Paris Day 1 OR Thank goodness for Starbucks OR Heights aren't for me

From Arkansas to Chicago (even though we thought ORD meant Orlando until we got to the airport)  to Paris was a breeze.  No delays, no flight issues, surprisingly good meals on the airplane.  My suggestion to you is when booking your overseas flight to request a vegetarian meal.  I had pearl couscous and curry.  We ordered the gluten free option for Russell and he had chicken breast and rice with broccoli, also a good choice.  Everyone eating the regular meal had what appeared to be bad pasta with chicken chunks.

We arrived at Charles De Gaule almost an hour earlier than scheduled and the airport was fairly quiet.  We found our way to our baggage and the train with ease.  The great news was that the metro was free for most of the day as a New Year's gift- very thoughtful of the government!  We took the fast train into Paris and this is where the real journey begins.  Once exiting the metro, I was in dire need of water.  I hadn't had anything to eat or drink in many hours and I was starting to turn into a monster.  Our first stop?  Starbucks, obviously.  We knew they'd have water and they did!  Once I was rehydrated and no longer morphing into a beast, we caught a cab to our apartment and entered without issue.

The apartment is lovely and spacious.  Especially from what I've seen of Paris apartments (pretty much the only time I've seen Paris apartments is on House Hunters International on HGTV).  We have 2 bedrooms with bathrooms, a living room/dining room, and a full kitchen.  It's very cozy and well-decorated.  We're staying in the 7th Arrondissement on the Left Bank to those of you familiar with Paris.  It's a great area full of beautiful shops, lots of antique furniture stores, cute little restaurants and places that we can't afford :)  It's pretty centrally located and near the river.

As I unpacked, Russell thought he'd jump on the internet to retrieve our itinerary that we wrote out the day before.  This is when we discover that the internet in our apartment was out.  I cannot explain to you the anxiety that ensued as we realized we were totally lost with no internet access.  We were out the door quickly in search of a wifi connection much like a hungry dog searches for food.  Being that it was Sunday AND New Years Day you can imagine how difficult this search proved to be.  There are many "fake" free internet connections that give false hope as your device begins to access the connection only to tell you that you need to enter your access code.   We popped into the first restaurant we could find (Le Petit Tiberio) because we were told that most cafes have internet access.  Of couse we chose one that did not have wifi but what it did have was AMAZING Italian style pizza.  Once we had some nourishment, we were were back on the hunt for internet.  Over an hour later with no luck we stumbled upon, yes, Starbucks.  Just as a wifi connection is a sure thing in the states, a wifi connection is a sure thing at the Starbucks in Paris.  We were saved.

*Russell Writing*
Great though this internet salvation proved to be, Starbucks in Paris only gives you free wifi for 30 minutes...and so we were soon on our way again.

Le Marais District 

Le Marais District

By this time we were exhausted from walking but were extremely interested in visiting Le Marais district, which is essentially a little Jewish area of the city on the Right Bank (way far away from us) with lots of restaurants serving Israeli-style falafel and shwarama, a personal favorite of mine from my days visiting the West Bank a few years back, and a few street bands playing music that sounded straight out of New Orleans.  Katie's cousin Sherri highly recommended that we go on Sunday so we weren't giving up until we made it.

Cute street band!  The lead singer was American and he was really getting down!

Russell noshing schwarma

When we arrived in Le Marais, our stomachs decided on what turned out to be a delicious eatery with a little window on the street where people are able to place their order.  Upon sharing the best shawarma I have had in years (and the first Katie's ever had), we then picked back up with our itinerary schedule for the day, which dictated that we visit the Pompidue Centre for some exhibition that Katie had read about.  Unfortunately we got a bit lost (we have discovered that it is VERY easy to get lost in a city like Paris that boasts a mostly sloppy grid system--with deceptively NON-parallel streets) and decided that it was too late in the day--around 6:30pm--to visit the Pompidue Centre by the time we arrived.  This is when "getting lost" was taken to a whole new level.

