Category: Life

I had so much fun linking up with Erika and Shay for their “Let’s Look” blog series last year that I’ve decided to join in again this year. On the first Wednesday of each month, they host a topic that takes a look into a different aspect of your life. Last year we looked at everything from our pantries to what we pack in a suitcase to our favorite binge-worthy TV shows. It’s kind of all over the place and fun and gives a peek into random things that I normally would never write a blog post about.

The first topic of the year is one of those that I’d never think to write about on my own: bedside tables.

Here’s the thing. I love styling a bedside table. Now that our guest suite renovation is almost complete, I’m having so much fun setting up the room and arranging the nightstands. Here’s a little sneak peek of my progress so far:

However. As much as I love a nicely styled bedside table, I am a toddler mama, and my toddler is in. to. everything. Since my room is one of the places he has access to, he often roots around in my nightstand. I used to keep things like a picture frame, a plant, and a candle on top but now I need to keep the surface clear of breakable objects. I also used to keep lots of little things in the drawers, such as cards from Justin, a lotion bar, c-section scar cream, notes, etc. but too often I had a scene like below where LJ would pull everything out of the drawer and throw it on my bed or on the floor.

All that to say, my bedside table is now nothing special and actually is pretty boring. The main thing it now houses is . . .

. . . books! I snapped this picture yesterday but this is what my nightstand really looks like on any given day of the year. I have my stack of library books on top, a stack of books I own that I want to read on the bottom, and the book I’m currently reading is next to the bed. The only other things I keep out are my phone charger and baby monitor.

Inside the drawer I keep a few journals, pen and pencil, my Kindle charger, my nightguard (I am a notorious grinder), and some lavender essential oil (I occasionally sprinkle a few drops on my pillow). That’s it!

Like I said, it’s nothing special! One day I hope to have a pretty, more styled nightstand but for now, this toddler mama will have to be content with just her stacks of books. 😉

What’s on your bedside table?

I don’t know about you guys, but for me, yesterday actually felt like January 1.

Right?! So true! And because New Years day was a Wednesday, it felt like the holiday even got extended a few days into the weekend. It’s been nice to relax and enjoy low power mode, but when yesterday rolled around, I was super motivated to get us back into a routine.

I love the freshness and clean slate that New Year’s brings. I love the way the house feels bright and fresh without all the Christmas decor and I really love the crisp, clean look of a blank calendar! There is something about some open white space on a calendar that feels so rejuvenating to me after the busyness of the holiday season.

As I look at our calendar for January and February, I love that it doesn’t feel heavy. It feels light, manageable, and we have plenty of white space to just enjoy life without filling it up with tons of obligations. Today I thought I’d just share a few ways that I keep our calendar simple and manageable these days. These tips might not work for every family, but these are what works for our family!

Guard weeknight evenings

We try not to plan a ton of things in the evenings, but we do have a few standing obligations from week to week. Tuesdays are Justin’s late day at work, Wednesdays I attend a cycling class (and often take some time afterwards to run errands or just sit in a coffee shop to recharge), and every other Sunday evening we have small group at church. Other than that, we try not to schedule much in the evenings, especially during the week. This keeps a built in time to recharge and allow us to have family time without stretching ourselves too thin. Sometimes, there are things like a work dinner Justin needs to attend or a girls night for me, but for the most part, we try to keep evenings free. When we do have a night of hosting friends for dinner (about once a month) or going out for a date night during the week, it’s fun and feels like a treat! Eventually I know our evenings will get busier but for now we’re enjoying that time at home with our little ones.

Keep day-to-day structure the same

In general, our days have the same rough outline. Wake-up/breakfasts, change and get ready, then we leave the house for an hour or two. We come back home for lunch, naps, playtime, dinner, baths/bed. Now, of course there are days that don’t fit this mold but in general, that is our routine. It helps tremendously in simplifying our calendar because I only need to really change up one thing each day: what are we going to do in the morning?

