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5 Honest Things I (Don’t) Want to Share With You

December 7, 2018 by Allie Casazza Leave a Comment

I’m not really a person who acts or reacts out of fear. I don’t typically care what people think about me. And I’m kind of a risk-taker.

But with the growth of my business and reach comes a larger audience and I’ve been kind of freaked out by the expectations people have for me.

I always welcome feedback, questions, and messages. But a lot of times, they have this underlying tone of, “You’ve got it all together, Allie! You have all the answers!” And that’s a really weird pressure, because, honestly, I don’t.

I’m just a blogger with a small platform but I don’t want to let anyone down. And this pressure has left me feeling like I have to have all the answers and I need to hold it all together.

Journaling through that thought recently has really empowered me to be myself. I’ve just been letting my guard down and not worrying about if something I say or do is going to rub someone the wrong way. Or if someone is going to leave if I don’t have the answers.

I’ve never been about putting up a facade but I think I subconsciously built one up by thinking that I always had to have it together and have the answer. So, I started writing down the things that I would normally struggle to share with you.

After I made the list I thought it would be a good idea to challenge myself to share with you guys what those things are. It’s so easy to build up this perfect idea of someone based off their social media photos and I don’t want anyone to misunderstand and assume that I’m perfect and have my life perfectly figured out.

So here is a list of 5 honest things I don’t (but mostly do) want to share with you…


1. Motherhood is dang hard and I’m not perfect.

I’m pretty honest. I share a lot of my flaws and mistakes and things that I’m learning. But even still, I feel like I’m put on a pedestal.

A lot of times, people talk to me like I’m a robot who always does the same things and never, ever changes. It’s funny but it’s also a really terrible pressure to feel.

I’m a normal human being and what works for me and my family in one season, doesn’t always work so well in the next season. And that’s OK!

Things change. Kids grow up. Schedules shift. You get busy and then you get less busy.

If I was still forcing myself to be a robot and to keep doing the same things I’ve always done because it worked for me before and everyone expects me to now – man, what a joyless life I’d be living. I’d also be super hypocritical and not living my abundant life in the specific season I’m in.

2. What I do is friggin’ exhausting and I struggle with feeling guilty that I’m so exhausted by such a huge blessing.

A lot of work goes into my business. From my blog, to my podcast, to creating my courses and live-streaming, most of what I do involves me being “on” and vulnerable.

And for an introvert like me, that’s pretty tiring and nerve-wracking and it’s a lot of pressure.

One of my biggest fears is that I would come off as ungrateful or unrelatable. But I’m a human being and my job makes me tired and it takes a lot out of me.

But it’s my calling. I know it’s my calling. I’m not going to stop just because it’s tiring. I get to do what I love and what I’m passionate about and that’s a huge blessing!

3. I don’t want to do a lot of things.

Most of the things I don’t want to do are things that I talk about all the time like playing with my kids.

I really don’t want to play with my kids. Unless it’s Super Mario Brothers. I have no passion for sitting on the floor and building Legos.

And sometimes I feel guilty about it but I’m calling total B.S. on the mom guilt! Nobody wants to play with their kids all the time.

I talk a lot about being a present mom who’s able to play with her kids. But what I’m really talking about is having a life that allows for that. Having a life that allows you to be present and to make memories.

I’m trying to make a point about your time, your life and your joy..


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4. I don’t do it all.

I’m such a huge believer in delegating, you guys.

I think a lot of people assume that because I help other mothers simplify their lives and homes so they can do it all easier, that I do it all in my own life. I don’t and I don’t want you to think otherwise.

I have a housekeeping team that comes every week. I have a personal assistant who runs basic errands for me. I have a team of people who are full-time contractors who help me run my business.

I don’t do it all. There’s absolutely no freaking way I could.

I think I’ve been pretty honest about that, but, if you’ve been thinking that stop. And if you’ve been trying to do it all on your own, get you some help, mama! There’s no shame in the delegating game.

5. I’m a businesswoman and I love that side of what I do.

Not to burst your bubble but I don’t want to talk about mom stuff all the time.

Don’t get me wrong, I am so passionate about my mission to help moms lighten their loads but I am also super passionate about entrepreneurship and running a business.

I would rather talk about marketing than motherhood most of the time. I am passionate about branding, logging and creating courses. I love the thought of creating a life you love and making crazy, amazing revenue from a business that you start from home with almost no overhead.

But I never really get to talk about those things. And lately I feel less joy talking about motherhood. I’m trying to figure out what that means and how or if I would bring in entrepreneurship.

I don’t really know how that’s going to shake out and I feel weird about it but I just wanted to share with you that just like the seasons, I’m evolving as a person..

