A Walk Down Memory Lane

{Because Saturdays are for Organizing.}

As I mentioned, we've been organizing like mad this month. Which is ironic, since this month is full on. But I'm less stressed than ever.

Organizing (our home, life, work) brings me unmeasurable measures of peace and joy to my heart.

In the past few weeks, I've ripped up old journals, gotten rid of kitchen utensils we don't use and taken away at least two bags of clothes that just aren't quite "right." Every day we leave with an armful of "stuff" to distribute or throw away.

But one of the most cleansing things I've done is reorganizing and consolidating my photo albums. For you see, I've loved photography for so many years and have been a dedicated printer of my photos. (Until 2009 at least. Big apologies to all the people I've known and loved since then. I have no external record of you in my life. Ooops. I'll work on that.)

What's also interesting about my formerly 8-photo-album collection is that for so many years of my life I didn't know that some friends were only seasonal. I thought everyone in my life would be there forever. I now happily realize that doesn't have to be the case. I also didn't understand that not everyone is a loyal friend and that some people will stab you in the back to wither and die. (I digress.)

What I'm saying is that I threw away a lot of photos of people who have been shitty and

it

felt

so

therapeutic.

So good that I would consider printing more photos so I could re-destroy them. (...guys, I'm obviously joking about this latter half. I've been to therapy, I'm okay.)

Good friends are rare, so I treasure my store of heart friends that are true blue and print off their faces to display throughout my home. 

We know some of the best people who currently roam the planet and are grateful to call them "friends." 

My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake. -Aristotle
 

Living in Chaos

Hi friends,

If you don't hear from us much in the next couple of weeks (we'll try, we'll try!) it's because our apartment currently looks like this:

Yep, pure, un-calculated chaos. Even with all of our photography equipment moved across town to our photo studio, we are still piled high with stuff. I don't know how stuff does it, but it manages to march right in and stay put.

So rude.

Don't get us wrong-we're entirely grateful for our home, our clothes, the roof over our heads. We're grateful for our books (okay, let's be honest-only the Laynie half of us is thankful for those), our cute clothes, the clean towels we have in the bathroom.

But we're taking this move (we get the keys in one week exactly!) as a chance to cleanse ourselves. I recently read The Life-Changing of Tidying Up.

This book: 

You can buy it HERE.

I missed it a couple of months ago when my book club read it, but two friends-Alicia and Bethan both recommended it to me again within the same week. 

I will butcher Marie Kondo's work with my summary, but she basically teaches that the art of tidying is mastered when you get rid of all the extraneous things that don't make you happy. When you cleanse your home of all the extra noise, you have more space and air to enjoy the things you really love.

Though there were a few of her ideas I wasn't sure I could get on board with (like emptying my purse each time I came home), I have, however, thought about the book So Much as I've held objects in my hands wondering if a certain piece should stay or should go. If I'm wondering then I send it sailing right out the door.

I've thought about it a lot as I've sorted, thrown out, and re-organized our life. I'm excited to move into our new place, have a back deck for dinners, and embrace simplicity. Can't wait to show you photos of the cute house and non-chaos that is just around the corner.

x.