Life On The Central Coast

The closet has been on my mind a lot. This morning I woke up and decided to do something more than just think about it. Today was "action" day. I grabbed a tall kitchen garbage bag and filled it to the brim with miscellaneous trash items. That was pretty easy!! Now the ball was rolling! Next, I decided to put together a bag of "unnecessary" items for donation. Today's items were mostly handbags and some clothes I wasn't wearing. Yes, it was just two bags today. But that's two bags more than yesterday! Small steps... baby steps, but I'm doing it! Little by little the change is happening and it feels GOOD! Tomorrow, I'm grabbing some large boxes and labeling them with KEEP, DONATE / GARAGE SALE, and TRASH. I'll sort and put into the boxes. When they are full, I'll do the labeled action. Today I was in a World Marketplace store and found myself looking at all the organizing baskets. At this point, I don't know if I really want to buy m...

Confession. My closet is full of unnecessary items. These items serve "no purpose" and are " unrequired " in my current everyday life. So why are they there? Is it as hard for you to let go of things as it is for me? These items USED to hold value. I HAD to have them. Some items were gifts, some inherited but mostly, these items were bought by me. They seem to hold an "essence". Some part of me THINKS there is some kind of residual value in these unnecessary items. The larger part of me realizes that it is all just "stuff" that is taking up space that could be organized and pleasant to the eye. There was an organizer many years ago that suggested taking a picture of these items (since this takes up less space) and then donating or selling the item. You can take the picture out and look at it and perhaps, experience some of the same feelings as if you actually had the item. I've thought of doing that. A garage sale sounds really nice because I...

This is the teaser photo. Behind this door lies the closet I share with my husband. Here are some facts about the closet I will tell you before the big interior reveal. The closet is 11 ft. long (into it) and 5 ft. wide. A built in, 11 in. wide shelf all the way around the top, about about 2 ft. down from the ceiling. Some built in shelving, a section of closet for longer items and a section that has two poles for hanging skirts or pants and tops. Ineffectual lighting My side of the closet contains about 50/50 item that BELONG in a closet and items that really don't but are stored there. Most shelves contain non-wardrobe items There is a 3 tiered shoe rack, some craft room overflow drawers and tiny shoe box size organizers that are basically empty right now. What would I LIKE to see in my closet? Only clothes I LOVE to wear. It would be nice to have a better way to organize my shoes. A clear floor. The upper shelves need to become more useful. Some matching closet organizers. A pl...

Eating out is expensive. Convenient, but expensive. So I'm trying to get back into making a weekly plan and sticking to it. I've been a Blog "lurker" over at "This Week For Dinner" for about a month now getting an idea of what everyone else is making. We aren't 100% vegetarians but we do try to have at least a couple of meals a week that are or can be. Most meals I make these days are just for the two of us too, one of THE most difficult things for me to do after cooking for a large family. So here is my intended meal plan for this week. Monday: Portobello Mushroom Burgers with Oven Fries Tuesday: Layered Crockpot Chicken Enchiladas Suiza Wednesday: Udon noodles with Asian veggies and peanut sauce Thursday: Grilled Foccacia Bread Pizza with Fresh Tomatoes, Basil and Buffalo Mozzarella Friday: Date Night Saturday: Greek Pita sandwiches with grilled chicken, tomatoes, feta, Kalamata olives, cucumber, romaine lettuce and Greek Dressing Sunday: Breakfast fo...

There are all kinds of closet out there. Some are small and single, just large enough to accomodate a new little one. We made one similar to this for my daughter Tiffany when she had Everest. Some closet are double size. Here is the double closet in my office. Double closets offer more space and versatility. There was enough room in this closet to create an entire functioning office! Then, some lucky people get walk-in closets. These are large enough to house clothes for 2 people, shoes, hats and lots of extras! The problem with larger closets is how easy it is to have them get messy. Closets that should look like this.... All to frequently end up looking like this. So what kind of closet do you have? Confession time..... I'm one of the lucky ones that have a walk-in closet. My husband and I share it, each getting our own sides. Unfortunately, my closet isn't organized or clean right now. Instead of just wardrobe items, it's holding overflow wrapping paper, craft items, sto...

It's no surprise to those that know me... Lavender is my FAVORITE flower! It's been my favorite for many years but most particularly since I took massage and healing courses and used lavender essential oil to clean my head and hands, its scent to perfume and calm those I was working on and yes, to even flavor my tea along with mint. Its lovely lavender flower and sage colored leaves are peaceful to look at, smells beautiful and because of its camphor content, repels most plant damaging insects. It grows well with very little water and in less than perfect soil. Here are a few things you many NOT know about lavender: The stem is square not round stems It is a member of the Mint family Used to scent water for the Greeks Root word "Lavo" means "to wash" During the great bubonic plague, glove makers would scent leather with lavender oil, as this was known to ward off the plague. This claim may well be true as the plague is transmitted by flies, and lavender is v...

Happy Summer 2010! Summer here at the Beach is beginning to wind down. The stores are featuring all things "Back To School" and weekend visitors to the area will soon be cut in half. (we hope, we hope.....) I hope you have been having some fun and relaxing times this summer... we have. So sit back and I'll tell you a few things we have been up to. Antiquing.... we were putting some finishing touches on our second guest room and HAD to shop for some authentic antique plates for the walls. The first thing we did was to add a little chandelier to the dressing room / closet. It's the perfect size for the space and is SO sweet! Then my daughter sent me a photo and link to an ad on Craigslist for this cute little hand painted hall table. So economical and it is the perfect addition to the space right outside the bedroom door. The vases on the floor will be lamps for the first seaside guest room. They are white ceramic with images of shells in gold detail. We redid this bedr...