Unpacking Progression, Day Six.

I should be unpacking my clothes right now so this will be a short update.

Biggest success in my area of unpacking is emptying all the kitchen boxes.  Pantry and cabinet organization is a work in progress. I'm adjusting as I work in kitchen, figuring out where items live as I use them.  Second is my desk set-up, consisting only of my desktop computer unpacked and running, which I didn't even do myself; My very competent in-house tech support takes care of that.  None of my office boxes are unpacked yet.

My current task is my clothing, which I have a lot of.  Almost embarrassing, really.  I use a hodge-podge system of stack-a-shelves to house my folded clothing for a few reasons.  First, dressers/bureaus are ridiculously expensive, especially for the shoddy quality you find in most stores.  Second, I like to see my clothes, kind of like how you stand at the refrigerator, stare at the contents, and wish the door was transparent.  I hate opening a multitude of drawers searching for something and find that out-of-sight-out-of-mind runs rampant through wardrobes.  Lastly, stack-a-shelves are inexpensive and very versatile.  They can be rearranged depending on room size and can be used throughout the house for any purpose.  Granted, the tetris-configurations are not always the most aesthetically pleasing, but very few people see the bedroom and those who do know me well-enough to appreciate the creativity, or to at least expect it.

I brought my entire wardrobe with me.  Everything.  Clothing and leather do not store well and would be ruined after three years boxed up in a warehouse in the middle of Texas.  And I love clothes, always have.  This passion for fashion should be motivating to get me going but the task is so daunting I need to split it into smaller tasks.

My first order of business is to set up my shelving system, which entails clearing out the bedroom of shoe boxes, clothing stacks, and miscellaneous items strewn about.  I diagrammed my previous setup but this bedroom is much smaller then our previous one.  I always say that creativity is spurred by limitations and this will certainly test that.

So before I get lost in planning the next steps I just need to put some music on and get to work.  Here is an idea of what I have to work with:

(These photos were taken with an iPhone and are by no means intended to be "real" photos, just snapshots of where I was and what I saw.)

21. What you do

Today was my first day off work since enduring a nasty cold and ignoring household chores for the past week.  Less medicated and more motivated, I had a long list to tackle.  I allowed junk mail, cardboard boxes, receipts and tea mugs rest in unsuitable places.  Knowing our rental company practices unannounced bi-annual inspections was incentive enough to at least make the place presentable, and if I worked to make the house nice why shouldn't I be presentable as well?

As an early birthday gift my Mom sent me an incredible gift box from her favorite coffee shop, Espresso Elevado.  Due to extreme sinus congestion I had not had any coffee drink for over a week, why waste deliciousness on a muted palette?  Since I can once again taste I used my french press to brew an incredible cup of Ethiopian Sidamo light roast coffee and it was divine, especially with the lemon biscotti from The Biscotti Bar, included in the gift box.

I was ready to begin my day of housework... almost.  The pair of Summertime Moonbeams by John Fluevog that I had so fortunately found have gone unworn.  Sacrebleu!  The only answer was to wear them.  Today.  So the subject of my photo-a-day, "What I do", is what I did -- housework in Fluevogs.

Clearing the kitchen table
Recycling/shredding junk mail
Breaking down boxes
Recycling packing material
Five loads of laundry
Changing bedding
Sweeping the kitchen floor
Scooping the litter box
Hosing out the garbage can
Taking out the trash and recycling
Hand-washing fragile glassware
Scrubbing the hallway bathroom
Vacuuming the entire house

All this and some incidentals were performed while wearing my gorgeous and comfortable Fluevogs.  I may not have put on makeup or deodorant (oops) but I wore fabulous footwear.

Oh yeah, I also got my much-anticipated rental lens this morning, the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM.


2013.01.21.
[Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM]

Christmas.

Christmas as a child-free adult who lives far from family and works full-time in retail is really not a holiday at all.  It is only a guaranteed (for now) day off after the stress of fulfilling holiday obligations in between long, anxiety-ridden work days.  I'm not exactly a Scrooge or a Grinch, but I carry no joy though the holiday season.

A thought I have been pondering these past few days stems from a comment I read posted after a photography blog article.  The commenter states,

"A point that I think can't be ignored is the over-saturation of social media -- we spend so much time sharing that we don't spend any time actually thinking, or creating. Let's remember one vital point: creativity happens in the empty, lazy spaces when we're 'wasting time'...and that just doesn't happen if we're wired on technological crack."

I added the bold on the statement that stood out most, though his surrounding thoughts on social media are ones I share and have been struggling with for the past few years.  I want to shake his hand for his frankness in so precisely proclaiming the idealistic frustrations I've had with social media.

Those two sentences pulled from his comment have fueled a stream of thinking in the past couple days that has yet to lead me to any conclusion.  It's like following a sheen of motor oil on a puddle in a parking lot -- you know it came from somewhere and you can't figure out it's path or it's future turns but you continue to study it with curious fascination.




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In an addition to my previous post on my Summertime Fluevogs, I was able to use some of my "lazy spaces" today for a family photo.

2012.12.25.  [Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS UD]

16. something you made.

Happiness.

Exactly one thousand days after bringing home my beloved Summertime Fillmore sandals from John Fluevog they have found a sister.

On an warm, early spring day three years ago I spent the day in Seattle with my camera.  I came home with many, many photos, a bouquet of flowers from Pike St. Market and my Summertime Fillmores.  I paid full price (ouch) but have never regretted it because "cost-per-wear makes them practically free." (#6, in the middle, that's me.)  I chose the Antracite color, a grey-ish inky purple, and found they work with most of my wardrobe.  Throughout the years of regular wear and compliments from strangers I often thought about the other color they came in, pink rose (which is really tan) and commented frequently that if they were closed-toe I'd wear them year-round.

Apparently I have earned some good shoe Karma because after cruising resale sites for years without much hope of ever finding them at a reasonable cost in good condition, I recently found a pair through the FlueMarket and made contact with the seller.  She was fundraising for a puppy's medical care so it was a win-win all around. The shoes arrived the other day in beautiful condition and fit just like my originals.  Around this same time I also stumbled on a pair of Summertime Moonbeams that I didn't even know existed -- a closed-toe cousin of the Fillmore!  They were in my size, black, excellent condition and well-priced.  Fluevog shoes are designed in families and I'm bring them home to roost.

I finally had time today to photograph them today, though my flash batteries died before I grouped them for a family shot.  When it's charged again I'll get creative.

2012.12.16.  [Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM]