Day1 - 5 things

The other day, Jay declared we needed more storage.  When there are only 2 of you in a 4 bedroom home, I'm pretty sure the problem isn't lack of storage - the problem is too much stuff!

Well this got me stressed, especially since Christmas is right around the corner, and you tend to stockpile even MORE during the holidays.

I decided that we should get rid of 5 things every day between now and Thanksgiving.  Excusing ourselves for a few days we will be out of town, that gives us about 35 days, which means we will get rid of 175 items that are sitting in our house that we no longer need.  I honestly don't think this is going to be too difficult...

So day 1 - five sports bras.  Because I honestly only wear my 2 favorites, though I did keep four because that's about the max I ever work out in a week.

Front Door

Before:

   

After: 

 

Much better!

 

I actually spray painted the hardware in addition to painting the door and frame.  I used a little trick the internet taught me and put a spare key in the locks before spraying so as not to get paint inside.  I think the next project on tap should be to switch out the white, rotting shutters for black, non-wood ones.  Now to just make those bushes grow...

The Paper Kites - Featherstone

Once

If you don't like this movie, we probably can't be friends.

[If you've never seen it, look up music from "Once (Music from the Motion Picture)"...and then you'll probably want to watch the movie]

Sarah DeGroat - Old Moscow

Jay mixed this project, and it is so good.  So so good.

Sarah is a student at A&M.  She did this project with Jay's good friends Matthew and Lizi Bailey, and when they sent it over to mix, he kind of freaked out.

You can listen to all 5 songs on her website.

Old Moscow:


Heartbeat:


[She reminds me quite a bit of Rosie Thomas]

January is for Decluttering...again

We got a dog.  A really big dog.

Do you know how large of a crate you have to get for a great dane?  And do you know how hard it is to find a place in your house to put that kind of crate?

I say that, because I once again feel like we have too much stuff.  So I have 3 declutter goals for January:

1. Sell unwanted Ikea cabinets (done! $80 on Craigslist...seriously people - jump on the Craigslist train!)
2. Sell a couch (can't decide which one...but we have at least 1 too many...)
3. Empty 12 things out of my office room (which is where the crate now lives) until it is "acceptable"

#3 is the hardest.  That room is where I stash all the stuff I don't want to get rid of but don't really have a use for.  So I told myself yesterday if I can't come up with an immediate purpose/place for it (ex: hang on wall, put in jar with other pens...), it has to go.  I told myself that our house is not a museum and has to have space for the things we have yet to do.

“If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” - William Morris

Balmorhea

Jay just finished up audio for another SerialBox session. If you like instrumental music (Album Leaf, Explosions in the Sky...), you'll like Balmorhea.

I love bands that jump around and play a bunch of instruments - makes them very interesting to watch:

The Sing Off

There are very few TV shows that Jay and I actually agree on and watch together. This is not one of them.

I don't watch "American Idol" or "X Factor" or "The Voice," but I do like "The Sing Off." I feel like part of it might be that I like who judges, particularly Ben Folds. But it has some really talented performers, too. Jay would let me show him my 1 or 2 favorite performances from each episode, and it was usually this group - they were my fave and ended up winning. This totally appeals to my pop-loving self (I listen to top 40 on the way to work every morning...).

This first song is my least favorite song off Florence & The Machine's last album, but this version is amazing:
 

And this one is just impressively clever how they mix the 2 songs:

They also did a Katy Perry song, and we all know how much we love Katy Perry at this house...but it wasn't one of their best.

And apparently the beatboxer is multi-talented (and studied music at Yale):

I mean - don't you kind of feel like you should learn how to beatbox now?!  I told Jay he would probably be good at it being a drummer and all, but he declined.

SerialBox: Andrew Belle

This guy is really really good (engineered and mixed by Jay):

  The video is cool, too:

Math Humor

Digitizing Life - COMPLETE!

970 scans later, I'm done.

My first best friend, Pam:

My first time to play golf.  I was playing in a Member-Guest tournament with her.  We only played 1 hole:

The following year (which was the next time I played golf), we skipped the matching outfits and played 3 holes:

Um, hello buff arms (who knew it was even possible?!):

Amber!

 Our Grandpa:

First time to Italy:

College roommies Leslie, Abby, and Blair (we were all in Leslie's wedding together this last weekend):

Here I am running a triathlon while Hudson was being born.  My mom and I decided as needed something to do together while she did a wedding with Lauren and a baby with Kath.  It ended up being a solo effort with my dad cheering:

Disney World:

Mexican horseback riding trip (Abby and I literally just rode around the Mexican dessert on horses for 4 days... though technically I'm riding a mule, which I renamed Camilo in honor of my Columbian friend):

A ton of my college pictures were related to Young Life, and I also had a lot bowling pictures, so I thought this could represent for both (bowling WITH my Young Life team):

Though most YL pictures look more like this (with my roommate Meredith):

See what I mean:

Then there's this (also YL):

 Just hiking around a mountain (also YL):

Here's one of me and my mom (I know you like to see your hair progression through the years, ma):

And I think I'll stop there.  This was definitely an endeavor--I scanned through several Harry Potters.

