Happy Friday everyone! This sure was one crazy busy week and I’m happy it’s finally Friday! Here are a few things that I’ve been thinking about this past week.
1. Home Staging. Tuesday through Thursday I attended an Accredited Staging Professionals course and learned so much about the field. As most of you know I’m getting out of the Army in 2 weeks (yikes!), and right now I’m just searching for ideas for what I want to do. I’m definitely considering starting my own home staging company, but I need to think about it for a little while to see if it makes sense and if it’s something I really want to do. What is staging, you ask? Staging is a proven marketing tool using your (the home seller’s) budget and time frame to prepare your house for sale so it appeals to the most buyers, sells faster and for the most money. Basically it’s a way to get rid of the clutter, tidy things up, and place furniture/accessories in a way that makes buyers see your home for all the potential it has. On Wednesday we staged a $1.2 million craftsman bungalow in Alexandria, VA, and it was an amazing experience. The home was over 90 years old and had recently been flipped. It was stunning and I never wanted to leave! We got to decorate each room with furniture that was brought in, because it’s been proven that empty homes sell much slower than furnished homes. This experience also made me REALLY want to start flipping houses. Maybe I’ll do both??
2. Maine. This evening Tom and I are heading to Maine. He’s a Mainer (is that really what they are called?), so we are going to visit his parents and I will get a chance to meet some of his family that I have not met yet. It’ll be a nice weekend and I’m excited to see the state! I’m just glad we are visiting in the summer and not winter because I am a huge wimp when it comes to the cold.
3. Wedding Bands. Tom and I went to look for wedding bands last weekend, and I think I narrowed it down to 2 different bands. At first I was thinking I wanted one that matched the band of my engagement ring, but right before we left I saw one that was so unique, delicate and beautiful that I may have changed my mind. I have a few pins that are similar to this band on my Wedding Pinterest board.
4. Kate Spade. I had my wedding dress fitting last weekend and realized the day before that I had to have my wedding shoes before they could do any hemming to the dress! I went to Kate Spade at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City the morning of my appointment and got the most fun and whimsical shoes! The girls working at Kate Spade were so sweet and helpful, and they even sent me a congratulations note in the mail that I received yesterday. So nice!
5. RewardStyle Summer School. Last night I attended a class for DC bloggers who use rewardStyle. RewardStyle is an amazing blogger resource that allows us to earn commission off of certain products that we love and blog about. We learned about different ways to use the tools to grow our audiences and be more effective bloggers. I still have so much to learn about this “world,” so I tried to soak in as much as I could. The event was at Lincoln Restaurant on Vermont Ave. in DC, which was a really neat place and I wish I had discovered it sooner! Needless to say, after a full day of class about starting a staging business, and then 3 hours of blogging class (with wine, of course), I was exhausted and slept like a baby last night.
6. I’m over on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter, and I’d love for you to follow along if you aren’t already!
Have a great weekend y’all!
Congratulations on your engagement and your next new adventure! Love your blog and seeing things thru your eyes gives us such a great prospective on things! You are very talented!
All my New England friends call them Mainiacs!! 😉 Great post! So many exciting things happening. I wish you the best in all of them!
It was so nice to meet you too Ali! I wish I hadn't been an hour late so that we could have had longer to chat!
Thanks Karen! Yes I think a lot of them are Mainiacs! It was a great visit and the cooler weather was a welcomed departure from the sticky humidity of DC! Although I know you're in Kuwait so I can't complain 🙂
Thank you so much Susan! I truly appreciate your kind words!
Katie it was so great meeting you at Summer School! Looking forward to following along and hopefully running into each other agin soon! xo Ali