DIY – Race Medal Display

| The Bee Life

I am excited to share with you my adaptation and more affordable DIY version of a Race Medal and Bib display for our home office.  I first saw the idea at a friend’s apartment, she had a cute single-bib holder with some text and hooks for metals.  As the weeks wore on and our race medals sat in a box in our office, I remembered the idea and went online to see how much these were! On Etsy, they range anywhere from $30 – $50, which while affordable, I knew I could do this much cheaper!

Step 1: Find a piece of wood that fits the desired size. Since B and I both run, I wanted to be able to display both of our bibs, separately so this had to be long enough to accommodate two 8-inch race bibs. I also wanted to have a catchy/cute phrase on the board too… more room needed.   It just so happened that we had a wood piece from our table that we got to sample stains from the carpenter… turns out this board was the perfect size to a T.  Cost = $0

Step 2: Measure + determine design.  I grabbed our race bibs, placed them on either side and penciled in the top holes for place makers and then eye-balled where I would want the hooks to go along the bottom for the medals.  The phrase I decided on was borrowed from one I saw online; “Soul Mates in it for the Long Run.”  This phrase is so fitting for B and I and goes back to the roots of when we started dating, four years ago.  It was maybe a week into dating and I was running my first half-marathon, while B was running a 10k.  The first person I ran into, in the crowd after the race was B, literally ran into each other, and if you have ever been in a race before you know how crowded they are! I knew it was something special when that happened.

Step 3: Paint backdrop. I had some left-over acrylic paint in grey and white (just what I needed) so I grabbed those and started to paint! Cost = $2.50

Step 4: Buy hardware. I needed little hooks for the bibs and then larger hooks for the metals.  The hardware store is literally 5-houses down the street and around the corner so a quick trip there and I was in business!  I ended up needed 1-pack of the smaller hooks  ($1.29) and 3-packs of the larger hooks ($1.35 each).  We also needed sawtooth hooks for the back and other hooks for the wall (about $5). Cost = $10.50

Step 5: Stencil + paint phrase. I wanted this to look better than all free-hand painting, so I printed out the phrase and cut the letters, traced in position to make sure I could fit everything, then painted! I then free-handed the other writing and added a cute personal touch of “est. 2011” – not perfect but it works!

Step 6: Apply hardware. This was a little tricky getting the square bent hooks into place and definitely took some patience, after starting a hole with the screwdriver we were able to get these screwed into place.  Afterwards I placed two large sawtooth hangers onto the back and then nailed 50lb weight picture frame hooks into the wall.

Step 7: Hang up + decorate with metals + bibs.

Total cost: $13.00

Now our race bibs and metals have a nice home… and plenty of room for more to come in the future!

House Hunters – Organization

| The Bee Life

Happy February 2nd, everyone!

This past weekend, I got a lot of much needed organizing done! I am a very organized person, so the clutter and organized mess (yes you read that correctly, even my mess was organized) finally got to me! Of course, like everything in the house this too will be a work in progress, only because I’m a perfectionist and like everything to match. My main areas that still need some organization are; my bedroom closet, bathroom closet and hall closet, office closet and desk space. I need to put up some more shelves in all of the mentioned closets, and then matching boxes/tubs for various items.

Until I have my spaces complete, I wanted to share my favorite organization inspiration pictures for various places around the house!

Pulled from Better Homes & Gardens via Pinterest http://www.bhg.com/decorating/storage/organization-basics/make-organizing-fun/?page=14#page=9
Pulled from vtwonen via Pinterest http://www.vtwonen.nl/inspiratie/slaapkamer/naturel-slaapkamer/
Pulled from Pinterest – site source unknown
Pulled from Organized by Kelly via Pinterest http://kelleymorrison.com/?paged=6

Of course a lot of these ideas will be adapted into my own space and own needs, that’s the one thing I love about organizing – it’s that I can be creative and think of new ways to give everything a resting place. What’s your favorite part about being organized?

