Peaceful creatures

What have I been doing?

Organizing shelves


Blanching tomatoes


Hanging out with Bonnie


Going through old treasures


not studying


I got Bonnie this western style collar from a nice lady on Etsy


Perfect for an Arkansas dog!
I don't see the dog collar listing, but I'm sure you can contact her for a custom order, as I sort-of did for the font and colors and such

Well-Organized LadyBiking

Pretty Organized

Riding home from work, it felt nice to be so close to this gorgeous blue car to say I love your car!

I found a pretty little case for my bicycle accessories. Having a loose bungee cord in your purse is a nightmare. It hooks and tangles on everything. Lights and sunglasses are tidily kept in here too. 

I love Knog clip-on lights. They're better off in here than the bottom of my purse being accidentally turned-on and batteries running down. 

First Commute of 2011!

I can't believe I'm riding in January. This wasn't in the plan. Luckily I'm super tough and awesome!

When I rode up to my parking spot (a sign post) these workers who had ladders & scaffolding were on my post and one of them recognized me and had the post cleared so I could lock up my bike there. He said I was tough for riding in this. It's DRY and it's in the 30's-ish. It was 28º on the CNN clock I see from Central Park.

I finally found a cute ear-warmer band to wear under my helmet- thrifted, of course.


I got a new L.A.M.B. bag on super-clearance... the green, leopardy-camo. It's a lightweight cross-body.




Little organizational bit- I've been home alone and had girl bombs all over the apartment. That means little areas where I dumped out baskets of jewelry or switched purses and left serious evidence behind.

The landing pad in the entryway BEFORE:


AFTER about 20 minutes of take it all out, put it all back and throw a little bit away or just put it in a better place elsewhere in the apartment-




And here's where all my McDonald's Sanrio 50th Anniversary watches are chilling:

I collected them all! (With a little help from some friends!)

NYC Treasure Trash Table Progress

A few weeks ago me and Bonnie dog found this on our early morning walk.


I decided that it's really handy and it fits on this tiny wall next to the refrigerator. If this refrigerator was full-size it wouldn't work out; fortunately we live in a miniature apartment with a mini-fridge so it works!


The landing pad in the doorway has little gloves all over it, so I decided this table's little drawers might be a hot spot for my gloves & shades. I lined them with some Marimekko oil cloth leftovers.


And put in gloves & Shades!


I need to get fancy drawer pulls for this guy and that's all I'm going to do to it. I am not going to be the one who paints this crazy old naked wood.

Weekend Get-Away Packing Map

Thursday night... I don't remember, but I was too busy/lazy to pack so I worked out a quickie packing map at work on Friday:


This was awesome because I was able to run home and grab all this stuff and throw it into a bag. No indecision, no obsessing.

Follow a map!

Saturday Business

I'm kind of sick and delicate today. I'm kind-of high on allergy medicine. I only had the strength to do some fall-cleaning that's not in the Martha Stewart Homekeeping Handbook (my bible.)

1. I threw away all the plants we killed this summer. It's a cute idea to grow stuff on our terrace, but it's not so cute to forget those plants exist and let them dry-up and turn to dust in the sun.

2. I cleaned my make-up brushes! This should really be every Saturday Business but this is the first time in weeks. They will perform better and feel better and stop contaminating my skin with dirty old funk.


I have several MAC brand brushes, but I also have bunches of the $1 variety that have worked out great and lasted for years. You never know with make-up brushes. I'm hardest on my concealer brush & angled blush brush.

I rolled a towel at each end so they wouldn't lay flat and the ends wouldn't get bent while they dried.


3. I organized my jewelry & accessories a little bit. The overall situation isn't great. They really should all be in ONE PLACE together but they're not. But they're in the same area of my dressing area.

That gold watch came from my father's company on a milestone anniversary of him working there and I got it right after my mom died so it's almost 10 years old. It needs a new battery but I'm ready to wear it this fall & winter. It's skinny Gold Watch time. I also have a gold watch ring there and I hope a new battery can save it. It's really cute!

My chunky bracelets are in these containers from The Container Store.


This antique toolbox isn't the best thing for this storage...


-Or I need to outfit the whole thing with acrylic trays like these.


