This week...

Thus far, we have had a pretty relaxing week at home. I like weeks like this where there isn't much on our calendar so we aren't go go go. I can stay in my pj's all day and Micah can run around in a diaper all day if he wants to. Weeks like this are just good for us. We all have colds, too so that has a lot to do with the whole staying home thing. Micah is finally starting to get over his but me and Laurel are still pretty stuffy and gunky.

Monday, my sweet friend Lauren came to visit. She is one of my oldest friends and was my roomie for 2 years in college. I have many many fun college memories that include her and quite often include baking. So, on Monday she came over for a bake date! She first taught me how to make cheese. Yes, we made mozzarella cheese. How cool is that? Then, we attempted making Bakerella's Pillow Cookies. They did not turn out like Bakerella said they would, they looked more like Tumor Cookies. But they tasted really good! We have a few theories of what went wrong and can't wait to try them again with our own little adjustments.

No one can come over without getting cuddles from our cuddle bug!

Thanks, Lauren for coming to play! Its not very often that mommies get play dates and I was definitely in need of one!

Tuesday quickly became organization day. I know I am weird, but let me just tell you that there isn't much that thrills me more than organizing. I feel more rejuvenated when I am organizing then if I were to take a nap. Seriously. I know I am odd. I am going to blame this particular need to organize on 3 people. 1) Lauren-- She introduced me to these OXO containers. 2) Audrey-- she offered to come over and go to Bed Bath and Beyond with me to purchase said containers and gave up her afternoon to help me organize and 3) David-- he said that we needed to invest in some nicer chip clips.

I didn't go on an organizing rampage, I just worked on the pantry. And before I go any further I have to say to my sweet friend Allison (who unpacked and organized my whole pantry when we moved in), this is not in any way a reflection on you. I had clearly not kept the pantry as organized as you had it and we just needed a new system. :) In our old house, I had a rather large walk in pantry with lots and lots of shelves. I had room for any and all food I could possibly imagine plus all of my appliances, cookbooks, recycling, and any extra from buying in bulk. Now, I have this very sad, teeny, tiny pantry. It is not walk in, it only has 5 shelves and though they are deep, it is hard to use all of the space efficiently. There is no room for anything other than food and there isn't really enough for that. Luckily, there is a little closet in our laundry room that has all of my appliances, extra bulk stuff, dog food, etc. Audrey even installed a little shelf in that closet too to organize that stuff even better!

Back to the pantry, here is the before:

A little closer

and here is after:

A little closer

It might not look that different to you but it makes a huge difference to me! It is so easy to get to everything! Audrey-- THANK YOU so much for helping me organize!

Hope everyone is having a nice and relaxing week!