Updated - Things to Do In NYC

New York City is without a doubt my favorite city that I've been to so far. I would love to live there one day. I've been six times now, and I've been adding to my list of things to do. It started as 54 things, and has now grown to many more.


On my most recent visit to the city, I discovered Gantry Plaza State Park. My friend and I went to Long Island City in Queens (a quick subway ride from Manhatten) so she could buy pointe shoes, and while we were there we discovered this great park. It has a fabulous view of the Manhatten skyline, and a cool Coca-Cola sign.

Also, while we were walking to the subway station, we passed some great graffiti art including this painting of the skyline.

As a How I Met Your Mother fan, I loved stopping at McGee's on 55th. It's the bar that MacLaren's is based on. McGee's has a full HIMYM themed menu with drinks such as "Have You Met the Captain" and the "Slutty Pumpkin." Between my friends and I, we tried almost all of the themed drinks, and they were all great.



I discovered a new brunch place called Rue 57. I got the french toast, and it was fabulous. The weather was great, so we sat on the street and enjoyed people watching.

There are many other fun things that I added to the spreadsheet. I hope to continue adding ideas after future trips!

Daily Planner

Along with the rest of the world, the New Year has me resolving to be more organized and productive. As part of my resolution, I thought that the next step was to be better about making to-do lists. I used to use the reminder app on my phone, but I often found it overwhelming that I couldn't easily view tasks by day.

Another resolution I have, again, like the rest of the world, is to be healthier. I want to eat healthier, and be more active. I tend to do better if I write everything out, so another to-do list seemed like the best way to follow through with this resolution.

Finally, and most importantly, I resolved to be better about my faith. I want to be better about reading the Bible daily, praying daily, and be more grateful. In the past, I've been using a bible study worksheet I created, but I wanted to incorporate my faith in my daily planner as well.

So, I created a daily planner page to keep track of my to-do list, meals, workouts, prayers, and other goals. I made it 2 to a page with the plan to fold them in half, and keep in a cute mini-binder I bought at Target a few months ago. I did the same with my bible study worksheet, so I keep them all in the same binder.

40 Things To Do In Boston

I traveled to Boston a few weeks ago! Boston is no New York City, but it was a fun little tourist city. The biggest surprise was the number of Europeans. On our Harvard Yard tour, over 75% of the group was European. I never would've thought of Boston as that popular of a travel destination.

My favorite part of Boston was the beach. We got to see a sand sculpting contest at Revere Beach while we were there. It was so cool that a big-city atmosphere was only a 20 minute subway ride from a beautiful beach. I did not enjoy the historic part of Boston as much as I thought I would. Freedom Trail ended up being my least favorite part of the trip because the attractions were so spaced out. I would definitely recommend a duck tour if you go to save some walking.

Regina Pizzeria

My favorite restaurant was definitely Fajitas 'n Ritas! They had fabulous margaritas and impressive fajitas. Much better than I would've ever expected Mexican food to be in the North. I also enjoyed Regina Pizzeria. It's an old pizza restaurant in the North End. Regina Pizzeria has been making pizzas since 1926!

Another place we went was the bar Cheers was based on. It's right off Boston Commons. At first we thought it was just downstairs, but the bar is both downstairs and upstairs, and there is a gift shop upstairs.

 We also did the Samuel Adams Brewery Tour. We expected to get a tour of the factory, but the factory was closed for repairs, so it was just a tasting. They gave us these cool glasses for the tasting! I'm not a beer fan by any means, but the first one we tasted wasn't awful! The tasting was very entertaining. After it was over, there's a trolley that will pick you up and take you to Doyle's Bar. Doyle's is an old famous bar down the street that gives you a free cup if you order a Sam Adams. The trolley was really fun! It had disco balls and fun music.

 Finally, we got Boston Cream Pie at the Omni Parker House where Boston Cream Pie was invented! It is also where JFK proposed to Jackie and had his bachelor party. The hotel was very nice and had a cute little bar where you can get the Boston Cream Pie. It was very good!

Here is a downloadable spreadsheet with a list of all the things we did. It's sortable by neighborhood, alphabetically, or day. It's also broken up into 5 days by what is close together. You can change those to fit the days you want to go as wells as the things you want to do.

101 Things To Do Before I Graduate Baylor

Baylor Bucket List

As my Senior year at Baylor quickly approaches, I've decided to revamp my bucket list! Even though it's not technically my last year at Baylor, it's my last year with all of my friends. So, I have put together this list of things to do during my last year at Baylor! I plan on updating it throughout the year with things I have done, and more things to do.