So there’s a little peek into my journal, a little look into my heart. I hope this list humanized me and made me more “real.”

I never want to come across as perfect or as having it all together. I love you guys and I always, always want to connect with you.


THE SUPERMOM VAULT

A LIBRARY OF INSPIRATION

  • Replays of my very best online workshops (not available anywhere else)

  • Tons of actionable PDF’s, downloadable with one click

  • More than 20 audio & video trainings!

  • Professionally-designed printables for your home to keep you focused & inspired

i want to get focused + inspired!

 

Filed Under: everything else Tagged With: afraid, authentic, honest, honesty, lie, real, share, transparency

Meet The Team

November 13, 2018 by Allie Casazza Leave a Comment

Today we’re interviewing some of the lovely people who make up Team Allie. We’ll be sharing their name, role, and some fun facts about each of them. This will be fun!

But first, a note from Allie:

This blog post is so fun! I’m super excited for you all to get to know my team! Before we dive in, I thought you might want to know a little bit about how my company works.

Most people don’t understand that I’m running a company, not just sitting on my couch blogging and recording podcast episodes. There’s a whole bunch of amazing people who make sure the content I create gets out into the world so I can focus on being creative and making awesome things for you all! There’s intimidating legal stuff involved, trademarking, big decisions to be made, and sometimes it’s overwhelming to think that what we’re doing is being watched by so many people – I’ll never get used to that!

P.S. Listeners who subscribe to the podcast get access to episodes early + never miss one!

subscribe now!

ALRIGHT, here we go…

My company is called The Purpose Group, Inc. Brian and I incorporated in early 2017 (we were previously an LLC). The company houses everything you see happening on the outside – the blog, The Purpose Show, and my online academy.

I’m the founder and the CEO, as well as the face of the company and of course, the creative mind behind all the fun things we put out into the world. Basically, I act in my zone of genius- the things I’m good at- which is coming up with content ideas, blog posts, podcast episodes, emails to write you, courses to change your life, etc. And the people on my team help me take those wild ideas and make them exist.

Everyone on my team has special gifts they bring to the table, and I adore each and every one of them. I believe in affirming the people who help me make my mission a reality, and encouraging them big time! We meet every Friday all together to discuss what we’re currently working on, check in, and shout each other out for being awesome.

The people who you’re about to meet are the core team members. They’re the front lines of big projects and they come to weekly team meetings. But we also have a handful of other amazing team members who are doing SO many amazing tasks, projects & tech. (Shout out to them – we love you!) We’re only mentioning our core team members here so you can begin to imagine what day-to-day operations are like.

Hope you enjoy getting a little glimpse behind the scenes!

xo Allie


Allie Casazza – CEO and Founder

Allie is the creative mind behind everything you see coming from Alliecasazza.com. She comes up with all the ideas for episodes, blog posts, and writes emails to you each week from her front porch. She is the name, the face, and the heart beat of what we do, and her heart beats for the other mamas of the world!

ABOUT ALLIE

How many kids I have: one thousand. Okay fine, four.

How do you take your coffee?: Strong with a splash of almond milk. Sometimes I’ll just drink it black.

Who’s your role model: Lucille Ball. She was a femme pioneer and she was so strong amid so much. I’ve read every book about her. I adore her.

Favorite Quote: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” -Annie Dillard

Favorite Episode of the Purpose Show: Ep 063: Life Hacks For Moms of Littles. It feels so strange to be out of the super-small-kids season of motherhood! It’s a really nice feeling to be able to help moms with babies and toddlers who are in the thick of it, trying to figure it all out and hear that the simple tips in this episode were game changers for them!

What is something embarrassing you don’t want the world to know but they are about to see it: I haven’t shaved my legs in like 3 weeks and it’s getting rough… #winter

Hayley Pandolph – COO

Hayley is Allie’s right hand man 😉 She manages the team and runs the day to day business stuff. She helps integrate Allie’s wild ideas!

ABOUT HAYLEY

How many kids I have: one tiny human

How do you take your coffee? Coffee? I’ll take whatever you give me.

Who’s your role model: Daren Lindley is my hero! Here’s the highlight reel of things he’s taught me: love people before productivity, to affirm someone before correcting them, and never lose sight of your vision!

Favorite Quote: “Life is short. I want to live it well.” -Switchfoot

Favorite Episode of The Purpose Show: Ep 006: How I Got My Husband Out of His 9 to 5 (Allie has allowed several stay-at-home moms to get their husbands out of their 9 to 5s! My husband included!)

