The Beginning! Well... the *New* Beginning.

I miss blogging. A lot.

So... I'm going to start blogging again. 

This blog turned into an "only photos of my kids" blog, 

and even though I love my kids and love showing them off (hee hee ;-) ), 

I miss blogging for *me*... and gosh darn it, 

I don't have anything that is for *me* anymore, so here goes... 

My blogging hiatus is over! :D

I'll be posting organization tips/photos. 

And some tasty (and easy!) recipes.
DIY projects.
Decorating endeavors.

Hopefully, some scrapbooking. ;-)
Some kids stuff.
Favorite products.
A review here and there.
Favorite things, clothes, can't-live-without-products, etc.
And maybe some... dare I say it... fashion. *gasp*
(Let's face it... jeans, a tee, and TOMS shoes is "fashion" to me. ;-) )

First off, my pantry!

It's no surprise I love The Container Store.
I love containers. I love organizing.
And well, I worked there for two years. LOL. ;-)
Truth be told, I had never stepped foot in a Container Store

until the day of my interview.
True story.
I had *seen* one.
I had looked in the windows,

but I never really had time to go. *sigh*
(I regret that now. :-/ )

Anyway, I adore their products, but especially elfa.
We now have elfa in SIX rooms in our house.
(Okay, seven if you want to count 

the cabinet-sized drawer unit in our master bath's linen closet. ;-) )

Our pantry was the 7th space, and boy, was I excited!

I forgot to take a "before" shot, but here is the "during" shot (taken with my crappy phone camera)! LOL. ;-) 

Here's the completed, full-pantry shot that I posted on Instagram. :-)

We already had the Door & Wall rack, but I did rearrange that just a bit, 

since our new shelves created a more efficient space.

And here's the top half of the pantry:

Product list:

Stackable handled basket (discontinued, but looks like this item replaced it).
(That basket holds lunch bags and extra water bottles.)

Reduce WaterWeek bottles.
Stack baskets.

Cereal/Snack dispensers.

Handled baskets.
Snack container (similar one here or here).

Bottom half:

Acrylic canisters.

Tea bag storage container.

Same handled basket above. Holds recycling.
Pet food container.

Small crunch can (holds dirty linens, hand towels, bibs, etc).
Behind the crunch can, I have the food processor and coffee maker 

(two things i really don't use anymore...
coffee maker is for guests and food processor doesn't get much love, now that i have a VitaMix).

I'm glad it's done,

and I love the way it turned out. :-)

I'll be posting a "kitchen cabinet tour" tomorrow! :-)

Organizing the Master Bathroom.

Need some help organizing your bathroom? ;-)

Ours was in need of some revamping. Okay, so I'm pretty organized, but hubby's side seems to 

be in disarray every few months. He's very neat, clean and organized too, but...

well, sometimes he just gets... busy. ;-)

*Unless noted, containers/bins are from The Container Store. :)

His side:

On top of his sink, *Before*...

And *After*...

His side: drawers and top of counter, *Before*...

And *After*...

(I put my toothbrush in here too. Made more sense to me...) 

Second drawer, "Before"...

I moved the first aid supplies (from my side of the cabinet) to the bottom drawer,

and I moved the trimmer (which is missing from above photo

because it was in use) and dog stuff to the other bathroom.

And *After*...

Close-up:

Under his sink:

(This shot of the "before" pretty much stayed the same, so I don't have an "after" shot.

I just moved the extra "feminine stuff" to the linen closet instead...)

And my side:

On top of sink *After*...

(didn't take a before shot because the only thing I did was remove the blow dryer... LOL. :-p )

And my jewelry essentials (plus tweezers/nail clippers):

(When it comes to earrings, I usually wear one of three pairs,

so I just keep those in little Amac boxes on the left.)

My main drawer, *Before*.... 

And *After*...

(These baskets, from Ikea, were actually holding first aid supplies at first,

but I much prefer them in *my* drawer. So pretty. :-) )

Believe it or not, those are ALL the things I use on a daily basis:

my lotions, perfumes, make-up, etc. 

