in-betweenie

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (belatedly). I started back at work on the third day of the year, and the office was like a ghost town: behold the tumble weeds.

Achievements on the first week of work include: creating inbox zero in both my personal and work accounts; emptying out my downloads folder; and creating a "welcome back to work" poster in which I hand crafted decorative pennant flags in PhotoShop. Achievement ++!

Given that I've definitely already started my year, it may seem a bit strange that I'm still mulling over the beginning of the year Feelings of Potential and Enthusiasm for What Is To Come. But I do! It's from catching up on all those other blogs.

Firstly, I am making lists of things I want to do or do more regularly. My resolutions for this year have their own star chart: I'm working month by month which means I can add, subtract and edit my goals as I go along. This is totally cadged from CrazyAuntPurl. January looks like:

• Yoga twice a week
• Floss every night
• Sixty minute declutter weekly
• Blog once a week

As well as listing decluttering as a weekly goal, I'm also undertaking a nice New Year's purge. So far I've had a go at my books and underwear drawer, but I still have plenty of other cluttered spaces to keep me interested - my wardrobe and dresser, and also I need to do something about all the crap on my shelf in the bathroom, the majority of which I haven't used in forevs and that probably break all rules pertaining to the shelf life of cosmetics.

One of my plans this year is to keep a tally of the clothes that I've made, any clothes I've bought new, and any clothes I've bought second hand. This will be my dressing-ratio, and I'm hoping that it will trend towards more sewing. Thus far, if we keep the tally strict from 1 January onwards I am 1:3:0, which breaks down to:

• Made: cowboy-print culottes
• Bought new: three cotton singlets
• Op-shopped: nada

(If we start the tally from after Christmas and thus, including the in-betweenie time, I can also add that I've made a skirt and a fabulous vintagey portrait top from Gertie's new book (as in Gertie's Blog for Better Sewing). This changes my ration to a more respectable 3:3:0. But behold my honesty).

Mostly, this year, I'd just like nothing spectacularly awful to happen. 2012 had a big dollop of crap right in the middle of it that adversely impacted my plans to make my thirtieth year the Best Year Ever (although I still have a few months to improve that).

However, I know this year is going to be better. I'm totally going to colour in that pesky Debt Unicorn in it's entirety. And then I'm going to start a Holiday Savings Unicorn and finally get to all the awesome places that I've idealised, romanticised and fantasised about. I have an awesome partner who I'm lucky enough to be blissed out with everyday. I have bookshelves and an e-reader full of books, maintain a fairly good balance between having too many and not enough Things, and eat stupidly well. As always, there are things I can change and tweak and move towards improving. 

But you know, baby steps.

GO Month

via We Heart It and FFFFOUND, Owen Gatley

I can be a little fetishistic about decluttering and organisation, a fetish that is not infrequently spurred by a quick dip into my reader. New Years is prime decluttering/reorganisation/manifesto time on the blogosphere, so imagine my JOY (pure joy) when I opened Feedly and found not one BUT FIVE appropriate posts?

Vis:

• Gala Darling
• Unicorns for Socialism
• Creating Clever (via Craftzine)
• Unclutterer
• The Domino Effect

So, see me jump up! See me rip things out of my wardrobe that I have been considering remaking or binning for yonks! See me purge books and begin to write a 2012 manifesto to stick on my wall! See me go through my email and viciously unsubscribe from various coupon sites!

Back to work today. On the way home I dropped into the library and bought six books for $2 in the book sale. Very excited to have a go at them, hope they're not dreadful.

Also I watched Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday tonight, while folding my washing and tidying around about. I thought about: Audrey's tiny waist, the men's high waisted trousers, Gregory being a black-and-white smokin' babe, and whether my hair would look as good as Audrey's in that cute little crop she gets.

Hand bag organiser v hand bag organiser

This week I've bought both a handbag organiser

 

 

and a handbag organiser - this is an IQ Bags one, as recommended by lovely Jo.

 

 

I love the feeling of organisation: twinges of joy along my spine. Spasms of self-satisfaction.

Fourteen Resolutions for Spring

I’m totally resolution-less at present since I ditched my "fifty-two things" list (which never made it to fifty-two things and which I spectacularly lost interest in). However Spring is Nigh, and spring is bringing with it the Urge to Resolve, and I can no longer fight it. It's time to make some arbitrary life changes.

I’ve made fourteen resolutions for spring. They’re mostly to do with decluttering parts of my life, taking better care of myself and keeping on top of my money situation. Decluttering because during the winter months my room seems to have become more cluttered and it’s small enough for even a slight increase in clutter to be overwhelming. Money because I have fallen off the wagon lately and I need to reassert control over my income and expenses. Modest my income may be, but it’s more than enough for me to live comfortably and have a proportionally modest social life - provided I manage it well.

In no particular order the resolutions are:

• Instigate a one-in one-out rule for my limited book shelf space 
• Return all my library items on time 
• Regularly clean my shoes, check which of them need re-soling, re-lacing or turfing and take any that need repairs made to the shoe repairer (I’ve had two pairs of summer shoes done recently so I’ve made a good start on this) 
• Have my coats dry cleaned and prepare them for summer storage 
• Wash my winter clothes and pack them up for summer storage 
• Sort through my winter clothes and get rid of anything I didn’t wear during the season 
• Turf the ratty undies
• Sell my roller skates (BAH, but it must be done. I haven’t been using them at all and I’m strapped for cash) 
• Get my bike-serviced, the crank arm fixed, and ride it everywhere 
• Restrict espresso coffee buying to Monday, Friday and one day in the weekend 
• Spend cash and stop using my debit card so freely 
• Stick to my budget 
• Be honest about how long it takes me to get ready in the morning and rework my morning schedule 
• Arrive at school on time

The rest of September, October and November look to be particularly smug months. Excellent.

