wedding Wednesday: the dress after the big day

You've taken your vows, your photos are being edited, and you are back from your honeymoon. While you're putting away everything from the wedding, remembering how incredible of a day it was, an important question pops up:  What do you do with your dress? The dress?

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I've heard of ladies cutting theirs up to make Christening gowns for their children. My own mom had hers (complete with hat) boxed up and sealed, and then it sat in the attic in its box for 20+ years; meanwhile, my neighbor got to wear her mom's dress at her 7th birthday party as we danced around to "It's My Party", which I remember thinking was the coolest thing ever.

These ladies opted to keep their dress in view after the big day.

Rhiannon from Hey Gorgeous Events hung her dress in her home office as decor. She is an event planner, so it works perfectly.

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Adrienne Maloof of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (you know who she is) framed her ballgown and hung it outside of her closet.

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This bride had wedding guests write notes on pieces of fabric, which she planned to turn into a quilt, incorporating pieces of her wedding dress.

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What did you do with your dress after your wedding? Or what do you plan to do with it? I can't see myself boxing up such an important piece of clothing and putting it away for years.

organize your Monday: prioritization tool

I wanted to introduce some organization tips, starting with life organization. I like to think of my life as "organized chaos"- there is a lot going on, but somehow (for the most part), everything gets done.

This is a tool that has helped me in working full-time, going to school part-time, and living life the rest of the time. The importance/urgency matrix is helpful in prioritizing and learning helpful time-management skills. If you work in a corporate environment, this concept is not going to be new to you. But it's not only for the workplace- bringing it into your personal life can work wonders!

The upper left quadrant is for items of the highest importance and highest urgency. These are items that you must do today (or this week, or this month- whatever time frame you are looking at), such as "go to the grocery store to shop for tonight's dinner party" (because it's 3PM and you haven't done that yet). As you move to the right (upper right quadrant), these are items that are of high urgency but low importance. This might be responding to emails that are filling up your inbox.

The lower right quadrant contains items you should delegate to others because they are of the lowest importance and lowest urgency. They're those things you think you should do, but there is no time frame necessary- so often they don't get done. For me this is something like "clean the oven". And the quadrant on the lower left is items of high importance but low urgency. Often these are important tasks that somehow slip through the cracks and don't get done.

I start in the upper left quadrant, then prioritize between the upper right and lower left, and then delegate tasks on the lower right or cross them off the list altogether.

Hopefully, this will help you in creating a better sense of time management. And with this system, rather than thinking, "I have fifteen minutes, so I guess I'll go on Facebook," you'll be more likely to think, "I have fifteen minutes, so I'll tackle something important". Good luck!

weekend recap & organized cabinets

This weekend was much calmer than the rest of the summer has been, since we're done with weddings until November. T and I spent some much-needed relaxing time at home, and Sprout had a few play dates. I met up with some girlfriends to see Ted (which I liked more than I thought I would), and when I came home, T had completely organized all of the kitchen cabinets, even labeling the pantry shelves. The corner cabinet I took a photo of (below) has been a mess since we moved in - but T put my lazy susan in there, and it is so much better! 

I also discovered that T's Ray-Ban Wayfarers look somewhat good on me, so I spent some time kidnapping those!

Also, can we talk about the Closing Ceremony last night? Posh still has no personality, and I would love a modified version of Emma's pink dress.

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shoe storage

I'm constantly looking for storage and organization options, since I find that I always have more shoes than will fit in my closet. My favorite options are below!

1 - Obsessed with this Lilly Pullitzer Rousseau Ottoman - if only it wasn't $1,000

2 - Seventh Avenue oval ottoman is a "steal" version of the Lilly Pullitzer, at $140 instead of $1,000

3 - Shoe shelving via Lonny Mag - If only I had enough space in my house for a room like this! (Someday?)

4 - Glass door hutch, image from Lucky - gorgeous way to display your favorite pairs

5 - Shoe racks are a nice option for small-space living

6 - See-through shoe boxes let you see exactly what you have without letting your favorite pairs collect dust

7 - Crown molding as a shoe rack is an interesting option to add dimension and highlight your shoes as art!

3 things thursday: organization

For today's 3 things, I'm sharing 3 tips for switching out clothes for the seasons.

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1. Repair any items that need attention before putting them away. Replace buttons, have shoes resoled, wash and dry clean. When you pull out your seasonal wardrobe, it should be ready to wear.

2. I'm a bit of an organization freak, so I like to have everything labeled and put together. Thicker gloves and ski pants should be in the same bin, while fashionable mittens, thicker scarves, and sweaters should be together in another. Put buttons in labeled baggies and keep them with the articles they belong to.

3. As you are bringing out the new season's items, try everything on. Yes, everything. If it doesn't fit, you don't like it, or it's out of style, decide what to do with it. You can easily find somewhere to donate items (and a lot of places will pick up the items from your home), or bring them to a consignment store if they are in good shape and still in style. Knowing that my weight can fluctuate, I'll set aside items that I know I'll fit back into.

The more organized you are, the less clutter you will have, and the easier it will be to put outfits together everyday.