There is a very cool contest going on in NYC right now for Sukkot. A Sukkah City contest.12 unique (to say the least) sukkahs have been erected in Union Square. They are stunning works of architecture. I high recommend that if you are in or near NYC that you visit (and trust me, bring your camera).Otherwise, for the rest of us, we will have to settle for this video from The Forward.Union Square's High-Concept Sukkahs from Jewish Forward on Vimeo.Find more information about the project here - sukkahcity.com
Organizing Nerd Alert!
Okay, I must rant for a minute.
So my friend over at CasaCullen has gotten me all inspired to spruce up my wee home. I've enjoyed planning out many projects and (so far) executing a few.
One thing I always go round and round about is organizing my stuff... Shoes, sweaters, clothing, books, movies, etc.
And then I got an email from my heaven/hell... The Container Store.
I can spend hours there, picking out new storage ideas and then I finish, realize I will not spend $30 on a rack to organize my scarves and $25 on another lunch solution, put it away where I got it (because I worked in retail and that concept is seared in my brain) and walk quickly to the exit to prevent myself from coming up with another (costly) storage idea. I am fortunate to have a dear friend, Zeina, who has helped me see outside the (expensive) (but useful) (plastic) (storage) box. She always has great ideas on how to do things cheaper.
Anyway, back to the email. This email was aimed right at my weakest weakness... Shoes.
The headline was - SASSY Shoe Shoe Storage on SALE! Yeah. I knew I was in trouble from the minute I read it. I scanned the image and found the perfect solution for my shoes and in the milisecond it took me to click the image and get to the webpage, I said to myself (very fast) "Self, you KNOW its going to be like $8 per thingie and you KNOW how many shoes you have." Then I told myself not to be silly... it can't hurt to look.
Drop Front Shoe Boxes - regularly $6.99... on sale for $4.99... awesome. Cool. Give me... wait let me count... oh... roughly... 25 or so. WHAT?! Do we realize that comes out to $124.75 (I used a calculator, don't judge... I was a theatre major)!!! And why does this stuff have to be sold individually? What woman, in her right mind, only owns ONE pair of black heels (or brown, or silver, or red, or yellow... yes I said yellow)?
So yeah. I love them. They would be just perfect for my closet and mountain of shoes but I don't have $124.75 to throw around willy nilly on shoe solutions... So back to my Zeina I go... for an "on the budget" idea... and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Not kidding. She makes the best PB&J in the world. For reals.