lake) and hotels are either unwilling to reserve rooms or limit the number of reservations to one wedding a weekend. Since our venue doesn't have parking, it means we are most likely going to have to pay for a fleet of vans to pick people up instead of just doing one large bus from a central location.

Other situations to be aware of are hotels that ask you to put down a deposit on the rooms and/or charge you a percentage of any rooms not reserved which could end up costing you money in the end. Most large chains don't do this but instead you make an agreement to release the unreserved rooms at a given date before the wedding which is much more reasonable.

3// Guests Not Looking at the Wedding Website - We're not at this point yet but was a recent complaint of a friend getting married in a few months who put a lot of time into making their website only to have people call to ask for details or miss the deadline for booking rooms because they failed to look at the website.

I understand not all people are internet savvy but with so much on your plate already, answering the who/what/when/why of Aunts and Uncles is not easy. Some good advice I recently heard is to designate a bridesmaid or a friend you trust to be the 'go-to' person -- especially for questions the week of the wedding.


How about any of you married readers? Have any other tips for things to watch out for while planning a wedding and how to deal with them? I promise if Mike and I don't throw in the towel and sneak off to the courthouse that all my wedding posts from now on will be things I am excited about!

Invitations (not my actual ones) by Wednesday Custom Designs & 

Retro Phone picture by AC Photography

What I Want to Work On in the New Year

I don't love the term New Year's Resolution but there are definitely things I want to accomplish and get better at this year.

01. Send Thank You Cards - Kind of a given that I will be sending a lot of thank you cards this year because of our wedding but I really want to get in the habit of showing my appreciation in a tangible way starting with the gifts Mike and I received for Christmas.

02. Remember Birthdays - I've gotten lazy on this one. FB and texting are great but for close friends and family I'd like to make an effort of sending an actual card or at least picking up the phone and calling. I know it means a lot to me when someone does this for my birthday and I'd like to do the same. The mother of my best friend growing up still calls me on or near my birthday every year which I think is amazing.... looks like I'll need to stock up on some stationary.

03. Improve my Graphic Design / Photo Editing Skills - I had no clue how much I would love creating graphics until I stumbled on PicMonkey a few months ago and now I can't stop! Graphic design and Interior decorating kind of go hand-in-hand in my brain just in different mediums. I'd love to get to know another design program at some point this year. The obvious contender is Photoshop but I know there are other (maybe better?) ones out there. Anyone have a suggestion?

04. Pass All my CPA Exams - I could write an entire essay about my experience with those tests but let's just leave it at it's probably the biggest thing I've struggled with in my adult existence. Even thinking about it makes me kind of sick to my stomach but I've got to do them. Realistically I might move on from tax and maybe even accounting at some point in my life but as long as I pass my CPA and pay off my student loan, I will be okay with that. I need to think of a strategy to get them done but seeing everyone else at work struggle through them I think the best way is just to be obsessive about it which is incredibly annoying for everyone who isn't in the process of taking them so I apologize in advance.

I've been loving reading everyone else's resolutions on their blogs - definitely post a link in the comments if you've written about yours!

Graphic by Lindsay Wilkinson for Townhome for Two