You can do it!

So I went jean shopping yesterday....not my favorite thing to do in the world, for many reasons. First of all, because, in my opinion, all jeans look the same, and when you're presented with an entire wall of denim, it can get a little overwhelming...more importantly, however, and more to the point of this post, I have never enjoyed jean shopping because it always made be feel insecure about how I looked. My shape is pretty straight forward. smaller at the waist than the hips, which is really good for hiding that few extra pounds, but not so cute when you have that gap at the back of your pants. Ya know what I mean? Not. Cute.

Anywho, Old Navy was having a sale on jeans, and I just got paid, and I had spent the day hoisting up my pants...which, by the by, there is no way to do that and look like a lady....there just isn't. SO I moseyed my way over to the mall to have a look-see at their jean selection. I found my size and went into the dressing room to try those puppies on...and you know what? They were too big. Shocked, I went back to the rack to grab the next size down, and, JUST IN CASE, the next size down from that, and went back to the changing room. I tried the first pair on...too big. Huh. At this point I was completely confused and preparing to grumble at the lack of quality in Old Navy's jeans! I say this because, it has been my experience that the next size down would be too small, and I would have to go away empty-handed. But you know what? They weren't. They fit perfectly! And I was surprised. Because these pants were 2 sizes smaller than the pants I was wearing when I came into the store. I must confess I did a little happy dance in the changing room stall just then :) because I remember a time not too long ago when I was sooooo happy I could fit into those too-big jeans. I think I went up to everyone I know and said "guess what size these are!" and did a little model pose lol

To back the story up a little, I have been receiving quite a bit more attention of late than I am used to. I hardly make it through the door at church before people start exclaiming how thin I am! Last week, the guy that plays the drums in our praise band, a guy I barely talk to other than to say hi, etc., came up to me and said "Hey, have you been working out? Because you look really good!" I of course about passed out right there in the hallway, let me tell you.

My point of telling you all this is not to milk the moment, or to announce how great I am! But these things that happened to me over the course of the last three weeks or so kind of inspired me to give you all some encouragement. If you're on a journey to lose weight and become healthier, I need to tell you that people aren't going to notice right away. I started my journey over two years ago, and it was slow going, that's for sure! And all that time I felt like no one was noticing my hard work. In that time I have been insulted more than once...usually by my own family(one year for Christmas I got a man's t-shirt in the size XXL...a size I never wore, even at my heaviest...not a fun year) but now it's all coming at once, and I almost don't know what to make of it!

I just wanted to tell you all that you're gonna make it. Trust me, it's hard, and you hate it, and your body hurts, and you eat weird food now, but soon, it'll all be worth it. I saw a quote the other day that said "When you want to give up, think about why you started.". Don't give up! Pretty soon you'll be seeing major results, and you'll have to get a whole new wardrobe because none of your clothes fit! What a great problem to have!!!

Good luck.

Save space:Organizing your dresser drawers

So you've been on this cleaning/organizing kick(The weather's reenacting "Frozen", what ELSE is there to do?!) and your room(or house, if you're an over achiever) is looking pretty fantastic, if you do say so yourself. *insert a nonchalant rubbing of the nails on your shirt* But you get to your closet and you're just stumped. Like you've been standing there staring at it for 20 minutes and.....nothing.



I definitely had this problem not too long ago. I have always had this thing about closet doors. When I was little I was convinced that if my closet had doors, then obviously, the monsters would be able to hide in there and come out to get me when my parents were conveniently sound asleep. Even to this day sleeping in a room with closed closet doors is very unsettling to me. I no longer believe monsters are out to get me, but the feeling of dislike and uneasiness just never went away....so, I don't have doors on my closet.

Because I my closet doesn't have doors, I have had to revert to other ways of hiding my clothes. When I was little, it was butterfly bead curtains....loved those things. But as I got older and the hot pink butterfly beads just got WAAAY too lame for my oh so sophisticated 14 year-old self(yeah, no) I had to think of yet OTHER ways to hide my crap....I mean, totally neat, spotless, clothing collection. :)

My biggest problem is this. I am a selective neat freak.(You learned about my childhood fears AND my strange lifestyle habits. I guess today is sharing day.) By selective I mean this. untidiness makes me itch....but I'm not gonna clean it! So basically, my room is like always spotless, because I have, through much trial and error, learned to pick up as I go, because if I let it slide for too long, I'm gonna forget what my floor looks like and "Hoarders" is gonna have to come in and do an intervention on me. Basically.

Long story......still really long(sorry!) I just got really tired of looking at all my clothes all the time. No matter how I hung them(at one point they were hung long to short!) the whole thing just looked...messy. So I came up with this genius idea to put a dresser in my closet and make a little "get ready" station with mirrors and baskets for my perfumes and curling irons!(actually, I got the idea from a display at IKEA, but who's counting, right?) I went out an bought myself a super dope dresser with the really nice glide-y drawers that don't slam when you close them, and stuck that baby in my closet. All by myself. I was very proud.

But then the hard part came. Namely, getting all my stuff in those drawers, which, FYI, always look like they can hold more at the store then they do when faced with a bed full of shirts I totally forgot I even had! and that's where I get to the "How-To" part of this really long-winded story, because I KNOW you've all gone through something like this in your life, and wondered HOW it was all going to fit!

