10 Ideas for a Running a Smoother Household

I love making our home a relaxing, peaceful place.  It's been so nice settling down in San Diego with Wes.  It's hard to believe we've been here 6 months!  We live in a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath apartment in San Diego, but it's feels house-like because it's two stories (P.S. We want visitors!).  It's so fun, my dream really, to feel like we have our own household.  While I'm no expert, I wanted to share some tricks and ideas that I've found help the household run more smoothly. 

1. Pre-vacation cleaning is so worth it! Before going on a trip or vacation, whether it be for two days or two weeks, take 1 hour to clean your house, take out the trash, and put clean sheets on the bed before you leave.   It will subconsciously help you feel more centered while you're away. You don't want to feel like there is a massive to-do list waiting for you at home. 

2. Create a drop-station at your front door.  We didn't have this for the first 5 months in San Diego, and let me tell you, I REALLY wish I would have done this sooner.  There wasn't enough wall space for a console table, so we went vertical!  We took a 78" tall wrought iron, corner shelving unit from Hobby Lobby ($60) and put it at our entry.   I added a mirrored tray for car keys and fabric-lined wire baskets for mail, sunglasses, doggy bags, and Bentley's leash/harness.  Let me tell you how happy I am to not have our kitchen table covered in clutter. So worth it!

3. Have a 1-week rule for paper piles.  It's so easy to let mail, magazines, catalogs, promotional flyers, coupons, and receipts pile up on the counter.  We plan to "look at it later" but "later" becomes "never" and pretty soon we have a bunch of old, stale mail and receipts for $1 McDonald's ice cream cones to sift through.  It really helps to clear your paper items out weekly.

4. Combine puppy-washing day and shower-cleaning day.   We don't have a dog-washing station or garden hose at our apartment complex, so our puppychild, Bentley, gets the bathtub.  In the morning I'll wash Bentley, and then I'll immediately follow with doing a heavy-duty deep cleaning of our shower.   It's a great way to stay on schedule for both puppy-washing and shower-cleaning. 

5. Fix stains and resew loose buttons as SOON as you see them.  There are so many times where we will come across a shirt or item of clothing and wonder why we haven't worn it in the last 6 months.  Then we realize there is a stain or a loose button that needs a repair.  I've learned to never put the item back in the closet until it's fixed.

6. Make lunches the night before.  I love making my husbands lunch for him every day.  I love baking the bread, making the sandwiches, and throwing in surprises for him.  Sometimes I'll add notes to lift his spirit and let him know I appreciate and support him. Since he is in the military he gets up around 5am every morning, so it really helps me sleep peacefully knowing that I've done something to make him smile the next day.  

7. Always have a box of pretty blank cards on hand.  You'll never know when you need a card to say "thank you", "I love you", "You got this", "I miss you" or "I'm sorry".  Blank cards are a great way to go. I like to have a couple of varieties on hand, one more feminine and one more gender-neutral. It will save you a trip to CVS!

8. Refrigerate fresh flowers overnight and/or while you're at work.  It makes your flowers last 5x longer than they would if you left them out all day and night. I swear by this trick.  Once I got some flowers from my husband to last 3 weeks!  It's like they weren't real.

9. Send sponges and scrubbers through the dishwasher once a week.  Sponges are easy to forget about.  They sit there.  They do their job.   But sponges are the dirtiest cleaning device we could use.  It's like dousing our dirty sneakers with Lysol and trying to clean the floor.  Bad analogy, but you get the idea.  Just sent them through the dishwasher and you're set. 

10.  Create a filing system.  I grew up in a house that had a huge filing cabinet. My mom liked to print a hard copy of everything.  We can call her kill-a-tree-Kathy.  Hehe kidding. I love you, mom.  Everyone has their own method of managing important documents, right? Currently all of our important documents fit into one locked fireproof file box, but we will soon outgrow that.   There isn't one "right" way to organize important documents, but I think the important thing is that 1) You go through the files at least once a year to clear out irrelevant items, like oil-change receipts from your first car, 2) You know where each document is located, and 3) Sensitive information is well protected.  Happy organizing!

