I can’t believe it is already September! I do have to admit I am relieved we may get a break from this heat finally. Fall is my favorite time of year and I thought it would be fun to share some inspirational decorating ideas with you.
We all get in a rut from time to time and think we have to decorate in traditional holiday colors or stick to a certain look or theme.
The main goal is to have fun and be creative!
-Kristina
Do you have trouble sitting still and doing nothing? Yep I’m right there with ya! I have been working a lot lately and suddenly find myself with a few days off. Normally I would feel guilty for sitting still and doing nothing but today I decided not to! I slept late and decided to watch a few movies while relaxing on the couch with my pups and listening to the rain.
Sometimes you have to appreciate the little things. It’s okay to have a day of doing nothing. We all deserve it from time to time.
Have you ever wondered if while we are all planning and scheduling to stay so busy this summer we are really missing the good stuff??
Lately I have been reading a few blogs and instagram feeds about minimalism, living simply and being happy. One of the blogs is http://nosidebar.com/ and has a collection of articles by many different writers on topics relating to living more simply. But the common theme always comes back to busyness. Why do we all think we have to be so busy all the time?
This summer make an effort to take some lazy days and sip a glass of lemonade or eat a popsicle, read a book, admire your garden or backyard, run through a sprinkler with your kids or pups to cool off from the heat. Is it so crazy to think you could wake up and just see where a summer day takes you instead of scheduling every minute???
It’s not always the vacations and big events that you get the most enjoyment out of. Sometimes its those simple moments that we all remember the most and cherish.
Spring is flying by! Has everyone finished their spring cleaning?? I am sure many of you are thinking ahead to the summer months and planning your next vacation. There are many things you can do now so that your next trip is easy and you don’t have all those last minute things to do.
Summer travel checklist:
-Go through purses, tote bags and luggage and make sure they are all empty from last trips. Donate any pieces that you no longer use.
-Go through your toiletry bag and throw out and old expired products. Refill travel shampoos and soaps. Make sure you have what you need for your next trip. Make a list of anything you are missing and buy ahead of time.
-Go through your medicine cabinet and throw out any expired medications. Make a travel first-aid kit with pain and allergy medicine, band-aids and any other travel necessities.
-Make sure your car and health insurance cards are current and keep in your wallet or car.
-Make a copy of the contents of your wallet in case it is lost or stolen. Keep the copy in a secure place so you can access in an emergency.
-Stock your car with an umbrella, extra jacket, sunglasses, kleenex, hand sanitizer, a few trash bags and anything else you may want on the road.
-Stock your purse with a few snacks in case you get stuck somewhere and need a boost.
-Make sure your phone contact list is updated with important numbers such as doctor, vet , pet sitter, etc. in case you need to call from the road.
-Create a checklist for your next trip so you don’t forget anything.
I read a quote the other day on instagram that I really loved. “The white space in our life is where the magic happens. “The quote was written by Brian Gardner from the site No side bar.
It really made me stop and think. We are all so busy scheduling appointments and checking off lists and rushing to the next big thing. But what if those quiet moments in between are where the magic in our lives really happen. Sometimes its the littlest things and the unexpected moments that make you really appreciate your life and bring you the greatest happiness.
So next time you are stressed out and over scheduled take a minute to appreciate “the white space”. And if you want a more in depth look at this idea of simplifying your life check out this article “Why the White Space in Our Life Matters” by Brian Gardner at no sidebar.
It is that time of year again! Time to put away the winter clothes and boots and get out your spring and summer wardrobe. Do many of you dread doing the swap?? Here are a few tips to help make the swap less painful.
Take the time to weed out things you did not wear this season before storing your winter stuff. Get rid of anything stained, worn out or no longer your most flattering look.
A few questions to ask yourself when cleaning out your closet:
Would I buy this if I was shopping today?
Would I wear this if I wanted to impress someone I hadn’t seen in forever (like an ex- boyfriend) ?
If my house was on fire what would I save out of my closet?
(of course many of us would not worry about clothes or shoes but things that are more important to us) However, pretend for a minute that all other items were safe-what clothing and shoes do you love so much you would save them?
Do not put something in the category of lounge wear just because it is not good enough to wear out of the house but you don’t want to part with it. How many lounge outfits, gardening clothes and clothes for projects like painting do you really need?
Okay so once you have done the hard part of getting rid of stuff then you are ready to store off season away.
-Make sure any items that have wool are stored in a cedar chest or closet or in a garment bag protected from moths.
-Leave some transitional items in your closet if you have the room.
This will save you from having to go search for items if we have a cold snap or rainy day.
-Items that will wrinkle easily or are dry clean only try to leave hanging so you don’t create more work for yourself when you get everything back out.
-Before storing shoes I like to check the bottoms for mud or dirt and do a quick wipe down with a clorox wipe before I store them away.
-Container store has great boot boxes. They are clear and the perfect size. A little pricey at $10 per box but you can buy a few a year and build your collection.
-I like to store my other winter shoes in a shallow clear bin that will hold multiple pairs. I don’t think it is necessary to have each pair of shoes in its own box. That makes for unnecessary bulk.
Hope these tips help make your transition a little easier. One crazy thought that I have been sharing with my clients lately is to try to pare down your wardrobe significantly so that you can fit ALL your clothes in one closet!!! I know that makes most of you break into a cold sweat with a look of horror on your face.
On that note, I have been reading quite a bit about minimalist lately, capsule wardrobes and project 333. So more on that later….
Let me start with wishing everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day! In honor of Valentine’s Day I wanted to write something about the topic of love. We all get used to our surroundings and our house and sometimes get too comfortable with the clutter. But do we truly surround ourselves with things we love?
The very popular new book “The Art of the Magic of Tidying up” by Marie Kondo, does have one really good message. Does everything in your home spark joy?? Are you keeping things you do not love out of guilt, or because it was expensive or you just have a hard time letting things go? The designer Nate Berkus also wrote a book called “The Things that Matter”. The theme of the book is the same. You should surround yourself with things that make you happy and have meaning. Maybe items in your house are sentimental or do they just have happy colors or make you feel good? Choose your favorite photos to display, or a piece of art that makes you feel calm, a decorative object from a favorite vacation or loved one…. Whatever the reason is if you start to look at your house from a different perspective you will have an easier time creating the space you have always wanted.
I wanted to start by wishing everyone a Happy New Year! Can you believe we are already more than halfway through January? Did any of you set a New Years Resolution this year for 2016?
We all have great intentions at the start of the year but as many of you know life gets busy. For some of us that big list we had of all the ways we are going to do better in the new year falls by the wayside. But why??
I have a theory on this topic. We sometimes set ourselves up to fail. Instead of choosing some small thing we want to change and tackling things one a time we go BIG. We tell ourselves we are going to do it all at once and it is going to happen overnight. Its human nature…it’s what we do.
We promise ourselves we are going to go on a diet, give up all sugar, go to the gym 5 days a week…and if we don’t live up to this big new years resolution or we slip on one thing then we decide we have failed and abandon it all together.
Give yourself a break this year and start small. Decide on one small step that you are going to make and follow through with all year. It could be as simple as making your bed everyday, waking up and being more positive, eating 1 piece of chocolate instead of 3. Once you tackle the first thing on your list then you can move on to the next. Celebrate small victories instead of beating yourself up for not completing your long list of goals.
Its kind of like de cluttering your house. Your house did not get that way overnight and it will take time to make changes and form new habits to start the organizing process. So as they say “eat your elephant one bite at a time. ”