I used to have LOTS more,

but I just tossed everything I wasn't using. 

Love keeping it simple. :-D 

Back basket has eye cream, baby shampoo [to remove eye makeup], and blemish cream. 

Right basket has 2 perfumes, deodorant, 

sunscreen, and two facial moisturizers.

Front basket holds my makeup bag [Vera Bradley], 

and I only own *one of each* of the essentials: 

foundation, concealer, loose powder (translucent), 

blush, mascara, eye lash curler, concealer brush,

blush brush, foundation brush, 

eye shadow, chapstick, lip color/gloss. 

I *may* have an eye pencil, but I don't remember... LOL.

LOVE that I only have one bag of makeup, so I can just "grab and go" if I need to. 

99% of the time, I just wear concealer (under eyes only), blush and lip gloss/chapstick. :-p

My bottom drawer, *After*...

(Forgot the before shot, but it was all the first aid supplies.)

I'm addicted to Halls Breezers, so I always have a stash. LOL. ;-)

Under my sink (this didn't need organizing...) 

Hair barrettes, bobby pins, elastics are in left basket.

Nail polish, nail polish remover and files are in right basket.

Jewelry (other than daily essentials) are in the drawers (from Ikea).

 In top jewelry drawer: 

Bottom jewelry drawer: 

With top jewelry tray removed:

That's about it! 

Medications and other first aid supplies are kept in the linen closet

(which is also in our bathroom).

I'll be posting that soon! :-)

Hope this gave you some good organizational ideas!

Do you struggle with your bathroom organization, 

or do you feel like you have a handle on it?

Sharing FULL Scrap Room.

So... back in May, I posted a sneak of my scrap room.

It was so cool to be in Creating Keepsakes' special issue (Creative Spaces),

and I figured I'd give it a couple months...

they probably wanted us to wait like 30-60 days or something.

I didn't ask about the exact time period. Maybe I should have. ;-)

So it dawned on me the other day that I STILL hadn't shared

my scrap room in full. UGH! I had to get on that.

So....

Without further ado...

My Scrap Room!

(you can click on the photos to make them larger!)

When you walk through the the french doors 

(that we actually removed because I wanted the room to be an extension of the living room...) 

And when you look to the left... 

And when you look to the right...

*cute curtains from Pier 1... now discontinued :-(

And when you keep walking straight ahead to the right,

you turn that corner, and enter my little sitting area nook... 

Took me a lot of tweaking to get the nook just right.

The loveseat is an Ektorp from IKEA. 

Didn't plan to have this loveseat in here, as we bought it 

as our "for now" furniture for our first apartment in Austin.

This cover was on clearance for THIRTEEN DOLLARS (yeah, down from like... $140).

So I was *ecstatic* that it matched perfectly. :-)

The bookcase behind the loveseat?

Believe it or not, that used to be a twin bed headboard! 

My dad and sister added spindles to each side, and they made it

into an entertainment unit. And I inherited it from them. :-)

Jeremy added legs, so that it would sit perfectly behind the loveseat.

(Jeremy's brilliant idea, not mine. ;-) )

(It REALLY needs lamps and/or plants on either side. Some day... :-) )

So I re-painted it, altered the inside with October Afternoon's Hometown 

scrapbook paper (one of my favorite collections of all time),

and added cute knobs and fun things. :-)

Pillows from Target.

Poms from Jo-Ann's dollar spot.

Stool from IKEA (painted to match my color scheme).

Knobs from Anthro.

Document boxes from The Container Store.

Everything else was found secondhand at thrift stores/antique stores/vintage shops.

So here are more shots around the room...

This is looking back toward the door of the room,

so the left wall when you first walk in... 

elfa Shelving (on sale right now till Feb 13th!!)

Canvas bins.

American Crafts albums.

Photo drawers (a la Stacy Julian's LOM).

And a close-up...

Shoe storage holds punches.

Acrylic organizer (that I'm now finding a new home for...) holds stamp pads and stuff.

Ribbon cabinet.

Dress Forms.

Jane Joss fabric branch.

