Goodbye Mr. Ebert

We've lost an amazing man today.  He will be missed

I believe that if, at the end of it all according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is the best we can do.

                                                                    -Roger Ebert

What's new?

I for one am ridiculously excited about spring weather.

The mild winter doesn't bode well for a very comfortable summer, but I'll enjoy the 80 degree highs while they last.

I've been really into wearing my spring dresses.  It's super fun to pull out the real birghts.

Around the house, we've been making some small improvements too.  We replaced the old, nasty ceiling fan in the kitchen with a track light.  A million times better.  And I hung up some art that Brett bought me for Christmas.  Waiting to get the last two hung up and our new console table to be delivered and I can work on getting rid of the last of my college furniture.  I don't think we'll ever get rid of the lamp/table/magazine rack of Brett's.  Sadly.

I also cut my hair really short again for Spring/Summer.  I tried growing it out last summer and I was just never ever happy with it.  So again, I've slowly cut more and more off until I ended up here.

Since we're now in April, I wanted to revisit some of my goals for this year.

First: be more organized and get my shit together

Ha!  No.  All I can say is no.

Focus on quality and only buy things I love

Giving up shopping for Lent helped with this, I think.  I made it the whole time, and it got me out of the habit.

When we decided to buy a console table this week, it was easy for me to decide to shop around for the best bargain, and spend a little more on one that could last us a very long time.  I've tried to apply this as much as possible, whether it's buying a soap dispenser or replacing all of my pajamas that wore out at once.  Quality is worth it if it means I don't have to constantly buy more shit.

Focus on health

Working on it.  Still working on it.

More pink and shiny things

Well, see the dress above?  Early this year I also bought my second cambridge satchel.  In hot pink.  I need to take some photos of it, because it is seriously a STATEMENT.  I love it though.

Have more fun

Definitely.  Lady Gaga concert, visiting friends in Boston, playing drunk air hockey for three hours, eating crawfish in the backyard.  Fun is a priority for us right now and I'm really loving it.

Get a new tattoo

Done.  I kind of want to get another one.  Like ASAP.

I really need to take some pictures now that it's healed, but you can see the bottom peeking out here.  I LOVE it.

Upcoming things I'm psyched about.  Getting/styling my new console table.  Cleaning out the guest room closet (we have literally NO IDEA what's in there, but it's totally full.  Maybe we'll find a million dollars!), getting some vintage Louisiana maps framed and hung, and framing a set of old drafting tools I bought for $5.  Also possibly dying the living room curtains and making some floral pillows.  And rewiring a lamp.

Let's see how much of that actually happens.  Let's just see.

Hearts

I may not be able to get the peacock headboard of my dreams (unfortunately, I live with a boy). But I can have a chair.

$3 from an estate sale, just in time for Valentina's day. Now I just have to decide what to do with it.

What I've been wearing

Here's a sample of some of the things I've worn over the past couple of weeks.  In that time, our weather has fluctuated from rainy and in the 30s, to sunny and mid-70s.  So there's a big range is what I'm saying.

 

 Work bathroom pic!

 New bracelet (sale from Anthro)

Featuring a new cardigan and t-shirt (J. Crew after XMas!)

This dress is actually WAY too big, but after I tie it it's not really noticeable.  Good thing because I love it!

I thought this was a pretty boring outfit, and someone pointed out that I'm wearing a basically neon shirt.  So...

Fehvrit

Just noticed that there are two key print items in this rundown.  Ha!

HEARTS!

New dress, new shoes, happy girl.

In with the new

Like I said in my last post, 2013 is the year to get my shit together.  And I'm starting off big.

Just in time for epiphany, I took all of the Christmas decorations down today, and decluttered SLIGHTLY in the process.  I always hate how empty the house looks when the Christmas tree is gone.  It just looks sad.  But on the bright side, that also means the beginning of Mardi Gras season!  I'm celebrating this afternoon by getting slightly day-drunk (note:  I wrote most of this yesterday.  Not getting drunk at work, I swear).

But that's really nothing compared to what I spent yesterday (and a couple of days before that scouting and buying supplies) cleaning.

OH GOD LOOK AWAY!

Believe it or not these pictures were taken after I'd been at it for awhile.  There is just...SO MUCH STUFF.  And more than that it's just piled everywhere and makes no sense.

Yeah a bunch of stuff had gone into the donate pile and most of my dresses were pulled out at this point.  As you can see, the shoe rack on the door was just not big enough to handle my - admittedly large- shoe collection.  I love shoes.  I do not love cramming them into a 2" gap between shelves.

And here's the impetus behind the whole thing.  I got a 10 pack of huggable hangers in my stocking this year (well, beside my stocking).  And I loved them, really loved them.  I have a lot of shirts that just slip right off the hangers, but these are incredible.  As far as the space saving claim goes, they do save space but the "double your closet space" claim is bogus.  It's not that much of a savings.  But in the end I would definitely say they're worth it.

