Accessorize, organize, prioritize and moisturize.

Last year, I promised myself that I would do four things: accessorize, organize, prioritize and moisturize.

Well. In some ways I think I succeeded and in others, I think there's always more you can do.

1. Accessorize: In general, I think being able to accessorize relies heavily on your ability to organize what you have... in the first place. So, originally I attempted to organize all of my accessories so that I'd be able to see them each morning while getting ready and see if anything matched my clothes.

I bought those 3m hooks for necklaces and earrings (hanging in small pouches). Ideally I would like to 1. invest in more necklaces and 2. invest in an earring holder so they are all visible.

I found pictures on Pinterest of bracelets displayed on a paper towel holder and I thought it was a great idea. So I bought a paper towel holder for this purpose (even though my kitchen paper towels are still floating on the counter and after 11 months still don't have a holder of their own). Turns out, it's not the best idea. Because 1. they mesh together and you can't see what you have and 2. if you want a bracelet at the bottom you have to take them all off. That's way too much work. However, they are still displayed this way because I'm still trying to find something else that works.

What I was able to do was wear a couple of things each day (some more recently than others) but here goes:

I wear my wedding/engagement rings each day, of course.

I got this necklace at the beginning of December as a gift and have been wearing it ever since:

I bought myself a Pandora bracelet around my birthday. I was pretty sure I didn't want it, but a best friend told me I was wrong :)

Turns out she was right, because I do love the thing. I'm currently collecting charms:

And these are my staple earrings I wear each day. I switch off, but I think most of the year was spent in the orange ones:

So all in all, there's much to do but I think I made progress since in 2011 the only jewelry I ever wore were my rings.

2. Organize: There's so much I could show you. But I think organization is such a broad topic I could probably break the post up a bit to not overwhelm. What I will show you today, is how I organized a lot of my beauty products. Sean was always complaining that underneath the bathroom sink was always so crowded and that I needed 'to stop moving his stuff". In his defense he had like 4 things that I always found myself moving around. So I took everything out:

See? So messy. So random. I already had the bins from Target (you can get 5 of them for like $6.99) and I organized them a little differently.

Rather than just have all sorts of everything in all the bins I organized them by: hair, nails, skin, travel, extra (or things we have multiples of thus CHECK HERE before we buy anything new).



I used scrapbooking paper to make the labels and since the boxes were clear and not that nice to look at the paper spruces it all up a bit. Rather than put them back under the sink, I have them out high on top of the washing machine. Ideally, I'd like to hang a shelf on top of the washing machine and have them stacked there rather than directly on top but it's worked so far. And Sean stop complaining that I had so much stuff.

3. Prioritize: I know that we both do this very well. But again, there's always more you can do. We've tried to see family more, spend more time with friends, and obviously more time set aside for each other that doesn't just consist of watching TV. One thing we try to do each week is see our families. We live about 45 minutes away from our parents and on Sundays we try to make the rounds. It's nice to spend time and occasionally we get well-balanced meals out of the visits. :)

With friends, I've tried to set aside time to hang out, meet up or at least talk on the phone. It's nice to even meet for an hour if possible.

4. Moisturize: You can never do this enough. I'll show you my favorites:

1. Jergens Ultra Healing - body lotion

2. Cera Ve - face lotion

3. Sleep Lavendar Chamomile - hand lotion before bed

4. Nivea creme - face lotion [kept in my bag]

5. Cindy Crawford Meaningful Beauty - face lotion before bed

6. Gold Bond ultimate healing - hand lotion

7. Bath and body works, Last Kiss body butter - for anytime

Well, there you have it.

2012 is done. 2013 is here.

And I hope to continue doing all of these things in the new year!