Our Updated Gallery Wall

One of my favorite editions to our apartment is our gallery wall. We started one with just five pictures and are slowly adding to the wall to create a place to showcase our adventures together. My main issue when adding to the wall is I don't want it to only be pictures of the two of us. I think it would just make us look pretty lame! 

On Saturday I grabbed my electric screwdriver and started hanging three new pictures on our wall. It started off with me screwing into my pinky finger...but ended with all three successfully on the wall.

Since I'm a little OCD I knew that even if everything isn't even, it all needs to be in the same type of frame. My OCD cannot handle gallery walls where everything is different. Consistency is key for me.

Here's what I added on Saturday...

The top picture is a photo I took on Charlestown Beach at the Breachway. During the early days of our relationship Tim used to drive me home from dates and ask if I was ready to go home...I would say no because I wasn't ready for the date to be over and we would end up down at the beach late at night just talking in the car. So sweet right? So although that particular picture wasn't taken while we were together it is certainly a place that reminds me of our relationship.

Below I have a picture from Buttonwoods Sunflower Field from last summer. We went and saw all the sunflowers in bloom last summer and it's a cute picture of us from that day. I also have a picture of the side of Tim's head and Tom Brady. This was the only picture Tim requested be put on our wall because it was the closest we've ever been to Tom Brady. Last summer we went to a Patriots practice and Tom came around signing and taking pictures after practice ended. Although he didn't interact with us at all it was super exciting and Tim loves that picture.

As for what was already on the wall....We have a picture of the two of us on Easter in Florida when we visited my parents. The top picture is of Tim and Emma at the park over the summer. There is a picture of us kayaking on Wood River this summer and n the bottom is a picture of Emma and I on the day of her baptism. Finally, on the end is a picture of us at Harry Potter world in Florida.

I just love being able to look at all of these memories and know there are so many more for us to create! There are many other pictures that could be featured here as well and I had a really hard time picking what would place up here but I know that the wall will change and grow with time.

I plan on continuing our gallery wall here at our apartment and again in the future when we own a home. I tend to favor actual photos to paintings or anything along those lines. Photos are more real to me, where a painting just doesn't feel as right on my walls.

So. That's what our gallery wall looks like so far, I'll keep you updated as we add/change anything!
What's on your walls?!

Photo Organization and Declutter

My goal is to have a clutter-free life where only the things I truly need and love are in my home. Well, I have always loved taking pictures, however, lately the pictures began to take over! I had fifteen or so thick photo albums and boxes full of photos and cards, and quite honestly I was not interested in holding onto them anymore. I still wanted the photos, but not the physical piles and shelves that they were overtaking. So I took them apart. I spent time pulling every picture out of every album. Then I sorted. For days. Until my room looked like this:

Super stressful right?! But, things have to get worse before they get better! I ended up purchasing a scanner off of Amazon, and it showed up and didn't work! So I sent that one back and ordered a Kodak scanner instead, which has worked beautifully. It only scans 4x6 and smaller, but that was the majority of my photos anyways. I can use my flatbed scanner for any photos that are larger.

In the past few weeks I have managed to scan every picture I had, every ticket stub, and other important items that I wanted to save. Now my goal is to finish scanning the larger photos and then start working on photo books. I would prefer to have photo books on a shelf instead of huge scrapbooks and photo albums. It will look simpler and completely uniform unlike all those bulky albums I once had. I will take you along for the process as I put all my pictures into albums and show how much nicer it will all look on my bookshelves.

How do you organize your photos? Do you have boxes full of printed photos?

Oh! For those of you concerned about losing photos on the computer, I do have them all backed up onto an external hard drive! I learned my lesson years ago :)

Have a great day everybody!

Project 365: Week 2

This post is coming to you a little late today, I've been running around like a crazy person- doing insane amounts of errands and changing up my lifestyle a little bit, which you'll hear about later!

So here are my Instagram pictures from week 2!

On Day 9, I was enjoying my Fitbit so much! I have been doing really well staying active during the day. 

Friday, day 10, was a long day at work, luckily I met up with my co-worker Kaitlin for dinner at Applebees after work!

Day 11 ended with Laura, Kayla and Kaitlin learning to play Cribbage. It was a great time, and I was excited to finally learn to play Cribbage! We also had dinner out at TGI Friday's and it was so nice to spend some time with the girls!

On Day 12, I spent the day scrubbing down everything! I even cleaned my makeup brushes.



Day 13 was Bachelor Monday! Need I say more?!



Day 14 was a rainy, icky day outside so I made sure I got my 3 miles in by walking on the treadmill! I also beat my step goal for the day- yay!



Day 15 was spent running a TON of errands. I had the drs, bank, post office, pharmacy, oil change, etc to do. Luckily I got a complimentary manicure while my oil was being changed. Then it was off to Trivia which is always a great time!


How was your week?!