This Messy Business

5 Prenatal Work Outs on YouTube

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Mon, 14 May 2018 13:00:00 +0000

I don't know about you guys, but being pregnant hasn't been a time where I've felt my sexiest. I'm sure each person has a very different and unique experience- for me, it has been super hard.

One of the things that is highly recommended by doctors and physicians is to continue to exercise throughout pregnancy. It makes it easier for birth, weight gain, the aches and pains of your body changing, and helps with the stress and anxiety of this crazy time period in your life.

We have been working on trimming our budget down a lot in order to anticipate Lincoln's arrival and one of the things we did cut was our gym membership. I haven't had the energy to use it and drive there since I've got a bit of a longer commute this year and next. Also, I am not as comfortable going to the gym with a baby belly. Shallow? Probably. But true.

Instead! I shut my blinds and have been doing some great work outs at home! Here are some of my favorite work out YouTube videos for prenatal exercise! *Make sure to check with your doctor on any work out regiments or routines.*

1. BodyFit by Amy

Amy is super awesome! I don't always know all the fancy names for the work outs and she walks you through each step and gives you great modification ideas. She also works in a lot of breaks throughout. Each work out ranges from about 25 to 35 minutes. After a long day of work, that isn't terrible. You get in there, get out, and are already at home. You don't have an entire extra hour of having to drive to and fro and all that. I just throw the YouTube videos on to our TV using Google ChromeCast and it's great! She has strength work outs, pilates, and bodyweight workouts to fit where ever you are in your fitness journey.

2. Prenatal WorkOut: Total Body for First & Second Trimester by Andrea Ramirez

I really enjoy these work outs also because well, they are also short! And I like that. I don't feel like I'm overdoing it and wearing myself out unnecessarily but I also can chose to add another session on if I want. She is also super encouraging and actually pregnant while she does the series, which makes me feel better, personally.

3. Prenatal Yoga by Sarah Beth Yoga

I enjoy this one because stretching and keeping your muscles as flexible as possible is super important all the time, but it seems like especially during pregnancy. This is another short 20 minute session that you can do in the morning or when you get home and will just help you all around. It's not over the top and she has a variety of videos on her channel that you can choose from depending on where you're at in pregnancy and in your fitness. Like it. Also, you feel less... clunky... doing yoga alone in your living room navigating your belly then you might in a studio with others. Maybe that's just me? lol.

4. Yoga: Strength & Stability by Tonic

Strength is a big one during pregnancy and this video is awesome (again, also a manageable length of time) for helping with that. My only major pregnancy symptom so far has been crippling sciatica pain in my lower back. As in, Brennan has to help pick me up because I can't stand well at all and my legs go numb. It really sucks. It also poses a huge challenge for when I go to give birth, I want to make sure I'm not neglecting all those components leading up. This YouTube channel also has a lot of great meal and lifestyle ideas to go with the work outs, too!

5. Prenatal Barre: 25 minute full body tone up with Kristen

Barre is one of my favorite work out styles! It's exciting, adventurous, and definitely keeps you moving the entire time. I honestly didn't think there were any options for me to even try doing it while pregnant but this one has been great! It's not all the things that barre is so, if you enjoy it, after you have the baby and are in the all clear- check out a location near you! Groupon always has killer deals for different locations if you're in a city. Denver has a ton of great studios that fit your lifestyle!

Hopefully some of these videos will help you out! I know that I'e enjoyed getting to stay fit and healthy and not be embarrassed at a gym slugging my belly along with me everywhere. Plus, being able to manage when taking breaks and having someone else plan my workouts is bomb.com.

One Room Challenge: Week 5

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Wed, 02 May 2018 23:36:00 +0000

Friends, I have a confession. (Cue dancing Usher gif- circa 2006) I haven't made much progress on our nursery this week. We are in the final countdown to get done with the school year. 3.25 weeks, if you were wondering! And it's been a struggle to get all of us to the finish line. I've also decided to start taking on converting from my current blogging host to WordPress (Gods of Blogs, save me.) I think it is going to be a great move once I get it all figured out! I'm getting there! Also, it has been a beautiful week for weather in Colorado so we've spent a lot of time on yard work and cleaning up the patio for dinners and entertaining outside on the patio.

So, here's a photo final list of all the things that we need to get finished. For actual progress check out week one, week 2, week 3, week 4 for all the changes and updates. Check out all the guest participants this week and see the amazing work they've done!

I' would like to get more of the wall art set up and established. We are waiting for now until after our Baby Shower to purchase or frame anything major because we aren't sure what we might get for gifts or what other vintage pieces we may come across. We are still aching to put up the vintage National Park travel photos.

Remember these from my inspiration post way back when?

source

We're working on finding on a dresser or hutch of some sort for this area and have been missing out on all the vintage style ones we've located on Craigslist, so that is still a journey. But we've gotten the globe and salt lamp!

We also decorated the top of the bookcase somewhat, Brennan's dad brought over all of his old helmets from his childhood and though we don't plan to keep ALL 6 of those helmets, we picked out a couple of the really cool ones to keep. It works well with the space! I need to figure out where to put the sound machine and humidifier but, those technical pieces are for another day.

If you were wondering how gigantic a maternity pillow is, it takes up this whole chair and then some! However... super comfy. Wonderful. I will never give it up. The bassinet will also be moved to our room later on, but I just think its so cute.

Here is my dark and ugly corner in the room that I can't figure out. Do I move the bookcase here? Do I get a skinny dresser? Do I just accept it? I have no idea. Such indecision. Our room is small so we want to utilize all of the space really intentionally. Ugh. So hard.

I do like this one little wall area I was able to decorate and complete! My mom got us this cute hanging thing from Michael's. Brennan's brother travels a great deal and brought back a bunch of really great postcards! So we hung them on here along with a sweet pair of booties that Brennan's mom made! Hopefully over time we will be able to adds some postcards from our own travels with Lincoln.

My mom also got him this adorable changing table cover that is constellation animals. Target, you sexy beast and all your cute things.

However... I still haven't decided on drawer pulls I like and haven't painted over that chunk I took out of it when I was assembling it. It got personal between the changing table and I. It hit me in the head. I said some things, it did some things. Brennan finished putting it together. I still need to get about 3 more bins to use for diapers, towels, and little things he'll need.

We did utilize the space underneath the crib to stash some goods also! His bathtub, a giant box of wipes, anddd some extra bedding. There's still a bit more space for extra diaper storage. Sebastian likes to check it out and see how it's going.

So, clearly, not too many changes but we have come leaps and bounds from where it was originally. I love the light that pours into that room in the morning and sometimes I sit on the chair in there and imagine what it will be like to hold my little baby boy in the space that was created just for him.

Here's the list again (though mostly unchanged):

To-Do & Shopping List:

~~Lighter paint color~~
~~Better curtains (but with black out for more baby sleeps)~~ Just need to hang up.
~~Rug~~
~~Paint crib~~
~~Rest of the furniture~~ r
Organization and storage options
~~Changing station assembled~~
Lamps/lighting
~~Assemble crib~~
Wall art
Organize closet
Accessories
Name art
~~Chair~~
Pouf/footstool- hoping for this one from my registry!
~~Smaller desk- likely this one from IKEA because we have a $50.00 gift card and it will adjust for when the baby grows up a bit and needs a little coloring desk or something.~~
NEW Additions:

Dresser
Shelves/Storage above desk for office supplies
Bigger bookcase???
More baskets for under changing table

Oh goodness, pregnancy has made me so sappy! Do you have any tips for shifting over to WordPress? Any other baby must haves I should make sure to utilize in our nursery?

Nursery: Organization & Cleaning- ORC Week 4

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 14:00:00 +0000

We've been working hard on our nursery the past few weeks! To see all the progress check out week one, week 2, and last week for all the changes and updates. It's been a lot of fun to see all the different varieties of work happening in all the other guest's different rooms! This challenge has definitely kept me motivated to see the project through to the end.

To-Do & Shopping List:

~~Lighter paint color~~
~~Better curtains (but with black out for more baby sleeps)~~ Just need to hang up.
~~Rug~~
~~Paint crib~~
~~Rest of the furniture~~ r
Organization and storage options
~~Changing station assembled~~
Lamps/lighting
~~Assemble crib~~
Wall art
Organize closet
Accessories
Name art
~~Chair~~
Pouf/footstool- hoping for this one from my registry!
~~Smaller desk- likely this one from IKEA because we have a $50.00 gift card and it will adjust for when the baby grows up a bit and needs a little coloring desk or something.~~
NEW Additions:

Dresser
Shelves/Storage above desk for office supplies
Bigger bookcase???
More baskets for under changing table

We are definitely making some serious progress! For most of the wall art I did a little shopping around our house and in the garage where I've got some of my extra art stored for now. I did this to save some cash and also to get more items out of my storage area.

So ready for some progress? Let's start right when we look in through the door. One of the first things you see is the new desk area:

We got rid of the large table desk and replaced it with this smaller and more compact IKEA one. I already had those file folders so I went ahead and just slid some of the stuff I had out into those. They hold some of my binders and folders for teaching and my masters. And, let's be honest, to hide the other ugly office type stuff. The chair is an old church folding chair from one of my thrift store hunts. I love the old wood look of it in contrast with the white desk.

The next view is of the corner of the room. We got the crib all put together with the bedskirt and new sheet from Burt's Bees. In the crib we also put Brennan's childhood teddy bear and a cute bike pillow. Of course when baby is in there those items will be removed, but they look cute for now!

We pulled this chair in from the living room that I showed on last week's ORC post. I'm still conflicted over the chair placement. I sort of want to swap the chair and changing table. I haven't committed yet.

