Life By Design

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  • Home
  • About
  • Intention & Life
  • Style & Choices
  • Home & Space
  • Self & Skin
  • Mother & Daughter
  • The Store From Doodles to Dreams
  • A diverse group of young adults volunteering at a donation center sorting clothes.
    Intention & Life,  Style & Choices

    10 Tips to Thrift Shop Like a Pro

    September 24, 2025 /

    Thrifting isn’t just about saving money; it’s about the thrill of discovery. The racks hide treasures, but only if you know how to hunt for them. Whether you’re in a dusty local shop or scrolling through an online thrift store, strategy matters. Here’s how to thrift shop like a pro and walk away with finds that feel curated, not chaotic. 1. Go In With a Plan (But Stay Open to Surprises) The beauty of thrifting is unpredictability, but without focus, you’ll drown in endless racks. 2. Timing Is Everything 3. Dress for the Hunt Thrift stores aren’t like boutiques with fitting rooms galore. Be practical: 4. Inspect Before You Invest…

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    Summer Body Goals: Keeping It Real With Yourself

    April 30, 2025
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    The Psychology of a Splurge

    November 21, 2025

    The Notion Template That Helped Me Stop Feeling Overwhelmed

    April 24, 2026
  • A colorful arrangement of gears symbolizing creativity, innovation, and machinery in vibrant colors.
    Intention & Life

    Unlock Your Creativity with 5 Inspiring DIY Projects

    September 10, 2025 /

    Let me tell you about the night I had a complete creative meltdown. I have a complicated history with craft supplies. I have a corner of my bedroom where craft supplies live. A roll of macrame cord I bought two years ago. Watercolour paper still in the packaging. A glass jar I set aside for a terrarium I never started. All of it sitting there, not accusingly, but present in the way that unfinished intentions tend to be. For the longest time I told myself I was a person who wanted to make things but did not have time. The real issue was that I had built up the act…

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    The Notion Template That Helped Me Stop Feeling Overwhelmed

    April 24, 2026
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    Books I Could Not Put Down: My Honest Reading List for Women Who Read to Escape

    March 27, 2026
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    Embracing Slow Living: Your Guide to Finding Joy in Life’s Simple Moments

    August 28, 2025
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    Intention & Life,  Mother & Daughter

    Embracing Slow Living: Your Guide to Finding Joy in Life’s Simple Moments

    August 28, 2025 /

    I did not arrive at slow living through a book, a podcast, or a particularly compelling Instagram account. I arrived at it through exhaustion. Not the dramatic kind. The quiet, accumulated kind that builds up over months of moving too fast through days that were full but not particularly satisfying. Doing a lot, finishing things, checking boxes, and still ending the week with a vague feeling that I had been busy rather than present. That I had moved through my life efficiently without actually inhabiting much of it. The shift did not happen all at once. It happened in small recognitions. The best parts of my days were consistently the…

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    Summer Body Goals: Keeping It Real With Yourself

    April 30, 2025
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    How to Balance Work, Home, and “Me Time” Without Guilt: A Real Mom’s Guide

    March 20, 2026
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    A Journey into the World’s Most Beloved Traditions

    October 24, 2025
  • Intention & Life

    Intentional Living Starts Before Your First Coffee

    August 22, 2025 /

    What is the first thing we do as soon as we wake up? The first thing most of us reach for in the morning is our phone. Not because we mean to. Not because we have consciously decided that the best use of the first minutes of our day is scrolling through notifications that accumulated while we slept. It is just the automatic motion that the morning has trained itself into. Alarm goes off, hand reaches sideways, screen lights up, and before we are fully awake, we are already reactive. Already responding to the world’s agenda rather than our own. I know this pattern well because I lived it for…

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    My Sunday Reset Routine: Cleaning, Skincare, and Setting Intentions Like a Queen

    October 10, 2025
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    Simple Daily Habits for a Healthier Lifestyle: Your Complete Guide to Wellness

    July 27, 2024
    Close-up of sunglasses on a beach during a vibrant sunset, capturing the essence of summer.

