spring cleaning

Happy spring! The weather was so nice today, but a little bit hot (almost 90 degrees!) so I decided to do a little spring cleaning. My room is usually pretty neat and tidy, but there are always multiple piles of things all over the place. It's an organized mess. There's a big stack of National Geographic Traveler and Seventeen, which lies below the pile of books I feel like reading and then never put away. My desk houses only papers that I've left there and other useless junk that I don't need. I can only use my computer on it because there's no room for anything else. I decided that today I would clean everything out. I dumped out probably 20 pounds of papers, pamphlets, notebooks, notecards, pieces of nothingness that I've collected, ticket stubs, pictures, magazine articles and cutouts. Let's just say it was a hot mess. Normally I don't care about this at all. I like my organized mess. But I decided that things were going to change. So it took most of the day, but I finally finished. It turned out really nice. I can actually open my drawers. I can use my computer and write things without having to move anything. It's great. I eve used some of the hundreds of paint chips I've stolen from Home Depot to make a desk mat. I put my plane ticket from Oxford in it, as well as a Menchies sticker, a Vanity Fair vintage post card, a Library of Congress book, a picture of an Impressionist painting, and a Georgetown brochure to remind me to reach my goals of awesomeness. It felt really great to clean up everything and start anew. It feels like a whole new room. And everything has a place. Even if it's under my bed in a big stack of more foolishness I won't be able to throw out. I'm somewhere in between a pack rat and a hoarder. It can get a little ridiculous after a while. I encourage you - I challenge you - to go through your own foolishness and make your house, desk, or room as nice as it should be. Who knows - perhaps it could be fun!