Decorating for Autumn & Halloween

For me the key to decorating is finding your theme, I like to mix it up a bit. deciding on this is the most important thing because you may want bright fall colors, but then you see a pastel green pumpkin you just have to have and then you want a black spider web runner for your table and when you get it all home it doesn’t mix. This is why I pick a theme for each room before I do any shopping. At my apartment I have decorated my bedroom and my living room then I add a few small touches around the kitchen and bathroom but nothing crazy. Each room has its own thing going on, something I learned last year when I tried to add the before mentioned spider web runner to my natural Fall decor, it did not work. Another important tip is to go to the stores early and look before you buy, this is because you may find something you like and buy it then go in another store and find something similar that you love and miss out.

I tend to lean a bit towards classic styles, such as natural and neutral colors when doing my autumn decor, which is why my living room is filled with leaves, pinecones, and pumpkins. I love the natural colors of Fall they are so vibrant and beautiful I cannot help but get wrapped up in it! All of my living room decorations come from last year, I have an orange leaf garland, a harvest sign, a white pumpkin, and a sign saying “Leaves are Falling, Autumn is Calling” all from Michael’s, I added to this by picking up some scented pinecones from the grocery store, battery operated fairy lights from Primark, and three tea light candle holders from Amazon (but you can get them cheaper and the Dollar Tree), I finished off the living room decor with a mercury pumpkin from TJ Maxx and a Leaves candle from Bath and Body Works.

Into the bedroom we have a completely different look. This Halloween I decided to go with a Harry Potter Theme in the bedroom. It came out a million times better then I expected and I couldn’t be happier with it! I started off with my spider web runner on top of the dresser (Amazon), a key plate I made myself in a pottery class, which I topped with a wick cutter (Yankee Candle) and a Time Turner necklace (Wish), then I got a stack of ceramic books that say Potions, Charms, and Poisons, a metal pumpkin tea light holder and a sign that says “Every year I Fall for Pumpkins, Bonfires, S’mores, Autumn Leaves, Apples, & You” which all came from Michael’s. Now to the main event the bed which I covered with a comforter cover and pillow cases that say Hogwarts on them as well as an image of the school, I wrapped Honey dukes inspired fairy lights around the head board, and strung bunting for all the houses above the bed all of which came from Primark. I am in love with how it turned out! It looks even better then I could have imagined.

I hope you enjoyed my tips, as well as detailing where I picked up all of my things if you want to go pick anything up for yourself!

Real Relationships vs #CouplesGoals

If you have followed me for awhile, you may realize I never really talk about my relationship, and there is a reason for that and that is I don’t want to falsely represent anything. So much of what we see on the internet is perfection, and that’s not real. I see it over and over this false representation, and if it ends all of the people who have been following this relationship, start commenting they wish they would get back together, or making assumptions because they only saw what was presented to them. Now, I am not saying that my relationship is at risk, I am not going anywhere and intend to stick with it for life. But, I don’t want to put out a fabricated truth that everything is rainbows and butterflies. It’s not. It is hard being with another person, and things are not perfect, we are not couples goals, we are flawed. In real life you have your ups and downs and as amazing as it is right now, I know that is partly because of those hard times. We learn from them and faking happiness for your followers in not something I ever want to do.

So I am going to be real, I want to present the truth, but I also stand by the belief to leave the past where it is, so I will not be delving into our personal history nor will I air out things in the future. If you only take one piece of advice from me please let it be, if you have moved on, don’t move back, leave the past fights where they are, once resolved don’t unresolve them, it’s not worth it. So, here is the super slimmed down story of my relationship, it was amazing in the beginning and then it wasn’t, repeat a few times over the span of 10 years, and now we are back to amazing. We could have ended it and walked away during the hard times, but instead we decided the love was more important. We started fighting for each other rather then against each other. We changed not just for the other person, but for ourselves, and are now stronger as individuals, as well as a unit. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but also the most important thing I have done in my entire life. I would say that I made the bigger changes to myself as a person, I had to figure out my limits, and the fact that he and I are not the same. We communicate differently, and learning that made everything easier, though I do wish I had learned it sooner.

You may be confused that I am saying I am not going to present perfection, but also will not be putting my relationship problems out into the world. What I am saying is we have had them and we will have them in the future. It’s normal, and if you have problems within your relationship, you are not alone. Everyone does and if they say they don’t they are lying to you. Relationship goals and the aspiration of perfection, isn’t attainable putting in the fight and deciding it’s worth it is the only savior I have had, and it didn’t give me perfection; it gave me something even better, a healthy relationship with a person I care about. I don’t need anything more then that.

Moving Into My First Apartment!

This blog post is a bit of a story time, so here it goes! When I found out my boyfriend of 8 years, now almost 10, and I were finally going to be moving in together I was so excited one, for this next step forward in our relationship AND two! Because I was going to be able to decorate my own space, which has been an on going fantasy of my since I was a child. I used to draw floor plans of apartments that I imagined my beanie babies would live in (I actually thought I was going to be able to build them their own complex, but that's another story!). This story started with us finding an apartment, which turned out to be easier than I thought, moving in however, wasn't quite as simple.

We found our apartment in the Summer of 2016, and we were supposed to be moving in by Thanksgiving so of course the first thing I did was buy loads of Christmas decorations and I do mean loads, I have an entire closet designated just for my Christmas stuff! But despite my planning and excitement our apartment wasn't ready to live in until the night of New Years eve. Which was our official move in date! This caused us to have a bit of a rocky time at the start because I came down with a bug that night which meant I spent the majority of our move in weekend hiding under the covers peaking my head out to inform Joe that's not where that goes. Now, I had a bit of a problem because I had tons of holiday decor that I couldn't really use till the following year, though I did insist on putting up some of it for the first 2- 3 weeks, and  nothing else. So, we needed to get the ball rolling! Almost all of our furniture was hand me downs from Joe's family and a few bits and pieces from my own. Then it was time to start buying things, this happened gradually, mainly focusing on necessities. We made endless amounts of trips to various Home Goods, Bed, Bath & Beyond's, Target's, Ikea's and so on. We actually went shopping so much that we now know which locations in Brooklyn are the best for each store! Though technically the best Home Goods is in Staten Island, finding that out was a sad day.. that toll ugh! Eventually we got all the things we needed. We were very grateful for all those hand me downs though because we had no idea how many things we needed, from pots and pans to dust pans, it was never ending. I think the best purchases and hand me downs we got during this period were bookshelves and two storage closets because we were finally able to get things unpacked and put away which was an ongoing struggle, Joe didn't fully unpack his things until mid Summer 2017! And I still have boxes of paperwork at my dad's to go through. Not looking forward to that!

Now, it is Summer 2018, and I would say it has finally come together! The first things I put up, I had collected over the years and hoped would some day go in our home and now they finally are! My favorite being a framed poster Joe had made from Shutterfly with a few pictures of us, and our tiny bridges which we put together ourselves (I don't advise these kits I had a literal breakdown making the Brooklyn Bridge!). Then came the rugs (Joss and Main), benches (Target), art (Amazon), and slowly but surely we have finally turned this place into a home! The latest addition, which we made a few weeks ago was finally replacing the throw pillows on the couch (Old World Market & Target) and getting a welcome mat for the front door (Target), I am sure there will be many more additions to come in the future, specifically more photographs! And likely many seasonal bits and pieces, because I just can't help myself! But for now I finally feel settled, and I couldn't be happier! 

Scroll through the images below for the completed look or take a look at my newest video! Thanks for reading and have a lovely day!