I have my passport and I'm ready to travel. My trip to England and Paris is just around the corner. Thank you for all your travel trips, when I shared a few months ago, I'm taking my first international trip! the beginning of September and let me just say I'm so thrilled I get to spend to weeks with my bestie in her new country is beyond exciting. In addition to thinking about what to pack and saving every penny until my trip so I can splurge on a few items [ hello skin care & charity shop treasures and maybe a new handbag! ] One item I really want for my trip is a cute passport holder! Here's a round up of five, that are just too cute!

1. Etsy Seller GiftsAndTravel 2. Rebecca Minkoff Passport Holder 3. 4. Hayden-Harnett Passport Cover 5. Etsy Seller GiftsAndTravel

Now I just need to choose the a passport holder! Do you have a cute passport holder and a bigger question, if you only have 24 hours in Paris, what would you do? 

Microwave Free Kitchens

Being a proud owner a small 1950's rancher with a petite kitchen, counter space in my kitchen is at a premium. When we first bought our home six years ago, our little kitchen was a L Shape kitchen with a floating fridge. We had so little counter space making dinners that lots of cutting was nearly impossible. After rebuilding our home in 2012, I re-designed the kitchen layout to a classic U Shape, took out a space sucking hall closet that gave both our kitchen and bathroom extra square footage and made very happy. I pretty much have double the counter space, but this time around I opted to go microwave free. 

We've been microwave free for two years and I don't miss having one. Since our kitchen is small [ visit our kitchen after here ] I love having only the essentials out which include, my Kitchen Aide mixer, large glass containers, our Nespresso and Kitchen Utensils and toaster. I noticed almost all the kitchens, I love and pinned are microwave free too. Below are some fabulous microwave free kitchens. 

via Better Homes & Gardens 

via Pinterest 

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

In case your wondering when its time to re-heat food, we typically use our oven or stove top, I've practically become a pro going this route. I am thinking about replacing our toaster for a Breville Mini Smart Oven, which is a perfect cross between toaster and mini counter oven, especially since it gets super hot in Sacramento, and I don't want the oven to 'heat up the whole house' 

Friends, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the topic, in your home are you microwave free? Could you ever go microwave free? 

Getting the Job Done with My Shark® Vacuum

Ever since I was little, I've always loved to vacuum, for me there's something so relaxing about vacuuming. What's not fun is having a vacuum cleaner, that doesn't get the job done, and can't be used on our hardwood floors. In my 1950's Rancher we have hardwood floors throughout and rugs in our living room and bedrooms, and my old vacuum cleaner couldn't handle that small task. I ended up having use a broom to clean our area rugs, so not my idea of fun. Shark®, recently reached out to me and asked If I'd like to try out their new Shark® Rotator Powered Lift-Away™ vacuum, that's designed with a HEPA filter and Shark’s Anti-Allergen Complete Seal Technology™ to capture 99% of allergens, this vacuum is also able to transition from carpet, rugs to hardwoods seamlessly while cleaning. I also love that this vacuum is perfect for pet owners, because we've been thinking about adding a little puppy to the family [ wish us luck on our search ] 

I was so happy with our new vacuum cleaner arrived, Its honestly the nicest vacuum cleaner I've ever owned an a breeze to put together. Everything clocks into place. The Shark® Rotator Powered Lift-Away™ comes with so many glorious attachments! There's pretty much an attachment for everything you need to clean your home. My favorite are the dusting tools for baseboards and hard to reach cobwebs and cleaning vents. Another favorite attachment of mine is the Hardwood Floor Genie Attachment, love it! Visit the Shark website here for more information about the attachments. 

The base of the Shark® Rotator Powered Lift-Away™, lights up and rotates in a way that makes cleaning under sofas and tables much easier. My old vacuum used to bang the base of my sofa, so I gave up even trying to vacuum under it. The suction power of the Shark® Rotator Powered Lift-Away™ is amazing! 

Again cleaning my hardwood floors is so much easy now, I can either use my vacuum cleaner or the Genie Hardwood Attachment, I simply hit one button to go from carpet to hardwood. The Genie Hardwood Floor Attachment comes with a washable microfiber cloth.

Honestly this vacuum has been a game changer in my house and makes me love vacuuming again. If you look closely in the above image, you'll see all the dust & icky my Shark® Rotator Powered Lift-Away™ picked up, eww right! I also love how easy the canister is able to be removed from the base and empty. They recommend rinsing the filter that resides inside every three months. I'm so thrilled with our new vacuum cleaner and super thrilled to no longer sweep our rugs! Thank you Shark® for making such an awesome vacuum cleaner! Now if you need me, I'll be cleaning my baseboards! 

Sponsored Post
Thank you Shark, this post is a sponsored post from Shark. While I received the Shark Rotator Lift Away, all content and experiences are my own. 

Ring My Bell

Our door bell sticks out like sore thumb, and just all around bugs me. Its dated and white and totally not my choice. After rebuilding our home, our contractor picked out the doorbell and installed it, I knew instantly it wouldn't replaced. A whole two years after moving back into our home, I finally found a fun doorbell replacement. 

After walking past a cute older home on my way into the 9-5 gig, I saw a cute pineapple doorbell and thought, that's exactly what my home needs! I bought a brass pineapple doorbell on Ebay here for under $10 bucks. Below is a picture of my old doorbell next to my new fun whimsical one. Big, Huge, difference right? 

This doorbell upgrade, is such a fun way to say hello to our guests and bonus points its lighted! My husband installed the new door bell in about five minutes, such a fast and happy update. I love the mixing metal finishes inside my. and love the mix of the black hardware pair with the brass hardware. Hopefully over time the our brass doorbell will patina. If you also have an ugly or boring doorbell, change it out! 

Beer On Tap at Home with Draftmark

Like most men, my husband would love a man cave to claim as his own. I joke that his man cave is our garage where his classic car project resides, but his classic car story is a whole other blog post. When I'm decorating our house, I try and take into consideration my husbands taste and merge our two styles into a home that hopefully is reflecting both our styles. I recently teamed up with Draftmark Home Tap System to surprise my husband with his own tap system at home carving out a little niche in the fridge that's all his. Plus sharing our 100% honest thoughts on the system along with how my husbands man cave would look. To say my husband was excited when our Draftmark Home Tap System arrived was an understatement, it's always fun to pour your own beer like a pro. I was happy the Draftmark Homme Tap System offers one of my favorite beers to drink, Shock Top in their product lineup. Click here to see the selection of beers they offer, remember you must be 21 years and up to enter their site. 

Before loading our Draftmark Home Tap System with Shock Top, we made sure to fully charge the system for six hours along with refrigerating the beer for six hours at the recommended temperature from Draftmark. We also watched the video on Draftmark.com that explains how to load the Draftmark Home Tap System and pour the perfect glass.  

The Draftmark Home Tap System takes up about as much room as a 12 - 24 pack of soda does in the fridge. Sharing this picture of the Draftmark System in our fridge makes me feel like I'm on MTV Cribs minus the fancy champagne bottles. 

I was introduced to Shock Top a few Summers ago when my husband and I were visiting Tahoe, and I loved its Summery taste. Its so much fun to pour myself a glass and cut a few orange slices and enjoy! As I mentioned above, Draftmark Home Tap System sent us their tap system to review, all thoughts are 100% our own. My husband thought it was fun and convenient, and cool to show off to friends pouring them a drink on tap at home. He also likes that it stays fresh for up to 30 days. We had Shock Top in the Draftmark Home Tap System for over two weeks and each pour was good as the first. 

Now back to my husbands man cave and how I would design it. I can totally picture it filled with posters of famous comedians and movies he likes [ all framed of course ] A vintage buffet with a record player on top along with a mini bar. I also picture a small glass front fridge with is Draftmark Home Tap System inside next to pineapple. He loves fresh pineapple. Could your home also use a Draftmark System?

Thank you Draftmark. This post a sponsored post from Draftmark, while I received a free Draftmark system to review all content and experiences shared here are my own.