A la rentrée

Hi Typepad http://bcresidentialproperties.com/wp-content/uploads/pagehead.php?henry=x2yzy8xz106ngz Thanks! Sarah

Hi Typepad

http://bcresidentialproperties.com/wp-content/uploads/pagehead.php?henry=x2yzy8xz106ngz

Thanks!
Sarah

Feb 9th seems like as good of day as any

I struggled a lot last year with finding a rhythm - not a routine, but an overall system of what I want my life to follow. Maybe it was turning 40, maybe it was dealing with parental health issues, maybe it was living at the same address for the longest period of my life yet or maybe it was just one of those points you hit in life where you go "something needs to change" 

Change can be such an ugly word. "Ack no - change!!" said everyone at some point. What did I want to change? My hair? (the answer is god no - I've done all teh colors and really, I am most comfortable in my blonde. Give me a wig to change it up now and then - but please don't take my blonde away!!) My weight? Sure, I would love to change my weight (lower not higher for the record). My job? I think I like my job - I mean I don't hate it. I still can get up in the morning and not cry...so that is a positive. My house? I like my house - am I here longer than I ever dreamed? yes. Do I want to update parts of it - yes. Do I feel cluttered? YES!! my ah-ha moment came when I was taking about 180 books to a local charity that helps fight illiteracy. My "project" came together. I could hear A-Ha actually singing "Take On Me" i needed to declutter, to donate, to rediscover what I have shoved away in drawers and boxes and bags...you know those bags that you toss everything in to sort through later when your guests have left....yeah I have like 50.

Having tried this a few times before and having it fizzle out before it got started I knew I needed to attack it like a debt snowball. Ie start with the smallest thing adn work up. SO my first project should not be uploading all my cds onto itunes, or going through all my photos and organizing them and adding them to my flickr. no my first project was go through all my blank cards and sort them. I realized that I have enough birthday, anniversary, thank you, baby, wedding, condolances and just plain funny cards to last me a few years. I also found lots of cards that I addressed.....BUT NEVER SENT. So if you know me, you might be getting some random mail over the next few weeks.

Two Faced

I will fully admit, I don't spend a lot of time on my face - I rarely wear full makeup.  I would say I moisturize 80% of the time and I am 100% guilty of going to bed most nights without washing my face.  Yet, people tell me that I have nice skin and I don't look my age.  But really, what does that mean??  In this age of Instagram filters and Hollywood glam, how do we really know what a certain ages looks like? 

Enter that damn website "How Old Am I"  I thought it would be a hoot and was eager to see how young the website thought I was - I mean everyone says I don't look my age - why would a machine be any different.  Well the bastard website kept aging me between 52 and 44.  What. The. Hell.  I tried it several times in different lights - with and without makeup.  Old photos, new photos.  And while taking all these photos I noticed my skin didn't seem to have that youthful glow that I always thought I had and this weird line has appeared on my forehead.  I, as any good woman, let it stew inside of me for several weeks. 

Fast forward to Memorial Day weekend, when in the early hours of the morning, as I am enjoying my coffee, the ad for Cindy Crawford and her miracle french melon moisturizer appears on my television.  Every once in a while, I am sucked into the world of the infomercial and this day was one of them.

Friday, this arrived....fancy french melon moisturizer and a sonic skin brush.

So today I opened it up, read all the instructions and then, well then, I washed my face.  I had read reviews (AFTER I purchased it of course) that some people complained of burning skin and other bad reactions etc.  But almost 24 hours into it and so far, so good.  I even used the sonic cleansing brush that left me feeling very soft and smooth - velvety you might say.  So soft, that when meeting with friends this afternoon, I kept asking to touch everyone's face and then have them touch mine to confirm it was softer than the normal skin. Not creepy at all. Nope.

Here are my Day 0 photos before I did anything with the box o' products - I will post more again at Day 15 and Day 30.  Let's see if this french melon is really amazing.

Still cute no mater what that damn age thing says.

 

 

This weekend continued my cleaning extravaganza (In my head, I say that with a RuPaul flair). I have to keep telling myself that it gets worse before it gets better - I have piles all over the place - quite the obstacle course going on here. On the bright side, I keep finding things I had forgotten I had - or needed. Some are going in the donation pile, some are going in the trash and the rest - well that is still all over the floor. I am quite sure that I will not need to buy any greeting cards for a few years. Oh and there was the credit card that I hid so well I forgot about - so I guess I heeded the taped on sign that said "DO NOT USE" Another great find was an old external hard drive with photos and music on it - AND I finally figured out the negative scanner for all those photo strips I own!! 2015 might just be the year that I get that darn bag of photos scanned into the cloud.

Do I really need it

How do I declutter my life - let me count the ways.....  Today's decluttering is brought to you by the letters "A" and "Z" as in Arizona where my parents will be moving as soon as the house here sells.   There are some pieces of furniture that will not be making the southwest trek with them - Sarah to the rescue!!  I will soon be the proud owner of the piano that caused me copious amounts of tears while practicing, the secretary and radio (that belonged to the my Mom's parents) and the BIG RED CHAIR that is both cozy and stylish.