Another big problem is the towels busting out of a shelf that's not deep enough to hold them.  And these cloth storage bins that I bought almost ten years ago, and which now just have random crap shoved in them.  Brett's side was in better shape than mine, but he still had random piles of crap.

A big part of the problem is those wooden shelves.  When we moved in I thought it would be great to have all of that storage space.  But they are so randomly and oddly placed that they're almost useless.  A couple of them are 6 or 7 inches wide.  All of them are only like 9 inches deep.  Just not great.  But the biggest issue is us not keeping it in good shape.  And I'll own it, having too many clothes.

So my plans were:

• replace the hangers
• Move things I use often down to my level.
• improve scarf/tights situation
• move my sweaters into the closet
• find a better place for Brett's shorts
• rethink towel storage
• replace cloth bins with clear storage

Midway through it still looked like this.  And I was ready to murder someone.

 But look!  All of my clothes fit in one side!

At the end of that day, I was left with this.

Empty shelves!  Shoes visible and not crammed into tiny spaces or piled everywhere!  And dude, someone wears a lot of plaid.

Towels neatly folded with room to spare (although I wish we could go completely to the turkish thin towels.  I love them, love how little space they take up.  Brett's not a big fan).!  Handbags visible and not stuffed into a bin!  Necklaces not tangled together and easily accessible!

So my system is

• dresses on the left, organized by color
• shelves to hold sweaters and shorts
• a drawer at the bottom for dry cleaning
• shirts and jackets on the top right, organized by color
• skirts and jeans on the bottom
• Necklaces easy to see and grab
• Bracelets, rings, etc. in trays, easy to find what I'm looking for
• Shoe racks with shoes worn most often near the center
• Boots stored under dresses, belts looped over the rear hanging bar

The reality is that I'm never going to have a beautiful closet.  I could pull out everything and paint the walls bright white, I could change out the light fixture to something that has more than one bulb, I could rip out the ugly wooden shelves.  And I may do those things.  But I won't.  I actually may do the light thing after my next Ikea trip, but nothing more than that.

But even with this small change, it just feels so much better in there.  Lighter, less oppresive.  I don't feel like clothes are going to rain down on me any moment.  And I get to look at all my pretty shoes.

There are a couple of more things I'd love to do.  I want a laundry sorting system in here, but we're limited on space.  I also want a full length mirror.  If not in the closet, then in the bedroom.  For now, I'm just happy to have all of my clothes visible!

So what next?  Probably my craft closet but oh lord, that's going to be an undertaking.

So, it's 2013

I can't really believe it's a new year.  2012 was one of the worst and best years of my life (first half: worst, second half: best) so I'm happy to ring in the new year and continue the great streak I've been on for the past few months.  I'm back at work after a great holiday break.  Seriously so relaxing.  I should take three weeks off more often.

We've also made some changes I need to post about, once I figure out how to take pictures of the smallest room on earth.  But here's a teaser.  We had most of the common areas of the house painted due to some Hurricane Isaac/our air conditioner leaking water everywhere damage. Having to take everything down and put it back up has given me a little motivation to reevaluate all of our STUFF.  There is just SO MUCH STUFF.  We have a couple of areas that I really love.

Jeez, I want to replace that lamp.

But when I take down my holiday decorations, there will be some evaluation of all of the things.  And this desire has tied in strongly to my goals for the coming year.

In 2013, I want to

• be better organized
• focus on quality over quantity
• only buy things I love
• focus on health
• have more pink and shiny things
• get another tattoo
• have more fun

I have some other goals, but this is what I've got for public consumption.  My overall mantra for this year is to be cool. Yes, cool in that I'm so cool.  But also, don't sweat the small stuff, be brave, be spontaneous.  Just be cool.

I will.

We have to go back!!!

 

Sure, it was colder there two months ago than it is here now.  But I still feel the need to go back to Colorado AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

Of course, there's a reason why we were there.

We saw this dude at the expo.

And my dad and his friends rocked their first ever marathons.

And my mom and I spent some time chilling in the city of Denver

But the real fun came when we experienced the natural wonders that Colorado has to offer.

First in the Garden of the Gods.

And then at Pike's Peak

I'm not exactly sure when during the trip my brother became a teenage girl in Japan, but it happened.

Apparently the climate this year caused the Aspens to change a little early, and they were peaking exactly when we were there.  We were lucky.  Really, really lucky.

Bad habits

I've always been a nail biter. It's a gross habit, for sure. And it keeps me from using my extensive nail polish collection.

I've heard it takes 21 days to break a habit. And I'm proud to say I got there.

Now I just have to stop picking at the skin around them and I'll be good to go.

