Dorms Done Right!

FIVE FAVORITES FRIDAY 8.22.2015 August is Back To School Season and there’s truly no escaping the endless barrage of inventive school supplies and academic inspiration no matter the grade or location.  And for those of you heading off to college, maybe for the first time, or the fourth, dorm decor is always a cause for pause.  But here are 5 of the best tricks of the trade to make your dorm room less like the sterile environment you enter and more like the happy home sweet home you crave (just without your parents, of course). Never underestimate the power of Washi Tape.  It can transform a wall, deck out your door, keep you organized, spotlight your friends or simply help…

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Add A Little Bling to Your Life and Your Outlook for under 10 Bucks!

While spending last month designing and decorating NiCasa Showroom in downtown Los Angeles for my friend and NiCasa owner, Nicole, I was reminded of a little motto of mine, when in doubt, spray it gold.  I said it so often after hauling in truckloads of treasures that by the end of the week Nic herself was saying it in anticipation of my “plan” and I was no longer being met with the quite the same level of resistance over the idea.  Or the sound of  “Ok…sure…if…you…think…that…will…work?”  Why?  Because it did work and I made a believer out of her in record time.   So when in doubt, spray it gold — and spray it gold we did — matte gold,…

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“Your Brain is Your Bitch” – A Badass Cheat Sheet to Living an Awesome Life

If you haven’t read Jen Sincero’s You Are A Badass yet, chances are you know someone who has or at the very least you’ve been blinded by a copy in the bookstore or at a cafe.  It’s everywhere, and for good reason.  Making its’ way to the NYT Bestseller’s list for back to back weeks now, Badass is in your face honest, brutally straight forward and can’t put down funny page after page.  And quite often  Sincero is like your big sister or best friend telling you everything you don’t necessarily want to hear but absolutely must hear  — and because it’s coming from love, you remain engaged. But don’t let that sweet stuff fool you, a no coddling message…

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My 5 Favorites Friday is all about packing light!

As I’m mentally packing for Create + Cultivate while writing this and packed and flying by the time you’re reading this, I’m having trouble deciding between 2 different lists.  5 Things I Better not leave home without or 5 of the best traveling light tips I’ve found thus far.  And being as neither one of these lists are necessarily my Favorites per say, they are timeless tips and tools and quite frankly I’m out of time. And to make up for what I’m lacking in originality here, I’ll give them to you both and go for quantity if you promise not to complain.  Because let’s face it, I have kids, I don’t travel often and when I do, light is…

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The Easiest Way to Squeeze the Happy Out of Your Day

Expect it.  Yup, that’s it.  If you were expecting more, I’m sorry to disappoint but I told you it was easy!  Be happy it’s so simple because it is, truly.  Simply setting your expectations high is even better than having an open mind, which too is helpful, no doubt.  But expecting a good day or positive outcome and playing that out in your head is like asking the Universe to be the celebrity by your side.  Doors will open and opportunities will appear because expecting things to go your way is announcing your desires to The Universe through intention.  It’s an indirect way of being direct and getting what you want.  Pile on some enthusiastic emotion and you’ve got Disneyland…

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10 Tips From The Create + Cultivate Community to Make the Most out of Chicago!

With only 3 days left to Create + Cultivate Chicago, the buzz surrounding the female entrepreneur conference, or Badass GirlBoss conference as it’s been tagged, is only growing stronger.  It’s sold out and fortunately, I’m one of the lucky ones making a whirlwind trip to the one and only Windy City.  And I have to admit, watching the social media posts grow in anticipation of the event has been both widely exciting and a teensy weensy bit nerve racking. Customarily, when you put this many girls in a room it’s a cut or be cut mentality, a kind of every girl for herself, make it out alive and you’ve “made it” kind of party.  But not this event, because what…

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The Biggest Mistake You Make Every Day

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…

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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,…

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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,…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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!    

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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…

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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…

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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!  

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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…

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