Monotasking 101

What am I having for breakfast today?

What are we having for breakfast next Tuesday?

Did I change over the laundry last night?

Do I need laundry detergent?

I do need strawberries.
When will they start selling pumpkins?

 Ohhhh FALL...

I need to exercise.
I can't wait to decorate!

Where are my shoes?

Did I eat breakfast?

Monkey, Monkey, Underpants...

This is my mind on any given day. all day.

It races around like some olympic gold medalist from one thing to another until I have several things started, a mess and NOTHING completed.

enter: mono-tasking

I don't know about you but I really enjoy TedTalks, whether it be on youtube or podcast.

They generally get me motivated and ease that ever racing mind of mine.

A couple of months ago, I happened upon a TedTalk on Mono-tasking and it has changed.my.life...

You can find the TedTalk HERE if you want to listen.

monotasking: Choosing to focus on one task instead of multitasking

I posted on facebook the other day abut mono-tasking and several people were interested so I wanted to share here some tips that I have discovered. 

1. A goal without a plan is just a wish -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I am a planner by nature, admittedly almost to a fault.  

I plan out our weeks in several planners so that I can assure things go smoothly.

The first monotasking thing I do each week is plan for the following week.  I usually do this on Thursday mornings after breakfast.  I sit in my office with my planners and set myself up to succeed.

I strongly suggest making a top 3 priority.
If you get those three things completed, your day is successful!

2. Adopt a "finish the drill" mentality
I am a Georgia Bulldogs fan and a couple of years ago, they adopted the "finish the drill"
mentality and it was a AH HA moment for me.
Generally, I will start a project, the ADD kicks in and I am off to the next
project with a tornado of mess left behind.
Then at the end of the day, I am overwhelmed by my "productivity" mess.
Instead, I make myself "FINISH THE DRILL" complete the task and then clean up.

3. Bring yourself back to center.
I have been practicing yoga a lot lately and the "bringing myself back to center"
part really speaks to me.
When I feel like I am falling behind or have one million things to do and
just bring myself back to center and focus on the task at hand.

4. Lastly, be ok with not getting EVERYTHING done.
You are only one person.
To me, it seems that if I focus on one thing at a time,
I actually get more accomplished in the day.

Hope this helps some of you!

I will be sharing some of my planners and things soon!

Let me know how monotasking works for you!

XoXo

Welcome y'all! Come On In!

 When we moved into our new house, I knew exactly what I wanted from our foyer

Warmth and Welcoming

Of course, I knew that I wanted shiplap,

but other than that, I was going by the seat of my pants.

See this is what we walked into when we toured our home...

Just a little different! 

We removed the popcorn ceiling and "tried" to remove the wallpaper... it was a no go.

Enter: shiplap

See I went to Lowe's to price actual shiplap pieces and DANG!

They are expensive so we went another route.

We chose the least expensive board and had them cut down to 8" planks,

then installed them ourselves.  Painted them a flat white and BOOM.

 The shiplap for this entire room was roughly $50.00

Next we painted the bottom of the foyer my favorite color!

Valspar's: Mesa Tumbleweed

available at Lowe's

I seriously use this color EVERYWHERE.

After adding our new light fixture

You can find this light HERE

The door was next... 

I had seen in HGTV magazine, where someone had painted the inside of their front

door a dusty pink and well, I HAD TO.

Please let me sing the praises of my husband, who didn't bat an eyelash when I said,

"Honey, I want to paint the front door and I want to paint it PINK!"

He really loves me.

Paint color: Valspar's Dusty Rose

 Also available at Lowe's

Now, that all the painting and lighting was done, it was time to decorate!!

The first item that I bought for the foyer was this mirror.

I called up my sweet friend Griffin at Gryphons Acquisitions

and told her what I was looking for.  She found this mirror lickety split

and OF COURSE it was perfect.  She gets me like that. 

