Life Update: WE BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOUSE!!! 🏡

      I am beyond thrilled to share the most exciting life update with you today. As of yesterday, we are first-time HOMEOWNERS! 2025 has been really been quite the year so far. I thought that finally getting a new career opportunity in May would be my biggest life update of the year, but I think this might even trump that. 😊 

Apartment Bar Cabinet Reveal + Styling 🍸

      Ryan and I recently finished my favorite home decor project to date: our bar cabinet area! This is such a glow-up from how this area of space in our apartment used to look before. I shared all the details on my Instagram last week, but I wanted to share here on the blog as well.

2022 Apartment Christmas Tree + Decor!

      I'm a bit belated in getting this year's apartment holiday decor blog post up, but even though it's late I couldn't skip the tradition to document it on my blog. Here are a few snaps from my second Christmas season in my little Virginia Beach apartment!

Virginia Beach Apartment Tour: Gallery Wall

     Saved the last part of my Virginia Beach apartment tour for last... the massive gallery wall that I hung between the kitchen and living room! I love gallery walls and I've always wanted to do one that's this big. This apartment seemed like the time to finally go for it!

 

Virginia Beach Apartment Tour: Bedroom.

      Moving along with my Virginia Beach apartment tour today! So far I've shared my kitchen + bathroom, and the living room. Next up is my bedroom! 

Virginia Beach Apartment Tour: Living Room

     Continuing on with my Virginia Beach apartment tour today! (I recently shared my apartment kitchen and bathroom in this post.) I really loved the living room layout that my room Abigail and I had in our shared Charlottesville apartment. I knew that the size of the living room would be smaller in my Virginia Beach apartment, but I was still determined to make things look similar, especially since I'd still be bringing my same couch, upholstered chair and TV stand. 

Virginia Beach Apartment Tour: Kitchen + Bathroom.

     I'm excited to finally be sharing my Virginia Beach apartment tour with you! I've had so much fun turning this little one bedroom apartment into my ultimate bachelorette pad. I've probably had more fun decorating this apartment than anywhere else that I've lived. I love how everything has come together! I moved the majority of my furniture that I've had in past apartments with me to Virginia Beach, but I did add in a lot of new décor, and arranged some of my older pieces differently here.

     I'm starting off this apartment tour with some shots of my kitchen and bathroom. Soon I'll share the living room and bedroom with you!

Using a Professional Home Organizer is WORTH IT! My Review of NEAT Method Virginia Beach.

      Last week, I had the chance to work with a local professional organizer to re-do two of the closets in my Virginia Beach apartment. I can't wait to show document the before/after photos and share more about the process with you! I worked with the NEAT Method Virginia Beach, and local owner Alayna, and had such a positive experience all-around.

2021 Apartment Christmas Tree + Decor!

      The first year that I went all out and decorated for Christmas was the year that I graduated college and was living back in my first apartment.  Since then, I've never missed a year in sharing my Christmas decorations and tree on the blog. This year I only had time to snap a few quick iPhone photos of my living room, but I'm glad I was still able to capture a few photos. It is my first Christmas season living in Virginia Beach after all- and that's worth celebrating!

DIY Peel and Stick Kitchen Backsplash!

      The week after I moved to Virginia Beach, I did the most fun and relatively easy DIY project that transformed my basic little apartment kitchen! It'll be a little while before my new apartment is 100% decorated and I can share a full tour with you, but I did want to get this post up sooner as I'm still so excited about it. Here's everything you need to know about my peel and stick kitchen backsplash!

   

What I Purchased for My New Apartment.

      As difficult as moving can be, it can also come with some fun perks. The excuse to purchase new house related items is definitely one of the positives! A new space is a great reason to start fresh with some new furniture or decor. Here are all of the miscellaneous items that I purchased last month for my new Virginia Beach apartment.

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Organizing My Earring Collection + My Favorite Places to Buy Earrings!