Thirty before 30: two months in

I thought I would give a quick update on how I'm doing and how I feel about my "life list."

When I started the list, I had 36 months to complete, and thirty tasks.  So I'm attempting to go at a pace of one a month.  Of course, some of them will take more time than others.  But here's a quick update.

1.  write a letter to my grandmother every month

I am LOVING this.  We've exchanged two letters so far and she'll get another from me next week.  She's telling me stories about when she was growing up, and I look forward to reading it each time.  I have big plans for this, but it's a surprise.

2.  make a quilt

Um, the pieces are cut.  No more progress.

3.  make a beautiful piece of art

I've been practicing my watercolors and have all the supplies!

10.  climb a mountain trail

Okay, I intended this one to mean planning a trip to the Smoky Mountains with Brett and hiking up one of the smaller trails with Brett.  I never planned on seeing the things I saw last week.  So while I didn't CLIMB the 14,000 foot peaks we saw, I am checking this one off.  Because those experiences were all I was looking for and more.  Done!

Post about this one to come.

11.  see Lady Gaga in concert

US tour starts like next month, and tickets go on pre-sale next week!  I'm planning on seeing it in St. Louis with another Gaga super fan, my mom.  Which brings me to...

13.  travel somewhere with my mom

So we'll be spending a long weekend in St. Louis together in January.  We had so much fun last weekend maybe we'll plan something else too!

19.  frame family photos in a beautiful way

Have the pictures, just need to decide how I want to do it and get the frames. I'll probably add some pictures from our trip this week too!

22.  get rid of the clutter

Working on it.  Our kitchen is SO much better organized now it's ridiculous.  And my closet too.  We also got rid of cable/satellite (which is kind of like mental clutter?) and were able to get rid of some living room furniture which I am loving.

23.  stop biting my nails - for good!

This is hard.  If I have a manicure I can do it.  Otherwise they're in my mouth.  Gross.

24.  get my Six Sigma Green Belt certification

I passed my test!  Just working on the paperwork!  Whooooooooooo!!!!!!

27.  donate $1000 to charity

I'm trying to decided what to do about this one.  I don't think I was really thinking when I set this goal.  I guess I was thinking that it would be fun to write a $1000 check all at once to a charity.  But the reality is that over three years or even over a year this is not really a lofty goal for me.  So this one is likely to change to a different, but related goal.

Check it off

Every once in a while, there's one of those experiences where you never even realized it was on your bucket list. But when you experience it, it's so incredible that you have to add it and check it off at the same time.

Driving up Mt Evans was one of those experiences.

More to come from my trip to CO once I sleep and get the pictures from the camera!

PINK

I'm pretty sure I'm in a full on obsession with pink.  And red, orange, and yellow.  I think it's interesting that I love brighter, warmer colors and patterns when I'm in a better state of mind.  But guys, this is more than just a crush.  This is a love affair.

Here are some things I'm obsessed with lately.

Pink suede loafers from the Gap.  $40.  They had yellow ones with tassels too (I DIE FOR THOSE) but they're already sold out.

The pink wash on this pottery by Dawn Vachon via Design Sponge.  A GORGEOUS color.

A large scale polka dot in bright pink, from spoonflower. 

A painting by Emily Rickard.  I am obsessed with the colors.

Ankle boots from Zara.  $100.  I feel like I might deal with heels for these (they also come in a berry pink).

Phone cases made from Jenny Vorwaller's art.  We have tentative plans to switch carriers, and I'm waiting for the iPhone 5.  But if that requires a new case this will be it as soon as they make them.

Gum paste hearts make for possibly the cutest cake on the planet.  $24 from Signe Sugar.

I'm a tray addict.  They're my favorite thing from corralling things that the cats like to knock off the bedside tables.  This floral one would bring some color and cheer to my bedside table for $34.

Besides pink and red, I'm also obsessed with hearts.  This Andy Warhol print would satisfy all of those at once.

And while we're on the subject of prints, how about this one from Christopher Wool.  It's sold out, but that shock of color would be such a great shot of color.

Maybe I'll get tired of this quickly, but maybe pink is here to stay.  I'm trying not to make rash decisions, like the previously mentioned painting my bedroom pink.  But there is currently a pink house for sale in our dream neighborhood, and I would be lying if I said the color didn't scream IT'S PERFECT at me when I drive by on my way to yoga.

For the short term, I desperately want some new art to go over our bed, so I'm going to be painting something that would fit right in this post.  And I'm hoping I can raid my fabric stash to make some throw pillows that will wake up the place.  We also have a print I made in our kitchen that's in the blue family (it says "I love you like biscuits and gravy").  Cute, but I'm tired of it and I don't even like biscuits and gravy.  So I've made a replacement that's a cute printed version of Brett's great grandmother's cornbread recipe.  In pink.  A little something for both of us.  Win win?