A New Year, A New Me?

That's a question, not a statement. Though it's not really a question either. The first part of my new year I spent celebrating with friends. I threw an awesome party, if I do say so myself. The decor was especially good. I made an awesome banner, which there may or may not be a tutorial of in the future. We'll just have to wait and see. Hopefully I can get myself together and write it. I also saw Wreck-It Ralph with friends on New Year's Day. It was pretty cute.

I know people usually make new year's resolutions, but I'm not really the sort. So I didn't make any, but I have been thinking about something for a long time. My weight. It's kind of a big number, it's the highest it's ever been and I don't love it. Mostly because I'm not fitting into the clothes that I love any more, which sucks. So I decided to be a little proactive and get on the weight loss bandwagon. And so far I've lost 2.8 pounds. Which is pretty great considering all I'm really doing is tracking my calories.

I use myfitnesspal, which is a smartphone app for android and iphone that tracks your food intake. You can also connect it with fitness apps to automatically log your exercise. I have my account linked to my runtastic pedometer app. I haven't really done much other than track calories, which apparently was enough incentive for me. When you make your account for myfitnesspal, you set your weightloss goal. The more you want to lose, the less calories you get for the day. I want to lose one pound a week, so the app says I get 1770 calories a day, if you exercise you can technically eat more than that, which I often do because I love food. But it does keep me from mindlessly snacking which is great and probably the place where I needed the most help anyway. I'm actually a pretty healthy eater, I love vegetables and I'm not a fan of red meat. But snacks, man do I love snacks. This helps me curb my snack enthusiasm, or at least makes me ask myself is it worth it. Most of the time, it is as long as I know I'll have time to exercise later.

I'm looking forward to seeing if I can keep up with this weight loss. My goal is to drop about 20 pounds. If I manage that, maybe another 20. But, I'd really be perfectly happy with just losing 20 pounds and being able to keep it off. I've never tried to lose weight before, so here's hoping this works!

Shopping Haul

I know that this is the season for giving to others, but sometimes you need to give to yourself too. Especially when you don't have any seasonally appropriate clothing to wear. Apparently I don't love sweaters. Well, really sweaters don't love me. My body shape looks awful in most sweaters, but there are some that I can manage. I found some today which I'm including in the haul along with some other purchases from recent weeks. Here we go!

I fell in love with this dress as soon as I saw it! I've recently embraced the whole peplum trend and it is awesome. What I thought would draw attention is actually the perfect camouflage from my biggest trouble area. This Red Peplum Surplice Dress from Torrid has a lot going for it. First of all it's red, which I love. Then it has my new favorite thing, the peplum. It also has a fitted skirt and surplice neckline, which is also nice. Basically, it's pretty much amazing.

Jennifer Lopez Swirl Surplice Dress via Kohl's

This is only a shot of the back, but you can see how cute it is! Floral (aka red) and peplum, my favorites! Floral Print Peplum Top with Belt and Black Lace via Deb Shops

Sequin Shoulder Sweater via Deb Shops

Mint Lace Back Sweater via Dep Shops (can't find this one on their online site) also got this one in black but it did not photograph well.

I'm pretty happy with these purchases. Can't wait to wear these! And, while I'm on the topic of fashion I am really excited about finding a new store in my area that caters to plus sizes. It's called Fashion to Figure and they have stores in New Jersey, Maryland, and New York. There's one close enough that hopefully next weekend I'm going to check it out in person. The clothes on the website look amazing and the prices are awesome. Hopefully the quality is just as good. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Organization

I'm not very organized. At least not in the traditional sense. I can almost always find anything I'm looking for, but good luck to any one else searching through my stuff to find it. I try to be organized though. I spend a lot of money on closets and bins and baskets, drawer organizers, and cabinets but in the end it doesn't really matter. Because I am a messy person. Still I am always proud when I manage to organize anything to that it actually works (easier). I spent all of Sunday doing just that to my closet/clothing.

I had strep in October and whatever organization that had been left over from the summer died a horrible, horrible death once I got sick. Along with feeling like death, I let all of my laundry and laundry baskets pile up. And pile they did. They took over half my bedroom. I wish I had taken a before photo because it was a hot mess. Clothes falling out of the closet and out of baskets and multiplying on the floor. I finally tackled that mess though and I managed to triumph. My closet is now more organized, though there are still something I would like to change. But most importantly everything has a place and everything is in it's place. All my belts are hanging up and not willy nilly every where. My dresses are hanging, my skirts, my pants, my shirts.

These might seem a little OCD, but I often throw things in my closet where ever they fit. This will definitely help me keep things organized and make it easier to find what I'm looking for. Plus, things are less likely to get lost in the closet's black hole area since everything has a place and it's easy to find it now.

Belts/Accessories area. You can see some of these things are from quite a long while ago (based on the styles/colors).

The closet all organized and labeled.

I'm really loving the labels!

And this isn't really in my closet, but it's next to it! And it's organization! So it counts, right? One of my many shoe racks. I love shoes. I wish I had more in unconventional colors. I usually end up sticking to brown/tan and black just because those are colors that are in my wardrobe a lot already and are easy to coordinate.



I also sorted through my mostly unused drawers and did some organizing there too. I got rid of some of my 50 sets of pajamas, some of which I've had since nearly middle school. Don't even ask me why they are still around! They aren't any more. I have a ton of things to donate. I also went through the cloths sitting in the back of my closet and tossed or donated anything that didn't fit or that I will never wear. My donation pile is rather huge.

All of this organization and cleaning always makes me proud of myself. I just wish I didn't have to tackle this job every time the seasons change. But, I can accept myself as I am. I know I'm messy and at least I try to be somewhat organized. I'll never be perfect, but I'll keep working on it. Hopefully someday the big closet clean out won't have to happen four times a year.

Now, on to the craft room! (I weep at the thought.)