This post is going to be more personal than usual, so if that isn’t your thing, feel free to click away and read some tutorials. I’ll even link to some of my favorites to make it easier for you:

• DIY Green Tea Scrub
• Homemade Glass Cleaner
• Kitchen Organization
• DIY Halloween Boo Shirt (it may be December, but I wore it just the other day)

All right- if you’re sticking with me, here goes.

I miss you! It’s been a long time since I’ve been posting regularly on the blog.

I usually try to stick to my main topics on the blog (green cleaning, natural beauty, crafts, and organization), but for some reason I’ve been having trouble finding inspiration within those categories. I still love and am passionate about them, and I’ve been doing lots of projects in the interim, but I haven’t been posting about them. And so I’ve been contemplating why that is.

For bloggers, there’s a lot of difficulty in separating your personal life from your professional life. The lines can get really blurry. I’ve had a hard time trying to find where the line should go. I could post all the time about every detail in my life, but then when would I actually live it?

At the same time, there is a desire to present a curated picture. You want to show off only the best parts of your life. So you find yourself living your life like it’s a performance. Sure, my blog is about me, but it’s about the version of me that I show to you. I feel like in trying to create the best me to present on the blog I’ve lost the inspiration that I have to write. I’ve been lost between the desire to live my life fully without stepping back to take pictures all the time and wanting to show off the best of me and my family, and it’s left me feeling like nothing I write is right.

And there’s also another reason that I haven’t been posting often on the blog, and that is my health. You’ve probably noticed that I write about living with a chronic illness from time to time, and that’s because it’s a very big part of my life. I live with an illness called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, or POTS. Basically my autonomic nervous system has a mind of it’s own and likes to do silly things like make my heart beat way too fast or make me feel like I’ve run a marathon when I walk to the kitchen. In addition I also get migraines, which can really knock me out.

Living with a chronic illness can be very unpredictable, and I go through good and bad phases. And I’ve been having a rough go of it for a while now. We’ve had crazy weather this year, which definitely exacerbates my symptoms, but sometimes I just have times when for whatever reason my symptoms are worse than usual. Some days I can wake up and feel relatively like a normal functioning human being, but some days I wake up and can barely get out of bed. And lately I’ve been having more of the bad days than good. I seem to be on the upswing now, but it hasn’t been a great time.

I’ve made my peace with my illness but I’ve never gotten good at talking about it. Writing about it on the blog definitely helps with me learning to communicate about my illness, but I try not to talk about it unless I have to.

Sometimes I feel like two people- one who is optimistic and energetic and loves going out and doing things, and one who just wants to stay home and take a nap. And honestly, I think that is something that most people can relate to, whether or not they have a chronic illness. We all try to present our best selves to the world, but we’re not our best selves all the time.

Lots of bloggers will tell you that there is a lot of pressure to present your best self on the blog. The less I feel like my best self, the less I feel like I can share my projects with people.

So, enough of that. I’m me, and I’m not always my best. I’m going to be getting back into blogging, and I’m going to share the things that inspire me.

I hope that you’ll like what I decide to write about now, and I’m going to try to be even more true to myself and my passions. And I’m excited!

Lots of love from your fellow procrastinator,

Susie

The post Maybe You’ve Missed Me appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

Everyone knows that weddings are expensive! I experienced this first hand when planning my wedding for last October. You really have to save money anywhere you can. You know I love crafting and saving money-so I got to work. I really wanted to have some rustic looking custom wood signs around the venue.

I decided to make our own signs to save on some money. I knew I could use this great DIY method to make my own awesome looking sign. This simple technique will give you professional looking results for a fraction of the cost! This sign for our wedding cost me less than $10 to make.

That being said… this isn’t the easiest DIY out there. I make DIYs all the time that I say anyone can do- but I don’t think ANYONE could do this one. I’m not trying to discourage you, just letting you know it will still take some fine motor skills. But if you’re up for the challenge, the results will absolutely make it worth it!

So let’s get to the technique!

Tools to make your DIY custom wood signs:

• Wood sign (I got mine at Michael’s, but here is a similar one and here is another)
• Printer (I love my brother printer!)
• Ballpoint pen
• Masking tape
• Paint (Here is a single white, but this is the set I have)
• Small paintbrush (this set looks nice)

Step One: Print your words in your desired font and size

This should be your easiest step (unless you take as much time to pick out fonts as me!). Just print out your words in the font, layout, and size you want them on your sign.

If you are a bit of a messier painter, try going with a brush script like Bakery or Freeland. Neater fonts are harder to fill in- mistakes will show more.

The fonts I used are Goodlife Script and Typnic Tilted.

