I know, I know... I'm a day late [again].  Better late than never though right?  Ahah.  I've had so much awesome stuff happening that has kept me crazy busy.  [Liiiiike have you seen my etsy shop?]  I love every minute of it!  You know I prefer to be busy over having nothing to do.  Nothing to do... There's no such thing!  There's ALWAYS something you can find that needs done.

Anyway, this week's 5 Fandom Friday is Character's I Would Name My Kids After.  What a fun prompt we have this week!  I have a 16yo and even though I'm still young I'm totally done with having babies.  My 1 kiddo is enough lol.

So I'll make my list be what I'd name my pets.

||1} Quorra: I'm starting with her because I already have a cat named after her!  I loved this character and how badass she was.  My Quorra was sick as a kitten and had a rough start.  I gave her a strong badass name so that she would be a fighter.  She was.  Now she's strong and dominates her sister.

||2} Luna: Why? Because it's an adorable name and she was a fun quirky character.  I could definitely see me naming a pup Luna.

||3} Adipose: Hear me out... I know that it's gross but THEY'RE adorable and it's a fun word "Adipose".  Can you imagine saying "Adipose, no!  Put that down!" ahahah

||4} Olivia Benson: Uhhh because she's a total badass.  I'm literally in love with this character/woman.

||5} Sirius: No explanation needed.

What 5 characters would you name your kids or pets after?

a coffee addict's dream!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser, Colgate-Palmolive. All opinions are mine alone. #OpticSmiles #CollectiveBias

I have a coffee problem.  No seriously I do.  Don't talk to me in the morning until I've had a cup... actually wait until I've had 2.  I drink nearly a full pot of coffee each day.  From the time I wake up until lunch, I have a coffee cup next to me.  I'm NOT a morning person and since I work from home it's very tempting to crawl back into bed.  I need my coffee to get me going.

One of the major downfalls of being a coffee addict is the teeth staining.  I've tried several methods of whitening over the years [and spent tons of money along the way].  Some made my teeth hurt, some didn't work, some took rocket science to figure out, and some just plain gagged me!  I was asked to try Colgate® Optic White® Express White and of course I was on board!

Colgate® Optic White® Express White is different than other whitening treatments.  It whitens teeth in just 3 days of brushing*.  BRUSHING!  That's all you have to do!  You should already be doing that [ahah] so it fits right into your daily routine.  No added steps or hassle.  Unlike most whitening toothpastes, Colgate® Optic White® Express White Toothpaste contains the professionally recommended ingredient hydrogen peroxide (vs. Optic White Sparkling Mint TP) to whiten faster*.  Colgate® Optic White® Express White has 2X the amount of the professionally recommended ingredient.

Your local Wal-Mart should have an end cap display with the brand new Colgate® Optic White® Express White product.  It's easy to locate near your toothpaste isle.  Brand Ambassadors will be roaming the isle on 2/28/15 handing out coupons for $1 off at 550 stores!  You can check to see if your local Wal-Mart is participating by checking this store list.

Colgate® Optic White® Express White is so simple to use and I've had wonderful results!  It really did whiten my teeth in just 3 days of use*.  To be real honest, it's the first time I've been impressed with a whitening product.  Your teeth are the first thing people notice when you smile.  I want to make sure that my smile isn't suffering because of my coffee addiction!

Are you a fellow coffee addict?  What do you do to keep your teeth pearly white?  Have you tried Colgate® Optic White® Express White yet?  Let me know!

*For best results, use as directed for 4 weeks

A video posted by Emilee (@emilee_speaks) on Feb 25, 2015 at 10:03am PST

etsy shop [update]

I wanted to post real quick and let you know that I've updated my etsy shop with GOLD french macaron paper clips!  They're even more beautiful than the silver ones.  I know that if you're like me, you're really loving all things gold right now.  So I whipped up some beautiful paper clips && they're in my shop!

Hop on over to my Etsy shop to check them out!

week 7 2015 [planner decoration]

So I missed week 6... I write these a week after they happened, and week 7 was incredibly busy.  I didn't get much blogging done in week 7.  My family had no school Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and then the following Monday.  When everyone is home, I prefer to spend my time with them.  So my schedule is all sorts of wonky from that awesome time off to spend with them!

My son also had a weeks worth of pit band performances for the High School musical.  They did Guys and Dolls.  It was fabulous and I'm so proud of him.  He's such a talented musician.

I also purchased a new camera [YAY]!  I spent a lot of time this last week playing with it and learning the ins and outs of manual photography.  I'm seriously loving it you guys!  I purchased the Canon Rebel t5i and it's a beauty.

This week was Valentine's week.  I love Valentine's Day.  Any excuse to break out the pink and red and spread it all around... I'm IN!  I honestly can't tell you where I purchased the Valentine's washi featured this week.  I went NUTS and purchased tons of Valentine's washi from Wal-Mart, JoAnn, and The Dollar Tree.  I don't know what came from where.  I have enough Valentine's washi for the next 5 years I swear...