5:2 First Week Recap

| The Bee Life

One week on the 5:2 is officially under my belt. I can’t wait to see the long-term benefits, especially once I get more used to the flow, calorie counting, etc. For those of you who are new to the 5:2, in short it’s a “diet” where you fast for 2-days out of the week.  This means that you only consume 500 calories throughout the entire fast day. 500 total calories, not each meal.  The Fast Diet book that I have read and been working from (cookbook too) is found here: The Fast Diet by Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer. Not only are there a lot of long-term health affects to this, on top of loosing weight and maintaining a healthy weight, but you don’t have a radical lifestyle change, it’s only two days of the week and the other five days you can eat responsibly as you please!

Lesson’s Learned:

  1. Plan better with meals, especially dinner and snacks
  2. It’s all mental, knowing you can’t eat just makes you want to eat everything
  3. Need to get a kitchen scale for measuring food!

My Meals:

  • Breakfast
    • 4-egg whites with 10 cherry-tomatoes and basil pieces = 94 calories
  • Optional Snack
    • 8-almonds (96 calories) + 15 blackberries (18.75 calories) = about 115 calories
  • Dinner
    • Night one:
      • Turkey Burgers with Tomato Salsa = 333 calories
    • Night two:
      • Chicken with Tomato’s and Olives + Tablespoon of hummus = 404

Obviously the math is off and I was slightly over by about 50 calories… oops! *smiles*

Have you tried the 5:2 Fast Diet? What have you learned?

Wednesday Reminders – Snow happy

| The Bee Life

It’s a snowy January day and it’s hard not to stop and take a moment and watch the big fluffy flakes fall slowly like being in a giant snow globe.

I love this quote, and today I am trying to pause for the day (and rest of the week) and just be happy and content. One of my goals for 2015 is to live in the moment, and that includes the happy moments. Nothing crazy has happened, in fact I am super busy, lots of plans and busy days are coming, late nights after work with extra-curricular activities, back to back (which I don’t always like). But I am going to enjoy them, have fun, and just soak up the memories and the time.

If there is anything I’ve learned of late, it’s that things change very quickly.  Friends/family are starting to have babies… getting married… moving away, and it’s all happening so quickly and a little out of the blue (not so much the weddings) and before you know it we are going to be all old and sitting in rocking chairs talking about that one day in 2015. #Terrifying

But… I digress. Here is my challenge to you: try to be happy with me for the next three days! It doesn’t have to be 100% happy but it needs to be 90% happy. I bet we’ll feel better, things won’t be so hard or stressful, because there is always a brighter side.

I’m Back.

| The Bee Life

Well my workout hiatus is finally over.  I received fitness classes for Christmas (AWESOME present, btw) so this past Saturday I decided to start! The classes are interval strength/cardio training circuits.  The interval and circuit length’s change from class to class so every exercise is manageable; because the longest  you’ll ever be doing an exercise is 15-60 seconds before you’re on to the next one!

Saturday – Cardio
Monday Night – Strength + Cardio
Wednesday Night

These workouts have kicked my butt. (1) I haven’t worked out “hard” in at least 4-5 months (2) I haven’t weight trained in over a year … so an hour of strength and cardio let me know how out of shape I’ve become.

I really did not want to go to the class last night, I was exhausted, sore, and it was freezing cold, snuggling up with Moz and B sounded much more appealing than going back out into the cold and getting home after 8 o’clock. But I made myself go, the pain was still going to be around today whether I went to the class or not… also I know the pay-off, I’ve seen the results before, so I pushed myself to go. And, I’m happy I went.

“The only workout you’ll regret, is the one that didn’t happen.”

This is only the start, I’m going to keep going to these classes, and it’s only be a matter of time until the snow melts, the sun shines a bit longer and I can start running outside again. It feels good to be back, it was way to long of a break, but that break is definitely over.

Transformation Tuesday no. 3

| The Bee Life

Remember that post when I “designed” our future dining room? (In case you missed it see here: House Hunters – Dining Room Design)… I also mentioned that we were having a custom table built, well table is complete, and dining room is complete!  We ended up going with my original design, but ran into some problems with the chandelier.

WORDS OF ADVICE: Don’t fall in love with something “available online” only to find it’s no longer available online or in any of the stores… also try and find similar models from different sights, just as back-ups or comparison.

