I love change and one of the biggest things I like to change constantly is my closet. I am always excited to try new styles and after seeing a few of my instafriends try Nuuly(check out Reagan’s outfits from @peruseproject!), I thought I’d give it a try. There are other clothing rental services like Rent the Runway and Le Tote, but Nuuly fit my price point and had brands that I really like (Anthropologie, Free People, they even have a vintage section!).

So here’s how it works. You pay $89 a month and pick 6 items for that month. After the month is over, return the clothes and they’ll dry clean them for you! I used a referral code to get $10 off my first month. I’ll link mine HERE just in case you’re thinking of trying it. So without further ado, here’s the try on of all the items I picked up!

After, getting my first set of items and trying them on, I’ve decided to continue the subscription because I just loved all of the pieces. A lot of them are things that I wouldn’t necessarily buy for myself because they’re higher end brands so I’m really excited to wear them. I have a ton of big events(weddings, bachelorettes, etc.) coming up and personally I think in the long run the price will be worth the wear I get out of these items!

Here are a few tips if you decide to try Nuuly.

1. Look at the reviews and real-life pictures. Those were the most helpful in figuring out if the piece would be the right fit for me and look flattering.
2. Nuuly has some FABULOUS dresses that are extravagant and beautiful! It’s easy to immediately zone in on those, but do a mix of maybe two of those dresses and other pieces you would actually wear out so that you actually end up wearing the pieces and they don’t just sit in your closet.
3. Items get rented quickly. Your size could go out of stock if you don’t check out the same day you put it in your cart. Save the items you like to your closet and when they are returned, you can pick them up the next month. There is such a huge selection though that it’s not really an issue.

Lastly, I thought I’d mention Nuuly’s commitment to sustainability! I was happy to see that Nuuly ships its items in a bag made out of post-consumer recycled plastic, which I thought was super cool.

“Are you my mother?”

Thank you for entertaining me and reading quite possibly the worst cactus joke I’ve ever read! I was looking for good cactus jokes to start this off and honestly, they were all bad, however I probably chose the one that was most terrible and slightly confusing.

To start off this super easy DIY, all you will need is:

• orange paint
• white paint
• paintbrush
• plate
• cacti
• planters of different sizes

I started off by using just the orange paint on my first planter. When I got to the next planter I added more white paint to the plate and mixed them very well so the colors wouldn’t be streaky.

Near the end I ended up with this color, but obviously you can adjust everything until you get your desired color.

You can arrange them by shade, but I personally really loved organizing them randomly because it made the colors pop a little more and balanced the whole look out!

How It All Began

I get a lot of questions asking how I started out and I guess to begin we’d have to go back two-ish years ago to when I first started blogging. The wild thing is, I started blogging so I could get free books! I never thought I’d actually be able to do it as a full-time career. One day, I was on Instagram and stumbled upon this space called Bookstagram, an online community of people who love books. I saw their photos and since I love reading, I thought I’d try it out. [Side note: When I started out, my photos were not good. I look back on them and wonder how I ever thought they were good, but I also look back and realize that doesn’t matter. I had to take the bad photos to practice so I could take what I think, are good ones!] So I started blogging about books and probably in June of last year started asking publishers if they would be willing to send me books to review and almost all of them said yes!

At that point, I was over the moon! Fast forward to September and I started taking lifestyle photos with my books (i.e. bedroom with books, shelf with books). Slowly I realized that people were also connecting to my lifestyle photos and enjoyed the design aspect as well so I started adding more of that in and had so much fun creating! In December, a company reached out to me to see if I would like to take photos with their products for compensation. Personally, I was kind of shocked someone would want to pay me to take photos for them. Anyways, a wild thought popped into my head and I somehow got it into my mind that maybe I could come up with DIYs and cute spaces for a living! Like WHAT A DREAM!

I started incorporating more home decor into my photos and would reach out to brands I loved to see if they wanted to work with me on projects I’d dreamed up. Keep in mind, I still had a full-time job so I’d rush home from work every day before the sun set so I could take photos, create new spaces, pick up home decor, and create new DIYS! After that I’d respond to emails and make sure my content was set for the next day. On the weekends, I worked 6-8 hours just to get things done, but it was so worth it! In 4 months, I was able to replace my current salary with blogging and this was only part-time!

