The (Hopefully!) Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Here's the thing. I have clutter.

I wouldn't necessarily call myself a pack rat. Or a hoarder. It's more of a nostalgia thing. (*I'm also notorious for having clean clothes on the floor all the time because I'm just not into hanging them up. My bad.)

But as I've moved from state to state, apartment to apartment, the collections have gotten tiresome and heavy. Literally really heavy to keep moving around. So gradually, I've simplified. Made difficult departures with books and things, that now, I don't even remember what they were.

About a month ago I put Marie Kondo's "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" on hold at the library, and finally picked it up a few days ago. It's pretty internet-famous and it seems to really work for people.

Like I mentioned before, we're moving again but this time staying put for a few years, at least. I'm excited to have a place to be settled into. And, instead of looking at it as a place to hold all that clutter, looking at it as a place to start fresh and only take there what I really want to. Hopefully, this book will be the start of that process of sorting through what goes with us and what does not.

You can learn more about Marie Kondo's book over at tidyingup.com. And, here's a short video of Marie talking about how tidying should be simple:

Have you read it already? Did it work? I figure it's worth it a try!

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new apartment decor, please?

I was thinking about this book yesterday.

"It's much harder to get rid of books..."

Literary Living Style

We're moving... again.

Not across the country, again, thank god. And this time with the help of professional movers, thank god.

We're just headed to another neighborhood in Seattle. We're locked in there for a while, which means I'm browsing furniture and decor that I could invest in knowing I won't have to pack it up and move with it anytime soon.

Of course, it is hard to walk away from the gravitational pull of library-themed furniture and beautiful bookshelves. So I've found myself pinning so many wonderful book-related things and figured I should share some of my unearthed gems.

library sign // card catalog // magazine storage // book ends // letters

I actually used to have that Library sign from three potato four, but I didn't pack it very well and the wood snapped when I moved. It's a candidate for a repurchase.

And luckily my boyfriend is on board with the whole neutrals + gold thing, so most of these could probably get the "okay". (I'm so lucky.)

Seriously though, a card catalog for my home, please.

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still obsessed with this literary-inspired collection from Kate Spade

too many beautiful bookshelves, not enough square footage

reading is radical!

Blogging again is difficult. Beer helps.

It's difficult to fall back into routines you've let go of.

Like, posting on this blog. Or reading regularly.

I'm trying to jump back into both. They go hand-in-hand, so it's a commitment that should be super easy and natural, right? Sort of.

Something that makes that reading part earlier is getting one of those really great emails from the library saying a book you put a hold on is finally available. I got one of those emails earlier this week and walked to my branch on Monday to pick up Galileo's Middle Finger by Alice Dreger.

One of my favorite ways to spend a sunny afternoon is to make that walk, pick up a book and head straight to one of the best little restaurants in my neighborhood. They have a great patio and on beautiful afternoons, I know I won't be the only one sitting at one of their picnic tables with a book and a beer.

Some books just need a beer companion.

A photo posted by Alaina Buzas (@alainabuzas) on May 4, 2015 at 2:22pm PDT

Of course, as soon as I snapped this picture, I thought of one of the best Tumblrs out there: Book and Beer, which, quite obviously, pairs good beer with good books.

So far, the best combination I've seen has been the glory of drinking a Russian Stout while reading War and Peace. Too. Good.

Do you drink when you read? So curious. I feel like there's so many photos that go around of wine drinking and reading... hmm...

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my new favorite kind of poetry

"It is often much harder to get rid of books than it is to acquire them" 

still loving all things Lego + libraries