Month: January 2016

Organized Living: Catch It All

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Any time I flip through a magazine or catalog, I always sigh when I see neatly organized “catch all” or mud rooms. I love the idea of having a place to house all the stuff needed for activities, school and life.

This is our finished catch all and I love it. It makes clean up easy (ok, slightly easier) because everyone can put their bags, gear and or reminders in one space. Plus there’s not back packs and soccer balls every where. Or at least in theory.

This bench is an antique that has been in our house since I was little. It sort of floats around rooms, but it always works. The mirrors and the baskets are Target. And the shelf is courtesy of Peter and his amazing carpentry skills.

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I love the baskets. They make storage so pretty. And yes, having a crap basket is totally necessary.

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One organized living solution that keeps my sanity is to have a bag for each activity. Swim, dance, soccer, softball – all of them get a bag. Then at the end of each game or practice, all the crap goes back into the bag. That way there’s at least a fighting chance of finding soccer balls and TWO shin guards.

And that orange bag? Is a life saver! It has pockets surrounding the inside and the wide opening means everything is easily accessable. It’s called The Game Day Tote from Simply Steph’s Monograms on Etsy. Tell her I sent you when you order yours.

Need ideas for your mud room? Head on over to Pinterest and get ready to lose a few hours. All you need is a little space and some imagination – now get organized!

Accepting Reality

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I had a business meeting yesterday morning that did not go as well as I had hoped. I don’t often write about the water company that we own and operate – it’s not really my happy place. But I realized last night as I was trying to laugh off a bad day with Peter, I’ve been managing this company for 6 year. Whoa. It hadn’t really dawn on me that it had been that long. And while Peter was was making my laugh by comparing the time to a prison sentence, I realized that it might be time to embrace accept it. To stop calling it “the stupid water company” as I usually refer to it. To give it the attention it demands. To recognize that I spend a lot of time running a business and that while I may not love it, I’ve gotten pretty good at it. I’ve learned a lot and together with my mom, we’ve turned a regulated business from solidly in the red to being in the black. It’s time to acknowledge our work and start to find the bright spot in the business.

As I dropped the kiddos off at their schools yesterday, Baylor knew something was up because I was wearing heels. When I told her that I had an important meeting, she responded with “I’ll say a prayer for you today”. The second word out of her mouth when I picked her up was “how was your meeting??”. When I told her that it wasn’t great, she told me that not only had she said a prayer for me, she asked her whole class to pray too and then the other class during religion to do the same.

I realized that no matter how unsatisfied I am with this business, there aren’t many things as amazing as being able to send our kiddo to a fantastic school and to have 35 six year olds saying prayers for you. And if I had to choose between an always amazing business or a six year old with a heart of gold, I’ll take that little lady every time.

Life is good.

Rockin’ and Rollin’ 2016

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When you live near the Rock and Roll Marathon route, you can either try to get around the marathon, run it, or find away to enjoy it! We chose the last option and joined our friends, the B Family, for their annual water station. They are literally on the route so they are blocked in – which is a great excuse to hand out water and turn it into a party.

We rode our bikes over to their house and realized that this was a well oiled machine. Tables with cups and a system for filling and then refilling the water jugs was in place. Not to mention a great spread of breakfast and bloody marys for the volunteers. It wasn’t long until the first few runners came by, then the big waves came. It was so neat seeing the various kinds of runners – everyone was working hard. The sweetest thing was that so many runners not only slowed down, but some stopped to take the water from the kids and thank them for being there to cheer and hydrate. It was so cute to see the excitement on the kids faces.

Cutest helpers ever

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The waiting

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Someone has to drink the champs and bloodies

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Working hard!

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Towards the end, the kids handed out little candies too. It was a very sought after position

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Congratulations to everyone that ran! And thank you to all the runners who took time to say thank you, you made a lot of little kids very happy!

Lazy Gurl Curl

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For years I have been trying to perfect “the wave” “the uncurled, curl” “the beach wave”. You know what I mean. That I just left the beach and my hair looks a-mazing! kind of curl.

But without all the, like, work.

Somehow last year, I finally made it work. And honestly, it was sheer laziness. It was summer, it was 115* and I was trying to do something with my wig. After I let it down, I realized that it had curled kind of…cute. With a little perfecting on my twisting and clipping, I had the perfect recipe for The Lazy Gurl Curl.

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Not too shabby, right? And not one curling iron used.

Here’s the how to:

  1. Use a shampoo and conditioner that are moisturizing. I love Wen, but Pantene will do in a pinch.
  2. Dry your hair as normal, round brushing the roots for volume.
  3. Put a small amount of leave in conditioner in the ends – I like the Wen leave in or even a detangling spray will work. Anything that adds a little moisture and some conditioner back in.
  4. Twist hair and then into a loose bun, right where your scull and spine meet (better known as your occipital ridge for all the yogis). Secure with a claw clip. This is the tricky part because it can leave a kink in your hair so be careful to clip it at the bottom of the bun.
  5. Leave in place for about an hour. Remove the clip, shake out curls, a little hairspray – voila! Curls without the heat.

Hello, 2016

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I love new year’s. I love the excitement and the fun. And while I’m pretty sure our wild NYE parties are behind us, the alternative of banging on pots with the kids at “midnight”and making smores is pretty awesome.

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What will I be working on in 2016? Here’s a few ideas….

  • No Negative

Whenever I’m looking for inspiration to write, I read. It always gets my brain moving and thoughts flowing. And in this hectic life, I find the thing I read most are short articles and blogs. The problem is,  a few of the blogs I read, leave me irritated rather than inspired. At times I find the writers to be pretentious, judgy and shallow. I walk away feeling judged and annoyed. No mas. I’m clearing out my browsing history and saved pages. The only stuff going in now is the stuff that makes me want to write, uplifts and inspires.

  • Less noise

Ha! I know that’s funny to read with two kids and a dog running around. But I find my thoughts are scattered between schedules and to do lists and the news blaring in the background or a pod cast playing and FaceBook alerts chirping at me. It’s time to turn it all down. Waaay down. I don’t have a lot of quiet moments, but when I do, I need to not turn on the news, or radio or social media. Rather than filling up the quiet, I need to use the silence to clear my head and make way for creativity.

  • I’ll Do Me

I have really amazing friends. Like really amazing. And in addition to great friends, I think our little community is full of interesting, inspiring and quirky people. I have noticed that when I listen to a friend or acquaintance, etc. I find myself thinking of how I could be should be doing what they are doing. It’s some kind of odd self judgement. I’m great at making to do lists and checking them off. I’m not always great about sitting back and realizing what I’ve accomplished, of what I bring to the table. Peter is my biggest and best cheerleader and I think I finally got what he’s been saying for so long. So I’m going to keep listening, I’m just not going to feel the (self) pressure to take it to heart. I’m good at doing what I do and what I do every day has value and I need to remember that. My to do list for 2016 is big, I need all my attention here.

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