On to the next project!

Less stuff, more happiness

Here's another really great TED talk, and it completely justifies all this picture scanning...

How to Start a Movement

I did scan some pictures today, but I kind of feel like we need a break from that.  Instead, I thought I'd post a TED talk I watched today.  I love TED talks.

For those not familiar with TED:
TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design...

This one is on "How to Start a Movement" and is only about 3 minutes long.

Still Digitizing Life - Day 4

I think we're about one-third of the way there...

Tonight I scanned 124, bringing us to a total of 419.  We're currently in the midst of Sophomore year.  There was a lot of Highstepper activity.

Highstepper Kidnapping:

Highstepper camp:

 

Highsteppers in football season:

Highsteppers in competition season:

My friends came over for my 16th birthday (it was a weeknight - I must have cool parents):

And one time I stuck a basketball hoop suction cup thing to my forehead - when I tried to take it off, it basically gave me a giant hickey.  This is what my forehead looked like for TWO WEEKS:

Digitizing Life - Day 3

Today was a bit of a light scanning day.  I scanned 65, which brings us to a total of 295.

Tonight, we jumped back to Freshman Year - 1996 (15 years ago!).

Me and Abby on the first day of school (we're still friends - I helped throw her a baby shower yesterday).  Everyone (really EVERYONE) should recognize the plaque behind us where the hidden key was...

McCullough Caillies - this was at Super Halftime.  I'm sure I felt really cool because Lauren was a Highstepper officer.

I think this was our last ski trip before someone finally mentioned they didn't really like it, and the rest of us agreed.

Me and my best friends Pam, Abby, and Abbey - we did an ensemble together.  I have dozens of pictures of the 4 of us.

And my last Boni's dance recital - I'd been doing them since I was probably 3.  That's little Kathryn on the bottom right!  (And again with Abby and Pam - other Abbey wasn't in ballet or else I'm sure she'd be in the picture.)

Digitizing Life - Day 2

The first album had 230 pics, which have now all been scanned.  Which means I was a very aggressive scanner today - 148 total today.

Here's my senior year Homecoming dress (one of my faves):

 My Grandpa came to my high school graduation:

Doesn't Chris Tomlin play at everyone's high school graduation party?

When given the option, always dress in costume.

80s YL club junior year:

Girl Scouts (senior year):

70s (senior year):

Cowgirls (YL camp after senior year):

Bandits (YL camp after senior yr):

Nerd prom (UM Army after senior year - my date Dan made me a corsage out of paper napkins):

Digitizing Life

My parents had given me most of my "treasures" that I had left behind in my old room when they moved out of their house 2 years ago. They recently emptied their storage unit and gave me my last 2 boxes. I had no clue what was going to be in these, but it ends up that they were full of old books, CDs, and photo albums...none of which I was particularly missing.

I started unloading and decided pretty quickly to donate most of the books to the library. And then decided to put the CDs in iTunes and donate most of those to the library as well (and in the process inspired Jay to do the same with most of his DVDs).

And then there were the photo albums...Well I just decided that October is going to be the month of photo scanning, and then I'm going to THROW THEM AWAY! That's right - in the trash.

We live in the digital age people! Jay and I never put a CD in a player - we listen to music off the computer or an iPod. We don't use DVDs - we watch movies off of the Apple TV, which comes off of the computer. We don't read books because we just don't read books. And we have never gotten out a photo album to look at pictures. They will be more useful when digital - more organized, searchable, emailable, and takes up no space! And you can always reprint if you need a physical copy.

So tonight was Night 1. I scanned 82. There are 6 albums, and I'm guessing on average they have 250 pics for a total of 1,500. At this rate, I think I can do it. 18 nights of scanning...

I decided I should post a few each time I scan. IT'S SO EASY NOW THAT THEY'RE DIGITIZED!

Here is Sophomore year Homecoming...check out those mums! I'll have to find pics of subsequent years because they just got bigger from here...


And another...I like this dress...


My last dance recital before quitting ballet. I was a doll in the party scene of the Nutcracker. I got to ride in that box with the candy canes on it onto the stage with my matching doll partner, and then we came out of the box to do our little dance.


Kath's bday in 1998. I think everything we are wearing in this is Abercrombie. And check out Lauren's overalls!


This is me and my friend Ashley at UM Army the summer before our Junior year. I just wanted to put this one on here because I lifeguarded this summer, and it's the most tan I've ever been.


And Junior year Homecoming (I've decided I should put one up from each because I like my dresses!). Once again benefiting from the lifeguard tan...


Between his hair and my socks, this picture is pretty amazing (in the mall parking lot getting ready to leave for Wilderness).