What I'm Loving Wednesday...My happy place.

Day 6 of the challenge is 6 places. I'm also combining this post with my usual WILW so these are all places that I love, and hold very special meaning to me.

1. New York City.

I love New York for all of the obvious reasons, it's an amazing city with so much to see and do, but the real reason it's on my list of 6 is because it's now where my family lives, and really there's no place like mom & dads so it's definitely number one on my list.

Hanging out in this adorable apt. with my family trumps all the skyscrapers in the world.

My mom has the most incredible eye. This is my favorite room in the world.

Daddy & Me on the roof of his office!

2-6 in no particular order are:

2. On the topic of the Big Apple I would have to say that the Central Park Boat House is hands down one of my favorite places. It's such an iconic location and you've prob seen it in many movies! Roomie and I ate here when we visited in 2008 and saw Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon there and I've been back twice with Mr. Jones and my parents. I love sitting on the water or inside in the giant leather chairs next to the fire!

My favorite spot for a glass of wine after a long day touring NYC

3. The South, specifically North Carolina/ South Carolina

This is a sneaky 2 for 1. Again, it's a place that is home. NC is where I was born and lived until I was 8, it's where my grandparents, immediate Aunts, Uncles & Cousins live, and it's where I've spent every summer vacation for the last 20 years!

Granny's house, home of mud pies and big wheels, biscuits and gravy and many many memories.

The lobby of Charleston Place Hotel, SC

Pool & Terrace

Charleston, SC my favorite vacation destination.

4. The Jones house, specifically the living room and the back yard! Many a weekend has been spent relaxing in both of these wonderful places. It's definitely a happy place for me and I look forward to not only spending time here but most importantly with the company I'm surrounded by.

Right in front of the fire place is my favorite spot the morning after Christmas, cuddled up with tea and sandwiches and a good movie marathon.

And their backyard is a little slice of heaven.

5. Santa's Tree Farm, Half Moon Bay CA

What can I say, I'm a sucker for Christmas, and we came here every year for 16 years as a family to cut our tree down. Just looking at the pictures makes me feel like a kid and gives me that giddy holiday feeling. I love that Mr. Jones and I have held on to the tradition and I look forward to heading here for many years to come.

Pure Holiday Magic.

6. San Francisco...

Last but not least home sweet home. I have a total love affair with this city by the bay and our home here. Every day I wake up and fall asleep feeling so blessed that this is the place I call home. The best place to be in my opinion.

Hope all of you find yourself in your happy place this Wednesday.

XOXO-Miss V.

Wish List...

YIKES school has clearly started because I have not even looked or thought of a blog since last Thursday when all of my trainings, orientations, staff meetings etc started! It's been a busy busy few days with the rest of the week only getting more jam packed, with one day left of classroom set up and staff meetings until the first day of school on Wednesday! Clearly I need to get used to a new normal yet again but I'm sure I will get into the swing of things very quickly!

I want to finish up my 10 day challenge that has been a bit postponed but it really couldn't come at a better time b/c with my head swimming with school stuff it's nice to not have to "think" too much about what I'll be blogging about! So here goes, 7 wants!

Wish List...

1. I want to take this year to really focus on learning from my co-teachers and working collaboratively with them to create two successful classrooms.

2. Next year though... I want my own classroom. ;)

3. I want to go back to school shopping with my mom ha! I wish being a grown up/teacher still meant I got to go back to school shopping because lord knows I have a lot of wants in that dept.

Such as...

all images via

Basically everything I can't afford from JCrew. Seriously if I could, I would just buy the outfits off the models. Until teaching pays significantly more and I put a dent in my student loan debt...I'll continue to tote around the catalog in my purse and look for inexpensive versions of my wish list!

4. I want to work out 4 days a week and stick to it! I have been doing 3 for forever now and just over the summer stepped it up to 4 and I have noticed a HUGE difference in the way I feel and look. It may not be something that the average person would notice but I think I look and feel healthier than I ever have. Fingers crossed I can keep it up.

My favorite kind of exercise! Outdoors enjoying the day!

5. I want just about everything on my pinboards on pinterest! I've recently become a pin addict and love browsing for all kinds of wants.

Touche.

6. I want a second bedroom, for lots of reasons, for my family so it's easier for them to come and visit for long trips, for all of my friends that now live in different places so I can coax them to come see me, and eventually for when there is a little bambino which would mean I could live in this apt for a long time. I like to think long term and far in advance ;)

Ohhh and look what I happened to find on pinterest a lovely guest bedroom/nursery! 2 in 1! And it's adorable! Hahah.

7. And finally, I want to keep up with my blogging, comment more, and take advantage of all the great teaching blogs out there! I really love this little blogging world but it is a commitment!

The list could go on forever and be filled with a multitude of things really! And...while it's fun to sit and wish away it's also important to keep in mind what really matters. I've already been so blessed with a wonderful family, an amazing group of girlfriends, a boyfriend who I adore and a job that makes me feel like the luckiest lady in the world. At the end of the day, really what more could a girl ask for?

Here's to wishing all of you a wonderful week filled with everything your little hearts could desire!

XOXO- Miss V.

Scaredy Cat.

Tough CAT...

Scaredy Cat. And super flattering photo might I add.

Fear is not something I really like to discuss, because even talking or thinking for too long about my fears only brings the anxiety level a notch higher than it almost always is.. but since I'm committing to this 10 day challenge here goes.


1. Flying.. hate it. Unlucky for me, unless I want to spend forever driving back and forth across the country it's the only way I get to see my family.

Where I live...

Where Mom & Dad moved... sigh...being a bi-coastal family is tough.

2. Sleeping in an empty house. Hate it. I always end up falling asleep watching Golden Girls hahaha b/c it's practically the only thing on tv that late that isn't an infomercial.

Seriously ladies...Thank you for being a friend. Ha!

3. Not being a good teacher. I know that I have the heart and the passion but sadly so much of teaching is judged by standardized test scores, I fear that I will not be able to teach the way I wish while also making sure my students are living up to "state standards".


4. Not being able to have children. I worry about this one a lot. I can't wait to be a mother and hope that it comes easily but I am very aware that this isn't always the case.

5. I worry about my future children all the time too. Oh my goodness I am already a crazy helicopter mom and I don't even have kids. I fear their safety, their judgment, the people they surround themselves with, the list goes on and on and on. It's actually comical how much I think and worry about "them".

LOVE this... ha! Hopefully you can click to read larger, but basically what I will say to my children every day. Love, plain and simple ;)

6. I'm a people pleaser to a fault. I constantly fear that I will offend someone, or make people unhappy. Mr. Jones calls it Catholic guilt and tells me to get over it. I'm working on it.

7. I'm terrified of scary movies and I even mute the commercials when they come on and have to look away.

Can you tell I found the most non scary "Scary Movie" poster I could ;) Yep. This could also apply to me and my previous statements about my unborn children. Ha ;)

8. I don't even like typing this one in light of recent events.. but I am so afraid of natural disasters...all of them...all the time. I'm prepared but am always on edge about these things!!

Eeeeek ok ready for this challenge to be over!!

Soo looking forward to moving on to tomorrows challenge which is seven wants! And in lieu of my usual What I'm Loving Wednesday post I will say that I am Loving this little 10 day challenge! It's a nice change of pace from the usual day to day stuff I blog about!

Happy hump day my darlings!

xoxo- miss v.

L is for ...

L is for LOVE! Today's challenge (see yesterdays post about the 10 day challenge) is 9 things I love! I could do the obvious and say friends, family, Mr. Jones, etc. but I think I will just talk about 9 things that I'm loving right now, they may be random but there's so much to love in any given day so here goes!

via

1. I'm loving my 1st internet date! Ha! I met up with my 1st blogger buddy today and it went wonderfully! Ashley from Very Ashley is a new transplant to SF and we met over our blogs! We decided to have a little meet up so I could show her around the "hood" and we had a great time getting to know one another and realizing we have so much in common. It's exciting to see how something like blogging can bring people together online and in the real world.

via

2. As much as I love meeting new friends, I'm also loving catching up with old friends. I had a phone date with my oldest friend today and it was so good to hear her voice and just talk and pick up right where we left off!

Whitney my friend of 20+ years, her hubs and their two precious babes.
Cannot wait to see them in Dec!

3. I'm loving Fall candles, and the fact that I've bought 4 in the last 2 days! I found all of them on clearance for $1 and I can't wait to break them out after Labor day!

Love this Fall tablescape via pinterest!

4. I'm loving fresh flowers. On my balcony and in my home! I'm making it a goal to keep more flowers in my home because it's the little things that make me happy.

Pretties!

5. I'm loving that I finished the last book in my King Arthur trilogy and can now choose a new one to begin! I hosted a little book swap dinner party the other night and have Water For Elephants and The Hunger Games to choose from! Would love to hear your feed back on either!


6. I'm loving sunny weather. It's been so foggy here lately that the warm sunshine today on our walk totally put a little extra pep in my step.

7. I'm loving my new shampoo and conditioner! It's the 1st time that I've honestly noticed a difference in the quality of my hair with a new hair product and I'm totally devoted now to the new Pantene line!

It's the Restore Beautiful Lengths line and is doing wonders for my damaged hair.. love.

8. I'm loving Jillian Michaels and her workouts. I love to exercise and doing one of her workout videos yesterday was insanely hard yet so rewarding. Looking forward to our "date" tomorrow. ha.

This is the one I did yesterday! Love it!

9. Lastly, I'm loving time off. I can't lie. I am totally that person that could just do this every day, coffee and girl chat mixed with a workout, blogging, taking care of the house, oh if only every day could be this relaxing....real life awaits me I know, but I'm relishing every last second of summer!


Those are my nine loves, totally random I know... I hope whatever it is you're loving you remember to savor it no matter how big or small.

xoxo-miss v.

Shhh...

I saw this over at one of my regular reads Hello Happiness and thought it would be a fun little thing to do to add something a little different to the old blog!


So... shhh here are my 10 Secrets:

1. I LOVE weddings, borderline obsess over wedding blogs, magazines, friends weddings etc. yet I'm pretty blah about having one myself. I want to get married 100% but I don't really care about planning my own wedding. I know, totally contradictory.

via

2. It drives me crazy when I tell people the above "secret" and they respond with "noooo... you don't really feel that way! Wait until you get engaged it will be different!!" To which I roll my eyes on the inside and yell at them in my head.. did I not JUST say I don't care about planning my own wedding! I'll gladly eat my words if those feelings ever change. And trust me they have changed over the course of the last year so..check back with me next year, you never know.

3. I've watched the movie "The Wedding Planner" at least, no joke, over 100 times easily, probably waaayyy more than 100. Totally lame I know. Something about that movie is so comforting to me though!




4. I swear this one won't be wedding related oops (see I am obsessed ha) I truly believe that you must learn to love yourself/find yourself make your own dreams come true before you can fully allow yourself to be loved, and love another person.


5. With that being said I also fully believe that we can surround ourselves with others who make us better people and keep us accountable for loving ourselves and following our dreams. I would like to thank Mr. Jones for doing that for me every day that we have been together.



6. Even though I should be a "big" girl, when I really stop and think about how far away my family moved I get really sad and choked up. I hate it. I really do. But I rarely let myself think about it.

Mommy & my youngest brother Lukas. Wish I was in that living room with them right now!

7. I have meltdowns about my finances on a daily basis. Student loans plus part time teaching job plus living in the most ridiculously expensive place in the US makes me have a panic attack on the regular.


8. Even though I curse this area of Northern Cal out for being so expensive I can't ever imagine moving away from my friends and Mr. Jones' family. So I guess we'll just continue to "figure it out".

So sweet. Mum & Dad Jones. Love them too much to ever leave.

The friend family. They have my heart!

9. I totally censor myself on this blog. I know that I have all kinds of family, co-workers, etc. that stumble across it now and then, and for that reason I keep things pretty shiny, happy and mellow around here. If you really want to hear me complain, be judgy, and gossipy you'll just have to meet me in real life. Ha!