Behind the door we hung the reveal image and I used this old coffee cup holder that I've had since high school to hang some of his sweet outfits on! There's a tiny cap that his Grandma knitted for him, some adorable OshKosh overalls, and a white onesie. I'm sure we'll add even more to it once we collect more outfits but for now! It looks real cute. I would like to get an over-the-door hook thing for the main bedroom door to keep some blankets or other items on and have handy.

We finally made some progress on the closet! We pulled out all of the boxes of wedding gear and stacked the extra bedding and suitcases in. It's still a bit cramped so there's some things that probably need to be rearranged but we at least have enough that we can hang up some of the small outfits or other items that we get.

Here is the full view of the window side of the room. We put up these nice thick curtains and just need to add knobs to the changing table. This is where I'm not sure if I want the chair under the window or the changing table. It's hard to decide. There is also that awkward dark corner on the right. Currently it is housing the basket that will hold baby blankies or toys and the hamper for the dirty outfits.

I was excited to play with some of the styling and bought this cute "B" on clearance at Michaels, along with the salt lamp, for really cheap. His last name starts with "B" so we felt like it would work! My mom and I found the cool little vintage globe at the local Goodwill. Goes great with the travel theme!

Though this isn't in the nursery, Brennan's grandma and father retrieved the heirloom high chair for us! We got it cleaned up and it is sitting in the dining room waiting for another little baby butt to sit in it. It was Brennan's dad's and all of Brennan's siblings and him used it as well. We love pieces with a good story and this one is just awesome.

Wondering where all the wedding stuff from the closet went? Well. First it went to the living room and took up the whole place...

Andddd now it is all staged in the garage. Which means I have to park outside. Boo. But we are getting a storage unit to give us a bit more breathing room and keep our wedding stuff safe. Our next step is to pick up some more plastic tub boxes and take them out of the cardboard ones. We know this will make it safer to haul and avoid damage. This may have to wait until the school year is out.

4.5 weeks from today. That's when school is out. But who is counting?

It feels great to have the space a bit more cleaned up so that the next couple weeks of the challenge are really just about focusing on cleaning, organizing, creating storage for his wee little clothes, and getting the layout right. Here's to hoping it all comes together and I don't make my collection in the garage too much larger. haha. Otherwise, I may have to do a "Recovering from the One Room Challenge, Challenge."

We could be on to something here.

I can't wait to see all the other projects from the great people linking up! Make sure you stop over and check out all the rooms and ideas on the One Room Challenge!

Making A Rental Feel Like Home: Living Room

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 14:00:00 +0000

As you all know, we moved to Denver in June of 2017 and started renting our 1,000 sq ft 2 bedroom 1 bathroom home just 15 minutes from downtown Denver. You can check out more of our entire process here from when we first moved to the area and picked a home.

Now, since then, we've been fortunate enough to be able to work on different elements of the home to make it more "homey" and somewhere we feel like we could be awhile. We already talked about the kitchen and dining area, the master bedroom and lone bathroom, and if you've been following along with the blog we are currently working on converting the second bedroom that was once the guest room and office to the nursery (with tiny corner office area!) through the One Room Challenge. So far it's going well! Check out the week one progress , week two, and week three!

The only place we haven't talked about much is the living room space. Here is a reminder of what it looked like when we walked through it the first time last May:

A pretty great space with room for larger sized furniture and to have a bunch of people over. Something that we definitely enjoy being able to do!

Let's talk about what we did to take this peanut butter living room and transform it into something more cozy and that reflected our style. Thank goodness for our amazing landlord who has a lot of faith and trust in us!

When we moved in we continued the paint color from the hallway, dining, and kitchen into the living room to make sure it all felt like one big space. We used a lot of the art and things that we'd had from our first house so that we didn't have to purchase anything else.

Here's our first home's living room space- goodness do I miss the wood floors... sigh:

As you can see we decluttered and downsized A LOT. As I look at those photos I just think about how much we took to the thrift store or sold at our yard sale.

We used to have a love seat and a sofa that were slip covered but we upgraded to a sectional when we arrived in Denver. The other set was old and I was totally over the slipcover life. This sectional works well in this house and in the future could be great in a family room space. We picked him up at American Furniture Warehouse and it was a pretty budget friendly selection. The website shows it in the beige tone but we decided to go with the gray because our dogs are gray. And it felt more "NEW" after 10 years with the beige slipcovers.

Here is one angle of the room:

We added our white rug from our old house to lighten up the sea of brown carpet (I am not a carpet fan. I've already killed one vacuum.) and the light from the big front window and screen door is awesome! Carl loves to lay in that spot on the couch. And Sebastian. Mostly they just lay on the couch. Sometimes I wish I had their life.

We also raised the curtain rod up to the ceiling since the ceiling is a bit lower in here than in our former house. We also added the privacy sheers to tone down some of the intense lightening that can come in that window during the day. It's very bright but also can get VERY hot in the Colorado summer.

This is Brennan's gigantic TV. I am not super into the black hole nature of it, but it is awesome to have HGTV on there all gigantic. Relationships are all about compromise, right?

We tried to style this weird wall but I think it still needs some work. I would like to fix the small frames on either side of the map and maybe check that everything is still centered. I'm not sure what it needs but definitely something! Brennan's record player lives right there so there aren't many other places to go with my vintage table. We added a lamp for some mood lighting because sometimes the ceiling fan light is a bit much. When my parents were visiting they referred to it as "the sun" when we were in the living room one evening. haha.

There are a few more things I would like to update or change again now that we've been here awhile:

Move occasional chair to Lincoln's room to make more space
Do something with the TV area
Adjust the art above record player
Make a new spring wreath!
Update/replace pillows
Find new large art work for above the couch. Keep mirror and Colorado frame but replace the other with something different. Map of Denver? Other vintage poster from Colorado?
Declutter bookcase/ find a better home for the DVDs.

So, our cozy living room is making progress and we love it- but there's still a few adjustments that need to be made to it, I think!

If you have any suggestions, drop them in the comments below! I could use all tips. :)

Nursery: Furniture & Progress- ORC Week 3

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 17:57:00 +0000

We had an incredible time over the weekend finding out the gender of our little human on their way to join us in this world (we're down to about 16 weeks! Which is still awhile... but... ya know.) and in case you missed it check it out from Monday's post here! It was so special and his brother made this awesome art piece for him to keep forever.

Knowing the gender definitely has helped us solidify our ideas for what we want to do for our little guy's nursery. Ready for week three of the One Room Challenge?

On last week's post we talked about some of the things that we needed to do to get this room "done." Here's a reminder of the list:

To-Do & Shopping List:

~~Lighter paint color~~
Better curtains (but with black out for more baby sleeps)
Rug
~~Paint crib~~
Rest of the furniture
Organization and storage options
Changing station assembled
Lamps/lighting
Assemble crib
Wall art
Organize closet
Accessories
Name art
Chair
Pouf/footstool- hoping for this one from my registry!
Smaller desk- likely this one from IKEA because we have a $50.00 gift card and it will adjust for when the baby grows up a bit and needs a little coloring desk or something.

Here is a brief reminder of where we started week one:

It still makes me cringe that it got that bad... How embarrassing. But good news! Since last week we painted the crib and the bedroom, we have something that is a little more appealing to look at.

We put the crib together, added the bed skirt (on closing sale at Babies R Us), added the sheet which is a cozy organic Burt's Bee's one that I sort of want for my own bed. Brennan's mom also made him a little blanket that we draped over the side.

As you can see, Carl also likes the fluffy rug from Ross that is under the crib.

We have been trying to experiment with the best placement for some of the pieces in the room and we are struggling with the changing table quite a bit. We're trying it under the window for now. We also have the curtains, but not installed.

We picked up a smaller computer desk from IKEA for $25.00 that is pretty versatile and simple since I will still need somewhere for grading and working on my Masters degree. It's more compact which gives us more space for Lincoln in the room.

However, there is still much on the list that needs to be done. Like this whole half of the room and closet needs to be organized! The closet door also needs to be fixed so that it will fit on there and conceal all the craziness that is behind it. You can see my wedding dress all squished in there. It needs to be reminded how much I love it. Organization will help!

By the end of the week we did at least get this far! The room isn't nearly as big as I had imagined it was once we actually put the furniture in there and we discovered that we didn't actually get a dresser or any storage solution for Lincoln's clothes... whoops? We are on the hunt on Craigslist for a small skinny dresser to put in the corner to the left of the crib for his little outfits! We will replace it later on down the road as we no longer need the changing table.

So, what we did accomplish on the list:

To-Do & Shopping List:

~~Lighter paint color~~
~~Better curtains (but with black out for more baby sleeps)~~ Just need to hang up.
~~Rug~~
~~Paint crib~~
~~Rest of the furniture~~ r
Organization and storage options
~~Changing station assembled~~
Lamps/lighting
~~Assemble crib~~
Wall art
Organize closet
Accessories
Name art
~~Chair~~
Pouf/footstool- hoping for this one from my registry!
~~Smaller desk- likely this one from IKEA because we have a $50.00 gift card and it will adjust for when the baby grows up a bit and needs a little coloring desk or something.~~
NEW Additions:

Dresser
Shelves/Storage above desk for office supplies
Bigger bookcase???
More baskets for under changing table

Also, the dogs really love the fluffy rug and continue to bring their toys in to lay in front of the crib.

