3 Ways to Prepare for a Last Minute Trip

If there is one thing that Zach & I are good at it is spontaneous and last minute trips.  Whether it is a weekend getaway or a last minute day trip, Zach and I love to pack it all up and head out.  This past weekend we went up to Michigan to camp by the pond at his parents' house.  It was a qauzi spontaneous trip because while we'd talked about going, it wasn't really cemented until later in the week.  I love throwing out all the plans and just doing something new, here are 3 tips to help you stay organized when it comes to a last minute getaway.

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Permanently Packed Toiletries Bag
This has come in handy for a lot of trips, not just spontaneous ones.  A permanently packed toiletries bag that is ready to be grabbed up at any moment saves you one extra step in packing.  I use a pretty compact clean train case style bag (like this one) and stuff it with other little compact bags to keep things separated.  I make sure that I have all the necessities and after a few trips I've boiled it down to exactly what I need.  The little bags I use are small cosmetic bags, ipsy bags, & bags I've gotten other beauty samples in.  They fit perfectly and create a little file system so I know that all hair care is this silver bag, all shower stuff is in this green mesh bag, toothpaste is here, etc.  Having this packed and ready to grab in such a compact way is a time saver.

Know What You Need
Gone are the days where I pack a What If outfit.  No I will probably not have dinner with the queen so I don't need that fancy cocktail dress for 2 nights away.  I try to make a plan of what we'll do and pack accordingly.  Since most of our trips are weekend getaways I try to stick to just one duffel bag.  I always bring a sweater, a 'nice top', two bottoms (shorts or pants, etc), walking shoes, a t-shirt (or two), underthings, & PJs.  You never know what might happen but you can 100% guarantee you won't meet the queen so there is no need for the extra fluff.  Try trimming the fat on your packing for a few trips and see what you can totally live with out.

Trim Down the Gadgets
We are a very hobby & gadget oriented family.  So any time there may be down time you gotta make sure you have something to pass the time.  I love bringing something to work on if there is that time because it is a little bit of home.  But I've learned I totally will not be finishing that crocheted blanket a long with a design project, with a side of some other DIY.  While some free time maybe unexpected - torrential down pour and your stuck at the hotel - it doesn't mean you will have oodles of time in the less than 72 hours you may be gone to do all these things.  Narrow down what you will actually be able to do in that free time - bring the iPad to blog instead of the laptop, or bring just the small project your working on not the whole thing.  This has helped me throw together a fun bag a lot quicker that running around trying to cram a bit of all of my hobbies in.

Spontaneous weekend trips are fun and even if you go only a few hours away keeping these things in mind will help you get on the trip a lot faster.  You'll spend less time packing and more time away on your mini adventure.

Do you have any last minute packing tips?  Are you a fan of spontaneous trips?

xoxo, Moe

Free Planner Stickers // Vacation Countdown!

Anyone love free, printable stickers?  I know I do! I have a family reunion that I'm going to in July and that is counting as a little mini vacation for me so I decided to whip up some vacation countdown stickers for myself!

Every year since I was little my family has gone to Lake Gaston just of the border of Virginia and North Carolina.  This year will be the first year in a long, long time that I've actually been able to go.  So I thought I'd make some fun countdown stickers.  These little palm trees are awesome + there are some little deco stickers at the bottom for your vacation week!

DOWNLOAD ALL FILES HERE!

There are 3 files included in the download - 1 Silhouette Studio file, 1 JPG with gray cut lines to upload to Cricut Design space (watch how to cut PDF printable using your Cricut Explore here), 1 PDF to print & cut by hand if you don't have a cutting machine.  

After you convert the PDF with the gray outlines to a JPG, it will require you to clean it up after uploading to Design Space - simply use the magic eraser to erase the entire background, then use the precision eraser to erase the text.  After you add the image to your canvas, size the width to 5.5 or 6 inches and it will still fit in the 6 x 8 inch print area.

And remember - these printables are for personal use only.  Do not print these in mass, give away the physical or digital file, claim these as your own, sell the physical or digital file, etc.  Play nice, these are for personal use only.  If you'd like to share this with your friends or add this to a Pinterest board, please pin the blog post and not the file itself.  Thanks!

Are you looking forward to a vacation this summer?  

xoxo, Moe

Three Photo Storage Tips for your Next Vacation

A few months ago Zach & I got back from week long trip to Korea.  I know, I know....you've seen like 3 pictures of Korea ever.....I promise I'm working on that.  I really am.  When it came down to packing photo gear for this little trip I had one thing on my mind -  I am not packing my DSLR, it takes up too much space.  So I promptly went out and bought a 64 GB memory card for my old point and shoot (+ an iPhone external back up, just in case).

this post contains affiliate links, please read my full disclosure here.

