Project 18 - Morning Routines

My morning routine (or lack-thereof) has really been biting me in the butt this week. I used to be such a morning person - getting out of bed at the crack of dawn to workout, starting the day early with loads of energy, and still being able to stay up through to the wee hours of the morning. And seriously? It's only been two years, but I've apparently become well settled into "old lady"-dom. It's ridiculous!

Basically, I stopped having a morning routine when winter came around, and now my lack of routine has turned into a routine in and of itself - and not a good (or helpful) one! A typical morning for me these days looks something like this:

• 7AM - Matt gets up, I rearrange myself so I take up the entire bed, and fall back asleep
• 7:30AM - Matt wakes me up to tell me he's leaving, I debate whether or not to get out of bed
• 7:45AM - I bite the bullet and drag myself to the bathroom to brush my teeth/put in contacts
• 7:50AM - Still not awake, I decide to forgo a shower and check blogs/watch the morning news instead
• 8:05AM - I decide that I can still make the 8:06 bus, and sprint to the bedroom to get dressed
• 8:06AM - The bus goes by, and since I still don't have pants on, I decide it's time for a nap
• 8:15AM - Finish getting dressed and put make-up on
• 8:20AM - Start packing lunch for the day
• 8:29AM - Begin the frantic search for enough quarters to get the 8:36 bus
• 8:34AM - Sprint out to the bus stop, praying I'll make the bus the whole way
• 8:36AM - Either get on the bus, or watch it roll past me (in which case, I will have to walk the 1.75-ish miles to work) - more often than not this week it's been the latter.
  
• 8:45AM - If I caught the bus, roll into the office; if I didn't, lament about how I should be to work by now while still being far away, and on foot.

See what I mean? Not a great way to start the day. Especially when the rest of your coworkers show up at 8AM and schedule 8:30AM meetings that you're constantly being late to.


A little bit of blog research has shown me that morning routines are a pretty popular topic in blog-land, and that everyone likes to wake up in the 5am hour (good lord, really?). While my before-6AM-wakeup days are over for sure, it seems like everyone accomplishes a lot more in their mornings than I do - working out, fixing food, actually eating breakfast, and showering (ugh, I know). It'd nice to be able to do all (okay, maybe at least two?) of these things during my mornings as well.

So this is it. I'm giving myself a month. What is today, July 10th? August 10th it is. I am going to change my morning routine (for the better!) by August 10th. My tangible measurements of this change will be arriving at work before 8:30 and showering in the mornings (can you tell I'm really hung up on the fact that I don't do this anymore? Because i am).

Resources: There's a great article on Zen Habits entitled How I Became an Early Riser that outlines a gradual progression into morning activeness. Unclutterer also wrote an article a while ago called Streamlining Your Morning Routine to help you figure out where you're wasting time. And The Simple Dollar has an awesome article about starting new habits that should be pretty helpful. More productive morning, here I come!

Project 17: The Office/Guestroom

So, anyone who's been in either of the apartments that I've had since college knows that the second bedroom is ALWAYS a disaster. Unfortunately, it also functions as the guest room, so my poor friends (that continue to love me anyway!) have had to suffer through my clutter while trying to get a good night's sleep. It's been a constant point of anxiety for me, because my family always had this thing about making the house look good before guests arrived, and my house certainly hasn't! That's why Project 17 is focusing on this room, getting it in tip-top shape, and making it a more home-away-from home for guests. So check it out, here's what I'm working with:

The left corner and closet, clutter and piles beyond belief!

The guest bed, window, and far side of the room.

This space is also supposed to be the "home office"... not a lot of work happening in here with this mess!

Seriously, I'm so embarrassed just posting these photos. My friends are such troopers, aren't they? This space features a huge closet (that is pretty poorly organized at the moment), and will hopefully house an "office" area and a "guest" area. Come back this weekend for the transformation - you won't believe your eyes!

Project 16: The Balcony

Now that Spring is officially here, I'm starting to notice how much our balcony is... lacking. There are some pots of flowers out there, getting ready to bloom. And there's a little charcoal-powered barbecue that we've used twice in the past week. But seating? Not so much (unless an old rolling office chair counts). And until the flowers bloom, it's not much to look at either. Oh, and no decorative lighting - or any lighting at all, for that matter.

