6 Tips for Traveling with Only A Carry-On Bag

My husband and I are preparing to head to Cozumel for our honeymoon! We are very excited, but also nervous because he has never really traveled or been on a plane before, and I have never done it without my momma!

Anyways, we decided not to check any luggage (even though we had one free bag) so that we would not have to deal with the hassle and extra time it takes.

So, here are some tips on how to fit everything in and save yourself $50!



1.) Roll it!

I'm not quite sure why, but for some reason it lets you fit more stuff! I rolled our beach towels, 4 maxi dresses, 1 nice dress, Matt's swimming trunks, and Matt's t-shirts.

2.) Don't Bring a Big Cosmetic Bag

So I have one of those rather large, roll up style cosmetic bags that has a hook on top and a lot of pouches. It is black though, and all of the liquids and gels need to be in a clear, zip top bag. I still had in my mind that I would bring it with for make-up and some other things until I realized there would not be room. So, I'm just going to go with the lovely zip lock and a separate small make-up bag. I usually put everything in the shower or on the bathroom vanity when I get to a hotel anyways! These two bags are much smaller than my regular cosmetic bag.

Look at it all  ~ cute and miniature like! Everything you need for a week :)

3.) Use a Backpack as a Personal Item

As long as your backpack can fit under the seat in front of you or you don't mind it being by your feet, it should be fine! If the flight attendant thinks it's too big she might just bring it to the front or back of the plane and you can get it at the end of the flight. Mine has all these awesome pockets and will have our beach towels, books, the laptop, and some travel snacks it it!

4.) Don't Bring a Full Size Purse

You most likely don't need it (unless you take a large one as a personal item instead of a backpack and cram a lot in). We are going to an all inclusive resort so we wont need much money for food. I am just going to bring some mini purses to put our IDs, debit card, and some cash in. If we go shopping I wont want to have a big heavy purse on my shoulder anyways. These cuties are the way to go!

5.) Don't Forget to Use the Front Pockets!

It seems silly to say, but I know the last two times I traveled I didn't use them for anything. Now I need that space, and I have some emergency feminine items in the top pocket (lets hope I don't need to use those!!). In the bottom pocket I have all the important papers for hotels, airports and overall travel. I'm sure I'll be cramming more last minute things in there as the time gets closer.

6.) Buy Cheap Stuff (So you wont care if it gets smashed!)

Because lets face it, things are going to need to get smashed down to make this all work. And also because it's really fun to get super good deals. For example... the awesome mini purse that I got on sale at Wet Seal for $0.50. Yep, FIFTY CENTS! Then, when I was looking for sunhats they were all somewhere between $12-$20 ...then I walked into Dollar Tree and saw these basic beauties. They will work for me! They will be on top of all my other stuff getting smashed down when the bag shuts...

Bonus Tip - Find Overly Cute Travel Day Shirts!

Why? Because no one will see you again, and it's fun to be a little corny sometimes. ;)

So what if we are "that" couple for a day. :)

So there ya have it! 

In our two carry-ons and backpack?

• 4 bikinis
• 3 swim trunks
• 5 dresses
• 11 tops
• 2 dress shirts
• 6 pairs of shorts
• 2 sunhats
• A pair of heels
• 3 pairs of flip-flops
• All the toiletries we need
• Sunglasses
• Plenty of undies!
• 3 pairs of jammies
• A curling iron
• A hair straightener
• Passport Travel Case
• Two beach towels
• A lap top
• 4 books
• Several granola bars
• Camera

...and I'm sure I will keep shoving more things in as I think of them, but overall, we are set!

You can do it too!!

Hope this was helpful... and hope you don't think I'm weird for making my stuff talk to you. ;) haha

I'll be sure to post some beautiful pictures of Cozumel to inspire you all to take a little vacation!

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Olivia

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Favorite HomeGoods Finds

Here in La Crosse we have a "TJ Maxx/HomeGoods" store. Needless to say, it's one of my favorite places to go. Not having much space (or income) I usually just look! But here are some of the things I have gotten that I absolutely LOVE and just couldn't pass up!

First up - MORE PILLOWS!! mwahahaha... ;) I finally threw away the two cheap walmart ones that I had as the farthest back pillows and got two super nice Ralph Lauren, King Size, Firm Pillows to replace them. I had really wanted to use my king size Simply Shabby Chic pillow shams and wasn't able to because I didn't have big enough pillows. These babies solved that problem! And, we really did need the extra cushion because this bed also serves as our couch remember? hehe

Then - these two gorgeous French Style Picture Frames. I am slowly switching out all cheap picture frames with really nice, quality ones like these. The one on the left now holds the picture of me and Matt from prom night, and the one on the right hold one of my beautiful sister's senior pictures. Love em!