Well, to answer that question, it might not all fit. Switching to a dresser is a perfect time to go through all your clothes and get rid of some stuff. I'm talking, stuff that doesn't fit(and can't be fixed, a.k.a. taken in or out), stuff you don't like/wear anymore. Those jammy pants that are just too ratty to technically be called "pants" anymore.....hypothetically.

Once you've rid yourself of that burden, I'm sure you'll find it much easier to squeeze everything in. But, if it's still a tight fit, or even if you just want to be able to find all your clothes without having to dig through piles, I suggest this next little tip(thank you pinterest!). Rolling. Aw yeah. If you do it right, and fold your clothes right(ie nicely, without any wrinkles in it. Don't get lazy!) your clothes will stay wrinkly. Like my mom says, "If they don't go in with wrinkles, chances are they won't come out with them, either."

And this doesn't just work for clothes either. With all that extra space, you could fit your scarves, belts, even jewelry in your dresser drawers and save even more space that way! Plus, It just decreases the over all "cluttered" look of your space. Just add little containers or spacers so nothing rolls around and gets lost. It'll look super cute...and how awesome would that be to only have to go to one place to get your whole outfit together?!

Another bonus tip for you lovely readers: This tip works with packing for trips too. Say goodbye to the multiple suitcase weekend trip! You're welcome.

So, I Need To Clean My Room....

In my household, we have four bedrooms, and six people to fill them. One of the rooms is being used for a homeschool room, so that leaves three bedrooms for everyone to pair up into. My room-mate just so happens to be my 16-year-old sister, Hannah.

Now, I love Hannah. She is an amazing girl. But sometimes we have a little trouble. Because Hannah is kind of a neat freak. And I am not.

Usually this actually works out to my advantage. I've only had to clean our room a handful of times, because Hannah usually takes care of it. It's great. I'll just come up to my room randomly and find that not only is the floor clearly visible, but there's also clean laundry folded on the bed and soft music playing in the background. This is the effect my dear sister has on our room.

However, Hannah has been out of town the last three days at snow camp, and I have found that left to my own devices, I have a slightly different effect on the room. Yah... I'll leave you to imagine. Just know it's not pretty.

This morning when I woke up I looked around the room, thought about how messy it is, and then I realized... she is coming home from snow camp. tonight.

So I have two options here:

1. Greet her at the door with a, "THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE HOME I NEED SOMEONE TO CLEAN!!!!"

or....

2. Surprise her and clean it for her!

After much consideration, I chose option one.

Juuuussstttt kidding, I chose option two, of course! ;)

Now, on the rare occasion that I clean my own bedroom, I always like to do something different so it's not just the same old same old. I decided to go on pinterest and see if I could find any inspiration for better organization.

First I looked for jewelry organization ideas. The top of both of our dressers are so over-run with jewelry! Here's what I found:

• Pinterest is just teeming with jewelry organization ideas, but I especially liked the idea of using recycled teacups or plates to organize rings and bracelets. I don't think I would do that with necklaces, though, like they have it in the picture, just because I hate untangling necklaces. 

• Doorknobs screwed into a piece of driftwood (or even regular wood) makes a really unique necklace hanger. I love the mis-matched, vintage handles, also. They remind me of the beautiful ones Anthropologie sells. (Here is a lovely turquoise one that's on sale for about $3.00 right now! You can get it in a few colors, so they don't all match, or take a look at their other knobs on sale.)
• For special occasion jewelry, I found one idea in which you take a shadow box, remove the back, and just lay it over top of your jewelry. It will protect your gems, and it looks absolutely gorgeous. J. Crew displays their jewelry in their stores similarly, and I drool over it every time I see it. It's just such an elegant way to do it! 

Next, I looked up scarf organization ideas... We literally got a million scarves for Christmas this year. I love scarves, don't get me wrong, but there are only so many you can drape on the end of your bed before it starts getting frustrating.

• I found this tutorial for using shower curtain rings on a hanger to hang them up in your closet... great idea! (Although I'm thinking this might not work for bulkier scarves.)

• Here's what I would LOVE to do with my scarves except I know this would only last about three seconds... but it just looks so appealing!

Last, I looked up some ideas for a makeup station/vanity. Currently, all of our makeup is in a little container on the floor next to our mirror which is also on the floor. Also, Our room is not well lit at all, so it's really hard to see how your makeup actually looks until you go to a brighter room. I would love to have a little vanity table/dressing area with a lamp and a mirror to make things easier. Not to mention that just seems so glamorous! 

• I love the idea of having a big mirror and a small mirror on your vanity. Big one for hair, small one for things like eye makeup and plucking eyebrows. 

• If you have too much stuff on the top of your table, it will start looking cluttered. Yucky. However, a few pretty brush holders could help organize things, and still keep them within reach. I love the white, lacey ones in the bottom right corner. I bet you could find something just like that at IKEA or even Target for very inexpensive!
• I. want. a. vanity. tray. They are so beautiful! I saw pictures of some that didn't have a mirror on the bottom... you could just use an old picture frame and add a thin piece of wood to the bottom if you didn't want the mirror. However, I happen to love how the mirror reflects light upward and, just like the shadow box with the necklaces, it seems so glamorous!

So It looks like I have my work cut out for me today! I am going to hopefully be taking a trip to goodwill (as long as they are open on MLKjr. Day... crossing my fingers) to find some things for my vanity and for organizing. Hannah's going to love it... :)