From my mom:
My mom is a working woman, mother of two, and wife. Growing up I was always known as the friend whose mom threw the awesome birthday parties, Easter parties, Valentine's Day parties...you name it, my mom probably threw a party for it. Every party was complete with decorations, a theme, tons of fun, and a lot of attention to detail. If Pinterest existed back then, her parties would have been all over everyone's boards! How did she do it? Sorry mom, I'm about to give away your secrets. While everyone thought the cake was homemade, the decorations were hand cut...they weren't. But she sure made it look like it was. So here I am with tip #1: a nice set of dishware can make any food (and therefore, party) look good. Head to Ross, buy a cute tiered dessert display, purchase some packaged food from Trader Joe's, sprinkle with powdered sugar (if dessert) or drizzle with olive oil and basil (if savory) and voila! You have a simple, homemade looking display for your next dinner party.
Theirs.
Mine.
(Ok...so I actually made
these cookies, which goes against my whole "simple theme".
BUT, they weren't from scratch. And if I had really wanted to be
simple,
I could have bought a few cookies to throw in
the mix and none of my
friends would have known the difference.)
Oh, and don't forget the cute signs. Trust me. Martha Stewart will be
asking YOU for advice.
Theirs.
Mine.
From my dad:
Do it right the first time. I don't have any Instagram photos to back-up this lesson, but it's a good one to remember. It takes twice as long to do something over again than it does to invest the time to do it right the first time. I don't always put this simple lesson into motion, but sometimes when I really don't want to do something, I remember this and just put forth the effort needed. It makes life a lot easier in the long run!
From Sydney:
Sydney and I were college roommates. She is a very clean person. Me...not so much. I mean, I like things neat and orderly, but if you were to walk into my apartment right now, you'd see that I actually live in more of a mess than you think I would. Anywho, she taught me to "just clean". Sometimes it sucks and I don't want to put away my clothes after changing into my PJs, but like my dad taught me to do things right the first time, Sydney taught me to just put things away as I go. It saves a lot of time later, because you'll have less big cleaning days. So next time you want to throw your shirt on the floor or leave your bowl in the sink, take the extra 20 seconds to just put it away.
From Dana:
Dana taught me efficiency. She is also a clean person (do you notice a pattern here)? But she taught me a little trick to making me move faster while doing what I don't want to do. Count! Next time you unload and load the dishwasher, count how many breaths it takes to get the job done. Then the next time, try to beat it. I can now clean my entire kitchen, dishes included, in under 15 breaths. Now that's making life simple!
From Brooke:
Brooke and I have been friends since kindergarten. We share a love for random thoughts and crafty things. She got me into scrapbooking. Ok, so maybe scrapbooking is kinda lame, but the concept of keeping memories and reflections all in one place is wonderful. I never realized the impact it had on my life until I started showing some of my new San Diego friends all my old scrapbooks from high school and college. I'm beyond thankful I made them. While I don't have the time I had to spend hours and hours cutting out little paper corners and gluing them down next to stickers that read "good times", I do have 15 minutes a day to snap a photo a day on my iPhone and add a little caption to help me remember what was so special about today. I started doing this before the whole #photoaday thing took off, but now I'm glad it's popular because I like the prompts each day to help jog creativity. If you don't already do this, I highly recommend it. Use it as your time to meditate, pray, or whatever it is you do to remain balanced and thankful.
Then take it one step further. Spend just a little time out of your day or week to reflect on important or special moments, don't be afraid to take too many pictures, and store everything in a safe place. Then one day, get all those "photo a day" photos and captions printed in a Shutterfly or Costco photo book. It's a simple thing that takes a fraction of the time as actually scrapbooking and will provide you with memories and memories of all the best moments of your life. Well worth it!
My photo book from Europe. Priceless.
From Jenn and Bri:
These two lovely ladies are the best note writers ever. About 4-5 times a year I get a hand written card from one of them. They take 5 minutes out of their day to say "hi, thanks for being my friend". That 5 minutes and a $.42 stamps buys a bucket full of happiness. So try it. Write someone a simple Thank You card, a REAL birthday card, a Just Because card and drop it in the mail. The art of handwritten letters shall not be lost! Please oh please don't let it be lost. : )
From Jeremy:
I love coffee. I mean, I really really love coffee. I used to spend $4 a day on Starbucks coffee until Jeremy introduced me to Guatemalan Antigua coffee from Starbucks. This, paired with hazelnut Coffeemate coffee creamer is my winner combination. Save yourself some time and money and find your happiness in a cup then stick with it...no matter the stuff people tell you about being a coffee snob or how you "shouldn't drink that creamer stuff". It's one of the very few things I consume that isn't natural/organic/healthy and I'm ok with it. Leave me be with my simple morning joy.
Coffee lesson #2 from Jeremy: This is a neat little trick. Save yourself some dish washing and keep one coffee stirring spoon out all the time (just rinse it after each use so it doesn't get gross). My roommate is a boy, so our spoon holder isn't "Pinterest Approved", but it's effective, simple, and makes my morning coffee making process a little faster.
These are just a handful of the little lessons I've learned from others.There will be a "Simple Things I Learned From Others - Part 2" someday, so keep on a look out for more tips. Your name might appear next to one of them. : )
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