I'm Not Hiding A Thing Behind Those Doors!

Happy weekend! :-)

 It's my last one before dental school starts again.  Okay ... time to change the subject.

Well, anyone who knows me knows I LOVE to organize.  When everything has its place, it calms my crazy mind.  ;-)

When we first moved last summer, my main goal was to get all our stuff out of boxes and semi-organized -- enough so that when I got around to really organizing, I was not undertaking a major project.

 

So, once I got out of school for the summer, I made it my mission to get control of a few spots around here.  Now, we do live in a rented apartment, so I can't do much to manipulate the space we have; I have to work with what we've got!  

Thankfully, we are lucky enough to have a linen closet next to the washer/dryer {which, praise the Lord, Hallelujah, we are also lucky to have}.  Anyway, for us, the linen closet also serves as a pantry and extra storage for kitchen appliances and bathroom/cleaning supplies.  I really just made some small changes to it for ease of use, since it seemed like every time we tried to reach for something, something else would fall to the floor.  It's all part of the beauty of living in a small space. ;-)

Here's the before ...

Everything was on its correct shelf {all kitchen appliances on first shelf, food on second shelf, bathroom/extra cleaning supplies on third shelf, etc.} just difficult to get to!  The solution??  Why fabric bins, of course!

The after ...

And, side-by-side ...

 

It's truly nothing fancy at all, but it sure does make me smile when I slide open the closet door!

After the linen closet, I conquered the chaos under the kitchen sink.  There really wasn't too much chaos going on; it just needed a little TLC.

The before ...

  I removed some items and added a couple shower caddies, plus a bin for the towels and ... voila!  Simple, simple.  Bathroom cleaning supplies are on the right; all-purpose cleaning supplies are on the left ...

 

And, for consistency's sake, side-by-side ...

 

Finally, {actually, I did this first}, I tamed the beast that was the medicine shelf!  Unfortunately, I do not have a before picture of this one.  When I labeled the plastic drawers, I made sure to include the expiration dates and dosage information!

See Tootsie's shelf right above it? :-)

Also, if you're so inclined to see how I organized our "bedroom office" last Fall, you can go here.

I don't know about you, but it's quite amazing what a little organization can do for me!  Perhaps I get a little too excited about this stuff?!  Hubby might think I'm slightly insane. And his feelings are probably legit. ;-)

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Tootsie also wanted to say "Hiya and happy weekend!"  And let you know how proud she is of her Potty Patch.  She is so cute!  We just love her to pieces!

 Bye now! :-)

Destination: D.C.

I've been avoiding my computer like the plague since I know that in less than a week, I'll be glued to it.  School starts back Monday. I have mixed feelings about this.

Anyway ...

As you probably know, everything is so compact here on the East Coast.  Lots and lots of stuff in very little space.  It's both a perk and an annoyance. This past weekend, we made it a perk.

We're three to four hours or less from a number of urban areas, including Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.  For this particular day trip, we chose D.C.

We left Saturday morning, but because of all the fist-pumping Jersey Shore, "I gots to get to the beach NOW" travelers, combined with buckets of rain, it took us 5 hours to get there {It should've only taken about 3.5 hours}.  {Side note: In that short amount of time, we drove through New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland ... see what I mean when I say COMPACT!} Anywho, we didn't arrive 'til 2 p.m.  

Oh, and despite the fact that The Weather Channel predicted sun, the weather was nasty.  We're talking hot, sticky and rainy.  But, we trotted along and made the best of it!

After taking in some of the outdoor sights of The National Mall ...

 We made our first stops at a couple of the Smithsonian Museums: The Museum of American History, followed by the Air and Space Museum.  The exhibits at the American History Museum were chalk full of interesting facts and artifacts, but perhaps my favorite was the fantastic new First Ladies exhibit that showcased all the inaugural gowns and accessories.  

I couldn't get over the amount of actual pieces {not replicas} at the Air and Space Museum.  We're talking the actual Spirit of St. Louis, the actual command modules from several of the Apollo flights, and one the neatest ...

the actual, original Wright Flyer.  It's difficult to believe the sophisticated airplanes we use now all started from this.

Walking outside around The National Mall and visiting the two museums took up a pretty big chunk of our time, so we only had time for one more stop.

Of course, we didn't want to leave without seeing The White House!

 Thankfully, our trip home was pretty traffic-free.  I mean, I guess "traffic-free" in terms of normal traffic in this area. ;-)

I'm kind of regretting the fact we didn't get a single picture together, but I know we'll be back.  We left plenty there to do!  I think next time, though, we'll try our best to avoid the fist-pumpers who love to put the "T" in GTL!  Haha!