20 bags in 20 days

BEST SPRING CLEANING EVER!!!!

I am so excited about this new project. If you haven't been to Clover Lane then you must. She is amazing. She is a mother of 5 with a system for everything and she always inspires me to improve myself. Well, she is Catholic and came up with this decluttering idea for Lent.

So she divided up her house into 40 areas and is taking 40 days to completely purge and organize and improve those areas. As someone who is a huge fan of purging I got really excited about it! She calls it 40 bags in 40 days (meaning she hopes to get rid of a bag of stuff in each space). Click here and on her side bar click on 40 bags in 40 days. Check out her other systems too. Its cool.

Anywho... I am taking the opportunity since I have a teeny tiny apartment to learn to live simply and stay organized. I am modifying the plan from 40 to 20 because even if I tried I wouldn't have 40 areas in my house. So today I got started. And here is the list I came up with...

1. TV area (organize wires)
2. Bedroom closet
3. My computer desk
4. Parker's computer desk
5. Parker's study desk
6. Under the sink in the bathroom
7. In the shower
8. Under the kitchen sink
9.Hair cupboard ( I have an area for my extra hair supplies)
10. Kitchen cupboards
11. Pots and pans cupboard
12. Drawers in the kitchen
13. Laundry area
14. Pantry
15. Outside storage
16. Living room bookcase
17. Bedside tables
18. Fridge
19. Medicine cabinet
20. Dresser

Yes my areas are small but each could use some kind of improvement.

Today Here is what I did...

Under Kitchen Sink Before...



and After...

I also found out that I had a huge amount of multi-purpose cleaners! I didn't purge those because it's a waste to toss them but I won't need to buy that for the next couple years! haha

and here's what I purged... although a couple of things will be relocated.


Next I did my hair cupboard. I have a suitcase that I have all my traveling salon hair supplies in but some extra things that I don't always need with me go here. Before...


After...

and here's what I purged...

Here is my bedside table... my biggest peeve... Before...

I hate when this basket gets full.

After...
And what I purged...

Okay into the bathroom. My medicine cabinet before...
And after....

and what I purged....
And into the shower. This one isn't that bad but drives me crazier than anything else! So, Before...
and After...

and what I purged...

Parker has a seprate study area in our room for when he needs to concentrate and he doesn't use it when it becomes our catch all, which it has become since school got out. Well, we got to get it ready for next semester at Sac State. So, Before...

After...
And what I purged...

That's what I have so far. Maybe nobody wants to watch me spring clean but too bad.
It makes me look really messy ( and maybe I am ) but these are all things that get pushed to the side because the house can look decent even when these things are messed up so I rarely get to them. It may not seem like I purged a lot but when you live in 700 Square feet everything needs to be necessary. ( especially when I finally get pregnant and we have a baby and all it's stuff here!)
Im excited to get going on the rest of my list.

Happy spring cleaning everyone!

JSA Photography

BTW... Just in case anyone is in need of updating there family pictures you definetly need to hire Jon and Stephanie. (They did our pictures that I posted not to long ago). I just saw that they have a website now (jsafoto.com) and a facebook page. It's nice because they aren't typical studio pictures and they are so creative and fun to work with. They gave us a CD of our pictures and they can even edit some of your favorites! If you have any questions about them call me or leave a comment and I can hook you up!

Dating your husband

My new favorite blog! The Dating Divas. The whole blog is women who have great ideas on how to date your husband. We all know Mormon dating is always wholesome and fun and creative. Why does that kind of dating have to stop after your married. Are we doomed to dinner and a movie. Quiet dinner parties. Grocery shopping at midnight. Don't get me wrong those are great things too, but we all can agree that we could kick it up a notch. A little more effort can make all the difference. I got an idea from the dating divas and added my own personal touch...

Writing on the mirror...
In all these envelopes I have love notes and reasons why I appreciate and respect him.
I put little love notes on his computer
In this box I wrapped up pictures that I took of my self explaining what our date will be.

The first one is of me holding a picture of the pie we were gonna make together.

The second one is of me holding a picnic basket because we will be going on a picnic.

Third is me holding our blow up mattress and a movie cuz we like to set that up in the living room to watch movies and that's when we will eat our pie right out of the pan!

The fourth is for me to know and for only Parker to find out!

Being married is THE BEST! It makes me feel sad when people say that life isn't a fairytale and it will be a hard road.

My question to them is what are you doing for your Prince Charming to make him want to treat you like the Princess you are?

And what are you doing to make the road smoother for your trip? So far I wake up every day thrilled that I got to marry my best friend.

Treat each other with love and respect and appreciation... every day.

Happy Dating !!!

What's been going on...

So, for those who don't know I have been laid up since Friday. Finally, I saw a doctor about my ongoing back problem and have finally been diagnosed with Lumbar Disc disease. That sounded so yucky then I looked it up and found out that it's a herniated disc. It sucks but at least I know what it is. Apparently it isn't something that will be a reoccurring problem.




So here is gross picture of my suffering. haha. I have more medication than I know what to do with so I'll be feeling real good here in about 10-20 minutes.

Other than that I am getting ready for a Salsa Throwdown party. Katie Roskelley claims that she makes the best salsa in the world and if anyone knows Parker they know that he is the self proclaimed salsa master. The war began. Soon after one of Parker's friends wanted to add his salsa to the contest. It will be awesome. There will be a blind tasting and the champion will be given an amazing trophy! Anyone who wants to come is invited. (This Saturday at my place 7Pm) We are doing it outside so there is plenty of room for everyone. Ill post the party on Idea fairy when I get the pictures. P.S. All preparations and decorations have and will be done while I lay on my back on my favorite couch. We will soon see how good at this I am! hehe. :)

Mother's day

On mother's day this year we had Mom, Dad and Michael over for lunch and then all went to church together. Parker's not in the pictures but he was there! haha. We gave mom and dad a universal remote as a combined mother's day and father's day gift.

Susan G. Koman 5k Walk

At work we all decided to take a Saturday off and do the Susan G. Koman cancer walk. It was a really cool experience. Seeing all the survivors and some people who had huge lists of people they knew who were affected by breast cancer. Crazy. Fortunately, I didn't have anyone that I personally knew but it was powerful to see those who did have.
These are the gals I work with minus Tina who decided to go on vacation instead! :) This is April, Deb (the boss) and Patty (the manager).


and we're off!

Emily Roskelley's wedding

Good times. I got to do some hair very early in the morning and hang out with some cool chicks!

This is her reception at the Phipps house. And of course here is the Maid of Honor Katie!
And of course us!

our new photo shoot!

This was so fun. We haven't had a picture together since our engagement pictures so we really wanted to do it again but really didn't want studio pictures. Our friends Jon and Stephanie Alston are amazing photographers and they said they would do it for us! I think they turned out awesome! Here are some of our favorites....
We took the pictures in Old Town Newcastle. They have a bunch of old buildings with cool back rounds.

They told us to bring pops that represented us as a couple. We really struggled to find something and then we realized that we like to do different things together. Hence this next picture. Its one of my favorites. Us in a nutshell.