the haystack needle

lost + found: photographer melina hammer

 

I stumbled upon Melina Hammer in one of those quintessential small world moments (our brothers work together), and I've been smitten with her photography portfolio since then. She has a special eye for gourmet food photography, as she's been formally trained in the art of food preparation by some great chefs. Not to mention, the girl loves to travel (and while I haven't met her, I have a feeling Melina would be a fun travel partner.) Her photos are gorgeous, definitely check out her work (above is a peek at her portfolio.) And Melina was sweet to share her organizing systems as part of my Lost + Found series — along with pretty photos from her home! Love it. Here's a look at how Melina organizes her:

+ magazines
I organize my magazines in a fairly arbitrary manner at home. I buy every Donna Hay magazine she puts out and have a penchant for alt fashion magazines, like Pop, 125, Wig, Italian Vogue, etc., in addition to my travel and yoga magazines, too. My ever-growing collection of National Geographic magazines shows up in a few tidy stacks around the house, as well as a not-so-organized stack on the back of the toilet! Some backlogged cooking and food magazines are arranged for easy access in my kitchen along with a host of cookbooks. Most others mingle with random style or lifestyle mags in the living room, in my city out-and-about bag, or at easy access in my photo studio.

 

 

+ photos
My digital files are stored on hard drives on my desktop computer, arranged by date and what I shot. They are backed up on different drives, and sometimes double-backed up. And if I see space running out on my hard drives (egad!) and they are less necessary to keep prominent, I'll burn a DVD to archive older shoots. I use Adobe Lightroom to catalogue, batch process, and export my files. Prints and negatives are stored in a few wooden wine boxes, folder sleeves, and file cabinets, always seemingly stuffed to capacity despite how well they are organized.
(Note from Jen: Not surprising to me at all that Melina would have her digital work organized with such efficiency — her brother is a master of techie organization and once showed me how to make my Gmail inbox work for me with special tagging systems. Apparently the organizing streak runs in their family!)

+ tax paperwork and receipts
I diligently keep receipts in a simple wooden box designated for such, which I sort through when needed for cross-referencing, taxes, etc. My tax paperwork is filed in manila envelopes for previous years' filings, along with my itemized returns, in folder files in a file cabinet. Not particularly aesthetic, but functional. One day I hope to have form and function married blissfully, but for now there seems to be a clear separation with things like that. Maybe it's better that way. :)

+ craft supplies
My craft supplies are arranged on a tall utility shelving unit. From carving and collage materials, to solvents and adhesives, to painting supplies and fabrics (and more - I like creating in a variety of media!), they are stored on this shelf unit. One shelf had actually begun to collapse about a year ago from the weight of various books and creative odds and ends that were stacked there. When that shelf was leaning one day, I discovered that perhaps I'd weighed it down with just a few too many items, and quickly made for its recovery. All is well now! I have an additional wheeled shelf unit for my textile props and linens, and cupboard spaces for numerous dish props and such.

+ I also asked Melina, as an experienced traveler, to share how she organizes for a trip:
I usually plot out any friends or contacts with whom I can stay at any point along my travel, and I'll ask what spots they think I absolutely must include in my itinerary. I have snippets of my own filed in little boxes or in my head about this place or that that I have wanted to visit. I usually invest in a simple tour book (like rough guides or lonely planet, etc.) and read up on that location so that I can make the most of things to do and eat, etc. while there. Round that work out with some internet research, and my trip begins to take shape! If only I had an exotic trip planned right now... ;)

A special thanks to Melina for being a part of Lost + Found!
{all photographs courtesy of melina hammer}

last week's lost + found: alek, from the right bank to the left coast
what's lost + found? find out more here

lost + found: alek, from the right bank to the left coast

I have more inspiration on the organizing side that I think you'll love! As part of my Lost + Found series, Alek of From the Right Bank to the Left Coast was sweet enough to share her systems for organizing everything from photos to shoes. Alek has moved around a lot. She's lived in more than a dozen cities (including Paris!) and her current home in Seattle masters that lived-in lovely look. I'm thrilled to share Alek's q+a as a personal fan of From the Right Bank. Alek has an incredible eye for interiors, and I love how the organizing systems that work for her are so simple and real. Here's how Alek organizes her:

+ photos
All my digital photos are on my computer in iPhoto so I use the "events" system that it comes with to organize them. They are in batches by date and place/occasion. I'm not totally happy with this though so I'd like to figure out a different system if I get some free time.

