After talking to a friend who is doing her own little personal growth and spirituality “rehab,” I was reminded of some notes I jotted down one night after meditating. It was late, probably close to 1 am and I needed to do a download and gain some clarity. But what I received instead of the calm was an equally welcomed tidal wave of blog ideas and possible posts. I scribbled down as much as I could as fast as I could and then I crashed. Now, for anyone who knows me, they know I have horrible handwriting. Like illegible doctor bad. And what’s worse, I can’t even read my own handwriting. Worse still, I actually prefer to write with pen…
Five Tips to Decorating Your Kid’s Room
A little over a month ago I started transitioning Sebastian’s room from his former obsession, planes, to his current one, space. And in doing so I learned a few very valuable lessons when it comes to decorating for children. 1. Don’t design a child’s room based on their current fixation. Decorate it with the current fixation. What’s the difference? Anything permanent or a little more than semi permanent is design in my book and anything easily removable, decor. I learned this hard way. We had planes on the walls, planes on the ceiling, and almost installed a plane light fixture. But the planes phase landed before I even officially finished the room and Sebastian was on to his next obsession,…
Be “Grateful” for the Weekend and Change Your World
“If you want to find happiness, find gratitude.” Steve Maraboli I told you yesterday that the universe doesn’t like a whiner and challenged you to go 24 hours with ZERO complaints. So, I wanted to check in and see how that’s going. I’m guessing for a good number of you this is kind of like a diet, you’ll start Monday. After all it’s the weekend, time to relax, have fun and not think about anything stressful. And to that I say, fair enough. It is hard and the last thing you want is to be stressed over trying to eliminate your limiting energy because that will once again only invite more negative your way. But do try at some point,…
5 Favorites Friday – My 5 Favorite Target Finds Can Be Yours Too!
All 5 of these guys made it into my Target cart his week and have either found a home in NiCasa or are still by my side making me a very happy girl!
24 Hrs + 0 Complaints = Happy Fastrack
I read a quote yesterday that said, “Go 24 hours without complaining, not even once. Then watch how your life changes.” That’s a pretty big challenge and a pretty bold promise. Do you think you could do it? Or better yet, would you even want to? I’m sure on the surface most of us would immediately say yes to both. Yes, I can go 24 hours with zero complaints and yes, of course I want to. It doesn’t sound that hard, right? Now actually stop and think about your day, the one just had or the one your in the midst of now. Have you complained? How many times? And about what? Now hold that thought… …and let me back…
2 Girls, 3 Weeks and 1700 Sq. Feet!
“Do what you love and never work a day in your life.” I couldn’t agree more! And although I have made many mentions of how exhausting and time consuming this project was, I have loved every single second of the last 3 weeks. It was my heaven, my bliss, my joy! And I am ever so grateful for being given the opportunity to discover what finding my passion truly means and I cannot praise enough all the people who helped me take this first step to truly living it. Thank you Nicole and Sam, my husband and Kim, Home Goods and spray paint and the noisy little creature living on the side of my house who kept me company as…
Getting Down to Business! DIY Business Cards
It was late last Thursday night that I finally got a chance to sit down, decompress and simply relax, take a little much needed “me” time and reflect on the crazy week past and plan for what was still to come with NiCasa. I was giddy with excitement and fully ready in my comfy clothes as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in. It was about then, on breath out, that my state of peace and calm ended, lasting about a nanosecond. Business cards suddenly forced their way into my brain. Business cards as in I had none, and after hearing from Nic and seeing for myself the inquiries from everyone who walked into her showroom about…
Celebrating National Twins Day with a Stiff Drink!
“Twins. Yet another one of the universe’s hilarious curve balls. ”
author unknown
5 Fav’s Friday!
It’s Friday again and since I did pretty much everything but sleep and change diapers at Nicasa this week I’m going to give you a sneak peek at my 5 favorite revamps in the showroom. We will be ready for Market on Monday, the official “open” date for the showroom and I’ll have a full reveal next week complete with a before and after virtual tour. But for now, here are the 5 transformations that make me happiest!
