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How My Morning Routine Changed My Life

Posted on January 10, 2018



I have always been a morning person. When I had 5am wakeup calls in college for volleyball workouts? Not that bad. That 4am alarm clock for my weekly flight to California for a semester? Doable. Having a body clock that naturally woke up around 7 each day, no matter how late my night was? Ideal. Then a funny thing happened. I had kids. 

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Coming Clean in 2018

Posted on January 5, 2018



Every January, I join the rest of mankind and write out my goals for the new year. This means every year, I think back on the goals I spent months deciding made the ‘Top Ten Things to Make Me a Better Human’ list that year-many of which I usually have forgotten by the time another January comes around. Sure, I have goals I commit to with all of my being- usually related to things as important as my marriage and as seemingly unimportant as my cellulite. There is always one goal, however, that stands just out of reach for three hundred and sixty five days over and over and over again. I’m talking about organization, friends. The goal I have yet to really master, no matter how hard I try.

I am tidy. I am clean. I spend far too much time each day doing typical motherhood tasks like scrubbing, sweeping, picking up and general tidying. We don’t go to bed unless the playroom and kitchen are fully cleaned. I make our beds each morning and wash the sheets each week. Our incredible Cleaning Ladies come once a month for the serious deep cleaning (which honestly, I should probably do at least once every two weeks) But when it comes to actual organization, real life rigorous routine-  I.need.help.
I have so little time to clean the house the way I want to. In my mind, I’m a mixture of Martha Stewart, Ree Drummond and Mary Poppins. In real life, I just keep putting things into neat piles and piling the laundry behind the closed door and pretending they don’t exist. While this is super acceptable these days and I tell myself “this is just the way real life is,” this is not the wife or mother I want to be for my family. Sure, its 2017 and women aren’t necessarily all “Cinder-elly, Cinder-elly” anymore, but I believe one of the ways I’ve been called to take care of the home and family I’ve been given is to keep an orderly home. Not just clean, not just pretty, but orderly. I almost feel like the word ‘homemaker’ is a dirty word these days but that’s the job I signed up for. It’s the job I’ve prayed for. And it’s the job I want to thrive in most.
I really like Clean Mama and I’ve been a fan of  I Heart Organizing for years to find cleaning schedules and organization methods. Often times, I get so inspired I jump into a crazy project (put everything in the pantry in a glass jar! put the entire contents of the linen closet into matching baskets for the sake of cohesion! Done and DONE!) But nothing sticks, you know? I’ve found that using a schedule made by someone else with steps I don’t necessarily always do often means I won’t be able to hold to that routine long term. I decided to make my own daily routine that actually fits my real life so I will be motivated to keep it.
And friends, can I tell you something ridiculous? Sometimes I strive more to have a photoshoot ready, Pinterest worthy home rather than a home that actually functions well for those I love. And to be honest, that’s how it runs half the time. It looks great! But do I actually know where things are? That piece of paper, that piece of a toy, that article I was saving, that doctors order…nope. It’s often in the abyss of some drawer/cabinet/black hole. This is not healthy.
I’ve decided 2018 is the year to tackle the goal once and for all, and I’d so appreciate your help. What is your cleaning schedule? How do you address the kid’s stuff? How do you stay organized? Do you regularly de-clutter? Did you used to struggle with home keeping? What book, blog, person or habit helped you change? I’m going to gather all the information I receive, do all my research and choose my plan of attack. I’ll report back here in the next couple months with my cleaning and organizing routine for this year and if you have the same desires too, we can do it together. You in?

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Favorite Ways to Elevate Gift Wrap

Posted on December 20, 2017


It’s here. It’s wrapping time. If you’re like me, you’ve been chipping away at it bit by bit but and only have a little wrapping left. If you’re like O, you’ll be up until the wee hours of the morning on Christmas, still wrapping because you just started. Either way, I wanted to share a few little tips for how to make those gifts stand out, all with Kraft Paper wrapping.
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“Sweet as Can Bee” Baby Shower

Posted on September 4, 2017

When planning a party for someone, I try my best to bring in a personal element that ties the guest of honor to the party. A random theme always does the trick but there’s something special about taking that time to really make it about them. It doesn’t have to be crazy personal or monumental -I’m not talking about planning the color scheme around their birth stone or anything- but just dig around for any source of inspiration you can find from intimately knowing the mama to be.

This baby shower is for my sister, Brooke. She is an incredible baker (see her work here) so that “bun in the oven” route was pretty tempting, but I dug a little further to find a more personal detail. She and her husband are Texas dreamers that hope to one day own and run a bee farm and for whatever reason, the second this popped into my head I knew it was the perfect theme for them. I have such fond memories of cooking with her when we were younger and drizzling honey over brie, making her tea with big dollops of honey- honey became the main inspiration for the shower and I settled on “Sweet as can Bee” for the name.

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In My Dreams: Autumn Cravings

Posted on September 24, 2013

Now that fall is officially here, I can whip out some items on my dream wishlist! To me, there is nothing more fun than trying out a moodier look for fall. My favorite ways to embrace the vamp trend is by coating my usually natural nails in navy or oxblood polish, trying a deep burgundy lip and becoming instantly more mysterious in an oversized hat.

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