So, what do we do in the mornings? I have a few ways of simplifying that too!

Keep a few recurring activities

Tuesdays, LJ has in-home speech therapy and then we pack up and go to the library for story time. Wednesdays, we go to my bible study (childcare is provided!). Every other Thursday, I meet with a group of friends for a book study/small group while our kiddos play in the host’s basement. These are activities that we do every week on the same day at the same time, so I don’t even have to use any brain power to figure out what to do or when to leave the house. It makes things easy and then I only have to figure out a plan for Mondays, Fridays, and every other Thursday.

Have morning “go-to’s”

For Mondays, Fridays, and every other Thursday, I have some go-to options that I keep in mind and alternate through so I’m not always spending a lot of brain power to come up with an activity from scratch. Some of my go-to’s are:

-go to the zoo (we have a membership, so it’s easy to go for just an hour or two and it doesn’t feel like a waste of money if we’re not there long)

-play at the library (many of our local libraries have great little play areas for kids!)

-trampoline jump park (they have toddler time on Fridays!)

-play date with a friend either at our home or theirs

In the summer we also have options like splash pads, playgrounds, and parks. And some mornings, our “activity” is really more of an errand like a doctor’s appointment or grocery shopping, although I try to do these errands when I have a babysitter or Justin is home so I don’t have to take both kids to the store. It happens though!

Say “no”

I have a whole blog post about saying no, but the bottom line is, I have learned over time that sometimes saying no is the best thing I can do for myself and my family. When I’m stretched too thin, when we’re running from activity to activity, when naps get skipped or we get out of sync, it makes a noticeable difference in my family. We get cranky, our days seem less enjoyable, and we just feel “off.” So I say no to things that I know will mess up our routine. We say no to activities in the afternoon, because that is when LJ naps and I know from experience that no activity is worth messing up naptime right now. I say no to things before 9 am, because it’s took hard for us to get up and out the door without feeling rushed. We say no to back-to-back evening activities that involve our whole family. We keep our normal routine and structure 99% of the time, so when something comes along that is really worth disrupting our routine, we can say yes and know it won’t throw us off too much because the rest of days are still normal.

By sticking to a general routine, having go-to activities in mind for getting out of the house, and saying no when saying yes would stretch us too thin or throw our routine out of whack, we keep a simple calendar with plenty of white space for when things come up. Just the way I like it. 🙂

What do you do to keep your calendar simplified and manageable?

I can hardly believe it, but today is the last day of 2019. The last day of this decade! Ten years ago, I was a junior in college. I thought my life would be headed in one direction, and it ended up heading somewhere vastly different. Ten years ago I absolutely never would have pictured this life I’m living now but I am fall-to-my-knees grateful for where I’m at. This has been a challenging, beautiful, exciting, and fulfilling decade and I’m really looking forward to the next one!

At the beginning of the year, I shared my goals instead of resolutions (dubbed the “19 for 2019” list thanks to my beloved Happier Podcast). I wanted to review the list today and share what I accomplished, what I didn’t, and what I decided was better to let go of. Then I’m sharing my “20 for 2020” goals. Looking at this list, I’m excited for all that is to come this year!

My 19 for 2019

1- My #1 goal for 2019 was . . . BABY #2. We weren’t sure if that meant we would actually have a baby in 2019, but we at least hoped to be pregnant even if it meant the baby didn’t arrive until 2020. I’m so very happy that we were able to expand our family and have loved the past 4 months with our sweet little girl.

2- Plan an adults-only trip for Justin and I – Done! We planned and took an adults-only babymoon to the Bahamas and it was just what we needed. It was relaxing, fun, and just a wonderful vacation for us to reconnect and enjoy time together.

3- Update instagram account and create Chatbook for LJ – Not done at all. In fact, I ultimately decided that keeping up with my instagram goals and creating a chatbook was just not a good use of my time. I decided to accept that and move on from this goal and I’m happy with that decision!