The quest for a couch
I’m not entirely sure how it happened, but this little beauty just made its’ way into my life — and in 8-10 weeks, it will make its’ way into my living room! Oh happy me! Now, I’m hoping the 8-10 weeks is more of a worst case scenario as the one week we have now spent without a couch was about as enjoyable as a foot massage at the dentist’s office. And when I say I’m not “entirely sure how it happened” what I really mean to say is I did a phenomenal job of making my husband believe he won our “couch quest” when indeed, I just got him to accept a crushed velvet navy blue mid-centuryesque couch into…
The Pin Making Ya’ll Grin
Every morning for the last week or so I wake up to scores of emails from Pinterest telling me one of my pins has been “re-pinned.” At first I would flutter with excitement and check with one eye open at all hours. Now, I don’t even bother opening them email. I know what pin is making you guys oh so very happy. It’s this one, and I get it. I loved it too, that’s why I pinned it in the first place! It’s originally from a mobile twitter account in South Africa tweeting about an article on ottomans. So, first I wanted to give credit where credit is due and site the original source of this image, SA_Decor Marcia, and…
Heads Are Gonna Roll…
…if this wall isn’t a huge success! It has been my happy and my hell for a solid two days now and I still have at least 3 more ahead of me (no pun intended!) before this space is complete. I swear, you don’t realize just how big 1700 sq feet is until you have to cover every single inch of it in 3 weeks! But we have made huge progress, huge. I could bore you with the details but I’m honestly too tired so I’m just going to let the pictures speak 1000 words for me!
Where Do They Hide the Kids?
As I ‘m about to take on a complete re-do of our living room, I do what I normally do when in need of some inspiration, I buy books. I know this seems a bit old fashioned but there’s something about book stores that I’m just drawn to and turning the pages of an actual book and having something tangible in my hands rather than on a computer screen or my phone that colors me happy. Now, that’s not to say that I don’t hit up Pinterest, Domino, Apartment Therapy and all the other usual suspects for design direction but I simply loooove books. And I’m pretty much always looking for an excuse to check out who’s published somehitng new…
DIY Rainbows!
All you need: A garden hose, the sun and some smiles! (Pot of gold optional!)
What do Kevin Bacon, Oprah and Jeopardy have in common?
Me!! (Possibly). I’m not entirely sure if it’s out of genuine concern or our seemingly inherent nature to love a train wreck, but some of my friends have started asking if I’m afraid my parents will find out I lost my job through this blog. I laugh every time, and I can’t help but laugh for two reasons. The first is that the idea of either one of my parents accessing a blog is simply comical and second, that what I write 3000 miles away from my former home would somehow make it to their IP address. Now, I fully understand how the Internet works and that anyone can read this anywhere in the world and that distance has zero…
My 5 Favorites Friday!
Because I took A LOT of photos this week, I thought I’d share them with you here. 5 moments that made me laugh and love for my 5 Fav’s Friday. Hope they add a little happy to your weekend too!
DIY Wallpaper Reveal!
Ok! I did it! And I have to say I’m pretty impressed with the results, this was much easier than I anticipated, but only after I abandoned the laser level and ditched the Sharpie. Yup, no Sharpie and no laser level. So let me explain. As far as the Sharpie goes, I just couldn’t get into the feel of it. It was awkward to write with, especially with letters so large and it just wasn’t bold enough. I can understand why people use it when creating the large straight lines in some of the other DIY Sharpie Wallpaper tutorials but it just wasn’t for me for this project. So, I abandoned Sharpie and picked up my paint and…
DIY Sharpie Wallpaper
Ok, so call me crazy but here is where my happy is leading me today. I want to try the DIY Sharpie “Wallpaper” I’ve seen popping up all over my favorite sites. And just this week the perfect idea popped into my head. I was flipping through Happy Handmade Home by the super talented and oh so clever sisters behind A Beautiful Mess and it hit me. In the book, one of their bedrooms is displayed with a stunning hand made accent wall. It’s gorgeous. And I want it. So here’s my plan, I want to replicate this look in our guest house with the phrase “be my guest.” Currently I just have wall decals above the headboard, I know,…
Sit Still
For Mind Blowing Update, scroll to the bottom! You can’t miss it. I understand fully why meditation is considered an art and why the most successful people I can think of, both personally and publicly, all seem to share at least some version of “being still” as part of their success. There is immense power in getting quiet, but I also want to tell you it can be a bit misleading, the “quiet” part anyway. What I have learned in the 60 days since I lost my job but found my calling is that when you can quiet your mind, the universe speaks the loudest. And the fastest if that’s what you’re asking for. Enter all the journals I…
My Authentic Life
If you haven’t figure it out already, this experience has changed me. For the better. I’m not only happier, I’m more connected to my feelings and my thoughts and in turn more present and able to really enjoy my life and all it’s flaws (I’m working on them). And it turns out this new outlook I have is a tad infectious or annoying, depending on which side of happy you fall on. And my friends have no problem telling me when I’ve crossed the line into hippyville. So, to keep it light, I’ve complied the top ten reasons why my friends think I’m going to start wearing crystals and never change out of yoga pants. 1. I believe in…