What is something embarrassing you don’t want the world to know but they are about to see it: I’m a pretty calm person, but bugs make me scream and flail like a toddler.

Ashley Spriggs – Podcast Manager + Press Coordinator

Ashley helps Allie snag the best guests in the world for her podcast on top of getting her amazing press opportunities. If Allie is speaking on a stage, appearing on TV, or talking into a microphone … Ashley coordinated it. Ashley also ensures that each episode of The Purpose Show are flawless and produced on time for your listening enjoyment.

ABOUT ASHLEY

How many kids I have: 2  – Liam and Lucy

How do you take your coffee? As basic as it comes … either an iced white mocha or iced cold brew with peppermint and cream.

Who’s your role model: My husband, Jesus, and Christine Caine.

Favorite Quote: Be you. Everyone else is taken.

Favorite Episode of The Purpose Show: Ep 083: Let’s Talk About Working Mom Guilt + Ep. 081: Love In Action with Bob Goff

What is something embarrassing you don’t want the world to know but they are about to see it: I still sleep with the stuffed animal duck I carried around as a child. He is my best friend. My husband hates it. Don’t judge me!

Jenny Randle – Social Media Strategist

Jenny manages a team of ninjas that help get Allie’s face all over your social media. She makes sure Allie’s stuff is in front of mamas who need to find it!

ABOUT JENNY

How many kids I have: 2

How do you take your coffee? With almond milk and a dash of cinnamon if I’m feeling spicy.

Who’s your role model: I love learning personal and spiritual development from Havilah Cunnington, Christine Caine, Shawn Bolz and Bob Goff’s resources.

Favorite Quote: Our God-given creativity is the greatest weapon we carry.

Favorite Episode of The Purpose Show: Ep 081: Love In Action With Bob Goff

What is something embarrassing you don’t want the world to know but they are about to see it: I was speaking at an event and had a skull-bending-headache. An attendee found out and gave me some peppermint hippie-oils, which I proceeded to aggressively splash all up in my face. Newsflash: this isn’t the proper way to use essential oils. My headache was dulled by the burn in my eyes and I basically led the presentation blind.

KENA ROTH – CUSTOMER SERVICE, VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

ABOUT KENA

How many kids I have: 2 boys – 18 & 16 🙂

How do you take your coffee?  Black & Strong

Who’s your role model: I have lots of role models in my life. Each teach me something new everyday.

Favorite Quote: “Sometimes when things are falling apart, they may actually be falling into place.” ― J. Lynn,

Favorite Episode of The Purpose Show: Ep. 074: For The Wife Whose Husband Works Long Hours

What is something embarrassing you don’t want the world to know but they are about to see it: I’m deathly (like freeze up and die) afraid of cats of any size or kind. And, they ALWAYS flock to me no matter what or where I go.

Amy Tripak – Social Media & Operations Specialist

Amy helps admin Allie’s Facebook page and ginormous and incredibly active Facebook Group. She also helps Allie keep up with all the Instagram messages – because the awesomeness never stops pouring in!  

ABOUT AMY

How many kids I have:  1 + baby #2 on the way!

How do you take your coffee? I don’t. 🙂  I’ve never liked coffee – not even the smell of it!

Who’s your role model: Jesus, Bob Goff, Hermione Granger

Favorite Quote:  “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” – Henry David Thoreau. Anything from Michael Scott on The Office

Favorite Episode of The Purpose Show: Ep. 045: Body Confidence with Jenna Kutcher + Ep. 081: Love In Action with Bob Goff

What is something embarrassing you don’t want the world to know but they are about to see it: I drool in my sleep… a lot… like sometimes I wake up in an actual puddle.

Brian Casazza – Videographer, Allie’s Backbone

Brian is a super savvy video maker and can make a dark room look super well lit with minimal gear. If you have ever seen one of Allie’s video, Brian is behind the camera. He’s behind the scenes in more ways than one! He also provides constant, minute-by-minute support, encouragement, and brainstorming for Allie. He’ll drop everything to take a walk and talk out a problem with her (which means he just listens… Allie is an external processor). He truly is the Love Bug 🙂

ABOUT BRIAN

How many kids I have: one thousand (Allie says this so much it now feels true). Seriously though, four.

How do you take your coffee? Black

Who’s your role model: Mat Fraser

Favorite Quote: “I’m gonna do today what other people aren’t willing to, so I can do tomorrow what other people can’t.” -Mat Fraser

Favorite Episode of the Purpose Show: Ep 068: Ask Allie & Brian Anything was so fun to record. We were cracking up the whole time. But Ep 006 is our story. It makes me cry every time I hear it.

