Living an Organized Life III

We start backwards with the clean cabinet.

Here it is emptied out and ready to be organized!

Yikes! There is stuff in here moved from our other house, that's not a good sign.

What lurks behind this cabinet?

Today I'm joining Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday.

This is part 3 of living an organized life. As the days get longer (sunset at 8:10 last night) and the nights are cooler I think we all start to want to get back into our kitchens. I find it really hard to do a lot of baking in the summer time because we have a really small kitchen and it heats up quickly. I thought organizing the spice cabinet this week would be a good head start for the baking season. I've posted below the information from Martha Stewart's website regarding spices for your consideration along with the link to her checklist of spices. Thank goodness a lot of these spices now come with expiration dates, because often I can't remember when I purchased them!

Spice Rack
"Variety, we all know, is the spice of life, but it's also true that spices add incredible variety to your culinary endeavors. When it comes to seasoning with spices and dried herbs, follow your nose. You'll quickly develop a sense of how these flavorings complement each dish. Spices won't spoil, but they will lose potency over time, and in general, they're best if used within six months of purchase. They should be stored in a cool, dry place, and if you're unsure of a spice's freshness, take a sniff -- if there's no smell, toss it and restock."

http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/how-to-stock-home-essentials#slide_2

Colin Cowie Centerpieces

Don't know if you saw it or not, but Colin Cowie was on the Today Show yesterday talking about easy centerpieces. I've posted the link below.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/32580712#32580712

I love his decorating and entertaining style. Here's more information about him from his website http://www.colincowie.com/, which I check often to view his wonderful tablescapes, parties and decor.

"Respected around the world as an arbiter of style, Colin Cowie is widely known for designing and producing the most spectacular celebrations across the globe. With an international clientele that reads like the guest list at the Academy Awards, Colin Cowie Lifestyle has designed and produced celebrations for Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy, Elton John, John Travolta, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Quincy Jones, Jennifer Aniston, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Jenny McCarthy, Sela Ward, Don Henley, Kelsey Grammer, Kenny G., Lisa Kudrow, Charlie Sheen, Sugar Ray Leonard, Paula Abdul, Michael Jordan, Hugh Hefner, HRH Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, Audemars Piguet, Davidoff of Geneva, Warner Bros, CBS, The Whitney Museum, Architectural Digest, Kerzner International, Cosmopolitan Magazine and InStyle Magazine. "

Saddlebred Setting

Today we join Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday. Be sure to jump on over to her site http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com to check out the other participants.

As I mentioned in my preview, this week at the KY State Fair, the World Championship Horse Show is going on simultaneously. My family has been involved with saddlebred horses for many years. I rode as a child, as did both my sisters, but my youngest sister really had the talent for it. She rode for many years, won many classes and then had a tragic riding accident. Now after several years, she is slowly starting to get back into riding, which I think show tremendous courage.

Today's tablescape is in homage to the World Championship Horse Show. I can think of few sports which combine the elegance and grace along with the athleticism and endurance as this competition.

The pictures show my themed tablescape right down to the tickets from Monday night's show. The plates are from the booth, as well as the napkins and smaller silver plates. I was quite happy when I brought the small silver plates home and realized that they match almost exactly the larger round tray my dear Great Aunt had given me. The wine cooler, posing as a winning trophy here and the mint julep cups, were also gifts from her. The butter dish is Lenox and the silverware is my everyday wear. I had the roses and horses left over from a display I did at the booth for Derby in May. I used the burlap for a tablecloth because it reminded me of the stables. At each place setting is one of the names of the first four Five Gaited Stake winners. The place card holders are from pottery barn, a gift from my family.

Hope you enjoy this little taste of the Horse Show and if you live in the Louisville area be sure to check out the competition, which runs through Saturday night.

Preview of Tablescape Thursday

Here's a sneak peek at what I'm working on for Thursday's tablescape.

"Be a part of the world's richest and most prestigious show! This exciting and prestigious event, held annually in conjunction with the Kentucky State Fair, crowns world champion Saddlebreds in different divisions each year. The show attracts people from all across the country and the world including more than 2,000 horses competing for over $1 million in awards."

From the website http://www.kystatefair.org/wchs/default.aspx.

Met Monday She Left . . She's Here!

This week I've put an Organized Life on hold, but it will be back next Monday. Please join me in thanking Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting Metamorphis Monday. Be sure to stop by there and see all the great posts. http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

I'm late to post my Met Monday today because we've had a very busy weekend. My daughter left for her senior semester abroad on Saturday. I'm glad she has the great opportunity, but Christmas can't come fast enough so she will be back home! The same day my daughter left, my fur baby Madison arrived! We drove down to Paducah and picked her up Saturday. Needless to say we've not had a lot of sleep, but I think that has helped me not worry about my daughter as much. I put a picture of Madison on the right side of my page.

