Friday Five: Moving Tips!

Trying to facilitate a move is quite an intimidating venture. I spent 3 days organizing and re-organizing piles of things just because the thought of packing everything up was overwhelming. How do I organize? How to I track? How do I pack? Finally I just told myself to start putting the piles into boxes and it would all work itself out. Fortunately that did the trick for me and I was able to get my act together. Here are a few tips that helped me stay motivated and organize.

1) Start with a To-Do list
As simple as it sounds write down everything you need to do. I chose to do it by room in my apartment and wrote down things as simple as 'pack up Kitchen Aid mixer'.  It was a bit redundant but to see all the tasks in front of me was super helpful. In the moments I was so overwhelmed with everything I just made myself pick one of the things on my list  and that got me started.

2) Schedule out your time
This was a technique I used in college when I had a lot going on. In addition to dealing with the task of packing, cleaning and shipping my entire life. I had people I needed to see and things on bucket list to do. My last week was jam packed. I took my to-do list and scheduled out hourly blocks to get the items done {literally everything from getting coffee to painting the walls}. It took thinking out of the picture and really allowed me to just enjoy the moment.

3) Think about how you want to unpack
In San Francisco I lived in a 2 bedroom apartment with a roommate. Things weren't always kept where they 'should' be. I kept my Kitchen Aid Mixer and Ninja Blender in my closet for example. I knew that ideally those would go in my next kitchen so as I packed up my kitchen stuff I pulled those out. Also worked with some bathroom supplies. I keep lotion and hair tools in my room, but pulled them out when I packed up my bathroom things.

4) Create an Inventory
As I sorted through the last 7 years of my life in the typical keep, sell, goodwill piles I recorded everything I put in a box and which box I put it in. This helped me determine insurance for each package as well as serve as a helpful key to finding things when you just too exhausted to unpack a whole box. I used towels and sheets to help pad various breakables too, so they found themselves in several different boxes. I used GoogleSheets, so I could access it from my phone and computer. It was also easily shareable with my parents whom I sent some boxes for storage too.

5) Pick out Necessities
One of the lists that I made was all the items I would 'need' when after everything is packed up and shipped. Including clothes, toiletries,  tools and cleaning supplies. I pulled them all aside before I started packing boxes so I didn't have to make that decision as I was going.

FOUND: Wish List Item {aka that one time I bought size 0 jeans from Abercrombie & Fitch}

Last Friday I posted my end of summer wishlist, which included a pair of destroyed, boyfriend style jeans. I love that they're so versatile, you can dress them up with some pointy toed-pumps, keep it middle of the road with some jacks or go casual with some converse. The last time I bought 'destroyed' jeans was back in high school, and where was the cool place to get them? Abercrombie & Fitch.

I have to admit I haven't been back in that store since High School. I walked by yesterday as I was leaving the gym and I flash-backed to purchasing my last pair of destroyed jeans and decided to give it a shot {there was also a giant, 40% off entire store sign out front}. I asked the first {fully clothed} sale associate if they had what I was looking for and she lead me right to their denim wall. It looked like the Boyfriend jean was just what I was looking for and it was on sale for $40!!! I tried on a size smaller than I normally am, because {as a lady with hips} the wider legs aren't always flattering. They're a little tighter than appear in the website picture, but absolutely perfect..

High School me was super proud of my find, but 28 year old me isn't sure how to feel. I got a great deal though and they were exactly what I was looking for! They're still on sale so get 'em quick.

SF Bucket List: Baker Beach and Huntington Square

A few of the first places I ever visited in San Francisco as an adult were Baker Beach and Huntington Square park. Their elegance and peacefulness have always held a special place in my heart.

One late night as interns we decided to take an 'adventure' out to Baker Beach. I remember climbing over the dunes as we followed the sound of the ocean because it was all pitch black. Since then I've been back numerous times with almost every friend. I knew I needed 1 more trip to see the pacific and then Golden Gate Bridge. Luckily we had 1 scorcher of a Sunday and after spending the morning being lazy in bed we decided to take the trip out to, hopefully, catch the sun set. It was absolutely perfect.