a little metro navigation (in all honestly, I'm sure whatever I was doing wasn't helpful.  Russell has proven to be the master navigator)

In our attempts to get back across the river to the 7th Arrondissement, we somehow ended up at some enormous roundabout in the Bastille district near the Opera House.  With zero exaggeration, I can say there are probably 10+ "spokes" (that did not have matching counterparts on the opposing side of the round about) of this roundabout, and we circled it at least 4 times (each time taking ~15min) before finding the correct street to lead us back to the apartment.

Here's a shot of the round about where we were totally lost!  

There was a little children's carnival just off this round about.  This little guy was hanging out with his daddy who was manning a booth.  Of course I had to stop and give him a little head scratch!

At this point the amount of walking we'd already done was something truly extraordinary, although we weren't quite finished yet.  As Katie had already booked us 10:00pm tix at the Eiffel Tower that night, we decided to take the metro over to some street called Rue Cler, a supposed "foodie" hotspot, in the surrounding neighborhood.  Unfortunately, with New Years Day in full effect, there was NOTHING open for entire blocks.  When we finally stumbled upon a rather dismal looking Thai restaurant, our feet said "just let us sit down...we DON'T care!"  After eating a few dumplings stuffed with miscellaneous pork (or maybe an animal American's use for pets) byproducts though, even our feet agreed that a little more walking might have been worth it.

After dinner, we walked to the Eiffel Tower, dodging shady street vendors--selling glow-in-the-dark Eiffel Towers and other marvels--along the way.  The wind, rain, and cold really started to pick up at this point (and we unfortunately both have coats with laughably pathetic hoods to shield us from the elements), so we were [exhaustedly] grateful when it was finally time for our reservation to ascend the Tower.

on the hour, the Eiffel Tower sparkles

beautful

Looking up from the ground into the tower

Russell being blown away off the side of the Eiffel Tower

beautiful views of the city from the 2nd platform of the Eiffel Tower

I quickly discovered something I hadn't yet witnessed during the time I've known Katie. She is DEATHLY afraid of heights!  She suppressed a few near-vomits while riding up the tower elevator, but would barely even look off the edge once we arrived at the 2nd floor.  I couldn't help but drag her a bit closer to the edge (as far as she'd let me anyway), and there was one side of the tower that definitely gave a bit of an adrenaline rush as the wind gusts were enough to knock you down if you weren't careful.  Sadly though, Katie stopped at agreeing to descending the stairs rather than the elevator.  You win some, you lose some I suppose.

Look at this gem of a photo.  My (Katie) hair is blowing and frizzy and that is absolutely as close as I could get to the edge...if you're wondering, that's about 10 feet away from the large retaining wall and protective fence.

By the time we arrived back at the apartment (again, PLENTY of walking involved, although we took the Metro part of the way) it was after midnight.  One of the biggest issues travel wise when going to western Europe is that people fall asleep during the day they arrive, which totally disrupts their body clock.  In our concentrated efforts to avoid this, we pretty much had the most exhausting 24 hours I've ever had in my life (littered with frequent cafe visits as we walked around to recharge ourselves with espresso shots).  Victory?  An epic beginning to an epic trip!

By the way, in case we didn't make it clear, it rained all...day...long.

Katie Writing:

While we had a few hits and several misses, overall we had a really fun day!  What's better than wandering around a beautiful city with your best friend?  Another thing about getting lost- you stumble upon all kinds of things you wouldn't have otherwise seen if you stayed on your desired path.  We accidentally walked by tons of great monuments and historical buildings we didn't even mean to see until later in the week!

Whatdaya Say We Go To Paris?

...this was the question posed by one of us (can't remember who) on our 14 hour car trip from Durham, NC to Benton, AR as we trekked home for the holidays.  We have a 5 week break from school and we were trying to strategize the best way to use it.  Of course we first chose to visit with friends and family and we will be doing some house hunting for our move in May when we return to the states but we wanted to do something fun.