If you want you can cut around the words to position them where you want them to be on the sign. Use masking tape to tape them onto the sign where you want them to go.

Step Two: Trace your letters with a pen

After taping your printed words where you want them to be, trace the edges with a ballpoint pen. You don’t need to press very hard, but you should use decent pressure. This will leave outlines for you to fill in.

Step Three: Fill in with paint

The last thing to do is paint! I did two or three coats.You can see in the picture below that your tracing will leave nice lines that you can just fill in. It’s easier than it sounds.

Step Four: Hang and enjoy!

And enjoy your wallet being just slightly heavier and your hands just slightly messier :)

I don’t know about you, but I love crafting. In the weeks leading up to our wedding it totally helped me de-stress. I just turn on a podcast and get to work. Focusing on the detail work is really meditative. There’s a reason adult coloring is so popular!

I did end up improvising and painting a bit out of the lines on some of the letters. I accidentally taped my words down on a slight angle, so I had to correct them to straighten them out. So really make sure your letters are straight before you start tracing!

The sign was wonderful at our wedding! Here it is on our dessert table.

There are so many different applications for this DIY! Wood signs also make a great gift or fun decor project for the house.

I actually used this technique a few weeks after our wedding to make a gift for my good friend who got married. I made them a sign with their new last name to hang in their new place. It has such a different look from the sign I made for our wedding, and it uses the same technique!

I’ve actually kept our wedding hashtag sign and I plan to hang it in our craft room/ office. That is if I ever get done unpacking in there! But that’s a topic for another day…

This technique is so reliable, and the applications are literally endless- so get out there and make yourself some custom wood signs!

Supplies Used In This Post

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Lars and I just sent out our save the dates this week. I think they turned out just adorable! If you haven’t already seen our engagement photos, they came out fabulous thanks to Beale and Wittig Photography. I pretty much credit them for how cute the save the dates are, because they’re all about the photo.

So I had my heart set on making pop-up save the dates. I saw the cutest one on pinterest. After reading a bunch of tutorials on how to make pop up cards I decided I didn’t have the time or patience to make 150 of them. So I had to move on to my next cutest save the date idea.

Well, I saw an adorable page a day calendar save the date on Pinterest. (I am trying to find the link but I seem to have lost it- so if you find it let me know!) It is such a simple idea. I know that I could design it quickly and we could get them printed and sent easily.

The mistake that I made was thinking that you could send postcards of any size. Apparently there are standard sizes for postcards and you have to pay differently if they are an unusual size. So we ended up sending them in envelopes. It ended up being better anyways because everyone will receive them in better condition than if they had been envelope-less.

So I designed our save the dates on photoshop elements. Honestly, the design is so simple, I could have made it on paint. I used to make stuff on paint all the time back in the days that I still had a pc.

We printed our cards with Premium Cards. The quality is excellent and they were great to work with. They emailed me to let me know my mini-calendar was too pixelated and let me fix it before they were printed.

To make the cards all you need is a good picture, a black rectangle, some cute fonts, and a month calendar. Below you can find a basic template, and all the fonts we used. The template will work on photoshop or photoshop elements. You will have to download the fonts, which is super easy. And I will warn you- once you realize how easy it is- you might get a font addiction like I have.

Just click the template image below to download the free photoshop template:

As for the fonts, you can download them each here:

October 24, 2015

Typo Slab Serif

Save The Date

Janda Elegant Handwriting

Susie + Lars • Are Getting Married • Chicago, IL

Mrs Eaves Small Caps

I hope you enjoy our adorable save the dates! I certainly do!

The post DIY Page a Day Calendar Save the Dates appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

 Who’s that hiding there in the ornaments?

It’s Falafel! (Check out her cute little teeth!)

Falafel is half-jewish. She loves to enjoy the dim candlelight from our menorah.

Now get settled in because Falafel is ready to deliver presents!

And off she goes! With her little reindeer-hogs.

Spreading holiday cheer to all!

Ok, I’m a huge nerd. But how could I not with all this cuteness! And don’t worry- Falafel got extra worms for being such a good sport taking these pictures. She’s been in a particularly good mood the past few days- must be the holiday spirit!

Oh, and I don’t want to forget to say…

HAPPY HEDGIEDAYS!

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season filled with cheer, family, friends, over-eating, and of course, cute animals. Especially hedgehogs.

The post Happy Hedgiedays! appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

Lars and I wanted our engagement photos to be meaningful, so we picked some locations that were special for us. We did the first half of the photos at Middlefork Savannah, which is where we had our first date. The second half are at Lake Forest College, where we met and went to school together. How lucky for us that they happen to be two incredibly beautiful and inspiring locations for photos!

