Goal 32. Purging my University "stuff"

Our house is small. And there is a lot crammed into it: 5 years of marriage, christmas decor, a treadmill, 3 guitars, hockey gear, oh, and two or three degrees worth of papers and books. We try not to be, but sometimes we are "selective-hoarders."

I have gotten rid of many things in my house, even things that at one point I thought I needed. But up until now I have held on to all of my old nursing notes and textbooks.

In "The Happiness Project," (which I am currently reading), Gretchen Rubin talks about aspirational clutter and nostalgic clutter. But there are lots more.  My "Someday, I might need this" clutter actually comes from a sense of fear that somehow I am going to desperately need great notes on, or an extra quote regarding... wound healing? A History of Women and Health Care in British Columbia?

Yeah.... that seems unlikely.

With the internet I can find resources regarding both of these subjects much quicker than I could by looking through my notes. Not to mention that they are only 4 years old and already becoming out-of-date.

But, if I throw them away, then I am truly closing that chapter of my life off. And, for me, it's been a chapter of my life that doesn't feel quite finished. Since leaving nursing school at the end of Year 3 and not being able to return, I have always felt that chapter remained open, unfinished. I was always working towards completing my degree or working on a plan to get me closer. I wasn't really an LPN, I was an RN in LPN clothing.

Well, today, I am stating: I am an LPN. I work as an LPN, I am registered as an LPN, and I quite enjoy being an LPN. 

If I become an RN, that would be great. It would be wonderful to accomplish that task. But, it is simply something to make my work better, not to make it legitimate. Keeping old school notes doesn't let me room to add any new notes. They are just hanging on, so that I don't have to close that chapter. I don't have to move on and let the past go.

Sometimes clutter can be a representation of what is going on in our lives, not just what happens in our house. Today I am getting rid of some of that "mind - clutter." Maybe you see yours, lurking behind your own cabinet door. 

Do you keep clutter that is holding you back? What about "mind - clutter"?

Goal 37. Design a pretty, relaxing bedroom

I am happy to finally be able to say that I love our bedroom and like relaxing in here. Everything in it works well for us, and is something we have chosen, not simply what was available. I love the current colour palette of white, soft blues and brown, but we will see what happens in the future.

Decorating slowly, one piece or area at a time really helps me relax and continue to feel excited about being at home. I would define our decorating style as cozy minimalist, and I try to choose functional pieces that look nice together. We really don't have a lot of extra "stuff" everywhere, but what we do have gets used well.

Since we have only been married for a short amount of time, a lot of our furniture is still hand-me-down's or things we bought in college. Not a lot of it matches, but I think we make it work pretty well.

However, when we moved to Edmonton, we decided to simply dump our nightstands and dresser at the Value Village and buy new stuff when we arrived. Our nightstands were moulding on the back, and the dresser was second-hand from Adam's younger brother! It was in seriously rough shape; even paint couldn't fix it.

So we splurged on furniture at our favourite store (can you guess?) and got our Malm dresser and nightstand. And we even sprung for the glass tops, so that they will last longer without getting scratched. Over the past few months we have added curtains and accessories. The bedding has been with us since we got married, and my lamp is from college! I still love this lamp.

I also love this photo gallery I made, based on this inspiration from Always Chasing Life. Since its our bedroom it's the story of our relationship and has pictures from different events we've shared together. I used mis-matched all-white ikea frames, and tried to make the arrangement organic, but collected. I even bit the bullet and wrote out our wedding song on this matte. I would like to add some more non-photographic elements, but I think I need a bigger wall for that to work. Hopefully, over time I'll keep updating it.

One of the earliest DIY projects I ever did (back in college! before pinterest!) was this jewellry board. It is simply an old bulletin board, covered with cheap fabric and then I spaced out clear push pins. I just hang my jewellry on these push pins. Ridiculously easy, and makes the room sparkle.

Yeah, I know. What is with all that stuff? Well, a husband needs a place to keep his stuff, and the top of his desk makes perfect sense to me. Makes this spot just his, and limited space, well, limits what he can keep. I don't try to get rid of his stuff anymore, and it doesn't clutter up (in my opinion) our living room. Peace.

There is still a lot of work that could be done with this room. You know, like, getting a bed. But right now its working for us, and looks good enough for me.

What do you love about your bedroom?

Goal 34. Make a high efficiency, bright kitchen

Ok I'm back this week and ready to show you my kitchen!

Since I love cooking and kitchens and general kitchen-y "stuff" my kitchen is a constant work in progress. But one of the things that that is absolutely required is that it works much harder than me, and is relatively easy to clean up once I have finished destroying it with my latest culinary adventure. I cook like a tornado, and generally cook multiple things at one time. I also cook a lot. So here are my top 5 favourite things about my current kitchen.