      Confession: I am an earring hoarder. I suppose in fully honesty I'm kind of an all-jewelry hoarder... but earrings are by far my favorite type of jewelry. I am rarely seen without earrings. (I usually only take them out for workouts, and even then will often wear small studs.) Despite the fact that I only have one hole in each ear, I have an extremely  large earring collection! From tiny studs to big statement earrings, I love them all. I recently started storing my earrings differently thanks to a great organizational find from Amazon- and I love this new method so much that I wanted to do a quick blog post about it. 

Home for the Holidays: Christmas Tree + Decor 2020.

     I can't believe it's already that time of year when I share my apartment Christmas decor on the blog! 2020 was the slowest year in some ways, and the fastest year in other ways. It seems like yesterday that I was sharing last year's version of this blog post. In past years, I've sometimes dressed up when sharing my apartment Christmas decor (I definitely did in 2017!). This year it only seemed fitting though to share this post while wearing festive pajamas... it is 2020 after all, and I've never spent more time at home. Welcome to our apartment!

Untraditional Thanksgiving Menu: Our Thanksgiving Brunch

      I know that it's already been a few weeks since Thanksgiving and we are well into the Christmas season already, but I still wanted to get a post up about my menu for this Thanksgiving. Save this to use as inspiration for a future year, or maybe you'll even want to incorporate a recipe or two from here for your Christmas meals!

My (Super Early) Current Weekday Morning Routine.

     This shop has been compensated by Inmar Intelligence and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CleanHealthyBold

     Once people find out that my day job is working as a morning radio host, the follow-up question is almost always, "How do you wake up so early on weekdays?" Fair question! Once people get over their shock at hearing that my alarm goes off at 3:30am five days a week, they're often curious what my weekday morning routine looks like. Do I spend a couple hours before work getting a workout in and cooking a full breakfast? Do I roll out of bed five minutes before I have to leave the house and wear my pajamas to the radio studio? Somewhere in between? I'm breaking it all down today for you, and also talking about some items that make the super early mornings easier, like LISTERINE® Ready! Tabs™ Chewable Tablets!

Future House / Apt. Dreams.

     With all the unexpected extra time spent staying safer at home this year, I've found myself spending a lot more time dreaming about possible future homes. If I could be staying home this year in my absolute dream living space, what would that look like? It's always fun to dream big, especially in a year where dreams seem to help me cope better with the everyday. 

Home Decor for Geography Lovers: Meet Honey + Hank.

     I am so excited to introduce you today to one of my new favorite small businesses: Honey + Hank! This brand is turning a love for American geography into the most gorgeous home decor items. 

10 Best Recipes From My Quarantine Kitchen.

    If there's one thing I've been doing a lot more of while staying home, it's cooking and baking! I've loved both of these things for many years, but never in my life have I eaten this much at home and tried to rely as much as possible on my own culinary skills. Today I'm rounding up my 10 favorite recipes that I've made over the past two months! There's a mix of dinners and desserts- but one theme here is that most of these are comfort food items. With all the stress going on in the world, I've craved comfort food more than ever. Some of these recipes might not be the healthiest... but at least they're homemade right? 😉

    The photo below is of my very first cheesecake, which I baked a few weeks ago. The irony of me sharing this photos is this is probably the worst thing that I made in the past two months, haha! I labored over it one Saturday morning, and when it was finally ready to eat I was so proud that I made my roommate Abigail take my picture with it. Turns out that it was nice looking on the outside but didn't taste good in the slightest. You will most definitely not find the recipe for it in today's post. Oh well! 

How To Design Color-Coded Statement Shelves.

     One of my favorite things about my current apartment is the color coded statement shelves that I've designed in the living room! I've never had bookcases be the center of a living room in past apartments, but now I'm obsessed and think I'll always do something similar with shelving in future apartments or homes that I have. Designing these shelves was a lot easier than I expected, and I'm excited to share more in today's post! 

    This post has been on my editorial calendar for quite some time, but seems even more appropriate now given social distancing and spending more time at home! This would be an easy project to stay busy with indoors.

Charlottesville Apartment Tour: Before/After Pictures of My New Place!

     I'm excited to finally share the before and after shots of my new Charlottesville apartment on the blog today! I suppose "new apartment" is a loose term... I moved in during Labor Day Weekend which was already several months ago, and this apartment is much older than my previous one. 😂But either way- it's still my newest home!