"Vanity" Drawer Organization

Here it is, ladies and gentlemen: my first organization project on this little blog. Please note, I'm using the term "project" pretty loosely. This was a "project" that took less than 30 minutes to do and not a whole lot of planning (other than the fact I was keeping my eye out for some containers for a couple of weeks). 

Meet the top drawer of the dresser in my room. Currently, my dresser has four drawers (though the bottom one is like a double deep drawer and should really count for two) and I use the top one as a "vanity" drawer. What does this mean? It means two things: one, because I'm a college student and live with roommates I don't really have a space in the bathroom for all of my "getting ready" things and, two, I don't really have any sort of vanity to store these things in my room. Thus, the top drawer of my dresser had a job: to be the place where I jammed stored the things I used to get ready and just do life with. As you can see by the picture, this drawer was a mess.

I could not find anything. Bobby pins were scattered around the drawer, hairbrushes could go hiding for days, headbands were everywhere and nothing made much sense. Which led to loosing time in the mornings searching for things, which ultimately led to less time for coffee in the morning and we all know what that means (;

So, I decided to organize my little drawer and make my mornings a little less chaotic because, let's be real, this girl needs all the time for drinking coffee that she can get.

What I used:

 

- Two mini-containers that are supposed to be used for office supplies

- Two pink containers from the dollar section of Target 

- One white container that was already being used in the drawer, but not very well

- One Yankee Candle from a candle that is long gone

The Process:

For my little project, the process was pretty simple. I took all of the items out of the drawer, wiped the drawer down, and then separeted the things into different piles:

- Things used daily

- Make-up -ish things (Please note, I don't wear a lot of make up [read:foundation and mascara on a crazy day] so, I don't have a lot of things in this category.)

- Hair things (bobby pins, ties, head bands, etc)

- Things used not so daily (sunscreen, wisp toothbrushes, moisture masks, etc.)

Then, I put them in containers that made sense for me. I corralled the mess of bobby pins and hair ties into the little office containers. I put make-up related things in one of the pink containers and not so used thing in the other pink container. Then, I just put the more daily used things where they fit and made sense.

See:

Ahh. So much better then the mess of things that I started with. I can now see where everything is, which means less chaos in the mornings and more time to breathe and it cost me $2.00, which means more money for this college student. Not too shabby if you ask me (:

Pumpkin Spice Coffee Syrup

Fall is finally here! The weather is cooling down (thank goodness!), boots are being warn, and knit scarves are being taken out of their storage boxes in the basement. Along with the cooler weather comes something that I know that I also associate with fall: pumpkin. Pumpkin in coffee, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin candles, pumpkin everything. 

One of my favorite things about fall is the pumpkin spice latte that comes out at all of the local coffee places. However, as a college student, paying at least four dollars a latte starts to put quite the dent in my wallet (particularly a college student who’s basement just flooded). So, I found a way that you can make it at home which is good for two reasons: one, I’m going to be saving a lot of money and, two, I now can stay in my pj’s and drink pumpkin spice. Hallelujah.

Pumpkin Spice Coffee Syrup

Adapted from The Messy Baker Blog

Makes a pint.

The Stuff:

1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 cup white granulated sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon 

(or more! the more cinnamon the better, in my opinion)
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. of cloves
1/2 cup pumpkin puree 

(I probably used closer to 3/4 cup, but what can I say, I love pumpkin!)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

The Process:

In a medium saucepan combine white sugar and brown sugar with the water. Simmer the mixture on medium heat until all of the sugar dissolves. Mine took about 10 minutes.

Once sugar has dissolved, add cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and pumpkin puree. Then, whisk until the mixture is smooth and heat for another 10-12 minutes, but don’t allow the mixture to boil.

After heated through, it is suggested that you strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer, however, I do not own one (college student life, yay!) and ended up not straining it at all. So, I ended up with a thicker, darker syrup. You could do it either way, depending on your preference.

Once strained, allow the syrup to come to room temperature and then add the vanilla. Keep your syrup in an air tight container in the fridge. I put mine in an old kombucha bottle.

When making a pumpkin spice “latte”, I add about two spoonfuls of this to my mug, and a splash of milk. It gives such a great fall touch to my morning, afternoon, all of the time coffee.

Currently.

I am welcoming Fall by drinking pumpkin spice lattes like they're going out of style.

I am going on morning runs with my roommate and marveling at the beauty of being outdoors. I'm leaning that I fit quite a bit better in the country than in the city. Apparently, you can take both the girl out of the city and the city out of the girl. 

I am singing to rooms that are empty and finding that my heart comes more alive. The audience of One far surpasses having an audience of one-thousand. There's less pressure, no cameras, and finally I can focus on why I'm there in the first place.

I am wearing pretty striped dresses from friends and embracing the last little bit of nice weather that we're getting here in the Midwest. News is, this weekend was probably the last "nice" one that we will have all year. So, we had a worship-team hang out, swung on swings, and played croquet without shoes on. Needless to say, my croquet skills are seriously laking, but the company was great. (Also, your iPhone might autocorrect "croquet" to "crochet" and you will probably feel really silly. Just a heads up.)

I am starting a blog (which is why you're reading this (: ) and trying to figure out all of the technical-things that come with doing anything on the internet.

Welcome to my journey.