We did some in depth research on our iPhones primarily using Kayak (I highly recommend this website and app) browsing places we could go this time of year that would be fun.  The obvious warm-weather choices are quite popular this time of year an VERY expensive and many trips we could've taken state-side had pricy airfare.  What began as a total joke quickly became a reality as we found well-priced airfare, an available apartment from a family friend and a little more than a week that was free on our calendar. Paris it would be!

Since we booked our tickets a whole 2 weeks ahead of time we didn't have a ton of time to schedule our days and prepare for the trip as we were also very busy seeing family and taking a little road trip from Benton, AR to Memphis, TN to Birmingham, AL and back again.  Packing, scheduling and other preparation all happened in about 48 hours.  We had a long chat with Russell's dad.  He gave us a quick overview of Paris history, architecture, landmarks, tourist attractions, and the layout of the city.  I had a great chat with my cousin Sherri who had tons of recommendations for restaurants, things to see and things to skip and handy travel tips to keep us efficient and safe on our trip.

The Friday before we left on Saturday was spent hurriedly packing and trying to figure out the best way to spend money in France.  This was quite the process and has ultimately proved to be the most frustrating aspect of the trip.  We have only traveled out of the country together once (to Fiji- you can read those blog posts here) and everything was pretty much paid for in advance so we didn't have to worry about credit card charges.  In Paris, we paid for nothing in advance so each time we swipe a card it's a 3% fee- yuck.  Our goal was to get away from getting any transaction fees so here's what we found:

Our first thought was to get Travelers Checks.  We would just exchange them like cash without a problem or use them in stores that took travelers checks.  We thought we'd be able to buy them with our American Express, get credit card points for purchasing them and we'd have no change over fee once we got to Paris.  Well, that didn't work because you pay about a 3% purchasing fee when you get travelers checks.

A great suggestion was to get a Visa money card (gift card) which you may be able to get at your bank.  You can put money on these cards for no additional fee.  The card can be used just like a credit card!  Most places in Paris take Visa and Mastercard and NOONE wants your AMEX.  Unfortunately, our bank (Bank of America) doesn't have these gift cards so we would have to get them at a different bank that did not have our banking business.  Since you have to guarantee the money, we could not purchase them from a credit card without a cash advance (4% fee and very low limit...got to love being students), or a check for the total amount (the way we do bank accounts, we would've had to transfer money over to one account and the money would not have been available in time for our trip).

What we chose to do was to just take a smaller amount of cash out of our account and change it over once we got to Paris because everyone we talked to and everything we read said we'd get a much better exchange rate once we got there.  We'd just use our credit card for other purchases since 3% transaction fees seem to be the best  option for us. Stay tuned for the rest of this money story...

On to packing...it's hard to pack for a trip when you only have access to what you packed for the original trip.  Luckily, I packed our warm coats just in case (like it was going to get cold in AR).  I did a great job fitting 8 days worth of cold weather clothes into 2 carry on roller bags and 1 checked suitcase.    Packing took about 3 hours and 2 trips to Target.  I'd say I could probably be a professional vacation packer so let me know if you are in need of my services.

Finally, we had to plan the trip.  We knew that if we made no plans we'd get to Paris and do nothing but wander around and eat a lot so we pulled up a spreadsheet (I believe spreadsheets solve all problems) and got to planning.  Our schedule looked a little like this:

Sunday:
9:45am arrive in Paris
12:00pm arrive at apartment, unpack and refresh
1:30pm lunch and exploring in the Marais district
3:00pm Centre Pompidou
7:30pm dinner
10:00pm Eiffel Tower

Monday:
9:30 Champs-Elysses Christmas Market
1:30 Tuilleries
3:00 Lourve
8:00 dinner

Tuesday:
9:30 Bon Marche
1:30 St. Chapelle
3:30 Notre Dame
5:00 Saine cruise
7:00 dinner

Wednesday:
all day in Versailles

We decided to plan the rest of the trip after we experienced our first few days...stay tuned to see how our schedule is going.