1. Visit Independence
2. Go Tortilla Tossing
3. Go to Dr. Pepper Hour
4. Get Kolaches from West
5. Run through the BSB fountains
6. Take a picture with the tree at Christmas on 5th
7. Swing on a tree swing
8. Have a picnic on campus
9. Take a road trip
10. Play sand volleyball
11. Have the gutpak at Viteks
12. Got to Cameron Park zoo
13. Go to Happy Hour at chuys
14. Sneak into Waco Hall
15. Be a Welcome Week Leader
16. Treat Night in the dorms
17. Study on the second floor of the SUB
18. Chinese New Year
19. Eat at Cupp's
20. Eat at chicken fried steak at George's
21. Eat at Shorty's
22. Eat at Bari's
23. Eat at Taco Z
24. Attend BYX Island Party
25. Compete in SAE Salsa Fest
26. Go to Howdy
27. Check out a book from Moody Library
28. Get onto Images of Waco TV Channel
29. Attend a Baylor Bowl Game
30. Participate in SING
31. Participate in Pigskin
32. Eat a burger at Health Camp
33. Get a chocolate bag at Diamond Back's
34. Brunch at the Elite
35. Eat Pancakes at Café Capp
36. Eat at Food For Thought
37. Go through the secret door at Poppa Rollo's
38. Eat at Café Homestead
39. Go to Taco Tuesday at Rosa's
40. Help build a Homecoming float
41. Go to every froyo place
42. Eat at Buzzard Billy's
43. Brunch at The Olive Branch
44. Pazookie from BJ's
45. Eat at La Fiesta
46. Play campus golf
47. Get in the fountain on Fountain Mall
48. Go to Vertical
49. Participate in Homecoming Weekend activities
50. Play Giant Chess at North Village
51. Swim, canoe, or kayak in the brazos
52. Get a tour of the Pat Neff Bells
53. Take a picture with Lady or Joy
54. Take a picture each season on Judge Baylor
55. Take a picture with Burleson
56. Spend a day in cameron park
57. Go down the water slide at the SLC
58. Throw a paper airplane off the 4th floor of the BSB
59. Play sardines in the BSB or other building
60. Walk down Waco Creek (by the bear pit)
61. Katie's Custard
62. Bahama Bucks
63. Mr. Snow
64. Find lamp post number 1
65. Visit the Mayborn Museum
66. Watch the sunset from the top of a parking garage
67. Play tennis on the outdoor tennis courts
68. Go bowling in the SUB
69. Play in the sprinkler's
70. Picture with Britney Griner
71. Play in the rain
72. Visit all the HEB stores in Waco
73. Go to the dollar movies - Tuesday
74. Go to What about Cupcakes
75. Go to the top of Pat Neff
76. Attend every a game for each sports team
1. Football
2. Baseball
3. Men's Basketball
4. Women's Basketball
5. Cross Country
6. Golf
7. Men's Tennis
8. Women's Tennis
9. Track & Field
10. Acrobatics & Tumbling
11. Equestrian
12. Soccer
13. Softball
14. Volleyball
77. Go in every building on campus
78. Go to every bar in Waco
79. Attend church under the bridge
80. See Stompfest
81. Go to Chapel voluntarily
82. See Guerilla Troup
83. Write with chalk on the sidewalks
84. Explore the bamboo forest in Cameron Park
85. Gatesville drive-in theater
86. Picture with the gorilla on Austin Ave
87. Picture with the bluebonnets
88. Drive by Bush's ranch
89. Karaoke at Scruff's
90. Piano Man at Treff's
91. Giant Jenga at Cricket's
92. Sunday night dinner at Bush's
93. Study at Armstrong Browning Library
94. Make a 100 day countdown to graduation
95. Spend an afternoon at Lake Waco
96. Drink a purple margarita at Sam's on the Square
97. Eat at Ninfa's
98. Play sand volleyball by the marina
99. Attend a football away game
100. Run the Baylor Line as a Senior
101. Go to 10th Street for Dia

How to Turn Box Lids into Canvases

I saw this on pinterest and decided to recreate it for our living room. I have SO many shoe boxes that finding lids was not easy. It also helped de-clutter my closet, which is a bonus! First, I rearranged the lids in the pattern I wanted. Next, I took a picture of that order, so I would remember once I painted them. I would recommend writing on the back of the lid where it goes in the pattern.

 After a few coats of white paint, I put the boxes back in the order and used a chevron stencil I found on Google images to draw the print on to the lids.

 I chose three colors of paint, and painted the boxes. After spraying them with matte finishing spray, they were ready to hang on the wall!


Pushpins worked perfectly for hanging them on the wall. We love them and get so many compliments on them! It's been one of my favorite projects!

My Table!

This is another project that started after something I found on Pinterest. The table I originally saw was painted white and then stained on top, but I didn't want to mess with staining. The table used to be my grandparents, and my grandmother started refinishing it over 20 years ago. That's why the table is so blotchy. I guess it's time I finished the project for her!

Chairs Before

Before

I used paint for all of it. After painting the top white, I started the pattern. The pattern took a lot of trial and error. I got the stencil from Michaels. The best way to get the stencil to not bleed was to spray the back of the stencil with spray-adhesive, and then push it down onto the table. I used a sponge roller to roll a thin layer of black paint on the table. This left a layer of sticky adhesive that I had to scrape off. There's probably a better way of removing it, but I didn't know what else to try. I then painted the legs and chairs a turquoise color, and the leaf I painted black. Everything still needs a layer of sealant, but I've got some free weekends coming up for that.

How to Turn a Toms Shoe Box Into a Make-Up Organizer

After turning all my shoe box lids into canvases, I was inspired to find other ways to use my millions of shoe boxes that have collected over the past few years. I decided that the Toms box is the perfect size for a bathroom cabinet organizer! I started by cutting the sides of the lid off, and then cutting the lid into pieces the same length as the 

Next I duct taped the dividers to the box. Hot glue would probably work better for this, but I didn't have any handy at the time. I then modge-podged scrapbook paper around the edges and filled it with all the things cluttering my bathroom counter top.depth of the box.

 Now the counter top is clean and clutter-free! Getting ready in the morning is so much easier now that I don't have to dig through my make-up bag to find my mascara or rummage through the drawers looking for my contact case. I guess Toms did more than give a shoe to a child in need!