It's Simply Lindsay

01/6/17

Buying in Bulk Before Baby’s Arrival

I’m due with my second baby girl on my daughter’s second birthday, and between working, having a difficult pregnancy, and moving into a new house, there’s a lot going on in my life at all times, to say the least.

If there’s one constant in my life, it’s my need and ability to plan – I’ve had my hospital bag packed for weeks, had my husband put the finishing touches on the girls’ room, and created four months’ worth of daily lesson plans for my maternity leave.

The final pieces of the puzzle will be to plan on having a cleaner come to the house while I’m at the hospital and to have our home stocked with the essentials, so when we come home with our newest little munchkin, we can focus on settling into our new family instead of having to run out to the store for this and that.

01/2/17

Healthy open face crunchy French toast

As much as I dislike clichés, I have to join the rest of the world in probably the biggest New Years’ cliché that exists – I resolve to lose my (baby) weight and get healthy. How very original, I know.

Since I was a kid, my favorite food has always been cereal; I’m a huge breakfast person and also like my desserts, so I found a way to combine my love for breakfast and indulgences while aligning with my getting healthy and back on track goals.

Since I’m quite the cereal connoisseur, it means a lot for me to say I found my new favorite cereal of the moment – a healthy cereal that’s not too sweet, definitely not bland, and doesn’t taste like some of the other healthy cereal out there aka cardboard. I used Great Grains®Raisins, Dates, & Pecans cereal in this oh-so-delicious recipe: an open face crunchy French toast dish. I’m not exaggerating when I say not only is this my favorite cereal to eat on its own, but this recipe is TO. DIE. FOR.

12/22/16

How to Prepare for a Photo Shoot

If you’re anything like me, you feel incredibly awkward in front of a camera. Even when my Instagram husband is taking my picture casually at home, I feel so stupid. What do I do with my arms? Should I look at you or down? Does my face look mean? Should I smile with teeth? Why is it suddenly so hard to remember to breathe when I’m smiling? Does this sound familiar at all?

When it came time to taking my maternity photos with Laurel + Prairie Storytelling Photography, I did some research, sought out advice, and relied on my photographer to help me, which is how I came up with some simple tips to follow as you prepare yourself or your family for a photo shoot.

All photo credits: Laurel + Prairie Storytelling

Dress: Sew Trendy Accessories

Hair: Irresistible Me extensions & styling Hair to Stay Salon

12/15/16

The Best Home Decor Shops

As I am patiently anxiously awaiting all the details to come together for my new home, I couldn’t help but post a round-up of my favorite, go-to home decor shops. While I anticipated my new house being perfectly decorated and put together within weeks of moving in, that didn’t quite happen as planned. Who knew, right? (Probably anyone who has ever moved before…)

Until I can start posting my home reveal pictures by room, you can learn my tips, tricks, and not to secret places to find affordable and adorable gems. I have decorated and furnished almost my entire home with these shops.

Whether you’re moving into a new place, need a major or small room refresh, I promise you’ll find what you need from my favorites list.

*Affiliate links included for Wayfair & BHF

12/11/16

Capturing the magic of the holiday season

When you’re young, the holidays are a truly magical time, filled with enchantment, excitement, and wonderment. This captivating season slowly dissipates as time goes on, and for many, completely vanishes only to be replaced with the reality of the holiday season.

Cooking.

Cleaning.

Gift giving.

Cleaning.

Hosting parties.

Stressing.

Cleaning.

Cooking.

And so the process continues.

11/12/16

Organize Your Kitchen in One Day

It happens to everyone; you move into your house with every intention on keeping things decluttered and perfectly organized. You plan to keep everything in its designated spot so it looks clean and orderly at all times. The years go by and you’ve adapted to your method of madness – the large square frying pan gets squeezed between the 10 round pans, which are artfully kept in their place by the pot’s lids jammed between them. You’ve resolved to the fact that there are serving dishes you received from your wedding shower that you may never seen again because they’re somewhere behind the large appliances which are somewhat overshadowed by the hundreds of jam-packed grocery bags stuffed beside them.

Or was this just me? I’m shamefully describing the state of my kitchen right before packing up to move. That’s when I decided I would not bring that (dis)organized chaos into my new beautiful home, all nice, neat, clean, and pretty, its open shelves begging me for method and order. So I listened. Thanks to Organize It, I was able to organize my whole kitchen in one day.