Christmas

Whew, the holidays can wreak havoc on a person trying to live with fewer things. But luckily, I also had a chance to get rid of random things in my room to make room for things I got as presents. First, I have obviously failed at my initial plan, and while I have not gotten rid of one thing every day, I still have the motivation to live with less and less. Getting back to Chicago with twice as much stuff as I left with did not encourage me in my goal to continue to get rid of things, luckily a lot of that was candy and other edible things so it won't be staying around long. I did go through all of my old school things and get rid of notes I will no longer need, and organized my shelves to that everything fit neatly (it probably won't stay that way). Friday I plan to go through my closet again, with new clothes from Christmas who needs years old clothes from previous Christmases. I have begun to realize that I buy very little of my clothing items, and I don't mind that so much, my style is easily recognizable in a store and the quality that others by for me is higher than the quality that I would buy for myself. However, I still have a lot of extra items that I will not be needing with new shirts and dresses from Christmas!

I have been looking into moving into an apartment by myself next year though. I love to come home to just my pets and not have to think about washing the dishes before my roommate gets annoyed, even if I'm usually the person who would get annoyed with dirty dishes first, the freedom of not having to wash dishes before bed is totally worth it. If I do end up living by myself next school year I hope to be able to live in a nearly empty apartment, it is so much easier getting rid of things when you move into a new place than once you are settled, and living by myself I can live like that.

Enough for now about randomness, but I am still hoping to reduce my items a considerable amount by next school year, so the anniversary of this blog. Even if it is not the equivalent of one item a day, I think I will still have learned something about the materialistic ways I can live while still wanting to be a minimalist. So hears another crack at reducing my things, hopefully next time I write I will have good things to report!

Reminder

So, I was reminded in the last few days about this blog, and I decided I should update everyone on my life a bit. In the getting rid of department, I threw out a bunch of garbage paper I've been holding onto, I always seem to keep old mail that I don't need, and I broke my water bottle :( so I threw it away too. I only broke the top, because that was the plastic part, but the bottle is only useful as a cup anyway. I did however acquire a few things, a belt, and a rain jacket. Minimalism is slowly slipping out of my grasp, but I think if I lived in a temperate climate I would be able to get by without most of my jackets, coats, and sweaters.

I have been running though, and while I don't know if I will actually run a half marathon one day, I am training with a girl who plans to, so I might be able to. I also recently got a job for a research company related to transportation. They own a car sharing company (which I am already a member) and are big in promoting transit. I'll be helping to map transit access around the country. But the most exciting part is that in the interview they actually asked me what my opinions on sustainability are, and they wanted to make sure that I felt strongly enough to fit in with them about general sustainability. While I am not a super hippy kind of person, I think that generally I am a "sustainable" type of person, I like to turn off my lights when I'm not using them, and I try to unplug my chargers when I don't need to charge things. But generally I think that not overusing things is important for everyone. Just being asked that made me want to think more about sustainability, it mad me realize that I like to try to help save the earth (even if I am sure I destroy it with my lifestyle also.

Since moving to Chicago, I have become more of an advocate of public transit, partially because I realize that I actually love people, even the weird ones (maybe especially the weird ones). Yesterday I rode on the bus and was told someone's life story in the process of waiting for the bus to come. The way people live their lives and need to talk to random people at bus stops amazes me. I can't imagine that anyone could be lonely in a city when there are so many people to meet. I also know though, that without any friends to talk to on a regular basis I would probably be lonely as well.

Rick is still thinking of moving to New York. Cities and sustainable living can go hand in hand, and I think New York, being giant and dense and amazing may be the perfect place to go after I graduate. What better place to start work on transportation planning than New York, with a fairly well established public transit system and still a lot of traffic congestion. I am glad I am doing transportation, now to find a way to get rid of more stuff so if I end up moving to New York I'll be able to fit into an even smaller apartment.

Check in

So today I avoided going out to eat with a friend, not because I don't like her, but because I don't want to spend so much money. However, I am still of the mind that I want to just allow myself to spend money on cooking when I want, I need to hold back from random luxuries for a while. I just bought my ticket to Brazil. In December I will leave the USA for the first time and enter a country I have always wanted to go explore. I do plan to travel around while I am there, so I am trying to decide how I will pack in the minimum to still be able to have fun. It will be an interesting test of minimalism for me because I will have to balance socially acceptable means of travel with personal needs. If it were just me, I would probably pack only a few shirts, and a few bottoms, and a bathing suit, along with necessary undergarments and toiletries. While that would probably pass over fine with my travel mates, I may also need to pack "going out gear" and other random essentials. Hopefully I can keep my packing down to one backpack so that when we traverse the random parts of the country I won't need to carry too much.

On another note, I have successfully gotten rid of a few clothing items, and the small brown suitcase that I had. I love suitcases, but I know that I don't need small hard cased ones for general purposes. However, I did acquire a bicycle, a bicycle helmet, lights, a lock, and a pump.... sigh... a few more things to add to the list of things I own. I am beginning to wonder what is acceptable to re-gift as well. For Christmas I have some valuable things that I don't need anymore, but were given to me as gifts. I don't want to donate them to a random charity, but I also don't want to keep them around building up dust when I cannot use them. So I will begin to ask the gift donors if it is acceptable.

Also, Chicago is getting cold, and I am actually not minding the weather at all, I have a sweater and a jacket and a coat and that should get me through the winter along with two hats, some gloves, and a scarf. As the days get colder though, I will have to decide to do laundry more often to maintain normal hygiene with my limited underclothes.

