Nesting.

The last several weeks have been an adventure! Luke and I are settled in to our new apartment. We're loving the bright southern-side sunlight, our glossy hardwood floors, and our big, old, fancy radiators that have been emitting awesome heat during recent 40-some-degree days.

I've been getting to know our new neighborhood really well. Luke's car was totaled over a month ago, and my car started breaking down a few weeks ago. My mechanic wasn't sure what was wrong with it, so I've been catching rides to work with incredibly gracious co-workers, and Luke and I have been walking and biking everywhere. Who needs to go to the gym when you have to walk three miles to get groceries?

I've been making our apartment as home-like as I can without access to a car. On a recent trip to visit Sharon before her big move to NYC, my friend Debbie and I visited IKEA. I got these gorgeous dishes (two sets, for a total of 12 place settings!):

And these adorable coffee cups with saucers:

I also bought two pairs of beautiful gray curtains (the IKEA web site photos don't do them justice, so I'll make sure to include them later with photos of our apartment). Once we have some cash (and a car), I'm planning to repaint a couple rooms. I'm hoping to do a gray theme in our bedroom.

The bold part of me is lusting after this duvet cover:

Luke and I cook a lot, but we don't have room for a real dining table. So I'm beyond lusting for this expandable table (click for photos of it expanded):

It can seat up to eight people--eight!

In other exciting (non-nesting) news:

- I'm signing up for a spring semester community college class on an introduction to all aspects of sustainability. It's been too long since I was in school.

- I'm hoping to be able to start my RVA craft projects soon (I haven't been able to go out to buy supplies to work on them). They're so cute!

- Luke is busy with 13 credits and 30+ hours of week every week. I'm so glad we live together now, or we would rarely see each other. Our move was perfect timing.

Purging

Last week I read this great book: Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life by Gail Blanke. Even though I'm largely over self-help books, I recommend this one.

I couldn't have read it at a better time. In eight days I'm moving to a new apartment (more details on this to come), and (as I do every year when I move) I have been steadily purging. Gone are those books I'll never read, gone the clothes that don't look the way they used to, gone the kitchen utensils that have been wasting space.

But Blanke's book has brought my purging to an entirely new (and exciting!) level. My goal is no longer just to create physical space--now my goal is to also create mental and emotional space. Healthy space. Space so that I am able to move forward into the life I want and the person I want to be.

Blanke gives very practical direction for clearing your physical space. To sum it up: If you can't decide whether to keep it, then it's already complicating your life--remove it. If it reminds you of a bad time in your life--remove it. If it isn't a part of who you want to be, then toss it! I am finding this even more helpful than my usual purging maxim: Keep only what is necessary and beautiful.

Once you have cleared your physical space, you are already on your way to rejecting old beliefs, memories, and feelings that have kept you from being who you want to be. And then you will be truly free to clarify who you are--and to move forward.

So, for me? Gone is that book given to me (with the sweet inscription) by the first jerk who broke my heart. Gone are all the notes from that other jerk who broke my heart, not once, but three times (fool me once, shame on you...). Gone are all the clothes that used to fit--when I was 21, waitressing 12 hours a day, and subsisting on crackers, yeast rolls, iced coffee, cigarettes, and beer. (I'm finally admitting that I'll probably never weigh 103 again.)

Is there anything you want to purge?

Apartment update.

I don't want to jinx it... but I think I found the dream apartment!

The price is so low, the neighborhood is perfect. It has a giant kitchen (I'm drooling over the cupboard and counter space), shiny hardwood floors, large windows with streaming sunlight, a large living room and a huge bedroom, (french doors leading to the bedroom!)--the only downside is a teensy bathroom. But I should spend less time in the bathroom anyway.

The house even has a large front porch. (Sangria nights, anyone? I make killer sangria.)

I'm meeting the property manager tonight to give him some money down to put the apartment on hold and take it off the market. Right now, I'm hoping to move the first weekend in October.


In other awesome news: I've signed up for an 8-week online craft class. My "crafts" have always been mostly limited to crocheted scarves and baby blankets (and a few collages--oh, and plastic canvas wallets when I was a kid).

Starting in September, I'll begin work on 30 different incredibly cute and different crafts. (Check here for previous students' projects.) I can't wait to make the granny clutch purse! (Ssee bottom middle photo.)

This could very well be the most creative fall of my life, between this class and the nesting I will be doing in my new apartment.

Expect blog posts and photos (seriously).

Thursday update.

Current goals:

- Find a new apartment. Currently looking for an open place with a big front porch in my favorite part of town. Excited to move! Excited to rid myself of more possessions but keeping what is useful and beautiful. Excited to live in a walkable/bikeable neighborhood.

- Become an ukelele expert. Luke's grandpa gave him a beautiful old (red!) ukele, but Luke never plays it. Win for Trin.

- Take a class in the spring. The local community college offers a sustainability class now. I missed the window for enrolling for the fall, but I'm beyond excited for the spring.

- Acquire a new laptop and home internet access. I want to blog so much more! Especially about Luke and my cooking experiments. Now that Luke is working in a kitchen, we're cooking a lot more. Unfortunately, my laptop is dying and won't let me do anything with photos. I hope to have a new laptop by spring.

This summer has been pretty quiet. I've spent a lot of time with family and as much time as possible with friends. I'm excited for fall and winter and spring: to be organized, and learning, and building relationships.

A day in the life.

Thanks to a new internet connection at Luke's house, I hope to be blogging much more frequently from now on.

(Heh.)

Well, today at work started like this:



I detest mess, unorganized piles. I guess I'm more like my mother than I realize.

So one grande chai, one apple bran muffin, one tuna fish sandwich, and one bottle of water later... I finally got my desk to this: