DIY Coffee Bar Love

Hey there!

Am I allowed to love my coffee bar like I do? Am I allowed to love my morning coffee area to the point that I devote an entire blog post to it? Well, I do, so there.

Before I moved into my new place I searched Pinterest and YouTube videos for DIY coffee bar ideas. And yes, there are a lot of pins and videos out there. I had quite a lot of  ideas to choose from. There were all sorts of coffee machines and containers to house various coffees. There were mugs and cups and thermoses. There were various ways to stir the coffee and so many things to put in the coffee. It was like a dream sorting through what worked for me.

And I settled on this.

I've had a Keurig machine for several years. It took me about 6 months to purchase it because of the cost and I wanted to make sure that I would really commit to it. I love it and I am soooo glad that I purchased it. The coffee options are endless and in my opinion, it makes a damned good cup of coffee. I bought it on sale, with a 20% off coupon and a gift card. You know how I am.

Do you see what is in that picture at the top? Yes, there is a Keurig machine but next to it (at the very back) is my sugar container. In front of it is a container of coffee - Starbucks Verona dark decaf if you must know. Both of these containers are from Ikea, re-purposed several different times, now living in my coffee bar area. You also see some wooden stirrers (which I might trade out for special teaspoon stirrers -- not sure) and some organic sugar packets in a green bowl from Anthropologie (about one of the only things I really can afford from that store, even though I love it).

I found my espresso picture at the Dollar Tree. It's not the best picture but it works. It is that final touch to my coffee bar that makes it all work (because it was the last thing that I purchased).

Inside the cupboard that the espresso picture is on, are my coffee cups. You can't see them all but I have A LOT of coffee cups. You get to see shelves 2 and 3 but the top shelf has my very fragile and special cups. I use them on Saturday and Sunday mornings when I have time to sip my coffee slowly and thoughtfully. You also see my Torani coffee syrup in Salted Caramel. It's probably the only coffee syrup that I purchase. I make cinnamon dolce syrup or a white chocolate syrup myself. I also have another Ikea container and in it are some creamers. I didn't like these types of creamers at first. I was a purist and only used half and half but then I decided I wanted to switch up the flavor a little bit.

My coffee drawer is the first drawer underneath my Keurig machine. I can house three 18 pack coffee boxes, a few International Cafe drinks for the kiddo, 2 boxes of Dollar Tree cappuccino, also for the kiddo and some random k-cup pods. Before you go all cray-cray on me, the kiddo is about to turn 19.

I am very proud of my coffee station. I love what I have created. I feel good about sipping my coffee from this area. Too much, do you think? If you don't drink coffee, probably. If you do drink coffee, you are jelly. I know.

365 Pins

(Borrowed from pinterest with respect)

Hey There !

Have you finished making your goals for 2015? Did you already drive past the gym (on your way to the new Krispy Kreme -- true story)? Have you already begun your nightly gratitude ritual (except last night because you were out late, and not the night before cause you were kinda drunk -- not a true story)? I always try to make goals that I can meet. Someone told me that I was crazy to make easy goals and that I should make harder to reach goals.

I didn't say that I make easy goals. I don't know about you but I don't want to list 43 things that I can't possibly make happen. I wanted my goals to be attainable. I made them stretch my mind, get out of my comfort zone and move a little, all while practicing my 2015 words of the year, self care.

One of my goals was originally to "do a Pinterest pin every day". I modified it to do 365 Pinterest pins this year. What's the difference? Well, I might get a wild hair and do 15 pins in a weekend or I might go 4 days without doing a pin at all. Again, I wanted my goal to be a challenge that I could obtain.

I created a board titled "Things to try in 2015". It has food items to cook, nail art to try, wardrobe looks to mimic, DIY crafts to screw up and expensive crap to purchase. I just spent about a week pinning stuff that I thought would be interesting to do in 2015. I'll keep pinning throughout the year (in case some new, great stuff comes up). Go ahead over there and take a look. It's fun stuff, I promise.

(Borrowed from pinterest with respect)

It's day 3 of the new year and so far I've created an ombre lip...that I forgot to take a picture of, so I have to do it again. But, I did pin a quote and make it my phone locked screen (again, no picture). Sighhhhhh. That's a good start! I think so anyway.

The one thing that I have to decide is how to hold myself accountable. I don't want to devote a day of the week blog post to it or anything and a day of the month might be a bit much. I may just Instagram it and mark it as #ThingsToDoIn2015. Hey....

So what's the first thing on your goals list that you've already started? Nothing? No worries. That new Krispy Kreme isn't gonna christen itself!