I put all my pearl things in this Strawberry Shortcake food container for their own protection.


This is what my wardrobe looks like right now. It's time for us to do a fall-switch-out at our Mini-Storage unit.


Sorry to be repetitive... But if you don't already know - we live in a 375sf tenement apartment and I don't have a closet. My husband gets the (awful, skinny) closet and the drawers you see on the bottom here. My things that would typically be found in drawers are in the baskets & boxes you see on this wardrobe system.

I'm still so glad Laura Cattano, the professional organizer who came over and assessed the place acted like I didn't have that much clothes. Bless you, Laura!

Major Upgrade

So I got this military parka jacket at TJ Maxx because it fit really well and the price was right. $24.99
Since I do fit-modeling for jackets I've gotten to the point where I can barely buy shitty cheap jackets anymore because I detect ill-shaped arm-holes, cross-shoulder width issues, etc.

I should also state that these pyramid-stud shaped buttons costed more than the whole jacket. I had to buy 12 buttons. I went to M&J Trimmings, which is kind-of a tourist destination, so that wasn't my best economical decision but it's super close to work.

Before - BLah Buttons:

After - So Confident! Total Love:



I sewed the buttons on my Friday night flight to Raleigh. I trotted up to the gate just in time for the "Final Boarding Call" then we were 3rd in line for take-off and I had six changed-out by the time the plane took off. There were 12 total.

Lesson learned - Button refreshers are amazing and it's a great idea to do something boring like sewing 12 buttons on a plane because you are trapped in there with nothing else to do but listen to your iPod and sew!

Here's detail of these sexy buttons:

Part of My (Clearance, of course) L.A.M.B. Collection

Goold Reeeeebok Hi Tops!

I'm not your typical Dr. Jay's shopper, but it's one of my secret favorite places to find great things on SALE.
Like these Reeboks, baby. Dr. Jays is also the reason why I have 3 pair of L.A.M.B. canvas boat shoes. Three pair. Because they were so marked down, it would have been silly if I didn't get several.

Casual, casual Wednesday. I'm so tired I came straight home. My sleep schedule is screwed and I'm trying to fix it. Straight home! No messin' around!

Sometimes I set my camera up to take a pic and sometimes I chop my head off like this.
This outfit wasn't worth the effort of a re-do. Free (from work) jacket, L.A.M.B. jeans, Benetton flowy-tank and Reeboks.

Here's my smelly old baby girl.


I'm going to a wedding in North Carolina this weekend, so I packed my bag and figured out my outfit I'm wearing. The L.A.M.B. ones on the RIGHT easily won the competition and they are trusty old comfy heels.


Here's my L.A.M.B. dress I'm wearing to the wedding. It was on clearance at Shopbop last winter/spring.


I'm gonna be L.A.M.B. head to toe! I love Gwen so much. She's such a good role model for me. I'm happy giving her my money for clothes & stuff.

Ikea's got my back

Some small changes that are big. Actually, any extra space you can get in this tiny of an apartment (375sf) is really helpful.

Laura C. (the professional home organizer who recently visited us and did a consultation style appointment) isn't going to believe that I got my hhhhhuuuuggggeee 31" folding table into the utility closet! Woo hoo!
If we actually had to count points she shamed me on, the size of this table would qualify as something that bugged her out. I still maintaing that 1. I love this table and see it in our future and 2. This table still isn't very great for sewing & craft projects. And it's slotted.

And now it's in this closet! Out of sight!




It used to be back behind the microwave & dishwasher. Our dishwasher is portable and that means you pull out hoses and hook it up to the kitchen faucet.


So the Microwave got off the top of the dishwasher (since we got an almost full-size refrigerator the microwave could not longer fit on top of the fridge, so it had no other home but on the top surface of the dishwasher. It was so ugly and horrible, I don't think I ever took a photo) and moved to this little side table...
Ikea TRYTA Table $9.99

Here's a little IKEA tray to catch stuff on top of the microwave. A 2nd "landing area" If you will.


It's SO IMPORTANT to have every bit of surface area - we have no real counter tops - at all - it's OK to have the microwave in a semi-strange low place, so we can use the top of the dishwasher as a counter top.


We rolled without paint for about a week-


And Spray Painted Gloss Black: