Chicago Organizing Spree

The above picture is literally what you see as you come in our front door to our apartment.

 Since I've been back in Chicago I have done a lot of organizing. In January this year I made a little pledge to myself to stop procrastinating. Basically I got really exhausted ha! Yes, it's very tiring physically to stop procrastinating because I began finishing up all kinds of projects that left half done. I also began hardcore purging of items like old socks, old magazines and papers. Shredding documents and giving away stuff I didn't love or really need. It's been pretty cool.

 I had stashed all kinds of crap and flotsom on the mantel...so I took everything off. I winterized the mantel by taping plastic on any open woodwork. The fireplace is long dormant and air is leaking so now I have covered that up and I replaced some of the objects I had here...and the rest were either put away or disposed. The Madonna picture is an advertisement turned into a  collage by Stagg of a concert of hers I went to
in 2006.

 The porcelain Jesus in the middle of these figures is Stagg's from when he was growing up. I needed a female goddess and I found one in a second hand store with pink glitter!

 The watercolour is Stagg's from art school. I just painted a frame I found in the alley for it. A project I had procrastinated but now done!

 This is a polaroid of me from xmas 2004.

 This is Stagg and I dancing before we even dated...this is a dance at Eugene and Sheila's wedding 2001.

 Stagg and I are on our first date in the picture frames above. Memphis 2005. The fish is "Pickles". He's a fighter not a lover.

 This is a postcard I have on the mantel. It's from my dad
and step-mum Dariel. It's from Greece, July 13, 1988. It's a picture of squid hanging on a line by a boat and outdoor restaurant.

 Here is what the postcard says..."We weren't on the unfortunate cruise ship. Two days in Athens, heading for Istanbul today. Athens is hot, noisy, polluted, etc and very dependent on tourists. As you can see from the card, much of the seafood is self-serve. Miss you, wish you were here," Very representative of my dads kind of humour and opinions. Funny and not easily impressed.

 This is sitting on the mantel too. I found this in a secondhand store in the 90's. It's a cosmetic mirror. It says 50th festival du Cannes. I don't know the story behind it and have looked but not found anything. I assume it's from a  "swag bag" for festival events. It has "Davis" inscribed on it as well.

 We have these two metal storage cupboards int he corner. I've got our paints, brushes and hardware in them. We are suing this room to paint.

 Standing in front room looking down through apartment...if you click on the picture you can see all the way to the kitchen in the back of the place. I've changed the carpet in the living room this week...we now have a black and grey carpet in there.

 Standing in the living room this is the front room. I have atable with the computer on it. I used to have an "office" with a tv and the desktop. It was very dark and kind of not a good use of space....I realized our desktop had wifi so I just moved it out here as an experiment. It seems to be an okay spot for the desktop so far so good.