Monday Communiqué: 09/04/17
Good morning friends and happy Monday!
I took a step away from social media and blogging last week and now I'm back and feeling more energized going into September!
Join me with a coffee or tea this morning as I celebrate another Monday, look at the week ahead and share some of my favorite things with you!
Note: This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. For more information check out my sharing and disclosure page!
On The Blog This Week
Friday - I'm excited to share a guest post this week from Lauren Tanzer! Lauren is the president and executive producer of Summer Jax, and joins us this week with a post entitled "3 Easy (And Pretty) Ways To Help You Get Organized At Work" which is beyond amazing! Join me Friday morning with a coffee or tea and jump into this article for some amazing inspiration!
Past Post
Google and Organization - Sharing this post that I wrote back in March about how I use Google to organize all aspects of our life! Check it out if you're looking for some planning motivation.
What I'm Loving Right Now
Podcast: Catch up time! - After taking some time away from social I'm excited to jump back into some of my favorite podcasts! This week I'm catching up on 'The Creative Empire Podcast', 'The Influencer Podcast' and I have my fingers crossed that 'The Homeschool Sisters Podcast' starts their new episodes! What podcasts are you listening to at the moment? Comment below I'm always looking for new podcasts to dive into!
Books: Paris and Organization - I'm the kind of person that may have 2 or 3 books going at the same time, and recently this has been the case in my life! I've recently finished re-reading "How to be Parisian wherever you are" by Anne Berest, Audrey Diwan, Caroline de Maigret and Sophie Mas. I highly recommend this book if you have a love affair with everything Paris like I do! This book is a witty and beautiful look into the life of a parisian. What makes her tick, and what you can adopt into your life to make it even more beautiful.
The second book I'm currently reading is "Organizing for your lifestyle: Adaptable inspirations from socks to suitcases" by Jane Stoller. Jane is from the same province in Ontario that I am and is currently living in Zurich, Switzerland! I am super excited to be able to share a guest post by Jane in the upcoming months, so stay tuned for that! I'll be writing a more in depth review of this book later in October, however for now I'll say that it is full of stats, information and tips on how you can organize all aspects of your life.
Simple Pleasure: Budgeting with Mint - Over the next several months I am planning on doing a series of posts about my favorite application: Mint. I've discussed Mint a couple of times both on Instagram and on the blog, but the more time goes by and the more I discover about this software the more I NEED to talk about it! I have become OBSESSED with this software! The budgeting tool is the best I've ever used and is beyond simple and straightforward, the ability to plan out purchases months and even years in the future is a huge help and the transactions page is my best friend. I love budgeting, but this app has taken it to another level! (This is unsponsored - I just REALLY love this.)
Monday Musings
My absolute favorite time of year has to be Christmas. I am the kind of person that starts planning out my Christmas gift list and plans at the end of August, and this year was no exception. With the added magic of having a baby who is now old enough to (kind of?) understand what's going on around her, this Christmas season is going to be magical. I spent a couple of days at the end of August planning out my Christmas shopping list (of course with a spreadsheet!) which went along with a budget for each family member. We keep gift giving small and simple in our family: opting to purchase only 4 gifts per family member (myself, my Husband and daughter).
Our gift giving rules are to only purchase:
- Something to wear
- Something read
- Something you want
- Something you need
Keeping gifts to a minimum ensures that the emphasis of the season is based on experiences instead of physical objects.
Have you started planning for the holidays yet? How do you and your family budget and plan out your holiday experiences?
Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
Have a truly wonderful week friends,
Our Weekend in Pictures!
Excited to be able to contribute to one of my favorite blogs! In a guest post I've prepaired I discuss how to minimize noise in the bathroom and kitchen. More on that soon!
I loved this simple moment on the weekend. I was tidying up after Amelia and my Husband had gone out to play, and the sunset hit the den window. I had to stop and take a picture, just to hold onto this moment with the sunlight streaming in, classic music playing in the background and a clean kitchen.
I love everything being tidy and in order. From having objects arranged symmetricaly to having everything line up in the right direction. The one time this totally changes is when we have a beautifully messy table. It shows the love, the chaos and the friendship that happens when life interjects and gives you moments. This picture was taken from Sunday when we had friends and theyre two kiddos over for a swim. Wonderful time with amazing people!
Couldn't resist taking this picture of our champagne and bucket in front of the moonlight!
After a long debate with myself I decided to get myself a mailbox! I was recieving a lot of requests for my address to send letters and I was blown away by it! So, without further ado here is my new PO box!