What is something embarrassing you don’t want the world to know but they are about to see it: I snore insanely loud when I sleep. In Allie’s loving words, it sounds like a “freight train full of bears coming down the highway at full speed”.

Caleb Sanchez – Video Editor

Caleb is Brian’s right hand man during filming. But once the filming is done, he works his magic in the editing room. fun fact: he is Allie’s little (but taller) brother.

ABOUT CALEB

How many kids I have: none.

How do you take your coffee? Black cold brew

Who’s your role model: My mom

Favorite Quote: “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”

Favorite Episode of the Purpose Show: Ep 049: Staying Positive When Life Knocks You Down

What is something embarrassing you don’t want the world to know but they are about to see it: I’m seriously terrified of spiders. It doesn’t matter how small it is, or the fact that I’m over six feet tall, get it away from me.

Casey King – CFO

Casey handles all things financial on team Allie. She pays all the contractors, watches the bank accounts, and is super organized and fiscally minded – which really comes in handy for Allie who is way the opposite.

ABOUT CASEY

How many kids I have: 2  – Elijah (8) and Alexandra (5)

How do you take your coffee? I don’t (I know blasphemy)  I prefer tea 🙂

Who’s your role model: My Mama.  She was a strong single mom who set a great example to me that I now roll into my role as a single parent.  

Favorite Quote: “Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.” Mother Teresa

Favorite Episode of The Purpose Show: Ep 056: Slowing down in a World of Hurry Up.  I feel like i’m always on the go and taking time to slow down and be present can sometimes be a challenge for me.

What is something embarrassing you don’t want the world to know but they are about to see it: When I get really excited about food, I do a little dance that may or may not include a song.


Want frequent updates on how to simplify your entire life?

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Filed Under: everything else Tagged With: business, friends, podcast, purpose show, team, work

We Hit One Million!

August 24, 2018 by Allie Casazza Leave a Comment

WE DID IT!

THANKS TO YOU, WE HIT ONE MILLION UNIQUE DOWNLOADS OF THE PODCAST SINCE JANUARY!

I started this podcast for moms who want to leave a legacy of intention and joy. I was tired of counting the minutes till bedtime, and couldn’t help but think there had to be a better way to do this thing called “motherhood”. 

I spent the first four years of motherhood completely miserable and stuck in survival mode: overwhelmed, overworked, battling heavy depressions and barely scraping by in life.

When I started simplifying and removing the unnecessary from my life, I was able to finally shake my depression for good, have more free time, actually enjoy playing with my kids, serve my family well and be the best, happiest, most fulfilled version of myself possible!  When I found the light at the end of the tunnel, I just had to share that hope with overwhelmed moms everywhere. Just like that, “The Purpose Show” came to life!


Here are the most-loved podcasts of mamas all over the world!

 

1. Ep 003: How my Morning Ritual Is Changing My Life

This episode is all about:

  • How I began my morning routine, and how it has shifted with the seasons of my life
  • My detailed morning routine that makes my day more focused and purposeful
  • How my morning routine helps me overcome one of my biggest weaknesses
  • How to fit in more reading time on a daily basis
  • Why taking action on your goals will leave a lasting impact on your life

Listen to this episode here

 

2. EP 004: Positive Words for Your Children

This episode is all about:

  • The effect words have on you, both a positively and negatively.
  • How easy it is to complain and use negative words to describe things, and why it’s important to switch your words to the positive.
  • Why it is important to speak positive words over your children.
  • How to speak positive words or scripture over your children if you feel uncomfortable.
  • How changing the words you speak to and over your children has the power to completely change their behavior.
  • Tips and suggestions on where to find positive affirmations and scriptures, and how you can store them on your phone.

Listen to this episode here

 

3. ep 001: My Goal Setting Process

This episode is all about:

  • Why New Year’s is great time of year to create new goals, but not the only time
  • How I manage so much with four kids, a full personal life, and multiple successful businesses
  • How to achieve your goals
  • My step-by-step process to setting the right goals for where you are in your life
  • What reverse engineering is, and how it can change the way you reach your goals
  • Why taking action on your goals will leave a lasting impact on your life

Listen to this episode here


“HEY MAMA!

 

STOP SETTLING FOR OVERWHELMED. 

LET’S UPROOT WHAT’S WEIGHING YOU DOWN AND UNCOVER YOUR ABUNDANT MOTHERHOOD.

AND LEAVE SURVIVAL MODE BEHIND.

Heck yeah! I want my free guide!