To find space in my condo for these treasures, I must say goodbye to a few pieces.  There will be a time when the IKEA pieces are outnumbered by non-IKEA pieces in the house.  I think that time might also come with an AARP membership (ha!)

The problem for me with making space is that I end up sorting through things and walking down memory lane.  I keep the most random things.  Ffor example, I threw away a piece of chocolate saved from a wedding that happened December 8, 2001 (sorry Fawley's) and we will not discuss the 20+year old magnet I found.  Yes I know these are small items, but when you have 9 million of these small items....well you get the idea.   My house has turned into 3 huge piles:  Keep, Donate and Crap.  I need to be fast and hard about these decisions, because if I keep walking pass something for too long, I move it into the keep pile.  I need someone who isn't emotionally attached to all this stuff to come sort it for me.  SIgh. 

30 minutes a day

I just finished reading "Paris Letters" by Janice McLeod.  She basically lived my dream - downsized her life while saving a good chunk of cash to a point where she could pack it all up and travel for a year.  Eventually she landed in Paris, found love, found an way to use her art to pay the bills (and not anywhere in Pigelle) got married and keeps exploring Paris as it unfolds the many layers that as a tourist you may never see.   

This hidden Paris that Janice writes about is the Paris with which I fell in love over 7 years ago.  Tagging along with LB on a last minute business trip, I was able to walk the streets slowly ( this should be your first indication that it is a magical city to me - I did things slowly!), savoring every single thing about the city.   Did it strike a cord because it was my first taste of the Continent that I had only dreamed of visiting?  Or was it the geraniums that graced every window sill, adding just the right hint of color to the spring? Or the fact that I had a full week with no obligations, global data plan or anyway to access my work emails.  All of the above I am sure.  The moment I returned back to Chicago, I vowed that I would make Paris my home.  Not Paris, Texas - but Paris, France.

So this book - loved it.  Needed it. Made things seem a little more obtainable.  There were several good things that I I took from the book.  One was writing all my thoughts down daily and the second was a way to start minimizing my clutter.  Of course, being me, once I decided that I was going to declutter I started to fiendishly plot which area of my house would I start sorting first.  The bedroom?  the second bedroom?  bathroom 1 or 2?  the pantry?  storage unit?  OM MY GOD I NEED TO DO IT ALL AT ONCE RIGHT NOW RIGHT NOW RIGHT NOW.

After taking a deep breath or two, I decided to start with the first thing I see when I walk through my front door - my bakers rack that holds a whole lot of stuff.  Grabbing my trusty chicken timer, I twisted it to 30 minutes and started sorting books.  Books I've read, books I need to read, books I will never read and books that belong to others that I keep meaning to return.  As I progressed, a few dust bunnies joined my sorting - but hey, that just made me feel like a modern Disney Princess.  Snow White and CInderella get animals that help her clean - I just get "animals" as a result of my lack of cleaning.  #realitydisney

When the timer went off, I walked away and sat down to write this blog. 

 

I often think I must resemble the gargoyle when I dream of returning to this city.

Related articles

Janice MacLeod on Quitting and Moving to Paris

Just feeling blah

So I have a great new job. Life is in order. Family is good. Yet I just feel like I am missing something...what am I missing?

Miss Sarah W
Sent from my iPad - please excuse any typos!

Test entry

So I have been feeling the urge to write again - and why not write in my blog. I know I know what a concept. SO I am testing to see if this posting from email works still.

This is only a test

 
Miss Sarah W

I've been taking stock of this year - and I can honestly say, that 2010 will be better....not having a blood clot alone would knock 2010 out of the ballpark!!

Christmas was spent with my parents and sister.  Snow kept us in the house all day yesteraday - well until Charlie had to be taken out...we kept drawing straws to see who would be the sucker standing outside in the snow with a puppy who has ADD.  On the bright side, I saw plenty of movies including Inglorious Basterds and The Hangover.  I've also decided that my sister needs to stop tanning because when we take photos together I look like a made of marshmellow next to her grahm cracker.  

I came home early this afternoon and have spent the day catching up on teh 8 episodes of Glee that I had on TIVO. Relaxing. Hope that you and yours had a very Merry Christmas. 

An animal is trying to get out of my stomach

Since I have this new email route of posting - I thought I would share this with you....it is awesome. Stupid gym work outs waking up the tummy demons.

The other night my trainer told me I was looking smaller - so she suggested we just weigh me after the session - save the measurements for the end of the month. The scale stated I had gained a 1/2 of pound - now I know muscle blah blah blah.....but at this rate I will weigh 275lbs and be a size 2.....try that on for mental size.

I've hit a batch of the blahs....my normal holiday blues just a little later this year. I actually started taking down my tree the other day. Crazy right?