Minimalism

First, I'm going to say I haven't written in a while. It's been a busy week, and I've been rethinking my priorities with this blog. I do think getting rid of things I no longer use, or that are not important to use is important, but I am starting to realize that using the things I have, even if I could buy one thing to replace three, is more minimalistic in a sense, than getting rid of those three things to buy another. So while I will continue to get rid of things, and post them up here when I do, I will try to think more about how I can use what I have to do things that I would usually want another item for. For one quick example, I did go buy these, but today I wanted to make cupcakes, but there is no muffin pan in the house, so I had to go buy one. First I shopped around and checked out prices, but eventually I realized that muffin pans are really one of those items that you can only use for one thing, but ramekins are like little bowls that can be used for ice cream, pinch bowls, who knows what else, and baking cupcakes! They are a little larger than traditional cupcake pans, and in the future I will fill them less and maybe put in two loads of ramekin cupcakes, but today I made (the most amazing) cupcakes ever in ramekins, that I can now use as any number of things, and they are a lot easier to store as they stack into the cabinets very nicely. Also, 8 only cost me $6, and they are pretty!

I did however go through a few days trying to widdle my things down to 100 things to follow in this guys footsteps so to speak: http://www.guynameddave.com/100-thing-challenge.html.

I thought about it, and as it is I only have about 12 shirts, and I only wash clothes every two weeks, while his schedule seems to be every one week, I started counting my things, and with my furniture, clothes, bathroom stuff, etc, I only have about 210 items (I'm not sure of the exact number any more) and I could reasonably get rid of about 30 or 40 items and not affect my way of life, so I will get rid of some of these items, others I will keep for sentimental reasons, and I

will continue to try to reduce my item count over time. So today, I get rid of a large number of things, not only because I haven't written in over a week (I'm not such a good blogger) but because I think getting rid of things while I am in the mood for it is easier than holding onto things that I want to get rid of just so I can wait until the next day to blog about it. That is another thing I have had problems with with this blog, I want to get rid of a large pile of things at a time, so maybe I will write about piles of things more rarely, but I will be downsizing my life, but not forcing myself into anything. But on the thought of 100 items a day, I will still try to not get anything that I do not need, and I may include my unusual uses for things I already own in my blog, when I attempt to make-do with an unconventional items to get a job done.

Also, make cupcakes, they make everyone feel better!

Buttons (pictures will be added this evening)

With getting my life back on track I am also getting rid of useless things that are just funny. I went to an art show with Rick a long time ago and they had buttons (pin buttons not buttoning buttons) that say "Take Off Your Pants" so of course we ended up keeping a few of them. I still have one, even after all this time of purging I have somehow held onto this. So here it goes, out with everything else I have gotten rid of. And I find another button hiding underneath it. This one from the county fair. Sydney and I used to work the fair every year, taking entries, setting them on display, helping guard them during the weekend, and, of course, taking the displays down and getting the entries back to the people who brought them to the fair. Each year we met new and interesting people from the county. One year it would be the crazy lady who entered her flower display in the wrong category, didn't win anything, and demanded to know why, another year it was the kids who cried when we took their craft projects because it was their favorite one. But one person who stood out the most, was a lady who walked in with a brown paper bag full of buttons. Each button from a different event, and each with its own saying on it to inspire others. Setting up a display for this collection was one of the most difficult displays we had to work with, but one of the most fun. We laughed at the different sayings, chose which ones were the most entertaining and moved them toward the front, and put those pins everwhere we could find to place them on the board. When it was time to give the buttons back, the collector allowed us to choose our favorites to keep. I chose one about being excited (as you can see). The pure joy in just having a small part of a lifelong collection of fun sayings and happy feelings allowed Sydney and I to feel more like participants in the fair entry than when we were simply the workers in the background.

The people who enter collections and projects into the county fair have always interested me. As a child I would enter crafts and had no concept that these items were examined by groups of workers, and exclaimed over when they were good. As an adult, I saw the rapid decline in the number of entries, and the pure need for the community to participate in the fair. I still have yet to enter anything into a county fair since high school (and even then it was only one entry of jam that did not win), but I always think how much fun it would be to go see my collection, or my artwork displayed for all to see. The photographs are the most interesting part to me. Some people choose to take typical pictures, but many in my local community take artistic pictures of places we see every day. These are the ones that allow me to see a new beauty in my surroundings, and give me the opportunity to appreciate what is already there. While I'm minimizing my life, I will maximize my view of the world in this way (at least I hope).

New Inspiration!

So, I have been slowly running out of motivation to get rid of things. I've decided that first, I haven't watched an episode of Hoarders in a while (but I talked about it recently and that inspired me some) and second, I began to feel more connection with the things I do have because I moved away from my friends and family and everything that I owned when around them became sentimental. Luckily, Rick found a website called use it or lose it and they have a program where you can upload pictures of everything you own, or whatever you feel like uploading, but it is out there to encourage you to look into everything you have. I plan to eventually upload pictures of everything I own (except personal things like underwear and stuff... that would just be a little.... strange) and that way I can pick from there what I will get rid of, as well as see what I have. I may watch an episode of Hoarders this weekend to get re-inspired again. But on that website they have links to similar stories of getting rid of things, or feeling the need to rid yourself of stuff, one of which I feel that I particularly agree with http://paulgraham.com/stuff.html. While I don't agree that books are necessarily something you need to accumulate, because how often do you really read a book you have, and I have a kindle, so it is spaceless accumulation for me, I do agree about everything else. Most people need things in their lives, I don't feel that I do, nor do I want to feel that way. So I will begin again, with a new feeling of hope that I will continue to get rid of things every day, and maybe more than one thing a day as time goes on. However.. I do need to update my wardrobe a little as well, like a sweater that isn't so brightly colored it will clash with everything I wear, who would have thought I need one of those?!