4. Ep 006: How My Blog Got My Husband Out of His 9 to 5

This episode is all about:

  • Our struggle to make ends meet when Brian worked insane hours, six days a week.
  • Following God’s call to move to the midwest, where they knew no one.
  • My struggle with doubting God.
  • How I found my passion and developed the idea of turning my blog into a business
  • How Your Uncluttered Home came to be.
  • The incredibly grueling months that we experienced when Brian quit his job and the blog and course hadn’t taken off yet.
  • Having a post go viral, and waking up to 15,000 new subscribers and money suddenly in my account overnight.
  • What has changed since everything happened, and what the business is like now.

Listen to this episode here

 

5. EP 002: How To Lose Weight By Loving Your Body Better

This episode is all about:

  • Why and How we should stop pushing our bodies to morph into something they’re not.
  • Shifting your focus from what your body IS from what it isn’t
  • How we can start acting out of love for our bodies.
  • The importance of living a life of balance.
  • A 2-step process that can help you bring forth more gratitude for your bodies.

Listen to this episode here


ARE YOU READY TO CLEAR THE CLUTTER AND FOCUS ON THE AREAS OF YOUR LIFE THAT BRING YOU JOY? 

YOUR UNCLUTTERED HOME IS LITERALLY EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO BECOME A MINIMALIST MAMA WHO IS ABLE TO BE A LOT MORE PRESENT FOR WHAT MATTERS MOST.

Let’s do this!


Filed Under: everything else Tagged With: celebration, hit one million, one million downloads, podcast downloads, unique downloads

Introducing My New Brand! [+ the story behind it]

June 11, 2018 by Allie Casazza Leave a Comment

My brand is a direct reflection of who I am. And since I’m human, I’m always changing.

I’ve been walking further down the path of simplifying and intentional living, and lately, I’ve been in a season of pruning.

In my business and in my life, there have been things I felt like I had to do in order to serve and show up for other people – some things were good and worked fine once, but then they stopped working.

Because of the drain on my energy, those things weren’t actually serving anyone – not even the people I was trying to hard to show up for.

They pulled life from me in a way that meant I had none left to give in other areas that matter.

I have been letting go of those things with a confident knowing that I will be better for it, and so will the people I serve.

Did you know that in vineyards, the vines that are not fruit-producing are pruned (cut back, trimmed) in order to give more water and energy to the vines that are producing fruit?

In the past six months alone, I have cut off two branches of The Purpose Group Incorporated (the official entity of my business, which owns this website and The Purpose Show).

Those two branches were The Purpose Society (my monthly membership site) and These Solid Walls (my print shop).

These two things were vines that needed to be pruned in order to reserve water and energy for the more fruit-producing branches. Even though they weren’t bad ideas or rotten vines, they just weren’t my purpose and they were pulling my focus from more important things.

Just because something is a good idea doesn’t mean it’s a good idea for you or for this time in your life, and God set me free by showing me that.

This has been a really impactful, deeply transformative time in my life. Learning what to say “no more” to and what to say “let’s grow more of this” as a business owner and influencer has caused me to really work on my heart and seek God.

When a change like this takes place in you as a person and YOU are your brand, it’s hard to look at your current brand aesthetic the same way. Because, like I said, my brand is a direct reflection of who I am, it starts to feel like you’re producing content on a platform that isn’t yours.

It’s almost like you’re boxed in to the old things you just let go of.

It might sound silly, but seeing the colors, fonts, and feel of my old brand had started to feel crippling to my creativity. I needed my brand to change to fit me better.

The thing is, as a brand, you don’t want to do this often, if ever. It can really harm your reach if people don’t recognize your images on social media, and it is part of my job (and my team’s job) to make sure you see what I’m putting out.

The message I am sharing is something I take incredibly seriously.

I know if any mom hears it and takes action on it, God will use it to change her entire motherhood.

Motherhood is what is shaping the future of our world, so this matters greatly.

See? Told you I take this seriously 😉

So, it was important to me not to change too much about the general “feel” of my brand, as I didn’t want to hurt the spreading of the message behind it. 

I weighed it out in my head over a couple of months and finally decided a change was worth a small risk, because the new brand would reflect more of what you get here at Allie Casazza dot com – minimalism, less, simplification tips, encouragement to live well and to live your life on purpose.

This was worth the change to me.

I started opening my eyes to ideas for fresher colors and praying that God would guide the steps of this rebrand.

One day, I was browsing a strip of small local shops and there somes prints of paintings created by a local artist. There was one piece of art that immediately caught my eye and brought up emotion.

  Artist credit
Artist credit

It was so simple. It made me think of an open door of opportunity… it made me think of what I do here in this little space on the internet.

I bought it and put it on my mantle, staring at it anytime I sat in my living room for weeks.

I want what I do here to feel like the message in that painting – like an open door of opportunity for mothers all over the globe.

