Self care, self quarantine – am I right? While we won’t have a real spa day anytime soon, we might as well through one of our own in the mean time! Here are some great… More
New Home Progress
I’m Back Baby!
Well, that was one h*ll of a hiatus. Did you miss me? I missed all of you wonderful people. I can’t believe it’s been almost TWO YEARS since my last post. Yikes!
Last time I updated you on here, I had just purchased my first home. And, being the introverted home-body that I am, decided to sprint full force into remodeling and updating the house. It took over my life and gave me less than optimal time to dedicate towards this blog. I’ve been steadily posting on my Instagram throughout my hiatus (shameless IG self promotion here) so hop on over there to stay updated on the day-to-day.
As I go through the different seasons of my life, I like to write about what components of my life take the most precedence. Which is basically my way of saying, the wedding posts are over! I’ll create a round-up for all you brides to be (or just obsessive compulsive planners) for easy reference. This season of my life is an all encompassing home decor, remodeling, and DIY influence. So, gear up and get ready for all the juicy tips and tricks I’ve been cataloging along the way.
I’m back, I’m ready, and I’m eager to share with all of you!
November Beauty & Skincare Empties
Hello you, and welcome to inside the mind of an Obsessive Compulsive Designer.
You may be asking, “How did you accumulate so many empties? You just moved!” Yup, that’s because I moved all my empties for you guys! I knew there were some serious goodies in this batch you all needed to hear about so I made a point to move all of these so I could share. It’s been a couple months since my last empties post so I was due for another. This month I surprisingly have a good deal of empties; and, all of these empties are winners in my book!
There are many repeat stars in this batch so I’ll leave a link to my last empties post here so you can read more about them. There are a few new winners in this bunch, and those are the products I’d like to talk to about today!
I first purchased this scent for my wedding and now it’s become my signature scent. I wear this scent almost every day. I am the worst at describing scents so I won’t even try to embarrass myself! Just go try this out the next time you’re at Sephora and I promise you won’t be sorry.
I purchased this product to use as a contour powder and loved it! It had just enough gray in it that it was the perfect contour color for my complexion. Sadly, since my switch to cruelty free, I couldn’t repurchase this product. However, if that isn’t an issue for you, I highly recommend this product!
Clean and Clear Advantage Acne Control
This face wash was great. It left my face squeaky clean and didn’t dry it out any. Again, I couldn’t repurchase because Clean and Clear’s mother company isn’t cruelty free. On to the next!
Don’t judge how dirty my brow gel is… It was well loved and repurchased! This product keeps my brows perfectly in place and I much prefer the clear over colored so I can be as messy as I want! (Because who really has the time to perfect their brows every morning?)
I love this mask and it was a nice switch from my usual GlamGlow go-to’s. Plus it smelled absolutely amazing! I didn’t love it enough to repurchase it but I have nothing bad to say about it!
Let me know what products you’d like me to try out next and I’d love to do a review on it!
What We Learned In The First Year of Marriage
Hello you, and welcome to inside the mind of an Obsessive Compulsive Designer.
In celebration of our first anniversary as husband and wife, I thought I’d do a post diving into a few things we both learned in the first year of being officially married. It’s been a whirlwind of a year but it’s been a great one. I think you’ll find the lessons we learned are a little different than what you usually see; but, they’re all good lessons that make us love each other all the more!
Similarity & Consistency
People say that the first year of marriage is the hardest year you’ll have together. We found that things stayed quite consistent for us. We had lived together for a couple years before getting married so there was no REAL big change in that department. We left for the wedding from the same home, got married, and returned to the same home and did the same things. However, the hardest year we encountered was the first year we lived together. It’s hard blending two different people’s schedules and habits, especially with someone you love. We have never been traditional so I guess living together before the wedding saved us the hard first year that everyone talks about!
The Next Big Step
The two biggest questions after you get married are about buying a house and having a baby. I didn’t even make it out of our reception before someone asked when the babies are coming. Like, can we just appreciate the fact we just got married two seconds ago?! For some reason, people are always going to be looking into your future for the next big exciting step. Your answer to those questions will start to become routine. 😉
The Ominous Word
The word marriage or the fact that I’m someone’s wife doesn’t bother me or change anything. My husband and I weren’t affected by the fact that we have an official title. Some people get giddy or go overboard with the Mr. and Mrs. décor throughout their home; however, we didn’t. We have been together for so long, and have been living together for so long, that we didn’t view the wedding as anything quite as life-changing. We got married to essentially declare to the state that we love each other. We still love each other just as much and just the same.
It’s All In A Name
If you’re the lucky duck who gets to deal with the name change, I wish you all the best. I’m still finding things to this day that need my last name changed. It is a never ending process. I thought I took care of everything when we first got married but I still consistently find new companies that have my old information. It’s a long tedious process…yay!
Patience & Compromise
As with any relationship, it’s taught us a higher level of patience and compromise. Of course, by six years into our relationship, we had learned to be patient and compromise with each other. However, after marriage, the things we needed to compromise on or be patient with doubled in scale. Life gave us more opportunities to work on these skills at a higher level. It wasn’t a compromise on where we wanted to eat or whose family holiday we would go to on which day. We now have to compromise on vehicles, houses, life changing opportunities. It’s like our entire relationship was a training exercise for the big choices we now have to make.
Leave me a comment below and tell me what the most important thing you’ve learned in your marriage is thus far!
Photo cred as always goes to the amazing Capture Life Portraits 🙂
One Year Anniversary
Hello you, and welcome to inside the mind of an Obsessive Compulsive Designer.
How am I writing this post already? It seems like we just got married last month! However, when I really sit down and think about it, we did so much during this past year and experienced so many things. It’s been a hell of a time and I’m glad this is just the first of many. You know we had to do something great to celebrate our first year of marriage; so, naturally, we called our favorite photographer. 🙂
Capture Life Portraits has been a staple of ours and has captured so many great moments of ours together. Kirstie has got me very excited to continue this tradition of anniversary photo shoots! She does such lovely work and I love getting together to be creative together. She really set the scene for us with a little picnic full of the essentials. Be sure you check out the blog post she wrote about our session and to see even more pictures from the shoot!
And, because I know you’re going to ask, I’ll provide a link to my dress here. It comes in this wine color, black, or white. It’s absolutely gorgeous and the wine color is to die for this season. I may have to break it out for a Christmas party this year!
Leave me a comment below and tell me if you’d like to see a second year anniversary photo shoot!
Blog Photography Tips For The Minimal Sunlight Months
Hello you, and welcome to inside the mind of an Obsessive Compulsive Designer.
If you rely mostly on natural sunlight, as I do, you know the struggle of the winter months where there’s barely enough sunlight in the day to get your usual work done. I always hate these darker months because it makes photographing things for my blog SO much harder. Here are my three tips on how I combat the lack of sunlight and get great quality pictures year round.
Plan Mass Shoots For Weekends
It’s no secret that I’m a huge planner. I have my blog posts planned out months in advance which makes it very easy to see what is coming down the pipeline. I usually look and the next couple weeks and plan out all the shots I want to get for each post and take them all at once! I live for the weekends because those are my big photoshoot days. I’ll take a week or two’s worth of blog photos in those couple days. Planning so far ahead really makes the darker months more manageable!
Natural Light LED Bulbs
I bought LED bulbs that mimick the natural sunlight and I.CANNOT.STRESS.HOW.MUCH.I.LOVE.THESE. OMG these are so much better than the usual yellow or orange tinted lights that are standard in every place you live. In my apartment, I just switched out the standard yellow bulbs but held on to them so I can take my beautiful LED bulbs with me when I moved. It’s such an easy switch that homeowners and renters can do!
Work Around The Sun
Depending on your job, this may or may not be an easy task. If you’re someone who has the ability to switch shifts or pick and choose your hours. I highly recommend choosing hours throughout the year that work with natural lighting. It will make your life so much easier not needing to stress about getting all your shots in and gives you the freedom to blog on the fly.
Photo cred goes to the amazing Kirstie of Capture Life Portraits. A new photo shoot coming to you soon 🙂
Leave me a comment below and tell me how you shoot around the year!
How To Find YOUR Wedding Dress
Hello you, and welcome to inside the mind of an Obsessive Compulsive Designer.
This was a highly requested topic by many of you and for good reason! Selecting your wedding dress isn’t the easy beautiful process that you see on TV or in movies. It’s a tough process but the process can be made much simpler with some planning. It’s one of the most important details of wedding planning and deserves to be as stress free as possible. For many people, it’s one of the most stressful due to lack of availability in your area, body image issues, not knowing what style you like, budget, etc… Needless to say, there are way too many factors that come to play in this decision. Let’s make it easier!
Deciding What You Want
I think one of the best things I did during this stage of selecting my dress was to look at models with similar body types to mine. I knew, with my body shape, a dress I saw on a deathly thin model was not going to look the same on my body. The worst thing you can do is create unrealistic standards of dresses in your mind. Once you know how dresses look like on girls with similar body types to your own, you’ll be able to see the styles and fabrics that will best fit your frame.
Pulling Inspiration
Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest. Pinterest is great to search around for the styles you’re wanting once you’ve seen how they work on your body type. My one problem with Pinterest is that it’s overflowing with thin models in fabulous custom unattainable dresses. Before you flock to Pinterest, it’s essential to know your styles that you have to work with. Pull a few images that best represent what you want to look at and save them BEFORE going to a dress boutique. Knowing a smaller scope to look at when you get to the shop is great and gives you direction.
Dress Boutique Do’s & Do Not’s
Do search for certain designers to see what they actually carry and what dresses are actually available in your area.
Don’t rely on your Pinterest finds to actually exist and be stocked at every shop you visit.
Do your research on the shops you’re going to visit to find out how they work. I visited a shop that refused to let me look at their inventory and only allowed the assistant to bring me dresses (DISASTER).
Don’t visit shops that don’t allow you to browse their inventory. Call ahead and be sure you know exactly how they work.
Do call ahead and confirm they carry the designer you’re looking for and any particular dresses you want to try on.
Don’t let pushy sales people pressure you into buying anything. Stand up for yourself and what YOU want.
The Perfect Duo
What really helped my dress search process was the perfect duo, the perfect sales associate and bringing the perfect guest(s). Finding a sales associate at the shops you go to that has a clear vision of what you want or has a similar style can help immensely. Through the duration of my shopping, I NEVER clicked with anyone besides my final sales associate. I sat down and showed him the exact designer and a few styles I liked and we gushed about how gorgeous her designs were. He pulled the exact dresses we were talking about and really pulled my vision together. He now owns his own boutique and has his own line of dresses. Finding someone who has a knack for wedding fashion versus someone who just needed a job makes ALL the difference.
If you aren’t as lucky to find the perfect sales associate, your trip is not wasted. Bringing the perfect guests along with you can help more than you realize. Of course your mother is going to tear up and your friends are going to tell you how amazing you look in everything; but, if they also aren’t afraid to tell it how it is, you’ve found the perfect guests. Bringing someone who knows your style, your facial expressions, and understands your vision can help you find the perfect dress. Your guests can do as much pulling of dresses and coaxing of the sales associate as you!
My Advice For Others
Overall, my advice would be as informed as you possibly can. Research your body type, your designers, your local boutiques, your local sales associates. Going in knowing as much as you possibly can will never be a bad thing. Sometimes you’ll need to go in and try a style of dress to confirm whether or not you like it and that’s ok! Pictures show so much differently than real life; however, going in with options and a plan can never steer you wrong.
Good luck to all searching for their dress. Have fun and enjoy the process! Leave me a comment below and tell me how you found your dress!
November To-Do List
Hello you, and welcome to inside the mind of an Obsessive Compulsive Designer.
My to-do list this month has a very distinct theme. We moved last month so a lot of my list this month will be taken over by the house; but, from what I hear, that’s normal. Everyone wishes us luck now that we are homeowners and I’m starting to understand why we need the luck (haha). I hope you enjoy getting a peek into my everyday life!
Unpack Everything
We have been in the house for about two weeks now and we have done a pretty good job moving in and making the house a home. However, I still have more boxes than I’d like to admit just laying around half empty. My goal is to be completely unpacked by the end of the month!
Get Back Into A Schedule
With everything everywhere, it’s been a fun process trying to figure out how my routines work in this new house. I’m definitely still out of wack and struggling to get into a stable routine. I’m hoping that fully unpacking and organizing will help me get into a good schedule for day to day life and blogging as well! We’ve been so incredibly busy that my blogging schedule is definitely all over the place. I apologize! I promise, this month, I’ll get back on track.
Discover New Things In Our Area
We moved to a completely different town then we were in before and I’m so unfamiliar with the area. My goal is to just drive around the area and discover all the cute restaurants and secret places to go!