1. DISHWASHER! - Absolutely no joke, I think this thing saved our marriage. And because its portable it has lived with us in several dingy apartments, allowing us to pay less on rent. Now Prince Charming doesn't spend 2-3 hours every night doing dishes, and can focus on more important things like hanging out with me, or you know, his homework. I actually also think it saved his academic career. And I love that our dish-drainer can be folded up and tucked away, to give me even more counter space when needed!

2. Act like a TV chef - have you ever really looked at a TV chef's kitchen? I guarantee you will see that they have a large (generally wooden) cutting board, and a selection of oil, salt and pepper, right in front of them, in the center of the set. Some have a ton of other stuff too. But they always have these basics. So I just stole this idea and made my own little chef station. Makes dinner prep go a lot faster and makes me look legit. Since my "set" hits a wall instead of a camera I took advantage of that space too and hung up my knives and my most used spices so that they're ready for action too.

3. Today's special - I love this little menu board I made for Prince Charming so he knows what he is supposed to be eating for breakfast and lunch. It's just a piece of scrapbook paper hung in a cheap frame, that I write one with a Dry-erase pen. We have weird schedules that often don't work well together, so he is on his own in the morning, and this lets him know what I have planned for him to put in his lunch and have for breakfast. Now he doesn't worry about accidentally eating something I was saving for a certain recipe, and I know that we have all the food he needs for lunch. These just get updated weekly and we eat the same thing for these meals each day.

4. Labels and bins - Ok, maybe I am slow but for a long time I didn't really embrace using smaller bins in the kitchen to corral little things. I mean yeah, I had a cutlery rack, but that was about it. Well once I got my first bin, I was absolutely sold. I use these bins all over the place, even in the fridge. And then I started to use mason jars as dry storage and quickly realized that lots of white powders look the same. So I just added a label using a sharpie on a bit of paper, which I cut down to size and tape on with scotch tape. Looks good enough to me, and really doesn't fall off.

5. Organized sink - This under the sink organizer might be the entire reason I love pinterest. For years I hated having a bunch of scubbing pads, dish brush and various cleaning utensils sitting in the bottom of the sink, but I couldn't think of a solution. I tried some organizers from discount stores, but they generally didn't fit well or didn't hold the things well, so eventually got tossed. But this idea is super genius. It is actually a piece of a shoe organizer that I just cut off and then hung on the door with command hooks (love these!). I cut a little "button-hole" in the top, and if you are fancy you could probably use your sewing machine to make it super strong, but for me I haven't had any issues yet. Currently I am using a vinegar & oil set from Ikea to store my hand soap and dishwashing soap, so I don't have ugly bottles everywhere. I am still working on a better solution for this, so if you have any good ideas send them my way!

What is your favourite thing about your kitchen?

{Thriving this Winter} Day 29!: Launch

Hey guys! Today I want to share with you something that is totally essential to the organization of my house and self. I am totally a person who is very organized in my head, and would appear to be very organized on paper, yet there always seems to be a bit of a miss. Case in point; today while searching for our christmas stockings I found that on all of the meticulously labelled christmas boxes I hadn't included this one item. Of course.

So this is all to say, that while I might appear organized, I am just as lazy and forgetful (or maybe more!) than anyone else. Things just happen the way they happen.

But! There is one place in my life that a little organization can make a huge difference, and that is specifically on my way to work. Or on my way to do errands. Or any time I am leaving my house. So having what I call a "launchpad" really helps me get organized.

Source.

{Thriving this Winter} Day 27: Cozy

Note: This is a guest post from Prince Charming because Robyn is sick today! Everyone make him feel welcome. 

I should say that I am writing this blog because my poor wife is fast asleep beside me. I want to make sure she completes her goal of one blog a day for this month. Today's thriving this winter post is about creating the worlds greatest reading corner.

I should start by outlining some of the finer features of a reading corner to answer the question, what makes a great reading corner? Great question imaginary reader in my head. Here are some things to make your reading corner the coziest of all.

First you need books. Yes, I know that is rather obvious sounding but if you keep your books in a different place than your reading corner then how would you ever read there? The library of fine literary material that you surround yourself with will undoubtedly inspire you to delve into a good book.

The next thing you need is good light. This is to give you the best ability to read. If you can't see the words on the page reading won't be any fun. It is important to not be too bright or it will feel cold. Nothing says cozy like stage lighting. But contrarily you can't get into a book if your eyes want to evacuate your head.