Supplies & Products:

Burt's Bee's Crib Sheet - Price: $12.99
Blue Vintage Style Rug- Price: $24.00
IKEA Desk

Linnmon Top- Price: $8.99
Adils Legs in White- Price: $16.00 total

Chair- bought a year ago from an outlet/discount deal that had "damaged" items. This one had a scratch on a leg and is missing those little nubs that cover the screws. You can find similar new ones at Crate & Barrel or keep an eye out at second hand stores! Price: FREE! Already Had.
Crib & Changing table- Price: $80.00 from Craigslist

This week's goal is to get the room put together and get some art up on the walls and deal with the extra stuff in there. This project has gotten us on board to go ahead and rent a storage unit while we rent this house. We need somewhere to stash all of our wedding gear and other pieces that we have been saving for our next place. It will make our home less chaotic and easier to manage when Lincoln does get here. So, its looking way better even though it's a mess! Hopefully next week we will get it more organized. ha.

Backyard Gender Reveal Party

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 17:55:00 +0000

We have finally discovered the gender of our baby! It was a really long 22 weeks of not knowing what was going on up in there. We were able to put our Gender Reveal Party on my birthday weekend which was kind of a fun combination! We had a lot of wonderful friends and family that joined us for the weekend!

Since it was a small get together, about 20 people, we decided to keep the festivities small and pretty tame. We used our chalkboard collection and some dollar store tassel banners to decorate. Otherwise, the reveal image was the star of the show! I'll show you that later in this post. It was really awesome.

I am notorious amongst my students for my absolutely love of all things Little Mermaid and Brennan is well known for loving his Dallas Cowboy football team. So we decided to have our party inspired by that. As folks came in for the party we asked them to cast their vote for the gender using paint chips and throwing them in the basket.

Total count for Cowboy: 17. Mermaid: 12.

Our friend, Lauren, set up the ultrasound images on our TV to show off the baby. Though, I'll tell ya, those are some funky looking images. If they weren't labeled it would be almost impossible to tell what is what part.

Brennan's sweet Grandma made these fun cakes for us (and they're vegan!) they're super sweet and adorable. Totally love them. I have already finished eating the entire blue one. hehe.

Our friends and family joined us for the celebration. Including the newest member of my BFF's family, little Zoey!

Brennan's brother created this super fun reveal image for us! He created a board and frame with some solid building materials and filled up a bunch of paint balloons with various colors. He asked the grandparents to throw the balloons and break them on the canvas.

Good thing we added in the plastic behind it because it got rather messy pretty quickly! It was really fun to see our parents throw the different balloons and get them to break!

We peeled back the protective cardboard in the middle to reveal the gender! We have had names picked out for a long time and under all the fun paint was the name of our baby boy! Lincoln Arthur!

We were all so excited to see it! I will be posting the video on Facebook later on so that you can catch the moment along with us! It was so fun to have spent the time with family and sharing this special moment.

It was even better because my amazing parents flew in from Arizona to surprise me on Thursday night before my birthday to spend the weekend with us! It meant so much that they took the time off to join us in our celebration and be there for the reveal. They are now going to have two grandsons!

We were pretty excited right after! Brennan's hands were covered in paint from moving the reveal image around so I wouldn't let him touch me in my white dress.

Here's our official photo showing our excitement (fear not, he's touching my hand, not my dress).

I can't believe that we have a little guy on the way in just a few months! I suppose everyone that voted "Cowboy" was right, ey? It was so much fun and one of the happiest weekends I've experienced in a really long time. I am even more invigorated to work on our sweet nursery through the Spring 2018 One Room Challenge! Check out the progress so far from week one here and week two here!

28 Facts About Me On My 28th Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 14:00:00 +0000

Oh man, my 28th birthday is today! Friday the 13th. Whatwhat! I was also born on Friday the 13th, which was also Good Friday that year. Ha. I always think that is a fun fact about me. Especially when I tell my freshmen students, they get a little nervous. A good spot to have them in!

Just kidding!

Now that it is basically my birthday, here are 28 random factoids about me you may not know:
1. I have two mini-schnauzer dogs. I think they are the best things ever. They are ridiculous. We decided to give them old man names since they have funny beards. Carlyle Thomas and Sebastian Harold.

2. The Little Mermaid is my all time favorite movie. My students absolutely love it and I have all kinds of mermaid memorabilia in my classroom to show for it. Including a mermaid bubble machine.

3. Brennan and I got engaged before we got pregnant. I blame too much wine and whiskey over Thanksgiving Break

4. Speaking of engagement, Brennan proposed at Mt. Rushmore in front of my favorite group of presidents. Read all about that amazing day here. It was so thoughtful and unique.

5. My dad is in most of our photos on the day of our engagement wearing a bright orange shirt. I think it's hilarious.

6. I'm addicted to podcasts. I've been listening to parenting, Dave Ramsey, and "Stuff Mom Never Told You." Brennan and I also like to listen to cold case podcasts in the summer.

7. I read, A LOT. I had to buy a Kindle because we completely ran out space to store my book collection. Whoops.

8. Brennan and I met in college but reconnected a few years later on Tinder. We both swiped right.

9. I always sit on the floor. I don't like to disturb my beautiful pillows on the couch.

10. I have 3 planners because I love them and I love lists. I have my everyday planner (specially designed by Brennan from Erin Condren LifePlanner for Christmas, a lesson planning planner for school, and a separate blog planner.

11. We eventually want to live on enough land to have a couple rescue animals.

12. I've always dreamed of getting mountain property and putting a tiny house on it. I'd love to design and organize that space.

13. I never have stuff on the floor but I do stack stuff on every other surface. Chairs, tables, desks. Worst habit. I'm working on that.

14. My engagement ring is ethically sourced and engineered. We found it through Etsy and it is handmade by Rosados Box and I LOVE it. It's so pretty. Also, affordable.

15. I've never traveled out of the country even though I have a passport. It expires next year. Damn.

16. One of my favorite getaways is to Ouray, Colorado at the beautiful hot springs resorts there. There's a gorgeous bed and breakfast we like to stay at, Wiesbaden Hot Springs & Spa.

17. Brennan does all the cooking at our house. Guy can find anything in the cabinet and turn it into a beautiful and creative meal. It's remarkable.

18. Sometimes when I'm at the house alone I don't turn on any TV, radio, or sound. Sometimes I really enjoy the solace of the silence.

19. My decorating style is sort of a modern vintage. I love fresh clean whites mixed with stained wood and vintage pieces. I think throwing in some clean lines and geometric shapes adds some fun extra elements to it also.

20. I can't stand how TVs look. We have a gigantic one in our living room that we inherited from my aunt and uncle. Brennan loves it. Compromise. It's a thing.

21. I love documentaries and period piece TV shows and films. The Crown, Alienist, MissRepresentation- anything like that is my jam. Sometimes in the summer when I'm at home I will just watch documentary after documentary.

22. I love plants. At our new house I seem to only be able to get spider plants to grow. Not sure what is going on, hopefully we can get some more over the summer. My mom has an amazing green thumb, maybe I will ask her for help!

23. We were originally supposed to get married this summer on June 9th. We decided to move the wedding back a year after finding out we were pregnant. I didn't want to have to cram myself into my dress at 7 months pregnant.

24. I'm not a very good dancer. Brennan is amazing but something about me not liking to let others lead or something? Oops. #stronglady

25. I'm actually a pretty tall chick, I'm 5'9". I used to hate it in high school but now I really love it. Sometimes when I stand next to other people I tower over them and that is a little weird.

26. White sheets and bedding are my jam. I love em. Thus, I love bleach also.

27. I seem to collect a lot of chapstick and lip product. I have 3 different types in each of my bags.

28. I believe in hand written "Thank You" cards after a party or receiving a gift. It's a small gesture to show someone you appreciate them.

I hope you all enjoy your Friday the 13th and have a wonderful weekend! We find out our baby's gender on Saturday at our party and I'm so excited! #BabyBelloni

Nursery & One Room Challenge Week 2 Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 14:00:00 +0000

As you saw last week, we have joined in on the One Room Challenge Spring 2018! Ready for week 2?

It was in pretty rough shape last week when we got started. Here's a reminder:

Very embarrassing. Very bad. Terrible awful.

We have made some progress since we took this picture though! I organized and cleaned out a bunch of the items in that room and we worked on the crib and getting that painted out. Here is our mood board for the room again:

The two tone crib is gorgeous and I love the clean modern lines on it. What I don't love? The price tag. It is well over $300 and that is just way outside of our budget right now. So, we headed to thee ole Craigslist to see what we could find. Don't worry, we researched each item for warranty and recall information ahead of time.

We came across this honeyed oak crib and changing table set. Originally we wanted a dresser to put the changing pad on, but since it came with it, we figured we'd make it work. It was only $80.00 for both! I like that price much better.

We had to pick it up disassembled because we don't have a truck or anything, but here is the original look:

We took painters tape and measured off the legs on each end. We decided to paint the outside and leave the rails and legs to give it a bit more dimension. It doesn't have the exact same clean lines as the inspiration one, but it still looks really great and has simple lines, at least.

I literally was painting it on our fire pit in the back yard. It worked pretty well because you could easily move it around.

Reassembling it was another story, entirely. Brennan's close friend came over and was watching the basketball game with him. I managed to convince both of them to put the crib together, ya know, teamwork! Good thing they were both athletes because without instructions, this was not an easy process.

We also painted all of the walls! It was the peanut butter color I described hating so much when we first walked in to tour the place. Brennan did most of the painting of the room. I selected a really light neutral color that would go well over the peanut butter color. We didn't want to have to prime and do all of that work so we made sure it had a similar undertone to the new color.

Here is the "before:"

The room instantly started to brighten and feel cleaner with each and every roll! Here are the two colors next to each other:

Here is little Sebastian hanging out with his Papi while he's painting. He even brought his toy rabbit to help us out. I do sort of wonder how our infant will be able to have any toys of his own since Sebastian has such an affinity for stuffed animals.

Next week we are working on setting up the space and organizing the furniture in the most functional way. We will also be able to finalize some of the specific accessory and decor choices because we will know the gender by then! We find out this weekend! I can't wait!