Tell me if you have resolutions for the change of season?

Camera Obscura | Whiskey and Water

Right now: Camera Obscura and whiskey and water from a Crown Lynn Colourware teacup.

So, would you believe it, mere hours after Saturdays chirrupy little post, I was smote with a ghastly dose of food poisoning/gastroenteritis which put me completely out of action for Sheryll's party and for the rest of my time in Melbourne. Even the thought of food was horrifying beyond belief for the rest of the weekend, and drinking alcohol was completely out of the question. I'm sure you can imagine that the trip back on Monday was no fun at all -- I swear the woman sitting next to me on the plane could hear the tortured gurglings of my stomach.

I decluttered the RSS feeds in my reader and purged a bunch of feeds that I never read anymore or have been skimming impatiently for months. I love decluttering so much that I get disproportionately excited whenever I get the opportunity to declutter another aspect of my life. Soon I plan to take on Shannon's wardrobe [evil laugh] as I feel there is a great deal for me to work with in his room. So much to get rid of.

Finally, just wanted to show you a website I made in class and that actually (mostly) works! Depending on time constraints and my relative success in making usability changes to the backend, I think that I might actually migrate my blog there in the future. How exciting would THAT be, to run a blog that I had built myself from the ground up! Making stuff is fun.

The prototype blog is here.

The next assignment that I'm due to start on (and in fact, should probably do now) is something I'm pretty excited about - a mobile database of the thrifting, antique and second hand shopping opportunities in Wellington. I've seen one New Zealand op shop directory site (it looks like it's based in Auckland) but I know that I could make a better one. I'll let you know how it pans out!

Wednesday List: Ten More Things in 2010 (An Exceptionally Long Round Up on How Far I Have Come)

id you know that October was a completely list free month? Fascinating. It's like, I completely lost my list-writing mojo. But darlings, it happens to all of us and we just need to take it as it comes. Sometimes, there just isn't the list making urge inside.


Anyway, you may remember that I made a list of things to achieve in 2010. And then another list, which is this list. I thought it must be time to reassess the situation, given that I haven't even looked at the list for a while and that the year is hurtling towards a close.


1. Spend two hours a week putting the photos back into the SCP blog archive, and otherwise generally tidy up the archive so it looks more consistent. Suffice to say, this is incredibly tedious and distressingly close to what I actually do at work, so I am finding it very difficult to get enthusiastic about cleaning up the blog.  I shall do some work on my Lady of Leisure week, which begins next Monday. I have been trying to fill things in as I go, so that's made a bit of a difference to the back catalogue. Overall, I give myself a "Must try harder".


2. Make my bed everyday. Ah. Must try harder, again.


3. Have at least one "Buy Nothing Day" a week. This I've been doing really well at! I'm also on a spending fast at the moment, which is kind of good (and has been giving me a bunch of excuses to get out of things that I don't really want to do). 


I love love love Buy Nothing Days. If you're new to the whole thing, why not try taking part in Buy Nothing Day which is November 27th? You've got heaps of time to aim for it! Read Thrifty Chick's post about it for a bunch of info.


4. Pay back $4000 of my credit card. Check out the Unicorn! Booyakasha! 

I don't know if I'm likely to get pay off $4000 before the end of this year, but I am making some adjustments to get my expenses which will probably bring me closer to the goal. Either way ($3000 or $4000), the Debt Unicorn makes me thrill every time I fill it in. Awesome. I kind of like hanging off filling it in for a while too, so I get an extra surge of excitement from filling in large chunks of the Unicorns torso. Tee hee.


5. Take part in the Six Items or Less Challenge. I'm holding out to know whether there is going to be a SIOL-organised Challenge before the end of the year, and I'm thinking the best bet will be just to nominate a start date for myself and stick to it. Thus, I nominate next Monday (first day of my Lady of Leisure week) as the first day of my own, personal, six items or less challenge. I'll follow it for four weeks (ending 22 December). Rock and roll! It's pretty exciting - anyone else keen to join me? Let me know if you are and we can be support buddies.


6. Spend a month identifying and wearing clothes I never wear, and decide whether they're keepers or biffers. I've been trying to wear things that I don't more often, and getting rid of them if I genuinely have no desire at all to wear them. I'm a bit hampered by the unpredictability of the Wellington spring but I feel that I'm doing pretty well. I have two more bags of stuff that I'm keen as a bean to get rid of and would generally give myself a B for this one. I don't think I ever really settled to the task.


In hindsight, I think it would be a good task to set oneself maybe once a week every two months - having a set week to wear clothes that don't normally get an airing seems like a pretty good idea to me.


7. Either use the hula hoop or get rid of it. Totally gone. Awesome.


8. Clean and maintain my crafty machines. The other day I oiled and cleaned my overlocker, and I think it made a difference, but I promptly broke a needle and packed up in disgust so I can't tell for sure. I know that my sewing machine has been operating a whole heap better since I gave it a good clean. My spinning has dropped off the radar a bit but never mind. I think I can safely say that I'm achieving at this task. I rulez, and am now striking it through. OH YEAH.


9. Get rid of the knitting machine and table in the garage. I need to chase up the person who is supposed to be taking this off my hands, wherever she is. I'll chase her up. With holding judgement on my achieviness on this task.


