And she's off...

Ok, kids: it's official! I finally started cleaning my room this weekend. And not just your momma's typical surface clean, either. I'm talking about the nitty-gritty under the bed, in the drawers, closet shelves deep clean! And yet, it's not even near done!
The saying "it has to get worse before it gets better" has never been more true! I can't even sleep in my bed tonight it is so covered with odds and ends. But, like I said, it is a start.
I have tackled my closet, some drawers and under my bed, and have taken out one full box  for Good Will, one full box for Platos Closet, another big box of clothes to send to the lake and beach, and 4 bags of trash and recycling. I can honestly say, you can't even tell. HOW IN THE WORLD COULD THAT MUCH STUFF FIT INTO ONE ROOM!?!?!
Next step: cleaning my desk and top of my dresser... right after I organize my college stuff sill in the plastic tubs in the middle of my floor. Oh, and did I mention the 18 years worth of  Wizard of Oz collection, or the hundreds of cassettes and CDs consuming random drawers and counter space? Wait! Maybe I should start with the jewelery, expensive and costume alike spread across my dressers. No, no, how about the mounds of stuffed animals, or maybe the photos on every inch of my walls and desk.
Yes, I still have A LONG way to go. But, I can proudly say my efforts yesterday and today (about 7 hours worth) gave me the motivation to keep on trucking, and get the job done!
So... after starting with a positive, let's talk about a huge fail: I did not get a chance to work out today, but I did eat my exhaustion from cleaning in the WONDERFUL turkey burger and even yummy berry cobbler we baked tonight. Whew, when are things going to become easy and just start feeling more simple?

Warning! Failing!

Frustration mixed with laziness fill most of my days... I have yet to start cleaning my room, or really changing anything in my life! Instead, I have become a complete procrastinator! I am at the bottom of a mountain with no compass, with no map, and no shoes: Mission Hopeless.
So, again, I give my vow to start simplifying with a promise to clean.
Wow, this blog has become a complete bore! All I have talked about so far is wanting to change, and yet no action have been made. HAVE I BECOME ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE?? Tell me it's not so! It can't be true... I won't let it. And so, I clean!
With a weekend at home, no prior engagements, and no Matt (cough, cough) I will finally take the bull by the horns--for lack of better words to describe the semi-natural disaster that has taken place in my room--and tackle the beast!
I will allow myself to note the fact that I enjoyed a pleasant day at work, meandered through the farmers market and had lunch with my mom, leisurely strolled through Fresh Market (one of my all time favorites), went for both a brisk bike ride and run, and ended with a relaxing fish dinner with my family. Not all was a fail when it came to simplicity...the fresh produce is a great way to simplify consumtion (we can ignor the huge cookie I had with my pizza lunch, please). But, hey- it's a start!

simply...tired.

I can say with certainty that I am failing at finding simplicity in life. For starters, my schedule for the one week I have been home has been ridiculous, and I am currently more exhausted and out of sync than I felt at school! I guess I will excuse this past week with readjusting.
I have officially started work as a PR intern (a whole two days), however, and am hoping that I can get into a regular routine. Waking at 8 a.m., having breakfast and being at work by 9 a.m. is a great start. It is after I leave (between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.) that I have to try and keep things from getting too complicated.
Fitting in a nice run and balanced dinner are the two things I am going to try and achieve each night. I want to make sure I maintain a physical lifestyle that encourages the most energy and well-being. An earlier bed time than I am used to is preferable, and a decent quiet, prayer time is necessary.
I will give myself a few more days of possible craziness, however, seeing as my grandmother is coming in tomorrow and my family will all be adjusting to new schedules now that my brother's baseball is over.
Attempting to simplify my life is not, and will not be an easy task. It will require some sacrifices of extra activities, discipline in maintaining a schedule and serious time management of the things I want to put value in. But I think the outcome (hopefully a most restful and satisfying day) will be worth it.
As for my room... well more about that will be coming soon... da da da dummmm!!!

Cleaning the matchbox

That's right! So, I have slowly been tackling my current room by packing up and preparing to move home. While the 9' x 20' room I live in is large when empty, it shrinks quite quickly when you add three beds, three, dressers, three desks with chairs and three out-of-state college girls with all of their stuff! The remaining space in the center of the room (which is still rarely empty of shoes, clothes, purses, etc.) is about 12' x 5'. Divide this by three and that leaves about 3 ' x 1.6' for each of us. Enough room to stand. Sometimes.
Nonetheless, we have been able to fit quite an extraordinary amount into this space–probably too much!
Now, do not get too excited, my cleaning consisted of throwing half my clothes into a duffel, and leaving the other half on hangers and throwing them in my trunk (Mom, you did not just see that). My desk drawers got dumped into other containers for transport home, and my shoes are jumbled all together in an old cardboard box. Pretty sufficient if you ask me! That was the easy part... it will be the UNpacking that gives me trouble...
Ran across the old pictures from when we first moved it. We were so happy and excited to live together...so naive...

