Home Office!

I got a new job! I know I mentioned it in my last post, but I wanted to tell you again. I LOVE IT so far. I don't even feel like I'm going to work. I'm a sales rep for a brokerage that represents several brands in the natural products industry. My territory is middle/west Tennessee and Alabama. I'm doing a little traveling, meeting lots of people, and really having a good time so far.
I have office work to do as well, so the first thing Travis and I did when I found out I got the job was clean out our front bedroom to make an office for me! Here is post about that...

This is embarrassing but here is a before picture. Even more embarrassing, I have a whole bunch of photos like this from 2014. I planned on cleaning it out then and never did! When we first moved in we had a roommate (miss you Dana!) for about six months. When she moved out we put a few boxes in this room, occasionally added more,  and then pretty much closed it up for five years! Such a waste! Once it was all set up, it felt like we had done a renovation or something! A whole new to us room.

One of my favorite things about this room is the wallpaper. It is just this one wall and it is so cute. I didn't want to cover up much of it, so I just put two little shelves to hold my papers and collateral. And I bought a big kewpie. Because every office needs one? 

I'm looking for a wide desk but for now this one is working for me. It was my dad's when he was a kid! I made a map with pins showing all my stores on it (because I need a visual!) and as you can see, I'm super into little post it notes. I have a full color code system in place.

Some of my favorite business lady office supplies. Every desk needs an eyeball Pez dispenser and washi tape.

It took me a few days to decide what I wanted my banner to say. Then it became obvious. 

Who Run the World? 

Girls. 

You guys know I love a gallery wall. I've been hanging stuff up, and ordering a few new things, like this CUTE Spock from Brett Manning.

The girls aren't sure how they feel about this new gig. They can't sit in my lap while I'm at my desk, they are stuck on the floor. Poor things. (I was cracking up at Phyllis when I took this photo. Is that comfortable??)

While cleaning out my desk I found this photo strip from our trip to Florida in 2014! I remember us thinking it didn't really turn out when we got it. Now I love it.

I got an air plant for my window. This room gets the best light in the house! This guy has lasted a month, we'll see how long I can keep it alive!

This has changed since I took these photos, but I thought I would keep my collection of children's books in here. They are mostly vintage, and I have this idea that maybe our little nephew will come to visit some day and want to look at them. Then I got more and more stuff for work, so I have to use this shelf for supplies. Rethinking the reading nook....Also there is a little pile of stuff I need to hang up.

I've been saving that hand made set of book ends for a while. And I'm going to get some succulents for that planter. The candle is maple syrup scented and delicious.

This piece of carpet is very special to me. It was in my grandparents house (which I LOVED, you can see a post about it here). My cousin Katie bought the house and remodeled it (I've heard it look amazing) and saved this carpet for me, and some strips of the floral wallpaper because she knew I loved it. I'm so happy to have this little piece to keep.

I have a lot of carstock to store, but I like to get some little wacky touches in when I can. Like that google eyed bear. And the puppy! I love that picture, I totally forgot I had it!

I've been holding onto this printer's tray for years. We all know I don't really need another shelf to hold tiny things, but they bring me so much joy! I look forward to finding more tiny treasures to put on it. I also framed some of our photobooth strips finally. The one on the far left is from the day we got engaged (at six flags, hah!)

The unicorn sitting on top is the first thing I ever bought at a yard sale, when I was maybe ten years old? I still love it and would pick it up if I saw it at a sale today! That little donkey is a jigsaw thing that I bought at a craft fair when I was young as well. I can't believe I never lost it!

This is the light fixture in the room! I need to take it down and clean it, but I really love it. 

Scampi LOVES the new room. She waits by the door for me to open it in the morning. She climbs the shelves and sits on everything and is her normal annoying/enduring self.

All three cats often join me in the room. I pretend it is because they love me. It's really because they love boxes to sit on.

Since taking those photos I got an office chair! I was dreading buying one (they are so ugly and expensive!). But then! A friend was moving and selling most of her stuff and had this vintage one! For ten bucks! It is perfect.

And this guy! I've been wanting one of these forever and finally treated myself when I got the job. He is from Yetis and Friends and is SO CUTE in person.

Guys, I am so happy. I was incredibly stressed in my old job, then I had months of unemployment and part time work. It is like a giant weight has been lifted off my shoulders!

KonMari Part Two: Books!

Here is the next part in my series on my experience with the Marie Kondo system of tidying. You can see part one here!
After you go through your clothes, the next category is books. I'll be honest, I was scared to start this category. Travis and I had over 1,000 books in our house and I used to move several boxes of books with me to college every semester. We love browsing used book stores, lending books we love to friends and we were even planning on getting a custom built in bookcase built across an entire wall of our living room. Here are MOST of our books before.

On the left, two stuffed mismatched bookcases  in our living room. A few months ago I had gone through and gotten rid of what I thought was a large pile of books. On the right is one of two built in bookcases in our bedroom. I always called this "the good book shelf" because all my favorites lived there.

And here is the other weird bookcase in our room. Isn't it a strange shape? This one was made over pretty recently to make space for my dream pets.