So today I will get rid of an anklet that Rose gave me for Christmas. It is from France, and is probably from H and M because I'm pretty sure this was the year she discovered H and M (but I plan to one up her and get my sweater from there, just not the France version of the store). It may in fact be from somewhere else, but the point is I wear this anklet about once every two years (which means I've worn it twice the whole time I've owned it) and obviously I don't need it. So thrift store bound this anklet will be. Hopefully the joy of getting new jewelry cheap will provide someone with some happiness, but also hopefully someone will want to wear it all the time.

Working

It seems like I always have a few more hours to put in for my work-from-home job, or a few more pages to read for a class. I never realized how busy my life could be when I haven't worked out a schedule yet. This week I wrote up a schedule on google calendar that hopefully will help me stay with it and get everything done before Sunday every week. I think I deserve at least one day off from work and hassle, besides, it's nice to have a relaxing day. I also found a free yoga class on Sunday afternoons that I am going to try out, I haven't done yoga in a while though, so it will be an interesting thing to see how I do in my first few classes back, but I was beginning to miss it. I am also really getting stiff from running and I think one class a week of yoga will help me stretch out some.

I decided to start cooking some of the recipes on my list. Tonight I made a recipe with green beans and garlic and couscous (the recipe actually called for farro, but I couldn't find any, not even at whole foods). In the process I had to run to Whole Foods to find spices that they don't really sell at the other grocery stores. First I stopped by Dominics (the local version of safeway) and looked for the spices. They had many of them, but I feel like I don't use enough cumin and garam masala to buy a giant bottle of it, so I hoped Whole Foods would have bulk versions where I could buy just enough for a few recipes. Voila, they did, and was it ever a great find. I never want to be cheated out of my money for something that I don't know if I would notice the difference between slight quality differences in. I wrote down the per ounce price of the spices at Dominics and skipped across the road to happily discover that even per ounce Whole Foods is cheaper for all of the spices I needed (at least in bulk). So I walked home with $7 worth of couscous, garam masala, star anise, and many many more spices. I think it is time to start looking for a spice rack.

I also discovered today a small trove of pictures from before I left Austin of things I got rid of but have not blogged about yet! Score! It's cheating a little bit but I was worried I would have to start throwing out things I may need. I didn't plan the timing of this blog too well with my two-suitcase move to Chicago. I still think it is forcing me to think about what I have and what I am keeping though. So two items today since I didn't blog yesterday (this seems to be a theme for

me)

First: A rock from Bethany from the freshman time capsule thing I talked about in my last blog

with the bracelet. Bethany was a friend from middle school through high school. She moved into the area and joined the group seamlessly, I don't even remember her joining, I just know she

was not in our group before 5th grade at least. She was quick to laugh, adventurous, and interesting. Her family life was the part that made her the most quirky. Her mother was crazy (literally, but we didn't actually discover this until later) and she lived with her grandmother. She had one younger sister and 5? maybe more, older siblings, all from different fathers or mothers depending on which parent they belonged to. She joined our girl scout troop and stuck with it all the way through seniors at camp where she quickly became one of the most popular seniors. We watched movies all the time, had parties at her house, crossed the state line for my first time with her, and I even read Harry Potter because of her. I also have not talked to her since I graduated

from high school. I have a terrible track record of keeping up with friends, and yet I remember them as they were when they fit into my life. There are a few friends that I would love to stay in contact with forever, but unless they call me I seem to easily move on. I think that humans are wired that way so we can survive after so much moving around and change in interactions. So here it is, a rock, with an inspiring quote and a symbol of friendship. Bethany, wherever you are (Santa Cruz, thanks to Facebook I know this), I hope you are doing well and enjoying life.

Second: Another friendship related gift from a friend. Diana was the first friend I made in college at UT. She sat next to me in class one day, we were in the same FIG so we had three classes together that first semester. We were both relatively shy and spent our weekends baking or cooking, and watching movies and TV shows. After the first year with me in the dorms we moved in together along with Jamey, who was more her friend than mine. I'm not going to lie that Jamey and I were both a little rude after that first year in picking out our next year roommates and house without even consulting Diana, but I am glad that we

remained at least on speaking terms. It ended up that she moved back to El Paso to take care of her mom who had terminal cancer and started school there instead. I think she functioned well in El Paso, I went to her place before Christmas my freshman year so she would have someone to drive with on the way home (she fell asleep at the wheel once anyway, scary! we were both exhausted) and met her family and some of her friends. She knew her place there, knew the culture, and loved everyone. Now her family has moved out of the area, she's living in her childhood home all by herself, and many of her friends have moved away as well. For someone who is quick to laugh, she told me the other day that she cries a lot because she is lonely. I never know if I can attribute loneliness to idleness or to a lack of people, but I think in her case either would work. She graduated, but has not found a job outside of Best Buy, so she is just working retail, and has nothing to come home to except two little dogs. After years of having two brothers and all of her friends around all day it would be hard to adjust to a new empty life. Anyway, she gave me this friendship bracelet my freshman year, and we actually superglued the knot closed because the string kept slipping off, and I wore it until after graduation three years later. I'm not sure when I finally cut it off, but after I did I had a tan line where it used to sit and still could not bring myself to throw it away. Today though, I will toss this out, but hopefully not my memory of my years in college with Diana, and not my friendship with her.

I told you I am bad at staying in contact with people.

Out with the old

So I have missed over a week, but I will still get rid of at least one thing per day! Rick came to visit over Labor Day weekend, and we were busy busy busy! I can now finally say I have seen Chicago, or a lot of the city. After six exhausting, but exciting days I explored the Sears (now Willis) Tower, Millenium Park, The Art Institute, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Park Zoo, China Town, Pilsen, and so many more places I can't even begin to remember. It was a great weekend, and I can't wait to spend more time seeing and exploring the city.

For things I am getting rid of: First, Rick brought me a bunch of mail from Austin that was received after I left, so I will shred each one of the important-to-hide documents and just throw away the rest, most of it was credit card requests, but some was from my bank. I was also sent

the last playbill that somehow stowed itself away from my last purging after New York of the mementos I would usually save from a vacation. In throwing these few new mail items away I realize that I have many more similar items saved from years past that I will need to clean out. It sounds like a good project for this

coming weekend. I now have to make room for my mom to come visit in only a few weeks, so I will need to find places to store new brochures and receipts (just kidding!).

Next I will be getting rid of a few things that I probably shouldn't even have with me in Chicago.

One is my cat's harness. First, he never liked it, and second, I left him in Austin to be taken care of by Sydney! It seems like in a move I am never quite able to not drag a random thing along

with me. Second is an old bracelet. I am pretty sure this was one of the items we put in a time capsule freshman year of high school to be taken out in our senior year. The bracelet was from Sydney, and it has some note about friendship on it. I also never wore it, and I think it's too small for me anyway, but that doesn't ever stop me from keeping it!

Next: a pack of cards, these actually have drinks recipes on them. Unfortunately, even with all of the drinking and drink jokes, recipes, pictures, posts, news going on around me, I never picked up drinking. I enjoy a margarita every once in a while, or a good apple-tini, but the culture never drew me in enough to need to go through 52 drinks and try them all. One day I do still want to have a mostly full bar in

my house though. Sometimes I just want to try something and don't know where to start buying the ingredients. I also never play cards so cards themselves are pretty useless. Again, out with the old habits and in with new, cleaner shelves.

I love ballroom dancing. The idea of knowing what step is next and being able to make a beautiful dance out of any music has always intrigued me. When a friend of mine went to Argentina she came back with a picture of a couple doing the tango for me. While I loved the picture and had it hanging in my room for over a year, it is time to move on. I made a new map for my wall with the land in white and the oceans in blue and I am prepared for a new theme in my room. This picture will hopefully serve someone well as inspiration to learn to dance, or keep dancing, or possibly even just to get a little music in their lives.

And finally, I am getting rid of an old makeup bag. My mom gets free stuff from places all the time, and I tend to be on the receiving end of the makeup she gets for free.

This bag came with some lipstick, or eyeshadow as a promotional item with one of her lotions, and I used it for a while with my makeup. Surprisingly, even though I never buy makeup, I have outgrown this bag.... I guess the people who give me makeup think I am ugly enough to deserve more! Or perhaps my mom is ordering too much lotion... Either way, I will have to find a new, bigger, and hopefully cuter, makeup bag for what I do have now, even though I rarely wear makeup to begin with.

The confusion of this post is pretty much how I felt about my week this week. Is anyone else surprised it is already Thursday?! Somehow I missed out on a few days, with the holiday and so many things I needed to get done I didn't realize time was going by so quickly.

Colors

So it has been a long time since I last got rid of something in my amazingly small collection of goods in my house, but here goes. Today I will be getting rid of 5 things, only because it has been 5 days since I last blogged. But I won't bore you with the humdrum of explaining each item, only a few of them. Today it seems like it's my yellow and red day, two of my strangest colors. I love red, it does good things when I wear it, when done right it can make a room brighter subtly, and it is an easily matched color (I think it almost goes with as many things as black), but it can be dangerous, it also brings up thoughts of blood, anger, hunger, a lot of violent feelings, so it has to be practiced in moderation, like most things. Yellow, I always thought I looked horrible in, even though it is one of the happy colors. I have come to realize I just have to pick brighter yellows, dull ones make me washed out, but bright ones require courage, which sometimes is hard to come by in my fashion, even though I have a strange fashion sense. Calling too much attention to yourself is always a little scary. Yellow reminds me of easter though, and sunshine, and just general happiness, yet it isn't one of the colors I choose to keep around me often. Anyway, today I am anxious about an interview I have to give tomorrow, and excited because Rick will be visiting me soon, so I will be able to play the tourist role in my new city. So far classes have started and I am ready for a new beginning to be a great one. I am really happy ending up here, I can't imagine I would have been happier in any other city where I applied to grad school, so I guess it is a good thing I didn't get in to any of those schools. The public transit here is amazing, but I don't use it often because I live close enough to campus to walk (but far enough to get a LOT of steps each day, to the point where 12000 is almost an easy goal, while the weather is nice). The city itself is beautiful and has activities going on around every corner. Luckily I live in a family-oriented neighborhood, but one that is teeming with culture.

