Monday, July 8, 2013

What's In Your Purse?

As I mentioned in yesterday's post "Conquer Your Closet," I like things organized. Especially my purse. I carry it with me every day, and if I reach in and it's a wreck, I feel like I'm a wreck. Last week I felt like a wreck. Translation: my purse was a mess. So, what exactly was in there?


Let me break it down:

1. My re-usable bag, which is normally all compact in it's tiny matching pouch, which was no where to be found. 
Fun fact: Maui banned the use of plastic bags at stores back in January 2011. 

2. My church bulletin.
3. My wallet (Volcom) and check book.
4. My completed shopping list that should have been thrown away. 
5. Like, 10 receipts and an expired $10 off coupon for groceries. :(
6. Orbit gum. I'm sure Ivy chewed most of it. 
7. $0.50 and 3 bobby pins.
8. A Starbucks gift card (shout out to Sally) and 2 pens.
9. Suncloud sun glasses I got in Paia with my friend Jenny.
10. A monthly planner. I only like small ones with just the entire month on it. No weekly or daily breakdowns. I can't do electronic planners like the one on my iPhone either. If I don't write it down, I won't remember it. 
11. My adorable 'clutch' bag from Cailin with 3 MAC lipsticks, 1 MAC lipgloss and 1 Leona Lewis Body Shop lip gloss. (In high school, me and my best friends Brit and Mapu used to say "lipgloss makes everything all better.")
12. My work, a.k.a. my iPod. This is not used for listening pleasure. It is 100% for work. Ahh, the life of a dance teacher...
13. A free music download. I don't think I'll download it. I used to download ALL of them, but most of them were lame.

I had been using one of my favorite old Roxy purses. Isn't it cute? 


Well, it's been loved. Look at the straps:

I hate to say it, but I think it's on it's way out, because I can't keep it organized. I subliminally have no respect for it in it's dire state as the leather peels off it.
Luckily I found this new purse while hanging out with my friend, Ajja, last week.


It came with a bathing suit:


Not really, but it was 40% off the sale price, so the suit ended up being $30! Down from $72!! They basically gave it to me... :)

 And with that being said, what's in your purse?

Aloha, Rebecca
Read more ...

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Conquer Your Closet


I have a B.A. in Organizational Leadership. No joke. In college we called it the degree for future housewives. If you can run the daily functions of an organization, you can run the daily functions of your household, no problem. All this to say, I like things organized and efficient. My house, my car, my purse, my mind, all of it. My closet is no exception. 

This was the state of my closet before I conquered it:


In every house I've ever lived in I've always had a teeny-tiny closet. This includes all my childhood bedrooms, my college dorms, the castle I lived in in Austria, the dance studio we lived in in Kauai... all of the closets were overstuffed and bursting at the seams, nay a walk-in closet in sight. Now that I'm married, the closets seem even tinier, since I share them with my hubby. 


I was destined for some relief, so I figured I'd attack the clothing section of my closet. (That's sewing stuff down below. Not gonna attempt to organize that right now!)

So here's step #1: EMPTY YOUR CLOSET
Take everything off the hangers and get rid of the hangers you don't like or aren't functional. For example, I don't like wire hangers or cheap plastic ones you get when you buy clothing from a store. Trash 'em!


There it all is. Laid out on my bed. 

Step #2: GET RID OF STUFF YOU DON'T LIKE, WEAR OR FIT INTO. 

Step # 3: SEPARTE YOUR CLOTHES BY TYPE. 
I use the following categories: 
tanks/camis 
shirts
long-sleeve shirts
cardigans/jackets
dresses
skirts/pants


Step #4: TAKE INVENTORY OF WHAT YOU HAVE.
Now that your clothes are organized by type, take inventory of what you have. You can see if you have, say, 4 track suits from 2002 (see right). Do you need 4 track suits from 2002? No. I also discovered I had 4 white dresses and too many black hoodies.



Step #5: GET RID OF STUFF YOU DON'T LIKE, WEAR OR FIT INTO.
If you're like me, you didn't entirely get rid of everything the first time we did this step, did you? And now that you know what you have, you know what you need to get rid of.

