Melanie Gets Married

Monday, January 5, 2015

A New Name for Melanie Gets Married

I have big news for you all today! I went out on a huge whim and changed the name of my blog from Melanie Gets Married to Making It In The Mitten in just a matter of hours. Crazy? Yes!! But I promise, it's still the same blog, just a new name!

I have been considering a name change for a while now! I feel like I have outgrown Melanie Gets Married, mostly because I have been married for over two years and rarely discuss weddings. The reason I haven't changed my name sooner is because I didn't have a name I liked, and well... I just didn't have the guts. I didn't want to lose followers, change all of my accounts, emails, blah blah blah.

Yesterday, after pondering names for hours, my husband came up with the name Making It In The Mitten, and I love it!

Now please, DO ME A FAVOR... Be sure to follow my new blog on bloglovin'. While Melanie Gets Married is set up to automatically redirect you, you will no longer be seeing new posts through bloglovin' if you don't follow Making It In The Mitten!

I have all my new links listed below

Blog | Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Thank you all so much for your support! I truly hope each and every one of you will continue to follow along even through this transition.

Happy Monday!

Who's ready to watch Bachelor Farmer Chris meet his women?

52 Week Money Saving Challenge With a Twist

Last week, I shared my Five Goals for 2015. On that list was the goal to save more money.

I've seen the 52 Week Money Saving Challenge all over Pinterest for a while now, but just knew that wouldn't work for us. Starting in May, I will be finishing up my classes and quitting my job to complete full-time fieldwork until December. This really is exciting since I will get to finally be "working" in my chosen career as an Occupational Therapist. The downfall... having no pay checks.

I decided to use the 52 Week Challenge, but add a little twist to it.

Instead of starting Week 1 with $1, I will start it with $52. This way, it will become easier to save the money. While it is the beginning of the year and I am feeling motivated to save money, I will put in higher amounts, and by the time I quit my job in May, the amount each week will be drastically lower.

Aside from planning ahead for future months, I don't know about you, but I am inpatient and want to see a change NOW. By putting in higher amounts at the beginning, you will have already saved over $100 after two weeks, and over $200 within one month!

To remind myself to put money into the bank, I am printing this off and sticking it to my bulletin board. As I deposit money each week, I will check the box to make me feel extra accomplished. Sometimes it's the little things that keep me motivated.

Who's up for the challenge? I am starting today by putting $52 dollars in my savings account and you should, too! Plan a nice vacation, put it towards student loans, redecorate a room, or just keep it as an emergency fund. Whatever you do with it, I am sure you will be loving having some extra cash around this time next year :)

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Motivational Monday: January 1st

Welcome back to another week of Motivational Monday. We figured everyone would be busy for the holidays so we took a few weeks off, maybe you noticed or maybe you didn't. Either way, today we are back and ready to party! Now that Christmas is over, I am excited to see all the fresh new ideas you all have!

Over the past week, I've been sharing my Top Posts of 2014, Our Year In Review, and my Five Goals for 2015.

MEET YOUR HOSTS

Make sure to visit these other 6 wonderful ladies and show them some love!
When you link up with us, your posts are seen all 7 blogs to get you even more exposure!

Burlap and Babies

Ready to share what motivates you? Link up a recent post of yours, something that motivates you to create or just be awesome! Our goal is for this link up to focus on craft, DIY, & home posts so please try to remember that when linking up.

Limit it to three links per week and remember to link directly to your post, not your blog.
Do not link stores, giveaways, or other link parties.
Be sure to hop around some of the other posts that have been linked up to share the love and get motivated by what others have been up to…because of course, this is Motivational Monday after all.

Each week, your hosts will choose a few posts to feature from the previous week. If you want a chance at being featured, you must follow all of the hosts. By linking up, you agree to let each host share your photo and link back to your site. Link party goes live Sunday at 6pm PST and ends Thursday at 5pm PST.

Feel free to grab a Motivational Monday button in the sidebar to put on your own blog if you want to help spread the love!

PARTY TIME

It's time for you to link up your recent craft, DIY, or home decor posts. Make sure to check out other's projects as well for some motivation.

An InLinkz Link-up

Have a great week!

Friday, January 2, 2015

Five Goals for 2015

After ringing in the new year, I thought it was only appropriate to set some new goals. I know what you're thinking. Another blogger making another list of goals that will not be reached. If this were any other year, I'd say you're probably right. But truth be told, I have given these goals a lot of thought. While each one will be a challenge for me, they are five things that I know I need to do. Okay, four things I need to do, and one I really want to do.

1. Exercise: At least 5 days a week for 30 minutes. This NEEDS to happen.

2. Eat Less Junk: I need to say YES to snacking on carrots and celery and NO to those oh so yummy, but oh so bad for me bag of cool ranch doritos. This also includes drinking less alcohol, which is why I will be implementing a new rule: NO drinking on weekdays.

3. Save More Money: It's crazy to think, but I am definitely the saver around here! This is mostly because all of Adam's money goes to bills, but also because Adam spends any "extra" money he has left. This year (more specifically at the beginning of the year, before I start working for free) I want to save more money the second that pay check comes in so it's not as tempting to spend later.

4. Get Organized and Stay Organized: I am talking everything from blogging to school work, cleaning out closets, dressers and kitchen cabinets, and creating a new filing system for our paperwork.

5. Read More: Up until the past year, I have always really enjoyed reading. I have books that have been on my reading list for a few years, and it would be really nice to enjoy reading some of them.

I am feeling pretty determined to make sure these things happen this year, and I am hoping that by posting them here, I will feel a little more accountable for each of them.

A few other things I'd really love to do this year? Add more items to my Etsy shop and a few more room makeovers. There's been talk of tackling the half bath, laundry room, and guest room.

What are your goals for 2015?

I'd love to hear about them!

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

2014: Year In Review

I don't know about all of you, but New Year's Eve sure snuck up on us this time! When I first set out to create our 2014 year in review I thought to myself "man, this year was boring!" But after brainstorming with Adam, we were able to come up with quite a few things to throw in.

I was a bridesmaid in my best friends wedding...

Adam came in first place in a golf outing....

and Lucy attended her first baseball game, Bark in the Park Night at Dow Diamond.

We ran our first 10K together after training for what felt like forever...

And went to a home football game cheering on our Central Michigan Chippewas!

We finally got to ride a tandem bicycle around Mackinaw Island, something I've wanted to do for years...

And we spent Labor Day walking the Mackinaw Bridge!

To say this year was boring would be a lie. While we may not have had any big life changing events in 2014, we have done some pretty awesome things. It's been a year full of wonderful memories, and I can't wait to see what 2015 will bring (let's hope it involves me finally graduating)!!

Happy New Year from our family to yours!

Want to see reviews from previous years?

Monday, December 29, 2014

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Scenes From Our Christmas Celebration

Once again, Christmas has come and gone in the blink of an eye. It was a very low key one for us this year, since Adam's work schedule made it almost impossible for us to travel. I can't really complain though, because we've always wanted to just stay home anyways.

Since we opted out of traveling, we spent the holidays with my family. When Adam got out of work on Christmas Eve, we headed to church and then back to our house for dinner. My parents, brother, and sister joined us. We all drank too many Grinch drinks and played Qwirkle til late.

Although there are no kids in the family yet (everyone is waiting on me), my 23 year old sister still manages to wake us all up early Christmas morning for 7:30am gift opening. This year, we opened gifts at my parent's house, and since we slept at our own house, we got a 7am wake up call with Christmas music blaring into the phone. The rule is that everyone still must arrive in their pajamas. We arrived shortly after 7:30 for gift opening and a delicious Christmas brunch. We returned home to nap and get read for the day before heading back to my parent's for dinner. Once it got late, we went driving around looking at Christmas lights and then called it a night.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and was able to spend time with those they love over the holidays. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives. And lucky for us, we get to celebrate with the Muszynski family all over again in a few days :)

Friday, December 19, 2014

Burlap Christmas Wreath

It just wouldn't be right if I didn't show you the wreath I made this Christmas. I found some burlap ribbon at Hobby Lobby and fell in love. I decided to go with a forest green and accent with red chevron. I love the large bow hanging long.

It just wouldn't be Christmas without a wreath on the front door!

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

DIY Christmas Stockings

When Adam and I first got our own place, we went with the cheapest everything when it came to Christmas decorations. We found stocking at Walmart for $5, and a matching tree skirt to go with it, so we thought we hit the jackpot.

Fast forward a few years and those ugly stockings had to go! I was determined to make my own stockings last year, but that never happened. So here I am this year with some new stockings I made myself, finally.

Since I made green and red chevron pillows and tree skirt last year, I decided to stay with the chevron theme. I already had the fabric, so this project cost me absolutely nothing.

First, I used our old stockings to trace. I found it easiest to fold the fabric so I could cut out both pieces at once.

Next, I cut out the fabric for the stocking. Instead of cutting right on the line, I went out about a half an inch to leave room for the seam. This worked out perfectly when it cam time to sew because I could just follow the line I traced.

Next, I sewed the outside edge of the stocking "flap" so there would be a smooth edge.

With all fabric facing down, I then lined up the flap and stocking to sew the edges together. When you do this, be sure the pieces of your stocking are facing outward so they are correct when you fold them.

With the flap fabric lifted up, fold the stocking so it is lined up and ready for sewing. Sew ONLY the stocking together, following your trace lines. DO NOT SEW THE FLAP.

Once the stocking portion is sewn, turn the stocking right side out. The flap should now be inside out. Sew the side edges of the flap together.

Lastly, turn the stocking inside out one last time. Attach a piece of ribbon on the top of the stocking. Consider which way you want your stockings to hang when you do this. Then turn the stocking right side out again.

You just made your very own stocking! Woo Hoo!!

My first stocking took me quite a while to make. There were so many things to think about as far as how to sew it and in want order to be able to get the flap to fold down. Confession: I even threw a half completed stocking away because I messed up so bad.

But once I figured out the process, I whipped up the next one in about 15 minutes.

Happy Stocking Making!

Can you believe Christmas is just 8 days away?!