10. Eat my food more slowly. I'm definitely eating my toasted sandwiches at lunch time more slowly: this is mostly because I had a series of really bad tomato/cheese burns on my chin and it was bloody miserable to be constantly burning myself with my own lunch. I can safely say that I'm making more of an effort to eat my food slowly. I'm going to take a leaf out of my own book and be more mindful when I eat - think more about nourishment while I'm eating. It's harder to scoff your food when you're thinking about the process of eating it.


1a. Make a budget and stick to it. My budget is coming up for a pre-study reassessment. And believe it or not, I'm actually very excited about this. I am also surprised at my excitement? Anyways, my Savings Accoutn has not worked out so well, but I've always maintained that the Savings Account was really for rainy days more than anything (at least, it was while I was getting out of my mountains of debt). I also need to work out a budget for next year when I start studying! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee STUDY!


2a. Unclutter my life and maintain a clutterless environment. In the weekend, I rearranged my room in the hope that I would be able to fit in a desk next year. I am super stoked with how well it's worked out, and I've managed to get rid of an entire piece of furniture. My bedroom is now a shrine to the Power of Getting Rid of Things That You Really Don't Need.


However: I read this very interesting item by Danielle La Porte on White Hot Truth and it rather resonated with me - especially the part where she quotes a woman called Lianne Raymond who notes that the recent obsessions with minimalism could be read as "pathologizing the feminine in favour of celebrating the masculine". This ties in some ideas I took with me from a book I read some time ago by Penny Sparke called As Long As It's Pink: The Sexual Politics of Taste. In this book, Sparke explores exactly this kind of idea in a historical context - namely the shift from Victorian parlours and knick knacks to Bauhaus et al, and the way that this shift reflected an effort to negate the overtly feminine in interior decorating.* And it made me think about decluttering as a sexual political act. 


I must confess I've never loved the idea of extreme minimalism, but I do like the idea of removing the things that are dragging me down - mentally and physically. In conclusion, I intend to think a great deal more about this but mostly sit on the fence with the doing, and also to reclaim my knick knacks that I really love. I'm not going to turf out my lovely teacups just because I don't drink tea out of every one! Organised collections people, organised collections.


And thus ends this round up for November! Congratulations if you made it this far. Contact me if you require a chocolate fish and one shall be forthcoming.




 *This is the briefest summary of these concepts ever, and they really are so much more interesting than this. If you're interested in this kind of thing (and it is really awfully interesting) then I strongly recommend you find the book and read it.

Meandering Ponderings on a Tuesday

know that I write this nearly everyday I see the sunshine, but it really does feel as though the good weather is on it's way, and I can't hardly wait. In the weekend I had a spring clean of my bedroom and washed all my bedding, took my mattress outside for a really good air and washed the skirting boards and the floors. Heavenly is hardly the word for it; there is nothing like a fresh-smelling bedroom. However my nose is now hyper sensitive to the slightest hint of damp or mustiness (a constant issue in Wellington houses) and I'm going to have to seriously clean out the cupboard part of my manrobe from which I am getting suspicious whiffs. That cupboard has been psychically resisting my decluttering for some time but NO MORE. It shall be purged this weekend without fail. I love me a good declutter.

he last few weeks I've been struggling a bit with the whole money/budgeting thing. It's hard to keep enthusiastic during the in-between times (i.e. trying not to spend money when I can't actively see my savings increase), but I'm doing my absolute best to keep on keeping on. All in all, I've been infected with an end-of-winter lethargy, and despite my best intentions I have dropped off from making things or exercising at all. Every weekend I wake up enthused with the prospect of planting herbs and weeding gardens and making skirts and t-shirts, but then it becomes too much of a mission to get everything out and I bake and cook instead, eat lots of comfort food and find something to clean or declutter (instead gratification). Confession: blogging has fallen under this lack of enthusiasm as well.

Boo to lethargy! I've been really short of energy lately, despite getting ample sleep and eating really well. The answer lies in doing more exercise, but I find myself feeling too tired to go to yoga or skate, and I'd have to get changed and get enthusiastic and waa boo waa etc. Anyway, enough of the pity party. I know the answer to this is just to get on with it - act the way you want to feel. In an effort to get back on the enthusiasm wagon and go for a hoon, I rode my bike to work this morning, and it was fabulous - free wheeling down the hill. I like the idea of going for a cruise after work as well; think I'll ride along the water front. Tiredness won't be an excuse today because I'm always freaking tired at the moment, and if I keep using it as an excuse I'll never get anything done. Yoga tomorrow evening! I'm going to get my stretch on. Look at all the enthusiasm! Out of control.

nd Finally ...

♥ Looking like: I think I look a little bit French, but mostly totally fash. I'm wearing a stonewash pinny, opaque stockings, red cowboy boots, a stripey top and a red cardigan. That kind of sounds terrible, but trust me: It looks cute! Also, I'm wearing makeup which I almost never do, and that always makes a difference I think - as in, actively glamourises.

♥ Listening to: I finished Harry Potter. Harry Potter audio books (Stephen Fry's dulcet tones) have been my constant companion over the last few weeks, nay, months. It's quiet in my head without Ron, Hermione, Harry and the Dementors. Sad. I am sad without Dementors.

In other Listening news, I started re-organising my iTunes last night and have made playlists for different eras. My favourite one at the moment is the 50s and 60s playlist, which is mostly cheesy rock 'n' roll and girl groups. So many songs about wanting to be someone's wife.

♥ Fad a la Mode: Sleeping. All I want to do is sleep all the time. This has been going on for over a week now. See above.

♥ Watched this Week: Grey Gardens. Absolutely amaze. The documentary is fascinatingly constructed in itself, but the women that it documents (Big and Little Edie Beale) are incredible. I can not recommend highly enough. Besides which, it's infinitely quotable: "You're nothing if you're not married!".

