Coffee Drawer

One of my favorite examples of streamlined organization in my house is my coffee drawer. In the morning, we are total zombies, but this section of my kitchen makes our morning so much easier. Cups/mugs are above the coffee maker and directly below is the coffee drawer. Anytime I get something in a pretty/sturdy box I save it. This is a candle box I got on clearance around Christmas. The candle is long gone,but the top and bottom of the box are perfect for holding our sugar packets. A sweet vintage candy tin keeps all my tea bags neatly contained. And finally a white ikea bin keeps our k-cups accessible. In the very back of the drawer I have a box of hot chocolate which fills the last bit of space.

I woke up early on Saturday and decided to deep clean my kitchen. I also decided to deep clean my Keurig. I washed all the removable components by hand and ran a resevior full of vinegar water through it followed by 3 rounds of regular water to flush everything out. It hasn't been making quite as much noise while brewing which I think is a sign that it worked!

I also made a banana bread mix this weekend. The package said to add a banana and chopped nuts for added flavor. It turned out really good! Not quite as good as from scratch but really close! I missed not having Friday for house work, and I am behind on my goal to do something creative everyday. But, on the plus side, I have been making a lot of progress at work lately so I feel pretty good about everything!

 

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Car Key Makeover

Last night while painting the bobby pins I decided to slap some polish on my key and it turned out so cute! It made me want to makeover my whole key situation. I say situation because my key chain had recently exploded. I had my house key tied to my key chain with ribbon but that came off and my jump ring broke .... So really I have been keeping a handful of keys in my purse for 3 weeks. I am shocked I haven't lost one yet! This was necessary!!! First the key make over....

First I cleaned the key with nail polish to get off any oils so the nail polish would stick better. I did three thin coats of the glitter polish and it dried really smooth. Then I gathered all the components. Two of my favorite waxing poetic charms with the sweet little keys to my luggage went on a ring with my new glam house key. I finally got to make use of a lucky number 3 keychain I picked up almost a year ago in downtown Brunswick. And finally my car keys all on a big ring that has a easy open/close ball.

Who knew car keys could make me so happy!

Trying to stick to one small project each day, and I have to say it's definitely something to look forward to! Speaking of .... Looking forward to a couple of hard apple ciders and an early bed time after a big day of insurance claims. I wonder if not having a free Friday is going to catch up with me next week. Probably! But a least a cider induced coma is calling my name tonight!

 

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Painted Bobby Pins

Today's craft was super easy and took about 5 mins. It is Another Pinterest find I remembered while cleaning my bathroom earlier tonight. I am a bobby pin addict. I hate having hair in my face when I'm working, so I have tons! My favorite way to store them is in a round magnetic canister I got in the target dollar section forever ago. So easy to keep them contained because the magnet scoops them up!

The tins are the best. Im hoping I might be able to find some more for cheap!
Random side note of the day: I clicked on a Lumosity pop-up and thought I would give it a try. The games were actually fun and challenging! Who knows if it will make me smarter, but it can't hurt to give my brain a little work out everyday. If it doesn't work, at least I will have pretty bobby pins to make my head look cuter!
Normally today would be my Friday, but we are buckling down and working a few Fridays to manage the back to school rush. But a later start time means there might be a chicken biscuit in my future!

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How did I get here - Part 2

Part Two....

We started construction pretty quickly and it was thrilling to see this shell of a space transform before our eyes. The in-laws convinced us to sign up with the gym next door. So after I quit my job in February (I tried to hold out as long as possible) we started going to the gym next door every other day and stopped by after so we could manage the progress. Building can be such a hurry up and wait process. At times it was like we couldn't get the permits or choices made fast enough, and at other times, there was absolutely nothing going on.

With all the down time, we sat down and planned exactly how we wanted our dental practice to be. Everything we had ever liked or disliked about different offices was up for discussion. We mulled over everything from whether the TVs should be on the walls or ceiling to whether or not we should provide uniforms. All of things we compromised on were to save money, such as vinyl baseboards instead of wood, but we were absolutely adamant we wouldn't compromise on supplies or anything that might compromise patient care.

I can tell you have never felt closer to my husband. We agreed about nearly everything that went it to creating this practice. We were so excited and couldn't wait for May.

The plan was to finish the space. Have a few weeks to organize supplies and learn the software. Yeah ... that didn't happen. We finished construction May 28th and opened May 29th!

Although I had tried to read as much as possible, when we opened I was absolutely clueless. Where I had felt supremely confident during the entire construction process, I suddenly felt like I had showed up to the first day of school completely naked! We had patients in the waiting room, the software trainer was nowhere to found, and I was officially in full-scale panic mode!