4- Select pictures for family photo albums – Ugh, no. I really hoped to have been able to make this happen, but it just didn’t. This is a project that I just need to set aside several hours (honestly, probably days) to do, and I hope to accomplish this in 2020.

5- Plan out family photo albums – Again, zero progress. 2020!

6- Create a master list of my top book recommendations – DONE! I wrote a blog post about my top recommendations that you can find here.

7- Replace our ugly brown recliner – I would say this goal is partially complete. In college, Justin spent $20 on a used (and ugly) brown recliner. The recliner was sent down to the basement (which was progress), and then this year we did get a new sectional for the basement. So the recliner has been replaced, but Justin is still resistant to actually getting rid of it so we do still have it set off to the side. Here’s hoping 2020 will be the year we can actually move it out of the house!

8- Write and track our monthly spending budget – This is an ongoing goal, so it’s not really “done,” but we did a pretty good job of this. I’d say there is room for improvement and we’re hoping to keep getting better and better with this.

9- Send birthday cards – Again, an ongoing goal that’s hard to fully complete, but I did sent many cards this year and definitely plan to keep up this habit. It’s fun!

10- Find a local tailor – DONE! I found a local tailor that has done everything from fixing holes, hemming pants, adjusting the bridesmaid’s dress. It’s so nice to have these little projects taken care of!

11- Find a reliable, nearby babysitter – DONE! We found a college girl who lives about 10 minutes from us and is great with our babies. She not only watches the kids in the evening if we want a date night, but she also has no classes on Tuesday afternoons so every other week she comes for a few hours to hang out with LJ so I can run errands, make appointments, etc. It’s WONDERFUL and we are so thankful for her.

12- Have house siding washed -Done! Except we got it done for our old house…and now out new house needs it too. Definitely a 2020 project!

13- Find comfortable black heels – The search continues for this one. I looked and tried some on, but I’m struggling to find a pair that is actually comfortable.

14 – Plan our will with an estate lawyer – Done! I have to say, this felt really good to check off the list. It is so hard to imagine the “what ifs” and can feel kind of morbid to talk about what you want to happen in various situations, but the reality is we are going to die some day so we need to have a plan in place. It is a relief to also know that our children will be well taken care of and our wishes are known if something happens to both Justin and I.

15- Invest in buying plastic alternatives – Again, an ongoing goal so never really “done” but I have invested in several items: stainless steel straws, glass containers to store food, thinx, and reusable bags to use in place of ziploc. I recently purchased a shampoo bar (instead of shampoo in a plastic bottle) and I’m excited to see if it is effective. I also put some things on my Christmas list and am really pleased with the alternatives I’ve accumulated this year!

16- Set up accounts for LJ’s future – Done! We’ve set up his 529 plan!

17- Have budget meeting with Justin for each paycheck (roughly 2x/month) – Ongoing, but we have done pretty well with this. There is always room for improvement, and for 2020 we’ve decided to do mini check-ins on Sundays to help keep us accountable.

18- When buying clothing or shoes, look for fair trade, ethically made options – I haven’t bought many clothes because of maternity and now not being quite back to pre-baby size, but I did buy a fair trade purse and fair trade clutch for LJ’s diapers as well as a few other purchases from a shoppe whose mission is to provide fair trade, ethically made products that support survivors of sex trafficking and I’m very proud to contribute to their mission. While I haven’t necessarily bought fair-trade clothing, I have bought a lot second-hand which is at least a very sustainable option and I’m happy about that! And I read The Conscious Closet which gave me lots of ideas for how to make better choices with clothing in the future.

19- Learn more about finances (401K, 403B, investments, etc.) – I did okay with this one. I mostly listened to podcasts and did gain some insight but there is definitely still a lot I don’t know!

Overall, I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made! And now, let’s look ahead to 2020!

