Secret Geek Super Power: Getting Organized

So its been a busy 2010 so far. I have been working my butt off creating an office for and launching my Practice as a Massage Therapist. All the while working to maintain connections with my family and keeping up with friends. I've found that the only way to keep everything and everyone humming along is to get organized.
This is happy news for me. I LOVE organizing. I LOVE getting rid of stuff. And being a Free Bird I mean, I really love it. It may be my secret geek superpower.

Here's what I've been working on:

I made this little craft supply holder out of a blanket storage bag



My lovely sister in law gave me this for toy organization



Here's how the my new Massage and Polarity Therapy Office came out:



I absolutely love it! And remember, Full hour sessions for only $50 for the month of April!

I also have been working really hard in my kitchen, because I find that we eat better when I have a clean fridge and an organized pantry. I came across some of my old meal plans and cookbooks and its given me the kick in the arse I needed to get excited about cooking again.
Also I have discovered a new blog via facebook, and that has given me the inspiration to be organized in a new way with my finances. ( Oh, man, I Love designing a new budget!) check it out at: www.eventualmillionare.com
Also, I have a day planner and a calender, and you would think that would be enough, but we are a very visual family and needed something where we could all see what everyone was doing weekly.

So here's what I came up with:




All of this is helping me to purge alot of our uneeded stuff So I am planning my first ever YARD SALE! We usually donate everything to goodwill and will continue to do so in the future, but I am pretty excited about trying a little backyard bargaining! My goal is to make enough to tune the piano or buy something frivolous, which we are not in the habit of doing.
There is joy in opening up a closet and finding exactly what you need, or in knowing that everyone has time scheduled for themselves and also in that you only own what you truly need or want.
If you don't truly believe that organizing is my Secret Geek Super Power, than feast you eyes on this:



Who else would buy this! ( seriously great ideas in there )

Next on my organizing list is the attic!





Here's to finding joy in the simple things!
Cheers!

Jewelry and Thank You notes

Remember this ? Well, I got a very sweet email from Megan Steer thanking me for posting about her work! It was a nice feeling to know that something small I am doing has affected another person in a positive way. I just checked out her etsy site again and it is all still amazing. I also discovered she has a blog as well, www.lurajewelry.blogspot.com

And can I just say, a thank you note is a wonderful and a simple thing. I make an effort to write many thank you notes whenever I can and I am teaching my children to do the same. I truly hope that this simple courtesy stays a tradition in an age of teens and (now children) texting and instant messaging. A thank you should match the gift given and a texted " Thanx" just doesn't cut it.

Here's to holding on to simpler ways :)

Dare I dream it

I was standing under a canopy of gray branches in the kids "fairy garden" in my yard , and I was thinking that by my sons and husbands shared birthday of May 12th, there would be fluffy lilac blossoms and shiny green leaves adorning these limbs. And the first hopes of spring time entered into my mind.
This is usually a tricky time for Mainer's. It's typically dark, gray and TONS of snow, but somehow we've so far had a pretty mild intro to winter in 2010, and we've been really enjoying it. I really can't complain about minimal snow and 40+ degree days. It feels like the soft breezes and daffodils could arrive at any minute.
It seems like I should be knocking on wood, or keeping these thoughts to myself because it really could shift back into the dismal dirty huge snowbanks and gray skies we're all used to at any minute. But I can't help but look to the future spring and hope it will arrive within the six weeks the ground hog promised us.
Anyway, we have been enjoying weather, and the couple snow storms we have gotten. Here's some pics showing what we've been up to.

New Years Day Blizzard and trip to Kennebunk beach! And followed by a decadent breakfast at HP Provisions in Kennebunkport. Their version of Banana's Foster :Banana Bread Stuffed with Cream Cheese





Winter Picnic


When its 40 outside, its seventy on the sun porch!




How have you been keeping busy this winter?

Indie Gift show!

Thanks to my super cool cuz, we are going to the first annual Cabin Fever Indie Gift show in boston this afternoon! I am excited! Thanks for telling us about it, Melissa! Post and pics to follow.

Check it out www.cabinfevershow.com

Vintage confidence

The kids have been home with colds and we have had a lot of downtime, so I thought I'd try a look from the vintage fashionista blogger Candice Deville (www.superkawaiimama.com) I tend to lack her apparent comfort in posting pics of myself on my blog, so I enlisted my kids to help me out.
Actually, anytime I've posted pics of myself doing a "look" I always end up feeling like a total arse. Guess it's just not my thing. Or maybe its because this is rarely how I really look...? Rural maine doesn't really have a lot of call for up do's and heavy eyeliner.. But todays pics with the kids were fun to take and they are such cuties that I thought I'd post them anyway.




And this one is just to illustrate the super cool earrings I made in about 30 seconds from Walmart's craft section. Probably costs around $2.50 I am on a jewelry making kick and I am thinking of organizing a DIY jewelry party. Who's in?

Some sites to drool over

I received a subscription to Bust Magazine for my birthday from my sister this past November. One of the magazines many lovely features is the thoughtfully chosen advertising in the back. Mostly small blocks with a little image and a website. Many of them are independent artists or Do it yourself-ers.
The pieces on these sites inspire me. They make me want to go back to art school. And take metal smithing classes! and fiber art! and....lots of other classes! I hope they inspire you the way they have me. Here's a two links* to my faves from the recent issue:

www.kristianaparn.com
www.lurajewelry.net

and here's two others that refuse to be directly linked:

www.manekicollection.com
www.bg2770design.com (portland,me!)



This is the GORGEOUS Smoke Wing Cicada Ring from Lura Jewelry by Megan Steer


* by "links" I mean real active links that connect you to actual sites! I have finally have figured it out! Good god that took me forever! ( it was as simple as needing to click "copy" instead of "cut". And to do it in the right order. Phew.)

A Kino Proby weekend : Part II

Photos by Katryna

Adam Kurtz- guitar/vocals and Jarlath McGuckin- bass guitar/vocals



Jess Greer- drums/mandolin

Kino Proby finished out their weekend long cd release party saturday night at the All Asia. Each still donning their formal attire, the musicians hopped onto stage with the same boundless energy. The show was definitely a different vibe than the previous nights performance, lending itself to a more familial feel, with band and fans sharing a lot of laughs.

If you have ever been to a KP show at the All Asia, you know that the band is within arms length of the dance floor, and only a few inches above the crowd. At various times during the show the entire crowd was jumping up and down to the catchy tunes and during the slower ballad style pieces, fans just swayed in unison to Kurtz and McGuckins well sung melodies.

As always, Greer was the backbone of the band keeping his beats tight and strong, coming up front for only one song with his mandolin and giving the tune a latin feel. All in all, the band stayed true to their patented wild style, getting the crowd riled up and being chanted back on to stage after ending for a few encores. Finishing out the performance, they knocked over instruments while the guitars were feeding back with shrill notes, only to finally jump off stage into a chorus of cheers.
It was all over too soon, and I for one, am looking forward to the next show already.