Love,

Mrs. Dylan Jahraus

15 Things to Consider Before Taking Your Engagement Photos

We were so blessed to be able to have 4 photoshoots before we got married, 3 in California and 1 in Minnesota.  P.S. I wasn't a crazy bride... 3 of those 4 were free of charge. After preparing for those 4 photoshoots and seeing what worked and what didn't, I have some helpful tips that I would like to pass along to all of the lovely engaged couples.  Hope you find these useful!

Fig & Rose Photography, La Jolla Shores

Tip #1: Whiten your teeth. Yes, it might sound vain, but you will be SO glad you did it.  The key here is that BOTH you and your partner should whiten, because otherwise there will be an obvious disparity. My husband and I whitened with Opalescence gel in trays for about 7 days before each photoshoot to touch up our original round of whitening.  White teeth brighten up your whole look.

Tip #2: Don't forget your LIPS.  This is for both ladies and gentlemen.  I see this in so many engagement photos... dried raisin lips. Ahhhhh!  I get it. You're taking pictures for 1+ hours. You're kissing a lot.   You're talking a lot.  Your lips are going to get dry.  But seriously bring a back up of chapstick for your man and bring something with color for you, whether that be a lip gloss, tinted lip balm or lipstick.  You will be so glad you did. 

Victoria Heer Photography, Balboa Park

Tip #3:  Add texture to your outfits.  It's really easy to focus on color or pattern when choosing your outfits. However, including texture really draws the eye to the two of you and adds depth and richness to the photos-- like a chiffon pleated dress (my fav), a quilted vest, fur accents, buckle details, a layered look, crinkled silk, an airy scarf, edgy leather, cozy flannel, eyelet details, cut outs, woven sweaters, ruched sides, ruffled sleeves, lace overlays, studs, sequins,  or suede.  

Tip #4: Take your engagement photos somewhere UNLIKE your wedding venue.  Take the opportunity to go for a totally different backdrop.  If your wedding is outside in the country, consider a more urban setting for your engagement photos.  If your wedding is inside, consider a more natural setting.  Our wedding was indoors in downtown Minneapolis, so our engagement photos were taken 1) on the beach, 2) in a park with lots of architecture, and 3) around the farm I grew up on. They all had a super different feel.

Victoria Heer Photography, Balboa Park

Tip #5: Clean your ring AND bring flowers!  Even if you just got it last week you should definitely clean it before your photo shoot.  And after seeing how amazing it was to have the bouquet of flowers at our shoot with Victoria Heer I would highly recommend bringing a bouquet as a prop.  The photographer will love having it to be creative with.  Look at what Victoria Heer did with my engagement ring the bouquet she brought for us!

Tip #6: Look on Groupon for photographer deals.  This sounds c r a z y, but we seriously paid $50 for all of our beach engagement photos with Dani Toscano of Fig & Rose Photography... yeah... and she was amazing!  The key here is to match up the Groupon deal photographer with their Yelp reviews and personal website so you can review their work.  She gave us 100+ retouched, yes all retouched, photos and all of the digital files.  Incredible!  Groupon frequently has 20-30% off coupon codes for local deals, too, so make sure to find a coupon online before you buy. 

Fig & Rose Photography, La Jolla Shores

Tip #7: Wear colors that ALSO coordinate with your home decor! Why? I realized this after our first photoshoot where I wore a pink & white dress.  I loved the photos, but we decorate mostly in beachy coastal colors like whites, grays, beiges, blues, greens... not pink.  If you have a great photo you would like to frame and display in your house, it's a great bonus if the colors flow nicely with your decor!  #alwaysthinkingahead

Tip #8: Practice any Pinterest poses that you want to copy beforehand.  You don't want to waste time pulling up Pinterest on your phone during the photoshoot to find that one cute engagement picture. Do the photographer a favor and practice it in a mirror beforehand so you're all set to go. 

