Organizing life!

Starting yesterday, I am on a quest to organize and simplify life!  I have all this time, so why not, right? We cleaned a lot yesterday, and I realized that I have SO. MUCH. STUFF.  Who needs all this stuff?  In particular, I was in the bathroom trying to put things away so Ashley could clean it (I was cleaning for her to clean, what is wrong with that?) and the amount of beauty products I've accumulated is astounding.  Shampoos, lotions, body washes, makeup...I don't use it all?  I must have a stash of over 100 beauty things.  So I need to sort through it, throw most of it away, and keep only what I need.

What is crazy is that now I do my hair and makeup in the downstairs bathroom because it's 1 million degrees cooler down there (can I hear an AMEN for not blow drying/straightening hair in 1 million degrees bathrooms?!?!) so I have a crap load of stuff down there too!  It's taking over our lives!

While on my anniversary shopping spree on Monday, we stopped into Anthropologie, which is one of the coolest stores IMO, and I snagged a few things to help me organize but also help our master bathroom look pretty.  It's SO not pretty right now.  At all.  Basic and boring and something needs to be done about it.  Anyways...here is what happened with the Anthro finds:

The bowl is hold my dental care stuff and my eye cream, while the egg crate is good for all the jewelry I take off in the bathroom all the time that ends up laying around on the counter and then getting lost.  No more!

The little bowl was $10 and the blue egg holder was $12.  We eventually will be painting and decorating this bathroom with a Mediterranean theme, inspired by our trip to the Ligurian/Italian part last year.  It was just beautiful!  Here, let me show you...

See the colors?  I want our bathroom to have all this color!

Mainly the blue.  I've never see a blue so blue.

I'd like to paint a mural of some sort on the wall next to the bathtub.  Then put dreamy white curtains up to create a lovely spa look.  Maybe this needs to happen very soon!

Seriously the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  Vernazza, Riomaggiore, La Spezia and Portovenere are the towns we actually went into, but we saw many more from the boat we used to get around for the day.

I want to be there now!

Ahhhh, memories.  We will go back one day.  I digress!

So, right, the bathroom!  My new organizer helpers from Anthro are great, and then I found some things around the house to help with the clutter, like this basket that is holding all of our other day-to-day products...

This jar I've had, bought it at Target for about $5 for this purpose.  It makes cotton balls so much prettier, doesn't it?

It feels good to organize.  Like I actually am doing something productive with my time.  Speaking of that, I was reading Everyday in Tuscany by Frances Mayes and came across this part.  Start at the "I never..."

This concept of always have to be doing something, be productive, is so American.  She notices that her Italian friends don't have that.  It makes me jealous too.  Maybe this is why I loved Italy so much, and want to move there one day with Dave and whatever kids we may have.  I want to learn the whole Carpe Diem attitude, and not consider myself lazy or be considered lazy.

So while I do want to get things done this summer, just look at my list...

...I also want to relax, spend great time with family and friends, read, swim, soak up the sun, travel and see new things and just...Carpe Diem!!!

Happy Wednesday!