A round-up of our weekly routines!
Read Moremy skincare routine
my skin is a huge priority for me.
because yeah, my mom has taken impeccable care of her skin, and she looks fantastic. so there’s motivation right there.
but also? my skin easily becomes very dry and red when I’m not taking care of it. and I consider myself a pretty confident person, very comfortable in my own skin, but I detest when my skin becomes dry and red, as it’s very obvious and makes me feel a bit embarrassed.
and I don’t wear makeup - more on this in a second - so if my skin is unhappy, there’s no hiding it.
so all that to say, I try to take very good care of my skin.
and it’s taken years of trial and error, but lately I’ve really found a rhythm that has my skin super happy.
Read Moreour favorite bigger toys
if you’ve been around longer than two minutes, you know that we keep a few of kk’s toys and activities immersed in our main living space.
while in the future we definitely have the option of transforming our front room or our dining room into a separate playroom, right now the toys in the main living space work really well for us - I can do whatever it is I need to do and KK can play nearby.
and to minimize the amount of stuff taking over our den, we do a toy rotation and a book rotation. (not to mention the toy and book rotation keeps things super exciting for KK, and I swear it’s a big reason she plays so well independently. I also swear by the course How To Create a Home that Encourages Independent Play in All Ages.)
to keep it all super simple (and fun!) for me, we have themes for each month of the year. see my post on Our Monthly Play Themes: Our Favorite Books, Toys, Activities, and Sensory Bins for Each Month of the Year.
but we have a few bigger toys that stay our all the time. these things get so much use.
if/when we hit a point where KK loses interest in an item, we’ll tuck it away or move it to a different room for a hot minute to give it a break + to make it seem new and shiny again. but until then, these things get used daily.
and to me, I try to invest in toys that’ll grow with us through the years - and all of these definitely fit the bill.
but my disclaimer also is this: there are lots of great bigger toys out there. and I’m not saying these are the best of the best by any means. more accurately, KK loves them immensely, they inspire lots of play, and, above all, I don’t mind them staring me in the face in the main area of my home.
Read Moreour mr. valentine baskets 2022
But first, here’s the full post on how we celebrate Valentine’s Day, if you’re curious of our other traditions, like our Waffle Bar.
Mr. Valentine visits!!!! When my sisters and I were growing up, Mr. Valentine would deliver a small gift basket for each of us by our front door while we were at school…or while my mom took the trash out. ;) We LOVED it and I want to continue this with KK and her siblings.
Read Moreour baby bookshelf of seasonal, themed books
let’s start with a list
many many years ago, I made a list of all the things I truly loved for our living space. (so this list has served us both in our teeny, tiny apartments, as well as our current home.)
according to my list, I love whites, creams, beiges, navys, blues, pinks, oranges, golds, bamboos, wickers, rattans, leopards. I love displaying sentimental pieces and happy memories in our home - photos, maps, magazine clippings, pieces of art, whatever. I love cozy seating, lots of blankets, and plenty of books. etc, etc etc.
first of all, The List makes it INCREDIBLY easy to shop and decorate. i am never tempted by things not meant for me - even if they’re a great price or even if they’re super trendy on Pinterest or even if they just look so cute in that girl’s photo. my list pinpointed what I truly loved. and really, I believe your home should only be filled with things you love. and I believe that’s still possible to do, even with little people running amuck.
Read Moremy amazon subscribe and save
a big faq on my instagram!
as I mentioned in my list of my favorite systems and routines, I love using subscriptions whenever we can on products we use often. because the mental load of running a household can be overwhelming, and automating what I can works reallyyyy well for me - subscriptions automate a big part of our household, especially since there are many items that we use on a predictable, regular basis to run said household.
and as one of my favorite books says, “creating structure creates freedom.” I couldn’t agree more. subscriptions can be such an easy way to add some structure to a household.
on a side note, for the same reason I love utilizing subscriptions, I also love to assign household tasks to certain days of the week and certain months of the year. arguably one of the most calming, freeing things I’ve ever done.
and to tie it all together, one of my October tasks is to reflect to see if anything in our life could benefit from being set to a subscription (or, alternatively, taken off a subscription) - whether that be Amazon Subscribe and Save, our skincare line auto replenishment, a carwash membership, a coffee bean subscription, a meat delivery subscription, etc.
and when I shared on Instagram stories that it was Subscribe and Save day for us, and showed a photo of a biggg box on our doorstep, DMs flooded in. what do you get??
so i thought I’d share a peek into what we have added to our Amazon Subscribe & Save.
and let me say this - sometimes items via Amazon’s Subscribe & Save program is cheaper, yes. but sometimes, I’m paying for the convenience of automation. meaning, it may be similar in price to my grocery store, but I prefer to have it set to Subscribe and Save, rather than remember to add it to my grocery list. and I only go to the grocery store once a week, and Costco once a month (and I hardly ever go to any other stores), so sometimes I’d just rather an item arrive on my doorstep via Amazon, than seek out a separate store, online or in-person. (because a separate store takes more energy, and oftentimes that separate store tempts me to spend more.) while saving money can be a perk of subscriptions, my main goal here is automation and simplification. lighten that mental load of mine.
as always, just sharing what works for us - you do whatever works for you!
