New gym, new me?

I finally broke down and joined the gym that I've secretly been wanting to join for, like, a year. I've always avoided it because I thought it was just too expensive, but I found out that as a county employee/member of law enforcement I'm entitled to a discount. That was exactly the motivation I needed to suck it up and take the plunge. I am *so* glad I did! This place is incredible. 160+ cardio machines. Hundreds of weights and weight machines. Pool. Hot tub. Sauna. Steam Room. Basketball court. Salon. Tanning. NICE locker rooms (locker rooms creep me out, but these are really, really well-kept). Personal training. Snack/juice bar. A shop for workout gear/supplements/etc. Seriously, this place has it all. I joined Saturday morning and I've already been three times - twice on Saturday! Hopefully this will jump start my goal of getting back in shape and getting ready for summer.

In other news, it's snowing. Again.

Hello Spring ... kind of

The sun is finally shining, the snow is finally melting, and temperatures are slowly starting to creep above the thirty-degree mark. Spring cannot get here fast enough. We got teased yesterday with near 60-degree temps and beautiful, clear skies ... but it was back to barely thirty and windy today. They're calling for warmer temps this weekend, so keep your fingers crossed!

It's been a really busy couple of weeks here. Last week was plagued by tragedy and concern, but I'm hoping for a better week this week, and it's already looking better so far. Late Friday, February 4th, a local police officer that I've worked with in the past was killed in a horrific crash in the line of duty. Because my job requires me to work so closely with police and because I have several close friends in the department the tragedy hit all too close to home. I've never seen anything like what I saw last week, from being present in court (because where the guy that hit him appeared is where I work) to attending the wake ... seeing so many uniformed, mourning police officers is unreal and completely indescribable. Take a look, and please keep the Officer's wife, three young children, friends and fellow police officers in your thoughts and prayers as they begin to deal witht he aftermath of such an unnecessary tragedy.

A couple of nights later I got an e-mail explaining that doctors have found a mass, either a cyst or a tumor, in my cousin's brain. She went to Dallas today for further testing and I'm anxiously awaiting an update. Please also keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

In happier news, my kitchen reorganization project is well underway! I'm at a bit of a standstill because of budget issues, but I've certainly made progress. I'll post pictures once I have a chance to finish the project. It's much more exciting all at once than piecemeal.

I haven't been getting much exercise lately because I've found that my knee is bothering me even when I'm not being active. I'm doing a lot of stretches and other exercises in an attempt to resolve the issue, but I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere. I guess this means it's time for me to go back to the doctor to make sure it's safe to run/exercise again. I'm getting pretty restless around here!

Apartment Organization: Step 1 - Kitchen!

I mentioned a few posts back that part of the stress in my life comes from feeling unorganized and overwhelmed, and a quick look around my apartment confirms that I am, in fact, very unorganized. It's a shame, too, because until I moved into this apartment I always considered myself, well... organized.

I've done a lot of dreaming about what I want this place to look like, but for the longest time I've felt like I just didn't know where to start. Then, about a week ago I discovered iHeart Organizing. Take a peek. Seriously. It will amaze you. I've never seen someone's home so well put together. Every room, too! Obviously I don't have the space (or resources) to make my small one-bedroom apartment look like that, but it's a great place to get some wonderful, easy ideas to organize and declutter your space. I've scrolled through months of posts, looking at before and after photos, clicking on links to products and other blogs, and just gathering ideas for my great re-organization. Seeing such beautifully designed and organized spaces gave me just the motivation to finally start what seems like will be a never-ending project.

But I did. I started! I chose to begin with my kitchen, and more specifically, the storage space in my kitchen. Thankfully this area of my tiny little place offers a lot of storage because I've accumulated a lot of, well, crap over the years. I'm actually grateful for the opportunity I've now given myself to go through some of this stuff and weed out the things I haven't used since mylast apartment, and hopefully update a few of the things I use more often.
I decided to start with the drawer that I affectionately call the "junk drawer" so that I could gauge how long this project would take. Boy, was I surprised! So surprised, in fact, that I only made it through ONE drawer tonight - and it's small - but hey, it's a start!

This is what I started with:

It's a huge mess, I know! So I took everything out ...

Wiped it down with one of these ...

And lined it with a little of this.

Let me tell you ... that part was not easy! Sure, the measuring and cutting part were pretty simple. But actually placing the liner in the drawer was not. Trust me, it isn't perfect ... but that's why I chose to start with this drawer in the first place! I'm a little annoyed that there are a couple of small bubbles in the paper, but you'll see in a few minutes that it really doesn't matter anyway. (p.s., in case you're wondering, the liner is removable, so if/when I ever save enough money to buy my own house and move out, my landlord will be happy that I didn't leave a permanent gift in her kitchen drawers!)

This is what it looked like when I finished the lining ...

When I emptied out the drawer I tossed everything into this bucket and took out all of the organizers that I had in the drawer to begin with (and that clearly were not serving a purpose!).

I put them all back in, snapped them together, and viola!

Going through the bucket took the longest, and in the end I tossed about 60% of the junk that had previously lived in my "junk drawer".

This is what I was left with ...

It sounds a little silly, but I'm so impressed with myself! Sadly, this little project (ahem, portion of a project) took at least 45 minutes, but now that I've figured out my plan I think it will all go more smoothly for the rest of my drawers.

Stay tuned ... there's a lot more to come!