  Artist credit
Artist credit

If you make small, positive changes, if you start to look at the things in your home and on your calendar with a little more intentionality, your life is going to rapidly and seriously transform.

That’s a door of opportunity for you if I’ve ever seen one!

The painting I bought, although my new favorite, was a little dark. I like my brand to breathe and feel light and airy, so I knew I wouldn’t be totally borrowing from the artist when I used this piece as my rebrand inspo.

It needed to be a jumping off point, not the end all be all.

After a few more weeks of praying, searching, and just letting inspiration find its way to me, I had put together the new brand in my head.

I had over a month of time off scheduled and it was rapidly approaching. I couldn’t bear to keep this to myself all that time, so I scheduled an evening meeting with my designer in my cozy backyard, and I poured all the stuff in my head into his while he created some mockups of what the brand would look like.

After a little fine tuning and moving things around, we had it.

I told him I wanted a paint brush stroke in the brand somehow. When you see it on an image, know that the brush stroke symbolizes a couple of things…

First, it’s symbolic of my own creative journey as a mother – finding myself outside of being a mom, and developing my love of painting.

But mostly, it symbolizes you, friend. It’s a nod to your part in all this- taking what I give you and making it your own, creating the life you want and making it happen for yourself and for your family.

I wanted the colors to quiet down and reflect minimalism, and the idea of less better than they were. They used to be happy and cute, but just not right for this space – it was a lot, and I’m not about a lot.

I wanted muted greys, my signature dusty blush toned down a notch, and the exact navy from the painting.

Designer Derek nailed it.

Lastly, we freshened up the fonts to reflect less, to be modern and attractive, and to bring more “happy” to the feel of my new brand.

Done and done.

 


 

I feel so invigorated by these new changes, and I hope you do too.

But here’s what I want you to know, branding aside…

You can do this. This motherhood thing – it’s dang hard and it will pull your energy from you in ways you didn’t know was possible before you stepped into it.

But it’s beautiful and humbling and so full of opportunity! I don’t want you to miss that like I did in the beginning of mine.

This can be so good. And if it’s awful – if you’re pulling your hair out, constantly cleaning up and getting your kids out of your way so you can “catch up” even though you never do, hear me… 

It does not have to be that way for one more day! You can make changes that last, that matter.

It doesn’t have to be so chaotic and overwhelming that you’re counting the minutes til your kids go to bed.

I want you to have a few days like that here and there (that’s normal), not live every day in that place. Because when you live there, you’re not able to pause and really enjoy the gift of this short season of raising babies.

 


 

Intentional motherhood starts at home.

Take ownership, get your time + your life back.

Learn More

It’s the blink of an eye and then it’s over and they’re gone.

I’m here to walk with you as we step into purpose, as we grab onto hope, as we ask ourselves the questions –

Is this necessary?

Is it helping me live a focused life of purpose?

Can I let this go?

I want JOY and less for you, friend. So that you can enjoy MORE of what really matters. That’s what my brand, and everything that falls under it’s umbrella is all about.






Filed Under: everything else, lifestyle

Tips For Decorating A Rental

August 17, 2017 by Allie Casazza Leave a Comment

Leather flower pouf: Etsy

Leather sofa: Overstock

Teal love seat: World Market

Coffee table: Threshold for Target

Gold side table: Target

Rug: Target

I don’t know much about interior design, but I do love to decorate. My goal is always to have my home feel very me. I want to spend my time in a space that I love, that inspires my writing, that makes me happy to take photos of my family inside. I need to feel really good about how my home looks, even if it’s not perfect.

I can’t stand having plain walls or temporary furniture that I don’t love. My home is very important to me, and I want my family to feel safe and cozy here. I also want to make sure that I like what I see and that I spend my days in a place that shows my personality and style.

I don’t know how one would officially describe my decorating, but I like to think of it as cozy and modern. I appreciate white, straight lines, and trend. I also appreciate cozy throw pillows, a shelf full of books, and a couch you can curl up in. I never want my family or my guests to feel like they can’t come in and relax.

Since I’ve been getting asked a lot about my decor as we’ve been transitioning out of full-time travel and into our little apartment (a temporary home while we figure out what we want in terms of buying or renting), I thought I’d show it off a little and share where I bought things and how I decided how to style the main areas.

Since this is a very temporary home (and an apartment), we couldn’t change much about it. Instead of finding creative ways to cover the things we don’t like, which is what we usually do when we know we’re staying longer-term, I found ways to distract from the not-my-favorite features.

I’m sharing my tips and tricks with you today!