It must have shown because our first two patients never came back!! But nearly everyone since then has! And almost all of our patients are really wonderful! We are really lucky that everything has worked out so well.

I have learned so much about every aspect of running a dental practice. Put my heart and soul into making our business successful. I never imagined I would care so much about people's teeth or the business of running a dental office. But a year later, I am starting to feel burnt out. Not to say that I don't love my job, because I absolutely do! I just think I have been neglecting a big part of who I am.

I have been thinking about ways to nurture my creativity, and I hope this blog will be a tool and a medium for that purpose. I think that another reason I am feeling burnt out is I honestly believed that if we worked really really hard for a year straight we could at least get back to making the same amount of money we were at our old jobs. Debt is a tricky thing though. If you don't pay it down it grows and in our case rapidly. So nearly all of our profit (if there is any) goes into paying on our loans or gets reinvested in the business for things we really need.

Where does that leave me? An interior designer at heart, talking dentistry all day, elbows deep in insurance claims and numbers, with out any much fun money to spend on pretty pillows to make it all worth while.

So a promise to myself. I want to make an effort daily to be creative in some small way or even in a big way. At the same time I want to make every effort to be frugal, to use what I have to make my life more beautiful, organized and fulfilling. I hope this blog will force my to be more accountable. Here's to a new beginning! Or for now a good nights sleep!

 

 

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Re:Create - Free Fire Starters

Maybe I am really odd, but I have always thought there must be something to do with all that dryer lint. I have put it outside for the birds a couple of times but it rarely was touched by any of the birdies near our house. Then I stumbled across this idea on pinterest. What I love about it is it's completely recycled, completely free and super easy.

Step 1 - gather supplies. I have a bin full of dryer sheets and lint in my laundry room. I rounded up some toilet paper tubes and a newspaper magazine I picked up off my driveway.

Step 2 - stuff dryer lint into tube leaving about 1/2 an inch on either side to tuck the newspaper in. (I used approximately one loads worth of lint per tube, so you might need to stock pile a bit.)

Step 3 - Roll. My newspaper pieces were squares and that worked great. I rolled them on the diagonal and folded the far corner in so that when I tucked the ends into the tube there wasn't a pesky corner sticking out.

2nd reason I love this idea so much.... My dad made me an amazing fire pit, and this is the perfect and easiest way to light it even if my wood is a little damp. Now im not sure if the fire offsets how environmentally friendly this project is ....but I'm going to pretend I am being super green,

All set for chilly nights and ready for Marshmellows!

 

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How did I get here?

A year ago last May, my husband and I opened a dental practice. For the entire time he was in dental school, I never once thought we would end up working together. For one thing, we think and problem solve in completely different ways which often leads to debate. He is very smart and very logical. I am more creative and passive. Not to mention I had zero dental experience. But life takes turns you don't always expect.

After Dr. S graduated from dental school we moved in with my in-laws and he started the job hunt. It turned out the best offer he got was actually close to home. Obviously there are pros and cons to most of life's major decisions. The pros to this one being close to family after being so far away for four years and the significant pay check didn't hurt either. For me the cons seemed minimal but at the same time important. I knew I would really miss the culture and diversity of Louisville, and there aren't very many design jobs in small town Georgia. But we knew it was the right decision and packed up the uhaul!

Fast forward six months and it's Christmas Eve. The only design job I could find was working for a furniture chain. Long hours, low pay, and even less actual design work. For the first time in my life I was working on Christmas Eve instead of baking cookies with my family. Who goes furniture shopping on Christmas Eve you ask? Absolutely no one! So with the whole day to sit and reflect I realized the pressure of having to get an email from everyone I talked to and force feeding protection plans to people is not what I had in mind slaving away in design studio for four years. Apparently my husband was having a similar soul search. The practice he was working for was a perfect learning experience, but he was having a hard time imagining working there for the long haul. And we were also faced with having to start buying into the practice in a few short months. The issue with that besides the fact that it was a tremendous amount of money to only own one third of a practice (not including the building), he wouldn't get it back if we decided to leave. Talk about pressure.

Us being completely out of our minds decided to quit our jobs and go into massive amounts of debt to open our own practice. When we made the decision, it was one of those epic moments in life when everything seemed clear. Everything aligned in the most perfect almost fated way. We found the perfect building. A great builder. Getting the loan was suprisingly easy. The design was on paper almost as fast as I could draw it. We were on the same page, and it was us against the world!

To be continued ....

 

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