Pilsen, my neighborhood, is the Americanized Mexican neighborhood, at least relatively. The area still feels very Mexican, most of the signs are in Spanish first and occasionally English second, about 90% of the people on the street at any given time are Mexican descent and speak Spanish predominantly, though some know at least enough English to say hi to me as I pass (they could know more, I just haven't had a full conversation with any of them yet). The area is also the hipster neighborhood for students. Many students that I see walking around are reminiscent of Austin hipsters. Tight jeans, crazy hair styles, and big fake glasses are the fashion of the region. In this way I have combined my comfort zones into an extreme combination zone of all I

knew in Austin. This of course means I feel comfortable, even though I stand out like a sore thumb on wedding day. (I'm not sure why I said that last part, but it's funny so I'll leave it in).

Today's items are all small little things I've kept around for the sake of keeping them, a marble from my mom, an antenna topper that is a fireman because it is cute, a Skittles container, a funny button from an art showing Rick and I went to a long time ago ("Take off your pants"), and a toy car from Easter this past year. But each one holds a little piece of me in it, in a totally corny way. I saved every one of these items because at one point they made me happy. I think that is the reason I hold onto most things in my life, but it just makes me realize that so many things make me happy. I might as well be happy all the time.

Today, I also worked one step closer to making a few friends. It is amazing how long it takes to make friends, and yet also how short of the time it takes. In one day I had a friend who I could chat with over ice cream, but not much else, and before I have realized it I am sure the new people I am meeting will be close friends that I gossip about professors and other students with over coffee and drinks after class. New lives are fun and exciting, while also scary. I hope I don't have too many more of them in my life, but I also hope that each one I have past this is just as memory building as this one has been already, maybe I just am in a good mood between two crazy busy days of my second week of school!

Unmatched

Yesterday I was told in class that I will have to interview a planner and then prepare a 15 minute presentation on how the planner I choose uses computer programs in their job. Seriously? I'm in graduate school....not eighth grade. Anyway, I set up an interview for next week and have to start writing up questions for it. I hate being unprepared when I go out to talk to people....maybe I have a little bit of social anxiety. I have never been the person to interrupt someone's day for something so ridiculous. But I am a little excited and nervous about the presenting part. Years ago I was a good presenter...let's see if that sticks. Grad school is starting to look like it will be interesting. Also, the fridge in my office is so dirty there is a puddle on the bottom of it. I hate to be the person who comes into the office and judges everyone but it's pretty gross....I may ask what the cleaning process entails or if I'm even allowed to do it. Besides that, the program is paying my tuition...I can at least contribute in some way.
Now for my items I'm getting rid of, which is where he title comes in. I no longer have the item this plug belongs to....I'm not sure what happened to it though and while I feel a little bad about getting rid of a plug to a lost item when it might turn up...I probably don't need that either since I can't find it. The shirt is a hard one. I already don't really have enough clothes, but I feel strange wearing this shirt, even when I wore it in Texas I felt weird so these feelings are not new, it just is not quite my style as much as I want it to be. So there goes two more items..I may have to go clothes shopping this weekend though, I barely have enough clothes for a week...eek!

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UhOh

I missed two days this time, and almost missed today.... I got distracted baking bread and working, but mostly baking. Today was my first day of class in Chicago. A little crazy, but I'm beginning to feel a little more prepared for grad school. I think one of the girls I recently made friends with isn't so hot on being my friend, and I'm ok with that. I actually think the person I like the most of all the people I've met so far is my roommate. I am really excited about that, she seems like a neat person and nice and everything, so hopefully we will be friends, if not at least we are friendly roommates! Class seems like it will be similar to an undergrad class, so I can handle that, but maybe this time I will try to do the reading... try.

I also have plans to start going to the gym tomorrow, but I am a little worried because I don't have a lock for a locker, so I will probably go buy one of those at Target before, luckily I have six hours between class, so I'll eat lunch after my first class on my way over to Target to go get a lock, and there was something else I was thinking I needed.. but I can't remember what it was. I did type up my notes for today's class though, I hope to keep doing that for the whole semester, when I did that in undergrad I barely had to study for finals at all.

So today's items of removal from my life are keys, I am going to get rid of two key rings full of keys. I know, it's sorta a cop-out because it's only two key rings, but still. As I start my life in Chicago, I will get rid of the useless memories from Austin. I doubt I could even use these keys to break into an old place in Austin because most of the time locks are changed, so they are completely useless. The key chains on the other hand have some memories. The first one (the R) was from Diane when she went on one of her trips. It was fun to use for a while, but I only have one key I need to carry around while I'm in Chicago and I don't need a fancy key chain that takes up extra space. The other one is from when Linh (Rick's roommate) went to Hollywood. He always brings me presents when he goes on trips, and I love it. It is nice to know he was thinking about Rick, and me a little, while he's away. I also know it is his way of showing that Rick is important to him. I need more friends like that, but not really.

Anyway, enough with old memories, and onto new ones. I got my mattress today and I am extremely excited to try it out tonight!