My 20 for 2020

1 – Plan a dreamy office/reading room. We have a room in our house that is currently used for storage and as a back-up guest room, but it would be the perfect space for built-in library shelves and a cozy reading chair. We may not be able to actually complete the room in 2020, but I want to at least map out our plans and start to budget for it!

2- Select pictures for family photo albums.  Didn’t happen in 2019, but I’m going to try to do this in 2020!

3  – Create family photo albums

4 – Update the Simplify the Chaos website. I really want to change around some of the pages and organize previous posts a little better. It’s a lofty goal for me because I know so little about working with websites but I know I’ll be so happy when it’s done!

5 – Replace basement carpet. The carpet in the basement is dated, worn, and bubbles up in places. Replacing it will make a big visual impact and be a little more functional for us, as the current one has a high pile and is hard to clean. I’m also hoping once we move furniture out for the carpet to come in, the ugly brown recliner doesn’t make it back in the house. 😉

6 – Update book recommendations list. I’m so glad I was able to create a master list of my book recommendations (read my post here), but I need to make sure to update it because I’ve read SO many great books since then!

7 – Get a dip manicure. I know I’m pretty late to the game here, but I’m so intrigued by the nail dipping trend and want to try it out! I love having painted nails but hate when they start to chip and don’t have time to constantly repaint them. I think this would be a fun little splurge to try sometime. 🙂

8 – Invest in footwear with a purpose. I kind of had this goal last year, but I’m modifying it a bit to say: I want to buy a pair of shoes that has some purpose. Either it’s fair trade, ethically made, eco-friendly, or a combination of all three. I’m specifically looking at a pair of Rothy’s or something from The Root Collective. They are definitely investments, so I want to make sure to find something I love and will wear all the time.

9 – Try at least 5 brand new (to me) foods. I am not a super adventurous eater (unlike my husband, who will try anything at least once) but I want to expand and go outside my food comfort zone more. Justin and I have a trip to New Orleans planned this year and I am psyching myself up to try lots of new foods there!

10 – Set up a 529 for Vi. We did this for LJ in 2019, so we need to set one up for Vi now!

11 – Read 60 books. This averages 5 books a month. Lofty for sure, but I like a challenge!

12 – Take a continuing education class. Even though I’m not currently teaching, I want to keep my teaching license up to date and I need to take classes to do that.

13 – Host a big summer party. When we moved into our new house, we knew that we wanted to have it be a gathering place for family and friends. We want to do a lot of work on the house, but we also don’t want to wait to have people over. So we’re just going to do it! We want to host smaller events too, but one goal is to have a ton of people over in the summer and just have a great big party with loved ones.

14 – Update Vi’s room. We kept the nursery very simple and gender neutral, but now that Vi is here, I’d like to spruce it up just a bit and add some girlie touches.

15 – Plan a family staycation. There are so many cool things to do in our area but we get complacent doing the same things over and over. I want to plan a fun family day (or maybe weekend?) of checking out local places we haven’t yet experienced.

16 – Take LJ to swimming lessons. This is a huge one for my list. We have done lessons at the YMCA already, but I’d like to have him in a more individualized lesson.

17 – Create something. I’m not exactly sure what this one will look like, but I’m feeling a desire to stretch some of my creative muscles in some form or other. Vague, but I hope by including this on my list, I’ll be inspired!

18 – Have professional family photos taken. I snap approximately 23428375938 pictures on my phone, but it’s always so nice to have some gorgeous, professional photos taken to document a stage in our lives. This time with little ones goes so fast and I’d love to have some beautiful pictures taken of it.

19 – Actually use my InstantPot. I was gifted an InstantPot like 2 years ago and I’ve used it exactly one time. It sounds weird but I’m kind of intimidated by it.  I haven’t taken time to learn how to use it and honestly, I love my crockpot and use it all the time so I haven’t felt the need to learn the InstantPot. I don’t like to have gadgets around that I don’t use, but I also don’t want to get rid of the InstantPot if it’s something I would actually love once I learn how to use it. So this year, I want to actually put in the effort to learn!