Fig & Rose Photography

Tip #9: Ladies, try wearing something that will move with the breeze.  It looks really lovely in outdoor photos when you are wearing a floaty dress or skirt that flows nicely when there's a breeze.  While a structured sheath dress might look super classy, an airy, floaty ensemble will create interesting lines and a more lively, dreamy feel.

Tip #10: Request to receive all photos in color and not any in sepia or black and white.  Why?  Because you can always add the black and white or sepia filter yourself, but if there's a photo in black and white or sepia you can't reverse it to color yourself.  It gives you more options if there is a photo you love love love. 

Tip #11: Ladies, don't wear anything strapless.  For those close up shots of your faces you will probably look naked... and then it will look like an entirely different type of photo shoot.  Ehem, yeah.

Victoria Heer Photography

Tip #12: Make sure to get photos that feature the man, not just the woman.    A lot of photographers tend to focus the engagement session on the bride-to-be, showing more of her face, etc.  Sometimes they forget that the man is not just a prop.  The man is the handsome, incredible prince charming that swept her off her feet and he needs some face-time, too!  The amazing photographer Victoria Heer pointed this out to us and made sure to showcase my husband.

Tip #13: Choose posing-inspiration that matches your height ratios.  One amazing photographer, Victoria Heer, pointed out to me that a lot of couples have ideas for poses that totally don't work with their heights.  For example, if you and your partner are both 5'8" and you're trying to emulate a pose that is done with a 5'2" woman and 6'2" man it may not look the same... and it may not be possible without using stairs, etc.   Keep this in mind when looking for inspiration.

Fig & Rose Photography

Tip #14: Ask for a couple of individual shots as well.  It's nice to get an individual photo of each person during your engagement shoot, and sometimes couples forget to do this.  You'll be glad you got one and it's nice for mixing into your engagement shoot album. 

Tip #15: Don't schedule your photo shoot for a week night after work OR on a super busy day.  It might sound like it will work out, but chances are you'll feel rushed and it can translate into your photos.  Our most recent photo shoot in Minnesota was two days before our wedding... not my smartest idea.  Let's just say it was a jam packed, stressful day and we ended it with a photoshoot.  Wesley looked handsome as usual, but I felt like a hot mess express. 

Love,

Mrs. Dylan Jahraus

Our Wedding Video // Wesley & Dylan

Our long time family friend, Lisa Johnson aka Auntie Lisa, gave us the amazing gift of videography for our wedding.  Lisa filmed everything from the rehearsal dinner to the first dance and everything in between.  Literally, everything!  It was such a gift to have Lisa with us for all of the special moments, and we feel so blessed to have this footage to watch for years and years to come.  I can't wait to show our kids someday.  Before we left for San Diego she gave me all of the raw footage to play around with and I put together the video below with iMovie.  And let's just say I have a whole new appreciation for the art of videography.  Who knew you could spend an hour editing a 30 second clip!?

Contents

Getting Ready: 0:00 - 4:20

First Look: 4:20 - 7:30

Ceremony: 7:58 - 13:40

Cocktail Hour: 13:40 - 14:21

Bridal Party Introduction: 15:18 - 16:14

Dinner: 16:14 - 18:41

Speeches: 18:42 - 30:35

(Doug McCann, Father of the Bride: Starts 18:42 )

(Pat McMann, Best Man: Starts 19:51)

(Britnie Krueger, Matron of Honor: Starts 21:10 )

(Colleen McCann, Maid of Honor: Starts 22:22)

(Kathy McCann, Mother of the Bride: Starts 23:40)

(Wesley Jahraus, Groom: Starts 25:13)

(Jahraus Family: Starts 28:00)

First Dance & Dancing: 30:35 - 37:08

I hope you enjoy!!

Love,

Mrs. Dylan Jahraus

How to Make $1000+ Per Month Without a Job

This is something I haven't blogged about, but I'm hoping this post will help at least one person. For the past 6 months I haven't been "working."  I put it in quotes because I've been "working" as hard as I ever have, but perhaps not by society's standards.  When my Navy husband (boyfriend at the time) got orders for shore duty in San Diego back in October of 2015, I immediately started looking for work in San Diego.  I had spent 3.5 years building my career in e-commerce and had a great paying job in Seattle, a hub for e-commerce. San Diego, on the other hand, is a hub for biotech, life sciences, shipbuilding, and defense R&D (like drone and weaponry development).

When it came time to move to San Diego in January of 2016 I didn't have a job lined up yet.  However, we knew we wanted to get married this summer so we agreed it was best for our relationship for me to join him.  

There are only about two e-commerce companies large enough to have open headcount.  I found myself also applying to hundreds of jobs ranging from buying shipbuilding parts for the Navy to being an ambulance dispatcher.  And trust me, you don't want me answering your 9-1-1 call.  Hearing about medical emergencies makes me queasy. In the meantime, I felt a huge sense of guilt for not producing income, so I got creative and found some interesting ways to make it rain.

1. Rover.com  Rover.com is a dog walking/dog sitting service that connects dog owners to dog sitters.  Dog owners just click the dates that they need a sitter or walker and then they can choose from the dog sitter/dog walker profiles in their area.  I used Rover.com for Bentley when I used to travel for work, but here in San Diego I realized how easy it would be to offer the services, too.  I've built up a loyal clientele and have a regular schedule for walking dogs.  We have gotten some great long term stays as well as house sitting gigs for 1-2 weeks at a time.  In my first month I was making $400-$500, but now I make $1000+/month and it's relatively passive income especially when you are dog sitting or house sitting!  Rover.com takes a 15% cut, but it's a great way to build your clientele quickly.

2. CommunityCanineCare.com Basically, start a service-based company that meets the needs of your immediate community.  I recently created CommunityCanineCare.com to expand my dog walking/sitting/check-in business in a more profitable way.  Check it out at www.CommunityCanineCare.com.  As I began to build up a loyal Rover clientele and get some word-of-mouth referrals I realized how easy it would be to solicit business in the apartment communities where I already have clients.  The rates are the same as my rates on Rover, however, there's no 15% cut.   It just takes about 2 hours to build the website, $15 to buy the domain name, and $10 to create business cards to leave around the community. My husband and I also see this as a business we could potentially sell if/when we leave San Diego.  My apartment community has 1000 homes and about 30% of those have pets.  When fully ramped up it could bring in an additional $500-$3000 per month. 

3. Begonia Rose Co. (my Etsy store)  

I know what you might be thinking... omg another twenty-something who calls herself a "small business owner" because she has an Etsy store.  Not so.  This is really just an experiment.   I will humbly admit I have only one item listed so far and ZERO sales, ha! However, for 20 cents per listing per month I felt I had to give this a shot.  When I was wedding planning and creating all of the graphics, signs, floral decor, and bouquets for our July 1st wedding I realized how much I enjoyed physical creativity and how easy it was to create professional-looking home and wedding decor.  I started by launching one item, but I plan to add more items, especially digital files of graphics and wedding signage.  Hello, residual income!  Check it out here: Begonia Rose Co.

4. Sell your stuff!! As newlyweds in our mid-late twenties we combined all of our things and realized we had multiples of nearly everything. For a few days our place looked like an episode of "Hoarders." No joke.  For many bulky or non-branded items it's better to go to Goodwill and get a receipt for tax benefits, but for certain branded items, especially clothes and technical items, eBay is a great place to resell them.  Remember, if you don't wear something it's just depreciating in your closet.  Someone else might find it useful!  For furniture we would recommend Craigslist and consignment shops.  We've had success with both.

5. Thrift and resell on eBay!  Go to thrift stores or places like Salvation Army or Goodwill in upscale areas (like La Jolla, CA, etc.). Look for brand new or designer items (like Marc Jacobs for $5, seriously!), and resell them on eBay for 10-20x the cost you paid for them.  If you do this with 25 items you can make an extra $500-$1000/month.  The trick is doing preliminary research on brands, trends, and eBay pricing.  