 

This is my room the day after we moved in, it has never been this clean again...

 

And this is the room today... (again, Mom you don't see this!)

What can we say? Life happened. And here, again, is another reason I am making an intentional effort to simply live simply!

dirty feet motivation

So, after waking up with socks on because my feet were so dirty last night I couldn't force myself to get in bed otherwise (and showering at 2 a.m. after an exhausting day and long night was not an option), I decided to begin phase one: THE GREAT CLEAN.
Let me explain that this phase is one of those things that "is only going to get worse before it gets better." This is due to the fact that today I packed up two very large, very full boxes stuffed with various clothes, books, shoes, clocks, ect. These boxes are moving from the shoebox size room I live in now to my already jam-packed bedroom at home.
How will all of this stuff from two rooms fit into one? Well... I don't know. But! We are going to find out soon!
This phase belongs to the living simply part of my mission. I want to simplify to physical baggage I have accumulated over the part 20 years of my existence. Mom, this means you're going to have to let go too :)
While packing, I made a small (too small) pile of clothes to sell to a second-hand shop! I will continue weeding out not only my clothes, but the 'stuff' I need to get rid of, as well. It will be an experience you do not want to miss–old memories, dust bunnies and drama sure to come!

my life now: anything but simple :)

So let me start out this first blog by sharing a few things about myself. I am a college student and have 60 roommates. All girls. They are all amazingly beautiful and talented... and competitive! This has won our sorority several first place titles in a wide range of areas: dance competitions, beauty contests, flag football games, volleyball tournaments, tennis matches, philanthropy events...should I go on? 

Our latest quest has been... drum roll please...an eating competition at a local pizza restaurant. They created a bracket and matched the various Greek organizations up against each other. Each week the group that has the most moves up the bracket. So, of course, five weeks later my sorority is in the top two. Our competition: our biggest rivals, the "pandas." 

Today was the last day, tonight: the showdown. Around 4:50p.m. a big group of us went for pizza appetizers and gelatto (before our 6 p.m. dinner of course). We finished dinner like champs, only to be surprised by our house mom that dessert was on her! So, we all walked down to the battlefield and had round two of gelattos! 

The rest of the night was fairly regular, a chill evening of having dozens of girls pop there head in the room to interrupt my every attempt of quietness. I was planning on calling it a quiet night. That was until 10:45 p.m. came around and the breaking news came: we were losing by 7 points and the "pandas" were ready to buy. 

Reminding you of our competitive nature, this information did not come lightly. We all changed out of our pajamas, grabbed the wallets and sped on over (parking and sneaking in the back entrance, of course)! 

The small restaurant was packed with giggling girls, all faking smiles and whispering as soon as you turned away. With only ten minutes left, we went into winning mode. With about 12 of us and 20 of them, we needed some serious strategy! So... obviously we started by multiple pizzas and four or five ice creams. Who cares that the prize was a pizza party and $500 to our philanthropy totally about $3,000 less than we had spent over the past weeks. We simply had to win. 

After locking the doors at 11 p.m. and serving the rest of people in line (we were going through for the third and fourth time at this point), they closed the register around 11:24, okay, not around... exactly at 11:24. The group of us were awkwardly waiting by the door, ready to make the quick escape just in case. Instead, when we were announced WINNERS it left all the "pandas" trapped between us and our prize! What a sight! All of us cheering and hugging, completely barricading the door... the scene was priceless.

The pride in winning felt great (in contrast to our stomachs which were bloated and in pain from too many pepperonis and gelattos).

The point of this drawn-out story is this: these moments in my life are priceless, and there is nothing in the world I would exchange for them. At the end of the day, however, I have had three dinners, spent $20, have to come back to a messy room, unfinished schoolwork and only six hours of sleep. I want to try and figure out how I can continue having and sharing these amazing experiences life offers, while learning how to simplify my life. When it is all said and done, winning this competition means what? That I got a funny story from belonging to UGA's most prideful and fattest sorority? I want to find ways to satisfy myself so that when it IS all said and done, I can be confident that I SIMPLY LIVED.