cleaning out my closet.

One of my projects since returning to Memphis has been to clean out my closet.  Last week I went through and threw out almost all of what was hanging in it.  Lots of stuff from back when I worked at Barnes & Noble that were fading, and some old salwars that I hadn't worn in years.  I'd been slowly doing it during visits home these past years, but I purged nearly everything this time.

But more important than that, I wanted to clean off the shelves and the floor.  My old laundry basket from college was on the floor and had accumulated a pile of junk in it that I had just not had enough time to get around to over the years.  So today I pulled everything out and sorted it into donations, trash, and stuff that I had forgotten I had and wanted to keep.  I also came across a few other treasures in the process, including:

• a fruit roll-up of unknown age.
• a new pair of jeans from Old Navy.  with the tags still on.
• a travel pillow that is most definitely not mine.  finders keepers.
• my brother's putting green.  why was it in my closet?  who knows.
• things I had brought back from India to give away as gifts.  approximately 7 or 8 years ago.  oops.
• shoulder straps for LL Bean duffel bags.  2 of 'em.  don't know which bags they go to.
• gift certificates to a paintball place in Memphis that closed about 5 years ago.  I had won them at some Intramural / Rec Services event when I was in my second year at Rhodes.
• a Grizzlies practice jersey that I parents and I had bought to give to my brother about 5 years ago.  guess I dropped the ball on that one.
• a picture frame that someone very generously gave me for my graduation.  from high school.  I know this because it says Class of 2000 on it.
• a Louis Vuitton watch.  I have no recollection of ever having received it.  although to be fair, even if I had been given it as a gift more than 5 years ago, chances are I wouldn't have known who Louis Vuitton was.
• boxes of Nerds from my first St Patty's Day parade in Baton Rouge.  which I attended in 2007.
• a stack of football trading cards.  including a Sterling Sharpe rookie card.  Christmas came early for my brother this year.

And those were just the things worth noting.

I also found my old shoebox where I keep letters and cards and other mementos from my college years.  It was very entertaining to go through it and re-read postcards from Thara while she was in Spain, from various people studying abroad, and one from Caitlin that she sent from Bass Lake.  I also found one of my old Jamaica bracelets, a ribbon someone gave me for achieving something, and loads of little pins and other trinkets.  It was a nice trip down memory lane.

Now that my closet is sorted, I have to work on cleaning the rest of my room before I move.  Wish me luck.
xx