Settling

Yesterday, as I was walking home from orientation, I began to feel like Chicago is starting to be my home. As I got nearer to my apartment I realized I will be able to live here just fine... until it snows.. then we'll see how I feel. Moving made me go through all of my things and start picking out what I will be getting rid of. This blog has forced me to look at things in a way I wouldn't usually look at them. I am now a useability shopper. I know, that's not a word, but what I am trying to say is that when I look at something in the store, or online, I think first what I would use it for. If it seems even the slightest bit useless, I don't want to get it any more (because then I will have to get rid of it). I still have a small pile of things I want to get rid of in the next few weeks, but as that dwindles down I am beginning to wonder what item that I care about will be the first to go? It is nice getting rid of things, forcing myself to not want things I do not need, but I have been eyeing all of my possessions with a new look. As I missed yesterday (this seems to be more of a trend, maybe I'll start blogging every other day and just get rid of two things at a time) I will get rid of two things today. The bedroom I have in Chicago is smaller than any other bedroom I've ever had, but it is just the right size. My bed fits perfectly between the two walls, I could even fit a small next to it, and the closet holds my (tiny) supply of clothes perfectly. It makes me not want to get any more, it makes me want to get rid of things even. Perhaps I would have started this blog when I got here anyway.

Today, I will get rid of a pair of workout shorts that my mom recently gave me (shh) because they are the item of clothes I am least likely to use any time soon, and a purse that Linh (Rick's ex roommate) gave to me after a trip to Vietnam. I love gifts, but these two are things I will not use as

often as I could, and therefore are taking up more space than they are worth in my tiny room. Living in such a small apartment is reinforcing my idea that small living spaces are actually better for you. They allow you to expand only to a reasonable level, and not collect furniture and items that you need to store that do not get used as often as would be ideal. Apartment Therapy (a blog I read obsessively) even has a competition about small living spaces and how people deal with it. I do think I would want a giant kitchen, and the rest of the house can be tiny.

My roommate and I are, however, looking for a couch. And I wonder, how does a person, without any contacts, and without a vehicle, transport a couch by themselves to a second floor apartment? I guess I will have to enlist the help of at least my roommate if I find a good one. On a side note about the apartment, I still have not gotten my mattress yet, but according to the website it is en route! I guess only a few more nights on the floor.. or maybe UPS loves me and will bring it tomorrow? I'll keep you all posted!

Chicago!

Sunday I flew into Chicago, unloaded all of my things, ate dinner and crashed into my "bed" which is currently the floor, with a few blankets on it. Not too bad, I was way too tired to notice that the floor is a lot harder than a mattress. Yesterday I walked all over town, visited campus, and did some survival groceries before 5pm. At about 5 Janne called and took me to Target where I was able to get shelves and drawers, so I am now set up... but still no mattress. I did get the bed frame which is now set up, but not comfortable to sleep on at all, so again I slept on the floor. And again I was tired enough to sleep through whatever pain may have been forced on me. I am starting to wish I had a mattress though, and I haven't heard from Overstock if it is even shipped yet, which probably means I won't get it until next week. Ack.

So today, officially, Chicago feels like it is home, just without friends yet. Luckily I am meeting with Jamey for dinner (also this will be the first time I will take the bus, scary!) in a part of town I have not explored. It's amazing how gigantic Chicago is and yet I walked forever yesterday. I guess sometimes things are just not in walking distance. Again I went to the grocery store, it seems I always forget some essentials when I do survival shopping, but at least now I have yogurt and frozen vegetables, so I should be able to survive for a while on that. I am a little worried that the walk will kill me sometimes, for now it isn't bad, I can even walk it every day, but when it starts snowing... I don't know if I will be able to get myself to leave. I see signs on the side of the road that say "no parking when snow is more than 2 inches" More than 2 INCHES!!! in a city!!? Well, that says what goes through my mind every time I see that sign. And imagine, I see it every 20 feet on almost every road I walk down on the way to school. I'm definitely ordering that coat today, and I guess I should start looking for boots too. I talked to my advisor today, she seems worried that her students are all going to freeze to death, she just doesn't know that I am about 1000% more worried about the cold than anyone I know should be. Also, she recommended I sign up for a statistics class instead of the economics class I'm registered for, the only problem is that I already ordered my books on Amazon, oh, and I can't seem to find that class in the class listings at the registrars... Oh well.

Now onto things I will be getting rid of today. Mardi Gras this last year, Jose,

Sydney and I went out, on the Tuesday, to Rain, and a few other places, just to say goodbye to sugar, happiness, and alcohol. Jose had his last drink, I had my last candy, and Sydney... theoretically had her last candy as well, at least for 40 days. While there, Rain gave away beads, without flashing. So these beads (there are actually three of the, but I don't remember where the other two came from) are from Rain. If there is anything in Austin I am going to miss it will be my friends and all of the fun times I had with them. The best stories of these friends however, come from Rain. So goodbye Austin, goodbye Rain, and Hello freezing cold, huge Chicago, my new home.

Moving

Whew, moving is always harder than I expect it to be. It is not the actual moving part that's slowing me down with my blog this time, but the last few days. Last time I moved out of Austin I spent two weeks with friends, partying, eating, hanging out, visiting my favorite places.... This time, I have been busy for two days, with my aunt (my cousin just got engaged) my friends, my boyfriend. and myself. I definitely don't want to leave Austin in the same fashion I left last time. I was exhausted from two weeks of not enough sleep and stressed because I was leaving the town I now call my home. This time, while I haven't gotten enough sleep I hope to tonight (probably won't happen) most of my friends left Austin a few weeks ago so I haven't been as busy. I still feel like I don't have time to get anything done though. I donated all of my items (actually carried them into the store), got a hair cut, visited work one last time, bought a book so Sydney can decoupage her barstool after I'm gone, and packed most of my stuff... yet the days are quickly closing in on me and I'm still not fully packed, or mentally ready to leave behind everything I know and love in Austin.