Read Moreour routines
I get asked a lot, “What’s your daily schedule?” “Where do you find motivation?” “How do you do it all?”
While flattering, I assure you that I don’t do it all. Not in the LEAST. I figure out what’s important to me and I outsource (or eliminate) the rest to leave space for what we value. Ultimately our household runs on routines, professional help, and good ol’ grocery pick-up.
I absolutely thrive on routines. And allllll the research points to the correlation between successful people and routines, which is all the more reason to jump on the bandwagon. (If you have a spare moment, I love this article about how successful people plan their routines, this article about ten easy habits, and this article about the perils of decision fatigue.)
In short, we have limited energy. I don’t want to waste my energy making small, minute decisions like, “What should I do when I first wake up? When will I go to the grocery store this week? What are we eating for dinner in an hour? When am I answering that email? I need to drink more water, but once I start working I’m so bad about remembering to fill my cup so what should I do? Who’s picking up dog food? How much have we spent on groceries this month?” Etc, etc, E T FREAKING C.
If certain things become a bit more automated, they can happen without wasting precious mental capacity, and I can instead use that energy on things I think deserve it, like entrepreneurial creativity and problem solving.
So I ask myself, “What routines would help me take care of me, my family, and my home?” Interpret that however you need.
Read Moremy newest routine
I recently started juicing in the evenings. Years ago, I loved the occasional fresh juice. Those that have been around know that when I was pregnant with KK, I craved green juice and citrus-laden juices constantly. Even now, I love a good, fresh juice - it’s one of those things that makes me feel really good and it makes me feel like I’m really caring for my body. However, I could never get the routine to stick.
But! Fast forward to now and with a few small tweaks, I finally got a juicing routine that I’ve able to consistently prioritize. I thought I’d also use this as an opportunity to model my process for creating routines, and answer a whole slew of FAQs.
Let’s do this! Here’s how I created + implemented my new juicing routine.
Read Moreour vitamins + supplements
Below is what we take as a family - I purposely didn’t add my reasons for choosing the vitamins we did, as everyone has different needs, and doing research is the best path to see if any of these products would be a good fit for you and your family.
But I will say, our current vitamins and supplements have us feeling so good. It does cost some money, and we prioritize this in our budget - we try to remember it’s important to invest in our health.
And, and! We have all our vitamins, etc set to Amazon Subscribe and Save. One less thing to think about. (There is some debate whether Amazon is a good source, but so far it has worked for us. We will tweak this if need be in the future!)
Here’s what we each take!
Read Morethe big list of things that help me feel my best
i’ve always been a naturally-anxious person. I would worry, overthink, and take things personally to the max capacity. things overwhelmed me that didn’t seem to bother my sisters. other people’s emotions (or the emotions I perceived) would really affect me. the tiniest things would send me into a spiral.
my mom - bless the woman - knew this about me and put me in swimming when I was very little. (she also has a gift for modeling emotional awareness - she instilled the art of identifying our emotions, understanding others’ perspectives, and advocating for what we need from a young age in us three girls.) my mom gave me an incredible set of tools - and a healthy, meditative, physical outlet - to work through my spinny brain and for that I will be eternally grateful to her.
but when I went to college, I stopped swimming. and I did fine - college was fun. but i didn’t take very good care of myself, and mentally I could feel it.
then I went into the working world as a teacher. and I did better, mainly because I loved the kids, I flourished with a set schedule, and I found a local swimteam. I felt better, but not great.
but four years later, i left my teaching job and I took my business full time, working for myself at home. by losing the school day, I completely lost all structure and my days were free to spend as I pleased - which had sounded so appealing. but a year and a half into this, my productivity was at an all time low, and both my weight and self-doubt were at at all time high. my anxiety was absolutely crippling. what was wrong with me?
long story short, everything came to a head and I had an epic, ugly meltdown that lasted the duration of two flights, a layover, the car ride home, and the rest of the evening on the kitchen floor. (affectionately known as The Meltdown of 2017.)
i needed to make some changes. I needed to create my own structure.
I then did a deep dive into lifestyle choices to naturally manage (and thrive with) anxiety. (and, as you can imagine, there are no less than a bajillion suggestions out there.) I learned about INFJs, Highly Sensitive Persons, Enneagram 4s, Empaths, allllll the things - which in itself was very healing. nothing was wrong with me - I just needed certain things to feel my best.
and from there, I started prioritizing those certain things and I felt so good. and once I knew how it felt to feel that good, I could never go back. i built routines to automate these things, and because my routines aligned with my priorities, very little motivation was needed to stay consistent. wanting to feel my best was all I needed to keep going.
and each year gets better and better as I learn more about my needs and adjust my choices as needed. this has been a slowwwww - yet sustainable! - journey. my road to get here was bumpy, but I’m so glad to be where I am today. and I’m so glad KK gets to grow up seeing her mom take care of herself.
here’s my list of things that make me personally feel my best. a list of my favorite routines, systems, and choices. you do whatever works best for you.
Read More