I paired it with two hanging mason jars and faux greenery from Hobby Lobby.

You can shop Griffin's shop HERE

and find similar greenery HERE

Next was a table or bench to go under the mirror.

I tried every foyer table I had and they were all just too long or too wide so we decided on the bench.

I started looking into buying one when low and behold, the husband comes home

with a bed frame from beside the dumpster at work...

to build a bench. HA! 

These are the type of people we are... just saying. 

After he put the bench together, I bought fabric and stuffing from Hobby Lobby

and made the cushion for the top.

I paired it with this Welcome Y'all pillow and a small basket from TJ Maxx.

I love how the gold on the pillow accents the mirror and keeps the room from looking too "rustic".

I change the contents of this basket out for each season but 

these green moss rocks stay in it a lot of the time. I found them at the Dollar Tree!

You can find this pillow HERE

Similar basket HERE

Similar Green thingys HERE

Next was the little table next to the bench.

I had purchased this little gold table from Marshall's several years ago

and it was the perfect size. 

I added a photo frame, my pineapple scentsy warmer and a little gold and white dachshund quill rest, that I found at an antique shop, to finish the look. I decided to keep all the accent pieces white to stay with the simplicity of the room and not take away from the gold table. 

I do change these decorations out per season as well. 

You can find the pineapple scentsy warmer HERE

(and it is totally on sale right now)

Similar table HERE

A rug from Homegoods and a couple a frames on the wall and

we were in the business of welcoming our guest!

I found these frames at the Dollar Store and yard sales!

Other than our kitchen remodel (more about that later)

this was the first room in the house that we completed and it is still one of my favorites.

I especially love looking through the dining room from my office to see it

ready for friends and family to walk through the door!

Lastly, I will leave you with a couple before and after photos of this room

and a little reminder:

Every room has promise, you just have to find it. 

Before

After

LOVE my pink door!

Before

After

What a difference the shiplap and a little paint make!

Before

After

I can not express how much I love this room!

Now y'all come on over and visit for a while!

XoXo

To my Seventh grader...

You started Seventh Grade today!

I am sure you are busy catching up with friends and trying to remember

your locker combination but I find myself in the same place year after year. 

So proud of you and so sad at the same time. 

Each new year means you are another year older, another year closer to leaving this house and starting your life, another year further from being my little baby. 

This year, you need me a little less.  I am a little less cool.

You look a little more grown up. 

You talk to me a little less and your friends a little more.

This year, you are one year from your teens.

Ouch. 

I can't get over how grown you are and how fast you are growing up.

I can say this however, I am SO proud of the young man you are becoming.

You are so bright and so quick. You certainly keep me on my toes.

You are so loving and so sweet.  I cherish those moments you still want your mama.

You are now a Christian and I can not wait to see you spread the light of Jesus in Seventh Grade.

You are my best friend while still knowing I am your parent and while you 

may not understand, Mama knows best. 

I hope you have the most amazing year! 

You will move mountains!

And just for the sake of this poor mama's heart...

Sixth Grade

Fifth Grade

Fourth Grade

Third Grade

Second Grade

First Grade

Oh be still my heart...

Kindergarten.

Why does it feel like the Kindergarten photo was taken yesterday?

If you need me, I will be in the corner, 

grasping onto his baby blanket and sobbing.

XoXo

Hebert House Update- Summer

What an amazing Summer we have had!

Summer in The Hebert House has been busy busy but packed with so much fun.

While it has been busy, we have been intentionally tried to slow down. 

By that I mean, I did less work, less organizing, less worrying and more family time!

One of my favorite parts of this Summer, has been that my sisters have been in town.

With my 5 sisters, come 14 nieces and nephews.

They are so precious to us!

But the highlight of the Summer of the Sisters has to be my sister Rebecca's wedding!

We all made the trek up to Pennsylvania to be in the wedding and it was a blast. 

We stayed up late at the hotel and danced the night away at the wedding.

