10 Interior Design Pinterests I Love

In a few months, Sienna and I will be most likely moving to Albuquerque which means SO MANY INTERIOR DECORATING OPPORTUNITIES! Not that I'm excited or anything, but ya girl has been curating a few Pinterest accounts specifically for this occasion.

/lavivahome/

What makes La Viva Home stand out to me are the specific boards dedicated to different fabric patterns, textiles, and rooms in your house. I have spent could spend hours looking through all of the sleek and colorful photos.

/leslidevito/

Lesli's color-specific boards make my extremely OCD brain very happy. I can look up specific colors that I already have in my room and scour her board for more ideas of complimentary accents! Not to mention her MOCH (My Old Country House) blog is a collection of all of my dreams come to life. 

/Homepolish/

Any avid interior decorating-obsessed individual has to know about Homepolish! Believe me when I say that I'm usually firmly anti-pastel, but their Pastel Paradise board may be quickly changing my mind. 

/housebeautiful/

Got a quirky nook in your house? House Beautiful most likely has a pinterest board solely dedicated to that quirky nook. From home bars to little nests, front doors to mudrooms, and a board for every color under the sun, House Beautiful is literally your one-stop destination for all your home pinspiration!

/simplygrove/

Kristen Grove's interior design game is on FLEEK. Not only does she have room-specific boards, but she also has boards for specific furniture pieces. Looking for a sleek coffee table or a colorful area rug? Kristen has you covered.

/huntedinterior/

I'm always terrified of smaller spaces. I have the tendency to overload it with tons of furniture and other objects, and then it looks like Ikea threw up everywhere. This has made me shy away from color, but that's definitely not who I am at my core. Kristin Jackson's boards are my personal challenge to include more color in my life, and I'm LOVING it.

/jennykomenda/

Jenny's Pinterest has such a calming affect on me. I think it's probably the copious amounts of natural light in her pictures that I also want to incorporate into my *future dream home*. I'm also really into her office space board...fingers crossed we have a little extra space for an office nook of sorts!

/apttherapy/

Living in Albuquerque means a higher possibility of renting an apartment rather than a house. Apartment Therapy has so many amazing ideas to turn a small space like a 1/1 apartment into the pad of your dreams.

/freshome/

With more focus on all-around design components, Freshome has a ton of great DIY ideas as well as some finishing touches for your place. My favorite board has to be their fireplace ideas - we don't have the need for fireplaces in Hawaii so I'm pretty excited for the decoration possibilities in store!

/greyandscout/

Last but certainly not least, Liz Bachman at Grey & Scout has put together quite an impressive Pinterest. Just looking at her homepage alone makes me feel so *classy*.  Her primary interior design board, SPACES, extremely satisfies my minimalist desires while adding in those pops of color I crave.

Wanderlust Diaries: 2015 Wrap Up

As previously mentioned, I was fortunate enough to do a TON of traveling this year - basically a trip every other month. In this first installment of the Wanderlust Diaries, I'll briefly talk about the amazing trips I took in 2015 and what each meant to me!

January: Portland, OR/University of Portland Pilots Dance Team
After a very interesting start to the year, I was able to take a short trip with my one of my best friends to surprise our college dance team girls at one of their games! Although it was just for 3 days, it was much needed and being back in NoPo was a warm homecoming welcome.

March: Teach For America's Native Alliance Initiative
When my life started to go south, I was fortunate to be able to reconnect with some of my closest Native teaching friends and find rejuvenation through TFA's Native Alliance Initiative Summit in New Mexico. We visited cultural sites, shared our different cultural protocol with each other, and had hard discussions about the future of Native education. This trip put me back in the right frame of mind to finish out the rest of the school year.

June: LA with #thebaes
For some very necessary girl time, I went to LA to see my best friends and reestablish some semblance of joy in my life. Little did I know that this trip would not only give me some much needed bff time, but it would also bring Sienna back into my life. When one door closes...

Aug: New Beginnings in New Mexico
I surprised Sienna with a trip to visit her in New Mexico for a few days in late August, and it brought me so much happiness to see the kind of relationship that we were going to have. Long distance has been rough, but I know in a few short months it will all be worth it.

October: Soul-Searching In Japan and Korea
Back in March when things weren't so great in Peepsland, my best friend at work sat me down along with her two housemates, and we impulsively bought tickets for 10 days in Japan. I'll talk more about this in another post, but those 10 days (which turned into 6 in Japan, 4 in Korea) brought a level of peace to my life that I thought I had lost forever. I'm so thankful for those memories that the four of us shared and the inside jokes that will last a lifetime.

December: Hilo Family Time
Oh man, it has been SO long since we had a family trip. My family and I spent a little over a week up in Hilo and brought in the new year together looking out over Halema'uma'u Crater at night. We did the normal sightseeking, a TON of hiking, and basically just got to relax in our awesome cabin up in Volcano National Park. It was such an amazing experience, and Hilo was a nice escape from busy Oahu.

Stay tuned for more Wanderlust Diaries updates, including how I planned a 10 day international trip on a second year teacher's salary!

Never stop wandering,

Life In Peepsland: Currently Feb

Hey, remember when I said I was going to blog at least once a week? Well, that was before January happened and now I'm considering February to be the *real* start of 2016. Cheating? Probably. But who cares!

January was kind of a flop for me in all aspects of life, so I'm playing the proverbial "get out of jail free" card (thanks, Monopoly) and calling a do-over. Everything that went wrong in January? Let's fix it in February. Didn't do so well on your resolutions? Don't sweat the small setbacks! Let's show ourselves a little more love this month and just start all over again.

