On My List: May 8

I'm for sure a list maker. There's a scene in some silly Lifetime or Hallmark movie that I don't even remember anything about except for the scene when she talks about how much she loves literally crossing off something on her to-do list. That's how I feel, and why I can never use my iPhone for anything like that. It's not as fun to scratch off.

But, I will share with you what is on my list of some tasks I want to accomplish before the month is over. Even if I can't literally cross it off my list on the blog, I can use my readers to hold me accountable for some projects I want to try.

1. Utilize homemade weed spray and other garden pins in our yard.
2. Finally finish the gallery wall on the stairs.
3. Meal plan binder to make my life significantly easier, because doing this every week is almost torture, even though I know it needs to be done.
4. Homemade cleaners, now that I finally have some empty spray bottles.
5. Spring cleaning and de-cluttering.

What's on your list to accomplish this month?

Birthday Cake

My mom always made the best birthday cakes. They would be round two-layer cakes with buttercream frosting (that we would get to have on graham crackers, too, if there was extra), with our names iced on the top and, of course, candles for every year, served on a cake plate.

When we registered for the wedding, I made sure I included it so I also had a cake plate, almost exclusively for birthday cakes. Sadly, the poor guy has hardly been used at all, and never for a birthday cake. So this year for Nathan's birthday, I decided to put it to use.

Thanks to pinterest, I found a recipe for lemon-blueberry marble cake, on a blog called Lick The Bowl Good. I was a little worried as I started making it because it was a little more detailed than I thought I could handle (I mean, there was actual cake flour involved!) but they looked OK when they went in the oven and when they came out. I actually did the recipe a little differently, because I didn't have three round cake pans. I halved it, and split it between two pans, and the cakes came out just a little smaller, which was fine because it wasn't serving very many people. I also totally used the jar of jam vs. making them.

The frosting recipe, however, was something I knew was above my skill-set (and timeframe. and patience level.) So instead I used a basic white icing glaze, from Martha Stewart, which was preferable for Nathan anyway because he doesn't like frosting all that much. It didn't look as pretty though.

So there you have it, my first birthday cake baking experience. It turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.

Thrifting: My Treasures

I consider myself to be a pretty organized person, and I seem to function a heck of a lot better when everything is organized and doesn't feel chaotic. However, with my new job, I get a TON of paper handouts (and email, for that matter) that seems important and I always reference, but I just don't have a way of organizing it without going too far over line and OVER organizing it (which, in my opinion, is almost even harder to deal with than not being organized). I mean, look at this mess:

THIS is why the dish drainer solution appealed to me as much as it did. And after searching (it seems like a lot of searching, but really, it wasn't that bad), I found this really cool-looking yellow dish drainer, for only $3.50. And that includes the cool mat thing that came with it! You know, if I was using this as an acutal dish drainer.

But before I could fill up my pretty new treasure, I needed to go through and file everything and THEN label my folders. It turns out I had a lot of folders already in place, but they were so overwhelming to use because I had to open each one to see what was in there. So I got out my trusted label maker and got to work, reworking folders and relabeling folders and all around having a good time. Here's my before picture (and yes, that's facebook in the background. I love distractions.):

Now, I know what many of you are thinking, and that's "Well, you know how they make these things called filing cabinets? You could maybe invest in one..." Let me tell you--we DO have a filing cabinet, but it's all the way down in the basement. And I love this solution because these are files I use on a daily basis, and while opening a drawer every time I need something might help me build some arm muscle (a girl can dream!) this solution gives me easy access to everything I need. And I mean, come on, how cute does this look?

I have to say, I didn't love the yellow color at first. I thought about spray painting it pink, until I realized that if I ever decided to use it for actual dishes (novel idea, right?) the spray paint + something you eat off of would probably = a no no. And then I overanalyzed even further: This room will become a nursery when we way down the road have kids, and when it does, I will have more yellow incorporated (yes, of course I've thought about how cute a nursery inspired by my childhood blanket my mom made me would be!) and as it turns out, dish drainers are also great for storing puzzles! So, that is how I eventually accepted the school bus yellow color.

Now, I said I went out with two missions: the dish drainer and a utensil tray. As it turns out, people who have super cute utensil holders don't give them away. Only people who have not-as-attractive plasticy ones (like us) donate them when they've outgrown their usefulness. So I had to find another solution for the keys, because Nathan was really desperate for one. And I didn't find anything I liked at the thrift stores, so I bought this cool white square bowl thing at Target for .  . . $3.50! That's right, the same price as my organizer, but new. It matches our dishes, and I think it looks pretty nice on the table here.

But I have one other thrift store find, and it's my favorite. A friend gave me a book by Sophie Uliano, and I found her health- oriented book there for $2. For a hardcover! Too fun. I can't wait to read through it and see what I can do to "live lean and green."

Now tell me: what's your favorite thrift store/garage sale/antique store find? Or even etsy find!