♥ Reading: The Mitford Girls is on the go at home, and The Surgeon of Crowthorne is living in my work desk for lunch time cruising. In Christchurch I went berserk in a book shop and bought far too many literary biographies so it looks as though I'll be enjoying those until the end of the year.

♥ Webreading: I've found a couple of food blogs that I'm quite keen on at the moment: am obsessed with the bread making recipe in Budget Bytes (terrible name, but) and I am crazy for The Stone Soup (which I'm sure I've made totally apparent in the past). Both websites focus on super simple food, and as much as I love elaborate meals I'm a bit tired of cooking for hours and hours.

♥Anticipation: Thursday and Friday birthday celebrations for Jo and Nat respectively, lunch with Mum on Saturday. Also, seeing if there is anything really wrong with me (the tiredness) tomorrow will be good!

Weekend Projects and Ms "Disaster Tourism" 2010

Agata Nowacka via Supersonic Electronic

y weekend projects were not as plentiful as might have been hoped. I had a good go at decluttering, and I've managed to get rid of some more clothes from my wardrobe. It's really nice to be able to move the clothes smoothly along the rack, and my room is looking less cluttered and more tidy each time I remove something, which is a very satisfying feeling. Other cleaning things slid off my to-do list, but I managed to get at least one load of washing done before the gale force winds set in and tore everything off the line (flatmate was not so lucky - he found his jeans in the garden this morning).

Shannon's birthday scarf is nearing completion. If I really knuckle down I think I can get it well finished before his birthday (on Friday), and the weather is so miserable at the moment that it looks as though he'll get some decent wear out of it before spring starts. Did I mention the gales? There are lots of gales at the moment. Tres windy.

On Saturday night I tweeted for the second Richter City bout "The Rubble Rouser". I felt far less weird going to this one than i did going to the first bout after leaving the league, but it's still pretty strange watching the girls skate and not being a part of it. i drank a few (not very nice) beers, and ran into a fair few people that I hadn't seen for ages - mostly people from high school. All in all I had rather a weird night, and I was rather relieved to run off as soon as the bout was finished.

The bout itself was great though! So many hot talented ladies. Pageant won again… this means that the final bout is just a matter of Malice trying to claw back some pride. I have faith in them though! GET IN THERE GIRLS.

I'm going to be tweeting the next bout as well by the look of it. I over-tweeted on Saturday - apparently Twitter cuts you off if you send 200 tweets in an hour (who could have guessed) so I'm going to have to learn to be a little more self controlled for the next one. I received a lot of good feedback from people watching the tweets. Happy! I love positive feedback, like a big geeky puppy rolling on my back and waving my paws in the air. WEEE.

And my final bit of news: Did you pick up on the recent earthquake in Christchurch? It was a pretty huge earthquake, 7.1 on the Richter scale, and it's pretty much a miracle that nobody was killed. There are heaps of photos out there of buildings that have just slid into the centre of the road. But - guess where I'm still going on Wednesday? I'm going to visit an earthquake hit city that's under a State of Emergency.

I'm not super enthused to visit the carnage (in case you're wondering if I have a twisted Disaster Tourism desire), but Shannon is still going down there for work and I still have tickets to fly there, and the airport is open. I'm not sure how much will be happening, so I guess I'll take a few more books than I'd initially planned. I guess it'll be good to get out of the city though? I hope there are no scary aftershocks and I don't fall into a hole in the floor and am never seen again.* That would be bad.


*I read a story about the 1931 Napier earthquake at primary school and this exact thing happened to a character in the story. I've never been able to get it out of my head.

Feeling the Arohanui

ey my lovelies. It's Thursday, where in homage to Gala Darling's "Things I Love Thursday" I write my own TiLT, and call it Arohanui.

You know, I'm all for the name "Things I Love Thursday", but the word "Arohanui" is pretty beautiful. If your Māori isn't awesome, I shall enlighten you: it means "lots of love" (or "big love", I guess). As a word it makes me want to squee.

And so, without further ado, here is a bunch of stuff that I'm loving on this week:

♥ Filofax! This is it: please excuse the tiny tiny photo, I took it with my phone. The style is "Urban" which is made mostly of waxed cotton, but I have cunningly applied a vintage felt applique that Lizzie gave to me years and years ago and that I've never found anything awesome enough to apply to. It's grey (which you may or may not be able to tell from my shitty picture), and it's the "Personal" size. I felt that anything smaller was - well, too small. SIZE MATTERS WHEN IT COMES TO ORGANISATION. I feel this is the right size for me to be truly organised.

Things I am enjoying so far about my Filofax: heaps more room to write than in my last diary, "To Do" list interleaved with the daily planner, (finances, List of Want) lists all neatly itemised and filed in the same place. Lots of notepaper and everything kept together instead of across a number of different notebooks and diaries.

♥  The Stone Soup. Have you seen this website yet? I'm can't imagine how it's taken me so long to find! The concept is "minimalist home cooking" - five ingredients or less, and food made in under ten minutes. The lady who runs the website has also made a free ecookbook, and my life has changed. Being able to pull together something tasty and simple in record time is absolutely fantastic. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

♥  Ongoing Declutter of Awesomeness.  I'm totally addicted to getting rid of my crap at the moment. Hoop is sold, another pile of books is sold, I've reduced my CD collection to about ten CDs that I actually want to keep, and I've scanned in all the documents in my massive file of doom. My next plan is to clear out the clothes again - I'd like to try and get rid of fifteen items of clothing this weekend, using my new found technique. Also, I'm planning on heading to the garage and itemising everything I have in there - there must be a bunch of stuff that I can get rid of.

