Organization FTW!

Hello!

Tomorrow's my birthday! I went out for lunch with the in laws yesterday at Himachi Steakhouse. It was an excellent food experience. I had the Udon Chicken stir fry (which I tried eating with chopsticks, but my abysmal skills made me switch to a fork halfway through), my mother-in-law had a Bento box (much bigger and more beautiful than those supermarket ones), and my husband and his father had the Teriyaki steaks. We all enjoyed our meal and were too full for dessert! The weather was gorgeous at the waterfront. We saw the most beautiful wild roses still in bloom in front of the restaurant- winter is going to hit us like a tonne of bricks this year, I think! This evening my parents will be taking us out to Darrell's Restaurant for some completely different food- burgers and fries and milkshakes. I can't decide if I'll go with my usual strawberry milkshake or try their Creamsicle or Chocolate Peanut Butter one! It's gonna be a tough decision!

A little while ago I decided to organize my jewelry and makeup. I could never find anything, and as a result I wasn't wearing my great jewelry pieces. So I went to Dollarama and Claire's and picked up a few organizers and away I went!

Before:

 I had organized things into these little plastic boxes, an Easter mug, a silver container, clear bags, but it was all getting jumbled up and just NOT working. A bad scene all around.

My makeup was half in the metal case and half in a Body Shoppe bag (the purple blob on top) my friend had brought me back from England. And it was just generally a mess. The mirror behind it is a full length one that had been sitting on this little table since we moved in.

After:

Now it's organized! I went into Claire's because I knew they had jewelry organizers, but I really didn't want to pay $20 a piece. So as I was leaving I saw a display with some of the organizers for $3-4! The two black metal organizers are from Claire's, and the white frame is my own creation.I kept a few of the plastic boxes I originally had, but only the blue ones. The pink and purple are in the linen closet! The light blue boxes with the large white tube sticking out holds all my lotions, body sprays and perfumes (the big one is Vanilla Cupcake by bodycology- my absolute favorite and running scarily low). The blue box next to it holds all my big hairclips. In front of that are my teeny tiny ouchless elastics and my sponge rollers. The three small navy boxes hold my little clips and elastics.

 I bought a cheap plastic picture frame from Dollarama and some self adhesive hooks. I popped out the glass and covered the piece of paper from the frame with old advertisements I had collected. They're from a 1939 newspaper from Toronto and include a bathing suit sale and a fur preservationist.Then I stuck on the hooks and voila! Necklace hanger!

The mirror is now safely screwed to the wall, and I've moved my jewelry out of the little flowered box and put my everyday makeup in it. The top left drawer holds my stuff for holding my hair back while I apply makeup, the right top one holds my foundation, primer, concealer and powder, the middle left holds my blush and highlighter, the middle right holds my mascaras and eyeliners, the bottom left holds my lip liners, lipsticks and lip glosses, and the bottom right has my eyeshadows. There is still a lot of makeup stowed in my linen closet, but these are the "essentials". The skull chest is my husband's- I bought it for him about 5 or 6 years ago a South of the Border, a store I loved and sadly miss since it closed down. And of course my little spray bottle of water for my hair and my very dirty magnified makeup mirror are also on the table.

I have all of my necklaces on these organizers, and most of my bracelets and earrings. My rings and brooches are in the jewelry box in the corner, and the rest of my bracelets are in front of that. The clear plastic box with the squares on it holds all of my hair tools- brushes, combs, sprays, etc.

It feels so good to be able to see everything now! It makes planning an outfit easier when you can see all your accessories in plain sight!

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for stopping by!