I used to shoot film as a photographer so not only do I have a crazy number of photos, I also have mountains of negatives and contact sheets. These are organized in sleeves by date and place and placed in binders. I number each sleeve, note on the outside of the binders which rolls/sleeves it contains, and then keep a book with the roll numbers, date and place/event to cross reference with the binders. Prints are in photo boxes by year and place. I basically try not to print any of my digital photos unless absolutely necessary. I still like to shoot film every now and then and those get stored by year and roll. I also have a thing for Polaroids and those are currently just in a box.

 

+ magazines
I subscribe to way too many magazines. I just can't help myself so, this is what I *try* to do with them all although I don't always succeed. Shelter, travel, and fashion magazines get read, any really beautiful images torn out for my journals or inspiration wall, then tossed. I try to keep no more than the most recent 2-3 months worth in the house at one time. I used to keep all back issues but they were taking over my house so I did a major purge not that long ago, tearing out any pages I wanted to keep and throwing everything away. And wouldn't you know it, as soon as I did this, Domino folded and I was kicking myself! I do have the last few issues and you can bet, I am going to hold on to those babies FOREVER. I also kept a few random titles intact such as two issues of French Vogue that I thought had  exceptional spreads and some travel magazines that have all ceased publication (for posterity sake, you know). I have a collection of art and photography magazines that I can't part with as well as magazines from other countries. I love picking up magazines when I'm traveling. (See photo of my latest loot from a trip to Europe.) Everything is kept in magazine boxes, grouped by subject in my studio.

I used to get several food magazines but I'm currently down to one (Bon Appetit) and these get tabbed with Post-its and stacked on a shelf in the pantry because I always think I'm going to try this or that recipe. I've been able to do this without a problem for space so far. I am missing Gourmet though so if I start that up again, who knows?

+ tax paper work and receipts
I'm lucky on this one because my husband takes care of most of this. I feel like a 50's housewife when I say that(!) but he's really good with that kind of thing so it's his department. We keep receipts in monthly folders and usually about twice a year, he'll sort them by type. He also keeps all our expenditures on a spreadsheet and he updates that like all the time so it's always current.

+ craft supplies
I'm also lucky here because I have a large studio in my house where I can run amuck with all of my art supplies. They're kind of all over the place but I have several large plastic bins with lids where I keep papers and other materials for art projects.

+ shoes
I'm kind of embarrassed to talk about all my shoes here but since Jen asked so nicely, I'll fess up. You might want to sit and get comfortable for this part. My "fancy" shoes are kept in my dressing room. A few pair are kept in their boxes but I was never able to do that Carrie Bradshaw thing where all her shoes are stacked neatly in their original boxes. I wish I could but I have to be able to see my shoes; I can't keep that kind of inventory in my head. As for the rest of the shoes, we have to head to the garage. That sounds a little weird but we try not to wear shoes in the house and the garage is the perfect place to leave our shoes and put on some slippers. I keep one (large) bin with spring/summer shoes, another with fall/winter shoes. Then there's a shelf for the shoes currently in heavy rotation. But wait, I'm not done yet!  We can't forget my boots. I basically live in boots most of the year so there's an entire cabinet just for them. So there you have it. Phew!

+ travel mementos
When I first started traveling, I fell into that trap of picking up everything that seduces you when you go to a place for the first time. I ended up with a lot of useless stuff that never looked quite as appealing as it did when I bought it. So over the years, I've learned to cut back on the trinkets and tchotchkes. Also every time I've moved, I've donated a lot of my souvenirs. But there are those special pieces that I just can't part with and most of these reside on my bookshelves in my studio. I also have a pretty extensive postcard collection and at the moment they are organized by country in a big plastic bin. I'm currently contemplating a couple of project ideas for them. Other than that, from my travels I have a pile of textiles in the linen closet, the aforementioned magazines, and lots of art waiting to be hung(!)

Sending Alek a big thank you from the right coast for being a part of Lost + Found!

