Mike and I had a great 4th of July weekend. The
city of Oceanside has fireworks on July 3rd and for the past two
years we have been out of town. We had no idea if they were visible from our
house or not, but the park they were lighting them from was only 5 miles away.
When 9pm rolled around, we went to the backyard. We could see the really high
ones, but the lower ones were blocked by trees so we decided to walk up the
street. There is a small park that is slightly higher up than our backyard.
There were 2 other groups in the park and from there we could see the fireworks
pretty well. And now we know that we can see the fireworks from our house.
On July 4th we went to Steve and Jamie’s house
for a BBQ. It is always fun to hang out with them and we had lots of delicious
food. I made two types of cookies (chocolate chip and chocolate peanut butter
chip) to share. We went home before the fireworks started because I wanted to
be off the road before the drunk people got on the road. I read in the
newspaper that more car accidents that result in death happen on the 4th
of July than any other holiday in America and that when the 4th
falls on a Saturday, the accident rate goes up by 20%. We were not really able
to see any of the fireworks from the surrounding cities from our house, but we
could hear them!
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| homemade cookies |
On July 5th we finished step 1 of the KonMari
method of tidying. Step 1 involves clothes (including shoes and accessories). I
am now obsessed with KonMari and cannot wait to KonMari the rest of the house!
My closet has never brought me so much joy. I can see all of my clothes easily,
everything is super organized, and we were able to get rid of 4 trash bags full
of clothes! Basically the idea is you take out every single piece of clothing
from your drawers and ask yourself “does this bring me joy”. If the answer is
no, you let it go. This part sounds weird, but I swear it works, if you feel
like you cannot get rid of the piece of clothing for some reason (you never
wore it, someone gave it to you and you don’t want to hurt their feelings,
etc), you thank the item before letting it go. For example, I gave up a few
things I used to really like but do not really fit me well anymore and said “thank
you for bringing me joy during college” or “thank you for bringing me joy when
so and so gave you to me”. At first I felt weird talking to my clothes, but it
really did help me let go of things I really do not need anymore. She also says
you should store everything vertically. You do not want your shirts to get
squished and forgotten on the bottom. I felt weird storing my socks vertically,
but after I did it, I was absolutely amazed. I can literally see every pair of
socks I own at one time (which is far too many socks) and it is so cool! Next
up is books. If any of you need help tidying up or have trouble organizing or
letting go of useless things, you have to read this book. I read it in a few
hours over 3 days, and it is a huge perspective shift. One thing I love about
it is you are not forced to get rid of everything. You just get rid of things
that do not bring you joy. The idea is that everything in your house should
bring you joy or serve a specific purpose.
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| my shirts |
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| must read book! |
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| my socks |
We also finished the final season of Sons of Anarchy this
weekend. I won’t go into too much detail, but I am fairly happy with the way it
wrapped up. It is a very intense show, and the final season was far more
gruesome than anything else on cable, but it is also extremely thought
provoking. If I was still in grad school I would love to write an analysis of
Sons of Anarchy.
Today Mike and I went to get our marriage license from the
County Recorder. The place is less than half a mile from CSUSM so it was super
easy for us to take a break during the day and go over. The paperwork is pretty
easy, but they do like to charge you for each step of the way. You have to pay
for the license, if you mess it up (by folding, wrinkling, or writing outside
your box) you have to pay for a new one, you have to pay for the marriage
certificate too once all the paperwork is turned in after the wedding. And I
need the marriage certificate to change my name. All I can say is everyone
better stay in their box when they sign the thing!
In Utah last year on 4th of July weekend, there were 10 fatalities. This year, there was only 1 fatality on the road, which happened to be in Tooele, but I don't think it was really related to the holiday.
ReplyDeleteYou should tell Dad that he needs to read your book. Maybe he would benefit ;). Thomas doesn't really let us accumulate too much stuff so that has been nice. Glad to hear things are good, we're excited to come and visit!!
I am excited to read the book! We need to take these things seriously, haha we don't want to turn into some people we know ;)
ReplyDeleteJust so you know, Dad read my blog and said he organizes the same way that I describe. I told him he should read the book because there is so much more to it than I am writing about (PS I read the book in like 3 hours over 2 sittings) and he said he does not need a book to tell him how to organize. The conversation went on about how he has plenty of organizing books and he does not need another. To me, the book is a much needed mindset change.
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