This is it for an introduction!  I hope you enjoy the soon-to-come posts about our actual trip!

...and that's all!

Healthy Fall Salad and Delicious Souffle

Wilted Spinach with Fall Fruit Compote and Chicken

This is a great recipe for just 2 people.  It is best made with leftovers.  It just makes preparation so much faster!

Here are my leftovers:

1 chicken breast seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic cut into chunks 
(I usually cook several chicken breasts at once and have them on hand for quick meals) I cook my chicken breasts in a grill pan but you could do them in a regular pan, on an actual grill or on a George Foreman...whatever floats your boat!

Compote (this was leftover from a stuffed porkloin I made earlier in the week...these measurements are my assumption of what was used in this salad...triple this recipe to stuff a porkloin- it will be one of the best things you've eaten)

1/8 c. raisins

1/8 c. dried cranberries

1/8 c. chopped walnuts/walnut pieces

1/2 apple diced

1/2 small yellow onion diced

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

chicken broth

I start with the onions and apples and saute them in a scant amount of olive oil (or butter) until they are softened I then add about 3 tablespoons of chicken broth and let it reduce.  I add raisins, cranberries and nuts last.  Once browned I add another splash of chicken broth and let it reduce again.  Add chicken in at the end just to warm it up.

Fresh additions:

6-8c. fresh spinach

In the same pan, throw in spinach tossing to coat in compote mixture.  Let sit 3 minutes then remove from heat, tossing again and let it sit as it wilts

Butternut Squash Souffle!!

This recipe is a great alternative to sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving. WAY fewer calories in this one!

Ingredients and Directions:

1 butternut cooked squash- there are many ways to go about cooking this. I put mine in a 400 degree oven for 30 45 minutes.  It was very easy to cut it, remove the seeds and goo and then scoop it away from the skin.

3T butter (or butter substitute)

1/3c. higher fat milk (easily made dairy free with almond milk)

1/3c. sugar (this was 2/3 less than the recommended amount in the recipe.  I think you could even omit sugar altogether)

1 1/2t. salt

1/2-1t cinnamon

1/2 t. nutmeg

1 1/2t. fresh ground black pepper

4 eggs at room temp

Put all ingredients except eggs in the blender and puree to an even consistency, add eggs altogether but just pulse the blender to blend eggs into mixture.  DO NOT OVER BLEND!

Pour mixture into a souffle dish or casserole and bake for 1 hour in an oven preheated to 325.

SO DELICIOUS

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Break for Fall

This post is loooong overdue but I couldn't skip it!  Russell and I had a fabulous fall break in NYC and the Outerbanks of NC.  I will admit now that we took zero pictures in NYC- it's such a fast-paced city we felt like we were in the way with the camera out so we just left it in the room the whole time.  Obviously, we regret our decision!  Pretty much this is going to be a recap for our own memory but feel free to read on!

We began our trip by picking up Russell from his final on Wednesday afternoon and dashing to the airport because we only have 2 hours from the time I picked him up until our plane takes off.  No worries though, our flight was delayed because of rain in NYC.  Luckily the rain stayed only for Wednesday.

We headed from the airport to our friend, Dr. Jere Crook's home in the Upper East Side.  We received a warm welcome along with some time to unpack, unwind and have a snack before heading to the theatre.

What a treat the theatre was!  We saw How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying starring Daniel Ratcliff (Harry Potter) and John Liriquet with the voice of Andersen Cooper as the narrator.  If you're in NYC or if this show travels it's a MUST SEE!  We had amazing seats courtesy of Jere.