Here's our To-Do & Shopping List:

~~Lighter paint color~~
Better curtains (but with black out for more baby sleeps)
Rug
~~Paint crib~~
Rest of the furniture
Organization and storage options
Changing station assembled
Lamps/lighting
Assemble crib
Wall art
Organize closet
Accessories
Name art
Chair
Pouf/footstool- hoping for this one from my registry!
Smaller desk- likely this one from IKEA because we have a $50.00 gift card and it will adjust for when the baby grows up a bit and needs a little coloring desk or something.

We need to decide on the layout and those elements, since we're keeping the desk in the room it does add a layer of challenge to deciding where to place the pieces that looks good and is functional.

In the mean time, here's a cute picture of my brother in our backyard playing a game with all the neighborhood kids. haha.

Hopefully after we know the gender this weekend (!!!) and now that we have the pieces assembled and mostly gathered the goal before next week's post is to make sure that we have it all laid out! Hopefully it is going to be a good week of getting some more work done in there!

Nursery & The One Room Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 14:27:00 +0000

I'm linking up to the Spring One Room Challenge 2018 with one of my best blogging friends Sam at Away She Went Blog. She always inspires me to do the things so, here we go. What better reason, right?

We've decided to turn our second bedroom from a guest room/office into a nursery for the baby when it gets here. We luckily have a great landlord who lets us customize our space and, since we're staying for sure another year, we figure we may as well make baby comfy in the meantime. Right now, it is a hot filthy mess. Luckily we've got a few months left to get it all together.

Full disclosure: The following photos may trigger you into organizing your entire house. If this mood strikes you please let me know in the comments below and you can use that passion on this room! just kidding of course... but... here is a picture of the room as it is currently:

Oh yeah, for real. It is embarrassing. In one corner there is my desk hidden, against the wall is furniture and items for the baby, the closet is stuffed full of wedding items. None of it is organized, none of it is set up or put together. This is one of the ugliest and most disorganized spaces I've ever had in my possession.

We did discuss moving again this summer to a larger three bedroom. There's even one next door for rent! But it seems to be smarter to stay put and keep at a lower rent amount while we adjust to the changes our budget will face with a baby. Also, its comfortable, we're settled, it has ample room. If we need more storage for wedding items or furniture, there are storage units nearby for $50/month. Though I hate spending money for our "stuff," some of what we are holding on to is vintage, heirloom, or other treasured pieces for our future home (such as the mattress/box spring, books, and bed frames). We culled quite a bit before we moved and have been good about not buying anything we don't need.

We also don't really need the guest room since we live by Brennan's entire family now. So on the rare occasion my family comes and opts out of a hotel we have a couple air mattresses to accommodate that.

Things the room does need:

Lighter paint color
Better curtains (but with black out for more baby sleeps)
Rug
Rest of the furniture
Organization and storage options
Baby stuff
Lamps/lighting

Here are some of the images I've found through Pinterest that have inspired our baby room (click here to see the images and sources themselves):

I love the bold rugs and light crib with a long dresser. I want to do a glider chair with a pouf. I think it would be cozy and maybe let us use the pieces longer. I'm also stealing the idea of the vintage postcards of National Parks. My family traveled every summer growing up to a different one and we definitely want to continue that tradition for our family. Here's what I'm envisioning when I pull it all together:

It will be fun! I will likely change the rug depending on gender (WHICH WE FIND OUT IN ONE WEEK MY PEOPLE!), but the bold print idea seems fun. It's just hard to find a spot to get started on cleaning it and organizing. Making a baby zaps my energy, which makes it even more of a challenge. I still need to figure out what to do with my computer and desk area. I can grade at the kitchen table, but what about blogging or homework for my masters? That is going to take some creativity to fit into this small space. It'll be worth it once it gets all sorted out.

Don't forget to check out the Spring One Room Challenge 2018!

What were some of your baby must haves? What ended up being totally useless and you don't recommend?

Our DIY Wedding: Invitation Suite on a Budget

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 14:00:00 +0000

We are so excited to be getting married! One of the first pieces to that process was how we planned to communicate to our families our pending nuptials and information that they needed to have to plan or determine if they would be able to travel to be a part of it. So. Step one in our DIY budget wedding planning?

Selecting a Wedding Suite on a Budget!

What to look for, what you need, and how to get it in your budget.

The first thing that we did when determining our wedding invitation suite was to set a budget. I really didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on wedding invites. Not to be brutal, but honestly, most people recycle them after awhile or they end up just tacked onto a refrigerator at some point and forgotten. I love beautiful things and for me they are super special.

Our total budget for all of our Save the Dates, invitations, RSVP cards, and thank yous: $200.00 for all of it, not including postage.

Some people opt for digital invites which are really cool. We personally want to have a more formal feel to our wedding and sending out physical invites tends to have more of that effect. You can find more about the types of wedding invite situations and how to select one for you at:

The Knot's Top Invitation Tips
Brides.com- Details the "Anatomy of an Invitation Suite."
Martha Stewart- Wedding Invite Etiquette (This one is super helpful if you are new to the whole thing! I referenced it while we were making our selections.)

I don't know about you but I absolutely LOVE all things Etsy and love that things are unique on there. I don't like having the same details as the next person. So, off to Etsy we went where we found the amazing shop for all things paper and invite related Rosey Paperie.

I wanted an invitation suite that could be customized and also went along with our wedding theme. There is one in this shop for each style, color scheme, and budget! Here is the suite that we selected:

This one is called the "Rose Gold Geometric Suite" and it is PERFECT for our event! We selected this one because of the simple look, the greenery, and rose gold/blush is one of our main colors. Literally my engagement ring is rose gold, my watch is rose gold, my phone, my Christmas gift ring, and even the baby's room will have rose gold in it.

I spent a long time pouring over the different choices and some of the other top contenders were:

Simple & Elegant for a classy event. Find the Flourished Script here.

The Elegance suite.

This beautiful and colorful floral Purple Watercolor Flowers Suite.

Obviously all of theme on the site are gorgeous! The creator also has great reviews both on Etsy as well as on The Knot. I use the Knot app to keep track of our planning schedule and find vendors so that always gives me comfort. My personal review of the shop can be found there, also!

My review of Rosey Paperie: "This wedding suite was great! We wanted a high end look but the flexibility (and let's be honest, budget friendliness) of some DIY. The shop owner was great at being patient with us making edits and responding right away and making the adjustments, especially since I kept forgetting certain important pieces that needed to go on the invite. Highly recommend!"

What made it even better is that when we discovered we were pregnant after already ordering and editing the final files- she was more than willing to change the date on all of our components for NO additional fee! I explained the situation and it was so wonderful getting them fixed up so we could still have the entire matching set up.

Ordering our invites was super easy, also. The artist was really fast (after we sent all the info via email and Etsy conversation) and she sent over a Zip file to download to our computer. I backed mine up on iCloud and our family hard drive. Here's our beautiful Save the Date (with new date!):

We then went and ordered the Save the Dates as postcards from VistaPrint.
Why postcards for Save the Dates? Well. Because:

WAY CHEAPER! (Make sure you check your post office for size limits and other requirements)
Have cheaper postage per card.
Still look really great and allow you to send a personal message, if desired.

We were able to spend $30 on Etsy for the full invitation suite and only spent $50.22 on ordering 200 Save the Dates.

We used any and all discount codes we could find for VistaPrint as well as signed up for their exclusive emails. Using these it made it much cheaper for us to use this source then printing at Staples or Shutterfly. That may not be the case for everyone everywhere, but it definitely worked out best for us.

We've already ordered the 200 RSVP cards & 200 Thank You cards (both as postcards) for $70.95. That puts us at $152.00 and should leave us with enough for the invites themselves. We will be ordering those in a few more months since we had to push the wedding back.

So far, so good on the budget! Beautiful and high quality without breaking the bank. That's my favorite wedding planning style!

What were some of the things you spent money on for your wedding you wish you hadn't? Tell me in the comments below so I can watch out for it!

5 Helpful Podcasts for New Moms

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 14:00:00 +0000

Becoming a mom has been completely unexpected for me. We were engaged in August and I was in the throes of planning our dream wedding when- SURPRISE - we found we were pregnant in early December. We originally were supposed to get married this June but decided to postpone.

I'm a person that likes to do research and gather as much information as possible about things that are going on so I've been listening to a lot of great parenting podcasts and mom podcasts. It's been a huge help! It makes me feel less alone and more excited about this new adventure.

1. Parenting On Purpose

Parent on Purpose is an awesome podcast because it is really practical parenting advice and solutions. What I particularly like about it is the "30 Imperatives" of parenting that they discuss and move through. They have a faith base to all of them but they are also super realistic. I really appreciate the one that discusses the power of NO. Each of the 30 are only 15 minutes and have sparked a lot of conversations between Brennan & I. Which has been awesome as we prepare for this journey together! Read more about what they do and what they discuss at their website here!

2. The New Parent Podcast

I just started to subscribe to this particular podcast but so far I really enjoy it! There is a wide range of topic areas they discuss and all of them are focused on the transition into parenthood. For me, this new idea/process has been really challenging. I had planned to be a bride and a new wife, but not necessarily a mom. I appreciate all of their discussions about topics such as balance, being a working mom, and postpartum identity. There's more information and details about each of their podcasts at their website here!

3. God Centered Mom Podcast

This is also a new podcast I've been listening too. They've got a ton of episodes which I think is always nice because you can kind of pick and choose which ones you want to listen to that day. They talk about all sorts of issues such as entitlement, guilt, mom shaming, motherhood with a career, and identity as a mom. It is obviously also faith based but I think that gives it a bit more of a feel of community and they also have a really great website of resources here! I really recommend this podcast for any mom.