We had so much fun taking pictures with Nancy. She did such a good job capturing candid and posed photos. Lars and I both love the pictures because we think they captured our personalities and how much we love each other.

So, I hope you enjoy looking at these amazing photos!

The post Our Engagement Photos appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

One of the things that I’ve learned in my life is that everyone has a struggle you wouldn’t know about from meeting them. Every person is going through their day, battling something that no one else knows about. And that is their secret identity.

I’ve talked on this blog several times about my own “secret identity,” or my struggle with the chronic illness Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). Well, I thought it would be good to showcase other awesome people with their own struggles. After all, everyone’s struggles are equally valid, important, and interesting to learn about. So I’m starting a new series called Secret Identity.

My goal with this series is to remind people of a few things. First, don’t be quick to judge. You don’t know what someone has been through or is currently dealing with. Second, be empathetic, because we are all human beings. Third, you never know everything. There is more than meets the eye. And fourth, you aren’t alone. Everyone else struggles too.

So, this is my first secret identity post. I’m here to tell you the story of Sammie Virella.

Mouse over to see Sammie’s Secret Identity

To the outside world, Sammie Virella is an active college student. In between biology classes she is an active member of the marching band (or Big Red Marching Machine, as they call it) at Illinois State University. She is an avid reader and fan of young adult fantasy and was into every popular series before you had ever heard of it. So, if she recommends a book to you, it will probably be a movie in about 2 years. You may have noticed that Sammie does miss a bit more class than the average student. She is one of the silliest and most outgoing people you could ever meet, so you probably notice when she’s gone.

What most people don’t know is that Sammie suffers from a myriad of chronic health problems. She has a rare genetic heart condition, chronic migraines, and fibromyalgia, just to name a few. She has gone through countless surgeries including getting her gallbladder removed, a heart ablation, getting her tonsils out (TWICE- they grew back!), and a few others. She is in and out of school, often spending time in the hospital or at home to be closer to her doctors.

If you saw Sammie on the street, you would probably think she is like any other college student, overworked and sleep deprived. While that may be true, the dark circles under her eyes don’t even begin to tell the story of her struggle.

Sammie started getting migraines at the age of 6. As a baby, she already had some issues with her nervous system, and would spontaneously forget to breathe. As a teenager she suffered from numerous migraines, concussions, digestive issues, heart issues- you name it, she’s lived through it. Through all her health issues and roads to diagnoses, she maintained a mostly normal and active school and social life.

Sammie played trombone in band in high school, which wasn’t easy for her. Despite her love of music, the loud instruments during practice further exacerbated her migraines. She pushed through it. She is an incredible athlete, having lead her high school water polo team to the state championships year after year. Waking up early to make it to 5am practices was particularly difficult for her because her pain is worst in the morning. She pushed through it. She sat through entire days of classes even with migraine-induced blurry vision struggling to pay attention. She pushed through it.

Sammie can’t remember what it feels like not to be in pain. She is ALWAYS pushing through the pain to accomplish everything from small daily tasks like brushing her teeth to bigger activities like hours long biology study sessions.

All this takes a toll on your body and mind. Sammie has struggled with depression all throughout college. Missing out on her favorite things has been more than difficult, it has left a permanent mark. Sammie can no longer play water polo because of the risk of head injuries, and she has recently taken a step back from college marching band to focus on her studies. These are her passions; they help her keep going. Missing them feels like missing a part of herself.

Sammie is incredibly strong. She does everything she can while pushing through pain and depression. Despite all she has been through, she does her best to stay hopeful and optimistic. And no matter how bad she feels she is always the first to try to cheer up a friend or look out for others.

Sammie is bright, brilliant, and a wonderful person with a big heart. In her own words, she describes the takeaway from her struggle:

Not everyone has medical issues, but everyone has something. Whether it be family issues, friend issues, failing a class, not getting your dream job, etc., everyone has an issue that they are fighting with everyday. Nobody’s perfect. We all have struggle that we have to get through everyday.

I couldn’t have put it better myself.

Want to share your story? Just fill out the contact form and let’s get started!

The post Secret Identity: Sammie Virella appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

We have booked our wedding at the number one rated wedding venue in Chicago. How did we get a prime date in the venue’s busiest season with only a little more than a year’s notice? Let me tell you.

The best way to book your dream venue is to pick the venue BEFORE you pick your wedding date.

To me, this seemed like the most common sense thing. But strangely, ever since Lars and I got engaged, the first question people ask is: when is the wedding? And every venue inquiry asks you for your wedding date.