6. Import items from China to sell on eBay and Amazon.  This is something I started doing when I was looking for good deals on wedding items.  I found rose petals, bridesmaids' jewelry, flower girl jewelry, silk robes (see photo on right) and more!  I realized that identical items are selling on eBay and other sites for 3-4x the price I could get direct from the Chinese factory. So I started sourcing my own items to resell on eBay.  I started with two different jewelry styles and ordered samples to test first.  I highly recommend using Terapeak, a platform that provides great data and insights for resellers.  You can easily make $100-$500/week doing this if you find the right product to sell! Need help or have questions? Message me!  

Love,

Mrs. Dylan Jahraus

My Husband's Birthday

Today marks my husband's 28th birthday!  YAY!  I LOVE finding creative ways to make birthdays extra special.  This morning I surprised him at work with donuts to share with his coworkers and a Chipotle lunch.  I was about 5 seconds from bringing a piñata, too, but something tells me it wouldn't have gone over well on the naval base. 

Calories don't count on your birthday. 

When I got home a started on "the big birthday project," a 100% from scratch German Chocolate triple layer birthday cake.  I've never made a German Chocolate cake before, but I got all my ingredients yesterday and I was ready to conquer this.  I used this recipe that had 4.5 stars and 600+ reviews, so I figured it had a high success rate.  The cake turned out AMAZING.  Well we haven't tried it yet, but it looks amazing.  And other than the fact that I dropped one of the three layers and it had to turn it into a two layer cake, everything is going beautifully.  Hey, it will be be a better icing to cake ratio, right!?

Tonight I'm excited to take him to a nice steak and seafood restaurant on the San Diego waterfront called Island Prime. It had 4.5 stars and 1300+ Yelp reviews, so hopefully it will be another winner. 

I am so happy to be celebrating Wesley's birthday with him 1) here in San Diego and 2) as his wife. When I think back to last year he was underway on the submarine on his birthday. I did my best to pack an itty bitty birthday box for him to open out at sea, but it wasn't the same. This is 1000000x better, and I hope he feels nothing but love, support, encouragement, and happiness.   I can't wait to see what God has in store for Wesley's life and our marriage in this coming year.

One of my favorite photos of Wesley.  I love his expressive joy.

Maybe I'll do a post on creative birthday ideas for your husbands next week! 

Love,

Mrs. Dylan Jahraus
(Eeeee!! I love writing that.)

Big Risk, Big Reward

I'm back!!! Welcome to MODERN WIFE LIFE!  Woooooo!!! I created Modern Wife Life as my new platform for sharing inspiration, tips, advice, and thoughts in my new chapter of life as a wife.  Modern Wife Life will grow with me through future milestones. Yes, I'll still have posts on fashion and beauty, but also career, marriage, family and creating a beautiful home and a beautiful life.

I spent about 7 years building my blog, Always Dolled Up.  I started it when I was 18 years old, a freshman in college.  I am proud of the persistence I poured into Always Dolled Up to take it to 6.5 million hits.

Why start over?  1) I love building businesses. 2) I need a fresh start to live creatively beyond fear.

I took a risk when I started Always Dolled Up.  I risked being judged, criticized and rejected for sharing my thoughts and ideas. However, big risk, big reward.  In 7 years my blog led me to an internship in New York, to the London College of Fashion, to Zappos in Las Vegas, to Zulily in Seattle, and ultimately to finding my incredible husband, the love of my life.  None of those things would have happened without Always Dolled Up.

Yes, I was judged. My personal character was criticized. And at first it shook me. I felt diminished. For a moment I felt it wasn't worth it to blog anymore out of fear of further rejection.

But when I wake up every morning in sunny San Diego next to my incredible husband I remember that God gave me a gift. He gave me the the gift of relating to, inspiring, and helping people through the unique platform of blogging. And sometimes you just have to put on your blinders, keep your chin up, and follow your calling.  Big risk, big reward. I can't wait to see what God does through this platform.

I sincerely hope you will join me on this journey through Modern Wife Life.

Love,

Mrs. Dylan Jahraus