Day-to-Day Loving

Photo by Pictilio

Valentine's day is coming. I have always loved Valentine's day... and I didn't have a Valentine until college. It was never about what we don't have, it's just a day reserved to show people you love that you adore them and are thinking of them. 

My husband and I don't go big for Valentine's day, but we like to let each other know the little things we appreciate about one another.

One simple idea is to keep tiny notes with kisses. I write things he does that make me smile, and keep them handy to drop in his bag for him to find at work, or place them by his coffee mug for him to find when I head out of the house for a run in the morning {REALLY trying to get better at taking those morning runs!! ha!}...

It's just a thoughtful way to remind him I care on a regular basis!

Photos by my dear friends from Pictilio. 

xoxo,

Kate

Get Organized: Kitchen Edition

Anthropologie | Honest | Anek

Crate & Barrel | Anthropologie | Storiebrooke

Lydali | Williams-Sonoma | Target

The kitchen... ah the endless organization and re-organization of kitchens... Thankfully there are pretty products to make the cooking and cleaning a bit brighter and sunnier. 

Happy Friday, friends! Come back for links this weekend! xoxo

Healthy Eating

I went to the grocery store the other day, and stocked up on veggies. The store was packed and the cashier told me that people have had their carts full of similar products all day long. It's the January health, cleanse, live-fresh mindset. 

It's a good thing to start the year right! What is hard for me is maintaining it. I mean, when I buy those fresh veggies and bright fruit, I am happy! I am pleased with myself. I am excited. I am ready to prepare every meal with love and full of vitamins.

Then today happens. I read something about nachos and can't stop thinking about them. I got a sweet tooth and went in search for leftover Christmas treats. I drank double the volume of coffee as I did water. Just being real here. I didn't want to be healthy anymore. 

SO. No, I did not eat the candy {yet}, and no I will not eat the nachos. What I did instead was make a list of some stunningly picturesque meals from Pinterest that are both healthy AND tempting {and not too involved... because who has time to go gourmet on the regular, really?}

Consider me back on the nutrition wagon, friends. Also, consider making any and all of these beautiful recipes:

1. Tilapia: I love to have fish at least once per week. It adds variety, freshness, and isn't as heavy as meats.
2. Kale Salad: I'm not big on salads with basic lettuce, but kale I actually do like, and the inclusion of nuts, cheese, and avocados make it hearty enough to qualify as a meal. 
3. Burrito Bowl: This is my favorite kind of healthy eating... where you just take something you love and substitute ingredients for healthier options to create something nutritious that you truly love eating.
4. Soup Recipe 1 & Recipe 2: We eat a lot of soup around here... I've always been big on soup, and these two are in the regular rotation for a good reason.
5. Spicy Chicken Stir-fry with Peanuts: Saying no to takeout is way easier when you have some asian flavors and spices in your home-cooked meal that took 15 minutes to make... {plus or minus 5 minutes for management of children at your feet doing the food-begging routine... is that just me?}.
6. Lime, Shrimp, and Avocado Salad: I would like this for a meal any day of the week. I love everything in this salad, and right about now, it sounds 10x better than nachos.
7. Coco-nutty Cookies: Next, because we all need snacks... why  not make them whole grain and healthy? Perfect for breakfast, lunch, or snack time!
8. Avocado Stuffed with Tuna Salad: Another great snack {or lunch, if you're a light eater} that's a little more involved to make, but looks amazing.

Special thanks to the Internet for keeping me endlessly supplied with meal-planning recipes. 

...also, hey! Follow me on Pinterest!

This is the kale salad I mentioned above. I mean, if a salad looks like that, how can it not be good??

HouseKeeping 01

Prints: Foliage Leaf Wall Art | Zebra Wall Art | Printable Map of the USA {free!}

Pillows: Braided Pillow Cover | Sleep Sayings Needlepoint | Ice Cream Time Pillow

Storage: 3 Sprouts Fox Storage Bin | Bigso Stockholm Boxes | Numbers Cube Bin

There's nothing quite like starting a new year with a clean and beautiful home. January is for cleaning, purging, starting fresh and creating systems for all of the clutter that collects. Before I go any further, allow me to assure you that I have not yet recovered from the Christmas clutter and chaos that collected while we were traveling cross-country making snow angels and sipping far too many cups of coffee. We're all in this "clean the home for the new year" thing together...

I do; however, have some tips for organization systems, because organizing is my favorite thing. I can't even explain how excited I get when I re-organize a room or closet and color coordinate everything and create a proper place for each and every item we own, particularly in the kids' room.. I personally prefer to have all white as the backdrop to a bedroom for my kids {we inherited pale green walls, but I'm angling to change them very soon}, because as kids grow, their tastes change. White allows the accessories to grow with my kids. Colored accessories and bright toys don't overwhelm as much when their room has basic bones. 

I have an addiction to color-coordinating my children's clothing and books because it maintains a put-together look at any given time. Every outgrown clothing size goes directly into the properly marked bin, and anything we used only lightly, we send to consignment. My goal is to prevent excess- if we don't use it, it's handed-down, donated, consigned, or tossed, depending on the wear. The more we have the less we use what we have.

