White Christmas

Working in the Macy's linens department, I fold towels. Hundreds. Thousands. I'd be curious to know how many I've folded in the two years I've worked there. I was folding away today when I glanced over at the "home" entrance doors only to see something unexpected. I knew snow was in the forecast but nevertheless I was taken aback to see it falling. Watching the teeny, tiny snowballs drift softly to the ground brought a smile to my face. I couldn't help it - I've always lived in a place that gets snow. And although today's snow won't stick and there's sure to be warmer weather before the onslaught of winter I thought of New Zealand. Not only are the seasons reversed from what we experience here in the United States (when we arrive from our winter it will be their summer......I know, sweet) but it is very rare for Wellington to see snow. I've heard that it happens from time to time and in those instances it's front page news. No matter how much I contemplate this change I am unable to imagine living somewhere that doesn't get snow and where Christmas is celebrated in the middle of summer. Wrap your head around that one. :)

Plunging into chaos....

We were feeling optimistic after slaying the front closet and decided to go wild by tackling a myriad of other sorting projects. I braced myself for what I figured would be the biggest challenge of this move: my shoes. Now if you thought handbags and scarves were abundant in my closets then maybe we shouldn't even talk about shoes. I didn't bother to count them because I knew the number could only be described as silly. To my great surprise I was able to sort with a cool head. In the end I donated about half. Ok, somebody check and make sure that I'm still me. This is Bridget. Shoe Girl. Always looking for another pair of shoes even if they're black and I already have a similar pair in the closet. Yeah, that was strange.

Next I moved on to clothes. Since you know my affinity for shoes, handbags and scarves you would think that clothes would be the ultimate sorting disaster. However, this was not the case. When I was finishing undergrad at the U of M, Minneapolis, I lived with mom. Just us girls. During that time we got into the habit of periodically sorting through our clothes and donating what we weren't using. Thank you mom for instilling this habit in me. Going through my clothes yesterday was infinitely easier than it might have been. :)

Tim went through all of his clothes as well and I'm proud to say that between the two of us we were able to donate half of each of our wardrobes. Looking at the half empty closet I felt encouraged. I think there's something to going through what you have - a kind of "refresh" if you will. Loving the feeling.

The piles downstairs in the living room have taken on a "refugee fleeing my homeland" kind of look and I keep reminding myself that this will be the state of things until we leave Bozeman. It's about eight weeks now. Ca-razy!

The Front Closet

So if you're reading this you know that Tim and I are in the process of packing up the house and preparing to move to Wellington, New Zealand. Indeed, we are. We've been talking about plans regarding this move for months now but have just started delving into the piles of stuff we've accumulated over the years. Now I'm not saying that we have more stuff than other people - I'm just realizing we have more stuff than I expected. Hmmm. Not sure what that means for this moving process.

As a jumping off point, I took my mom's advice and started with something small so I wouldn't get overwhelmed, I could finish it quickly and feel good about it. Enter: The Front Closet. You would think that a closet wouldn't hold that much stuff, well, just so know, it can. Yup. I went for it and started trying on coats and jackets only to find several that I forgot I had. To be perfectly honest I felt silly about this. I mean, how can you forget what you have? It. Happens. I cut the herd down by two and eyed the rest still hanging in the closet suspiciously. I was thinking, "Ok, little coats, I'll only have two bags for everything I want to bring to New Zealand". This could be difficult.

At this point I was feeling good until I moved on to handbags. I'm an admitted handbag fiend and have the evidence to back it up. Guess how many handbags were in the front closet? Guess. Just guess. Grand total: 34. Again a little embarrassing especially when I know this number is down from previous handbag totals in my life. Sigh. In the end I decided to donate most of them, as they're super cute, and kept a handful to take with or store for later. But wait, it gets better. Next I moved on to scarves. Over the last couple years I've become obsessed and wear them with every outfit when the weather deems it necesary. For a girl who is always cold that's most of the year. After digging my way through the mountain of scarves there were very few I could part with and so they must come with us! They pack small, right?

Next came mittens, gloves, hats, umbrellas, bowling shoes, bowling balls (3), several pairs of regular shoes and the vacuum. With sorting done I surveyed the living room now littered with piles to give away, to keep, to throw away and even a pile for things that don't fit in any of the other piles. Ah, moving. I. Hate. Moving. However, I'm excited for this move because it's going to be so incredibly different than any of the others. So with the front closet out of the way I shudder to think of what lies ahead. Well, it's the rest of the house. :0)

Here's to my first blog post. Not even sure I have everything set up correctly. And yes, I've been playing around with this instead of sorting and packing. Fun times.