20 – Host at least 4 game nights. Justin and I love to play games and would frequently have friends over (or go to their houses) for game nights before having kids. Now that we have children and many of our friends do too, it’s hard to carve out time for this. I really want to make an effort though, because I think it’s important to still keep doing some things we adults love to do. I hope to host at least one each season (winter, spring, summer, fall) so we’ll see!

Do you have any goals for 2020? I’d love to hear them! May this be our best year yet!

Honestly, my capacity to write a blog post is pretty low right now.

Despite my best efforts to keep the holidays simple, I find that the week before Christmas still has some chaos. Last minute presents. Finishing Christmas cards. Preparing for travels.

Amidst all that, we have normal life with a toddler and baby, and we’re trying to finish the last of our guest suite renovation. We had hoped to be finished with this renovation by now, but there were some things that happened along the way that have caused some delays. We now hope to have the bulk of renovation finished on Friday, although it will be at least another month before it’s completely done (we are waiting on a custom vanity top and need new boards for the top of the half walls).

Even though things feel a bit unsettled and crazy right now, I find myself full of anticipation.

Anticipation for the renovation to be done – we’re so close and I’m ready to move furniture back in and decorate!

Anticipation for the look on LJ’s face when he opens his presents.

Anticipation for snuggling under a blanket on my parents’ couch, surrounded by my siblings, watching Christmas movies.

Anticipation for gathering with family around a delicious meal.

Anticipation for singing my favorite Christmas hymns in church (the Christmas service singing is always so amazing!)

Anticipation for celebration.

And it reminds me of all the anticipation that was felt all those years ago, as a young virgin prepared to give birth to a baby who was to be the Savior of the world. May we never forget the reason for this season. ❤

I hope you can find some joy in the anticipation this week!

Today is the final “Let’s Look” for 2019 and once again I’m linking up with Erika and Shay. This month’s topic is all about our gift wrapping station. Kind of like the pantry post, this is something I never thought I’d blog about, but it actually was kind of fun to plan this post!

I keep all my wrapping supplies in one corner of a closet. It’s certainly nothing fancy, but it is very helpful to have everything corralled together.

On the floor, you’ll see I keep all my wrapping paper in a storage bin that I bought a few years ago from Target. The handle makes it super easy to bring my paper out wherever I’m wrapping. I keep a variety of boxes in all different sizes from various purchases/packages so I have something to put gifts into.

On the shelf, my old pink shower caddy from my college days gained new life as storage for all my little bits and bobs for wrapping – ribbons, washi tape, twine, tags, etc.

I also keep a sturdy gift bag full of various colors of tissue paper. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever purchased tissue paper – this is all just paper I’ve received from my own gifts in the past! When I get a gift with tissue paper in it, I smooth it out, fold it up, and store it in a rough rainbow order. It makes it super easy to find the color I want and I feel good knowing the paper is getting reused instead of just tossed.

I also have a TON of gift bags. Again, I don’t buy any gift bags. These are all bags I’ve received over the years that I’ve kept to use for gifts to others (as you can imagine, I have a lot of bags for weddings and baby showers!) I keep them stored roughly by size – larger bags get stored in one bag, smaller bags in another. I also keep my smallest gift boxes here, mostly because they fit perfectly in my storage box.

I also keep extra shopping bags tucked on the side of the shelf – these are nice to have on hand to transport gifts to an event.

Whenever it’s time to wrap a gift, I just get out whatever supplies I need and bring it to my kitchen table. I do love using gift bags for easy gift-giving throughout the year, but there is something about Christmas that makes me want to wrap every gift. Yesterday I started wrapping some Christmas gifts and snapped a few quick pictures of what my work space looked like.

I like making each gift a little bit special with tags, ribbons, or washi tape so I keep the caddy right next to me so I can grab whatever I need easily.