I could not find a replicated chandelier of the one in my original design post ANYWHERE. It was my mission, I was so determined, but found nothing! And I called almost every Home Depot asking for the Hampton Bay, Menlo Park 6-light chandelier… I even went as far as upstate NY near my parents searching for this bad boy. Sold. out.

So… I had to try and find something else, it was hard but we finally found a replacement that we both liked and played into the character of our 100-year old home. We also went with chairs from Target, not only are they durable (and beautiful) but getting two chairs for the price of one (if that) is unbeatable!  Our table was built by a friend’s friend who is a carpenter, we were able to pick the wood, customize the size (8-feet by 4-feet), legs, spacing, height…everything. We ended up staining and finishing the piece ourselves to save some money and it came out great.

Before

After

photo 2

Final touches; side table with table-top lamp, new blinds, decorative bowl for the center of the table and place mats, and I am sure about a million other things along the way! I am completely in love with this space and can’t wait to entertain and have many dinners, game nights, and parties around this table.

Happy Dining!

House Hunters – Living Room Digs

| The Bee Life

Even though we have moved into the house and are pretty settled, we still have future decorating plans (that’s a given, right?) and one that is going to make a huge impact is our living room. I feel like there are so many ways to go with our furniture and style.  Also not being a designer; I have a hard time describing my style. So if anyone out there wants to help this girl out, I would love that!

Ideally, I would love to start with neutral bases for our big furniture pieces – whites and beige’s or grey’s.  Then from there start bringing in the color with an area rug, ottoman, pillows, and light fixtures. Something like this;

Pulled from How to Decorate via Pinterest – Site linked to picture.

How to make this my own:

01 / 02 / 03 / 04 / 05

This is still a work in progress – but a starting point. I have really struggled with my living room, I feel like there are so many possibilities, I am just focusing on staying patient and when I see it I’ll know! How do you help decide on your designs?

New Year, Fresh Start.

| The Bee Life

I think everyone likes the idea of being able to have a “fresh start” at the beginning of each new year, it’s a time when we can set goals, learn from mistakes, and dream bigger… it’s hard not to get caught up in all of the chatter.

My 2015 goals, are definitely going to be bigger, and after seeing what I accomplished last year, I believe that writing down and setting goals, and seeing them every day really does help you to accomplish and allow them to be in the forefront of your mind.

My 2015 goals:

  1. Get back into a workout routine
  2. Start the 5:2 Diet
  3. Travel outside of the country (Dublin 2015?)
  4. Get a promotion at work
  5. Run a half marathon + at least 3 other races
  6. Read more books
  7. Don’t sweat the small stuff
  8. Live in the moment

A lot of these are similar to my 2014 goals, but I liked them! And I feel that I can always strive to improve on all aspects, whether it’s my personal, work, or health life – and these goals help round all of those out.

Happy New Year! Let this be the year you dream bigger and do better.

Bye 2014!

| The Bee Life

As I look back at the goals I set for 2014, (as seen in: Happy New Year. Happy New You!) – I accomplished a lot – and even some that weren’t on the list.  And then, there were a few that I still need to work towards.

See for yourself…

My 2014 Goals:
1)  Run a half marathon – Completed!
2)  Read at least one book a month – I read 6.5 books
3)  Become an AE – Still working on this one (it was an ambitious goal)
4)  Get back into my workout routine – strengthening and cardio – Failed horribly
5)  Save more money! – Half fail
6)  Take more trips with Bentley – Success! Jackson Hole + NYC
7)  Write more on my blog/journal –Success!
8)  Don’t hold grudges/ be less stubborn – I hope this was a bit of a success
9)  Continue to eat healthier – Success, but could always be better!

2014, you went by way too fast. You also brought on new adventures, one which all of you are aware of – our new house! It was the year I said good-bye to Derek Jeter. The year that I got a new car… My first full year of being a full-time employed advertising account person… the year I was just so damn busy (but it sure was fun!).

I am still thinking of my 2015 goals…more to come on those in my official kick-off to 2015!

Did you have 2014 goals? How successful were you?