  

This is pretty much the only picture we took...excuse me while I pat myself on the back: my dress looked great with the theme of the show (I also stood out like a sore thumb yellow dress + pink Vera Bradley umbrella= not NYC black)!  

After the show we headed to a lovely little restaurant right around the corner from the theatre where they knew Jere by name.  We had a great dinner and great conversation.  From there we headed to the King Cole Bar inside the St. Regis Hotel.  It was really fancy :)  We had a nightcap and headed home...it was almost 2am when we got home!  Jere is a night owl!

Thursday we began the morning with a run in Central Park followed by breakfast at Jere's table and then the best walking tour a tourist could ask for!  Jere knows SO MUCH about the city and we were happy to soak in all he had to tell us!  We walked through Central Park, through the theatre district, to Grammercy Park, The Ford Foundation, Grand Central Station, Columbus Circle, The UN Building and had a leisurely lunch at The Harvard Club where we also received an in depth tour of the building and heard about it's rich history.  

Thursday night we met our friends Dasha and Dan Faires at Samboca in Chelsea.  It was a cozy, hip tapas restaurant.  We had a 3 hour dinner catching up and stuffing our faces with dishes that included almost half of a pig!  

Friday morning was greeted with another run in Central Park, lunch at Le Colonial with Jere and a trip to the Met.  Le Colonial is a Thai restaurant with French influence- YUM.  Such great flavor and fresh food.  It reminded us of Fijian food.  We could've spent a week at The Metropolitan Museum of Art...but we only spent 2.5 hours.  We browsed Greek, Roman, Victorian and African Art with a quick run through the Modern Art section.  We followed up our visit to the museum with a yummy pumpkin ginger cupcake from a food cart.

Later in the afternoon we checked into The Shoreham Hotel and then headed to Union Square to visit Alton Lane.  We love their showroom and enjoyed looking at new fabrics and clothing lines.  Check out what's going on over there and order yourselves or a loved one some well-fitting clothes!

From there we headed to another scrumptious tapas restaurant (I can't remember the name of it) that was lit with a plethora of crystal chandeliers that contrasted the rustic restaurant setting.  The restaurant was packed with people and we loved the atmosphere!  We ended our evening at the bar at the W Hotel in Union Square and made it home around 3am (I know, you're thinking...do I know the Bloodworths? They don't stay out that late)!  We had some adventures in the subway with rats on the platform which definitely woke us up for our trek back to the hotel!

Saturday we headed back to Alton Lane for Russell to order some new digs and then went to lunch with Meg and Michael McCullar at a Mexican restaurant.  This restaurant rocked because you got a free drink with your meal...that's what I call Saturday brunch!  We had a wonderful time with Meg and Michael hearing about their transition to NYC and we loved getting to see their apartment.

We left lunch and headed to the Upper West Side to see Eric and Savon who just had a beautiful baby boy, Benjamin.  We had great conversation and were excited to hear about parenthood and job transitions.  

Upon leaving Eric and Savon's home we stumbled upon a little clothing store called Pookie and Sebastian.  I accidentally went on a shopping spree and left with a cute knit dress, an army inspired jacket and the coolest fur vest!  

Off we went to the Lower East Side to meet up with Dasha for dinner (Dan had headed to AR to spend time with family) at a pub/oyster bar. We had some outstanding beers and really good seafood (no oysters for us).  We then headed to some cool bar where we again met up with Meg and Michael and then headed home so that we could prepare for our early trip home.

As soon as we landed, we hopped in the car and headed to the Outer Banks!  When I was feeling rich this summer (because we had an income, it wasn't a big income), I purchased a Living Social Escape to The Marsh Harbor Inn on Bald Head Island.  I'm so glad I did because we had a perfect vacation from our vacation (we actually decided there was a distinction between vacation and trip.  New York was a trip.  Bald Head Island was a vacation).

To get to Bald Head Island, you have to take a ferry.  Once there, your mode of transportation is golf cart, bicycle or your own two feet.  No cars allowed (except construction vehicles).  The ferry ride was fun and it was nice to have an ocean view of the coast.

Upon arrival, we were picked up by a golf cart taxi and taken to Marsh Harbor Inn.  It's a lovely little inn and the only "hotel" type lodging on the island.  Everything else is beautiful homes.  After settling in, we set out on our own golf cart to find some dinner.

We settled on pizza from the poolside bar (the Pellicatessen) at the country club, it was delicious.  We were planning on taking out to the beach to watch the sunset (the sunsets were absolutely beautiful) but the bugs were attacking Russell...at first I didn't believe him but I looked over and he literally had a swarm of little bugs around his head.  We opted for a moving dinner in the golf cart to keep the bugs away.

That night we also saw a beautiful deer (we don't have a picture because we were so stunned we just sat and stared at him).  The deer on the island look different than the deer we see on the mainland!  We also saw a beautiful red fox that just sat still and let us take his picture.  The picture is not very good because of the lighting.

The next day we spent some quiet time kayaking in the marsh.  It was so peaceful and beautiful.  Russell and I had the best time talking with no interruptions.

The rest of the trip was filled with eating, a little bike ride, sleeping, reading and a little more eating.

We have decided that we should always have a vacation after trips!

...I've been doing lots of cooking and a little crafting lately, stay tuned....

Going Into The Closet: A Series In Closet Organization (Final Step)

I apologize for the lack of pictures in this post...closet organization is holding up other blog posts that need to be written!!


Step 4: Refilling Your Closet
Number one rule here: you must use hangers that are all the same.  This is key to keeping your closet organized, looking pretty and under control. I highly discourage using the wire hangers from the cleaners,
they tangle up with each other and they look ugly.

According to the season, begin filling your closet.  As I said before, we will be using a twice a year rotation in these explanations and right now I'm going to talk about the Fall/Winter rotation since that's what I just worked on.  Our closet is split between my clothes and Russell's clothes and so I give Russell a half of the top rack and a half of the bottom rack and then we split the rack on the opposing side for his suits and my dresses.

Common sense says put shirts on the top rack and pants/skirts on the bottom rack so that's what I do.  On Russell's side, I hang from left to right as follows:

top rack:

casual jackets

formal dress shirts

dress shirts

casual button downs

long sleeved polo shirts

short sleeved polo shirts

long sleeved t shirts

short sleeved tshirts

bottom rack:

track pants

jeans

chinos

dress pants

I realize that this logic kind of goes backward from the top row, but for some reason it works better that way in our closet.

Here's where you decide just how organized you can be.  Do you organize by color and pattern or not?  In our closet, my clothes are organized in rainbow order, Russell's are in a rough rainbow order, but he doesn't really care if his clothes are in color order so I'm trying not to care about what his side looks like with regard to color progression.

My side of the closet from left to right:

top rack:

tanks and sleeveless tops

t shirts

polo shirt

long sleeved shirts

button downs

fleeces/jackets

bottom rack:

jeans

chinos

dress pants

skirts

On the opposing rack, which has no bottom bar, I have half of the closet reserved for hanging storage, one fourth for dresses and one fourth for suits.

From front to back:

 3 hanging shoe shelves

 two hanging sweater shelves

Russell's suits 

my dresses.

In the shoe racks, I organize from top to bottom beginning with flip-flops and flats and graduating to heels and all the while in rainbow order (except for Russell's shoes).

Hanging sweater racks: in one I keep Russell's undershirts and t-shirts, sweatshirts, workout clothes and sweaters. In the other I keep my cardigans, sweaters, and workout clothes.  I split my workout clothes by tops, shorts, and pants.

**side note** Keeping your workout clothes visible and easy to access, it helps with motivation for actually putting them on and working out :)

As far as the rest of it goes, Russell's suits that he does not wear regularly (like his tux) are kept in plastic suit bags that hanging in the closet and I keep his suits on suit hangers (the ones that are thick plastic or wooden) in order to keep them from wrinkling because I'm terrible at ironing.