I made the pink insert with the arrows [details below].  The Valentine's Day sticker came from the Target One Spot.  It's raised to be 3 dimensional which I don't normally like in my planners, but I loved this sticker.  The ADORABLE cupid piggy stickers I found at Walgreens.  It's Hallmark brand.  They're a little glittery and they make me smile every time I look at them.  The french macaron paper clips I made myself from polymer clay.  You can find them in my etsy shop!  I will be adding gold french macaron paper clips tomorrow!

To make my insert I picked out a project life card, used Post-It flat tabs, and a hole punch.  I use these inserts to keep detailed lists on the back side while adding some extra cuteness to my week.  I apply my list on the back with a sticky note or re-positional tape so that I can reuse the insert.  Just mark where your holes need to be on the Post-It Tab with a pencil.  Then hole punch them out, and cut slits in the hole.  This will allow you to attach it to the rings of your planner if you have a spiral ring planner [like Erin Condren or Sugar Paper].

I'm so excited for things to come...  With my new camera I'll be doing "Plan With Me" YouTube videos very soon!  I'll also be adding in new items to my etsy shop.  I hope that you'll enjoy this planner journey with me!  I appreciate you all and couldn't do it without you.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

etsy shop [sharing the love]

I'm not artistic is most things... I can't draw, paint, or sew... but I'm a little handy when it comes to polymer clay.  When I was in grade school, I used to make really intricate figurines and sell them in my mom's tanning salon.  Over the years I've fallen out of the hobby.  Now with my planning obsession and the need for CUTE office supplies, I picked up the clay...

I've started making polymer clay paper clips!  So far I have created Rilakkuma, random kawaii, and french macaron paper clips.  I decided to open an etsy shop to share the love with others!

Aren't these adorable!  I'm so in love with them!  I had such a fun time jamming out to music && making these guys.

My etsy shop is EmileeSpeaks and it's currently stocked with different colors of french macaron paper clips.  I kept the prices low because I know what it's like to be a planner addict on a budget!

I hope you'll stop by and check them out!  It'd mean the world to me!

adorn your android: with free wallpaper

This month's Adorn Your Android is extra special to me because it features wallpaper that I made for you guys!  My wallpaper is inspired by Kate Spade designs.  I'm really obsessing over black/white/gold together and I wanted to bring that to my phone...

As always I used cocoPPa to find my icons for the month.  You can find me on there under the screen name: emileeblogs.  If you're interested in my Kate Spade inspired wallpapers you can find them in the post I did recently featuring them.  You can download them right from that blog post.

KATE SPADE INSPIRED WALLPAPER

Disclaimer:  I feel like I need to mention this since there's been some confusion.  I call this monthly feature "Adorn Your Android" because I use an Android phone.  I currently have a Galaxy Note 3 [which I will be upgrading to the Note 4 very soon].  Everything I do/use in these posts are also available for iPhone.  In fact, cocoPPa was released for iPhone first.  So if you're in iPhone user, no worries!  You can still take advantage of everything I blog about!

week 5 2015 [planner decoration]

Another week has come & gone in my Sugar Paper planner.  I'm still not at "planner peace" with this planner.  I love the idea of how big it is && how much space it has, but in reality I don't.  I'm awaiting my LimeLife planner to arrive!  I think I'll be much happier with it.  I mentioned last week that I'll be passing this lovely Sugar Paper off to Jess who needs all the space for her homework load.

As you can see, I'm still loving my stickers from the Etsy shop TheGiftedPepper.  They are so cute and perfect.  I've been playing around with placement of the weather stickers, trying to decide where I want them to go.  I guess it doesn't matter since I'll be switching planners soon.

I played around with the banner stamp to notate the weekend like everyone has been doing in their Erin Condren's.  MY weekend starts on Monday, so that's why it's on Monday.  Not much to talk about with this spread... I'm still using the top left corner to show what FlyLady zone I'm in for the week, and a sticky note with the main tasks I need to complete for that zone.

Ahhh the final episode of Parenthood was last Thursday.  I obviously marked that in my planner.  Did you watch it?  Oh gosh, I bawled like a baby...  Scandal was quite awesome too!  I continued on with my clock stamp in this week to notate my outside the home job schedule.

|What I Used|

Pens: Target One Spot, and Frixion [not pictured]

Stamps: Heidi Swapp from Michael's

Ink: Versa Magic in Sea Breeze, and StudioG in Gold

Tools: Hello Kitty scissors, 3/4" circle punch, exacto-knife

Washi: all from JoAnn

Sticky Pad: Target One Spot

Paperclips: Kate Spade bow, and the heart I made with a paperclip from the Target One Spot & a Heart embellishment from the Heidi Swapp Becky Higgins Project Life set [I'll have a blog post on this soon!]

What were your most used items this week?  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask below.  I always answer! <333

Valentine's Date Night for my Best Friend

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #LoveOurVDay #CollectiveBias

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays.  I'm a romantic.  I love "love".  I give gifts to not only the love of my life, but to my son, my best friend, and friends at work.  Valentine's Day is one of those holidays you can cheese up and have tons of fun with.  Every year I make little candy bags with Valentine's cards for my co-workers.  Nothing fancy or expensive, just cute little gifts like you gave in grade school.  I really get into spreading "love" all around!

This year I wanted to do something extra special for my best friend.  She's a full time student getting her Nurse Practitioners license, while working as a nurse too.  This leaves little time for her and her fiance to spend quality time together.  So for Valentine's Day this year, I've created a date night gift basket for her.

I took off to Target to pick up the goodies for my basket.  Instead of a traditional "basket" I went with a tote bag because she loves tote bags and I know she'll get lots of use out of it.  I wanted to create a fun date night where they could spend the evening baking together, then enjoying a movie with special popcorn I made.

|Contents|

Valentine's Day themed glasses for whatever drink they choose

Cute Valentine's Day paper straws

Heart String Lights

A Cinnamon Candle

Valentine's Day pot holders

Heart cookie cutters

Valentine's Day themed popcorn

K-Y® Love: the star of the show!

No Valentine's Day date night is complete without passion!  I wanted to make sure that they have a romantic night together.  As adults we tend to get all caught up in work, laundry, studies, the kids, etc and sometimes intimacy gets put on the back burner.  Intimacy brings the closeness that glues a relationship together.  It's very important!

K-Y® Love is exclusive to Target for Valentine's Day!  How neat is that?  I included both the Sensuality & Passion in my basket.  You can find them in the feminine care section of Target.  Using Target Cartwheel you can get 10% off K-Y® Love from 2/1/15-2/14/15.  I love using Target Cartwheel!  I pull it up on my phone as I enter the store every time!

For the Valentine's Day themed popcorn you'll need popped corn, candy coated chocolates in Valentine colors, and red cinnamon candy.  Mix them all together in a bowl.  I then put it in an air tight baggie and placed the baggie into the movie popcorn container seam side down.

Now they've got an adorable Valentine's Day movie night snack to go along with their heart shaped cookies they'll be making!  Add in the cinnamon scented candle, lights down low, turn on the string heart lights, pour some drinks... date night will be perfect!  I truly hope they have the best Valentine's Day ever!

Do you go all out for Valentine's Day too?

Save Money on this Healthy Breakfast Duo

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BreakfastDuo #CollectiveBias

One of my goals for this year is to make myself eat breakfast.  I'm not a breakfast eater.  I'm not usually hungry in the mornings.  I'll drink nearly a pot of coffee each morning while doing my morning routine.  Then by the time lunch time rolls around, I'm starving!  That leads to eating too much at lunch & making bad choices.  I decided this year I'm going to make myself take the time to eat breakfast each day.

I really like oatmeal and prefer Steel Cut Oats.  While oatmeal in general is healthy, Steel Cut Oats are lower on the Glycemic Index.  I also prefer the texture of Steel Cut Oats.  They're denser and less mushy.

The only downfall to Steel Cut Oats is that traditionally you have to cook them on the stove.  This is fine when I'm at home during the week, but I work outside the home on the weekends.  I wanted something I could grab & go with.  Better Oats [found in the hot cereal isle of Wal-Mart] makes instant microwavable Steel Cut Oats!  I was able to find them in Maple & Brown Sugar and Apples & Cinnamon.  I chose the Apples & Cinnamon.  I also wanted the brown sugar flavor in them, so I headed to the sweetener isle.  There I found Truvia® Brown Sugar Blend!  I already use Truvia® at home for a low calorie sweetener, but I didn't have the Truvia® Brown Sugar Blend.  The Brown Sugar Blend has 75% fewer calories than traditional Brown Sugar.

Right now when you use the Jingit app on your smartphone, you can get $6 cash back when you purchase a package of 10ct Better Oats Steel Cut Oats flavors and Truvia® sweetener [excludes 40ct or smaller] at Wal-Mart!

Once you've made your purchase at Wal-Mart, open the jingit app.  You will select Wal-Mart from the available stores.  When that opens you will see the Breakfast Duo option.  Choose that one!

This screen will show you the information about the deal [select the "i" for details], allow you to reserve the promo, and enter your receipt.

Grab your Wal-Mart receipt where you purchased the Better Oats and Truvia®.  The app will utilize your camera on your smartphone to scan the receipt.  That's all there is to it!  You've saved $6 and picked up a healthy breakfast option!

I write out my morning routine for the week each Sunday.  I've started including "eat breakfast" to my check list so that I don't forget!  So far I've been very successful with this.  Writing things down in your planner is a great way to implement new habits into your day to day life.

I'm really enjoying this delicious oatmeal sweetened with Truvia®.  When my oatmeal is finished in the microwave, I sprinkle it with the Truvia® Brown Sugar Blend.  The hot oatmeal will make the Truvia® dissolve into the moisture of the oatmeal.  Then you can stir it into the oatmeal and get it all mixed in.

Look at that beautiful Better Oats breakfast with the delicious Truvia® Brown Sugar Blend swirled in.  This is the perfect quick breakfast for those trying to get in the habit of eating breakfast.  It's quick, easy, and portable.  I toss a package into my purse the night before on days I work.  The package itself has a water line mark, so you use it to measure your water too!  I make it at work and eat it at my desk.

Have you tried the Jingit app?  What's your go to quick & healthy breakfast?