Clearly the next item for a great reading corner would be a comfy chair. Again, seems rather obvious. But a good reading chair should be able to be sat in a variety of ways. Sitting one way only can lead to getting stiff just when the book is getting good.

Now that your comfy, now you must keep warm. Blankets are synonymous with coziness. A great blanket allows you to keep warm on cold winter days.

To complement the chair you need to keep well hydrated. The perfect reading corner must have a great spot to put your tea. Far enough not to be in the way and not too far that you forget it until the tea gets cold. No one is happy about cold tea.

There now you are all set. Put these things together and you will have yourself a fantastic reading corner. Happy reading!

{Thriving this Winter} Day 26: Maker

I am a reluctant labeller. I enjoy organizing pretty well, but usually by the time it comes to labelling I just move on. Sometimes I actually don't label because the area is organized well enough, and labels would just make it harder.

Other times I come back to the project and realize that this area would really be more functional with labels. These are usually cases where I have containers, and either the containers aren't see-through, or they are identical. Or perhaps the contents of the containers look identical.

The other reason to make labels is to help out other members of the house who weren't involved in the reorganization process. They will likely appreciate a sign telling them where things are, or where they should be.

I do not own a label maker, and I have no plans to get one. I simply use my computer and stick-on labels, or a sharpie and some tape. Both work fine for me and give me lots of options. I have also used these labels from BHG. I used to be intimidated because I didn't own a labelmaker, but once I realized how well (and how temporary) the write-on-a-piece-of-paper, cut it out and stick it on with scotch tape method, I haven't looked back. It works for me really well.

Do you own a label maker? Or do you label your stuff free-hand?

{Thriving this Winter} Day 17: Safe

What does your house say about you? Is it even talking to you? Today I gotta tell you something. Regardless of whether your house is talking to you, it is talking to everyone else who comes into it.

Which is neither good, or bad, it just is. 

{Thriving this Winter} Day 10: Clear

As I have been writing this series I keep feeling, well, a bit fall-ish. I know that I am trying to write about thoughts, habits and ideas that will last through the winter, but I am also doing them now, and right now it is fall.

Well today that is changing. Snow has come, and snow only comes in one season. So I guess winter is here!

Which leads me to my post for today about...... getting things clear.

{Thriving this Winter} Day 6: See

Yesterday we had our engagement photo session.... after only 5 years of marriage. Ha! It was lots of fun, and the sunset behind us was beautiful so I am sure they will turn out great. Today I am talking about fun, so naturally I want to talk about how we deal with photo's in our life.

Sometimes it is really nice to have a professional take some pictures, but all the photo's on display in your house do not have to be professionally done. Photo's are there to remind us of our experiences, so looking at photo's that mean something to you can be more important than the photo being a true art piece. Mix the two together for a authentic view of your life!

Our latest "yearbook"

{Thriving this Winter} Day 4: Collect

So its been 4 days of posts and I am feeling a little more "fallish" right now. Outside we can see the beautiful colours of autumn and thanksgiving turkey is cooking away. So how can I be talking about winter?

Well this series is all about being prepared for winter, even though lots of these things can be done during the fall, or even in the spring or summer. We're just spending a bit of time this season getting ready for the next.

I don't know why it is, but for some reason the winter is the most "scheduled" season for me. I try to squeeze the most in, I join new things and usually those things come with schedules and routines.

I also find that in the winter I am at my house more, so I do more nesting than in the summer, so I try to get things done around the house, do more baking and freezer cooking and just plain come up with more ideas. Today I want to show you my home binder system that I am currently using so I made a little video.

{Thriving this Winter} Day 3: Liveable

Can I tell you something?

I hate, Hate, HATE, cleaning my house. I even hate the idea of using something and then putting it away. I relish in throwing my things around and making large messes. There is nothing better than the feeling of throwing down your bag, ripping off your clothes and flinging them whichever way they fall after a long day.

So..... this presents a conundrum. Because after about 4 days of this kind of behaviour I start having another problem.

I hate, Hate, HATE having a messy house that you can't live in.

(i just love that grey bar in there.... don't look too close :))

The Date Night Jar!

Hey Guys!

Today I want to share with you a really quick project I made that is proving to be so much fun! Many marriage guru's and just regular folk on the internet tout the wonders of date nights. But since Charming and I don't have kids every night is basically a date night. Which of course can get dull really fast.

Enter.... the date night jar!

Goal 26. Planning retreat each week

Two very exciting things have happened in my life recently! I got a new job at a much larger general hospital in Edmonton, rather than a long-term care centre and have started courses to complete my degree! So needless to say I have been rather busy lately, and I have decided that my blog is going to be updated bi-weekly for the time being. I am very excited... but my first course is Stats! Scary!

