Chasing Cozy

by Leslie Claire

Archives for February 2019

SPRING TRANSITIONAL HOME DECOR- PRESIDENT’S DAY SALE

This post is a roundup of my top 10 home decor items that are on sale today. These pieces are all focused on transitioning your space from winter to spring. Thinks sunset tones and fresh textures. These are truly some of my favorite items and I wish I could put them all in my apartment!

 
These are pieces that inspired me to deep clean my home today and they are all affordable. Inspiring people is my main goal on this blog, not to sell you things. I am very appreciative when you all shop through my links and it tell me what you all like to see!
 
Follow me on the LIKEtoKNOW.it app and head to my Instagram stories for discount codes!

MORNING ROUTINE BREAKDOWN- CREATING A PEACEFUL MIND

I am a morning person. I think this habit was created from all the early morning swim practices in high school. Either way, I’m a morning person and the rest of my day relies heavily on the tone I set for myself.

I received quite a few questions from my previous post on increasing productivity without killing creativity, so I thought I’d address them here.

I’m giving a detailed breakdown of my morning routine. These are precious hours when I feel like I get my best work done. I understand not everyone is a morning person, but I’m sharing what works for me.
5:30-6:00: Wake up. I am a light sleeper and a loud, abrasive alarm in my worst nightmare in the morning. My body is used to waking up at this time, so I’m usually up before it goes off. Keeping this alarm quiet keeps my heart rate low and allows me to get up without a panic.

I like to open all the blinds to let the light in as soon as the sun comes up. Light is so important to me when I know I’m going to be inside most of the day.

James will take Archie out in the morning and start the coffee. He doesn’t need to get to work as early as me, so he takes the lead on this.

6:00-6:30: I head to the bathroom to get ready. I usually have my clothes laid out the night before so I don’t have to worry about finding an outfit in the morning. My main things I like to do before getting dressed:

  • Ice roll my face- this feels so refreshing in the morning
  • Sip a room temp. glass of water while I get ready- sometimes I feel a little dehydrated from the night or not getting enough water the day before.

6:30-7:15: I visit with James and sip my coffee. We talk about the day ahead and what else we need to accomplish for the week. With the recent move and the wedding less than two weeks away, we have had a lot more going on.

My planner and to-do lists from the day before keep my head organized here and prevent me from running around frantically first thing in the morning. (No promises for later on in the day.)

The overall goal of my morning routine is to feel calm and positive about my day ahead. I am a very anxious person, so this helps keep things under control.

I don’t have any kids, but I’m sure this routine will change drastically when I do.

For now, this is a time of the day I cherish and like to take full advantage of. Let me know on my latest post what your favorite part of your morning routine is.

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STYLING COFFEE TABLE BOOKS + WHERE TO GET THEM

 

I am SO EXCITED for today’s topic. My love for coffee table books stems from the hours my grandma spent with me in the library as a child. I love taking in the images and feeling instantly inspired. And the smell of a book, perfection.

Coffee table books are a great addition to add color and texture to your rooms. I find myself admiring a good book when I visit someone’s home. They are not only resourceful and inspirational, but they are great conversation starters when the girls are over.

 

A few things I look for when picking my coffee table books

  • Pick topics you love to talk about or something you want to learn about!
  • Color- I want the color to match the “brand” of my room. Grab neutrals and then a few pops for accents.
  • Texture- A sturdy book with high-quality pages and covers are the best.
  • Size- I look for books of all sizes. You will be able to layer with larger books on the bottom with a cute colorful book right on top.

OK, here is the good part…I am also sharing with you all my secret spot to get coffee table books. I keep this one close since I don’t want anyone raiding my local store 😉

Get your coffee books at TJMaxx. You will not regret it. They have so many trendy and current coffee table books for literally a third of the normal retail price! You can even shop them online. I’ve linked a few of my favorites here!

I own way too many of these but I have linked some of my favorites that you can shop online. Share your favorite coffee table books with me on my latest Instagram post!
This post contains affiliate links.

This post contains affiliate links.

HOW TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY WITHOUT KILLING YOUR CREATIVITY

Sometimes I have a hard time focusing when I have a million ideas in my head at once. I think this is the curse of many creative-minded people. I will think about the other smaller tasks the whole time I’m working on something big and important. Because of this, I used to find myself jumping form one task to another and not working as efficiently as I could. If I did make myself batch work and do similar tasks in one sitting, I found my creativity would suffer later on when working on a different type of project.

I have tried a few things over the last year and a half and I’m going to share what has worked for me.

  1. Do something that makes your mind happy first thing in the morning. This calms my anxiety I may have about upcoming tasks. For me, this means getting up early and taking my morning slow. I like to sip my cup of coffee at the perfect temperature and visit with James before we both head to work. Being able to take my time when getting ready for the day and making my lunch is something I have to go out of my way to make happen, but this calmness helps my overall daily workflow.
  2. Batch work. This means that I will concentrate on answering all of my emails in one sitting, then move on to something else instead of spreading my mind in 15 different directions as soon as I sit down at my desk.
  3. Keep your favorite planner/notebooks close to where you are working. As a creative-minded person, I tend to have lots of random thoughts and ideas that I immediately want to immerse myself into. We all know this is not possible during most work days. When I do have these thoughts, I simply note them down on a list or in my planner so I can revisit them later. This lets me think freely without feeling like I’m blocked in, but still have the ability to concentrate on the task at hand.
  4. Use the monthly view in your planner or a desk calendar, not just the daily view. When I think of something I need to do, I used to flip right to the day and schedule every minute. Now, I write that task/event in the little squares in the monthly view and schedule the details later that day when I have time. This prevents any time waste when scheduling less-important things or getting caught up in the nitty gritty.
  5. At the end of the day before I go to bed, I like to repeat what we talked about for the morning. I do something that puts my brain at ease. This could be reading a book for 15 minutes or writing down any last minute thoughts for the next day. This is especially helpful for people like me who have some of your best ideas when you’re in the middle of your shower or about to fall asleep.

 All of these little adjustments to my day have made a significant difference. I feel like I found more of a balance. When I sit down to work on a creative project or something fun, my brain is still able to think creatively and is not run by rigid ideas and parameters.

What are some daily things you do to help keep your brain in balance? Please share with us all on my latest Instagram post!