{photographs by alek}
what's lost + found? find out more here

lost + found: tricia of eating is art

I definitely remember stumbling upon Tricia's blog, Eating is Art, and wondering if Portland was going to burst at the seams with creative talent (there was a week where it seemed every site I bookmarked was from another artist in Portland!). Tricia is doing something I've never seen before: she designs experiences that connect food with all five senses and explores how eating and memory and community and taste and personal history all relate to one another. You have to check out her blog to understand what I mean, and I promise you'll be wowed. A few projects she's created: an amazing five-foot-long loaf of bread (that's Tricia on the right hauling bread!) for the Bread Friend Map, secret suppers, and my personal favorite, Pietopia. It's definitely incredible how blogs can pull people together, and I'm happy to say Tricia has become one of my first blog friends (and I'm hoping to get to work with her on even bigger projects.) Really, what I'd love to do is meet Tricia in person and chat over bread and beer! For now, I'm so excited to share her responses to Lost + Found. When she's not making five-foot-long loaves of bread, here's how the talented Tricia organizes her:

magazines
I stack my magazines according to use in different places: food magazines have a special place near my desk, design magazines such as Eye or Wallpaper have their own shelf on a bookshelf nearby, and good reading/story-filled magazines such as Gastronomica are next to my bed. About two years ago, I moved across the country and had to choose what came with me and what was recycled. It came down to only keeping my really nice specialty magazines/journals along with every single issue of Domino (I just couldn’t part with them!). 

photos
I take a lot of photos, especially of the food I make. But also to document events and experiences I am creating. I make separate folders on my computer labeling them according to project, or for my blog I have a whole section dedicated to all the things I’ve made. Each folder is labeled with the recipe title so I know what pictures are inside. As for print, I don’t really print my photos any more for a few reasons: space saving (it boggles my brain to think about where I would put them all!), money saving, and earth saving (if I am not going to use the printed photos for a specific project, I’d rather not put more stuff in the world that does not have a specific use.)

tax paperwork + receipts
I have a vivid memory of my parents doing their taxes one night, papers spread all over the kitchen table, calculators out, and brows furrowed. After they explained to me what they were doing, I proclaimed, “I am never doing taxes!” horrified by the amount of paperwork, small print, and the idea that if they were done wrong, it could result in something bad happening, according to my eight year old imagination. As an adult, this overwhelming feeling can still creep up on me during tax season (which makes me laugh, remembering the origins of this anxiety!). Thankfully, today there is tax prep software that has been an absolute lifesaver in keeping all my important information together, year after year, digitally. I only keep receipts if they are for a specific project where I am being reimbursed or need to do reimbursing. Then simple manila folders with labels do the trick.

craft supplies
I live in tight quarters, a tiny space that gets cluttered fast. So for craft supplies, I have to be pretty critical about what stays and what goes. If I had it my way, I’d have a several hundred square foot studio room filled with all those things that I look at and go “what if? I might need this later!” and toss it into one pile or another. Alas, I have to be a bit pickier than I’d like for space-saving reasons but also make sure I have things that I need and want for future projects. I keep fabrics, yarns, scraps, and knitting needles in a big rectangle shaped canvas beach bag which fits on the bottom shelf of a book case; I have several large flat files for prints which can be easily tucked away behind a couch, bed, or the back of a closet; I keep loose ends, knick knacks, and general craft stuff that I use and need easy access to in an old antique crate under my desk. 

and how do you keep your myriad of contacts and recipes organized?
Gmail’s search tool is lifesaving for contacts if I forget to add them to my address book. When it comes to recipes, my blog has become an archival tool for some of my favorite recipes. I also have several go-to cookbooks that I use, keeping a few even on my desk for easy access! If it’s a specific flavor or technique I am looking for, I will search for a good recipe online and use it as a guide to make up something of my own. If it turns out tasty, I will usually post about it, which adds it to my blog archives.
[For those of you who don't blog, I learned from Emilia that Tumblr is an easy, digital solution for keeping track of recipes you like.]

Special thanks to Tricia for being a part of Lost + Found and for making the big world of blogs feel more like a community to me.

{photographs by tricia}

last week's lost + found: anabela of fieldguided
what's lost + found? find out more here

lost + found: anabela of fieldguided

This week, I'm so tickled to have Anabela of Fieldguided sharing her organizing ways for the Lost + Found series. Anabela + Geoff have a fantastic Etsy shop full of handmade ties, bookplate mugs, doily drawings, and vintage finds. And you can also find Anabela's work on Bakers Dozen. I've been a fan of Anabela's handmade wonders and then found her blog, which captures her fun, creative spirit. Here's Anabela on how she organizes:

magazines
I love my magazines! I have what feels like a thousand of those simple white cardboard magazine holders; they are inoffensive to look at and handy. I store them on bookcases. I keep all the titles together, but the individual magazines aren't in chronological order. I rely quite a bit on intuition and memory for retrieval. For example, when something pops into my head that I remembered seeing in a magazine, I am fairly good at being able to find it again. I am actually not as organized as I should be for someone with a degree in library science. No post-its anywhere or ledgers with cross references!