♥  Never having to finish Lipstick Jungle. I struggled to about halfway through, but I presented what I'd done to Book Club on Wednesday night and I'm stoked to know that I will never, ever, have to struggle through the last half of the book. Candace Bushnell: you will be first against the wall when the Revolution comes.

The rest of my books now look very attractive and I'm stoked that I'm going to have time to read something worthwhile. I've decide that it's a good thing to read something rubbish once in a while - if it encourages you not to take good books for granted. Darlings, they are a blessing. I'm so happy to have the ability and time to read.

♥  Anticipation: Chch trip in less than a week!, Archival Survival Society on tomorrow night, live blogging RCRD's next bout "The Rubble Rouser" on Saturday (I'll be tweeting from the @richtercity Twitter account). Finishing Shannon's scarf!

ALSO: ♥ leopard print tights ♥ easing myself back into the world of heels ♥ going to yoga with Nat and gossiping over tea and hot chocolate afterwards ♥ living within my means ♥ being loved ♥ fabulous op shop acquisitions ♥ cheap clip glass photo frames ♥ a beautifully made bed ♥

Meera Lee via Super Sonic Electronic

Wednesday list: ten MORE things in 2010, part the second

Update! It's the first of the month, which means that I am reassessing my list of things I want to achieve before the end of the year.

I think the second list has been more successful than the first, the decision to list only finite things is working for me. Also, it helps that I am on a super self-control binge at the moment. (Can one binge on self-control? I'm giving it a whirl).

So, updates!

1. Spend two hours a week putting the photos back into the SCP blog archive, and otherwise generally tidy up the archive so it looks more consistent. It's super hard to be enthusiastic about finding and uploading the missing images, because it's quite tedious and rather a chore, but I'm slowly getting there. I've also decided to make my blog headings more consistent; that is, no more dashes, only colons.

2. Make my bed everyday. Because I spend so much time in S's bed this doesn't seem to be that much of a problem and has been a lot easier to keep on top of than I first thought. I can only think of one time where I've really lapsed in this over the last month or so, and I guess the answer is just to get back on to it again as soon as I can.

Having a well made bed makes walking into my bedroom so much nicer and less cluttery. J'adore.

3. Have at least one "Buy Nothing Day" a week. I've been awesome at this, I'm super proud - in fact, this weekend I was spend free entirely. How cool is that!

4. Pay back $4000 of my credit card. I'm just short of paying back $1000 at the moment, because of STUPID CRAPPY BANK FEES THAT ATE MY MONEY. Credit cards suck so much and I hate them.

Anyway, for your delectation, here is le Debte Unicorne. Two different colours! This can only mean one thing: I am uber successful.

5. Take part in the Six Items or Less Challenge. I've been looking for updates on this and it looks as though the start date has been pushed back to late September. This is all good, at least the weather will be a bit warmer and it'll open up my wardrobe opportunities a bit. I have already decided on my six items, and I'm thinking of trialling the Challenge during my trip to Christchurch. I love the idea of only having hand luggage on the plane.

6. Spend a month identifying and wearing clothes I never wear, and decide whether they're keepers or biffers. I've been doing this vaguely over the last month, and I've decided to make it an ongoing project (so: to be finished at the end of the year). So far I've worn my leather jacket (not sure), my grey knitted chain scarf (love), my tutu (I think this is actually really unflattering on me and I'm going to get rid of it), my velvet puff sleeved jacket (unsure) and a polka dot skirt I made forever ago. I have big plans to declutter my wardrobe this weekend, and I will get rid of anything I'm really unsure about.

So many unflattering photos. Also, who knew I wore so much red and grey?
(L-R) Tutu (under skirt), grey knitted chain scarf, polka dot skirt.

7. Either use the hula hoop or get rid of it. I feel exceptionally pleased with myself because I've finally listed the hula hoop on Trade Me. You can see it here. (ETA: this is now sold. YAY.)

8. Clean and maintain my crafty machines. I've cleaned my sewing machine and the difference is amazing. It's so so much easier to sew with and it's working really well. Also, oiling and wiping down my spinning wheel has made a big difference to the way that it's working. I'm crafting to a deadline at the moment (Shannon's birthday) so I haven't had a chance to use if for a while.

9. Get rid of the knitting machine and table in the garage. I've committed to give this to a girl I used to skate with when she arrives back in Wellington in November. I'd rather that it goes to someone who really wants it so I'm happy to leave it in the garage until she gets back. It's a weight off my mind knowing that it has a future.

10. Eat my food more slowly. This is so hard and I must concentrate on this more. Sometimes I get so hungry, find myself thinking CHEESE MUST EAT ALL THE CHEESE NOW MMM CHEESY CHEESY, and realise I've eaten most of my toasted sandwich without breathing.

1a. Make a budget and stick to it. I'm stoked with myself! Still going strong with the way of the budget, although some non-necessary shopping urges are sneaking back in again. I'm re-establishing the List of Want and I'm going be more committed to it. I'm also going to start writing down what I'm spending my money on. I think this two pronged attack will work really well.

2a. Unclutter my life and maintain a clutterless environment. I had yet another declutter of my books this weekend, and I also had a good go at CDs and my old organisers. Things are looking better! My next plan is to clear through my papers, scan what needs to be saved and chuck what doesn't.

I have a new decluttering system too - I read it on one of my new favourite blogs, Miss Minimalist. The idea is that the best way to declutter is not by going through a shelf and picking off what you don't want, but rather pulling everything off the shelf and just putting back what you do want. This has worked well with my books, and I can't wait to have another go and getting rid of some of my clothes. The difference in decluttering when using this technique is massive.