While getting organized for school I realized I needed a better planner to organize my time and keep track of assignments. So I put together a quick Summer planner for myself which I am sharing with you here. 

Goal 36. Create a soothing, clean bathroom

Charming and I often dream of what it will be like when we own our own place. A time when we can knock down walls and get all new kitchens and level the floors properly. Actually I think the most exciting thing will be when we can get closet doors that actually work. I know that reality as a homeowner is generally non-glamourous home improvement projects such as furnaces and updating electrical, but a girl can dream, right?

One of the rooms in a house that is most limiting, unless you are completely gutting the place, is a bathroom. I mean all the furniture usually comes with the place, and generally in pretty basic neutrals (unless you have awful "avocado", which isn't usually considered a decor choice..). Also the rooms are generally pretty small, and we do a limited amount of activities in this space, so there isn't too much room for imagination.

My goal, as you can see, is to first have a soothing bathroom, and then to have one that can remain mostly clean. This means that it needs to function well enough so that excess stuff everywhere isn't causing stress, and making it hard to clean. To me, this is one of the best examples of minimalist decorating. Here is how I was able to make my bathroom beautiful, without spending very much money at all.

Goal 33. Create an inviting, organized entry

Sorry about my unannounced break. I just felt like most of my posts were getting kind of boring, and I didn't really have anything to talk about. But now I do! Here it goes!

This week I bring you news of a great and wonderful event..... we have an entry way that regular size people can fit in!

Source.

You see, when we first moved into the house we had those ugly sliding doors that come with many rental apartments built in the 1970's. You could only get into one side of the closet at a time, and it just seemed like a dark pit in there. We also didn't have enough shoe storage, so we were just throwing things on top of each other and then jamming the doors open to get at things. To make it worse, the closet is really way too thin, so our coat were constantly sticking out of any opening they could find. So! We needed to do something about this.

Cue my fiendish pinterest binge. Oh? You don't know what pinterest is? Click here to see my boards and then follow me!

So after going on pinterest and seeing a whole slew of cute entry makeovers here is what I have come up with so far. I still have a few plans, but I will reveal them as they happen.

Goal 30: Get permanent full-time work

So this is a great week for me! I can finally announce that I do in fact have a job, and it's a position! I have a schedule and benefits. Since I am a nurse it is evening and day shifts, but its a great unit and all the staff are really smart and personable. So I am really excited about this goal being completed! Now I am going to go get ready for work, so its a short post this week!

Goal 35. Design a Grown-up, Cozy Living Room

The goal that has been overtaking my life! taking my time this week has been sewing curtains. Since I am still fun-employed I have been working on getting my house set-up and gorgeous during this time.

As part of my goals I had written down the feelings I wanted in each of my rooms, and then to further this intentional decorating I wrote down the functions I wanted each room to play. In my living room I wanted it to be a room to share with others, so I decided to move some things out of it (read: ugly textbooks), and move other things in, such as the board games and DVD's that we would want to share with others. I also am going to be using this room as my "office" space. I haven't figured out how to do this yet, so right now I am just stashing my stuff on a shelf behind doors. Right now it would also be a guest room, as we wait for me to find a job! It is doing a great job of holding all these functions.

Last week I found a great series of posts on the Nesting Place called 31 Days to a Better Dressed Nest. I have been devouring these posts, and trying to use them in my own house. In particular, 2 of her suggestions: Incorporate fabric, and Group it. I decided to hang my curtains and made a grouping of pictures as my focal point. You can see both in the video below and see how I made these curtains.

New Year, New Look!

Today marks the 365th day for my goals!! Which means I am more than a third of the way through my time to complete all these goals, and I am definitely not one-third of the way through the goals. I need to get to work!

In the past few months I have been posting, which has really made me focus on completing my goals more.  That is the primary intention of this blog. However, another intention of the blog was also so that I could communicate the going's-on of my life with friends and family that do not live close enough to actually see what we are doing. One thing I have realized is that since I never post on any type of schedule it would be frustrating to try to follow this blog. So... I have a new plan! Each week I am going to post on Thursday nights the round-up of all goals I have completed that week. This way people can read the posts as they like and don't have to waste time checking to see if a new post is up. Let's see how it goes!

In other news, we made progress on a goal!

Goal 29. Move - Part 2

Well I'm calling it! We have officially moved in. We don't yet have all the boxes unpacked, we still get our mail forwarded and I just got a Jury Summons from Victoria (which I cancelled! Yes!), but we are here permanently. In fact, I did my first grocery shop!


Here are some photos from our trip here and getting settled.

Goal 29. Move - Part 1

Well, we've done it! We have left BC!! Wahoo!