This, that and the other

Writing tip of the day: Eliminate "that" from your writing

I'm not going to act as though I'm some great writer who has all (or any) of the answers to good writing. As a reporter/editor for a community paper, however, I can say one of the things I see all the time: In blogs, newspapers, e-mails, etc. I see the word "that" used unnecessarily. This post may seem completely off topic, but since my blog is (generally) about getting rid of unnecessary things, it's actually somewhat on topic.

Here are a couple examples I found just today:

Finally, and most important of all, Louise shared an exercise that she's done for years to build a stronger relationship with herself.

Same sentence without "that" ...

Finally, and most important of all, Louise shared an exercise she's done for years to build a stronger relationship with herself.

Another:
You gain a sense of power — you no longer feel that money controls you, but that you control money.

You gain a sense of power — you no longer feel money controls you, but you control money.

THAT being said, sometimes "that" is necessary, so don't delete them all. Read the sentence and see if it makes sense without it. If it does, delete.

Lazy River

Some friends and I spent a beautiful day at Krause Springs (http://www.krausesprings.net/), about 30 minutes outside of Austin, on floats hanging out. If you haven't been there, you're missing out. Most of the area is shaded, there's a cave, small waterfall, a rope swing, swimming pool and plenty of rocks to lounge around on. It's just $5 per person to get in. I wish our pictures were posted on Facebook already, but for now you'll just have to check out the website (http://www.krausesprings.net/).

Afterward we had dinner at Maudie's, a Central Texas Tex-Mex favorite. I ordered the fish tacos, which were not my fave fish tacos ever, but definitely not bad. Our order got lost, so it took especially long, but we all got to hang out a little longer, so I guess it wasn't too terrible. Mark threw his tortillas off a two story balcony—somewhat on accident—which spiced things up a bit. I still have leftovers, which I hope to use for a Tex-Mex brunch ... fish migas? You never know ...

I'm completely worn out, so it looks like an evening in bed reading for me.

UPDATE—photos from Facebook:

Jewels in the making

I recently read an article in Psychology Today (June 2010 issue) called "Go Ahead. Obsess!" The idea was that it's OK to get a little obsessed with your hobbies or work in order to accomplish great things (or to just become really interesting). With that in mind, I'm getting back into crafty, creative things. Here is a jewelry box I made with a wooden box, bought at Hobby Lobby, pretty paper and a little paint.

This for That

Today I took a bag of stuff to a trendy resale shop Buffalo Exchange (http://www.buffaloexchange.com). Buffalo Exchange accepted more than I expected—they can be very selective in what they choose. They told me they planned on selling my stuff for around $54 and I could either take $17 in cash or look around the store and receive $24.75 in trade. I found a great pair of pants that fit great and are casual but trendy and still got $0.18 back!
Here is the bag o' stuff:

And here is what I got in return:

Not a bad deal and my closet looks fabulous with so much room. I also received a shirt from a friend when I hung out with her tonight that didn't fit her quite right, but fit me wonderfully.

Day one: The iPhone

One way the iPhone has helped me get rid of clutter is with its built-in camera. Before I got my phone a few weeks ago, I would keep scraps of paper with designs I liked to inspire creativity. Now I take photos of designs and patterns I like, such as the one above, with my iPhone, so I can flip through ideas and images at a glance, rather than filing them away and forgetting about them. I also take pictures of outfits I like for reference and things I see that I might want to buy in the future. I've even begun taking photos of things I want to remember to tell friends and co-workers. And of course, it's easy to delete the photo once I no longer need it as reference. Today, I got rid of various scraps of paper that I no longer had a use for and my favorites were saved to my iPhone.

In the beginning

Like many people today, I'm a bit overwhelmed with the amount of "stuff" in my life. From magazines to stacks of paper and piles of clothes, it's hard to keep track of what I have—and use and find it when I need it. And it's not just the physical stuff I need to weed through to find the gems—It's everything. My mind is also cluttered with useless knowledge and worry. This blog is meant to follow my life in the attempts of giving away one thing a day for 365 days to unclutter my life and see what it would be like to live a less cluttered and more fulfilling one. I'll make the rules up as I go, meaning there could be days when I give away cookies or money or a thought of the day, but the purpose remains the same: freeing myself of "stuff." If you want to follow along and do your own experiment of getting rid of stuff, I'd love to hear your stories and successes.

Live long and simplify!