As part of the process you pull every book in your house down and pile them together. This is everything but our cookbooks, craft books, and a big shelf of vintage kids books in our front room. I'll work on that one once that room gets easier to move around in.

Look at all these! Travis and I both love to read. I've held onto most books I've read, even if it wasn't something I'd read again. I even had books that I didn't like, but they had cool covers or I knew they were supposed to be good. Silly!

Piles and piles and piles.

I sat on the floor and went through the stacks, while Travis kept a tally. Because I had just read Marie Kondo's book it was easy for me to put most of the books in the get rid of pile. I would say something like "3 keep, 14 get rid of."

In the end we kept about 275 books, and took about 690 to McKay's, a local used book store. Woah! They wouldn't even all fit in the trunk of my car!

Here is what we took in! It took them a week or two to get back to us with a price, but we ended up getting about $260 cash. Not as much as we hoped, but hey, that is for stuff that was just sitting around our house! Travis took some action figures and I took some camera lenses later in the week and we got another $200 for those.

Here is the keep stack. It it is a lot of books I loved as a kid and have read over and over. I also kept lots of my graphic novels, and just a few books I haven't read yet. I put most of my HUGE too read stack on my library list so I'll just check them out on my kindle. I even ended up getting rid of my bedside table! It was pretty much just a place to stack books I didn't read for several years, and receipts.

We had MANY copies of all the Lord of the Rings books for some reason. We kept the coolest looking version of each. We even got rid of our hard back Harry Potter books! I definitely reread that series, but always the paperback copies. The hardbacks are just inconvenient to carry around. Travis kept just one of his Stephen King books, and just one Chuck Palahniuk. I'm so proud of how on board with this process he has been.

Be My Baby by Ronnie Spector is one of my favorite books of all time! If you are interested in girl groups you have to read it! It's so good!

See, lots of my favorite books from my childhood. The Witches or Matilda by Roald Dahl are two comfort books for me. If I'm home sick I love to lay in bed and read one of those. Or Harriet the Spy. Or any of the Bunnicula books! And see that copy of Where the Red Fern Grows? I got it from the scholastic book fair in elementary school and I can vividly remember laying in bed and crying at the end of it. It is the first book that made me cry. I love it.

Another author I've always loved is Beverly Cleary, especially books about Ramona, or Ralph S. Mouse! Does it seem weird that out of all the books I have I kept the ones for children? I don't think so, those are the ones that sparked joy with me, and make me happy to see on my shelves.

I was going to do a side by side before and after with these shelves but look! They are empty! All of the books fit on the larger shelf in our bedroom! I'm using these shelves to sort things for now, but they will probably be out of here eventually. How crazy is that? Now I have other plans for that wall since we don't need built ins anymore. As you can see, we have a lot of work to do sorting our game collection. That is one of three shelves. Ah!

And here they are! I really can't believe it. I moved my poodle bottle cover collection in here, which I love and can now look at every day.

Knick knacks are going to be HARD for me but I put some of my favorites on this bookshelf. I've had most of these dalmatians as long as I can remember. When I was a kid I used to always say when I grew up I wanted to animate 101 Dalmatians. Which is nonsense! I had two of the sleeping puppy on the right and was agonizing over whether I should keep them both, when I dropped one and it's head popped off. Meant to be I guess.

These candles are from the first year we went to the Elvis vigil at Graceland. Precious memories.

I went through my cds at the same time I went through the books since they are on the same shelf. Lots of them went to McKays and I threw out most of the mix cds I had from high school That spindle is actually discs of our wedding photos. I'm going to back them all up on a few hard drives then throw them away. I also treated myself to a teeny iPod and have started transferring all of my cds onto our computer. We'll see if I can get rid of the actual cds! I do use them all the time, but I don't really have to have physical copies.

If you had told me even two months ago that I would be getting rid of most of my books I would have told you that you were crazy! But when we took all those books to McKay's it felt so good! Liberating almost! Now I just have the ones I love, and if I feel like I need to read something I got rid of again, I can just check it out on my kindle.
I'm still loving this process. We've definitely slowed down (because you can't work on it every minute you aren't at work all the time) but I feel great about it. Several people I know have picked up the book since I've been talking about it and I can't wait to hear how it goes for them.

Easter Display!

While going through my piles of stuff I found a box of Easter decorations I completely forgot I had! I just set this up yesterday, but I'm actually having a FEASTER Sunday party on the 19th so it can stay up until then. Here is my cute little display!

I found a bag of little plastic roses that I'm thrilled about. Does it make me a granny that I prefer plastic flowers to silk ones? So cute!

I have no memory of acquiring this bunny planter. I'm in love with it! His little butt is sticking out the back of the log! I also found a stash of little chenille chicks.

Teeny pink nosed bunnies and a spun cotton chick.

I just put this thing together after YEARS of having all the supplies. I saw a similar thing on A Beautiful Mess so long ago, got the vase from Travis' grandma, bought the vintage birds at a few different sales, then they sat in my craft room for ages. I'm thrilled with how it turned out.

The singing red bird at the bottom might be my favorite.

So many good things have been happening since we started cleaning out the house. I can't wait to see what else I discover!