Painting Party
Before we moved all of our stuff into the house, we spent a solid 3 days painting. The house was very brown and very dark colors everywhere. If you know me, you know that is not my style at all. I’m so excited to show you guys before and after’s! But, before I can do that, I need to finish up all the painting!
Plan & Order Christmas Presents
With all this moving business, I’m tired of being behind and playing catchup on everything. I want to get Christmas completely done this month so all I have to do is wrap in the month of December! It’s awfully ambitious but I think it can be done (especially with Amazon one click hehe).
Leave me a comment below and tell me what you’re looking to do this month!
Favorite Blog Posts of October
Hello you, and welcome to inside the mind of an Obsessive Compulsive Designer.
October being my favorite month, mostly due to Halloween, so I’m particularly sad that this month is over. It was a hell of a busy month! We moved into our first house and I swear that alone ate up our whole month with planning, packing, moving, cleaning, projects. Ugh! I could seriously use another week or two of October. But, sadly, November is upon us and I’m sure this month will fly by just as fast! Take a look at my four favorite posts from this past month and be sure to tell me down below what your favorite was!
Unique Wedding Color Schemes For Every Season
20 Cheap/Free Fall Date Night Ideas
Things To Do This Halloween Season
Hello you, and welcome to inside the mind of an Obsessive Compulsive Designer.
Halloween is my favorite holiday BY FAR! I go crazy for this holiday, as you’ll see in posts later this month. (Yes, I’ve already planned out my Halloween posts.) Today I wanted to talk about a few fun things to do this month in preparation for Halloween. I already posted a fall bucket list so be sure to hop over there if you’re looking for some of the less spooky aspects of fall! I just wanted to dedicate a full post for Halloween activities. So, without further ado, let’s do this!
Haunted House
Obviously. By far the most popular Halloween activity. It’s a staple in everyone’s Halloween to-do list.
Scary Movie Marathon
I live for the scares! Pack all your friends into your living room and run through all your scary Netflix movies. Grab the popcorn, a cozy blanket, and keep your friends close. And maybe schedule a sleepover for that night? J
Decorate to Scare
Get in the Halloween spirit by decking out your room, house, yard, etc. with all things scary! Don’t have any décor? Invite some friends out with you and hit up your local Target, Dollar Store, and Hobby Lobby. I love this idea for a fun and unique day to spend with friends!
See the Newest Scary Movie
Because no one does Halloween better than the movies. Go see the newest thriller in theaters with some of your friends!
Go To Local Haunt Spots
No matter where you live, there is always a nearby town with some weird history and a spooky background. Find some haunts around your area for some cheap fun and a few thrills. Maybe it’s a forest, abandoned building, an old house. Get to Google and find the craziest haunts in your area!
Leave me a comment below and tell me how you like to celebrate Halloween!
New Home Mood Board
Hello you, and welcome to inside the mind of an Obsessive Compulsive Designer.
If you’re an avid reader, you’ll know that we are now first time homeowners! We are unbelievably excited for this new journey. That being said, it’s an adorable little starter home bungalow that has so much potential. I have completely redesigned the whole home in my mind and I wanted to show you a little inspiration of what I’m thinking. I’m planning on bringing you guys along with me during the remodeling journey so be sure to let me know down in the comments if that is something you’d like to see! I’m excited to transform this quaint little house into a gorgeous bungalow that we can enjoy for years to come!
We Are Officially Homeowners
Hello you, and welcome to inside the mind of an Obsessive Compulsive Designer.
Guys, am I really posting this right now? I can’t believe this moment is finally here. I am so excited to officially announce that we are homeowners! What!? Where did my childhood go? Who let me adult? Who cares, I own a house! I’m so incredibly excited and grateful that my husband and I could pursue this big milestone. We are beyond ready to start making this house a home and you can tell our four legged friends are pumped about the whole ordeal as well.
And before you ask, this house may have multiple bedrooms but that by NO MEANS suggests that there will be any need to fill them. So stay out of here with that baby talk!
A big thank you to all the people who helped us along the way. We really were children going into this with no concept of how this process works or any of the changes in the transition from renting to owning. Of course, with a big life change like this, I’ll be writing many posts about the process for the months to come so stay tuned!
For those who don’t know or those who are new, I’m a full time interior designer so I’m more than ready to sink my claws into this project! Leave me a comment below and let me know if you’d like to see before/after pictures as we design our home!
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