Plus how cute are we?!

 Summer, of course, has been filled with a ton family other than my sisters.

We even made time to see an old friend on the way home from Penn.

We hadn't seen each other in so long but there is something about staying friends

through college, marriage, children and now our thirties.

I just cherish these friendship more and more each year.

The highlight of the Summer for Kevin and myself was our European Holiday!

We spent 10 days in June traveling to London, Paris and Barcelona.

Europe, of course, was even better than I could have ever imagined

and the time alone with just Kevin was medicine to my soul.

We also celebrated 4 years of being together in July!

It seems like I have always known him.

The doodle bug has been doing exactly what he wanted to do this summer...

Be lazy and play video games.

I just can't believe that he will be going to the 7th grade soon.

It seems each day when he wakes up, he is a little taller and more mature.

(and has more attitude)

One thing we can say for sure, is that Bobby knows Jesus.  What a blessing!

Earlier this Summer he accepted Jesus into his heart

and just a couple of weeks ago, he was baptized!

I pray each day that God will guide him and show him right from wrong.

He is such an amazing kiddo!

Burch has totally committed to the lazy lifestyle this summer too!

Nanny has had a busy Summer full of travel and ice cream cones, of course.

While we were in Europe, she went to visit my cousin in Dallas for a month.

She had a blast but we missed her so much. 

If I am honest, one of the hardest parts of the Summer is seeing her memory slip a little 

more and more each day it seems.  Even the little things seem to slip her mind quickly.

It is heartbreaking and I know that she is starting to notice it too and it pains her to see her memory

slipping away.  She talked a lot about being old and getting close to dying, which I quickly remind her won't be from 20-30 more years.  We laugh but I think we both know that she isn't getting younger. I am trying so hard to cherish everyday with her.  Her check up this summer said her heart and body are in peak working order for a 81 year old!  Yay! 

I guess I say all that to ask you to continue to pray as we continue on this journey.

We love having Nanny living with us so much.  The future is a little scary to think about though.

We really do appreciate every prayer!

Whew!  Sorry about the somber moment y'all!

As I said before, this summer has been so great and we have been able to make so many memories.

It has been filled with a ton of laughter, great company, good food and 

a TON of snoballs. 

Hope y'all are having an amazing Summer as well!

And to all the Mommies and Daddies out there...

Only a couple more weeks until School starts back!

XoXo

Ignorance is not bliss?!

Leliaville:  A place where my husband likes to send me where nothing is ever wrong, no one ever gets hurts, babies are loved and spoiled, puppies are abundant and there is a constant all you can eat seafood bar.

Reality:  The world around us...

See Leliaville has always been a place I love to be.  I don't watch the news, read the news and pay attention to any of the hate that is spewed by the national news stations.  I used to watch Fox News every morning while getting ready, and while they are my preferred news station, I just noticed how it would start my day in a haze of hatred and woe.

So I stopped.  I just stopped watching, reading and being informed all together.  While this worked for me for a quite a while, I started to notice that there were things in life, that I just didn't need to miss.  As a mother, I needed to be informed about the world my son was growing up in.  No matter how bad it scared me.

Enter: The Skimm

The Skimm is a daily email (Monday-Friday) with the headlines of today's news written just how I would read it from my 30 something girlfriend over sushi.  It doesn't sound scary or hateful, just a girlfriend telling you whats up.

Before you roll your eyes, it works for me.  It may not work for everyone and that is ok.  You are welcome to hang out with Fox and Friends and drink your coffee.  The skimm allows me to read the news at my own pace and understand it.

It feels good to be in the know and to know what is going on around me.

If you want to try The Skimm, you can sign up HERE.

Let me know if you like it!  If you don't like it, let me know why.  If you have another news outlet you think I should try, I would love to learn about that too.

XoXo

Picture Perfect

Because it is Monday and I need a little pick me up, 

I decided to share with y'all our professional photos from the Eiffel Tower!

