With a child now in preschool, and through the benefit of being a “room Mom” I see firsthand how hard our teachers work and how much they care for our kids.  Especially at this young age, they are as much teachers showing students how to read and write as they are caregivers helping kids navigate through emotions toward independence.  

Although National Teacher Appreciation Week is in May, our school is celebrating our teachers this week with a luncheon and small tokens of appreciation from the students.  I know teachers love gift cards and Stella & Dot (judging by the responses on my instagram about the teachers’

After snazzing up the dresser in my closet, I had some fun creating a new way to display jewelry with plastic animals from the dollar store.  

It seems almost anything can be transformed with spray paint and a glue gun these days! 

I used one of our silver china plates and a decorative saucer dish that I found at Homegoods for the bases.  Then, I applied a dot of hot glue to the feet and attached them to the plates. 

Instant jewelry holder!  I think they would make a great Valentine’s gift for a woman in your life too. 

Happy Monday friends!  I spend a chunk of time last week organizing my closet and redoing the built-in dresser.  It was originally painted Sherwin Williams Divine White (flat) which resulted in lots of scuff marks that were impossible to clean, so I repainted it Sherwin Williams Venus Pink (high gloss).  The island and shoe shelves are also now that shade of pale pink.  I moved my handbags and travel totes to the shelves above the dresser so I can see them more easily (they were hidden behind the door before).  

To help the purses keep their shape,

Getting our home organized and our finances in order go hand-in-hand, especially at the new year.  I like to go on a “Spending Freeze” in January to catch my breath and keep money in the bank as opposed to flying out the door.  

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw I purchased 2 new rugs lately, but I used credit I had built up on Joss & Main, so I’m counting that okay.  To help prevent me from buying anything else, I’m just “pinning” the things I want and will reevaluate next month or so regarding whether I will actually purchase them or not.

Last week, when I went to start planning for 2014, I realized our current family calendar only went to December 2013 and I hand’t bought a new one yet.  (I guess I was thinking it was 18 months).  I decided to find a printable calendar for free online and saw so many choices.  In the kitchen (command central), I like to keep a calendar that has space for me to write in appointments and reminders on each day that I can see easily. 

I picked a calendar and printed it on heavy paper.  Then, I went through my iPhone and last years’