My dresses hang from casual to fancy and from short to long as well as rainbow order :)

On the floor, we keep boots and tennis shoes.

On our shelving, I keep bathroom storage and accessories down the middle in canvas boxes and on the sides I place overflow sweaters, purses, overnight bags, and hats.

Well, that sums it up!  I hope that this series in closet organization has helped you begin to create an organized, functional and happy closet!  Once you take the time to organize once, it's so easy to maintain and reduces your need to go shopping, the time it takes to get ready in the morning, may even increase your outfit options!

Going Into The Closet: A Series in Closet Organization- Step 3

Step 3: Closet Organizers:
This step is VERY important.  To make the most of any closet space, you're going to need some organization gear.  This will vary depending on your closet and drawer space and you'll probably want to buy several things to figure out what works best in your space and with your things.  The things that I can't live without are my jewelry hanger, sweater hangers, shoe hangers and matching clothes hangers.  I also love cloth boxes for things like scarves and belts.

Depending on your price range there are several places where you can look for closet organization (this stuff gets pretty expensive...but it's worth it, I promise).

Here are some of my favorite things at my favorite places:

The mecca of closet organization is The Container Store.  Here's an example of some of their closet organization offerings.  They have lots of cute "series" of storage solutions so they all match!  This one is called Firenze.  This is probably what my heaven will look like.   You can find EVERYTHING here and it's all pretty.  Even better, they have closet organization specialists so you could just stop reading this blog post now and go there and get someone to totally makeover your space for you.  For those of us not that fortunate (and I'm not) look at these options:

Target- Check out this hanging purse organizer.  Great space saver too!  I don't have that many purses so I don't need one of these but maybe one day I'll have that many purses!  Target has great hanging shelves, colored bins, modular sets, and storage boxes of all sizes.  They often have special collections by designers too.

(the picture that should go here is a canvas handled hamper by Mainstays)

Walmart- similar to Target but usually not as cute.  I like these hampers because they're easy to move around!  I use one hamper to hold donation clothes.  These hampers fit nicely in closets as well as bathrooms and are very easy to tote to the laundry room!

TJ Maxx/Marshals/Homegoods- Check out this adorable dresser someone found at Homegoods!  This would be great in larger closets for your "unmentionables" or just for extra storage space in your bedroom.  These stores are also great for patterned storage bins and jewelry holders (you never know what great stuff you'll find).  

Bed Bath and Beyond- These bags by Real Simple are fantastic for wool storage!  They come with cedar inserts to keep the bugs away.  I especially like the under the bed options as well as the label pocket so you know what's inside!  Bed Bath and Beyond will always have what you need, and it will always be overpriced.

You may even need to add some extra bars or rip out everything and start from scratch and in that case I highly recommend using somewhere like Home Depot, Lowes, The Container Store, or a specialty closet designer like California Closets. Most of these retailers have programs where you can input your closet dimensions and build storage solutions from the ground up.

Here's what we're working with in our closet:

All plastic hangers like these except that they're white (except for the suit hangers I use for Russell's suits and jackets).  I like my hangers to have the strap holders because they're much more convenient for sleeveless shirts, shirts with wide necks and dresses.

I highly recommend those new skinny hangers with the felt covered arms and metal hanger top like these from Bed Bath and Beyond by Real Simple.  I think I will transition to these soon.  They're great for small closets.  My sister has them and they're the only reason that all of her clothes fit intoher small space.

2 hanging sweater shelves and 3 hanging shoe shelves: I use my sweater shelves for more than just hangers.  They're great for making tshirts, shorts, and workout clothes easily accessible.  Shoe shelves really help to maximize space and save you from piles of shoes in your floor.

