Happiness Project for March: Peaceful Mornings

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If you know me at all, you know if there is one thing I hate, it's mornings.  I've never understood morning people and never will - you people scare me.  However, I do say "hello" to people when I walk into work now and will even crack a smile at them now and then.

So for you to fully understand what my Happiness Project goal is for March, I think it's best I describe my typical workday morning for you:

1. Blackberry alarm goes off at 6:40 a.m.
2. I reflex like a ninja without even so much as a removal of my sleep mask to hit snooze until around 7:20 a.m.
3. Stumble out of bed to the bathroom, sleep mask on forehead.
4. Look at myself in mirror and think yikes, that's not good.  You're looking pretty haggard.
5. Tie hair up, wash face and brush teeth.
6. Scramble for an outfit, sometimes digging a cardigan or cami out from dirty laundry pile.  I'm being honest here. 
7. Hope I find my standard pair of black pumps by the front door.  If they aren't there, I'm in trouble because I don't have time to play black pump scavenger hunt. 
8. Throw hair into messy bun or add mousse to wear wavy.  Spritz perfume and throw on whatever jewlery I can find on my bathroom counter that matches.
9. Grab cell off bed, throw into my purse sitting by my front door, find keys and run out at 7:40 a.m.
10. Notice there was no time for make-up?  That's because I do that on my drive to work at red lights.  Not safe at all and I fully recognize that.  Hence, why my goal this month is a peaceful morning.

"Technically" I should get to work at about 7:45 so I have time to get a cup of our less than mediocre office coffee, fill up my water bottle, open Outlook and get situated.  Realistically, I'm usually sitting down at my desk at 8 a.m. or 8:05 a.m.  This has to stop.  The make-up in the car definitely has to stop.  I want to feel calm on my drive my to work and ready to start my day when I walk in.

This month my goal is to have a peaceful morning, and in order to achieve said goal, I'm going to implement the following changes:

1. Go to bed earlier.  I normally don't fall asleep until at least midnight because I'm too busy playing on Blogger or watching my DVRd Oprah episode.  I'm implementing a strict bed time of 10:30 p.m.  with TV and lap top off by 11 p.m.  Ugh, that's going to be so hard. 
2. Do not hit snooze more than twice.  This means feet on floor and sleep mask off by 7 a.m.
3. Pick out my outfit the night before.  I can't tell you how much time I waste in the mornings deciding what to wear and then finding outfit pieces. 
4. Out the door by 7:30 a.m.  I hate feeling so rushed on my drive to work. 

There you have it, my happiness project goal for the month of March.  If you recall for January I cleaned my closet and February I worked on my fitness.  I'm still going to continue with Fitness Fridays since I do need to keep myself accountable and this is the best way for me to do it. 

I'll keep you updated on my progress toward a peaceful morning throughout the month of March.  Wish me luck!  And if you have any morning routine tips that work for you, I welcome them.  I need all the help I can get.

Cabinet Organization

I messed these pictures up in my post earlier and wasn't able to fix it until now. All of the bins I used were from The 99 Cent Only store. I am so obsessed with that store that it isn't even funny. I probably catch myself going there once a week. They just have everything you can imagine and more.

Before:

After:

Yellow bin has all the Tupperware lids in it. Total cost, less than $5.

Coming soon: Fitness Friday

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We finally made it to Friday, hallelujah.  I was searching for an image for this post when I stumbled across the perfect one above.  It was picture destiny.  At about 1 p.m. I had to throw my hair up in a messy bun just like this and I didn't care that I was at work because it's Friday and I do what I want.

And since it's Friday and "I do what I want", I've made my decision for my goal for the month of February: Fitness. 

As a part of My Happiness Project, each month during 2011, I'll be choosing a goal to focus on and document in order to hold myself accountable and track my progress.  I started a little late in January, but my goal was to organize my closet and Tupperware cabinet.   I promise I haven't forgotten about that goal, I just haven't gotten around to taking pictures of the finished masterpiece (it's not a masterpiece), but my closets and cabinet are much better than they were before and accomplishing this goal actually does, in fact, make me happier.   I promise I'll take and post the pictures before February 1.

Anyway, I know "fitness" is just a word, but what focusing on fitness will mean for me is working out at least 3 times a week and consciously making healthy food choices.   Along with this comes drinking at least 8 glasses of water daily and taking a daily multivitamin.  You see, my pants are busting at the seam don't fit, so it's time to do something about it because I'm not getting any skinnier sitting on my couch watching The Bachelor and drinking wine.  Easter weekend I am in my dear friend Christina's wedding in Scottsdale, AZ, so my goal is to feel fit and fabulous by then.  I've got a little less than 3 months and I think I can do it.

In my "Fitness Friday" post I will write about my progress toward weight loss and since this is a bargain blog, I'll also post about cheap and healthy food options, affordable work-out clothes, tips for exercising on a budget, etc. If you have any inspirational fitness tips, I'd love to hear them in the comment section.

Happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend!

Overwhelmed

Oh my.  My plan was to come home from work, take everything out of my closet and organize it all.  In a perfect world I was going to go to bed with a clear mind and closet feeling accomplished.  Well, if you saw my room right now you would think the crew from Hoarders was about to bust in.

Basically I moved all the clutter from my closet and transferred it to my bedroom.  It's just so much I don't know what to do with it all, and there is no way I can finish this in one evening.  Plus, I really have my eye on this Mainstays 4-tiered shoe rack from Wal-Mart (only $17.84) since all my extra shoes that don't fit on my over-the-door hanger are overflowing out of a laundry basket. 

Exhibit A:

If you are wondering what the pink looking moon shoes are, they are vibrating slippers for your feet and they feel very weird.  I think Goodwill may be the lucky recipients of these.

I snapped a few pics on my phone to send my Mom and she seemed pretty horrified, but the pics don't really do the mess justice.  Take a look for yourself:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C: 

Some of my clothes going to Goodwill. See ya!

Exhibit D:

Needless to say, this isn't getting finished tonight and I would guess so since I'm laying here in my heated bed (yes, Santa brought me the heated mattress pad and it's as amazing as I imagined), watching Oprah and typing this post.   Hopefully by Monday I'll have the closet of my dreams (or at least one that doesn't incite anxiety).

Closet Organization Inspiration

As I mentioned last week, I'm reading The Happiness Project (still not entirely done with it, but I get the concept), which is as author Gretchen Rubin describes it: "an approach to changing your life." I don't necessarily want to "change my life", but it's a way to focus on what brings you joy and reminds you to nurture the things in life that make you the happiest.

Each month she focuses on a different set of resolutions: to get more sleep, clean her closets, quit complaining, sing in the morning to her daughters, start a blog, etc. What worked for her was committing to a resolution in writing and then she tracked her progress.

"Frequently reviewing your resolutions keeps them uppermost in your mind, and scoring yourself gives you visible feedback," says Rubin on her blog. "One suggestion: by framing a resolution as a concrete action ("Rent a movie once a week") instead of an abstract goal ("Have more fun") and by holding yourself accountable, you're more likely to make progress."

I have decided that this month I'm going to focus on cleaning my closets and drawers. I only have a few weeks left in January, so I better get moving.

My bedroom closet isn't what I'd call a complete disaster, but in the past year it's started to cause some anxiety for me. A little over a year ago, I moved and purged my closet. I took a HUGE box of clothes to Goodwill and felt so good after I cleared out my unnecessary "stuff".

Well, fast forward to a year later and I'm back to where I was. My drawers barely shut and my closet is packed the brim. I mean seriously, how many tank tops and camis does a girl need? If you saw my tank top/cami drawer, apparently I need 50 plus. I don't even wear half of them, so why do I have them cluttering up my space?

My mission for the rest of the month is to purge my closet, drawers, outdoor storage closet and last but not least, tackle my Tupperware cabinet. It's the one cabinet that I hate to open in my kitchen. Without fail, something will come flying at me when I open it. I need to finish what I started with when I organized on the cheap. For some reason I forgot about the dreaded Tupperware or my mind just subconsciously blocked it out.

Of course I'll be organizing on the cheap still. I'm going to utilize the 99 Cent Store storage baskets and bins and Ikea. I'll post some pictures of the befores and afters in the next few weeks.

For now, here are some inspiration pictures I've found to keep me motivated:

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Oh happy day

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I know I just talked about my new found happiness in a post yesterday, but there is no such thing as "too much" happiness in your life, right?

Well I'm only 80 pages into it, but I just started reading The Happiness Project and I'm really identifying with it.

New York Times bestselling author Gretchen Rubin writes about her 12 month long quest to become happier, which has inspired me to start my own happiness project. To find out more about this, just check out her blog. (I don't want to regurgitate details you can just read for yourself.)

This got me thinking that maybe I'll just have to share my own happiness project journey here, but I think I should just focus on finishing the book first, don't 'cha think? To be continued!