Project 333

It is the end of the first quarter of 2012 and time for an assessment of my New Year’s resolution (see January 1, 2012 post).  My goal was to avoid any purchases of clothing (one exception—see below) and be satisfied with 33 items of clothing/jewelry for 3 months. (And if you recall the guidelines, the count does not include sport and event specific wear like hiking gear or dress clothing.    www.theproject333.com)   I am excited to report this was very eye opening, and it was a successful first quarter!

What I learned:

 

1. Most jewelry and watches are no longer part of my life.  With the exception of a few earrings and my wedding ring, the rest were not being used.  Watches and bracelets were irritating to wear and in the way, especially when I was golfing or painting.  I just was not ‘fessing up to the truth about this before.  Necklaces, too.  They are slowly getting sold or given away. 
2. Paring down to two basic colors for pants and reducing the count was truly liberating.  Black and denim—one black and two denim.  The exception may be my white jeans this summer. 
3. No more prints means a lot more flexibility.  Layer up your T’s and  button-up shirts, wear with a multi-color scarf or top it off with a jacket, if you need color and creativity.
4. The clothes that did not fit well were jettisoned and I never looked back.  Much easier to dress with clothing that fits and I enjoy. 
5. Shoes and items that were not multi-functional did not make the cut.  The red Teva water shoes only worn on the beach, although very cute, were not worth the time and space they occupied.  Out! Out!

With the jewelry and clothing sold (over $200, so far), I did purchase a classy, short trench rain jacket on sale at Nordstroms.  Can be worn with jeans or dress pants.  The style has been in fashion for decades and should last a good long while.   I made a promise that I would not buy clothing unless I sold enough to pay for a new purchase.  I kept my promise.

Well, this is fun and dressing in the morning is so much easier.  The closet has loads of room now and looks like a photo shoot from J.Crew (you know, lots of space in-between).  I plan to fine-tune the 33 and adjust for summer.  There are still a few shirts I am not totally in love with and they will be replaced at some point.

Whether you live in a 200 square foot RV or a large home, this is a worthwhile and thoughtful approach to dressing.  Living in the land of “enough”. 

Fresh

While in Disney World two months ago, we took time to hang out one evening at the rustic bar in the Fort Wilderness RV Park.  It was early in the evening and no other customers, so we were able to chat with the bartender as she was pressing out fresh lime juice for the nightly margaritas.  The juice press was industrial strength and manual operation.  Very easy to use and fast.  We were loving the fresh orange, lime and lemon juice from both Florida and California when we were visiting and decided we had to have one to continue the experience.

After finding a good deal on eBay, we ordered the Alpine citrus juice press and love it!  Fresh orange juice in the morning, lime juice for the mojitos and scratch salsa, and the best lemonade for the afternoon. 

Love it!  We save and dry all the rinds for potpourri or make a concoction for warding off ants (works!).  This is one of the reasons we love traveling--the exposure to new ideas and talking with people who can show you a “fresh” perspective.

Ordinary Days

I read several blogs each day including one about kayaking around the Olympic Peninsula and Puget Sound.  Called “The Last Wilderness” and besides fantastic photography and great writing, the author describes places I want to kayak in the near future.  “The Last Wilderness” blog post from yesterday included a quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe that got me thinking.

"A man can stand almost anything except a succession of ordinary days."

Except in our case, we have been enjoying a week of ordinary days since returning from Florida.  After four months of almost daily “going”, it is nice to do the mundane like cleaning, catching up on errands and stocking up the empty refrigerator.  But, I can see soon we will want to start exploring the Olympic Peninsula again.  We are putting our plans together for those local trips, and maybe purchase kayaks this summer.  Time to break away from our “succession of ordinary days”.

A Brief Visit With Family

An unexpected and pleasant visit today with Mike’s brother and wife.  They drove up from Wickenburg to Kingman, where we are staying until we head up north to Washington State.  We had a wonderful visit (they are so dang nice) and fun visiting the Route 66 Museum in Kingman, Arizona.

The museum is located on Historic Route 66 in the Powerhouse Visitor Center in downtown Kingman. The Route 66 Museum is housed in a historic Powerhouse building (closed after Hoover Dam was completed and the Powerhouse was no longer needed), located in the “heart” of the longest remaining stretch of the 2400 miles that was Route 66.   Lots of interesting history to view in pictures and displays.

Tomorrow, we make the long drive to Jackpot, Nevada.  We are taking US-93 since the weather looks decent for the next 24 hours.  But, Tuesday is pretty iffy for weather.  We may be staying at the Cactus Pete Casino for an extra day.  Oh, darn.

Route 66

Charles Karault once said, “"Interstate highways allow you to drive coast to coast, without seeing anything", but I would disagree somewhat.  Over the last three days, we have traveled along Old Route 66 via Interstate 40.  You can see how much the countryside changes from the different climates.--Arkansas and Oklahoma have some green giving way to the Texas scrub, barren New Mexico to the real desert of Arizona.  Some states have smooth well-cared for roads and others not so much.  It is wonderful to see how big this country really is.

Taking a much needed two-day rest in Arizona after driving 2,500 miles from Florida.  Then heading back north to Washington State.