1 over the door shoe hanger is used for shoes that are not worn as often.  I also use one of the pockets to put the tags in that I use to monitor whether or not clothes are being worn (read comment on Step 1)

1 hanging jewelry bag.  This one is from Bed Bath and Beyond and is made by Real Simple.  I love it.  There is a bottom portion that can be snapped off and rolled up for travel.  This bag takes up minimal space and makes it really easy to see jewelry options.  (Please forgive the poor photography- minimal light and minimal space).

8 cloth boxes are used for belts, purses and non-clothing items.  I keep lots of toiletries in these bags from travel sized items to extra shaving cream.  Our bathroom has NO STORAGE so these boxes are a must!  These shelves are super-convenient for over-flow sweaters, hats, and bags.

Several plastic storage boxes with lids in varying sizes are kept on the upper shelves of the closets with off-season clothes as well as scarves.  Ideally, I'd like to have scarves hung somewhere so that they don't get wrinkled but there's just no space!


Our closet system is wire and we have a mixture of shelves and hanging areas.  You can design your own wire grid system here at ClosetMaid for $5.

Alright, that's it for Step 3!  Step 4, the final step, coming soon!

Going Into The Closet: A Series In Closet Organization Step 2

Step 2: Categorize 

Now you have clothes organized by those that you would like to keep and those (away from you so that you cannot pull things out of it and hoard them) that will either go to resale or will be donated.  The next step is to further organize the clothes you are keeping into season.  I really only change my closet out two times a year so I organize into Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter, but this depends on how many clothes you have and how big your closet space is.  For explanation purposes, I'm going to stick with two rotations of clothing.

When you're organizing your piles, really think about what makes sense.  Just because it's a sweater may not mean it's for Fall/Winter.  You may also want to consider a pile that is year-round that will not change out with the seasons.

Now is a good time to take inventory.  Look at the clothes you are choosing to keep.  Did you get rid of all of your flats that go with brown?  Do you need a new coat for Fall?  Did you find a dress that you love but you need a belt for it? Even more importantly, did you get rid of an entire season's worth of clothing? Write all of this stuff down (and if you're really anal, ahem I mean organized, put it in a spreadsheet on your computer).  You may even want to write down your entire closet inventory if you're getting really serious about this (note: I do not have my entire closet inventoried nor do I have a closet spreadsheet).

Here's a link to some crazy closet organization databases. I'm not sure that I will ever use these but hey, you could try it! http://www.instantfundas.com/2010/07/5-best-wardrobe-management-software-for.html

The clothes that you will not be showcasing in your closet for immediate use should be put in plastic bins with lids, vacuum bags or hanging bags.  I use clear storage bins so that I can see what is in each box in case I need to access an item before I rotate the season.  I try my best to keep like items together so that rotating my closet is easy because everything is already organized.

Before you put any clothes away for storage, make sure they're all clean.  It's worth a trip to the dry cleaners to make sure your clothes don't ruin if you put them away dirty!  I just looked up a dry cleaning guide to help you out on how often to dry clean your clothes but it appears there are many differing opinions.  I am not a dry cleaning expert and don't want to give bad advice so I'll skip it :)

Back to organization.  Let's say you're transitioning your clothes from Spring/Summer to Fall/Winter.  You've put your summer clothes in boxes and you're left with your Fall/Winter wardrobe.  Now divide your clothing by type.  Look at what you have and really think about what makes sense in your closet.  Do you want to fold some items and put them in dresser drawers?  Would some things be more accessible in under-bed boxes? Where is the best place for your shoes? Only you can decide what works best for you.  We only have one dresser for the two of us and our undergarments, socks, and pajamas fill the whole thing.  It is necessary for us to use our closet for everything else!

One more note- often times more than just clothing may need to go in your closet- purses, luggage, toiletries and other extras.  Also consider these things when you're thinking about where to place everything back in your space.

I think I'll end this post here.  The next post will be a great compliment to helping you figure out what should go where!

Happy Organizing!!