Happy Tuesday, friends! Many of you know Lara, but if you don’t, you’re in for a treat. Lara is one of my very best friends – a woman of many hats but an enormous and solid heart for God. Lara and I met back in 2009 when I attended the very first Making Things Happen conference in Watercolor, Florida. The rest, as they say, was history. Since then, we’ve travelled (with one of our other best friends, Gina Zeidler) thousands of miles to a gazillion cities to present this conference. The next one is in Chapel Hill really soon – check it out! We’ve become mamas together and coached hundreds of creative entrepreneurs together. We share a heart for helping women make what matters happen and I’m so excited to welcome Lara to the Simplicity Series…
I was born in Washington, D.C. but spent most of my youth on the shores of Pensacola Beach, Florida. I graduated with honors from Carnegie Mellon University and studied art and design at Yale University. I worked as a celebrity personal trainer in Manhattan and served as a contributor to Shape magazine. Now, I wear many hats within the parent company, Lara Casey Media. I currently serve as the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Southern Weddings® magazine, founder of the Making Things Happen movement and a noted branding expert. I live in Chapel Hill, NC, with my husband Ari, and love to garden, sing old hymns, and explore local farms with our two-year old daughter, Grace.
VEGGIE TALES: Having a busy toddler, it can be challenging to get anything done! I love the VeggieTales Sunday Morning Songs. This great album keeps her mind happy during a long drive in our minivan (yes, we recently became a minivan family!) or while I’m trying to cook dinner. She loves to sing along. The songs teach her all about God’s love and they are really catchy — I find myself singing them too :)
THE RHYME BIBLE STORYBOOK FOR TODDLERS: This book was recommended to me by another mama and it has been so fun to read at night. It’s a simple book with only small portions of text on each page and, because the text rhymes, it keeps her engaged. Definitely helps us calm her down for bedtime!
THE THINGS APP: This app for an iPhone and corresponding desktop program have been my biggest source of simplifying in my life and business. I think the Simplified Planner will do that for me too — can’t wait to get mine in the mail soon! : ) With so much to balance, it’s easy to forget things and this great app helps me keep it all together. You can read more about how I stay organized here. When Mrs. Ley comes out with her Simplified app, I’m sure I will use that also!
NORWEX CLOTHS: We went paper-towel-less a few months ago and it has been the best easiest change! Lots of people ask me how we did it. Pretty simple – get cloths. This is our “pretty” stack of Norwex cloths for wiping toddler faces (and mama faces!) but most of the time we are using a really cheap pile of small cloths from the dollar store. We throw them in our normal wash and it hasn’t taken up a whole lot of space, so not that much excess water usage either. For dinner, I have a few really random sets of cloth napkins that my mom have me and they get reused nightly until they are actually dirty. There you have it! : ) Going paper-towel-less has greatly simplified our lives and saved us money.
MY POWERSHEETS: I created them for myself to help me stay focused on my goals. They have been a huge source of simplicity for me this year, helping me to keep my focus on the right place and free from distracting projects that aren’t aligned with my core.
PRAYER: It’s the real source of peace in my life. There are way too many days I find myself anxious or tense and those are always the days I haven’t stopped to pray and just let God be in control. Prayer changes things.
Follow along with Lara:
Website: http://laracasey.com
Blog: http://laracasey.com/blog/
Instagram: @LaraACasey
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THE SIMPLICITY SERIES features busy gals, in different stages of life, making what matters happen and tips and tricks they’ve found to be helpful. Simplicity is about building margin into your life and spending time on and with that which fuels your heart. While we love to share products and services that help us day to day, but simplicity is about HEART and intentionally choosing the thing that matters most (your TREASURE) more than anything money can buy. We wear many hats and we know you do too, so we’d love to hear your thoughts as well!
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Luke 12:34