My Parents’ Reaction

My whole life my parents have been incredibly supportive of me. My mom would always tell me that she just wanted me to be happy. In my culture, a lot of families push you to a stable career with a good salary so I’m super thankful for my mom’s open-mindedness. When I first told my parents I was thinking about quitting my 9 to 5 job, they were a little skeptical because blogging is so foreign to them, but what nearly brought me to tears is that they still supported me. They basically said that as long as I could make a salary to live off, they’d support my decision 100% even if it didn’t work out.

What Now?

So here I am, I’ve quit my job and am very excited about the next chapter in my life, but also crazy scared! A million different scenarios of failure have popped into my head, but I think that’s because there’s so much possibility and that’s the exciting part! I was talking to a friend and just telling her that I’m afraid of not making it and then feeling embarrassed. She told me that I should be proud of my decisions and unafraid of taking chances. That even if I do fail, I should be proud because I took a chance on something I believed in. Something else that has encouraged me is I know that no matter what happens, God is going to take care of me. I know that my self-worth is not measured by if I fail or succeed and that has been really freeing.

One thing a lot of people have asked me is, “So are you just going to hang out at home and take pictures?”. I think there’s a big misconception that since I’m working from home, I’ll have all this free time, but honestly I find that when I’m at home, I feel the need to constantly be working. Being your own boss can be tough because you are the one motivating yourself to get things done, however I am so excited about the creative opportunities and the ability to do a job where I get to pursue what I’m interested in.

I can’t even thank you guys enough for being a part of this. I am overwhelmed by just how kind your messages have been and cannot wait to have more time to come up with exciting new things for you guys!

Here are a few ways to spruce up those $1 pots from Home Depot!

You’ll need:

• a paintbrush
• twine
• pots
• masking tape
• white paint
• gold sharpies

1. Take the planter and tie twine around the middle of the pot. Then take paint and cover the bottom half.

2. Take tape and make a diagonal pattern. Then take the paint and cover the spaces. Take the tape off once you’re done and BOOM a beautiful and quick pattern!

3. Put two pieces of tape on the pot to make a triangular pattern. Then paint the triangle to create a nice geometric look. I forgot to take a photo of the final look, but you can see it in the last photo!

4. I call this one cute, calm, and collected. I think this might be my favorite pot out of all of them! I painted the whole outside white and then took a gold sharpie to do the face. A paint marker might work better with the paint, but the sharpie did the job!

And there you have it! The cutest little pots you ever did see! They were so easy to paint. It probably took less than 45 minutes to do them all and they create such a fun look!

Channeling my inner Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, I knew I had to have a pajama party! These shirts from Femfetti were so much fun to wear! We did a mix of Thank U, Next and Love Like Ariana & Ari shirts and I just loved the mix and match of them! Everyone got to pick out pajama bottoms, which were from Old Navy and super reasonably priced!

We had a mix of everyone’s favorite sweets and I picked up these fun glittery cups from Target. P.S. When I was setting out the Sprites, they all started falling out of the box they came in *cries*, but my besties helped me pick them all up!

And lastly, as a nod to 7 rings we had (diamond) ring pops! Unfortunately, my receipts aren’t looking like phone numbers so this was obviously a close alternative! The seven was from Target and very cheap! My favorite budget-friendly party decor is the Spritz collection! They have cute plates, banners, and balloons for amazing prices!

How are you planning on celebrating Galentine’s/Valentine’s Day?

It’s hard to commit to a specific wallpaper because it seems like such a hassle to put up and take down. The most appealing option at the moment is removable wallpaper! Easy to put up and it doesn’t completely destroy your walls when you take it down.

I’ve seen the cutest accent walls going around Pinterest and my absolute favorites are the brick interiors! The brick wallpaper I decided upon came in these rolls. All I had to do was wipe off the walls with a wet paper towel, peel the white backing off the brick wallpaper, and smooth it out on the wall. I am one of the least handy people in the world so the task of putting these on the wall made me really nervous, however, I was impressed by how simple it was to put up and remove. I didn’t realize at first that you had to match the patterns up when you did each panel, but the amazing thing was that when I took a roll off the wall so I could change it’s position, it went back up without a hitch and still clung to the wall. Side note: I’m the kind of person who wants to get things done rather than perfect so while this took me 30-40 minutes to put up, my husband says it would take less time if I didn’t rush!

Here is how it turned out! I am very pleased with how it all looked together. I partnered with NuWallpaper, who has a ton of peel and stick wallpapers for any vibe, to bring you this post! You can my code MICHELLE15 for 15% off at https://www.wallpops.com/nuwallpaper. Let me know below if this is something that you would try out!