A Birthday Party [Via Postal Box]

April 10, 2012 by 5 Comments

Last week was my Mom’s birthday!

[pause for a tiny bit of history background]

Basically my whole family lives in Utah. We used to live in Utah. One year ago [man, time flies!] my Husband, SJ, and I moved to Hawaii for my Husband’s school. My Mom and I are really close and I am the only daughter. One of the things I have missed while being away from home is all  things my mom and I used to do together…. day outings, trying new places to eat, window shopping, talking about blog stuff, projects, look for shoes and purses, etc…

Okay so now that you know the background … A few weeks ago I decided it would be fun to do something special for my Mom’s birthday. I had already helped my Dad order her a Project Life Album and sent her a little something from The Wanderlust. But I also knew that she might appreciate a “girly” touch on her birthday [I have 2 brothers who constantly discuss guns, ammo, hunting, race cars, etc.] So I went to Target and picked out some birthday party decor! It was so much fun to try and plan party decor in my head, and to make sure all the supplies would fit in a flat rate envelope.

I sent the decor to my Dad and Brothers and they kept it a secret from Mom. Along with the party supplies I drew up a little “guide” for them showing how to set up the decorations. On the day of her birthday they put up the decorations and she *loved* the surprise!

:: Almost all of the items I used for her party are Mara Mi, from Target.

Filed Under: All About Kendra, Daily Life Tagged With:

Getting Personal with Blogging

April 4, 2012 by 9 Comments

The other night I was trying to figure out a blog post for the next day. I started browsing my favorite blogs, Pinterest, and Facebook hoping for something to spark a post idea. I found this yellow office picture and I fell in love.

I quickly saved the image, copied the source, and started writing a post. Originally this post was just the photo and a small paragraph about where I found it. I published the post and moved on to the the next item on my to do list.

Later that night I read this post by Marta, Getting Personal With Blogging and Overcoming Stage Fright.  It totally struck home. I think I might have some Blogger stage fright. I get a little on edge when I write posts with personal feelings and opinions [like this one].  It can be scary sharing your heart! And maybe it is because I don’t feel like I am a talented writer and I don’t always know how to type what I am thinking. Or maybe I am just unsure about which personal things to share. Either way Marta’s post motivated me to try adding more “personal” to my blog posts.

So I proceed to edit the Yellow Office Post, and add a little detail on why I like the sunny office color and design. The post may not have been perfect, but it was the same post with a little more of me.

And that is the hard part for me. Figuring out how much personal is okay and what kind of details I should share. I don’t want to expose my family or little girl to any unwanted attention, it is still our personal life. There has to be a perfect mixture right?

I am not talking about turning this blog into a travel log of everything we do and when we do it. I am talking about finding that delicate balance of adding in personal detail with the business/craft/tutorial posts. The kind of details that help you get to know a person.

And maybe you aren’t here to get to know me. Maybe you are here for the tutorials and printables. [That's totally okay too!]

But in my head I want this blog to be a place for learning, inspiration, teaching, sharing and community. So we gotta be a little personal right?

What do you think? How much personal detail do you share on your blog/facebook/twitter? What is the right amount? How do you mix it in with you business/design/craft posts? Do you struggle with it like me?

Filed Under: All About Kendra

Spring Organizing

February 29, 2012 by 4 Comments

Brian and I where browsing Netflix earlier this week and we stumbled across the show Hoarders. Let me tell you, Hoarders is not a pretty show. It is pretty disgusting actually, and appalling. I can’t even fathom how someone could live in such a disaster zone. I mean, really?! But, the show was also educational and explained that Hoarding is a real thing, a strong compulsive disorder that ruins lives. I am not trying to make light of anyone who has to deal with this situation in their life. All I am saying is that between watching that show and the natural spring cleaning instinct I was really kicked  into the Spring Cleaning mood!

And I guess I should clarify what I mean by spring cleaning. I don’t mean cleaning out closets full of stuff or going through a garage full of boxes. We just moved 3,000 miles across an ocean. We don’t have that much stuff. So for me “spring cleaning” really just means making sure we stay organized.

Like I mentioned, when we moved to Hawaii we only brought the essentials… and that didn’t include any sort of storage containers or bins. Up until my yesterday we had just been making it work aka … stacking our items as nicely as possible in the bathroom cabinet and hall closet.

But after watching Hoarders, I decided that making a “stack” [no matter how nice and small] would no longer work for me. So, I headed over to my favorite store, Target.

I found some very cute [pictured above] blue, green and white storage bins. My goal when I was looking at storage bins for the bathroom was to find something that was cute and also really functional.  Between the three of us our stuff [brush, contacts, make-up bag, deodorant] had all been sitting on the shelves mixed together. But, not anymore!

I bought three bins, one of each color. Blue for me [yes, the biggest. haha], green for hubby, and white for SJ. I took all our bathroom stuff and separated it into individuals piles and organized it in our personal bins. Now when we are getting ready in the morning we can each pull out our bin, use our stuff, and put the bin back in the cabinet. Or at least that is the plan.

Here are some other cute storage bins and organizing ideas I have found online…

Have you started spring cleaning and organizing your house? Isn’t it funny how the weather instinctively tells us to clean out the winter dust?

Filed Under: All About Kendra, Daily Life Tagged With: ,