When I got to Korea....turns out my old point and shoot can't handle a new fangled 64 GB SD card.....so I put my phone in airplane mode and used that as my video camera and my point and shoot.  I only have the 16 GB phone, so here's what I did to free up space for the photos I was going to take:

Delete apps you don't need

This is sort of a duh moment here but I went through and deleted all the apps I wouldn't use in Korea.  Like my Starbucks and Subway app - I'm probably not going to use those half way across the world.  I would suggest deleting the apps you have for fun if you're going on a trip in the US and will probably stop at a Starbucks.  If you have any games you haven't played in ages or photo apps you never use, get rid of them and add them on later when you get back from your trip.  Who knows...you might get rid of some and make room for more.....if you never used the apps anyway.

Move your photos through different apps

When I wanted to take a picture and do a bit of editing on it right there I found this tip to be the most helpful.  A good example, that I do often now anyway, is to start in an app like PicFrame.  Create your collage the way you want, then under the share option find other apps.  This feature will find the other photo apps on your phone so you can move the photo to that app with out saving it to your camera roll.  You've just freed up space for another picture!  So then you could move the photo to let's say, Afterlight.  Once you've finalized you're edits there, you could save to camera roll or select other apps and move it to Phonto, for example, to add a caption or other text over your photo.  Then from Phonto, you could save to camera roll oooooor move it to Instagram (or countless other apps!).  You've just saved one, fully edited photo instead of saving 4 images - one of each edit.  This leaves room for 4 more photos.  I think this is pretty cool!

Buy back up storage for your phone

I picked up a SanDisk iXpand Sync back up.  This one is super cool (and the only thing I've ever had like it) because you can create folders to organize your photos and you can set auto back up once you plug it in.  In the limited time we had before running around the next day, I'd pop in the back up, wait for it to sync, then go back - tap, tap, tap - and put the photos into the Korea folder for the corresponding day.  If later I wanted to go through and edit a photo on my phone, I could plug the back up back into the phone, save the image back to the camera roll and work from there.  This back up was a life saver for the videos I took on my phone!  The back up also has a USB end so you can plug the back up right into your computer and download your videos/photos there too.  Pretty awesome storage device!

These three tips are great for everyday storage saving on your phone but even better when it comes to travel.  I love the quality of the camera on the iPhone 5S....but honestly I can't wait to upgrade to the 6!  You can capture beautiful photos and video in the palm of your hand....and that is pretty amazing.

How do you store your vacation photos?  Do you use your phone as your main camera?

xoxo, Moe

Michigan Here I Come

Zach & I are on our way to Michigan getting set for a few days of relaxation.  We'll be visiting his family, meeting his friends & brothers, dipping our toes in a (freezing) lake, & plain 'ol getting to know Michigan.  It is quite a possibility that I may move to Michigan some day.

I joke with Zach that I'll turn into a Mammouth in an ice cube up there.  Luckily we don't think it will be too cold when we are there and secretly I hope so.

So I have a few posts scheduled & hopefully some guest posts as well.  You'll get to meet my room mate & hopefully a few fly ladies as well.  I hope you all have a wonderful week.  I'll try to check in, but there is no guarantee on interent connection, I may not even have 3G. (oh no, what have I gotten into!)

Happy Friday & have a nice weekend!

Back from Vacay!

These few days have been restful. I've spent some quality time with the friends & the fam & am now ready to get back to work.  I've been drinking the coffee recipe from last week's Make it Monday all week except for today when my sister & I went to the fabric store & passed a Dunkin Donuts.  Their coffee is the best in town. No lie!

Heres what's going to go down for Make it Monday this week:

1. First are these cool fringe necklaces made from old tee shirts on Love Maegan.  I've got some old shirts dying to be remade & worn.  I think they are sick of seeing the inside of a dresser!
2. This is a great way to reuse old bottles & I have the perfect one! This tutorial is from Apartment Therapy.  Take everyday interesting bottles & make them display worthy.
3. Finally, this origami mobile inspiration from Green Laundry.  I love origami garland & mobiles so this is something I am excited to try!

Have you made anything from the ideas from Make it Mondays? Share it here & comment on the original blog, I am sure they are dying to hear from you!

Its Vacation Time

Hey all, thank you to everyone who comments & follows this blog, you all make my day!!  Right now I am going on a tiny vacation with my family.  I need to spend some quality time with the people close to me.  I will start posting by Wednesday, so look for Make it Monday & Sum up Sunday all in one there. (Sorry about the slacking on Sum up Sunday)

Have you gone on vacation yet this summer?