Today is Mardi

These women are awesome (Jeanette Bernhard, 1910)

VIA

Dear my lovelies;

What a fabulous weekend I had! Monday less so, but these things can’t be helped - Monday sucks, no matter how many champagne (*ahem* Lindauer) brunches one has. But ne’er mind. It’s a new week and I’ve instigated the organisational skills that have been somewhat lacking since towards the end of January and having a made bed feels good.

♥Looking like: It’s time to do something about my hair. In the weekend I had lunch with Shannon’s family and his father’s wife was determined to comment on how different it looked. Mostly, it just looked as though the colour had grown out and it needed a wash, but it was nice of her to comment.

♥Listening to: Josephine by Carolly Erickson and narrated by S. Patricia Bailey. The narrator reads this book as though she was reading erotica and it’s difficult to concentrate on the historical aspects when she’s all breathy about Napoleon Bonaparte and trailing off salaciously at the end of each sentence. Also, the writer spends an awful lot of time speculating about Rose/Josephine’s emotional or psychological state and the historian in me cringes at that ("we can only imagine how Rose felt about this... she must have been worrying about her children" etc and GAG). Do not recommend especially. I shall listen to the end tho’.

♥Fad a la Mode: Getting Back On Top Of Things. Making my bed and tidying my room and organising my food for the week and checking the weather forecast to see when I can hang out my clothes and getting my bits and pieces together for training tonight.

♥Watched this Week: A whole episode and some bits of episodes of Breaking Bad. Shannon is watching it at his place. It’s not really doing that much for me; I feel awkward and a bit embarrassed watching it. Otherwise: more episodes of QI and Arrested Development. Oh, and also I was lucky enough to see the Topp Twins documentary Untouchable Girls at the Film Archive last Thursday. It's a seriously great film and if you get the chance to watch it, I strongly recommend that you take it.

♥Reading: Still on my Colette biography (Secrets of the Flesh - A Life of Colette) and loving it. How about Claudine! And Monsieur Willy! And Colette’s female lovers and simultaneous dislike of lesbians to the extent that she disapproved of her own daughter when she came out! Yesterday I was reading this book sometimes and listening to Josephine at others and getting the bits listing people’s lovers all mixed up (fin de siecle v Directoire). It’s like all people ever do in Paris is sleep around.

♥Webreading: Selleck Waterfall Sandwich. Will the genius who makes this site run out of sandwiches or pictures of Tom Selleck first?

♥Anticipation: Seeing Nat tomorrow night. She’s awesome.

Wednesday List: Ten things updated

Last year I wrote this list, and I've been squirreling away at it throughout January. This is my first progress report for the year, so please be proud of me!

1. Pay back credit card debt.
This is absolutely the hardest thing on this list, but I’m making an effort, I really am. I’ve removed the credit card from my Paypal account so that’s removed the temptation to buy heaps of stuff online that I don’t need (like – heaps and heaps and heaps of yarn. Eek). Also, I ordered one of those Visa debit cards from Kiwibank and I’m hoping that will help out. FINALLY: I am about to cut my credit card in two. On the count of three –
One
Two
Three.

Credit card is cut in two. I’ll load up a photo here later.

2. Learn to hula hoop.
Still waiting for the classes to come up – I’ve signed up to the Wellington Circus School newsletter but I’m yet to see any dates for the classes. I may make some phone calls to see when the next class is, or maybe if I’m misreading/misunderstanding what is going on with the classes? I have the hoop at home tho - In the meantime, I could be hooping it up at home.

3. Learn to spin.
I can spin on a drop spindle! It’s fun – I haven’t knit anything with the yarn that I span but you can see it here. I think I can officially count that as a COMPLETE.

4. Make a decision about returning to study and prepare myself to start in 2011.

5. Learn how to wear contact lenses.

6. Go to Camp a Low Hum and have a really super fab time.
YES YES YES YES YES I am SOOOO completed with this one. It was awesome – have I mentioned that? Because it was. It was the most awesome good time fun ever. As soon as I get photos and text sorted I will post up my CALH run down. This is going on my list again for next year, by the way.

7. Go to Blood and Thunder Camp and learn heaps and use my awesome and newly found skating skills to score twenty points for my team in the next bout.
It doesn’t seem as though this is likely to happen – the Camp part, that is. I am massively impoverished. And sad about it.

8. Make a budget and stick to it.
Oh wow, I put this on the list? Wow.

o_O

I’m off to sorted.co.nz to do the budget. The sticking to it will be an ongoing project. The fact I haven't sorted this out yet is probably the reason I'm massively impoverished.

9. Get the tattoo I’ve been talking about getting for five years.

10. Unclutter my life and maintain a clutterless environment.
I had made such leaps and bounds before I left for camp and things at home have fallen apart since then. My work space is a lot less cluttered and I’m keeping a list of things to do beside me at all times – which means that working has been less clutterful. However, I have a massive pile of books and clothes in the hallway that are waiting to be taken away and that’s far more cluttery than keeping them on the shelves. But, it’s an ongoing project. I shall refocus.

Arohanui!

VIA

I'm so tired at the moment that writing is almost agony. Bear with me x

• Curry Cook Off at Shannon's house last night! There was so much amazing food and the whole evening was a huge amount of fun.
• My Blendy yarn sampler box. Lots of little skeins of loveliness, and I can hardly wait to get home and go crazy with the knitting. Also, there is a little bit of merino fleece and some silk scraps that I can use for my first spinning project - my drop spindle arrived earlier this week and I haven't had anything to spin with yet. I can't wait to start!
• Organising my bookmarks, my favourites and my reader, and finding images and articles that have I loved and lost under the massive amount of things that are generated everyday by the internet.
• Being back at Derby training! My body is killing me but it was awesome skating and pushing myself and realising that everyone had become as unfit as me during the off season.