So what does one do with a balcony on a budget? I've been scouring Craigslist for some decent outdoor furniture, and checking out the yard sales and garage sales for some cheap outdoor lights, but haven't really found anything yet. I'm also not really sure what it is I want - although I do love this picture and wish I could turn it into my balcony somehow:

I'm trying to channel this look, though I don't quite have the canal to help me out!

Soft lighting, paper lanterns, and visual attractiveness. YES PLEASE. So my goal is to have a usable, appealing balcony that I can have people over to sit on by the end of the week. Check back later for an update!

Project 15: Ticket Storage

Those who know me (and Matt... well, mostly Matt) in real life know that we go to a ton of concerts because we are music fanatics. Seriously, we go to anything and everything, from local shows to reunion tours to big name acts of the moment. And we have aaaalllll of the ticket stubs to prove it. They've been scattered all over the place for far, far too long, and I am thrilled to finally have a way to store them

The new storage solution with a random sampling of ticket stubs.

While visiting Portland (Oregon) a few weekends ago, we wandered into Powell's Books (which you absolutely must visit if you are ever in Portland because it is ridiculously awesome) and found the Ticket Stub Diary. It has a ton of pages, and three different sizes of sleeves that hold most standard ticket stubs. Awesome! I'm working on cataloging our tickets as we speak.

Project 14 - It's Springtime!

Nothing says Spring like a bunch of flowers!

I'm really proud of myself, guys. These flowers here have been in my kitchen since Valentine's Day, and they're still alive and going strong! Obviously they've been replanted into my permanent pots that I have on my kitchen ledge, but I like to think they're doing so well because I've taken such good care of them. My black thumb might just be getting a little green!

Well, it better be, because I made an investment in some outdoor (exposed to the elements) flowers for spring time! My luck with outdoor flowers last year was great until it got hot - and I forgot to water them for a week - and they all died. But I have faith! I can do it this year!

I spent a good part of Sunday planting these babies.

We had gone to Costco on Sunday to stock up on some essentials (laundry detergent and toilet paper), and surprise! Costco had a great little garden section with tons of flowers, bulbs, and gardening supplies! I found the bag in the picture pretty quickly - I like pink, which definitely goes for flowers as well! - and thought that those blooms would look great on my balcony. 18 bulbs for $13, which is only a few dollars more than the plants in my kitchen! I planted all 18 in the two big pots shown there, and then also in 2 hanging baskets that I didn't take pictures of. Honestly, until the flowers bloom, the pictures just look like big pots of dirt that are completely uninteresting!

Anyway, you with green thumbs, check out Costco if you're looking for some bulbs to plant - the selection was great and the prices were amazing!

Project 13: Stationary Supplies

Despite the fact that I am absolutely horrible at keeping in touch with people, I really enjoy writing and sending letters and cards. Even in the age of email, there's something so fun about getting a physical letter from a far-off place (haha, I just made Spokane sound whimsical)! Unfortunately, I've had my address book, cards, stationary, and card making supplies spread all over my apartment for the last year, making it incredibly difficult to find anything when I needed it. This, of course, meant that I didn't end up sending what I needed to (uh... Christmas cards? Yeah, those didn't happen). So this weekend, I embarked on Project 13: Stationary Supplies, to organize all of my thank-you notes, stationary, cards, etc.

Step 1: Round it all up in one place.

Card making supplies and stationary.

Step 2: Neatly arrange it all in a pretty box.Everything all neatly arranged in it's new home!

Step 3: Put the lid on and store that bad boy!
So much prettier and easy to find!

The most important part of this process was getting rid of all of the superfluous packaging! I didn't realize how much space a little pack of thank-you notes took up because of its little box - and when you have 10 little boxes, so much room is lost! Also, the box I used is a photo storage box from Michaels; when I bought it, they were on sale for under $4 a piece. They fit cards and envelopes very nicely, and come with little dividers that you could use to separate cards by type if you wanted. I highly recommend them.

