Drawerganization

This weekend was a big one in terms of productivity and home organization. If this isn't your bag, you may want to stop reading now. If you're like me, though, you might be excited to live vicariously through a weekend of drawerganization.

My gal pal Dina came over, having offered to help me organize the craft cabinet. It was in dire need of help, which has become clear to me when planning recent Crafternoons and realizing I can't find thing I know exist. Now that it's time to start planning Holiday Crafternoon (and pull my knitting needles out again), I figured I should take some time to get the lay of the land, supplies-wise.

Before: It was a mess in there
Not pictured: middle drawer, since it's just yarn

After: Two drawers, organized easy peasy!

Special Thanks to the IKEA drawer inserts, without whom this would not have been possible. But bigger thanks to Dina (and Reed, and baby Parker) for their moral support as I got rid of things I've had for 15+ years. Like the plastic office supplies cart (like this, but black) and scrapbook supplies drawers I've had at least since college, possibly longer. There's now room for almost everything from both (which used to live in the guest room) in the craft cabinet, because I also got rid of a grocery bag full of school supplies (spiral notebooks and folders that I clearly do not need). I put the two plastic organizers and the school supplies out on the street, and they were gone within 15 minutes. Magic. I also threw out two grocery bags of trash, and bagged up boxes of old checks to take to the bank for free shredding. A little more progress made on Mission: Get Things Out Of The Guest Room!

Oh, and I also put together my new laundry sorter, finally replacing the one I've had since 2006 (one of those flimsy mesh-and-plastic ones where the poles always detach from the corners). The new one is super sturdy, and I love how I can just pull the bags out to carry them downstairs. The fact that the bag is compact, with handles on top, makes it super easy to carry them down our narrow, winding staircase (when I carry the plastic hamper, I have to hold it over my head to see where I'm going). It has a smaller footprint than the mesh one, but the bags hold the same amount of clothing. So far, I'm in love.

oooh fancy!

See also: I am obsessed with the Target Threshold line. The end.

This Is Halloween

It's not too late to share Halloween pictures, is it? Good.

After the Nightmare in Elmwood, I was determined to have an awesome Halloween. And it was just the kind of low-key fun time I was hoping for. We had an awesome work party, with pumpkin carving, witches' brew, a costume contest, and lots of rad decorations...all dreamed up by my kick ass People Ops team. They really are the best. And bonus: I got to carve an extra pumpkin, which I took home to replace our stolen babies.

After work, our lovely friends Sonja and Jack came over and we headed down to the neighborhood block party. Now, this neighborhood goes pretty nuts...the street shuts down for several blocks, people do crazy displays and interactive walkthroughs in their yards, and it's estimated that we handed out 2,000 pieces of candy over the course of about 3 hours (the cops shut it all down around 9pm). The block party is family-friendly, and there was a wide range of costumed folks out there, from the babies that were almost too cute to look at to the teenagers we forced to explain their "costumes" in order to receive candy.

After the festivities, we headed back to our place for candy and youtube videos (Chromecast, thank you for working!) and seasonal beers. A fine mix while catching those last groups of trick-or-treaters. I tell ya, after reading this, I have a new place in my heart for the half-costumed teenagers. And what the heck, why not give out the last of the candy at 11pm?

Anyway, here are my photos from Disqusoween (work party) and Halloweevening (after work). I hope your Halloweens were fun and spooky and candy-filled and just as awesome as you wanted them to be.