Recently it was my birthday and I celebrated by having a barbecue in my friend's back yard. Normally I don't plan anything for my birthday because that is a lot of work. But this year I decided I was going to have a birthday party. It was initially supposed to be a tea party but I forgot the tea.

The older I get, the less exciting my birthday is. But I wanted to see my friends all at the same time so birthday parties still have a function in adulthood. I wish I had a nice picture of me on this momentous occasion to show you but unfortunately I looked strange in all the photos.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet. It was a really nice time and now I'm one year older and here is a nice picture of my friends:

My vanity is an absolute disaster and it brings me great shame every day.

When I first heard about the idea of minimalism, I admit that I thought it was kind of stupid. I thought: why would people not want stuff? Stuff is great! I think in the past, I associated stuff with happiness and that resulted in buying and hoarding a ton of random things that I don't particularly like or have a use for. In retrospect, I don't think any happiness was derived from having stuff; but rather I was using stuff as a distraction from unhappiness.

Recently, all this stuff in my life has made me feel really anxious and I think I'm finally ready to get rid of most of it. I suppose this is what people call a "lifestyle change". Like becoming a vegan or a Scientologist or something. I am anticipating a profound catharsis from this purge and I am kind of excited.

I felt great immediately after making the decision that I will declutter but about 2 seconds later, I realized the sheer enormity of this task.

I swear I didn't do this.

I. HAVE. SO. MUCH. STUFF.

I have no idea how this happened but somehow, throughout my lifetime I have accumulated an amazing amount of stuff. I have so much makeup, clothes, hats, stuffed animals, lotions, random papers, aflljadflas;dlfjasdl;f.

But I'm committed to this now. I am going to get rid of the things I don't like or don't use, I am going to keep my room more organized, and I am going to be aesthetic and minimalist like all the cool people on Instagram. I have dubbed this whole thing >>> PROJECT MINIMALISM <<<

The Game Plan:

The Vanity:
- Get rid of all the makeup and skincare that I haven't used since 2010
- Buy cute trays and holders to store my essentials
- Fit more stuff into the drawer to clear the tabletop

The Bookshelf:
- Get rid of all the hats and scarves I don't like
- Find room for my necklaces inside the vanity drawer
- Find another spot for my hair stuff
- Put some of my favorite books in there

The Closet:
- Donate/throw out clothes I don't like or wear
- Reorganize my clothes by color
- Store my caps somewhere out of sight

The Desk:
- Clear out all the loose random papers
- Clear out the top shelf (like why do I keep lotions here??)
- Put the books on my bookshelf

Why do bad things happen to good people?

Hopefully by the end of this journey, I will have shinier hair, a successful career, a healthier diet, and 20/20 vision. But we'll see.