Welcome to the third post in my Fabulous {Organized} Friend Series. In this series I am introducing you to some of my FABULOUS friends. I want to continue to show you that there are many different ways to organize your life. We all have individual lives to manage and we need to make sure that we take into account our personal lives, especially all of the different variables that make up our lives. Rather it be – the size of your family, the amount of work you are responsible for (inside and/or outside of your home), your values, goals, and of course, your natural skills and abilities. This series will give you some different approaches, some fresh techniques and a picture of how different ladies take care of it all!
This month, allow me to introduce you to Harmony…
I have had the pleasure of knowing Harmony since I was just over two years old. She is one of my younger sisters and also my very good friend. Of course I could share LOTS of stories with you, but this isn’t the time for that! I want to share with you how she does what she does.
Harmony is not only a very gifted Interior Designer, she is also a fabulous cook, athlete and gardener. She is always creating something, rather a painting or a redesign of a room. I love her style, but even more I love her genuineness. Harmony is one to press in with relationships. She is consistently available and shows her love in so many ways. My kids are blessed to have her as an aunt and I’m even more fortunate to have her as my sister. And let’s just say – “Nobody puts baby in a corner.” (This will make more sense later on…)
Harmony has some unique aspects to her life and is a great example of balancing home, work and family. I think you’ll truly enjoy getting a peek into her Seattle world.
(This picture below is in her real kitchen, totally not fair! I want to cook in THAT kitchen! I’m sure my dinners would look AND taste better.)
Give me a snapshot into you and your family. What does your “whole” life look like? Schedule etc…feel free to over share!
We are a family of three, my husband Ken, a firefighter, my three-year old son Holden and me. (I run a small interior design business from my home and am currently 9 months pregnant!) Our daughter could be born any day and we are so excited to expand our family and finally get to meet her (name unknown!!).
Our life is anything but ordinary. Ken’s work schedule is really great in the sense that he works one 48 hour shift a week then he is off for four days. The challenge is that he works different days every week so no week or day is the same in our lives. I plan my work schedule around his so that we can juggle childcare. We are often two ships in the night passing our toddler and household responsibilities to one another. I tend to work Monday – Saturday but not full days every day. I work a lot of half days and have a lot of flexibility, which is something I appreciate after working in the corporate apparel design world for over a decade, where I was stuck in a cubical with a M-F schedule.
Holden’s schedule is the most consistent as he goes to a pre-school/ daycare Tuesdays and Thursdays from about 8:30 – 5pm. This gives Ken a chance to have a balance of life to golf 36 holes (yes I said 36!), mountain bike, or ski. He is a very active guy and needs his activities to feel balanced. I tend to spend the time working more efficiently, as working from home is beyond challenging with both husband and child running through the house while I am trying to focus. It’s amazing how productive you can truly be when things are quiet!
One of the major benefits of our work schedules is that we’re home a lot as a family. This means we eat a lot of meals together not just dinner but often dinner and lunch as my commute from work is easy, just a flight of stairs! Ken and I both take on sharing the household responsibilities and I feel fortunate to have such an involved spouse with raising our child and making a home.
What is your number one organizing tip you would share with other busy moms?
Well it’s no secret – AMAZON! Click. Ding-dong. “What did I order again?”…”Oh yeah!” (This isn’t so much an organizing tip, but more of a time saver that allows me to be more organized.)
How do you find time to plan meals and to grocery shop?
Great question – I used to meal plan a lot more but now that I have been cooking for many, many years it gets easier and easier, to where I rarely plan meals anymore.
What I do is make sure is that I always have these items on hand:
1) Fresh veggies and herbs in the garden
2) Starches in the pantry: rice, pasta, polenta, potatoes, couscous (you get the idea)
3) Onions and garlic
4) Meat in the freezer
If I have these four things I can quickly make a healthy balanced meal. I hope to get back to more meal planning but seeing as we are about to go to a family of four this may be further down the road. 🙂
How do your kids help around the home?
We recently gave Holden the responsibility of keeping our cat’s dry food filled. It’s quite adorable to see him so focused and working so hard scoop after scoop until it’s full. At least half of it ends up in the feeder! Other than that his job is to clean up his toys etc.
How do you create the time to exercise and take care of your own health?
