Holidays recap

Now that the holidays are over, and the new year is underway, I'm able to relax a bit (without feeling guilty about doing so).I'm relieved that the holidays are over - it was a really exhausting stretch this year.  B's busiest time of year is always between Thanksgiving and the New Year (hello, retail!), so to make it through the month with our sanity in tact, we usually just stick to the system that works for us. And by system I really just mean that I pick up some of the slack for a while. In turn, she has to go along with whatever crazy plans and projects I come up with. I muster up enough holiday spirit for the both of us and eventually infect her with my enthusiasm. It's worked out pretty well for us the last few years. This year, though, not so much.

Problem this year was that I too was crazy busy at work during the same time, rolling out a project I've been working on for two years (!).  Needless to say, we were both exhausted, and the normal holiday things just didn't happen.  I was tired and stressed out, and just couldn't get into the spirit. I felt bad that the apartment was a mess, wasn't decorated, and didn't feel festive at all. I put in a valiant last-ditch effort and had a few successes. I think the wrapping turned out really nice, and I fully decorated the mantle and hung our stockings.

By the 23rd, I'd made progress, but it still didn't feel like Christmas without a tree, so I went out and got one while B was at work. I'd planned to just get a little table-top one and call it good, but the smallest tree I could find was about 5'. So what did I do? I bought it anyway. A la Dr. Seuss, I somehow found the strength of ten Grinches, plus two - I shoved it in the back of the Jeep, drove it home, managed to get it up the back stairs, into the house, into the tree stand, and strung up with lights before she got out of work. How that happened, I still don't quite understand. It was pretty and twinkle-y, albeit bare. We never got around to decorating it, except for the 2012 ornament I bought this year.

I didn't get to everything I wanted to, and it wasn't perfect, but you know what? It didn't matter. We spent Christmas morning together, at home, in our pajamas, and just enjoyed the moment and each other's company. Oh, and napped. We all did a lot of napping.

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we're all a little weird

isn't that the truth...

Reading List: Week of 10/21/12

Single Dad Laughing shares 16 things he would have done differently in his marriage(s) in the post 16 Ways I Blew My Marriage

Just found this great blog that I'll be adding to my reading list: Fit and Feminist

A Special Olympian's open letter to Ann Coulter:  Incredible. Perfect. Thank you.


Simmons College's World Challenge program is incredible and so powerful. Watch the video here. I well up every time I watch it. So proud of my alma mater!

And, as the political is personal and the personal political...

Kergan Edwards-Stout's letter asks that, if you're planning to vote for Romney, then please de-friend him - while I completely agree with his reasons, and much of what he says, I don't know if I could truly cut out from my life everyone with whom I disagree. This is an article I'll likely be thinking about long after election day.

This Salon.com article recounts playwright Doug Wright's recent Facebook post: 

"I wish my moderate Republican friends would simply be honest. They all say they're voting for Romney because of his economic policies (tenuous and ill-formed as they are), and that they disagree with him on gay rights. Fine. Then look me in the eye, speak with a level clear voice, and say, "My taxes and take-home pay mean more than your fundamental civil rights, the sanctity of your marriage, your right to visit an ailing spouse in the hospital, your dignity as a citizen of this country, your healthcare, your right to inherit, the mental welfare and emotional well-being of your youth, and your very personhood." 

It's like voting for George Wallace during the Civil Rights movements, and apologizing for his racism. You're still complicit. You're still perpetuating anti-gay legislation and cultural homophobia. You don't get to walk away clean, because you say you "disagree" with your candidate on these issues."

Reading List: Week of 10/21/12

Single Dad Laughing shares 16 things he would have done differently in his marriage(s) in the post 16 Ways I Blew My Marriage

Just found this great blog that I'll be adding to my reading list: Fit and Feminist

A Special Olympian's open letter to Ann Coulter:  Incredible. Perfect. Thank you.


Simmons College's World Challenge program is incredible and so powerful. Watch the video here. I well up every time I watch it. So proud of my alma mater!

And, as the political is personal and the personal political...

Kergan Edwards-Stout's letter asks that, if you're planning to vote for Romney, then please de-friend him - while I completely agree with his reasons, and much of what he says, I don't know if I could truly cut out from my life everyone with whom I disagree. This is an article I'll likely be thinking about long after election day.