10. With that being said I love blogging because it keeps me accountable for noticing and reflecting on the positive in my life and sharing it with others. Nobody likes a whiny baby anyways. ;)



So there it is, a few random "secrets" looking forward to nine loves next! Would love for any of you other bloggers who read to do this little 10 day challenge as well!

And this post totally beats my post about my homemade, domestic diva, whole wheat bread that I was going to post about, because it was kind of an epic fail. Oh well it's only Monday...

Hope all you pretties are having a great day, until tomorrow!

XOXO- Miss V.

Frugal Fashion...Home Decor

Happy Friday everyone! It's been a busy week over here at our house and I'm excited to share a few photos of some home improvements we've made over the last few days. As with most home improvement projects there are still a few tweaks to be made but baby steps folks. I can't believe we've done as much as we have, convincing Mr. Jones to go shopping at Ikea with me was a feat in itself, so I'm not trying to push my luck here.

Sticking with my Frugal fashion theme I thought I would share some "inexpensive" ways that we were able to add to our home. Now I understand that inexpensive is relative for everyone, but keep in mind that we have officially lived here for a year next week and we've been holding out for some of these items for that long as well!

IKEA. Low cost home decor is a life saver. Most of our big furniture items are from Crate and Barrel but we've also mixed in a few Ikea items such as our entertainment center, some small decor items and now our new kitchen island!

While the cost is low which is great, you do have to commit to some serious manual labor putting these items together, always a fun way to spend an evening with the one you love... (serious serious sarcasm here).

This is love people.

I don't always love Ikea because you save on cost by putting in your own labor which is no fun, and the materials aren't always the nicest. However, you can definitely find some gems and we were so excited when we found this island because we didn't feel like we were compromising at all for the look and function we were going for!

The end result!

We went with two of these shelving units for a few reasons. First of all, we've been looking and looking for almost 2 years now for a dining table. I can't settle on any because we are renters and we've never truly had a defined dining area. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a giant dining table when we could up and move again next year! (considering we've already had 2 apts in 2 years anything is possible)

Secondly, I wanted something that could function for eating and storage since we are very limited on kitchen cabinets here, which led us to the island idea. I love that these are sturdy but also provide lots of extra storage for dishes freeing up cupboard space! We had a fairly large kitchen area that really wasn't being used to it's full potential, now that we have a place to gather, eat, and work it almost adds a new usable space to the apt that was only being used for cooking before. Also, since Mr. Jones works mainly from home this gives him a more practicle work space than the couch. And lastly they can easily be used for other things in other rooms if/ when we ever move. They fit our style well and I can see them as shelving, a bar area, or even again as a kitchen table if we ever have a proper dining room!

Next up, new art a la Ikea yet again! We've been dying to get some new art over the couch that actually fit the space and we've also had a bare wall that was dying for some decor, for under $100 we were able to cover all of our bases to get this!

Ribba frame plus San Fran poster from here that I ordered months ago finally hanging proudly on our wall!

Two LARGE Ribba frames with Paper Source paper inside for inexpensive art!

We have two Paper Source locations here in the city, but you could easily order any of their papers online as well. They are high end nicely made papers that come in large rectangular sheets in a plethora of colors and designs. I chose two that complimented each other and our overall color scheme and am so happy with the way they turned out! The photo doesn't do it justice b/c of the glare! The best part each sheet cost under $5! Total for this project $70. Love!


The end result...

Kitchen looking into living room! LOVE my new view!

We also purchased a new bathroom mirror from Ikea that I may share later although it's very nice looking, it's hard to get a good shot, and I do have a few DIY projects up my sleeve as well that I'm hoping to complete this weekend!

So there it is, it took a little time and patience to finish these projects that I've been dreaming about for some time, but now that it's almost complete I feel like it's a brand new house!

Hope I've inspired you and all of the highlighted words are links to what we purchased if you want to re create the look for yourself!

Happy Friday lovelies!

XOXO- Miss V