For the past few busy days (including today), I have gotten rid of about 3 inches of hair, a dress that I could not get a good picture of, and a pile of socks and underwear that I will not need any more. I think I had almost 12 pairs of socks... and those take up a lot of room, so I'm down to 8 now, and only 9 underwear also. Which means I'm ready to live on necessity there. I plan to do my laundry once a week anyway, that way my towel and sheets can stay as clean as possible.

Each of these things are not the most sentimental, I have never been a hair person and the other two are simply clothes. I do love clothes, but I find that I enjoy clothes more when they fit correctly and look amazing, that dress was too big and I never felt quite right in it. On a side note though, I did get a new dress yesterday, a very cute polka-dot one. I think it is one of the best purchases I have made in a while, and could mean I will get rid of more clothes when I get to Chicago, but for now I'm not unpacking everything to do that.... there is a 50 lbs weight limit on bags when flying though, so if I can't keep it under weight I'll find something to get rid of.

I have only about a day left in Austin, therefore I don't want to waste my precious hours on the internet, I would rather get out and see the city one last time.. Oh, and pack.

Girl Scouts

Ah Girl Scout camp...some of the best summer memories....and surprisingly no terrible ones. There were definitely bad years, but as memories they still seem amazing. Recently an old friend from my early years of camp resurfaced on Facebook. It is weird to think that the little girl I remember sitting around the campfire on the Monday night of camp or asking questions about bugs on the nature hike is now a nurse....oh yeah, and I'm a college graduate. I'm not sure when I reached this point in my life but I sincerely do not need my parents to help me figure out which car insurance to have or agree to a neighborhood to live in based on crime statistics (those I always fudged if they didn't totally agree with what I wanted....safety is purely based on how safe you are....most of the time) . I now am moving to a new city, have enough money in savings to survive for over a year without starving, and I am not 100% freaked out about it. Geez, and I thought being a senior was old....
As a Brownie in Girl Scouts I picked out a camp name. All of the adults and (most excitingly) the seniors had camp names. Sydney and I chose Thunder and Lightning. I was Lightning because I came first. Our friends all chose derivations from that, one was cloud and another rain, but we were the only two girls from our cabin that made it through high school as girl scouts and had the opportunity to become seniors with those names. The name tag I am getting rid of today is one from one of the four years as a senior. In those years we participated in skits, helped the kitchen staff, and served as temporary assistant cabin leaders during the day. As much as those years were the hardest of camp, they seem to be the most memorable. It could just be that I am closest to those years. Either way I will never forget the pancake breakfast, the years spent forgetting shower sandals and packing weird costumes for the different themed days at camp. I will always be Rebecca, but to a few I will also be Lightning.

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Holidays

Freshman year of college I was terrified I would feel lonely during the holidays. Thanksgiving I went out of my way to find someone to spend the weekend with. A few of my friends offered to let me go with them, but luckily my cousin was willing to take me with her to her father's farm and even to her inlaws place and I jumped on the opportunity to spend the weekend with family. My aunt from Austin is often out of town for Thanksgiving weekend at a conference so I spent the time with the other side of the family. Every year since then I found a way to have at least one Thanksgiving dinner with my cousin (she usually has three as her parents are divorced and her inlaws want to see her as well) and I enjoy my time. Each year I have been reminded of my first year with her. The farm was fun..even though they all joked about me attending UT instead of A&M and the town was about as Texas as they come. Meeting my cousin in laws family also allowed me a break from the every day. Holidays always do and I think they are provided to us for just that reason. Every once in a while we have to be able to step out of our normal lives to understand how comfortable they are for us upon our return to them.
Anyway, my blog is not about family and holidays but about getting rid of unwanted or not necessary items. After Thanksgiving my first year in college I took home left overs (mostly mashed potatoes and turkey if I remember correctly) in this tupperware. Since then I have used this for food of my own, and always intended to return it to it's owner. My cousin definitely does not need any more storage containers in her house and this was an old one, but I still feel bad borrowing and not returning....however, with the scratches in one corner, the fact that I have had it for almost 5 years and she does not have room for this one in her cabinets I think it is safe to say I can throw this tupperware away without feeling bad about it.
But how am I going to spend Thanksgiving when I am in Chicago!?

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One Week

I leave Austin in a little less than one week for Chicago. While this does not warrant my lack of a post yesterday, it still serves the purpose of making my brain freak out silently about everything I have to get done before I go. Moving is always a hard thing to do, there is so much to get done, and often it is hard to even figure out what it is that needs to be done. For today's item I am getting rid of a couple things from one of the first places I went to when moving to Austin. At UT I worked in the convenience store in the dorms I lived in, and started about a week after I moved in, and worked there diligently for two years. While I had problems through those years, with my coworkers (mostly it was just that a few got on my nerves or that many did not like to work their hours during finals) I attribute a lot of my maturity to that job. In the beginning I was shy, scared to man a cash register because it meant I had to talk to all of the customers, and by the end that was my favorite part, even after I was promoted. That job brought me out of my shell, allowed me to realize that I was not going to be negatively judged by every person. In high school I was shy, but still had many friends and was liked by most people. Coming to UT, which was about 100 times the size of my high school, I felt dwarfed, only to slowly realize I am only as small as I allow myself to be. Most people see a city as what they experience in it every day, few people can draw a good, full map of their city, but rather know just the parts that they drive through, or work in, or live near. While Austin has almost 1 million people, Chicago has nearly 3 million, yet I know that once I get settled I will find my niche and not need to feel the pressure of those millions of people.

