Day 19 - Nesting in These Foolish Things

Is it weird that I’m so excited about nesting for the next few days? We are getting the arctic blast that a good portion of the country is getting, and I have plans to stay inside (except for dog walks that will also count as workouts in my challenge - as long as they are 45 minutes long! Ouch) and otherwise not leave the apartment at all at least through Tuesday.

Here are a few of the things that I have planned:

• Clean off my dining room table. It happens every few weeks or so since I work from home - my dining room table becomes a catch-all for work samples, mail, random boxes of things I’ve purchased online, cleaning supplies, and other odds and ends. It is pure clutter and makes me INSANE. I honestly can’t stand to have anything on that table except some kind of simple centerpiece decor. So it just takes some concentrated time to clean it off and I will be so happy and it will feel much more calm in this space.

• Clothing donations. Okay, since I’ve been doing this 75 Hard Vintage style challenge where I’m wearing at least one piece of vintage, thrifted, or otherwise pre-loved items daily, I’ve gone a little crazy with the thrifted pieces and now I have to pare down my closet! See, when I do my volunteer work with the thrift organization, the founder tells me every time to grab anything that I like and take it! So I always end up doing a little thrifting for myself. And the local Goodwill is a treasure trove for inexpensive and really good quality items as well! And then I’ve also found a favorite vintage store here in town and I can’t walk in there without buying something amazing. Our PB friend [Rarzwon] has seen this personally…we went for a walk on the city trail together and I asked him to just take a peek in the store with me and I ended up walking out with the most AMAZING sashiko jacket/robe similar to this piece but for a fraction of the price!! I am LOVING this challenge for so many reasons, but I’ve gone a little overboard with the pre-loved items. Now, in order to fit all of the new-to-me pieces into my closet, I have to dig deep and clean out the pieces I no longer wear. I’ve got to Kondo like a mutha this weekend!

• Related to above, trying my hand at sashiko! It’s a Japanese hand embroidery technique that’s similar to hand quilting, but used a lot in clothing repair - a textile wabi sabi, if you will. I’ve always loved this mending look on denim, and I have a lot of jeans and a denim jacket that all desperately need repairs! I think this looks super cool, and I bought a sashiko mending kit to see if I could do it. I need to practice before I actually try to repair some of my items, so I may do some of that during my nesting as well.

• Also related to above, laundry. It’s being done now as I type this out. I do launder every thrift item before wearing, and I did a Goodwill run yesterday. I actually bought some sweaters that needed to be hand washed so those are drying, and the rest of my thrift haul is already in the dryer along with my regular laundry. Why do I find this so exciting?! I love the sort of ceremonial welcoming of pre-loved items into my current wardrobe so much. I try to take sure to wash out any negative energy that may be left in the garment from the previous owner and gratefully accept the positive energy that is left behind. Is this weird??

• The critter feeding situation. In other news that makes me sound like an old person: I am in LOVE with all of my new bird feeding equipment! I think I told you that I got a bird feeder for Christmas, right? And I have loved it except for the fact that the squirrels are getting very, very comfortable with the fact that there are seeds around. No matter how I hang the feeder from the branches of the tree that’s close to my balcony, they have figured out how to break in - even with the homemade baffle I made out of Martini’s “cone of shame.” So I just ordered a bigger one, and it should arrive tonight via Amazon. BUT! I told my parents that I was having so much fun with the feeder that they sent me one of those little suet cages so that I could have another way to feed the critters. And ohhhhh, what fun I’m having with this thing. I’ve hung some suet on another one of the branches and I could tell a squirrel may have gotten to it yesterday, so I tried to pull it further away from the tree trunk so that the squirrels wouldn’t eat all of it in one day. Well last night I looked out the window, and what did I see? A GIANT raccoon trying to pull the suit cage back over to the trunk of the tree! I tried to get a pic, but it wasn’t clear. This was the best shot I could get of this big guy! I think he was way bigger than Martini! This is my Saturday night entertainment! So, I need to figure out a couple of better ways to hang my feeders. They are totally rigged up with short bungee cords and makeshift baffles right now and look a little trashy. Trying to figure out how to class up the balcony and still feed the birdies and other critters!

• Warm comfort food! I plan to do some cooking during my nesting days, too! I went to the grocery store yesterday and bought all of the things I need to make that delicious butternut squash soup that I’m trying to perfect. Also, I found a recipe for wrapperless egg rolls made with ground turkey, some tuna patty ideas, and I’m also trying to perfect my chicken and black bean meatball recipe. I’ve now perfected the Starbucks egg white bites dupe, and I love those for breakfast so I’ll make those too. And maybe some other things…but that’s a LOT for one person.

• Bumbling. I want to go on some dates. That means I have to get myself out there. I need to clean up my profile desperately. All of my photos are pretty old, and that’s a big no-no! And my bio needs to be spruced up, I think. A good profile takes work. I hate it when I see a slapped-together profile, and I feel like mine may be reflective of that at this point since I’ve only made a few edits since I’ve moved to [current city] nearly two years ago! TWO YEARS??! Wow.

• Also, LinkedIn? Ugh. The thought of this one is daunting. I just need to review. I’m not sure how far I’ll get with this one, but I keep thinking more and more about a side hustle, and I suppose that I really need to just network rather than necessarily edit my own profile.

Let’s see how far I can get with this list in the next few days! Now I need to walk the dog and get a workout in.

Happy Nesting!

xox,
GS