Be Inspired print.

Desk chair is a commercial/retail chair. 

I got it at a vintage shop in Austin, but what's really funny...

these same chairs are used at Taco Cabana all over Austin! LOL. :-p

And my work table.

Cardstock and patterned paper under work space.

Embellishment drawers (original and altered).

Kit storage.

Friends frame with my altered switchplate.

At other angles...

"Reyanna" sign I've had since 1985. 

My dad had them made for all of us kids.

He *only* took them out at Christmastime, 

so I was so glad when he gave it to me to look at every day. :-)

After MUCH debate about altering it, I decided to keep it

in all its original wood glory. :-D

Alphabet sticker/Thicker organization (far left on paper shelf).

Bold boxes (under paper).

UglyDoll: Wedgehead.

Current kit/favorite papers in progress (on left) sit in this.

Phew.

I know... A LOT of photos. But I hope you enjoyed my scrap room tour!

Thank you for looking!

I hope to do a video tour too. :-)

That would have to be in pieces though because it would be LOOOOONG!

And you would probably get sick of me. LOL. :-p

If you have any questions or need more close-ups, 

please let me know! 

I can always do a follow-up post. :-D

p.s. If you're looking to redecorate a room, try these coupons for Home Depot.

Growing Up: Hattie at One Month

Can it be? Hattie is one month old?! Well, actually she's one month and one week, but I'm a bit slow getting here. Babies, you know, are a lot of work and take a lot of time. ;-) Good work and good time! :-D She's so much fun! :-)

And I so need to learn how to use our DSLR, so I can take more *good* photos. :-) *sigh*

At one month...

She's about 22 inches long. (probably a bit longer... she's very wiggly! LOL!)

She's about 9.5 pounds.

She is long and skinny. I have to sell the cloth diapers I have and buy different ones... because the ones I bought? Apparently, they are not for skinny-legged babies, and sometimes poopy leaks onto her clothes. LOL. (I totally thought she'd be a chubby baby!) Ah well. :-)

(A poopy-looking photo, but I just wanted you

to see how long and skinny she is. Heeee!)

She is finally in 0-3 month clothes. Some are still too big for her though (like the outfit above!). Tee hee.

On September 13th, she had her first *real* smile (as in, woke up in the morning, I said, "Hi, Baby Girl!!" And she smiled right at me. ;-) ).

She's such a great sleeper...

(This photo is during a nap, while I was right there.

At night, she's swaddled and on her back. And yes,

you do see yellow, orange and green. Pink is not her color. ;-) )

She's pretty much like clock-work: cat nap around 6 or 7pm, falls asleep at 11:30pm, wakes up at noon. I nurse her around 4:30am or so, and she stays asleep. She then wakes up around 8:30 or 9am to nurse again, then back to sleep till noon.

She does not like a pacifier unless she's sleeping or falling asleep. I didn't want her to have one at all, but sometimes she just needs to suck... and she's not hungry, so I won't do. She gets it, calms herself, then spits it out. :-)

She is SUCH a content baby. She only cries at night when she's super tired and doesn't nap well that day. And *sometimes* she cries when she's hungry... if I'm not fast enough getting ready for her. LOL. :-p

She wakes up in the morning (and from her naps), and she's in such a great mood. Just lies there, taking it all in. She doesn't cry... she stretches and looks around for a bit. I hang out with her for a few minutes before I pick her up. She's so happy. :-)

Loves being in the Moby wrap and helping me cook...

Loves to have her hands up by her face.

Loves tummy time (we started this at five-six days old, a day or two after her umbilical cord fell off). On the boppy, she's getting so strong on her tummy that she can push off with her feet and arms and fall forward onto her head... that is, if I'm not there to catch her. LOL. It's never actually happened, but I know it would if I walked away. (eek!)

Has a *super* strong head, and she can hold it up during tummy time and when I'm just carrying her around.

