My Cleaning Schedule and Organizing

Hi friends, 

I recently posted a video on my vlog channel about my cleaning schedule and how I keep my house organized and tidy at all times. This video has been so highly requested on all 3 of my channels and social media so I figured I would do it. If you haven't seen the video, please do as that will probably provide you with everything you want to know, but I figured I would share a little more and go a bit more in depth here for those of you who wanted to know more.
Some people could totally relate to me on that video, and some people could not, and I totally understand which is why I mentioned in the video the video that my schedule and tips might not work for everyone. I know I don't have kids (I don't really need people to point that out every second) so keeping things clean and tidy might be easy for me now but when the time comes to have kids, it might not be that easy. While I totally understand and agree that things will be harder when that happens, I still feel like certain things will not change, after all, I saw my mother do it, my aunts do it and plenty of other women that have kids that still manage to do it.
 When I say I like a clean home, I mean I don't like dirt stuck on the floor, piles of dishes in the sink, dirty smelly bathroom, dusty bedroom and piles of laundry everywhere, will there be toys scattered here and there when I have a child, of course, will there be times where I will want to take a nap rather than mopping the floor, probably, but nothing will change the fact that keeping my home clean and organized is a big priority of mine.
I know I'm very very fortunate to be working form home most of the time, however, when I did work outside the home (I had to be at work by 6:30 am and got done at 4pm) I still was able to keep things in place. It's all about finding a system that works for you and it's tailored around your lifestyle! When I worked outside the home, I would wake up at 5 am, take 20 minutes to drink coffee with my husband, 15 minutes to clean our bedroom, wipe down the bathrooms and sweep, workout for 30 minutes, 20 minutes to get ready and head out the door (I worked minutes away from work) When I came home, I started a load of laundry (If I needed to do laundry that day) quickly dust the living room furniture, and that's it! After dinner, I always clean the kitchen completely, this only takes about 10 minutes, prep lunches for the next day and on days I need to mop, I do it then! And as always, take less than 10 minutes each night before I go to bed to walk around the house and pick up anything that's laying around.
When my home is clean and organized at all times, I don't spend hours and hours cleaning everyday, at that point, it just becomes maintenance! One day a week, I do a deep clean where I move couches away from the walls to clean behind and under them, dust our trim, and clean other tricky spots that I don't get to on a day to day basis. I pretty much keep the same schedule now, just wake up at around 6 or 6:30 instead of 5 (because now I work much later in the day) and basically It's all about maintaining and sticking to it! I am not a lazy person by nature so I'm always up and getting things done, I feel a sense of release when I know things are taken care of. I feel like it makes me happier and therefore when I'm happy, I preform better at my jobs, and just all around I feel much more relaxed. I won't watch TV, browse online or do anything else until the important things are taken care of.
Something else I also wanted to touch on briefly is when I mentioned in the video that I believe in keeping clutter to a minimum, here is what I mean. Don't put piggy banks and aquariums in the kitchen, the kitchen should be strictly for cooking related things just like I wouldn't put a slow cooker in the office, it doesn't belong there! Keeping clutter to a minimum really helps make things so much easy and quicker when you clean, if it takes you 10 minutes just to take off all the nick nacks on your coffee table, you will be less willing to want to dust that table daily. So that's basically everything I wanted to touch on a bit more seeing as I have gotten a lot more questions since posting that video. 

Here is the video if you haven't seen it yet, let me know if you have any more questions!

Fall is almost here!!!

I can't contain my excitement!! I can't believe that fall is just about here, technically it starts on September 21st but hey, who cares! If you know me or have been following me for years, you know that fall season is my absolute favorite season! I love everything about it, the beautiful colors of the leaves, cozy nights in with friends and family playing board games, the cute fashion and of course, THE FOOD!!!!! As much as I love grilling and eating outdoors, to be honest, most of the summer is just too hot to eat comfortably outside - and being eaten alive by mosquitoes is not my idea of fun. So for me, eating a cozy dinner with my friends inside is all I think about on those unbearable hot summer days (You know I'll be wishing it was summer on January 1st) so I'm super excited to start whipping up some soups, stews, pies, cookies, roasts, all those comforting dishes we all know and love and can't wait to eat as soon as the weather gets a bit cooler. So before I start dishing up some new recipes on Laura in the Kitchen, I thought it would be nice to take you down memory lane with some of my favorite fall appropriate recipes.

A good pot roast is really hard to beat, it's so easy to make, it takes just minutes for you to put it together and cooks low and slow for hours making your home smell incredible!! My Italian take on the traditional roast is infused with dried Porcini and braised with Chianti, absolutely incredible I tell ya! The perfect thing to serve to friends and family, alongside a mixed green salad and maybe a warm toasted baguette, give me some now!

Oh how I adore a good pot of chili!! It's perfect guy food (and girl food, who am I kidding) to serve at  football parties. It's hardy, flavorful and easy! Make a big pot and serve it with my cornbread, you will have everybody wanting both recipes, trust me!

If you're looking for a delicious weeknight soup that's quick and satisfying, my Sausage and Kale soup has all that covered! It's a total go-to recipe for me all fall and winter because it's just so easy and quick to make. Give it a go and I bet it will become a go to recipe for you as well!

And last but not least, I have to end this post with my husband's all time favorite pie, the classic, Pumpkin Pie. I made our first pumpkin pie of the season today and I kid you not, he walked in the house and as soon as he smelled it, he jumped up and down with excitement haha. It's the symbol that fall is here and we just love this time of year so much! Our first official date was on September 30th and we got married on October 23rd, it's such a happy time of year for us.

I hope you enjoyed this post, I will be back tomorrow with a post about some OOTDs!! 

Stay Positive!

Makeup Saviors!

Hi everyone,

Today for Makeup Monday I thought it would be the perfect time to chit chat with you about a few makeup items that I truly feel like they saved me when I was in Italy. While I was there, I didn't wear makeup during the day since most days we were either at the beach or at the pool, but I did wear makeup at night and since it was sooooo hot there, I feel like these products really helped keep my makeup on and stay fresh for hours! 

This first item is the primer I used under my foundation and I honestly feel like this stuff was the glue that kept it from melting away, the Hourglass Mineral Veil Primer is long lasting, feels smooth on the skin and just makes the overall look of your foundation flawless!! 

The magical item that kept my eyeshadow from creasing into an ugly mess is this gem right here, The Sephora 12hr Waterproof Crayon in the color Beige is just amazing!! I love the the soft champagne color and I love the formula so much that I actually decided to pick up a few more of these in different colors. It kept my eyeshadow perfectly put without any issues whatsoever! I love it when a product lives up to it's name! I didn't wear my makeup for 12 hours, at most it was probably 6 hours and it really did look perfect for all 6 hours and remember, it was hot hot hot! 

My all time favorite liquid eye liner is the Stila All Day Waterproof Liner, I have a couple of these because I honestly can't live without this liner, it's by far the easiest liner to work with, jet black and stays on until you take it off with some makeup remover. It stayed on all night long without coming off or smudging on the top part of my eye lid (I hope this makes sense) which happens with lots of my liquid liners when I wear them on hot days. I apologize for the picture, it's not the easiest thing to take a picture of ;)

And finally, the thing that kept everything on and looking fresh and not cakey is my favorite makeup setting spray, the Urban Decay All Nighter. I have been using this stuff for so long and I've purchased so many I've lost count, so when I tell you it's good, ya gotta trust me! 

So these are the items I feel like I couldn't have lived without while I was on vacation, it kept me from melting like the wicked witch of the west haha :)

Stay positive!