Dishwashing Liquid Bottles

I love this idea from Martha Stewart!
http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/organizing-by-room?lnc=1a89cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&rsc=lpg_home&lpgStart=1¤tslide=3¤tChapter=1#ms-global-breadcrumbs

I love the idea of keeping an everyday item like dishwashing soap in a fun bottle. I have a hard enough time being motivated to do the dishes, if I had to go searching for the soap to clean them I would never make any progress.

I plan to keep my eye out for the right bottle.

Bookshelf

For the first time in my life, I will finally have a place for my books. Since I was little I knew I wanted to have a library one day. Given the cost of square footage in the bay area, I may have to settle for a wall. One of the things I love about living in the city is the architecture and the way there is room for built-ins.

My new apartment has room for a built-in but doesn’t have one. I plan to put an old baker’s rack instead and use that as my bookshelf.

Now comes the fun….organizing and decorating the bookshelf. I have been reading lots of blogs lately and the new trend seems to be organizing by color. While I don’t think this trend will work for me, it is visually beautiful. I have been going back and forth on mine. I can organize it by genre (cooking, children’s, fiction, law, etc.), by size, or alphabetically. I think I might do a combo of genre and alphabetically. I don’t want it to look over contrived.

Goodbye to coats hanging on the wall…

As we are slowly moving over to the new place, it hit me that our fabulous coat hanging system in our current apt won’t work in the new one.

We took a long wall with plenty of walking space and hung curtain hooks on the wall. We put our heavy winter/wool jackets there. It turned into a functional piece of wall art. We have a huge variety of coats, long, short, grey, patterned, colorful.

This idea came about because our closets are tiny (typical SF) and we have a ton of jackets. I was actually surprised how many I/we had when I started putting them on the wall. Living in cold weather means I need a variety of coats and I certainly can’t wear the same coat every day. From the perspective of my wardrobe, I don’t have nearly enough. However, given my limited closet space I have to choose new coats sparingly.

This was the perfect solution, plus you never had an excuse to not hang up your coat for the day. The new place has a wonderful entry closet that we can hang coats in. I will keep this idea in my back pocket for future city apts.

Pewter Shoes

I am on the hunt for Pewter material heels. I am in a wedding and this will match our outfits as well as the décor. However, this is not a common color and one that seems to rarely be done well.

I think the problem is I have started looking too late. As winter is ending and summer is around the corner, this color is even harder to find. I found this adorable pewter shoe by Steve Madden and it’s on sale, but my size is no where to be found. When I say no where I mean I have looked online, and called CA, NY, NJ, TX or DC. What I find most irritating is that all of these places computer says that they have my size shoe and when I call the store it seems their “inventory is wrong”. How many places can have inventory that is wrong?

I know this means it is time to move on, I don’t have enough good karma to luck out and find a cute shoe (I would wear again) and at great price. I will continue my hunt and secretly hope Steve Madden releases an updated version of the same shoe in time.

My shoe secret...

Summer Soles just came out with new designs for their insoles. I adore these things. They are my little secret for making heels so much more comfortable. You put them in and they stop your feet from moving around as much, preventing blisters.

Now they have cute designs in addition to a large variety of color options. Lets be honest, no one is really going to see the cute design, but it still makes me happy.

I don’t trek nearly as far in heals as I used to. Living in SF and walking the hills and around town eats heels. I try to save my heel wearing to nights out and in the office.

The Lounge a.k.a My New Couch

Today I am finally ordering our couch. I have been in love with it for over a year. It is the perfect couch because it extra wide so you can easily lie down. One would assume this is why Crate and Barrel calls it the Lounge.

When I watch TV I tend to lie down rather then sit. I am also known to spend a lazy Sunday napping/watch TV on the couch. This might be my absolute favorite way to spend a day. To further encourage this behavior we have decided to buy the storage ottoman. How can you pass up an ottoman that will hold blankets? We do live in SF after all and always need storage and blankets for those cold winter days.

I am going to get the Charcoal, which is considered a stock plus color. This means that I don’t pay extra for it but I have to wait longer. 8-10 weeks longer in fact. I see this as a small price to pay for a wonderful couch. Anyone who knows me knows I love greys and neutral colors. I plan to have this one for a while, so until then we will be sitting on misc. seating.

Moving Again….

I am moving again and today I get to pick up the keys to my new place. I am actually quite excited this time. I have a love/hate relationship with moving. I love getting organized and cleaning out stuff. I hate the stress of it, the physical labor and the cost. This time I am moving in with my boyfriend! We currently live with two other roomies, so this will be our first real place.

Living in SF creates some unique challenges that I have not experienced in my time in San Diego or in Simi Valley.

1. Significantly smaller (including closet space)
2. Dishwashers aren’t standard in all apartments
3. Narrow hallways and bay windows - while classic SF architecture, it does add some design challenges
4. Rent prices are significantly more expensive

This place however is wonderful. It encompasses the beauty of SF with some major improvements including: rent control, fireplace, 2 HUGE closets, dishwasher, laundry in the building, and a potential parking spot all in the adorable neighborhood of Laurel Heights. Another perk is it is closer for both my boyfriend and I so our commutes get shorter.

Now we need to order furniture (we own none of our own) and move. No small task before April 1st.

PS - Key chain by Tiffanys.com

Basketball

After living with 3 boys for a short time I have found a new appreciation for Basketball. I had no idea it was on nearly as often as it is. Nearly every night you can find something related to it: Professional, College, dunking competitions, March Madness, etc. Who new?

However I can tell you I am becoming a fan of the Warriors. I am not sure how much of it is by choice. Growing upI can honestly say that I don’t really mind Basketball compared to most sports, but I don’t think this will be my top TV choice any time soon.