"My Bedroom"

By Rachel Abi

Sounds like the start to one of those "how well do you know this person" games.  Sadly it is not.   

I once heard that when decorating a house the first room you should decorate is your bedroom, to keep a lively... certain type of life.  I do not know who told me this nor if it is true but it makes me wonder.  I have not taken that advice in my home.  We bought a little ranch style home a few years back and have slowly be redoing it and we are almost done: all that's left on the inside is one bathroom, a few small touches here and there (light fixtures mainly), and our bedroom.  It is kind of sad looking right now.  Having just been given a fresh batch of clothes (got to love giveaway bags) it sits in a pile on one side of the bed begging to get organized and used.  There are pieces and parts to the bathroom we have not yet finished sitting around.  When I look around the room I wonder who actually takes that advice.  Not that it is bad advice just that it seems a lot more pragmatic (hence why I did it the way I did... bit too practical for my own good) to decorate the areas to be seen often then where you sleep.   Don't get me wrong I am giddy over finally doing some decorating in my bedroom!  

Do you ever stare and wonder: what should I do?  My bedroom is like a blank canvas... just too many ideas. And no decisions.  If you'd like and have the time feel free to leave suggestions for what we should do!

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Crafts for the wedding.

 I can finally show you some of the projects I was working on for my sister's wedding.  I ended up being over the decor for the wedding.  So I made banners and two "here comes" "the bride" signs.

First came the signs

By Rachel Abi

For the "here comes" and "the bride" I took burlap and cut it to size (that is the size that I wanted to signs to be).

Then I used some creams material and cut out the letters by hand but they have tracers that can be used, that are awesome.

I laid them the letters and pinned them.

Then came the banners. 

I used the same cream and burlap materials from the other signs.  

I wanted a imperfect look so I cut it out by hand but stencils can make it a bit easier.

I did a layering to make the letters (standing for Sarah and Stephen) stand out!

I attached them to a matching piece of yarn that would be long enough to attach to anything that I would need to attach it to.

I took all the material I had using for all the other projects and used them for basic banners for the walls.  Cut carrots out and attach them to yarn.  I folded material over and cut out the carrot like shapes (making almost a diamond shape).

And this is the final product for both!

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Failure

So I totally forgot that I said I was going to continue the organization train... Ooops.

Okay so getting back on.

Another great way to start getting organized is clearing out and organizing something you don't use on a regular basis. I like to do things like my household cabinet, we all have one.  Filled with light bulbs, extra cleaning supplies, and other random needed household items.  The best way for me to organize is to pull out everything.  Organize the different items and dis-guard anything I don't want before trying to organize where they go in the cabinet.  The largest thing in organization is the ability to dis-guard unusable items.  It is a difficult task but it is extremely necessary.  More often then not there are things in your house, closet, kitchen that you will never use or rarely use.  The enemy of an organized home are one use wonders.  Unless you make a whole lot of doughnuts the "doughnut maker" is unnecessary, much like the "Perfect brownie maker" or the "mini pie maker".  These devises though they might sound need crowd and already full kitchen with clutter.  Unless you are using an appliance a few times a month: it is unnecessary.  There are other more efficient ways to do whatever that appliance might do.  A pan with some oil in it and dough will make just as great doughnuts.  The oven does wonders for pie ; D

My point is take it small.  Getting overwhelmed with the task ahead doesn't help anyone, but know that throwing stuff away is a huge and necessarily part of getting organized.   And this is coming from the queen of free, the lover of never spending money.  I am all for storing something you will use: toothpaste, running shoes, sugar...

Be encouraged: you can have a home you are proud of you can have an organized home and it doesn't have to take a lifetime!

By Rachel Abi

By Raleigh Wedding Photographer

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Salmon cakes

So I have a game I like to play.  When my cabinets are low and I don't have time to go to the store, I look through my cabinets and see what I can make with what I have.

This particular night I made Samon cakes with a lemon cream sauce with some rice.

How?  I had two cans of Salmon and some old bread and spices.

Grate old bread till crumbs.

Open and mix the Salmon and crumbs

Add herbs

Grab and patty the Salmon

Pan sear the cakes in olive oil, just till darker than a golden brown (just make sure that they don't burn).

Putter, lemon, olive oil, heavy cream and herbs (you can add whatever you want to taste)

While I finished the sauce a kept the cakes warm in the oven.

After the cream is added this is what the sauce will look at.

Here is the finished product!

By Rachel Abi

By Raleigh Wedding Photographer

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Life change in baby steps

In January there is always a list of resolutions that are made up and generally getting organized is one of them.  If you are actually going to try and tackle that one this year, a word of caution: start small.  Getting organized can take the wind out of your sails pretty quickly.  Getting organized is a life change, much like loosing weight and keeping it off.  There is no crash course it will be a difficult change BUT it can be done and done pretty easy.  Start small. Pick a small project.  Something that is close to your heart, something that really bugs you that isn't organized.  Something as silly as your sock drawer, it doesn't matter but make the project small.  Organize that one drawer and with each time you access the drawer keep it that way.  When you put away the laundry place those "socks" exactly where they are supposed to go.  Organization is getting in the habit of straightening continuously.  When you pull something out, after you use it, put it away.  But for today pick one thing, one small thing to organize and keep on it everyday and come back Tuesday to see what to add to organizational regiment.

By Rachel Abi

By Raleigh Wedding Photographer

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Wham bam thank you ma'am

Okay, so I like to deal with what I have.  I don't like to spend money... at all.  So I was given this shirt, for Chris, but it was too big.  So I could pass it on but I couldn't think of anyone who was that size and would want/need it, so I went to work.

Step one:  I had him put the shirt on inside out and pinned off the extra material

Step two: Sew along the line of needles, using them as your guide.

Step three: cut off the material 

Check the fit and if it is all good you're done!

The shirt was all done in less then 7 minutes!

By Rachel Abi

By Raleigh Wedding Photographer

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Impromtu

My family like many has a lot of birthdays in November.  Makes sense when you think about it. . . Valentines Day and all that.  All the same some how each birthday seems to creep up on me.  I know they are coming but they just keep coming.  About a week ago I heard my brother was coming into Raleigh to hang out, so I went over an spent some time with him.  Not much time since he came into Raleigh to play golf.  While he was away my nieces and I hatched a plan: an impromptu b'day celebration.  Seeing as somehow we were stranded without a car we had no choice but to use what we had.  This was our creation.  With the use of tissue paper, paper, the two candles in the house and the baking goods we could find this is what we came up with. . . whatcha think?

The cakes looked a bit funny but tasted great, they were crushed pineapple and strawberry upside down cakes.  In the end my brother was surprised and the cakes were crushed.

By Rachel Abi

By Raleigh Wedding Photographer

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