And finally - the best deal award goes to these two Beautiful Broyhill Lamps! They were such a score. Sorry about the awkward picture with the old lamp being on in the background. Can you tell how gigantic they are though? I saw them and immediately pictured them in my master bedroom someday on either side of the bed.
Of course right now they just hang out around the efficiency dwarfing everything around them even more, but I have wonderful plans for them! I love the mercury glass and overall elegance of them...

Two super nice lamps for 80 dolla! I knew that was a good deal because I had spent all summer working around really high quality, nice name-brand lamps and we would sell them for $250-$300!

Still though, not my most frugal purchase... but definitely something I will have with me for years to come!

What are you favorite HomeGoods purchases? And don't tell me you've never been to a HomeGoods because I will cry for you. A lot. ;)

Blessings,
Olivia

A Big Week for the Godfreys!

We did it!

• Associate of Applied Science  - Business Management Degree... check! 

• Certified Wood Tech... check! (but Matt still has 2 more months of classes)

It feels so wonderful to be done with that, although now I don't quite know what to do with myself! Start interviewing I suppose. And I will be taking some online classes for home decor too...yay!

And here is a picture of my tri-fold from the School of Business Showcase that we had last week. Unfortunately none of the employers that were there really interested me, but I better not be too picky!!

It was fun that one of my last big assignments allowed me to use glue and construction paper... otherwise there wasn't a whole lot of time for creativity in the business management program... I'm actually looking forward to home decor homework!

Well, that's that!

Now comes the pressure to have babies... :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,
Olivia

World Record Aloe Vera Plant!

I love plants, and for anyone else out there that does too, check out my mom's aloe!! This thing is taller than I am (as you will see below). Believe it or not, it started as a 6" tall plant from Wal-Mart. It now has babies twice that size and does so every year! My mom is always replanting it...which is a pretty intense job.

Here are some of the babies it made this last winter. Anyone want an aloe?

If you get sun-burnt this summer, contact my mother!!

 Here I am next to it. I'm 5'5" and it's passing me up!

So, I may have exaggerated with the "world" record thing...I'm not sure about that. But, I'm almost positive that it has to be a record for Wisconsin. How could it not be right?!

Have you seen an aloe this big before??

Blessings,
Olivia


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Teddy Bear Toast and Toddlers

My niece Parker and my nephew William moved to La Crosse around Christmas time, which is nice because now Matt and I get to spend more time with them! Practice for the future ;).  We watch them at our efficiency apartment quite regularly. Are we crazy for having a 4 and almost 2 year old at our little place all day? Nah, just highly skilled! I'll show you how we keep them entertained...

First off, Teddy Bear Toast! 

My mother pinned this little idea on to her "Someday I'll be a Granny" board on pinterest. Since I don't have kids yet (hence the name of the board...) I decided I would try it out on them. They loved it of course!

Parker with her toast. She so sweetly said, "You have to give this recipe to my mom!!" Hahaha :)

Another thing we do with them  is take them outside. Literally every time they have been over we go out for a walk - even if it is a blizzard out. It's nice that they can run around a bit. It prevents the "efficiency apartment fever" and wears them out some.

Here is William with Uncle Matt's football from high school. And Parker running in the background. We are lucky to have a pretty big green space out in front of the apartments. :)


And then of course there is the jungle-gym that is Uncle Matt! They always want to "play donkey". Good thing Uncle Matt is strong!

And then there is a small toy drawer for them that I have very frugally created, but it does the trick!

Proof that toddlers don't need a lot of toys (or even space) to be happy. Although I'm sure being so little our place seems bigger to them than it really is.

I still plan to thoroughly show ya'll the apartment soon. I think I will start working on that blog post after I graduate....one week from now!! :D gaaa!

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,
Olivia

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hippity hoppity Easter's on its way!

I am very excited to go back up north and see my family for Easter! (Though not so excited to see all the snow that is still in Hayward.) When my sister came to visit me we did a lot of shopping and I got a few cute Easter decorations.

Meet Junior.

Isn't he cute!? He was only 1 dollar. When my niece Parker, who is 4, came over for the weekend I let her name the bunnies I had gotten. So, this would be Junior.

Matt's Grandma and Grandpa sent us this sweet Easter card. I liked the saying on the front.

I know if my Grandma were still here I would have gotten one from her too, covered in Easter stickers and smelling like her floral perfume. I miss her so much... I find myself thinking of her a lot this time of year. Mainly because every time I hear the word "Easter" the song that goes "In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it, you'll be the grandest person in the Easter parade!" pops into my head, and my Grandma used to always show up to Easter brunch in one of her cute bonnets singing that.

This will be the first Easter we celebrate without her. She passed away last November from pancreatic cancer. Both Thanksgiving and Christmas didn't really feel complete. Everything seemed so different... I can imagine this Easter will feel similar for me and the rest of the family until we are all used to it.

I am not going to get sad though, because I know she is in Heaven, and I can't even begin to imagine the kind of celebration they will be having up there! Really, I should be jealous. :)

And here is my other little bunny ornament. Parker named her Rose. I liked that a lot, because Rose was my Grandma's middle name! So now I also think of my grandma Barbara Rose when I look at her. And I smile.

My little 4 year old niece was so thoughtful and she didn't even know it!

Also when my sister was visiting I got this little basket at the thrift store. I am calling it our Easter basket, and Junior and I are hoping that maybe the Easter bunny will come and fill it for me and Matt!?? ;)

I also got this very old (1968) little golden book for 50 cents to have around for when Parker and her little brother William are over. We've got William saying "clock", "ball", and "bat" because of it! Although it sounds more like "claa", "baaah", and "BA!" haha

I couldn't fall asleep one night and decided to create this just for fun...

I hope you all have a really wonderful Easter and remember that He is Risen!! He is alive! He loves you!


HAPPY EASTER!

Blessings,
Olivia

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A peek into the apartment....

I haven't had a chance to take any pictures this week (or even think about what to blog about) because my little sister was here! You know, the one who made The most precious wedding gift. She came to visit me for three days and kinda wore me out. It was so fun though!

Anyways, I was looking through old pictures for something to share and I saw some of my lovely efficiency apartment that I took right away when we first moved in.

*Please note that I am considering doing an "Efficiency Apartment Tour" post in the future and by viewing these picture you will have already seen about half of it. ;) hehe

So here would be the bedroom area. This was when all of my Rachel Ashwell bedding was brand new and so sparkling white! Ahhh... :)

Here is a closer up image of the sign above our bed. My mom painted this sign for our wedding and it sat about some old "welcoming doors" that led to the ceremony area. I plan to do a post on some of my awesome wedding stuff later...because really, it was awesome. I won't even try not to brag because my mother is a creative genius. I'm pretty sure she should be a wedding planner....

And here is a not so glamorous picture of the end of the bed. One with cords and fans and closets and such. Sorry, but now you have a better feel for the space right? Ya see the chair? Well that is the living room ;).

After seeing this picture I know that most of you are jealous of my 19" TV, and I just want you to know that that is okay. You can be jealous... just please don't come and rob me. *yet another winky face*

Hope you enjoyed this little (actually quite large) sneak peek. More to come!


Blessings,
Olivia

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Simple Sugar Cookies { that can be made in a "Jiffy"! }

These were so yummy! Really soft and chewy...and easy to make! I made them simply because my husband and I had bought a box of Jiffy mix a while back thinking we needed it. It had just been sitting in the pantry, and the other night I though about that and looked on the back of the box to see what I could make.

Being the cookie monster that I am, of course the cookie recipe stood out to me right away! Above you can see that I am not the best at making cookies very uniform like. :'( Maybe I should invest in one of those miniature ice-cream scoop looking things? I think that would be a wise idea...

Listen to just how simple this recipe is from the back of the Jiffy all purpose baking mix box...

Sugar Cookies
(makes 24-28)

• 2 cups Jiffy baking mix
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 5 Tbsp. margarine or butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease baking sheet
Combine all ingredients until blended
Drop by tablespoon on to prepared baking sheet
Bake 8 to 10 minutes  (mine were more like 13 to 15! ...my husband likes some to be more crunchy though)
Remove from sheet and sprinkle with sugar.

*I really would recommend trying to get them all on one sheet or at least in the oven at the same time right away. The longer my batter sat the uglier the cookies turned out (like with bubbles in them). But I really didn't have a choice because of my little baby oven. It can only fit the small pan. :)

Too easy not to try right? As long as you have the Jiffy mix that is. I was also thinking they might be good with lemon extract? Mainly because I have quite the extract collection going on right now, but I only ever seem to use vanilla. I'm not sure if you would use the same amount, or less, or more... hmm ...if you know please tell me!

I hope you bake some and enjoy them as much as I did!

Blessings,
Olivia


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