Fall Makeover

Well, I've spent my day bringing out my fall decorations, and here are the updates on my back patio:



                   

                                I picked up these Pumpkin Ale glasses from World Market

My sister Pege suprised me with this squirrel bowl...isn't it adorable?

I added some fall decorations to my baker's rack.

This is a shot of my indoor table for the food...thought you might enjoy!



Book Club Party brings in Fall!

I will be busy today getting ready for a book club party I'm hosting tonight. My book of choice was "Solo: A Memoir of Hope,"  which is all about the U.S. Olympic Soccer goalkeeper. Interesting read! I decided I will bring the party outside to my back porch.

Last year my husband spent several months in Greenville, South Carolina, and while he was away I had the porch screened in.

While visiting him, he took me to downtown Greenville, which was absolutely beautiful. There are a number of great stores on the main drag and I purchased these awesome candle hangers at one of them.

We have enjoyed the porch so much already. I love to have Sunday coffee and breakfast at the table.

And even though the temperature won't exactly be "fall like", I'm going to attempt to make it feel that way!

I purchased this sign at T.J. Maxx the other day and will be adding some autumn scents and a few other pieces I already have. That along with some Williams Sonoma Pumpkin Spice Bread should hopefully do the trick!

Stay tuned later today if you are interested in seeing the transformation!

Happy Organizing!

And so, the challenge begins!!

Guess what arrived yesterday!?!?!?!

I was so excited to see the box at my doorstep and get started on my challenge! However, I was in the middle of cooking dinner, so I wasn't able to open the box until this morning.

I purchased a medium size Purseket - brown and tan logo print.

So here's what I have to get back into my purse....yikes!

I always carry a tape measure with me so I can measure items for clients, and of course myself, when I'm away from the house. I love my pill box that I found at Stein Mart!

Kleenex, keys , glasses and gum - are all must haves!

I also like to keep a small bag with pens, pencils, and toiletries inside my purse. I love my Mud Pie phone case and have to have my lipstick case (which by the way, is actually a Vera Bradley eyeglass case that I use to keep lipsticks in instead.)

Here's everything in it's place:

I like how it holds my purse upright.

So, the challenge begins! I have to say, I'm a little skeptical that it will be easy to keep things in order, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

I will keep you updated throughout my challenge, which ends on October 16th.

Wish me luck!

21 Day Purse Challenge Update

Purse Challenge Update

I want to thank you for your comments and suggestions for my purse challenge. I received several good tips and plan to use some of them going forward!  I've decided to try a purse organizer that I found online and I am excited to share it with you! I didn't realize how many different brands of purse organizers there are, but I've decided to go with "Purseket - The Original Purse Organizer". They have many different options in sizes and fabrics, and I included the link to their website if you are interested in checking them out (see below). I ordered it this morning and I should have it within the week. Once it arrives, my 21 Day Challenge will begin. I'll keep you posted!

http://www.purseket.com

Here's a picture from their website of the one I ordered:

This is the fabric I chose:

So excited - can't wait to see how it works! Wish me luck!

Happy Organizing!

21 day Purse Challenge!!!

How often do you find the bottom of your purse looking like a trash can?  It seems like no matter how hard I try, I still end up with a lot of trash in my purse.  I've decided I would challenge myself for 21 days to keep my purse in order.  Now I'm going to ask for your help on this one.  I'm looking for any suggestions for what you do to keep your purse/backpack/whatever you use to hold your daily essentials as you walk/run out the door in order.

I've seen lots of ideas on Pinterest and different websites and blogs and I'm throwing those ideas around in my head but I'm anxious to hear what your ideas and/or suggestions might be.

I'll let you know when I start and when 21 days are up and, I'll report back to you what I did, what worked and what didn't!

Looking forward to hearing your comments!

I'm Back!!!

Wow! I certainly didn't think I would be away this long!

Calvin and I had a great vacation, which started out in New Orleans for a few days to take in some "delish" food and  sightseeing.  We also enjoyed the American Cancer Society Hope Gala with friends and family, as well as a Saints football game.  After a few days in Nola, we headed east... only to come to an abrupt stop right before the Louisiana/Mississippi line due to car trouble!!  Six to eight hours later, we were back on the road for what turned out to be a very relaxing week in Perdido Key, Florida.  I usually don't turn on the tv when I am on vacation at the beach, but this time, I was glad I did.  Little did we know, Hurricane Isaac was headed our way back home!!

I had a couple of days to prepare and realized that when it comes to being organized and prepared for a hurricane, I was definitely lacking!  So, I decided that since this probably won't be the last time we will have a hurricane threat, I should have a "to do list" for hurricane preparedness.  Here are a couple of websites that I came across that I think are very helpful.  You can print them out to take with you to the store and/or put in a file labeled "Hurricane/Emergency Preparedness".

http://www.getagameplan.org/planFamily.htm

http://www.hcoem.org/Documents/HurricanePreparednessChecklist.pdf

I strongly recommend having a container(s) with some of the essential items stored in an area in the home or garage prepared at all times.  And, of course, labeled!!

Here are some pictures from the our vacation:

My daughter, her husband, Calvin & I at the Hope Gala

Car Trouble!!!

Finally made it poolside!

Happy Organizing!

Family Time

I know it's been a few days since I've blogged, but I have taken a vacation to the beach with my amazing husband and didn't plan to blog until I got back.   However, in the quiet of this morning it hit me that I needed to blog today.  Not about organizing a pantry, or a closet, or an office, but simply, life.

When I was a young girl my mother and father instilled in me how important order was in our home and life.  He was military, need I say more.  However, he had a loving way, along with Mom, of teaching us order.  Yes, our beds had to be made every morning, and yes we had our dish night and so on and so on.  But more importantly, we had things like, Game Night and Sunday mass together (all 9 of us).  They made sure we spent time together, as a family.  We have so many memories that my family still finds endearing today.   It wasn't until I was much older and on my own that I came to really appreciate those values.

I have gone through a few ups and downs in my life, but I always tried to keep things in my life in order.  I kinda look at life this way:  if I  took a pie and cut it into slices and then gave a slice to each part of my life that was important to me, what and/or who would get each slice and how big,  or small,  would each slice be?  What order would I give out the slices?  Would it always stay the same, or would the order and/or size change?

Sometime I give bigger slices to things then I should.  Sometimes people and/or things want to take bigger pieces than they deserve and even sometimes they want the whole pie.  I have to constantly remind myself that too much of a good thing can be a bad thing! 

So, what does your pie look like today? Who or what gets the bigger pieces?