Is close to rolling over from back to tummy. She can do it with just a nudge from me. ;-)

She is so captivated by the telephone, and she loves when my mom or dad or Jeremy are on the other line (on speaker phone). :-)

She loves music! She has very eclectic tastes though... U2, Point of Grace and Raffi seem to be current favorites. ;-)

She had her first trip to The Container Store on September 4th! She LOVED it! Okay... she was asleep the whole time. LOL. But *I* really enjoyed showing her off to my co-workers. :-) And yes, *of course* I got a photo! That has to be documented. ;-)

I'll try to update more often. I really must have Jeremy (or someone...) teach me how to use the good camera. LOL.

Until next time... :-D

Re-working Our Closet

I shared our closet here after we moved into our new house. But after living in it for a while, I discovered that there were a few changes I wanted to make. So... I thought I'd share them. :-)

My scarves used to hang on a pants hanger (which did work great for taking up little space!), but I realized that I hardly ever wore them because I couldn't really *see* them all, and they hung in the way back with my other long-hang stuff (dresses). So I got some new hooks and attached them to the shelf above and hung them right next to me belts:

I really like them like this! I can see all of them now, AND I wear them more. YES! Also, our hamper used to live where that step-stool is, so I just moved it to Jeremy's side of the closet. :-) This way the step-stool is RIGHT under the top bins and my dress shoes (that live in these on the top shelf), which also creates easier access. Double YES! :-D

And I replaced the shelf with this elfa shelf basket to hold my purses! My necklaces have always hung here too, but I've just never showed a photo. LOL. :-p

Then above my purses, you can see my bins o' stuff. ;-)

Here's a close-up. I switch them around depending on what season it is. But that hand wash bin?! That one always stays here. I used to just throw them in a pile or throw them in the hamper, hoping I'd catch them on laundry day. HA! I LOVE this solution. If you have hand-wash-only items (or simply items that are machine-wash, hang-to-dry), I *highly* recommend a special bin for them. Ahhh... makes my life so much simpler. I put bras here too. :-)

The other bins hold hats, slipper socks, and gloves/beanies. I also have one to the left of the purses, and that one holds my slippers. :-)

And those are the changes I've made! I'm loving how much more functional it's become!

Any cool ideas for organization in your own closet?

Leaving Something (Special) Behind.

I quit my job yesterday.

It's bittersweet, really.

Those of you who know me know that I LOVED my job. LOVED it. It was so perfect for me, and every time I was there, it felt like Christmas. Christmas for two years. LOL. I'd be having a bad morning/afternoon, and my mom would say to me, "Don't worry! You'll get to work and feel MUCH better! And when you get off work today, you'll be in a MUCH better mood." And you know, I knew she was right... every.single.time. Not many people can say that about their jobs. I absolutely LOVED being there.

I hate to say it, but I quit for "health reasons." I just couldn't handle them counting on me anymore... knowing that I might be too sick to work. And I found myself resting during every hour I *wasn't* at work, preparing myself for the next shift, so that I could give 150%: my perky, positive, upbeat self. That's not a life, and this *will* be a good thing. It will be. It's the best for me. For us. And I just have to keep telling myself that when I'm missing work.

It's okay though! Jeremy (hubby) has been encouraging me to do this for MONTHS now. We want to have a baby, I want to be a stay-at-home Mom, I want to homeschool, I want to go to church on Sundays, I want to spend more time with Jeremy, we want to travel more, and I want to open an Etsy shop (EEEEEE!). And I want to take care of my husband: cooking, cleaning, doing errands, etc. I *enjoy* that. And I can still go back and visit my awesome co-workers.

And I can still help people organize outside of work, right?!

So yeah... if you have ANY organizational dilemmas (scrappy or otherwise), please don't hesitate to drop me an email or post. I would LOVE to help you. I actually think I'll do a "series" of organizational videos on YouTube. And now, I have plenty of time on my hands to rest, be well, and help people out with organizing!

Thanks for listening to me babble. I just needed to vent about it.

*sigh*

I feel better.

p.s. I don't usually copy and paste blog posts, but this was actually a forum post I wrote. It said everything I needed to say, everything I'm feeling, so I decided to post it here too... so I could look back and remember.