Monday, November 29, 2010

Mission: Organization




Kyle and I have lived in our grown-up house for over a year now, but there are hints of 'college living' scattered throughout the place. One major eye-sore was our closet. Look at that crate full of shoes and empty shoe box! UGH! When buying this house, the closet was a major plus. It was HUGE and had all of the shelving I could dream of. However, during the frenzy of moving in, I just kind of put stuff in the closet without much thought. Well, throughout the year it became increasingly clear what a pain it was to store purses and backpacks on the top shelf, which was way of of reach not to mention a backpack would fall on me if a hanger happened to catch on it. Then there was the case of jewelry. It was stored in containers and I NEVER used it. What's the point of having jewelry if I never wore it? I could either get rid of my jewels or find some way to access it on a daily basis. Thus mission organization began...

K and I headed to Target and searched around their Organization and Storage department. We picked up this, a ClosetMaid cube organizer and a drawer to go in it. While Kyle was putting it together I cleared the white wall- goodbye extra-large white crate! Once the cubicle was put together, the fun began. First thing's first- PURSES! The four cubes on the bottom right and middle contain purses. Despite what it looks like, the purses are in there with room to spare (as opposed to stuffed in and practically falling out aka my last apartment!). The left three cubbies contain (in descending order): Kyle's hats, my belts, and a poncho. The top middle cubbie holds my pashmena (sp?) collection. The top right drawer contains mostly cheap jewelry from high school with too many memories for me to get rid of, but also my hair stuff- ponytail holders, headbands, etc. I'm most excited about the top- check out the earring carousel! Looks so much better in the closet than in the bathroom! Also, take note of the necklaces hanging in the left-hand corner. GENIUS!!! I'm happy to say that I've been having fun with my jewelry and actually wearing belts since reorganizing the closet. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
Question of the Day: What's an organization project you're proud of?

Making a List, Checking Thrice

The holidays are upon us and my favorite way to celebrate is to eat cookies, but that's not what this post is about. It's about my second favorite way to celebrate- giving gifts. Every year I go through the same decision making, "Who do I need to buy gifts for?" The usual people are on my list- hubs, mom, dad, bro, sis, McMom, McDad, McSis (gotta love Irish in-laws!), and a friend or two. Then of course, there are the gift exchanges, and this year, in addition to the fam and friends, I have added "co-workers"- six of them. Last year they got me presents and I felt guilty not reciprocating, thus- they've made this year's list. I make the list in a fun little green notebook with butterflies on the front. I write everyone's name and then go back in to write in the gifts I will be giving them this year. Across from that I put the approximate cost of all the gifts. It helps keep holiday spending under control.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

GIVEAWAY

As mentioned before, I'm quite the frugal lady and as you can tell from my garage sale posts, I LOVE a good deal. What do I love even more? Free stuff! Check out this giveaway at Erin's blog. It's for a $45.00 gift card to CSN. I've never bought anything from the site, but it seems to have everything! Of course, I love to think 'If I won...." Here are the scenarios I have: I'd put the $ towards a Christmas present for someone I love or I'd buy decor for mi casa. Part of me wants to say I'd buy something and give it to charity, but I probably wouldn't. Question of the day.... Does that make me a bad person?

Happy Birthday, Old Man Kyle!

Today my hubs turns 26. He has officially entered what some refer to as the 'dark side' of the twenties. The scariest part is that I will be joining him there in a few months! A few people have asked me about the present I bought for Kyle this year. I'm assuming most couples give each other nice, romantic presents. That's not really my style. For the most part, I am frugal with money (I get that trait from my mom)! Being a miser, I try to get Kyle practical presents, but I also want to take it a step further, going for practical AND hilarious. The first gift I bought for K was the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking cookbook. I've had it on the "Kyle Birthday Gift" list since this summer when we went out to visit our BFFs in Colorado. Kyle has coveted this monster of a book ever since his BFF Bryan baked us a chocolate-chip zucchini cake and delicious pizza crust. K got this gift early as I found him searching for it online earlier this month and thought 'HELL NO! This has to be a birthday gift!!!' aka I didn't really have any other ideas. Since getting this present, K has attempted (and failed) at baking three loaves of bread, learned how to use my bright red KitchenAid mixer, baked award-winning pizza crust, and actually carried the cookbook around with him at the grocery store. Love? I think so, which brings us to the next present.

Check out that beast! You're looking at a 3 pound, $6.00 organic sweet potato from the Columbia Farmer's Market. The price tag doesn't qualify this gift as 'practical,' but the sheer size of this monster makes it hilarious. I presented it to Kyle this weekend by having him close his eyes and then putting it in his hands. He thought it was a giant of a Chipotle burrito. Sorry babe, just a colossal tuber! You're probably wondering how this fits in with the baking book... well, Kyle is going to bake a sweet potato pie! Of course, there will be pictures and a review on here when he does. Can't wait! You can check out a picture of Kyle's third gift here. DOCTOR KRACKER! Has anyone tried these? We see them every week in the store, make a few jokes, and krack up laughing. The price tag on these is usually out of the range of what we're willing to spend on crackers- $4.00 for 8 crackers, but I found these on sale at Whole Foods. A sure sign they were meant to be Kyle's birthday gift!

Question of the day...
What's your gift giving style? Romantic? Practical? Lazy?