4. Newbies: New Moms, New Babies

I love this podcast! It answers all kinds of questions I feel kinda dumb asking. Like swaddling (I didn't really even know what that was beforehand), diaper rashes, things that can happen during birth (terrifying) and all things new baby. It is awesome. I really have found it to be such a great resource for all things and has given me a little bit more confidence as we get nearer and nearer to our little homie making their appearance. Check out their website here! This podcast is also sponsored by Pregnancy Magazine which means they have a lot of resources and insight they access during their casts.

5. Pregnancy Confidential

This podcast is specifically designed for those in the throes of being pregnant and there's a short podcast for each week of pregnancy. All the apps and newsletters and websites are great, but it has a fun feel to it that some of those resources are lacking. This is a group of ladies from Parents Magazine that share their own stories about everything from awkward conversations to what to register for and share an anecdote from each week that makes you feel like you are hanging out with friends rather than just reading an impersonal website. Check out their podcast and different topics for each week here at their website!

Bump Update: The First 20 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 15:00:00 +0000

I made Brennan take a picture of me this morning in our kitchen. I forgot it was the 20 week mark! ha. We weren't fully awake yet, but here it is! Speaking of Brennan, I gotta brag on him for a minute.

Brennan has been vegan for four years and is incredible at knowing exactly what it takes to live that lifestyle. I see how healthy, energized, and active he is and have decided to join him on that journey. It's not always an easy transition, sometimes I forget to read all of the labels but luckily he is so great at making sure that I am well fed. He makes my lunches everyday, preps our dinners, and does most of our shopping. How did I get so lucky?

Here's a bump update for you:

Details:
Due Date: August 15th

How far along: 20 weeks (HALF WAY! WHAT!)

Size of baby: 6.5 inches & 10.1 ounces; size of a banana - I don't get how that works but that is what my Bump app says, so.

How many days to go: 20 weeks!

Miss anything: Wine. Seriously. It's really hard to grade papers without wine.

Movement: A little! Mostly flutters and some random jabs.

Food cravings: Carbs. I want all the breadsticks, English muffins, toast, pancakes. All of it.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing, really. I was lucky in the first trimester to skip the morning sickness nastiness. I did get the stomach flu for 3 days though. That was horrible.

Have you started to show yet: A little bit, finally. I'm okay with it taking a long time though. Kids asking questions is awkward. Still in all of my normal clothes but using the hair tie trick to extend the pants a little.

Gender: We find out at our next appointment! Well, sort of. We're doing a gender reveal for my birthday on April 14th at our gender reveal party. I can't wait!

Labor signs: None. Which is good!

Weight Gain: 6 pounds so far. sigh.

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy and busy. Also, very tired.

Symptoms: Ugh, just high school style acne! I've always had acne (never grew out of it. Lame.) but this stuff is weird and topical.

Looking forward to: Finding out the gender soon! Will it be a little Harper Lynn or Lincoln Arthur?

My best friend and I at her baby shower! I was 13 weeks and she was 34. Her baby is 2 weeks old today!

Most FAQ:
How is being mostly vegan during pregnancy?

Answer:
I attribute my healthy weight gain to working out 3 days a week and going on a walk with Brennan and the pups when the weather allows. I do sometimes I have cravings for things like mozzarella sticks or sausage McMuffins, but Brennan makes a delicious breakfast sandwich that is vegan and we recently found some great cheese substitute options. We also found vegan french onion dip. It's amazing stuff.

Another layer is to arm yourself with research if you choose to go with this lifestyle during pregnancy, it's been one of the best choices I've made so far- but everyone is different.

Suggested books & readings:

The Everything Vegan Pregnancy Book it's been a GREAT read and only about $13.00 on Amazon.com
Vegan Pregnancy Survival Guide it's a perfect size for your purse so that when you are out and need to check some information (or are sitting awkwardly in the waiting room at the doctor's office) you can pull it out.
Raise Vegan They have an app, a magazine, and an eBook that answers a lot of questions and helps to establish your vegan life and raising your child. It talks about all different elements of the process and has features that help you immerse into the lifestyle as much as you'd like. They're also on Instagram @raisevegan

Doctor support:
We see a doctor/midwife group for our prenatal care and it works out really well. The doctor side of the office is very technical and isn't as informed about the vegan/vegetarian lifestyle. However, our midwives that we see are very supportive of our lifestyle choice and respect what we've decided to do for our baby and our family. It could be because we are in a big city we had more options for care so we took time to find somewhere that worked for us.

Key things to keep in mind:

Everyone and their dog will ask you about your protein intake. Be ready with an answer. I haven't had any issue with protein. My flax milk every day has protein and calcium, Brennan puts a protein staple in each meal, and I even add Orgain Vegan Protein & Greens in the vanilla flavor to my coffee in the mornings.
You need to find a good vegan DHA & prenatal vitamin. Be sure to talk to your doctor about this, but the ones I love are: Rainbow Light Prenatal and Vegan DHA for the baby's development.

Bloggers & Instagrammers:

Molly T. at FashionVeggie.com is super awesome. She's one of my favorites to follow on Instagram also. She is also pregnant with her first baby! You can catch up with her by searching @fashionveggie on Insta. Her focus is mainly on fashion on her blog but her insta is about all the things. I secretly pretend we're friends. haha.
Caroline at the Plant Based Blonde.com is also super great to follow. She is always posting great tips, food ideas, and other great stuff for a plant based lifestyle. She's on Insta as @plantbasedblonde
Jenn at Neurotic Mommy.com is a new one I've discovered recently and she is also great. Her yummy treats are to DIE for and I keep trying to convince Brennan to make me all the things she posts. I'd probably gain 100 pounds if that were the case though. haha. I really appreciate a lot of her posts on pregnancy and mindset. They are a great resource. She is also on Insta as @neuroticmommy

Pregnancy has been quite a journey! It was such a surprise for us and I really struggled with coming to terms with it, but now I've found myself starting to enjoy it. Hopefully finding out the gender will make it even more exciting!

Magical Engagement Photos by Samantha Paige Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Tue, 27 Mar 2018 14:00:00 +0000

I absolutely adore looking through our engagement photos. They are so beautiful and our photographer, Samantha at Samantha Paige Photography did an amazing job capturing our love for each other, our excitement, and the beautiful country we live in. Find her on Insta @samantha_paige_p that's where you can see snippets of her amazing work.

I love her light, bright, and airy look. It makes these magical times seem even more so.

We wanted to do a fall shoot (we got engaged in August) and something that was a bit more formal. We already have beautiful winter photos, we will have gorgeous summer photos from our wedding in 2019, and this spring we should get some cute maternity photos.

Here are a few of my absolute faves:

Location: Piney River Ranch in Vail, Colorado

Her look: Long white gown- sz 4L and Floral Printed Dress- 4R from Rent the Runway.com

Flower crown from Amazon.com

Ring from Rosados Box Ethically Engineered Jewelry on Etsy. LOVE it.

His look: Gray jacket from H&M, white button down from H&M, shoes from Vans.

I hope you love them as much as we do! I can't wait for 6.15.2019!

Making Our Rental Feel Like Home: Bedroom & Bath

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 14:00:00 +0000

I won't lie to you, friends, I very seriously miss my GIGANTIC old bedroom, huge closet, attached master bath, and wood floors. I loved that I had room for a chair, bed, dressers, desks, nightstands... all the things. However, what I've quickly realized since we moved is that we don't really need all of those things. In many ways it is much easier to keep the bathroom cleaned without it, I have less places to stack items I don't need in the bedroom, and cleaning is much faster with less floor to mop or vacuum.

Our new room is probably just over half the size of our old one. Here's a small angle of what the master looked like when we first toured:

We repainted and rehung the curtain rod to the ceiling and lightened the curtains.

At one point at our old house we had a small sofa, a desk for my nightstand, a dresser for Brennan's nightstand, the full length brown dresser, my tall white dresser, and the dog kennels fit in the closet. Now, it is a bit more condensed. We have just the two dressers and my nightstand. The dog kennels are stacked like bunk beds in the corner, and we have no additional furniture beyond that. It works and it covers all our basic needs. The big window with some IKEA curtains makes the room seem lighter and airier.

Master bedroom paint color: Goodnight Kiss by Valspar in Eggshell

Our one bathroom also has been an interesting investigation into our true "NEEDS" vs "WANTS" in the bathroom sector. At least this room has great white tile on the walls and shower and good tile. The counter is an odd short height and I wish that it had more storage in the vanity but, there's not much room to make a mess and it is actually the cleanest room in our entire house nearly all the time.

Remember when we first looked at it:

It had that same peanut butter color on the walls and the previous tenants used some dark colors to decorate with. Brennan painted the walls a lighter color to accent the white tiles, we bought a storage shelf for in the shower to keep bottles contained and out of the window sill, added a vintage mirror over the towel bar (because the other one is at an awkward height and you can't do make up in it), and added more storage systems to make it functional. This summer I'm planning to redo that cabinet over the toilet and give it a refresh. It's pretty worn out so I'm sure some paint and new handles would do it good. I even have some of that left over already from our previous house.

We added the long white curtains we had in our guest bath at our old house for shower curtains and put them as high up towards the ceiling as we could go, I think it makes it look a little more airy and glamorous, personally.

We added a basket for additional TP next to the toilet to make it a little bit cuter and provide us with somewhere to put the stuff. At our old house we had an extra vanity specifically for TP.

This little bucket and shelf are from IKEA. We used extra hooks from the shower curtain to put extra hair ties and such on so that we'd have another shelf for storage. I keep my little lotions, creams, and other small products in these for easy access but also to keep it out of the way off the counters.