photos
I need a better way of organizing my photos. I just started using iPhoto and I am going to try making better use of metadata. Tags are actually a really wonderful tool since they are intuitive; I have to stop being lazy about using them. As for prints, I rarely have any made. I have a few in boxes, and they're not even archival boxes! Oh dear.

tax paperwork + receipts
I have a purple folder that I use to store my tax papers. The purple folder, when I see it, screams "important!"  As for receipts, I keep them in a little zippered pouch I got from Forest Bound on Etsy. It's not a very good system, I know, but at least the pouch is cute.

 

craft supplies

I am lucky that in my new apartment I have a dedicated sewing room, which helps, as in my last apartment I had my supplies in about five different places!  I put a large bookcase in the room and I plan to stack my fabric on it, as well as my collection of craft books. I also love collecting things for small storage. I have a couple of fold-out sewing baskets, as well as a few clear acrylic bins. I use jars and antique tins as well. Again, I tend to rely on intuition to find everything, and it usually works. I might have to take advantage of pegboards and additional shelving to keep everything handy. I am determined to keep everything in one room this time.

and Anabela just recently moved, so I asked her to share how she organized for her move: 

Before we moved, I spent a few weeks going through my closets and storage to purge things that I could live without. It helped, because it's amazing how much stuff I managed to accumulate in two years at our last apartment. I had to be ruthless, but I don't even remember what I donated to Goodwill, which probably means that I never needed it in the first place.

A big thanks to Anabela for being a part of Lost + Found! Purging is so key to moving — I'm so glad I purged stuff at my stoop sales. I probably saved myself packing about 10 boxes of stuff I don't miss anyway!

{photographs via fieldguided}

last week's lost + found: emilia of auburn & ivory
next week's lost + found: tricia of eating is art and pietopia
what's lost + found all about? find out here

lost + found: emilia of auburn & ivory

Emilia of Auburn & Ivory was sweet enough to share her organizing hits and misses for my Lost + Found series. That's what I love about her q + a. She may not have everything neatly organized, but one of her tips motivated me to make an organizing change — and poof I just started a Tumblr site. I love that Tumblr creates a virtual "container" of inspiration that will never be stuffed full. How fantastic. As for Emilia, besides taking Polaroids and being super cute with her fiance (check out their sixties/vintage/French style engagement photos!), she has an Etsy shop and a blog full of delights. I've never met Emilia, but she seems like the kind of gal you want to sit down with a couple cupcakes and just swap ideas. Here's Emilia on how she organizes:

magazines
I filter magazines in and out of a small, wicker basket next to the couch. If it starts to get too jam-packed that means something HAS to go. I also have a composition notebook that I use if there is an article or image from a magazine that I desperately need in my life.  Designating a small area for things like magazines helps because it forces you to be organized. 

photos (both digital + prints)

Most of my pictures are digital and organized in folders on my laptop. I upload A LOT onto facebook and flickr. I also went through all of my photos recently and saved them to a CD-RW in case my computer every crashed. For prints I have albums for different "eras" of my life. There is the crazy college years album and, most recently, I've started an album for Polaroids.  I like to display my Polaroids on walls too and I switch it up every once and awhile.

tax paperwork + receipts

This is where I need the most help in my life. I usually start out really well and organize everything in a small filing cabinet by year, etc., but then eventually things start being thrown into the "oh, I'll file that later pile."  Needless to say it has been awhile since I've actually filed anything. I'll be sure to get right on that! If I had more $$ I would invest in shelving and small boxes that I could label. Not sure if this would help but it would be nicer to look at!

 

craft supplies

Yeah, this is a pretty disastrous area as well. I used to keep all my craft supplies in a suitcase in the corner of my living room. Then I needed to use said suitcase and now it just looks like a craft bomb exploded in the office. This is where the shelving and labeled boxes (see above) would come in pretty handy! I'm also saving to invest in one of those old spice cabinets. That would be so pretty!

and with so much inspiration all around, how do you organize what you want to hold onto? 