Honourable mentions: making my bed everyday this week and coming home to a tidy room; sleeping; having my orange drink bottle again (thanks Bryna!); getting ready for bed an hour before I intend to sleep; mucking around with my blog layout; making a beautiful database.

A hunk of burning *Arohanui!*

Did you imagine jazz hands around the *arohanui*? That’s what I was trying to convey with the exclamation marks and the asterisks. Today I am very tired because I did that thing where I stay awake really late for no apparent reason but I’ve decided to distract myself from that (and from work!) by writing a list of Things I Love. Oh, and check it! Today is actually Thursday.

• My new KeepCup has arrived! It’s rather pretty – charcoal and pink and it is absolutely the most perfect size for my soy flat white in the morning and I’m not using takeaway cups anymore! I’ve had a big Thermos cup for the last few years but it’s so insanely huge that it’s hard to work out how far up to fill it with espresso, and so I gave up on using it (so bad). But my KeepCup handily fits in my bag and is exactly the right size. Also, I’d like to make a knit or a crochet sleeve for it to make it even MORE pretty. I have some sparkly aqua yarn that is very fluffy and 80s. An option?

• I’ve decided to purge my belongings in an effort to have less stuff to carry around – and I already love the way things are shaping up! I know I mentioned this yesterday, but it wasn’t until last night that I successfully rearranged my shelves (by colour) and noticed that now my two bookshelves are nowhere near full. Cleaning out clothes is less inspiring, more emotional and far more difficult. But I’m doing it, dammit! And I know from experience that it feels good too, once it’s gone and I can’t feel the weight of my belongings hanging like a mill stone around my neck *dramatic pose*. I LOVE PURGING MY STUFF.

• My food fad of the moment is macaroni cheese, and The Pioneer Woman has made my skirt fly up with the recipe for Gourmet Macaroni Cheese that she posted before Christmas. It has four (four!) different kinds of cheese in it. It’s a good thing that big butts are healthy (it’s true - I read it in the newspaper).

• Lately, Tumblr has been a huge source of inspiration for me in terms of images and looking. That is, I can live without the song lyrics and angsty prose and poetry but I love love love looking at the pretty images. It was Tumblr that spurred my need to arrange my bookshelves by colour. It was Tumblr that inspired my desire to overhaul my wardrobe so that I only dress as though I were a character in I Capture the Castle. Apparently, Tumblr has a lot to answer for.

honourable mentions: Rupert Everett travel history documentaries; knitting socks; reciprocal cooking arrangements; waking up with the Boy; a changed template for my blog; toasted sandwiches; wearing make-up to work (I feel much more grown up and professional); making resolutions; choosing audio books via Audible using recommendations from Goodreads; finding a flatmate; and anticipation!: Spinsters’ Knitting Club this weekend and Camp A Low Hum the weekend after that.

Stuff and the Christmas Party and a nice, generous panic

It’s my last day of work before Christmas and I’m rather short of things to do – I’m reading my way through the various things in my reader and twiddling my thumbs and fantasising about all the things I can do this weekend and next week. Mostly I am fantasising about tidying my room and embarking on the Great Summer Declutter, which I imagine will enable me to lie around and luxuriate in a big room of emptiness. These are strictly imaginings though, as my room is not big, and no matter how much stuff I get rid of I will still have MOUNTAINS OF STUFF. I think I’ve rather stopped loving all my bits and pieces and become mostly overwhelmed by all of it. When I was living in Australia, I came back to New Zealand on a month’s holiday and saw Dad’s new house for the first time. In the second bedroom he had stacked what felt like hundreds of enormous plastic boxes full of paper (the ones with lids that clip on and wheels on the bottom) and I imagined them all collapsing on him one day and Dad being crushed and suffocated by all of his STUFF. And this is how I’ve begun to feel about my own stuff – in fact, I’m thinking about it now and beginning to give myself an anxiety attack (the stuff is crushing me!). Maybe I’ll just hire a dumpster and empty everything I own into it and when I move to the Boy’s house I can just take my bed and bicycle and skates and sewing machine and overlocker and my collection of Crown Lynn Tam O’Shanter crockery and my nanny’s tea cups and my books and – [insert stuff-based panic attack here]. In other news, today I had a Toastie and peanut butter toastie, which is pretty much the most awesome thing in the world. Katherine documented the whole thing from ingredients to delicious consumption so more information shall be forthcoming. In other other news we had our staff party last night and it was pretty average. There was no real food, only nibbles, so I was forced to make friends with the wait staff in order to secure enough nibbly bits to constitute my dinner. Then I ate a hell of a lot of White Christmas and felt a little ill, although that could have been all the cheap méthode champenoise. And what’s the deal with White Christmas anyway? I don’t even think it tastes good; I’m just strangely compelled whenever I see its vegetable-shortening-self glistening with glace cherries, and I go into a kind of childhood sugar-based excitement and stuff my face. This one time when I was a kid, I was at this family thing one of the boys who was there thought it would be funny to drop a piece of White Christmas into the open mouth of his sleeping brother. Sleeping brother choked on the White Christmas and didn’t think this was funny at all and we all had to go home early because he was crying. Christmas is awesome. Nostalgia is awesome. Last day of work is awesome. White Christmas and cheap méthode champenoise are less awesome.