Godiva snuck in to help -------->



Step #6: PUT YOUR CLOTHES (BY TYPE) BACK IN THE CLOSET ON HANGERS.
If your hanger collection allows it, use similar colored hangers for each type of clothing. If you're OCD, you could go buy all new hangers in the same colors. I'm not that bad, but it did cross my mind. I used what I had. The color coordination was hit or miss. 


How does it look to you? Do you like the clothes that you see? It's important to assess this, because there is no reason to put clothes you don't like back into your closet! Don't be afraid to repeat step #2 & #5 again!

Tip
For shirts with a looped tag in the neck, stick the tag through the hanger. 
Now my shirts don't slip off the hangers!


Step #7: CONSIDER SPECIALTY HANGERS
I invested in some new hangers for my nicer pants and skirts. (Casual jeans and skirts are folded and stored elsewhere.) With easy-to-use hangers for these articles of clothing, I actually want to take them off the hanger. Before, I didn't even want to bother, cause the hangers were time-consuming or the hanging method I used made them too wrinkled to wear without ironing. 




It may not look like any different to you, but this is my closet after cleaning it out. I cleared out two trash bags of clothes, and now I can actually move my hangers left and right and see all of my clothes. I like getting ready now, because my closet's not overstuffed and stressful. It's definitely lessened my "getting-dressed" time. 


BONUS STEP: GET YOUR DRAWERS IN TOP SHAPE!


This is what was in the bottom of my drawers- hunter green, stupid drawer liners. Seriously, these foam things NEVER stay flat.

But what was underneath wasn't too pretty-- warped wood, dust, and sand. 

I picked out a pretty fabric, fired up the glue gun, and lined all my drawers. 


After getting rid a bunch of clothes, organizing by type, assessing what I had, then getting rid of some more, I placed the piles back in the drawers. You know how I know it was successful? I can actually see the fabric on the bottom of the drawers. 


So get off the internet, stop reading my blog, and go conquer your closet! Have fun!

Aloha, Becca

Read more ...

Friday, July 5, 2013

DIY Herringbone Rug


One morning I looked out at the rug at the bottom of our stairs and realized it was in sad shape.  I think at one time it had some kind of tropical landscape on it, but there was so much dirt, there was no telling what it had been. I was about to chuck it in the trash, when I had an idea. 


After hosing it off and laying it out to dry in the sun, I came back the next day and began to tape out a herringbone pattern. There was a teeny tiny bit of measuring involved, but not much. 


I looked in our spray paint stash and alternated using some mint Krylon and some gold metallic.


I think if you looked around our gravel driveway, you'd find a plethora of colored rocks... 
mint... gold... purple... blue... white... red... black... 


Take off the tape, and oila!


All pau! Simple solution to what some would say is a silly problem. 
After all, rugs are supposed to be dirty, right? 
Well, not mine. I like them clean and pretty. 


Aloha, Rebecca


Read more ...

Monday, July 1, 2013

Little Red Rocking Chair

UPDATE: This chair sold on 9/6/13!

I picked up this chair for $2.00. That's right. $2.00! But boy was it in bad shape...



Here's a peek: 

random paint splotches
ridiculous "distressing"


flithy dirty


a dog had it's way with both rocker sides


and it was completely wobbly
it wasn't even safe enough to be a time-out chair


I had to take the entire thing apart
(with my dad's help, of course)


a few screws and some wood glue later, and it was back together


 I sanded it. 
And kilzed it.
And sanded it some more. 


The spindles were torture to paint.
I painted it.
Then sanded it.
Then painted it some more.
Repeat 5x.


With all these imperfections, it was never going to look like a "brand new" chair again, so I resorted to Miss Mustard Seed's Antiquing Wax to "celebrate" all the imperfections. 
Have you tried this stuff yet? No? 
What are you waiting for?! 


Click here to read all about MMS Antiquing Wax and to purchase some. You won't be sorry!


The wax "hugs" it in all the right places. :)


I love this little tomato red chair. So does Ivy. :) But I can't keep hoarding everything in our 700 sq ft cottage. It needs a home. If you're local, you can see the craigslist posting here. Selling it for $70. After all the love put into it, that's a steal!


Aloha, Rebecca


Read more ...