Well, in these modern consumerist times, the great wedding venues book up a year or more in advance. Lars and I figured if we plan the wedding for next fall we would have enough time to get everything done. Well, I hit the ground running looking into venues. I knew how quickly they book up.

And even though I knew venues book quickly, the competition for Saturday night events was even stiffer than I thought! Man, everyone wants to have a beautiful wedding. Who knew? I looked into about 15 venues and most of them had at least half the Saturday nights in September and October 2015 booked, and even more on hold.

So, the best way for you to make sure you get your ABSOLUTE dream venue, you have to have a flexible date! If we had committed to October 3rd, which I thought was the best date, we wouldn’t have been able to have our wedding at ANY of the venues we looked at. Apparently a lot of couples thought that was a great date.

With every venue I toured, I told them our ideal dates but let them know our date was completely flexible. First of all, this makes you seem easier to work with. Second of all, they don’t assume you won’t want to come look at the venue if your date is booked.

Besides having a flexible date, another important thing to consider for booking your dream venue is making a good impression. I know most people don’t have as flexible a schedule as me, but you should make a list of at least your top 3 venues and make a point to see them in person. If you can, meet with the person in charge of weddings at that venue. If you can’t see the venue when they are available, go see it outside of business hours and ask all your questions over the phone. You won’t be able to decide your dream venue if you don’t see it in person. The exception to this, of course, is if you are having a destination wedding.

I made a point that I wanted to make a good impression at each of my venue tours. It may not seem important, but if they like you they will go that extra mile to make sure you can book there (which was the case for us!). I dressed business casual for each of my tours and came prepared with a list of questions and a pen. Be on time (shoot to be 10 minutes early if you can), and be open, friendly, and polite.

If you are having trouble figuring out what you want out of a venue, head over to pinterest! I found several of my venues on pinterest either through photographer’s websites or articles on the best wedding venues in Chicago. If you aren’t at that step yet, just look at the wedding section and pin what you like to get an idea of your style. Make sure you aren’t wasting your time at any of the venues you tour.

I also set myself a date by which I wanted to make a decision, which worked in our favor. There are so many amazing venues in our area and I could have kept touring venues for months if I had let myself. I told myself when I was going to decide and I stuck to it. Luckily, Lars and I were in agreement on which venues we liked best, so that made it easier! If I had waited longer and toured more places my decision would have been more difficult and less dates would have been available.

So, in summary, if you want to book your dream wedding venue you should:

• Get an idea of your style on pinterest
• Make a list of your top venues and tour them if possible
• Be flexible with your wedding date
• Be prepared for your appointments
• Make a good impression by dressing professionally, being on time, and being friendly and polite
• Set yourself a date by which you want to make a decision so you don’t fall victim to procrastination and lose out on a venue!

On a final note, none of this will work if you don’t give yourself enough time. If you only give yourself a few months to plan your wedding most venues will be booked. Give yourself a year, and you should be able to find the perfect place for you!

Do you have any other tips for how to get your dream venue? Let me know in the comments!

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I’ve just gotten home this week from traveling for two weeks in Scandanavia. It was an amazing trip. Lots of things happened!

My sister turned 26 and we had a scavenger hunt for her, which was awesome. I tried wild boar and reindeer. I saw some incredible places and tasted amazing food and learned how to say thank you in several languages.

Isn’t my family adorable? Here is Lars, me, my cousin Jaime, my mom, my sister Hannah, and my dad!

Oh, and one other thing….

I got engaged!!!

Lars asked me to join his family officially while we were visiting his family’s old farm in Norway. It was a huge surprise and after the initial shock, I of course said yes. And I still can’t stop looking at the ring. He got the perfect ring for me.

The reason it’s even more perfect is that the main stone isn’t a diamond. I don’t want to support the harmful practices of the diamond industry or the ridiculous over-pricing, so Lars knew to get me a white sapphire instead (conflict free and sustainably mined as well!).

So, this blog is about to add a new topic! I won’t be able to avoid writing about wedding planning and relationships because that is what is on my mind now! In fact, as I’m writing this post, I’m waiting to go tour the Planetarium and see if we want to use it as a venue. I’m seeing several more venues next week, and after that we will decide where and when!

I am so excited to marry the love of my life. In a way it feels like we were already engaged because we have lived together for a year and talk about the future all the time. But, now it is official! And I can actually have a wedding pinterest board that is useful!

So, that is my announcement. Sorry for the brief lack of posts because of my travels, but I should be posting on a regular schedule again now that I am home! Although maybe slightly less, because wedding planning is a lot of work! (and did I mention how many spreadsheets I get to make? I love spreadsheets).

Hooray!

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