Project 12 - Entering the Self-Help World

I bought my first self-help book today. I've been on this quest to make my life easier and less stressful, and realized that I'd never taken a look at the methods that others have used in their own endeavors. A quick look through the local Borders' self help section led me to this:

I had never heard of Simple Steps before, but apparently these ladies have been on Oprah, and really, I trust Oprah on these things.

So why did I pick up this book? Honestly, it was the yellow flowers and the pink title. What can I say, I judge books by their covers! However, I bought it for three reasons:

1. The steps really are simple. The first week of the plan, which I plan on completing this week, includes the following 4 items: drinking enough water every day, taking a 20 minute walk every day, cleaning out one closet or drawer per week, and saving an extra $2 per day. Sounds easy enough, right?
2. The plan is really comprehensive, and will touch every part of your life - your home, your mind, your waistline, and your bank account. That's really what I need.
3. No drastic lifestyle changes are required. Everything is eased into one week at a time over 10 weeks, which is totally doable with my busy schedule.

I'll update as I get further into the process these ladies have proposed. It feels nice to finally have a tangible reference book for the kinds of things I'm trying to change about myself and my life, and to know that others have been successful at this exact process. Wish me luck!

PS - if you're interested in this book, find it here on Amazon, or here on Half.com, or here on Borders' website.

Project 11: Creating a "Home Gym"

If there's one thing that I'm really into, it's personal fitness and healthful living. This has been ingrained in me since I was little, hopping from sports team to sports team, and consumed my life while I was on a Division I sports team in college. Now, out of college and off of all sports teams, I genuinely enjoy working out on my own and running the occasional 5k, 10k, or half-marathon (I even win some now and then!).

The problem I've run into as of late is that I feel like going to the gym after work puts a major damper on my life. In the spring, summer, and fall, I was blessed with the ability to either get up early and go for a run outside, or put on my running shoes after work and run into the sunset. Now, with several inches of snow and ice covering the sidewalks, and how dark it is in the mornings and at night, running outside isn't an option. I can go to the gym I belong to after work no problem, but it means not getting home until 7 or 7:30 - when I'm already spending 2 nights a week in class away from home (and Matt), it becomes increasingly harder to justify another 3 nights away and motivate myself to do that!

I've been thinking about this for awhile now, and the solution that I've come up with is to create a home gym (of sorts). I know when I think of a "home gym", I think about the kind of machines on the right - lots of arms and weights and pulleys and things that take up a huge amount of room and cost an arm and a leg. But you know what? This is not the only option for home exercise equipment. A simple search on the web revealed that other people feel the same way I do - working out at home doesn't require this monstrosity, just a little creativity! I've set myself a goal for this month (we're already on the 9th, so this will have to be done quickly!) of creating my own permanent workout area in my apartment for under $100.

Other than the $100 stipulation, there are a few rules that I'm going to give myself for this venture:

1. The space I choose must still be usable for it's original intention (i.e. the guestroom cannot become workout room, it must still be the guestroom).
2. There must be at least 3 kinds of activities included - so I can't just buy some dumbbells and call it good.
3. I can't make Matt's life miserable.
4. It must be well organized, and cannot be an eyesore to look at.

I'll post about my progress this weekend, as I hope to make major strides in this goal as soon as possible!

A new 5 weeks begins...

So, I don't know if anyone else just realized this, but in 5 weeks, the craziness that is the week of Thanksgiving begins. I have two words to describe how I feel about this: HOLY CRAP. How did this happen? Where did fall go? How the heck am I ever going to be ready??

This whole blog started as a 5 week project to get my apartment organized before I went back to school. And lets face it, I kinda failed. So now, with 5 weeks left before Thanksgiving crunch time, it's time to get back to business.

This 5 week session has one goal - to get my apartment ready for a holiday party after Thanksgiving. This means it has to be organized, I have to decorate for the holidays at least a little, and I have to get my stuff together enough to figure out party details. The conditions of this are simple - 1. I can't get behind on school work, and 2. I can't use this as an excuse to not work out or go to the gym.

This is totally do-able.