There She Goes...

It all started with a Pin. You know what I mean, those innocuous little pictures on that one website. That one that sucks you in for hours of browsing eye candy and dream homes. The one that makes you imagine that maybe, just maybe, you could be the Super Woman version of Martha Stewart.

Yeah, that one.

I saw a Pin of a woman with a minivan, whose trunk is incredibly organized, and very prepared for any emergency. While I don't drive a minivan, I have been carrying around loads of extra junk in my trunk (ha!) for months. TIME TO GO!! So, after reading about her system, I looked at my tiny hatchback trunk, and knew that I couldn't use a shower caddy to organize my trunk, but that I -could- piggyback off her idea to make one of my own.

So, to the dollar store I went, and nabbed four shallow plastic baskets, and a set of bungee cords. Total of $5 spent. I headed home, sent kidlet inside for a snack and rest, and sorted through my trunk. I was super gung-ho and completely forgot to take a before picture, sorry!

After getting rid of a lot of garbage (who put that there??!), too small kidlet items, and random things that needed to go inside, I'd pared it down to several essentials:

• Scarves, hats and gloves
• books
• concert blanket
• sun shade
• tire chains

Seeing as I only have the one kiddo, it might seem odd to carry around winter accessories. However, our city has a large homeless population, and I prefer to have these on hand, as we often see people on the corner right by our car. When we have two of us, sometimes we're able to hand out hot water for instant coffee or tea, but in any case, I prefer to have something on hand that can help. As it's summer, and still unbearably warm even at night, these are living the trunk for now.

The books were given to me by my best friend, and our bookshelf at home is overflowing. So my trunk is my mobile library, and as I typically only read a book once, I'm donating them to my actual local library when I'm done! So, soon my trunk will be even lighter, when the 6 or so books are gone.

The concert blanket is used regularly, and lives in the car, along with the chains and sun shade, for the ever changing weather of the Pacific Northwest!

Concert blanket, scarves, hats, books, chains. Sun shade is on top of the trunk cover thing.

What you can't see here, is that the bungee cords are hooked to a steel loop on each side of the trunk, and daisy chain hooked to each other through the webbing of the baskets. These babies aren't going ANYWHERE

I'm really proud of myself for rigging this one up, those chains are heavy and I had to find a way to keep them from sliding around and beating up my nice baskets. 

As good as cleaning my trunk felt, I knew that wasn't enough. Oh no, that was just the tip of the iceberg!! After an impromptu craft store "date" with a friend of mine, I came home with scrap paper, a small frame, and good intentions. Thanks, once again, to a Pin...I made myself a nice bright post-it holder for my desk!

That spot of yellow just wasn't enough. Much of my office is gray, and I really like the gray and yellow trend in color combinations I've been seeing. So, basically all I have to do is add yellow to my office, and it's trendy and bright! To the supply cabinet, where I lucked out and found sunny yellow paper. One sheet later and...

New filing cabinet labels!

Fancy collage...woooooo!

I'm changing things up in my life, and it feels good. Cleaning out, streamlining, and revamping things - it's like spring cleaning, but I'm never on time. So, it's quite fitting.

Happy days, folks!

Oh Tony!

Last night I had the most vivid, real dream I've had in a long time.

I was back in high school, but the "cafeteria" was outside, partly covered, with a big lawn to hang out on. I was still me as I am now, 31, a photographer with a daughter, but for some reason it wasn't weird that I was in high school. Tony Danza (from Who's The Boss, if you're not familiar) came and spoke very briefly during our lunch time. I grabbed a print out of a picture I wanted him to sign, chased him down, and found him playing a game with his daughter at one of the lunch tables. I handed him the picture, and realized it was the wrong one. It was very important to me to have him sign this one particular picture, and after promising him I'd be *right back* I ran to grab the right picture.

School security had cordoned off the lawn where my stuff was, and they wouldn't let me in to get my bag. There were other kids still on the lawn, wandering around, so I begged one of them to nab my bag for me. She did, reluctantly, and I ran back over to Tony. He wasn't there anymore. He'd promised he'd wait for me, and I looked everywhere, and shouted his name a few times. Finally, I had given up and grumbled about how I hate when people do that, and I turn around to see him over in a corner, waiting just like he'd said. I grinned, ran over to him, and started going through my backpack to find the picture.

My stuff had been strewn on the lawn when I'd left it, so someone had stuffed it all back into my bag without much care. I rifled through *everything* but couldn't find the picture. At this point, I really should have just had him sign whatever and let the poor man get on with his day. But no, just before I woke up, I wanted to have him give me an address that I could send the picture to, so he could sign it and return it, and I'd handed him some ruled paper, hoping he might write me a little note as well. I could tell he was so ready to leave, but was very very gracious with me about the whole thing.

And then I woke up.

While I do like Who's The Boss, and Tony sure seems like a genuinely nice guy, I'm not this huge fan of his. I still don't know why it was so very important to find this one group picture I'd taken for him to sign.

Oh Tony, why are you haunting me?

Drive by Saturday

Today I'm playing soccer for the first time in my life. I'm terrified and excited beyond belief.

Last night I hit my sister in law's parked car at a very low speed, and I still feel like a big jerk.

My sister in law is pregnant with her second baby! Hooray!

There's a bottle of random alcohol on our nightstand....was he drinking without me? Dangit, I missed out!

Cheers!

Things I've Learned

Over the last couple of weeks, I've learned a few things about myself:

• If the sun is out, no matter how early in the day, I must wear sunscreen
• Shorts are a terrible idea for mud/obstacle runs
• I'm having an OCD cycle, which I didn't realize until I was straightening/organizing things...at the craft store. Again.
• I actually really like the color yellow.
• I only have a month until Warrior Dash, and I think this is the perfect time to set impossible goals for it.
• I will still work my butt off to meet the goal of being one of the first three finishers at the Dash.
• Instability triggers panic attacks.
• I'm much, much happier in ignorance.
• Kiddo is growing up, and maybe, just maybe, I've done an okay job as a parent.
• Wanderlust grows stronger the older I get, but the wallet has yet to get fatter to accommodate this.

Ciao!

B&W Wednesday

Not black and white, but my favorite pictures right now!