Thanks Farley for another monthly Currently post - check out the FABULOUS shoes that are getting a crazy revamp and making a comeback! I remember being completely obsessed with ballet flats when I was a freshman in high school and I'm so glad they're getting a style-upgrade with the lace-up addition! Definitely be on the lookout for a style post soon...

one.two.three

Blogmas Day 11 | FriYAY!

So I tried my hand at blogging for a week and it's A LOT harder than I realized! Being a full-time teacher and graduate school student is more taxing than I anticipated, but nevertheless I'm going to try and keep up with new content for the rest of Blogmas 2015! Here's my 5 for Friday linkup with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the 11th day of Blogmas!

I'm a huge mac&cheese lover, but my body does not appreciate all of the fat and cheesy goodness that goes into a bowl of that magical comfort food. This week I took a healthy spin on the classic with this awesome recipe and made creamy butternut squash mac&cheese! It was really yummy and I think it'll become a staple healthy alternative in my recipe box.

This week, I went to my first ever Paint Nite with one of my best friends from high school. Since we're both avid Star Wars fans, and in light of the new movie coming out, it only seemed fitting for us to choose a painting of the greatest Jedi master of all time. It actually came out a lot better than I thought!

To have a little fun with my favorite nuggets, I made a Winter Reading Packet for them to complete this week in order to earn their Christmas presents and class party reward today! Thanks to my favorite TPT ladies, I printed out some reading comprehension passages and put it together with a few "just print" fluency games to compile this activity set!

I also got started with an Instagram book club of sorts that is reading The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. It's the first book in his Chaos Walking series, and I'm absolutely IN LOVE with it so far! If you want, head over to Instagram and search #tmrdecemberbook15 to see what all the hype is about!

Last but certainly not least, the countdown is on! Less than a week until Christmas Break, and some much-needed relaxation time at my favorite beach. I can't wait!

Happy Friday!

Blogmas Day 9 | Pantone's 2016 Hues

Here in Peepsland, we consider the Pantone color announcement to be the official start of the new year. For 2016, Pantone has selected Serenity, a light blue, and Rose Quartz, a pale dusty pink hue as the colors of the year. Two colors? Seriously, Pantone?! However, after much hemming and hawing, I've decided that I really like Pantone's decision to choose two colors, especially these two. Maybe it was The New York Times' article on Pantone's "political color choices" that won me over, but this girl is all for social equality, whether that be in the form of equal rights for men and women, or starting on a smaller scale and choosing the two most stereotypical gender-specific colors to be the dominating color influencers of an entire calendar year.

To help you all get in the mood to take on these color choices, I've pulled together some of my favorite inspirations from fashion, home interior, and style websites around the web. Although I'm definitely pulling more towards Rose Quartz for my favorite of the two, I really like how seamlessly these two colors can be paired together to make a peaceful color combination. Let me know what y'all think!

xoxo,

Blogmas Day 8 | Under $30 Gifts!

Happy Blogmas Day 8! Budget shopping is definitely a strength of mine, and around the holidays this skill kicks into overdrive. Today I decided to share some of my favorite gift picks for under $30! Here are some suggestions for those *special someones* in your life who you still need to shop for:

one.two.three.four.five.

1) Lush Rosy Christmas Gift Box - Lush's line of rose-scented bath products is my all-time fave, perfect for that glamour girl (or guy) in your life!

2) Dot Monogram Flameless Candle - I remember being so upset in college when I couldn't have a small candle in the dorm. I'm a sucker for how beautiful candles look, so this would be great for anyone in an anti-candle/open flame situation!

3) Herschel Supply Co. Duffle Bag - Herschel's bags are of such good quality, and this duffel bag is the perfect weekender size. I may have to snatch one of these up for myself! It's perfect for any guy or girl on your list, especially because most of Herschel's prints are gender neutral.

4) Gimme Gimme Makeup Bag - I'm a firm believer in the idea that you can never have too many makeup bags. Plus since this baby is under $10, why not grab one for yourself! It's the perfect size to hold your on-the-go necessities in your everyday purse.

5) Creativity Fuel Mug - I have a small arsenal of coffee mugs, but this little one is so cute! On some days you need a little more than plain old coffee, so grab a mug of "creativity fuel" and get down with your bad self.

*SURPRISE BONUS*
6) Valentia Glow Eye Cream - Being a full-time teacher makes me exhausted and I cannot go to work with puffiness and under-eye circles! The Valentia Glow Eye Cream keeps those dark circles away and smells amazingly fresh, like valencia oranges! LOVE IT!

Happy shopping!

Blogmas Day 7 | Rose Gold Life

Guys. When Pantone announced their 2016 colors of the year, I nearly had a heart attack. Why? Because Rose Quartz is like the pastel cousin of Rose Gold which means I get to celebrate my favorite color even more! For Day 7 of Blogmas, I'm bringing to you all of my current makeup favorites that help me achieve that beautiful gilded rose look on my face.

Urban Decay Naked 3 and individual shadows in Sin and Half Baked keep my lids gilded for the gods on a daily basis. Half Baked is my main squeeze with just enough shimmer to make me look awake during the day.
NARS Rikugien Satin Lip Pencil is the perfect everyday "nude" color, plus it makes my lips feel so soft!
MAC Springsheen Blush has been a favorite of mine for years. It isn't too shimmery, and I like to think of it as a highlighter and blush combined. All you need is a little bit to get that rose gold hue!
Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow is included because of the beautiful sleek packaging with that little rose gold insignia. Plus brows are a MUST and I'm absolutely in love with how much control the dipbrow and brow brush gives me.
Viktor&Rolf Flowerbomb is what I imagine "rose gold" would smell like. I've loved this perfume for years and I'm dying to get my hands on their limited edition holiday bottle.

Happy Blogmas! Have a great week!