1. Distract from the features you don’t like.

Our apartment has dark beige carpet. I despise carpet for many reasons, but in this house I’m glad we have it since another family lives below us (bless their hearts. And ears…). However, that doesn’t mean I have to just deal with it. My goal was to use decor placement and color to draw the eye to other parts of the house in each room. My gallery wall, plants placed up high, colorful loveseat, and rugs all help accomplish this.

2. Oversized rugs and rug layering.

Rug: World Market

Jute rug: RugsUSA

Table & chairs: IKEA

Rug layering is a newer trend I started seeing a lot on Pinterest last year. I love the look and decided to be brave and give it a try as part of Mission: Distract From the Carpet. The trick is to use two totally different patterns that compliment each other, and let me tell you… it is terrifying to do this at the store or online when you’re a visual learner. I really wished I could’ve seen it in my living room first, but everything I risked ended being exactly what I was going for!

I bought oversized rugs to fill two of my rooms almost wall-to-wall (because again, the carpet). In my office, I put an IKEA rug and in the kids’ room, I used a Rugs USA rug with lots of color.

3. Put a gallery wall in your living room.

Thin black frames: Target

Colored frames: thrifted and painted by me

Gallery walls are a great way to showcase your style. I did this by choosing mostly thin, black, modern frames and drawing most of the attention to my photos. They’re also great for bringing a little personality to a room.

If your landlord doesn’t want you to use nails in the wall, use Command Strips. There’s an entire aisle at Target dedicated to those things- they’re amazing and you can now decorate however you like, even in a rental because of them.

When it comes to the living room, I like mine to feel personal and cozy, so I wasn’t going for clean, perfect lines and matching frames in a neat row with this wall. I chose some of my favorite photos of our family, some printables with words I like, and I stuck family artwork in there to really relax the look of this wall.

For a subtle pop of color amongst the thin black frames, I included a really happy yellow and a pretty, soft pink frame as well. I also intentionally placed the colorful pieces toward the center of the collage to compliment the bright frames on the outer edges. There’s nothing to a gallery wall except eyeing it.

I laid all my frames out on the floor in front of this wall and placed each frame where I wanted it to go before hanging them, and it still somehow came out different than it had looked, but I ran with it and fit things in as needed until it looked right.

I also did a huge InstaStory as I decorated this wall and people found it really helpful. If you want to see things like that and my daily cup of coffee (I mean, who doesn’t want to miss THAT?!), click here to follow me on Instagram.


Is clutter your real problem? Been there!

Check out Your Uncluttered Home, my globally-praised online decluttering course for moms.

I’ll walk you through the A-Z of minimalism for every room in your home.

Let’s get you simplified so you can walk into a home you love and stop spending your weekends catching up on cleaning!

Learn More


4. Fill space with oversized art.

We scored this Pottery Barn bicycle art from Brian’s dad when he was moving a few years ago. My old timer Instagram followers know it’s my staple piece. It’s so big that it instantly fills an entire wall in an empty space when we move and makes the room come together and feel “lived in”. You can score oversized art at estate sales, online, thrift stores, garage sales, really anywhere that fits your budget. Just keep your eye out for the perfect piece.

You can also make your own oversized art (maybe not as big as the bike canvases….) for super cheap! I talked all about how I did that for the main wall in our bedroom, and you can even view my tutorial by reading this post.

Chandelier: World Market

5. Swap the statement rental pieces that aren’t a big deal to put back when you leave.

When will landlords and rental companies start decorating in ways that fit most styles?? It’s always either outdated or severely contemporary- so not my style. When I come into a new rental, Two things I almost always do is swap the blinds for curtains (or put curtains over the blinds to hide them), and store whatever hideous pendant light they have hanging in the dining area and replace it with a statement piece that fits my style.

6. Base your decor on how the room will be used.

Hanging plants (fake): IKEA

Sofa: IKEA

Rug: IKEA

Fur blanket: IKEA

Throw pillows: Target

Basket: Target

White bookshelf: handmade by my hubby

My style tends to shift slightly depending on what the room I’m decorating will be used for. For example, my living room is much cozier than my office. In my office, I need to be inspired and feel productive, so I opt for lots more white, lots of clean lines, less color, and less coziness.

7. If the kids share a room, keep everything neutral, but sneak in personal touches.

In our last house, my kids all shared one huge room even though they had the option of splitting up a little. In this rental, we decided they’d keep sharing one room so that we could make an apartment work for a few months while still having a workspace to run the business. We ordered double bunk beds, and to keep things from looking chaotic in a tiny space, I got them all matching white quilts.

