What's In Your Bag?

The past couple days, a few bloggers I follow have posted what's in their bags.

I decided go with the trend and show you what's currently in my bag!

Here's my bag:

I am currently carrying this awesome Kate Spade bag (Cobble Hill Kori)

Wallet: Kate Spade Cobble Hill Lacey

Sunglasses: Lilly Pulitzer Aviators

Croakies: Lilly and Vineyard Vines (why I have two pairs in my purse, beyond me!)

Purell

Travel size deodorant

Car, Apartment keys adorned with Vera Bradley, Coach, and Lilly keychains... and of couse have to rep my Alma Mater (Boiler Up!)

Agenda from Target

Southern Tide Koozie

Glasses case

Lilly Pulitzer makeup bag

Pencil Case full of Sharpie pens (obsessed)

And a look into my makeup bag...

What do you carry around with you on a daily basis?

FOOD!

I have recently been on a cooking kick and trying to cook almost everyday. So far, so good!
I have started making a weekly meal plan on Sundays and then grocery shopping for the entire week. This has been working out wonderfully since I have been working late most days.

So far this week I have made:

Basil Parm Tomato Soup

This was so good! I made so much I have been able to have it for lunch everyday this week.

Only thing I did different was use my immersion blender to break up the tomato chunks.

Pasta with Gorgonzola Sauce 

The sauce with the cream and gorgonzola was a little runny, so I added some four to thicken it up. It probably could have used some butter also to balance the strong taste of the cheese but overall it was really good!

BBQ & Monterrey Jack Burgers

These are the BEST homemade burgers I have ever made!! The cheese, BBQ sauce... mmmmmmmm!!!! I did use garlic salt instead of season salt since I didn't have any and they still turned out ahhhh-mazing!

For the rest of the week I have planned: chicken parmesan, chili, and leftovers. (Nothing too fancy)

What I have found really useful for my meal planning is using different printables to organize my meals and grocery lists.

One of my dearest friends, Sara, over at Secrets Of A Sunny Life, created her own printable! It has the grocery list organized by kind and makes shopping a breeze. Check it out here. So colorful and fun too!

Here are a few more that I have found easy to use:
Delish-Blog
The Project Girl
Sweet Bella Roos

Do you have a way to plan your weekly meals and grocery shopping?

Any good recipes that I could try out??



PS-Sorry for my lack of pictures... I'll make sure to take some from now on!

Friday's Five

1. Sam Adam's Harvest Pumpkin Ale

On my DIY Lilly coasters of course!!

I was in a fall mood last night and picked up Sam Adams' Harvest Collection variety case.
The Harvest Pumpkin Ale is soooo good! I have always been a fan of Oktoberfest, so I decided to try the other seasonal flavors out. I highly recommend the pumpkin ale.



2. BBQ Chicken Pizzas

Before

I made these awesome BBQ chicken pizzas the other night. I could eat these everyday!
They were so easy to make. I used whole wheat tortillas and put a little olive oil on them. I then sprinkled some mozzarella cheese and chicken tossed in some BBQ sause. Then I chopped up some red onion and put those on. Last, I squirted a little more BBQ sauce. Baked at 300 for 15-20 minutes and they were perfect!

After... nom!!



3. Clinique Bonus Time

I stopped in Von Maur after work to get some moisturizer at the Clinique counter and it was bonus time! I was able to score a new chubby stick and some tinted moisturizer.

Image from VonMaur.com

Super cute new makeup bag too!



4. A night in to relax.

I have been working so much recently. It is nice just to be at home and be able to relax!!
Since I have started my job in January, I have not had crazy weeks like this. Working for a Japanese company there are many late night and early morning meetings with Japan. It also seems like everything always seems to happen between 3-5pm. So much for an eight and skate kind of day!


5. iOS6

iOS6 has finally arrived! I think my favorite part is all the new emojis! I'm a little partial to the crescent moons.

Here are just some of my faves!

Another cool feature is the Do Not Disturb. It's nice not having to turn my phone on vibrate and be able to mute all the notifications and random phone calls while I'm sleepy. It will definitely come in handy!


What are your favorite things today?

Fall Colors

I have been dreaming of fall since that very odd week in March when it was 90 degrees here in Michigan. I live for fall. School is starting back up, the leaves change colors, football season starts. All the good stuff happens in the fall!

The best part is being able to wear long sleeves and sweaters. My friends will tell you I am slightly obsessed with cardigans. How many is too many? I have 20 in my closet right now and that is not even all of them. In my opinion, you need to have one in every color!

Anyway, one of my other favorite parts about fall is the dark colors. "Oxblood" or burgandy is so in this fall season! I just had to add it to my wardrobe. Last weekend I got a pair of pants from LandsEnd in the perfect shade. And even better.... the perfect LENGTH!!! 

Check them out here

They are little more purpley in person. The shade is perfect to wear all through out fall. Landsend really hits the spot with their petite clothing too. Being only 5 feet tall, it is always really hard to find the right length pants, skirts, or dresses. These pants in petites are exactly the right length. I couldn't ask for anything better!

I also love to wear seasonal colors in my nail polish. Besides my cardigan obsession, I have a serious obsession with nail polish. I have probably over 100 different bottles, all different colors and brands. But my fall and winter go-to has always been OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark. When I took it out of my jar this week to use it, I was really sad to find out that it had become chunky. My next alternative is OPI's Black Cherry Chutney. It is a very similar shade but has some gold tones in it. Perfect for Fall!

OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark

InStyle's Review

OPI's Black Cherry Chutney

**Please excuse my nasty cuticles and polish job

Do you have a favorite way to wear your go-to fall colors??

Welcome!

I have recently decided to start a blog of my own. After reading many blogs over the past couple years, I have finally gotten inspiration.

First, let me tell you about myself! I graduated from college in December and moved to Ann Arbor in January for a job. I am an electrical engineer for an automotive company in Metro Detroit.

Yes, being an electrical engineer means barely any females. A little too much testosterone in my life right now. But don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my job!

You will now be able to follow my journey of being a recent post grad living in the real world. I hope to share what’s going on in my life, new recipes and crafts, daily inspirations and rants, and the list could go on!

I am excited to start this project and hopefully keep it going for a long time to come.