Organizing Project #1

So you know how I offered to organize a few people's rooms for free in exchange for before and after pictures and a testimonial? Mary was my first taker. :) Here is the little room that she wanted to make into an arts and crafts room.

Before:
And after:
To the left, she's got general crafty projects stored in the cabinet, fabric and sewing supplies in/on the skinny bookshelf, and a table for a workspace...
...and to the right, a painting section (although when she paints she'll take the easel into another room for better lighting) and a shelving unit that stores her gift wrap supplies, more painting tools, and a bunch of frames.
So fun, right? :)

Me? An Entrepreneur?

Who would have ever thought that I would embark on a business venture of my own? But here I am, contemplating it.

I love turning lemons into lemonade, and I love turning a messy, chaotic room into a place of order and peace. And it's not just that I enjoy it... It actually gives me a rush of happy adrenaline. If I'm in a bad mood, give me a messy closet to organize and clean, and I transform into a happy person.

When I married Jeff, his (our) home had been without a woman's touch for three years. So maybe you can imagine how much I, as a new wife, longed to not only clean the place up, but also put my own touches on it, making it my own! I remember the first week we were back from our honeymoon, I dove into the kitchen cabinets with passion, throwing away out-of-date cans of diced tomatoes, wiping down the cabinet doors, and re-organizing everything in a way that made things more efficient and aesthetically pleasing. I attacked each room after that with the same passion - the living room, rec room, guest room, office. Oh my, but I loved redoing that office! Last but not least was the basement ~ that scary place full of memorabilia and old clothes, seasonal decorations and junk. And when all of these things are mixed up together, organizing it all is pretty intimidating. After Jeff and the kids helped me separate all their stuff into the various categories (trash, Goodwill, keep), I set myself loose. And oh my goodness, was it fun! I woke up on those days with energy and enthusiasm, knowing that I was going to pour myself into the productive and rewarding project of transforming that messy basement into a place of order and peace.

When the basement was finished, I realized I had run out of things to organize in our home! (Well, there are Kiff's and Phil's rooms, but that's another story - and those rooms aren't really my territory!) And it occurred to me that I could do this for other people too - and make a little money at the same time. So that's what I'm about to try to do.

It's actually a burgeoning business. Five or ten years ago, the idea of hiring a professional organizer wasn't too common. But these days, it's a different picture. And I think I'd like in on the action. :)

I've been thinking I might call it Sylvia Case Organizing. Nice and simple and to the point. (Funny how my new last name fits this idea so well!)

I've been reading How to Start a Home-Based Professional Organizing Business and doing some online research. My next step is to offer my services free of charge to several friends in exchange for before and after photos and their testimonials. Then I'll start up a simple website and a Facebook page for my business, and go from there! It's nice that my overhead will be practically non-existent!

It's exciting and, to be honest, a little intimidating. But.... one step at a time. :)

Random September Thoughts & Pictures

See how long my hair is growing, Mom? It hasn't been this long since my freshman year of college... 16 years ago. (Yikes I'm getting old.)
What has been captivating the our attention over the past few weeks: The US Open in New York. Go Rafa Nadal!!! And Clijsters!!
No, that's not Rafael Nadal. That's Roger Federer, who got ousted in the semifinals by Djokovic! Can you believe it?! Heartbreaking for Federer. He's such a pro... Losing to Djokovic was very expected.
My fun toes. I gave myself this pedicure yesterday.
Love those signs of fall.

A yummy apple pie baking in our oven this afternoon... Mm.

Sunday in DC

Who doesn't love a spontaneous trip into the city? :)

Jeff has been teaching a Sunday School class over the summer, and I often play and sing with the worship team... Then two weeks ago on Saturday night when we realized Jeff's teaching stint was over and I didn't have any worship team obligations for the next day, we decided to go into DC on Sunday. For a while we've been wanting to visit Capitol Hill Baptist Church (where Mark Dever is the pastor) which, appropriately, is blocks away from the Capitol Building... So we visited there, and I must say, it's always a good thing to experience a different style of worship. I was looking forward to hearing Mark Dever speak, but sadly he wasn't even there that day. CHBC is tame and traditional, but real nonetheless. And it provided meat for some interesting conversation between Jeff and me over our Quizno's lunch. :)

After lunch we visited the National Air & Space Museum, which is always of interest to me and of special interest to Jeff since he's worked on satellites and rockets in the past. He likes to show me all the stuff he knows about it all, and I love to hear how knowledgeable and intelligent my husband is. :)

What do you think - would I have made a good stewardess in the 50s? Hm. My hair isn't too short or styled...



It was a hot day, so we rested for a while by a pool and fountain which was situated among the Smithsonian buildings.
Then we visited the National Gallery of Art. At first I was a little hesitant because I'm not a huge art museum fan... But I have to say I loved our time there; it was peaceful and beautiful.





Here is just a small sampling of the many paintings we enjoyed.

One of my favorites was this beautiful Andrew Wyeth painting. I love his works. (He's the one who did Christina's World.)

Good memories. :)