To bring each of my kids’ personalities into the room, I let them pick out their bed sheets while we were at Target. The Pillowfort Kids line is to die for! Each child has their own set of sheets, so when they pull back the covers to crawl in for the night, it feels a little more them and not just a neutral white zone without personality.

Throw pillows: Target

Floral sheets: Urban Outfitters

Side table: Target

Macrame wall hanging: Target

Curtains: IKEA

Reading light: Target

Planter: Target

Headboard: IKEA

Printables: made by me

Note: I get asked a lot if having white is a pain to keep clean with four kids in the house. My answer is always that it’s actually easier. Kids spill no matter what, and knowing that I can throw some bleach in the wash and easily get every stain out is much more comforting than a patterned or colored piece that I’d have to be careful stain-treating.

8. Use temporary tricks.

There are so many more options for making a rental look more like you nowadays. If your rental isn’t as temporary as ours, you can really go crazy! Use these anti-mold subway tile stickers to cover an ugly backsplash in your kitchen or bathroom (we used these in our camper and they’re great!), put this peel and stick wallpaper to give a room more personality. These items won’t damage your place when you remove it and it makes it feel SO much better!

A temporary home with details you don’t exactly like (like brown carpet) doesn’t mean you have to just grin and bear it until you move. You can make any rental look beautiful and put your personal touch on it without causing damage you’ll pay for later.


Is clutter your real problem? Been there!

Check out Your Uncluttered Home, my globally-praised online decluttering course for moms.

I’ll walk you through the A-Z of minimalism for every room in your home.

Let’s get you simplified so you can walk into a home you love and stop spending your weekends catching up on cleaning!

Learn More

Filed Under: everything else

How to Make Your Own Modern Wall Printables

August 3, 2017 by Allie Casazza Leave a Comment

My decorating style is super simple, so when it comes to wall art, I walk on the minimal side. Less is more!

I also love words (I’m a writer, so, makes sense) and want them all over my house, so last year when I was redecorating, I started looking for ways to implement them.

The first thing I did was put together a wall of inspirational words for my office. I spend a lot of time in here first thing in the morning, and sometimes coffee and powerful reminders are the only things keeping me focused!

I wanted to keep things black and white and super simple. This is an office for a minimalist, after all, and I feel distracted when I’m surrounded by visual clutter.

Some of these prints were found on Etsy, but I made most of them myself. I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted, and so many options were way too colorful for what I wanted to do in this room.

I decided that I’m not totally inept and could probably make my own simple wall art.

How to Make Simple Printables

Option 1: Google Drive (or similar program you prefer)

Option 2: Canva

I still wanted another way to bring words into our home, specifically in the master bedroom. I wanted something that was different from what I did in the office.

Our wedding song was “Yellow” by Coldplay, and it’s always been really special to us. Brian once figured out how to play it on his guitar and took me to a hilltop on date night and performed it for me (sweetest. ever), we played it in the car to calm down as we waited for a very scary doctor appointment to start, we’ve danced in the living room to it… it’s just one of those super special songs.

I really wanted something to fill the space above our headboard, but it needed to be pretty big… a couple of wall prints wasn’t gonna cut it. I’d heard that you could get things printed on construction-sized paper for super cheap, so I thought I’d give it a try. Most places I saw info about oversized printables mentioned going to Staples because it only cost like five bucks. However, we lived in Arkansas at the time and didn’t have a Staples anywhere near us, so I went to FedEx to see what they could do for me.

I had already bought some simple black frames in the size I wanted, so I brought them with me and asked if they could please print my files to fit the frames.

I got three 22×34 prints for less than nine dollars. I was pretty happy with that.

The only issue I ran into was that I had overestimated what would fit nicely in this space, and only needed two. I put the third one in the master bathroom 🙂

How to Make Your Own Oversized Prints

1. Follow the same instructions for the first tutorial (I made my oversized prints in Google Drive. I haven’t tried these ones in Canva yet).

2. At FedEx (or somewhere similar near you), bring a USB with your file(s) on it and ask them to print in the appropriate size. It was super simple for the FedEx guy to print my stuff according to the frames I had in hand, so I’d suggest having those with you!

Other Helpful Tips + Links

For fonts and graphics, I shop at Creative Market.

My favorite minimalist frames can be found here.

If you’d rather buy your printables, I always use Pinterest and Etsy to find mine!

For a tutorial on how to use your downloaded fonts in Canva, click here.

For a tutorial on how to use your downloaded fonts in Google Drive, click here.

Decorating your walls can be really intimidating (and expensive), but don’t let that keep you from having a home that makes you smile when you walk in. That’s really important!

Leave any questions for me in the comment section below!

Filed Under: everything else

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