My very first weekend in the city my friends made us climb up Nob Hill to this delicious italian restaurant. Unfortunately, we were a little too early for dinner and we had to kill some time in the nearby park. I fell in love with Huntington Square Park, when I began to look for apartments Nob Hill was on the top of the list. I did end up finding a space just a few blocks away. In my 4 years there I spent many a weekend drinking wine, reading or just laying in the sun in Huntington Square. 

After our trip to Sonoma, my friends and I took our purchases over to Huntington Square Park to enjoy them one last time. 

Friday Five: End of Summer Wishlist

Moving to Chicago means the return of Seasons!! I'm super excited for fall, but as summer wraps up I'm still looking for some fun transitional pieces. Here's what is currently on my list:

Rolled Denim Shorts

I'm usually late to the 'trend game'. The idea of jorts repulsed me for a long time, but I think a cute pair like this would be fun and casual for the last few warm days of Summer.

Cuffed, Destroyed Jeans

Colorful Work Out Pants

I've been all about the black, but some colorful ones sound really fun and energizing! 

Black Maxi Dress

Active Layers

SF Bucket List: Wine Country

I'd be lying if I was going to say my move to Chicago had been as sudden as it appeared.  I had been thinking about it for a few years and seriously looking for the last 6 months or so. That being said, the final 'Lets Do This!' did happen fairly quickly. I had 4 days after the lay-off to decide if I was going to give my 30 days notice for August, then had to hit the ground running coordinating a move, job searching and saying goodbye to SF. I tried to make a list of all the things I wanted to do before I left then went about squeezing in the activities with seeing people. I honestly didn't have that much I felt I wanted to do and most of it was just revisiting some of my favorite things.

• Wine Country
• Baker Beach
• Foreign Cinema
• Taqueria Cancun
• Huntington Square Park
• Craftsman and Wolves
• Paragon

Is it sad that having the beautiful Sonoma and Napa Valley's a short drive a way might be what I missed most? I was able to squeeze in 2 visits and they were perfect. I headed up for a bit of wine and sparkling wine tasting for a dear friend's birthday. The weather was absolutely perfect and couldn't have made some sparkling rose more refreshing.

A couple of friends and I had booked at cabana at Silverado Resort in Napa earlier this summer. Coincidently our reservation day turned out to be my last full day in California. I couldn't think of a better way to spend my last moments that laying by a gorgeous pool, soaking up the California sunshine with good friends and good wine.

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

The last 3 weeks have been quite a whirlwind. In the end of July, my company decided to start moving operations to Canada and my role was one of those eliminated in move. After a week of some soul searching and math, I realized that the only jobs I was looking at were in Chicago and my severance would go twice as far there too. I made the decision on August 1st that after 6.5 years in San Francisco it was time to make the transition.

Then I was thrown into the chaos of arranging, facilitating and prepping for a cross country move! On top of it it was equally as rough wrapping up not only a huge chapter of my life, but the first one that I created entirely on my own. There were long days, minimal sleeping and a lot of life purging (I threw away 50 nail polishes....that 50x$8 = $450 worth of nail polish where did I even get that!?), but I'm finally in Chicago and getting my life (back?) in order. I'm pretty excited for this new adventure!!

JLSF Welcome Bags

I've chosen a different Junior League placement this year, switching from Chairing our annual fundraiser's PR committee to a Provisional Advisor. I had met so many friends who had joined the Junior League and had gotten overwhelmed with navigating this 1,000+ member, volunteer run organization that they ended up deactivating. I'm definitely not saying it's for everyone, but I really believe in then power meeting driven Women and working together to give back to the community. You just have to find the best place for JL to fit in your life and align with your goals. I was so excited to be assigned a group of new members this year to guide them through the process of understanding the League! I hope they all find it as empowering as I do. 

For our first small group meeting I put together these cute Welcome Bags  I saw the bag idea on Pinterest and googled furiously for a calligraphy guide and Pom-Pom making guide. It was so easy, and luckily we had a few goodies left over from Fashion Show gift bags to include. 

For the tumblers I actually ordered just the decals off etsy and then mass ordered the clear tumblers off Amazon. My friend was making some for her sister's bachelorette party so we split the order. 

The finished bag looked so cute along the wall at the wine bar we met at!

The Goodies!

All my 'failed' attempts at monogrammed gift tags.