My strategy for the kids' closet is to have one basket where I can throw anything that they try that is outgrown. So like- if Sophie is getting dressed and I see her shirt sleeves are not where they should be, she changes out of that and I toss that shirt into the basket that lives above her dresser. Once the basket is full, I pull it down, and sort everything according to size into already-marked-by-size bins. It's worked like magic since Sophie was about one, so anytime Maggie's clothing begins to get small, we just pull out the next bin and switch it all, and re-label. Bam. Done in a quick 30-minute session. 

There you have it. A quick Monday tip for ya, and plenty of pretty goods to spruce up kids' rooms! 

xo. 

{*post includes affiliate links}

Christmas Party Planning

Who likes to host a good Christmas party? I definitely do.

We love having friends over and getting fancy and adding a bit of sparkle to a chilly December evening. I know a lot of you are probably prepping for your own holiday parties, so I asked some event planners and bloggers to send their picks for an extra dose of festive inspiration for you this year:

one: {planning pretty} || scarlet fondant apron. two- {with lovely} || gold striped paper straws. three: {delighted magazine} || pine wreath. four: {bustle events} || owl salt & pepper shakers. five: {with lovely} || twinkle lights. six: {planning pretty} || cheers coasters. seven: {delighted magazine} || noel pillow. eight: {planning pretty} || salud gift set, gold. nine: {planning pretty} || rosette wreath kit

Be sure to visit these lovely ladies on their gorgeous sites. Inspiration for days! I promise you won't be disappointed!  

Planning Pretty || With Lovely || Delighted Magazine || Bustle Events

Happy Monday!! 

xoxox.

FIVE

Wide ribbons were wrapped around their glasses so the warm hot chocolate didn't burn little hands. 

Sooo this whole FIVE thing came and went, and now I have a kid who is starting to act like a school kid, and hold real conversations. We transitioned Maggie to a toddler bed the same week, and I've been mourning the sudden realization that my babies are not babies. 

Sophie is a big girl now. She adores girly-ness, tutus, rainbows, sparkles, and wands. All this considered, I decided to throw Sophie a sparkly, fancy hot chocolate party. I used sparkly wrapping paper as a table runner {wrapping paper is the BEST bang for your buck, ps}, got AMAZING sweets from The Sugar Studio {my go-to for birthdays!! Hilary is incredible... lucky me that I have such talented friends!}, added cake stands, macaron erasers in tiny envelopes with tiny cupcake stickers, and I made wands that I was sweetly told don't really look like wands, exactly, but they're nice anyway {five-year-olds are incredibly quoteable}. 

In spite of the fact that I texted friends to invite them {I had the best of intentions to send paper invites this time, but never did!}, and it was the end of a holiday weekend, and Maggie was in the ER getting staples on her head from running into the dresser the night before, it was basically a successful party to celebrate this sweet girl.

The best part of it? Children are beyond entertaining. I went ultra fancy and put cranberries in the pink lemonade... and they got spit out into napkins! I can't stop laughing about it still! "Mommy these cherries taste very bad!" I didn't explain, just emptied the tartness from glasses, and continued serving food with a smile... Egg sandwiches girls? Oh no, not at all, but the hard boiled eggs were spotted, they wanted their own... also: 

"I only want the cucumber sandwiches!"

"May I have anything BUT cucumber sandwiches!"

"Can you take the apples out of my salad?"

"Oh no, this cheese isn't good!" {brie}

I was dying laughing inside at the realization that this fancy party was thrown for the wrong target market. The good news is that they loved the hot chocolate and the fresh marshmallows and every sweet. The other good news is that little girls don't eat much, so there were plenty of leftovers and I didn't have to cook on Monday. ;) 

After they ate, I threw on Mariah Carey Christmas, removed the coffee table, and let the girls twirl and dance with their whole little hearts. 

Prettiest candle EVER! Sparkler five!

Sophie at five: has imagination and creates something from nothing. She steals my bathrobe strings and creates leashes for stuffed animals, or ties them to baskets to pull her sister around in a "boat." She can basically teach ballet at this point, and we have "class" regularly where she insists that my friends and I stretch with her, and fly like fairies together, regularly putting grown-ups in comedic scenarios. She has a heart that cares how people feel; I couldn't have asked for a sweeter big sister for Maggie. She is becoming very careful with her treasured items, tucking her new shiny necklace away every night, and setting her nutcracker on her shelf while she sleeps. She will climb anything higher than she should, and has learned {thanks to her daddy} how to climb down just as proficiently. She is loving and affectionate and melts with joy in our arms when we tell her how much we love her. Her eyes shine with life and excitement and we adore her with our whole hearts. Happy birthday dear girl. We're praying for you every single day. 

xoxo.

All the best photos were taken by our great friend Manus Chau. :)

All sweets made by the fabulous Hilary at The Sugar Studio. 

Ps. Remember this? Maggie's 2nd Birthday.