The dream of going to Paris, started when I was about 8 years old and never went away.  I have always loved the dream of the most romantic city in the world.  Paris is in my favorite movie Sabrina , I dreamed of it in high school French class while my teacher yelled at me using words that I hardly knew, and when I told Kevin about my dream of going there, he put in our vows that he would kiss me under the Eiffel tower one day. 

Little did I know that dream would come true just 3 years later. 

After planning our trip, we knew that we wanted photos with us and the Eiffel tower while in Paris.

Kevin gifted me the photos for Mother's day this year and I set about getting them set up.

Luckily, I am a member of the creative group The Rising Tide Society.  I went on 

the facebook page for the group and searched Paris.  I knew that photographers would post

when they would be certain places to see if anyone wanted to meet up for photos while they were there. 

And I lucked out BIG TIME when I found Molly! 

Molly owns Molly Carr Photography and she couldn't be more of a sweetheart if she tried!

She just happened to be in Paris the same time we would be there so I message her to tell her

exactly what we were looking for (OCD Lelia mode) and she just GOT it. 

This is where I put my two cents in on professional photography and comfort level.

1. Use a professional photographer and don't be cheap. You pay for what you get in photography.

If you want iphone level photos then take them with an iphone, if you want photos to cherish for years to come that are high quality and gorgeous, then get a photographer.  These photos are worth WAY more than what we paid.  Best money we spent on the entire trip.

2. Make sure you feel comfortable with the photographer.  It will set the mood for the entire shoot.

Molly and I spoke on the photo prior to signing the contract to make sure we clicked.  It was a must for both her and myself. 

Molly was able to capture the portraits we wanted, and still feel comfortable to capture our true personalities.  That my friends is GOLD!

We love these photos so much and as I said before, they are one of our favorite experiences of the trip.  I wanted to share just a couple of Eiffel tower pointers that we learned to help you have a great experience getting photos with the Eiffel Tower.

1. Get there Early.  I originally wanted to get photos at dusk but Molly talked me into sunrise 

and I am so glad she did.  

It is super packed at dusk and the lighting at sunrise... wow. 

Plus, you get the extra benefit of seeing the sunrise at the Eiffel Tower (win win)

2. Location Location

Molly asked us to meet her at Le Coq restaurant (we ubered there) and then we walked over to Trocadero Square (The area where we photographed with the Eiffel tower in the background) from there.  This spot is perfect and you can walk down towards the Eiffel tower for more photos.

I can tell you this, Molly's expertise on location was spot on and when you walk over to Trocadero Square and turn the corner to see the Eiffel Tower, it is breathtaking.  It was my first time seeing it so I cried like a baby (also see: bring back up mascara if you are a cry baby like me)

3. Just do the Paris black and white.

I asked my Stitchfix consultant that I needed a dress for these photos and SHE DELIVERED.

This dress was so perfect.  I paired it with a pair of black heels and Kevin wore jeans and a black blazer.  We kept his outfit simple and it was perfect.  No need for a tie.  Keep it simple so that the scenery isn't overpowered.  If you must do a color, I recommend red.
(If you are interested in StitchFix, just click HERE to try it out!)

4. Be in the moment.

Really be in it y'all.  Take it in and don't worry about the photographer.  If they are any good at their job, they will capture the moment exactly for what it should be, you experiencing the Eiffel Tower with your love. 

Again, we just love these photos and hope that if you are able to get photos taken in front of the Eiffel Tower that you cherish them as much as we do! 

To see Molly's blog post about our photos you can go here. 

Her view of our photos made me cry and relive this amazing moment all over again. 

Thank you again Molly for capturing what is now one of our favorite moments in life.

If you have any questions or want any advice about getting your photos taken at the Eiffel Tower, please be sure to comment here or email me anytime at heberthouseblog@gmail.com!

XoXo