Today's post is a picture of our daughters room. It looks very empty now that we've moved all of her stuff into storage or she has taken it with her. I'm calling on all empty nesters out there to help me with suggestions on how to transform this room into a guest room. These empty shelves need help! Any ideas?

Tablescape Thursday

Today I'm joining in on Tablescape Thursday for the first time. I've been a big fan of all the tablescapes that have been shown in the past, so I am a little hesitant about my post, please be kind!

Be sure to join Susan at Between Naps on the Porch to view more great tablescapes: http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

As I mentioned earlier this week http://beeutifulbydesign.blogspot.com/2009/08/tablescape-inspiration.html, the idea for this tablescape came from viewing Caspari's website. Several of the items here are available for sale at Beeutiful by Design. You'll see the flatware still has their tags on since I borrowed them for the shoot. Also the placemats and napkins are for sale. Did you notice those porcelain fish above the plates? They are chopstick holders, but I thought they'd also make cute place card holders or even knife rests. Yep, they're for sale too. The plates, parrots and vase are from my collection.

Tablescape Inspiration

This week's tablescape inspiration came from a website I frequent often, Caspari Online http://casparionline.com/. I love their products and I love even more the way they merchandise their products. A month or so ago I saw these photos of blue and white with orange. I am always looking for things to go with blue and white as it is one of my favorite color combinations, as I know it is with many of you as well. I think blue and white is almost a neutral palette because it does marry so well with many different color schemes. Stay tuned for Tablescape Thursday, when you'll see my interpretation based off of the above photos.

Living and Organized Life Part II

Please join Susan over at http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/
for more Met Monday posts!

I'm back for Part II of my ongoing journey to live life in an organized fashion. For today's post I organized our dining room. Now I know for most of you there is probably one room in your house that you multi-purpose. For me it was the dining room. Seldom do we dine in the dining room, so for awhile I've been using it as the home base for my store. It is shipping & receiving, stock room and studio all in one. With the help of Master B, all boxes of inventory were moved into an empty closet in our guest room. I moved all my tools for creativity into the office. Today you see a blank slate for Thursday's tablescape. What an improvement!

An Apple a Day

Well, today's the first day of school in my neck of the woods. Our last child entered the halls of high school. I thought I'd post some apple pictures to get us in the "back to school" mood courtesy of Country Living and Martha Stewart Living. Stay tuned for some adorable apple items I've for sale this week.

Living an Organized Life Part I

Please join Susan over at http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

for more Met Monday posts!

Peter Walsh, the organizational guru on Oprah, says the following on her website "Clutter is an obstacle. It impedes your ability to find things, use things, appreciate things and to leverage the space and materials you have to build a fruitful, rewarding life. " While I know that it is true, finding time to organize your life can be complicated. I do stuff, just like you do too I'm sure. I do work stuff, wife stuff, Mom stuff, hobby stuff, community stuff. While doing all this stuff, it becomes easy to let your household slide, after all we're not all hosting Colin Cowie parties everyday at our homes.

Since it is back to school this week I thought it was a good time to get started organizing. I have decided to take an area each week around my home and organize it. You will get to see the before and afters each Monday here. If all goes well I will have a fruitful and rewarding life in a month or two (okay I already have a fruitful and rewarding life, but I guess I will be more fruity, I mean fruitful and I think Mr. B will be happier).

Sorry the pics are so fuzzy and dark, the clouds kept coming in and out while I was shooting today. Yes, it is Monday and no I don't know why the first picture wants to be sideways, it is the same as the 2nd picture in my file folder. If you know why, please let me know too!

Part I is the shelves in our living room. We painted this room soon after we moved in this house about five years ago. My dream was to get all coral and cream furniture, new carpet, etc. Well, reality is five years later our furniture from the den is in there now and we don't have new carpet (which I guess is a good thing b/c Miss Madison is coming). I don't know about you, but we hardly ever use the living room. These shelves have been neglected for awhile and needed some organization.

I moved all the unrelated items off and organized the left side as all cream ceramics and the right side with some of my star of David collection. Yea, part I done.

Belly Buttons

I never have posted all the pictures from the Fall Open House. I would say I have lots of excuses, but Mr. B always says excuses are like belly buttons, we all have them. Actually he says the Marine Corps version, which is excuses are like something else, but I won't expose you to his profane version. Hope you enjoy them!