What's More Fun than Getting New Clothes?

Getting them for FREE!  So Saturday night I had the most fun experience.  I went to a clothing exchange.  You bring your gently worn clothing pieces, jewelry, accessories, and shoes that either don't fit, you don't care for, or that you are just plain "over" and a bottle of wine.  Add about 30-40 other women doing the same and when you put them all together, you have a nice combination of clothing (and wine ).  The hostess provides a few little appetizers for everyone to enjoy.  After you've put your clothing in the appropriate spot (dresses, tops, pants, workout gear, etc), you have a nice empty bag.  Go peruse the items brought by all of the ladies, try on at will, and take what you want.  Bottom line, new to you clothes for $0.  I went with about 30 items and came home with about 15.  It was great because I effectively downsized, but now I have some new treasures to wear.  It was a ball.  And all of the "leftovers" are taken to charity.  Isn't that a wonderful idea?  I'd vaguely remembered hearing about these kind of swaps, but had never attended one.  I have to tell you, it was a fun evening with lots of laughter and nurturing women, not competitive, just a good time.  I was thinking a home decor swap could be fun too.  Hmmmm....must consider that.  Reduce, reuse, recycle.  LOVE IT!

Until next time,

The New Year Almost 1/12 Done ALREADY??!!!

I feel like the little girl on the right.  A new year is so exciting, but holy cow time sure flies by!  I've been working very hard on my studio space which had kind of stalled out in the finishing of it a couple of years ago.  It had become a glorified storage space instead of the beautiful shabby piece of heaven I had envisioned.  Mostly, we ran out of money.  Secondly, we ran out of steam/umph/getupandgo.  Too much on our plates I guess.  Anyway, I'm not one for making resolutions, but I did make a couple of promises to myself, one being that 2012 is the year that my creative space will be completed.  So, I have started. 

I have spent the last couple of weeks working on the one area that is honestly done-the storage closet.  OHNOSHEDIUNT, you are saying, but yes, I DID.  I am working on the closet.  It is turning out wonderfully.  My husband asked if I planned on living in there.  I laughed, but I think perhaps I might.  I can't wait to share photos with you.  I've gotten inspiration from lots of places out in Blogland and am trying to put them together in a way that is all me.  So far, so good.  I have a modular storage unit I got from Michael's put together and loaded up with my paper/mixed media supplies. Now I am waiting for DH to make some shelves on the other two walls for more storage.  I hope this happens sooner rather than later so I can finish up this part while I've got my momentum going.  Show and tell is on the horizon, I promise.

Until then, I leave you with all the positive energy I can send your way.  I'd love it if you could send me some good wishes for project completion SOON!