I love all of my nail polish so much, so putting it on the wall and utilizing vertical storage for it all makes it more accessible and much easier to use. Plus it's not filling one of the drawers somewhere (which this bathroom has zero drawers, which is even better).

We keep our toothbrushes and hand soap contained to this little dish that we picked up at a thrift shop. The electric toothbrushes hold their charge for awhile for we only charge them when we need to and then put the charger away later. We have different colored bases, so don't worry, we don't get confused!

We use these giant containers to hold cotton balls and make up applicators, I put all my brushes and tools into this tin for easy storage, also. The little shelf isn't good for much (partly because of the weird detail thing) so we just keep small creams and our fake succulent plant. haha.

I also tend to buy soap in bulk and it can be tricky to store, so I unwrapped the bars and put them into a hurricane vase I got at the thrift store a long time ago. It also made it smell really nice in the bathroom. Plus, it's super easy to grab a bar from the shower when you're tired and realize that you need one. Which is me, every morning, because mornings.

Bathroom products:

Shower curtains: IKEA
Assorted vases and tin containers: Thrift shops, yo!
Spice rack for nail polish: Target
Shelf & bucket on hooks: IKEA

Bathroom paint color: Filmy Green by HGTV in semi-gloss

What do you think of downsizing your space? What did you notice during the journey?

Making Our Rental Feel Like Home: The Kitchen & Dining Room

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 14:00:00 +0000

We spent a lot of time after we moved in making the house cozier for us. We love the kitchen and dining room area, but it definitely lacks in storage and the washer and dryer are in the kitchen right there. That was a compromise, for sure. At our old house it was off of the kitchen but separate enough that it worked. I wanted to make sure that it was at least as attractive as it could be. Having a place with a washer and dryer hook up was big, so dealing with it in the kitchen and not having shared laundry seemed a fine trade.

Remember the before:

We repainted, well. Truly, Brennan repainted the ENTIRE house in 4 days before I arrived from Grand Junction with the Uhaul, animals, and all of our loot. We had the hallway, kitchen, dining, living room be one color so that A) cheaper to buy paint and B) it felt more cohesive and open.

Here's some after shots from similar angles:

Sebastian likes to sit nicely for all blog photos.

We had to add this stretch of storage to give us more countertop space and shelving. Not sure why the builder just didn't take the cabinets all the way over, but. whatevers.

I found this cool coffee cup rack on Amazon.com for fairly cheap. It is VERY sturdy and holds a lot of mugs. It allowed us to have more storage in the cabinets for glasses.

I decided to go ahead and take the doors off of the laundry area because they wouldn't shut with the front loaders in and were such a dark, brown, heavy color. Brennan painted in here and I bought the blue storage buckets at IKEA to hide our laundry soap and products. The top brown bins we had from the first reno I did on our kitchen in Grand Junction. I bought those on some WalMart clearance forever ago, very sturdy things. I put the microwave on top of the washer to clear up more counter space and we rarely use it so it worked perfect.

In the dining room we have GREAT light from the big sliding doors that open to the yard.

We added a wreath to the fireplace (Magnolia wreath from Hobby Lobby on summer clearance), my midcentury china cabinet for character and storage, a new table, and new chairs. We bought the table on Craigslist for $50 and Brennan's mom got the chairs for us for FREE. We used our old piano bench along the wall as a bench seat to fit 6 people.

Sebastian in the pictures again, he was watching the birds outside.

I also worked to add some more fun detail areas for the house to make it feel more like home. Plus I like art a lot. I know that I talk a lot about minimalism and have a lot of decorations. I would say that I'm a general minimalist in the sense that I try to only keep things that are important to us and we love.

We did have to get pretty clever with some of our storage because the cabinets are very small and the drawers are even smaller. They can't even fit a skinny silverware holder. So I used this wire container and small mason jars to hold our silverware. It actually works out pretty well! Makes it easy to move if we're having people over also.

Here is another picture of Sebastian Harold in the kitchen. This is the mat he sits on constantly and watches (helps?) Brennan cook dinner and snacks.

We're hoping to keep figuring out how to organize and sort the space to be as efficient as possible. The space is really small and hard to work with, so any suggestions for small kitchen life, let me know!

A Messy Biz Announcement!

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Thu, 15 Mar 2018 14:00:00 +0000

So, we think we should probably tell you about another thing we've been working on during our year of crazy change!

We were completely surprised by this addition, and were luckily able to move our wedding back from the summer of 2018 to the summer of 2019. We are due on August 15, 2018!

If you're also a teacher, nothing else quite says "O.M.G. I DIDN'T PLAN THIS!" like having your baby due the first week of school in Colorado.

Stay tuned for some baby inspired posts as we learn how to navigate this crazy, wild, amazing new adventure and all the triumphs and struggles that go with it.

Finding a Rental in a New City

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Tue, 13 Mar 2018 14:00:00 +0000

After owning a home for nearly 10 years, it was super weird and super hard for me to transition to being a renter. I spent a ton of time looking into different places, locations, and types of rentals.

A few key things I realized about renting in a city, specifically Denver, Colorado:

It is very expensive. Full stop. We pay $1400 for a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom duplex 15 minutes from downtown Denver. It has a giant yard, garage, and fireplace. Our mortgage in Grand Junction was $870. Ouch. Some things we lost in this rental: A/C, 2nd bath, 3rd bedroom.
Private rentals seem to be better. They are more willing to work with you, are friendlier, and much more accessible for maintenance. They want to protect their investment. I eventually found ours on Zillow.com.
Be fully aware of what area you are in- it is a little sketchy to rent sight unseen. Make sure you can go and tour the place or send a trusted friend or family member. We almost ended up in a tiny tiny rental that wasn't well maintained because it looked great in the pictures but not in person.
Take someone with you! My mother-in-law, Kathy, went along with me to help me be critical. She has lived in Denver for 30+ years and knows the areas really well.
Be prepared to offer an 18 or 24 month lease. You will lock in your rate, especially with the constantly changing housing market in a hot area like this.
Be willing to expand your search area. Everyone here commutes and there is a great public transit system.
Be patient! It took us from the end of April until the first of June to find this place.

Here is our rental the first time we took a tour (we're the right half of the duplex):

Overall it is a good space with new carpet and nice doors (I care about these things) and it was full brick and I'm not going to lie, I LOVE parking in a garage. The main pros of this home that helped us to select it:

It had a gigantic back yard for our baby dogs. They LOVE it out there! I just read an article online from Time about how millenials are picking housing for their dogs and not for their families. I mean, guilty. It's a fun read, find it here on Time.com!
6 foot privacy fence around 3/4 of the back yard. After only having a short chainlink, this was amazing to me.
Decently budget friendly.
Garage!
Covered patio!
Did you even see that big yard?
Fireplace
Separate dining room space
Can have both dogs without major deposit cost.
Well maintained, clean, non smoking.
Family nearby.
Quick and easy highway access for commuting.

Our landlord is awesome. The color on the walls was very peanut buttery, and though that is one of my favorite snacks... it was a bit intense in a semi-gloss throughout the whole house. The landlord let us paint and personalize the space. It made a huge difference! I'll show you all that awesomeness next. We fixed it up to be really quite cute.

Do you have any rental tips? What did you learn moving to a new place?

5 Things to Know About All This Messy Business

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Thu, 08 Mar 2018 17:29:00 +0000

Moving away from my home town has been quite the experience. There have been so much to learn and so many new roads and directions to figure out! There's also been learning the ropes of my teaching job at my new school and designing new coursework and curriculum for classes. We have way more freedom to do different activities and lessons here, but that means I have to build or rebuild a lot of it from scratch. Because of these tumultuous changes I've taken a break from blogging and we have tried to focus on our new life here.

Now! I realized just how much I miss it and am going to start all over, even if I never become a mega popular blogger where I can leave my day job to communicate and write all day with you guys, at least I have a spot where I can have a great time talking about things that are important to myself and others at this stage. So! Here are 5 things you need to know about This Messy Business moving forward into the new life and phase of this little bloggy and I'm excited for a fresh start!

Back in 2010

In 2013.

I am a 27 year old high school English teacher and Speech & Debate coach! I've been teaching high school for 5 years now. I love all things reading and talking. I am hoping to incorporate more book reviews, suggestions, must read lists, and even some lesson inspiration.
Brennan and I are engaged! We are going to be getting married on June 15, 2019 and I gotta tell you... I love wedding planning. If I were to forgo teaching I would totally go into the wedding planning business. It's awesome.
I started this blog when I was 19 or 20 to document remodeling and renovating my 3 bedroom 2 bath manufactured home in Grand Junction, Colorado. We sold it in under a week in July 2017. You could read all about how I staged it to have it move quickly here.
We are primarily a plant-based family! We are working to shift all our products to cruelty free and vegan. Brennan has been vegan for 4 years and I have been working to transition into that same lifestyle. We love when we get to do a CSA with a farm in the summer, hopefully we find on like what we had in Grand Junction here in Denver!
We now live in Denver, Colorado and it is a huge change! We are hoping to go on more adventures that I can document and share with you, try out different awesome restaurants, and find cool neighborhoods. We want to purchase a home in the next 3 years so we need to explore the right place for us. Right now, we love renting. Read all about why here!

I'm hoping reinvigorating the blog and widening my scope from the previous years will make this a place where I can enjoy others, collaborate, and share some fun pieces of our lives. What do you think makes a successful blog? What do you like to read about?

Our Engagement Story

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 16:02:00 +0000

The world works in mysterious ways, only making the meeting of two people happen when it was exactly meant to. We both attended Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colorado in 2009 and even knew the same people and had mutual friends, but we never had the chance to really meet. We are pretty certain we were even at some of the same parties in college without knowing it!

Fast forward to December of 2015 when we reconnected over the internet and began to find out just how much we had in common. We went on a couple of dates but what really sealed the deal was when B invited me to go to Ouray, Colorado at the end of January 2016 to spend the weekend getting a massage, soaking in the hot springs, and going to a romantic candlelight dinner in the mountains. Seriously, if you go to Ouray, go to the hot springs. It's amazing.

It was perfect. From that moment on, we were together.

In May of 2016 we started to live together in Grand Junction before making the big decision to move to the Denver area in June 2017.

On August 20, 2017- we went to Wall, South Dakota for my cousin's wedding and Brennan met the whole family, and got all of them in on his plan! He spent time talking to my dad on the first night they were there and then on Sunday, as they were headed back with my parents and cousin Ashley, they stopped at Mt. Rushmore.

He is extra tricky because I absolutely loves teaching and learning about Abraham Lincoln which is why B coordinated my parents and family members to make sure she was all ready to be proposed to right there in front of the sculpture of my favorite president. The moment was fantastic and even other visitors to the monument clapped and cheered when they saw B get down on one knee to propose.

And of course, as we all knew I would, I said: Yes.

Here are all the pictures to prove it. Stay tuned for tons of eco-friendly and vegan inspired wedding posts!

5 Reasons We Love Renting (Right Now)

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 16:06:00 +0000

Well friends, we finally made it! After all the craziness that came with making the decision to move, finding a new job, finding a new place, selling our house, and driving all of our crap over the mountain- we're here and moved in! It's been a whirlwind 3 and a half months.

Having been a home owner for just over 9 years, I figured the adjustment of renting was going to be a real challenge. Boy, was I wrong! I LOVE renting right now! Wondering how that could be? Here's a few reasons:

Financial Freedom. Seeing the mortgage come of your credit report and your overall debt balance dramatically decrease was pretty sweet. We are really into the Dave Ramsey Debt Free program so not owning a home gets us closer. Our expenses are similar since we still pay rent, but it feels so much more liberating right now as we work towards other goals.
Fixes aren't on us. Most fixes don't come out of our own pocket. For example; before we moved in our area had a major hail storm that did some serious damage. Apparently the screen door on our rental was one of the casualties. Our landlord set up, paid for, and scheduled the replacement. My only job was to be here and sign saying I saw the dude install the door. I didn't have to pay a dime! No stress trying to balance the budget or figuring out how to DIY it. That, was pretty great.
More for our money. This is sort of relative considering we moved from a small-mid sized town to a city but for us it is the case. I'd purchased our previous home at the height of the market in 2008 so we were overpaying for the value for a very long time. It was a larger space in terms of square footage compared to our rental but it didn't have other features that had become more important to us. Our rental is a "REAL" house (previous was a manufactured home) that is brick and has an attached garage, a great big backyard, proximity to shops and restaurants, and a spacious front yard that keeps the house off the street. We also have a really great back porch where we can entertain friends and family.
More time for us. I still love getting to decorate and organize, especially since we plan to be in this house while we're paying off debt, but I'm not spending as much time worrying about remodeling and updating. I think this house would look great with painted cabinets and new tile in the kitchen and dining room, but since I don't own it I'm more apt to just deal with it. I'll put down a big rug or something. I now use that money to go explore different neighborhoods with B or put into savings for the wedding, or pay off debt. Plus, we get to see which area we really want to be in before we purchase.
Minimalism. We went from a 3 bedroom 2 full bath to a 2 bedroom and 1 bathroom. As a result, we really had to work to minimize a lot of our possessions. Read truly: I had to get rid of a lot of crap from before we were together. B is already quite the minimalist, I have more of a problem. This has helped me to pick what is truly valuable and brings us joy. We sold and got rid of a lot of furniture and other decor items before moving and I am so glad we did! The only 2 things I regret getting rid of was my 2 bookcases. But maybe I just need to sort back through my books and donate a bunch more.

Overall, I'm really excited for this adventure. I go to my new school to get started next Monday and I just feel really good about this change. I'm so happy and can't wait to see what we do next!

How I Staged My House to Sell in 3 Hours

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 15:39:00 +0000

As of May I officially owned and lived in my house for 9 years. I know I keep saying that but it is so hard to believe. I spent all of my college years here, lived with some great friends here, and started my career in this house. My sister and I lived here together for 3 years.

This is where Brennan and I first lived together for over a year. It's remarkable.

Selling the house has made me very sentimental, leaving my home town makes me nostalgic, it's a strange process.

Many of you that have seen my blog know how wrecked the house was when I first bought it. Here is what it looks like the day it hit the market. It's strange to imagine that it has come so far and I have done so much.

We actually received multiple offers on our house that were over the asking price! The house went "Live" on the market at 11:48 am and by 3:50 pm we had the offer that we ultimately accepted. Our realtor says there are a few things that we did to make it stand out.

The biggest one? Cleanliness and staging.

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Let's do a final walk through, shall we? I'll tell you what I did in each room to make a big difference.

Master Bedroom: Normally in this room I have nightstands and small gallery walls over the dresser
and beside the bed. In order to maximize the space I took all of that down and replaced it with some mirrored stars. What's sort of interesting is that those were there the first year I moved in. I also usually have a big fluffy rug and a darker comforter.

Before Staging (minus the gallery walls by bed):

Remove any floor coverings so buyers see whats there. Also if you have wood floors makes it seem fresher and larger.
Remove gallery walls and personal photos or last name letters. I used to have a big M by the side of my bed.
Use WHITE bedding. In between showings I had a throw blanket that I threw over the comforter to keep it clean from little doggy feet.
Remove/store any furniture you can live without. Getting rid of the nightstands was a good move. Made it look even bigger and I figured out that I don't use them anyway so I gave them to a friend.
Get everything off of your dressers and surfaces that you possibly can. We left the TV and clock. That's it.

After Staging:

Master Bathroom: My bathroom is one of my personal favorite spots in my house, probably the one I am going to miss the most because it is unnaturally large. I'm sure the square footage could have been used more effectively to have a bigger closet but hey, it worked for me!

Clean! I took everything out of the cabinets that I wouldn't need before the move. Its pretty sad since I love all of my make up collection and I fear it hates me but the buyers being able to open and close the doors and see it empty allows them to see how they'd use the space.
With something specific like the built in I left a few of my CHEAP necklaces hanging to show the purpose of it. Cheap because if someone has sticky fingers I don't want to lose my precious items to their greediness.
Make sure paint on cabinets and trim on mirrors is fresh.
Make sure all bulbs work.
Clean the vent.
Clear all surfaces. This one was hard to maintain but worth it.

Living Room: This is where the most change happened and it is where I really started to see the house as "For Sale" and no longer mine. That was a weird feeling, definitely. I love art and pillows and fluffy rugs. I also love fully packed bookcases. English teacher probs.

Before Staging:

Take EVERYTHING but a couple items off the walls. All of my cool vintage images, maps, and decor came down. I only left the super neutral stuff above the TV to give it some character. I also left one mirror to reflect a bit more light.
Get rid of excess furniture- this seems like a given but especially for me. I had the two large couches previously. I was planning to get rid of them this summer for a sectional anyway so it just expedited that.
Clear surfaces.
Remove rugs.
Make sure the curtains are washed and fresh.
Polish wood floors.

After Staging:

Dining Room & Kitchen: The kitchen wasn't too hard to do, it was hard to determine what I did need to keep out to use for daily life. Most of this was just packing some stuff up and sending other stuff to the thrift store. I had forgotten how much I had put on top of the cabinets. ha.

Before staging (and new counters):

Again, everything off the walls! I left one thing because it was a decal and I was worried I'd peel the paint.
Throughout the entire house I swapped the light switch covers for the plain white ones and kept my fancy expensive metal ones.
Took every thing off the counters.
Cleaned each appliance until it sparkled and scrubbed the back splash.
Dining room: I removed the rugs and the cat from the table.
Get rid of excess furniture. I sold my coffee bar and took down all art work in the entire space.

Staged:

Laundry Room: This one is nearly the same. Here are the things I did to prep the staging on this space:

Repainted the cabinets where needed.
Repainted counter top.
Took down any extra art.
Cleaned the microwave.
Polished the front of the machines and cleaned the trashcan.

Guest Room/Office: My sister moved out about a year ago and I had sort of left the space the same since she left so it was our box storage area. We kept all of that to one zone. Buyers recognize that you are moving and don't really calculate that into it. That being said we did rent a large storage unit and house the rest of the boxes and gear. This was just stuff that didn't fit and I didn't want to pay for two units.

Remove all artwork again except for a couple pieces.
Clear all surfaces.
Make sure the floors shine.
If you have to have boxes, makes sure they are closed and stacked neatly.

Guest Room: This space was also pretty easy since I kept it pretty basic as a guest room.

Before staging- the last time I took pictures at Christmas. Ha.:

Staged:

Remove all but 1 piece of artwork.
Use white bedding.
Clean and polish the floors and windows.
Wash curtains.
Clear surfaces of furniture.
Remove rugs.

Guest Bathroom: Since I was already using this as a guest space, it wasn't too hard to get it staged which was nice because I was still suffering the trauma of the kitchen.

Before staging:

Staged:

I removed the shower curtains and liner and just hung a sheer really high to make it look bigger.
Completely clear the counter.
Make sure all the lights work.
Clean the vents.
Empty the cabinets.
BLEACH the tub (or whatever product you use. Make it white!)
Take down all but basic decor.

Making sure that I had a clean and crisp color scheme, the floors shown, and I took my personality out of it (and all my art featuring redhead goddesses, hehe) it really looked like a show house. Our amazing realtor told us that part of the reason it sold so quickly was because of how light, bright, and clean it was.

Selling your house, one of the few times that elbow grease actually has a return! What other tips and tricks help get houses sold? What do you look for when you're shopping for a house?

20 Things to Do in GJ: #6 The Colorado National Monument

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Thu, 08 Jun 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Oh man! I'm down to 20 days left in Grand Junction! Getting after that list and speaking of which, I've got one down.

#6 has been knocked off the list! In the Grand Valley of Western Colorado we are blessed with having the gorgeous Colorado National Monument right next door. For $15.00 you can get a week long pass to tour the entire place. There are at 3 least canyons and fantastic monoliths that date back billions of years. It seems nearly unreal when you're standing on the edge of a cliff looking across the echoing eons of the erosion process. Truly beautiful. The valley has no smog either so it is crystal clear as you gaze across the scenery.

Speaking of scenery, just have a looksie at the images below. I promise I took them all on my iPhone 7 and only edited two. Also, the timer feature is pretty sweet on the camera. Anyway. I'll let the images speak for themselves.

I mean, what can I even say? The high desert is an intense and volatile place, but the beauty of it is without question.

20 Things To Do In Grand Junction, Colorado From a Native

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 14:00:00 +0000

I've lived in Grand Junction, Colorado my entire life. I figured since I'll be leaving within the next month for the Denver area I should put together a list of all the things that are truly "Junction." There are way more then 20 items but these are my top 20. I'm going to be treating this like a bucket list of sorts of things to do before I leave!

1. Go to every winery in Pali and stock up on bottles. Probably a 2 day thing.

Seriously, check out all the details about Wine Country Colorado here.

I'll definitely be back every September for the Winefest in Palisade. We had a lot of fun last year!

2. Go on a weekend camping trip on the Mesa and make breakfast over the fire. ️

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3. Hike Mt Garfield, finally. It really is quite the feat. To get a better idea of it check it out here! It's hiking 2,000 feet up to the top of this bad boy. Not in the snow, I just thought that picture was pretty.

4. Hike Devils Kitchen. It's this really interesting and awesome outcropping on the Colorado National Monument. It's not too hard of a hike and it is very very pretty. You can climb all around the "Kitchen" and get some great vantage points.

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5. Hike the Palisade Rim trail. There's Petroglyphs. Which is pretty rad. Brennan and I did this one not to long ago, here's a picture of him looking all handsome on top of the mountain.

6. Take a picture on the Colorado National Monument. I mean seriously. Look at it.

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7. Do a nice lazy day river float down the Colorado River and drink a beer.

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8. Go to the delicious Nepal restaurant downtown. There's no great pictures online but I will get one when I go to mark it off my list! They have an awesome lunch buffet, vegan options, and AMAZING chai! You can always check out their menu here.

9. Spend a morning people watching at Main Street Bagels. It's totally delicious. They have more then bagels, also. They have amazing lunch and sandwich options, coffees, teas, and other artisan baked goods. See all their options before you head in here.

10. Go to Quincys for the hell of it. Quincy's is the dive bar in town that is one of the most fun spots to go! Not classy, but a lot of fun!

11. Bike part of the Colorado River Front trail.

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12. Hike to Independence Monument.

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13. Go to Hot Tomato and have pizza and beer with friends.

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14. Go to Kannah Creek for beer and libations! Actually, that's where my going away party is going to be so, that's pretty cool.

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~~15. Patio evening at the Ale House with friends.~~ This one is a must do! I will probably check it off multiple times before I go! They have great beer from the area and also from Breckenridge Brewery. They always have live music playing and they have an amazing patio and outdoor area that is perfect for lazy summer afternoons drinking and spending time with friends.

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16. Go to the Avalon for a movie.

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17. Hike Hanging Lake. It's an amazing 2.8 mile hike in Glenwood Canyon, Colorado. It's gorgeous. You always see proposals, photos, and families on the trail. It is really popular too. Probably for it's stunning views!

~~18. Food truck Friday!~~ Did it! This is a fun event that the city does during the summer. If you're new to the area or just like Food Trucks, this is a great place to go to get all sorts of different options! They also always have live music and tons of options. Plan for the evening though! Junctionities always turn up in droves for this one! See all the locations and trucks by checking out the Food Truck site here!

19. Peach Street Distillers. AKA "The Still" to locals. An amazing and delicious distillery that features their own vodka, gin, and tequila! It is so delicious! Be warned though. That stuff is strong! I taught at the high school down the street and it was a favorite spot to head after a long day with students. Here is their website with all the delicious options!

20. Just across the parking lot from Peach Street Distillers is the Palisade Brewery. Best known for their delicious beer the Dirty Hippie, they have a wide variety of beers available all brewed locally! Totally delicious. They also have some great bar food if you happened to have hit it a little hard at the Still before heading over. Here is the link to all of their different options and strategies. Be sure to stop there and get the sampler! I'll be getting one before I go... or two. What's counting anyway? It's a bucket list!

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There's a lot of things on this list that are going to be so awesome! I don't have much time left so I better get after it! I'll do blog posts along the way as I knock things off!

What are you most looking forward to seeing? Share in the comments below!

5 Best Resources for Your First Big Move

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 13:00:00 +0000

To view images more successfully on Google Chrome, keep your zoom setting at 90%. Working to resolve the issue! This whole moving thing has been a bit of a challenge. Now, that might seem obvious but I have to tell you a true and honest confession: the last time I moved was from my parents house to my current house. A mile away. Nine Years Ago. Which, ultimately, means it doesn't count. I've put together a list of sources from a variety of places to help out other people who may be in a similar situation- or at least that need some help narrowing down the field!

I've turned to friends and family for a lot of help and guidance on what to do to get my house sold as well as have an organized and manageable move to Denver. Here are some of the best tips and tricks I've heard of or found on Pinterest thus far:

This blog post from Making Lemonade has been an awesome resource! I literally went out and bought the stickers for each room immediately. It has made a big difference! I luckily work at a high school and have thus far avoided having to buy any boxes. But seriously. Click here to check out all of her great advice.

2. This website has a great infographic for helping you map out a timeline of your move. That has been a huge help for me! I had no idea where to start and this definitely made a big difference! It helped me keep from getting overwhelmed in these last four weeks before the move. Check out the image below but to read the entire article go to the original source Hire a Helper .

3. Since we had the great timeline for moving we were able to get a jump start on cleaning out the house and getting rid of unwanted items. After having had a series of roommates for the first 6 years of living in the house I had a strange variety of items that I didn't personally ever purchase or need. For example: 3 sets of pots and pans. I like to cook but it was way too much. So my friend and I were able to camp out in her garage for three days and sell some of our stuff. We made a pact that anything that didn't sell went to the thrift shop after. I think we made just over $600 total. There were definitely things we should have done better but this blog post here at Wholefully made it much easier for us to get it all figured out!

I mean for real, we were eating waffles we were so prepared.

4. BB and I are definitely downsizing in terms of square footage for this house. It was a trade off, we get a larger private backyard and garage, one less bathroom and bedroom. Downsizing was certainly something we had to look into and be aware of. Here are a couple great references for making the most of it:

The first great source for going from 2000 to 980 sq ft (my downsize isn't that dramatic but it is great advice regardless!). Check it out and the source to the image below here!

An additional great source to help with the psychology of going to a smaller space or just getting rid of a lot of extra clutter and stuff is Money Can Buy Me Happiness. The article is really refreshing and inspiring. Click the link above to see the article and the source for the image below!

5. Trendy Millennial Minimalism: For Real Life Millennials. I have a confession- I know minimalism is a trend right now for my generation. But I have personally really started to embrace it. Living with a guy who has packed all his stuff in a duffel bag and moved to Hawaii for 6 months really helps change your perspective. All of the stuff we are packing to move is basically MY STUFF. It's really weird to think about. There are a lot of great sources for starting the minimalism idea (I'm not going full in and only having 33 clothing items) and you can adjust it to meet your own needs for this life.

Read the full article and it's takeaways here!

I've becoming addicted to YouTube since I've been able to stream it on my TV. Here is a great compilation of YouTubers that are all about that Minimalist Life. Check out the list and full article here!

Hopefully this helps anyone else out there that was a bit overwhelmed after making the final decision to make a big move! If you have any other great resources- drop them in the comments below for others to see!

I suppose I'll go pack some stuff now.

Eastward Bound & Down: Relocating a Life

noreply@blogger.com (Meaghan [This Messy Business]) — Tue, 30 May 2017 16:54:00 +0000

It has been nearly 365 days since my last post, meaning that mostly just my mom will see this. But hey, that's fine! My mom is pretty awesome!

As of this month I have officially owned my home for 9 years and it has been a remarkable experience. I was able to go to college, learn to install my first dishwasher, remodeled my first kitchen, replaced counters, installed flooring, and repainted the living room and bathroom 3 or more times. It has been totally wild, but it is time to announce that I am officially selling my house in Grand Junction, Colorado and moving my entire life to Denver. Like all the other millennials in the entire United States. However, I would like to claim that I am already from Colorado- so it's less annoying.

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We are so excited to go! Brennan (BB) and I have found a rental and I have found a new teaching job over there. It's a scary big move but we're excited. We have been working really hard to get our house market ready and I will be sure to do a blog post about that soon. Here's us looking all cute and stuff at the Denver Botanical Gardens:

If you have any tips or advice for making a move to a new city please share it with me! I could use all the help I could get. I've grown up in Grand Junction and have never been anywhere else. It's an exciting change.

Here are the big things I'm excited about:

More stuff to do (Red Rocks Amphitheater, Baby!)
Closer proximity to family
Better work to life balance.
New house has a large backyard and a garage! (YAY!)
Master's Degree opportunity.
More time to bloggggg!

Any tips from people who have moved and downsized? What did you do to sell your house fast and get settled into a new city?