This Salon.com article recounts playwright Doug Wright's recent Facebook post: 

"I wish my moderate Republican friends would simply be honest. They all say they're voting for Romney because of his economic policies (tenuous and ill-formed as they are), and that they disagree with him on gay rights. Fine. Then look me in the eye, speak with a level clear voice, and say, "My taxes and take-home pay mean more than your fundamental civil rights, the sanctity of your marriage, your right to visit an ailing spouse in the hospital, your dignity as a citizen of this country, your healthcare, your right to inherit, the mental welfare and emotional well-being of your youth, and your very personhood." 

It's like voting for George Wallace during the Civil Rights movements, and apologizing for his racism. You're still complicit. You're still perpetuating anti-gay legislation and cultural homophobia. You don't get to walk away clean, because you say you "disagree" with your candidate on these issues."

Furry little buggers

Spring Flowers and Thrifty Finds

After what seemed like weeks of clouds and (admittedly needed) rain, the sun was finally shining in Boston today, and the temperature rose above 60°. Oh happy day! This outfit seemed to me the perfect way to celebrate the spring weather without freezing in my way too cold office.

I stopped by Jo-Ann Fabrics on a Saturday morning to pick up a couple things for a project (which I've yet to finish!), but they hadn't opened yet. Remembering a coworker had told me about some cute dresses on sale, I popped next door to Old Navy, and scored this cute dress on clearance! Old Navy tends to be pretty hit or miss for me, and this was the only thing I saw there that I really liked, but I'm excited to have found it; I think it will be a fun addition to my closet for this spring. The sweater, shoes (Steve Madden) and belt were all thrifted at various points over the last year. My purse is Elle that I picked up at Kohl's for $8 (90% off the original price) last fall.

Here's a close-up of the pattern of the dress:

I was hoping that it was going to stay warm enough to go out for a bike ride after dinner, but it cooled down a lot. Maybe tomorrow... with all this cold and rainy weather, we've been looking longingly at the bicycles when we pass them and we're both itching to take them out for a spin!

Cold hard inspiration

While I love reading decorating and organizing magazines and blogs, and get a ton of inspiration from them, it's often difficult to implement those ideas due to various constraints (time, space and money the most obvious). We rent a small-ish apartment, so we can't knock down walls or even repaint. We can't hang much from our very old plaster walls without them crumbling. And pretty much anything decorative placed on a flat surface will be promptly knocked down (and likely broken) by one of our two cats.

So I have to be realistic. I can drool over all the great stuff I see on Pinterest*, but in reality I can't do much with a good deal of what I see. So when I see something that I can adapt to our space, I jump on it!

I don't like our kitchen. It's tiny, and poorly laid out (I'm pretty sure it used to be a large closet!) and the appliances are "economy models." The refrigerator/freezer leaves much to be desired - the freezer in particular. It doesn't have a light, or a shelf. It's just a big, cold box that we tended to shove stuff into hoping not to cause a frozen vegetable avalanche.We had mostly empty containers of ice cream hidden by bags of frozen vegetables and freezer burned chicken.

When I saw this great idea for freezer organizing in the BHG Secrets of Getting Organized 2012 I knew it was something I could adapt with great results! (view on Better Homes and Gardens website)

Source: iheartorganizing.blogspot.com via Victoria on Pinterest

I wish I'd taken some before photos of our freezer, but I likely would have injured myself in the process. I cleared everything out of the freezer, washed it down and tossed anything no longer good and/or edible. I then separated our frozen items into categories, and loaded them into labeled bins and into the freezer they went!

We ended up only having three main categories: vegetables, fruits, and pasta/bread items. We don't eat much meat (hence the freezer burned chicken), so when we do want it, we buy it as we need it.

The freezer that was my inspiration (above) is a full size freezer, so there's a lot more room, and a bunch of other great ideas if room permits.

I used vinyl alphabet stickers I had on hand to label the baskets so we'd know what was in them. I found these small, stackable plastic bins at Target (similar), and knew they'd be perfect for this project, so I had them at home before unloading the freezer. We already had the ice cube trays and ice bucket, and everything fit perfectly - pretty good for not measuring any of it beforehand!

If you're not sure what size and how many bins you'll need, you'll probably want to clean out and sort into categories before going shopping (or re-purposing items you already have!). Just be sure to put everything back in or you'll come home to a mess!


Have you cleaned and/or organized your freezer or refrigerator recently? Do you use bins to organize your freezer? Any other great ideas?


*It drives me crazy that they don't yet have an android app, it's probably a good thing because if they did I'd be more obsessed than I already am.