Minimalist Adventure -

Running and Biking:  First things first - I ran 6 miles this morning - it was a great run.  2 miles with Sophie and 4 by myself.   The temperature was in the mid 20's.  With this 6 mile run I have run 993 miles this year.  Only 7 more before I hit 1000.  As far as my biking - I biked 874 miles outside this summer and with the bike trainer I am now at 926 miles.  I would like to hit 1000 miles on my bike - but I don't know if that will happen. If it happens great - if not - I have still biked more miles this year than I have ever biked before.  Plus I didn't always track my miles on the bike - so in actuality I might already be past 1000.  I put my new road bike on the trainer yesterday and road for 1 hour.  It felt great, but it will take my wrists and neck a while to get use to the new bike.

Minimalist Adventure:  For the last month or so, I have been following a couple of blogs that describe a Minimalist lifestyle.  One of the blogs is Be More with Less - HERE and the other is zen habits - HERE.  I happened upon these blogs from someone who had participated in Project 333- HERE .  The idea behind Project 333 is to select 33 items including clothing, accessories, jewelry, outerwear and shoe and commit to wearing only from those 33 items for 3 months.  The 333 project really peaked my interest - but I don't think I am ready to commit - but I would like to investigate this type of a lifestyle on my own terms.  One of my reoccurring resolutions for the past 5 years has been to simplify my life.  Easy to say -- "I want to simplify my life"  but very difficult to do without some direction.  I think this is the guidance and support that I need to be successful.

I had wanted to work on my closet - but didn't have the time - I ran this morning and then hubby and I went to Costco, so by the time we got home the PACKER game was starting - so instead I started with my jewelry, specifically my earrings.  Now that might not seem like a huge deal - but I can't tell you the amount of time I spend some mornings looking for a specific pair of earrings.  It drives me crazy and it is a really bad way to start the morning.  This is one of the basic idea's behind Project 333.   Once you pay less attention to what you are wearing -  more attention can be spent on something more important. I am not going to give up everything - but I would like to declutter.

This afternoon while watching the Packers wallop the Giants I sorted through my earrings.

 In this blue box alone there were over 50 pairs of earrings - no wonder I had a hard time finding a specific pair. 

 This is a box with my few rings and an assortment of jewelry I hardly ever wear.  Most of this ended up being stored in baggies in preparation of my church rummage sale in spring. 

 Here are all of the earnings sorted from my blue storage box. 

 Here are 17 pairs of earnings that are now easy to find.  These are the earrings I am going to wear.  

I held onto my few rings for sentimental reasons.  Toe rings, summer ankle bracelets, earrings that I don't wear with my winter clothes - and pearls - one strand real one strand fake.  (I should probably get rid of the fake strand - since I really never wear them)  

So all told - I will wear the earrings in the blue box - 17 (which would be over 1/2 of my allotted pieces of clothes and accessories if I were participating in Project 333 . . .  

I still have a LONG ways to go).  

The wooden box has assorted jewelry that I will store until spring / summer, including 20 pairs of earrings and the other small box contains Christmas Jewelry.  

I bagged up 22 pairs of earrings, 9 bracelets, 6 necklaces and 4 pins.  

Going into this - I was convinced that this would be easy and I would be able to eliminate stuff easily. Well it wasn't as easy as I thought and I didn't get rid of as much as I would have liked - but it is a start and I feel good about it.  Next up my closet . . . here is a sneak peek.  The first picture is only one rack of clothes - in total there are 185 hangers containing my clothes.  The picture on the right is some sweaters and sweat shirts and these are ones that I don't wear.  I have a lot of work ahead of me.