Goodbye 2011

Is is just me or has 2011 flown by?!  

What an incredible year it has been...

1. Bought my beloved CR-V that helps me 

load up tons of organizing products for my clients.

2. Visited Austin for the first time to surprise my 

best friend for her birthday.

3. Got engaged!!!

4. Worked with more clients this year than ever before

and was so inspired by their hard work.

5. Took my fiance to Europe and ate a ridiculous amount of

chocolate and french fries.

6. Traveled to Washington DC three times to visit with my future family.

7. Hosted some fun parties for my lovely friends... 

and was shocked when they surprised us with our own celebrations.

8. Spent way to much time on wedding blogs and Etsy.

9. Danced in my living room with my Wii videos.

10. Held my nephew for the first time who then gave me a big ol' burp!  

Phew!  This year has been filled with love and laughter, challenges and obstacles.  

Thank you for reading my little blog and supporting me and my nutty obsessions.

Here's to 2012 being the best year yet!

xo

~Leah

(photo credit: RIVA)

Putting it all back

Is anyone dreading having to pack up all of their holiday decorations?

Let's be honest, it's so much more fun taking everything out and making the house look festive than putting it all back.

To help you make the clean up a bit easier,

here are some of my favorite Holiday Organizing products:

Organize.com

These ornament drawers not only keep things organized, but they make it so much easier to see what you have.  The labels on each drawer and the side handles are great added features!  

The Container Store

This wreath storage box is NEW at the Container Store.  The fact that it stands upright and has a top handle is so great for storing in small spaces.  They can also stack.  

Organize.com

I love this stylish china storage box.  They come in all the sizes you would need and look great stored away.  You can also fold them up when not in use.

So, what are your favorite Holiday Storage items?  Anything you are struggling with?  Tell the truth, how long do you keep your decorations up?  Please don't tell me Valentine's Day!  

~Leah

Hello everyone!  

I just got back from a wonderful trip to Washington DC visiting family and celebrating the holidays.  

It was such a fun trip, and not too chilly.  Yay! 

Festive decorations at the White House

Adorable name cards for our interfaith family

Our stockings stuffed with goodies!

Cozy Wine Glass Slippers

We spent the last five days snuggling with our new nephew, eating delicious food (and lots of sweets!), and exploring the city.  It was a great trip, but I always try to make some notes about what worked and didn't work.  Remember my Thanksgiving Wrap Up?  

Well, here's my Holiday Wrap Up: 

1. When traveling across the country with gifts, try not to buy bulky items that are hard to pack.

2. The gift totes I bought from Michael's worked perfectly for fast and easy wrapping.

3. Uggs are great for traveling to cold weather locations and so easy to slip on and off at security.

4. Make notes about gifts right away so that I don't forget anything when writing my thank you's.

5. Bring more travel space bags for sweatshirts and other bulky items in my suitcase.

Now that the holidays are coming to an end, I have lots of clients who are looking to streamline their gift wrap stash and re-work their decor storage.  I would encourage all of you to evaluate these areas now, so that next year you can spend less time dealing with holiday messes and more time eating holiday cupcakes... I mean spending time with family.  :-)

~Leah 

(photo credit: smswigart)

All Tangled Up

It seems like everyone is talking about holiday decorating right now... 

and joking about how it can be such a tangled mess!  

Even Ellen's mascot for her 12 Days of Giveaways is "Hot Mess," a ball of lights that skips around her studio giving out presents to all the screaming guests.  And last night on Whitney, her friends tried to help untangle their string of lights and completely gave up... they just stuck the whole bunch on the front.  I couldn't stop giggling!  

But you don't have to deal with your own hot mess at home.  Your lights can be easily organized and stored with these organizers:  

Wing-lid Light Storage Box

 The cord wrap organizer keeps those lights from getting into a big, messy ball.  It also makes it much easier to decorate your tree and home.  To keep the lights protected during the rest of the year, store them in this hinged, wing-lid bin.  All from The Container Store.

This year, let's leave the hot messes to the sitcoms!

~Leah

My Scattered Brain

Lately, I feel like my mind is overflowing.  I have a million things going on in there at all times.  Probably not the best way to be efficient and get things done!

So, before I allowed myself to get too frustrated, I got my butt into a yoga class.  

Just sitting on my mat and clearing my head was so centering.  I also realized that when you are in the midst of chaos, it is helpful to remove yourself to get some perspective.  

This is exactly what I tell my clients! 

Maybe I should start listening to my own advice.  :-)

Tell me, what do you do to help de-clutter your mind? 

~Leah

(Photo Credit: J_Laen)

A lovely weekend

(Photo Credit: Natalie Maynor)

Did you guys have a nice weekend? Ours was fun and relaxing... It started off with a two-year-old birthday party (absolutely adorable!), a trip to the local farmer's market, lots of work on a jigsaw puzzle, playing with our sweet (furry) son, giggling over videos of our newborn nephew, and a cake tasting for our wedding. 

Can you get addicted to puzzles?

Someone thinks this is a perfect spot to sunbathe

Even the samples have labels!  I was so giddy!

 Now that it's Monday, I am feeling pretty motivated to get some work done and cross things off my list.  I am excited to work with some new clients on their holiday storage, which can be a daunting task.  But who doesn't want a little less stress during the holidays?!  

What are you doing to ease the stress during this time of year? 

~Leah

Tori's a Hoarder?!

Guilty pleasure alert: 

I watch Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood

On this week's season premier, Dean exposes Tori's "hoarding" tendencies and attempts to stage an intervention to get her stuff out of their garage.  

They reveal later in the show that Tori has also been holding onto EVERY SINGLE piece of furniture she has ever purchased... resulting in hundreds of storage units!!  Whoa.  

This reminded me of that section in US Weekly called "Just Like Us!"

Even celebrities have messy garages and are hoarders!  

Her solution was to open a store to sell her collection... maybe not a solution that most of us regular people could pull off in only one month, but I commend her for letting go.  

Who knew that Tori Spelling could be such an inspiration to all of us out there!  

(Eye roll)

To see more pics as well as video clips of the show, click here.  

~Leah