Here's to new beginnings, by getting rid of part of my beginning in Austin I will be able to see Chicago in a better light.

Sentimental Donations

In high school someone organized a blood drive every year. Usually it was for our exit project, but inevitably one student would gather up the organizations required and set up a blood drive in the gym. The strange part about doing a blood drive in a high school is that most of the students are not allowed to donate blood. My senior year I donated my first pint, and since then I have worked my way up to over a gallon.... unfortunately not at the same place, so I don't get a cool shirt for it, but I did get a pint of ice cream this time. This is my first pint past a gallon and it was also one of my hardest, I'm not sure if the needle just didn't go in quite right, or if my vein wasn't sticking out as much as usual, but either way, it hurt more than normal. It is always a little irritating to have a needle in your arm slowly sucking blood out, but I think it is worth it. Not only do I feel like I did something good by donating blood, I only had to root around my house to find ONE thing I would get rid of today. Yesterday, while I planned to blog after a museum excursion, I ended up attending a music performance with a friend... and was there til past 1am. By the time I got home I practically fell asleep in the doorway. Probably not the best to do on a night before donating blood, but I did still get 8 hours of sleep. Not only do I get a feeling of being able to help out when I donate blood, but I also know that I can continue to donate for my life, or until I get a false positive for some kind of disease.... That's the part that always scares me the most. I had a friend who was called once after donating blood and told she had Hepatitis C, luckily it was determined that the test was incorrect. The few days of calling the doctors and getting new tests run made the whole experience scarier than I would ever want to imagine. Hopefully for me I can eventually donate in all 50 states (that's a lot of blood) and never get a false positive for anything! So one pint of blood down, now a physical object to remove from my pile of stuff in this small apartment.

Sentimental things always have a special place in my heart, as they do in many other homes. This pillowcase was given to my parents when my oldest sister was born, and has been in the family ever since. My mom tried to get rid of it when I was home last time, and I couldn't bring myself to allow her to do that. My cousins had outgrown the Peanuts cartoons and wanted to give my parents something fun for their new child. My sister is now 27 and very much outgrown of Peanuts. The old cotton is now almost see through and the pictures and sayings are as old as they can be, but I still shy away from getting rid of this, yet, out it goes. While I think I will throw it away because it is old, faded and thin, I know it was used well, for many years. I even used it for over a year in college, only to bring it home when I got a new pillow case, thinking someone else may want to have the joy of sleeping on a pillow case we used as babies. This item reminds me of Hoarders, a TV show on A&E, again, one of the reasons I am writing this blog. Many of the featured homes have items kept for sentimental reasons, and for memories. One man couldn't get rid of a few bricks he had taken from his old high school. The man was in his 60s, had grand children, and lived a normal life outside of his home. The bricks were taken when they refaced the school, yet he did not want to lose the memories of the school, and the bricks brought back those memories. In the end, he agreed to throw those out with countless other items in his house, realizing that the memories will still be there, even without the bricks. While I have not reached the point of hoarding everything, I do find myself keeping useless things purely for the memories they force me to recall.

Shoes

I love to accessorize. Shoes are my main accessory of choice, mostly because they are easy. Necklaces get in the way, earrings and bracelets end up distracting me more than providing an addition to the outfit. Shoes however, must be worn to get into most places and therefore are an excellent resource to add color to an outfit. These pink shoes provided a colorful pop to many a work outfit.
While I love shoes I am a bargain shopper. I also find that the best shoes are at thrift stores. These are also the cheapest. Over the years I have gone through periods where I wore a different pair of shoes every day of the week, at one point I had abou 30 pairs of shoes...but as I started moving every year I realized these shoes weigh me down and take up way too much space in my small car when I move. In my economizing I saved 4 pairs of shoes for fun and two work-out shoes...but occasionally grab an extra pair. I recently bought a pair of gray shoes (I know, no color in that) and will be moving out my neon pink heels to make room for those.

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Cleaning Day

Today I cleaned the house. I like to do a full cleaning once a week. This means picking up all the chairs so I can sweep and mop under them as well as dusting almost the entire place. I will be the first to point out that behind the TV is dusty but I don't feel like trying to get around the stairs and a bunch of cords to clean that out. I probably will next week, just before I leave. This week I mopped and cleaned the dishes while watching Law and Order: SVU ...one of my addictions. Afterward I was able to go through my drawer in the bathroom, I was supposed to share the drawer with my sister but she doesn't have very much stuff and mine takes up most of the drawer. In the process I found another contact case. This one actually glows in the dark and can be a bit scary to wake up to when I'm sleeping over at a friend's house and forget that I had it on the bedside table.
I'm pretty sure these were also a gift from my mom. In the process of getting rid of things I find myself discovering items I didn't even remeember I owned. Many of these items are gifts also. At what point is it ok to get rid of a present. I almost always treasure a gift from someone, even if it is not something I would usually buy for myself. Maybe especially when that is the case. This contact case I have used for over a year, yet I still feel a twinge of guilt and sadness because this case was a fun item that I received from someone I care about and who cares about me. Often I will opt out of purchasing an item I can get for free from somewhere else, in this example my optometrist. I do still enjoy having a fun case to use and, however I obviously collected many such cases when I only need one. Therefore away with another one. Hopefully I will learn to keep my drawers and shelves clear of clutter after this.

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