At my current state of – about to pop – exercise is a distant memory. Once I am past the 6 week mark, I am excited to start back up at the gym. I try to do at least two group exercise classes a week that KILL me and make me sore for 3-4 days. I push myself really hard in group classes and I make the most of the time that I am there. We also try to do one activity every Sunday as a family, a long hike, a bike ride etc. We try to make exercise a part of our lifestyle not just something to check off of a list. We take lots of family walks together, even when it’s rainy. Here in the Seattle area its’ mild enough to be outside most of the year.
What are some of your secrets to keeping a clean home?
I try to keep a tidy home, a clean home is nearly impossible as we are home A LOT. My goal is to put things away in their place and pick up when you are done with one project or room. We do that about 75% of the time. I feel more relaxed if the home is picked up even if it’s not “clean” per-say. Honestly cleaning is something that happens for me after my son is in bed and therefore doesn’t happen as often as I would like. Laundry, grocery shopping, cooking and picking up, can tend to take most of my time. We have decided to get a house cleaner once a month to do the deeper cleaning and I couldn’t be happier. Something has to give as we both work full-time and want the extra time that we do have, to be spent with each other.
What are your tools for managing stress and finding time for just you or time for just you and your hubby?
Keeping our house picked up helps me a lot with my stress. If our home is in chaos I feel chaotic. So daily pick up is key and constant. I tend to do bigger things for time off for just me rather than day/ weekly things like my husband with his activities. For example a girlfriend and I went to CA for three nights and just had time to antique shop (without saying “look don’t touch” to our kids), relax and have meals and drinks without caring for everyone else’s needs. I met another girlfriend of mine, who lives in Dubai, in Paris for about 10 days.
I think for me it’s having time COMPLETELY off from being a mama and running my business that helps to relieve the stress. Don’t get me wrong, I will get a facial, pedicure or a massage, but I often feel so rushed to get to these appointments in that a bigger, more committed activity, can tend to make a bigger difference.
For time with Ken, well we need to get back to doing our date night trades with our good friends/ neighbors. Our children are like siblings (but with less fighting!). We would have from around 4:30 – 8pm to go to happy hour and just have adult time. We love it because the children get to play, we have dinner together but we’re not packing PJ’s and keeping the kids up late. A perfect plan for all parties, plus it’s free!
Life for us has been a bit more hectic than normal the last six months as Ken was studying to take the Lieutenants exam (hours and hours of studying), we did a kitchen addition and remodel, mud room remodel, a new deck (all of which was insane to live through!) and my business is taking off more and more so I am trying to wrap up before my 3 months of maternity leave. The great news is Ken is taking off 4-6 weeks, so we will have a lot of family time and hopefully some date nights (with baby in tow).
What advice would you most like to share with other moms in how they can best live their lives with intention?
For me it all comes down to balance. My family is my priority and because we have flexible work schedules it allows us to focus on each other in small doses more often. I love what I do for work and get SO much out of it as it energizes me, but I also have the ability to shut it off. I do have to be mindful of shutting it off as you wear so many hats running your own business. I try to create clear “on” and “off” times of work and family life. I am good at it but I could do better.
OK….I’m still laughing over that photo (the Dirty Dancing reenactment) – you can probably see that we share the same sense of humor. Especially, if you saw my Halloween costume from last year! But seriously, some really good tips. I totally agree with online shopping, what DID we do before Amazon??? And her list of pantry staples is such a good reminder. If you keep a good stock of staples you can easily whip up a dinner in no time.
Although, how cool would it be to have a garden AND chickens? (Well maybe the garden part…)
I think something she nailed is the reality of how challenging working from home can be, although a huge benefit it does require a great deal of boundaries. I love what she said about having “on” and “off” times, I think we all need that reminder. Additionally I appreciate her honesty that it’s OK to call in the troops when you need to. With both of them working full-time and with (almost) two kiddos, the help of a house cleaner will be much appreciated.Flexibility is a beautiful thing but it can present its own set of challenges.
I love you Harmony and your precious family. I can’t wait to meet your new little girl and I hope and pray all goes very smoothly for you. Thank you for taking the time to share with my readers about how you live with intention. It is clear that you embrace life and are living life to the fullest. You have so many gifts and talents! xoxo