This is where the power of technology comes in pretty handy. I do have an inspiration board in the office but I hardly put stuff up there since most of what I find is online. Usually if I see something I love I either post about it on my blog or I save it in my Tumblr. Tumblr is amazing! You just click a little button on your toolbar and wham it's saved in there forever.

A big thanks to Emilia for being part of Lost + Found (and helping me solve an organizing problem!)
{photographs via auburn & ivory}

last week's lost + found: stephanie of stephmodo
next week's lost + found: anabela of fieldguided

e is for emilia

Just a little announcement. On Monday, Emilia of Auburn & Ivory will be sharing her highs + lows in organizing as part of the Lost + Found series. Hope to see you then — Emilia is one creative gal! She also has an Etsy shop that is sure to charm you.

{itty bitty initial necklace by auburn & ivory}

lost + found: stephanie of stephmodo

I'm so excited to kick off the Lost + Found series today with Stephanie of StephModo. Besides being a bit of practical inspiration, I'm hoping this series helps reveal how we're all a little organized and disorganized in our own ways. Nobody's perfect — find what works for you. If you're not already a fan of Stephanie's blog, you should check it out — you'll find inspired entertaining ideas not to mention fantastic shopping finds + giveaways. Stephanie was on my short list when I came up with the idea for Lost + Found, as I'm super impressed with her masterful menu planning. Here's Stephanie on how she organizes some systems in her life:

magazines
Each year I choose a few different magazines to subscribe too; what I choose mostly depends on how good of a rate I can get!  Once I receive those magazines in the mail, I try to read through them rather quickly — say under one week. As I am reading, I am also tearing :)  If something jumps out to me, I rip it out, trim the edges, and file it in a sheet protector. I then place it in one of my "inspiration" binders (I have one for kids, travel, and general design). Sometimes I tear pages out because I like the furniture layout, the way they arranged framed art, or the general look/feel of a room. I can't express how helpful this process is to me. At times when I've had to make major design decisions in a day or two, I've consulted my pages of magazine tears for inspiration.  All in all it takes a matter of minutes and provides a great excuse to sit down and relax for a good half hour!

 

photos (digital + prints)
My Mac organizes them for me by date; this makes me a lazy photo organizer :)  Sometimes when I am feeling extra energetic, I make photo books for our family. So far I love Blurb but am open to trying some other self-publishing websites as well.

When we have professional photographs taken of our family or of our children, I try to quickly decide on prints and have them framed and hung as soon as possible. I am always worried that if I wait too long, we'll all look different by the time they are actually hung!  Although this takes some effort and sometimes, slight expense, it's been very rewarding to view our family's photographs over the years on a daily basis.

tax paperwork + receipts
I bought an accordion file organizer at a local big box store a few years ago. It's about the size of a clutch purse. I labeled each pocket "A-B", "X-Z", etc. creating a small place for all of my receipts.This has come in handy when I've purchased an article of clothing, waited to wear it for awhile, and then put it on only to discover it is flawed. These days you really can't exchange anything without a receipt! I keep mine on hand for about two years. It usually takes me that long to get around to cleaning it out!

craft supplies
I have a little closet I refer to as my "craft closet". In reality it also stores my on-hand gifts, old photo albums, wrapping paper and packaging materials. I put little things like tags, grommets, note cards, scissors, etc. in little plastic drawers that stack. I also use under-the-shelf wire baskets to utilize all that dead space between shelves. Despite my best efforts to keep this closet organized, I usually have to do a total re-haul once a year.  Like Jen so accurately says, "I think all of us are both organized and disorganized in our own ways...". I couldn't agree more!

and how do you organize getting dinner pulled together during the week?
I'm a big menu planner. I've been doing this for years now. It takes about 30 minutes per week to plan our week's menu but it's so worth the effort. It's so nice to have your week's meals planned ahead of time so when it's 4 o'clock and you start thinking, "what am I going to make for dinner?", you basically know already! I write down the meals I've planned on a post-it note and place it inside one of my cupboards — usually the one next to my cookbooks. I decide what I'm in the mood to make and then start cooking because I know I have everything I'll need on-hand. This alleviates a lot of stress in my life and allows our family to eat better food and save money along the way. No more impulse buying at the grocery store and no more late-afternoon panicking about making dinner.

A big thanks to Stephanie for being a part of Lost + Found! I'm adopting your menu planning system after our move this month. I'd love to prevent the early evening "what's for dinner" panic (currently a daily state of being for me.)

{photography by rebecca mudrick}
what's lost + found? find out more here