My little niece is super girly so so simple glittery washi tape is perfect for her. 😉

When I’m done, it’s easy to just tuck my supplies back in the closet until next time!

Now I just need to figure out where to store these wrapped gifts until Christmas! Usually I keep them under the tree, but since I have a very curious toddler who would tear open these gifts in 4.5 seconds, I need to find another place! 😉

Happy Thanksgiving!

I’ve mentioned before my great love for the “Happier” podcast, and one of the tips they once gave as a way to live a happier and healthier life was to try going into “low power mode” for a period of time. With a smartphone, “low power mode” means that your phone is still on but conserving battery life, resulting in only the basic functions being used.

I love the parallel that this can have to life. For me, low power mode doesn’t mean I need to totally unplug and go off the grid, but it does mean a reduced connectivity and a focused intent on being present with those I’m with.

The holiday season is the perfect time to consider going into low power mode. It is so easy to fill up this season with a ton of commitments and busyness, but that makes it all the more rewarding when you’re intentional with your time and actually let yourself enjoy the season!

I’m not going to lie, I have been feeling pretty overwhelmed by the mental workload I’ve got lately. We are in our fifth week of the basement renovation and I’ve had to make a lot of decisions, both big and small, with this project (how does anyone build a house from scratch?! So many decisions!!) Over the past few weeks I’ve also had to keep up with pediatrician appointments, LJ’s birthday party, holiday commitments, etc. and all the regular things that keep our life running smoothly like grocery shopping, laundry, and feeding all our dogs and humans. It can take a toll! So I’ve decided to use the Thanksgiving holiday as a time to simplify things and enter “low power mode.”

A few ways I’m going into low power mode this holiday season:

I signed off Facebook. I’ve come to realize that while I do enjoy Instagram and draw both inspiration and encouragement from it, Facebook is not something I enjoy anymore. It’s become kind of a time waster and never leaves me feeling filled up after mindlessly scrolling. In an effort to be more intentional with my time this holiday season, I’m taking a step back from Facebook and will be signed off for the rest of 2019 (and maybe beyond . . . we’ll see). Honestly, I have no desire to totally go off the grid and eliminate all forms of social media, but I am feeling the need to reduce its overall presence in my life right now and this already feels like a great step in that direction!

I choose our BEST yes. Lysa Terkhurst wrote a book called “The Best Yes” and it has shaped how I address all the potential commitments that come our way, especially during the holidays. Our little family thrives on routines right now. Both kids are sleeping through the night and I want to keep it that way! This means avoiding commitments that interfere with naptime or bedtime. In some ways, this simplifies things because it is an easy “no” if something is happening at say, noon, because LJ goes down for a nap around 12:30-1. If there is something we really want to do and it messes up our routine for one day, we can say yes! One day doesn’t mess us up, but many days will. Since we’re careful with what we say yes to, it doesn’t throw us off too much when we say yes to that one great thing.

I find ways to simplify my commitments. I’m a natural perfectionist, so letting go of the desire to do everything above and beyond is a hard thing to do but I’ve made great strides over the years! Now I think: how can I do this as simply as possible while still doing it well? Perfect example: a friend of mine recently had a medical procedure and our friend group organized a meal train for her family. I signed up for a meal last night. It’s the week of Thanksgiving, my house is in a weird explosion of unpacked-but-not-set-up Christmas decor, we need to pack for our travels this weekend, I’ve been running around picking out things that I needed to make a decision on this week for our renovation like paint and door handles. Rather than add the task of cooking a homemade meal, I relied on tried-and-true items I know are delicious from the grocery store. I put together pulled pork, slider rolls, pre-made potatoes, frozen veggies in a steamable bag, and store bought cookies. And my friend was thrilled! She had a yummy meal she didn’t have to cook or shop for and I was able to serve her in that way without adding a ton of undue stress on myself.

I hope you can find ways to enter low power mode this holiday season and enjoy this time of year. If you have any other ways to keep things running in low power mode, I’d love to hear them!