Arohanui

• I went for my first recreational walk for months during the weekend, my lack of walking resulting from a combination of my being broken and the filthy filthy disgusting weather. Saturday was beautiful; the Boy and I went up to the Town Belt, stood on a hill and looked out over the harbour, and then walked down through Wadestown. And it was glorious, all that fresh air and sunshine and striding... it feels like forever that I strode anywhere.
• And so many beautiful magnolia trees on the walk, venerable old things with twisting branches covered in moss, huge waxy flowers blossoming or beginning to blossom on their tips. The flowers are so gloriously upright and so vivid and bold compared to the sparseness and puritanism of the branches. I love the contrast. They're also the best thing about walking to work.
• Train time; an hour each day to read, write, knit, examine the strange train people, and THINK. Stare into space. Enforced downtime rocks my tiny world.
• My fabulous new culottes, which make me happy, so happy. I feel like both a mighty samurai! and a 1930s glamour girl. Best of all, I feel like I'm channeling an old samurai loving flatmate and the Glorious and Horribly Distant Lizzie.
• Having a tidy, craft-centric bedroom. The inside of my head feels clean, and tidy. I can live there.
• Anticipation: Bill Bailey tomorrow night, Roller Disco next Saturday, Kylie in December!

In which the Declutter is Complete

 

My bedroom is super hott. It is so decisively decluttered that visitors have been known to swoon from their surprise at seeing the floor.

What is the secret? The secret is: a place for everything and everything in its place. If something doesn't have a home you have a choice of either finding it a home or getting rid of it (chucking, donating, selling). Sounds super obvious doesn't it? A lot harder to undertake, especially when you have a lot of stuff. Time to be brutal. Incidentally, letting your friends go through your bag of random clothes and stuff is a great way of getting rid of stuff without feeling so much of a wrench - its good to know that your once-precious things are going to a good home.

This bit has involved me thinking inventively about ways I can store things. I have a new rack for my shoes, and clear plastic stackable boxes that have cleared up my floor no end. I used this tutorial by Susan Beal on CraftStylish to make embroidery frame display-things for my badges and brooches...

...and this tutorial by Ana Maria Braga to make the stand for my prettiest records and random parcels of goodness (these are knitted presents for various Lucky Girls)...

...Gala Darling was my inspiration for the pegged-up pictures.

A second rule: the clearer the floor space, the bigger the room will appear... if the line of sight is drawn upwards then the room will seem more spacious. This is especially important in my room because it isn't especially big - although lots of glorious windows and my fabulous view give the impression of spaciousness. So I've tried to keep lots of my surfaces clear and tidy, and to hang pictures very high.

Finally, I'm lucky that I have lots of windows, and I've discovered that exposing the windows as much as possible by tying the curtains back with ribbons shows the windows to their optimum size... more light, more air, BETTER!

I believe the declutter will be ongoing, as I find more and more exciting ways to tidy and retidy and re-order. I am such a girl for Stuff, and I don't think that will change in a hurry. But it sure is nice to be able to see all my stuff and not feel overwhelmed by it. Huzzah!

Arohanui

• Going on dates with a person you're super close with... the most fun ever to hang out with a person who you adore and who adores you and whose company is fabulously good.
• Eating well... during the day at work, and at home. So great feeling wonderfully satisfied, wholes and a little more than slightly smug. I am eating huge amounts of fresh brioche with home made quince jam at the moment. Too good.
• Bright red cowboy boots, the greatest Trade Me purchase ever... Huzzah! Only a poncho could make me happier.

• Sitting in my bedroom with Bex, drinking wine and gossiping like school girls.
• Having a super sexily de-cluttered room with super hott clean sheets. I am wallowing in smugness. And I have room to THINK.
• Op shopping. God, I love it too much. I now have a 70s duffle coat with a fun fur lined hood and it blows my tiny mind.
• Writing on the train on the way to and from work. So much bogan deliciousness to record, heaps more time to navel gaze and contemplate.
• Friday afternoon at new job = glide time + booze.
• Books: crushing Djuna Barnes/Anais Nin's diaries/biographies of 18th C courtesans.

Ugh.... hangover so dire

Big night last night - involving drinking at a birthday party, where I met Gala Darling (a blog idol) and had absolutely no idea what to say, merely blustered horribly. Then to Colin's flat where Marnie was saying good bye to New Zealand... I spoke to Colin's boyfriend drunkenly about knitting for some time; Bex was wearing the most amazing Zambesi dress, she looked incredible. At some point about here I split my velvet dress up to my butt, I've torn it. Have to repair. So annoyance. And SO hungover today. Slept until half two and then had nasty dirty pizza for breakfast at half past three-ish. I'm still at the Boy's, avoiding going home because it seems like such an ENORMOUS EFFORT, walking up the stairs with a huge basket of storage solutions that I bought yesterday in a fit of organisational integrity. Besides which, Callum is cooking something that looks amazing and delicious and surprisingly vegan. And the Flat is still showing the Olympics on the projector... I've been watching Usain Bolt run really, really fast on super large screen. He has gold running shoes. I feel a little fetishistic about them. I want gold sneakers. They're so blingin' trash bad taste... Heaven. Mmm, storage sooo fun... Despite the horrific climb awaiting me, I can't hardly wait to unpack the plastic boxes and the new laundry basket, and the little wooden pegs and the shoe rack thingy. My room is going to look so hott. Watch this space for a further declutter update... I might name it something deceptively exciting sounding. Last night Bea told me she never looked at any of the declutter posts because they sounded boring. I need to trick my audience. Like TV does. See the level of my hungover-ness. Bleh.

George Carlin Talks About "Stuff"

Thanks Bryna!