    Summer Body Goals: Keeping It Real With Yourself

    April 30, 2025
  • Close-up of sunglasses on a beach during a vibrant sunset, capturing the essence of summer.
    Intention & Life

    Summer Body Goals: Keeping It Real With Yourself

    April 30, 2025 /

    Let me tell you about the summer I decided I was going to be a completely different person by June. It was one of those springs where everything conspired to make you feel like your current self was somehow not enough for the season ahead. Every second piece of content I came across was a countdown. Twelve weeks to summer. Eight weeks to summer. Five moves for a flat stomach. The algorithm had decided I needed fixing, and it was very committed to letting me know. So I committed. I overhauled my eating. I started workouts that I did not enjoy at times that did not suit me. I tracked…

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    How to Build a Minimalist Capsule Wardrobe: The Ultimate Checklist

    July 7, 2021
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    The Psychology of a Splurge

    November 21, 2025

    Intentional Living Starts Before Your First Coffee

    August 22, 2025
  • Spacious and elegant kitchen featuring white cabinetry, island, and stainless steel appliances.
    Home & Space

    Top Kitchen Organisation Must-Haves for 2025

    January 9, 2025 /

    The kitchen is the room that resists organisation most stubbornly. Not because it is inherently difficult to organise, but because it is used so constantly that any system you put in place gets tested immediately and repeatedly. A wardrobe you can organise once, and it holds for months. A kitchen you organise on Saturday, and by Wednesday, it needs attention again. I have tried many approaches over the years. The elaborate systems, the colour-coded containers, the ambitious pantry overhauls that look incredible for about ten days. What I have landed on is considerably more pragmatic: a small number of well-chosen solutions that solve specific recurring problems and require almost no…

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    Low-Maintenance Indoor Plants That Thrive With Minimal Effort

    November 6, 2025
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    Brilliant Ways to Upcycle Your Old Baby Crib

    July 31, 2018
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    Tanjore Painting:Complete Guide for Beginners

    October 22, 2018
  • Cardboard boxes labeled 'Keep', 'Donate', and 'Trash' for home decluttering.
    Home & Space

    Efficient Storage Solutions for Every Room

    October 11, 2024 /

    I have a theory that the state of your home and the state of your mind are more connected than most people want to admit. Not in a judgmental way. Just in a practical, observable way. When the surfaces are clear, and everything has a place, I think more clearly. When things have been piling up for a week, there is a low-level friction to the day that is hard to name but very easy to feel. I am not a naturally tidy person. I am an intentionally tidy person, which is a different thing entirely. It requires systems. Designated places for things. Storage solutions that make putting something away…

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    Creating a Cozy Reading Nook at Home: The Ultimate Booklover’s Guide

    January 23, 2026
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    Tanjore Painting:Complete Guide for Beginners

    October 22, 2018
    Modern baby room featuring a white crib, soft decor, and pastel accents.

    Brilliant Ways to Upcycle Your Old Baby Crib

    July 31, 2018
  • A woman holds a pink poster with colorful letters spelling 'HEALTHY HABITS'.
    Intention & Life

    Simple Daily Habits for a Healthier Lifestyle: Your Complete Guide to Wellness

    July 27, 2024 /

    I have never been someone who approaches health with dramatic intensity. No juice cleanses, no 5am boot camps, no thirty-day challenges that collapse on day nine. That kind of all-or-nothing energy has never suited my temperament and, honestly, I have never trusted it. Anything that requires you to completely overhaul your life to work is already building its own failure into the plan. Let’s build Simple Daily Habits for a Healthier Lifestyle. What I have found works, actually, for me and from what I observe in most people who manage to sustain healthy habits long term, is considerably less dramatic. Small things, done consistently, that gradually become so woven into…

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    Books I Could Not Put Down: My Honest Reading List for Women Who Read to Escape

    March 27, 2026
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    Unlock Your Creativity with 5 Inspiring DIY Projects

    September 10, 2025
  • A mother and daughter embrace and point at the sunset in a grassy field.
    Intention & Life,  Mother & Daughter

    A Mother-Daughter Journal

    May 6, 2024 /

    Some weeks, my daughter and I barely scratch the surface. School, dinner, homework, bed. The days move fast, and the conversations stay shallow, not because we don’t care, but because we don’t have a structure that invites something deeper. That’s exactly why I built this journal. Not as a grand gesture. Just as a small, weekly ritual that gives us both a reason to slow down and actually talk Why A Mother-Daughter Journal? A guided journal gives you an easy starting point when you don’t know what to talk about but still want to connect. With thoughtful prompts, quotes, and short activities, it gently nudges both mom and daughter to…

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    Building an Intentional Life: Clarity & Quality Matter

    April 16, 2026
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    October 24, 2025
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    How to Balance Work, Home, and “Me Time” Without Guilt: A Real Mom’s Guide

    March 20, 2026
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    Style & Choices

    SKIMS: Shapewear Brand Taking the World by Storm

    July 28, 2022 /

    I came to SKIMS late. By the time I finally tried it, the brand had already been dissected by every fashion publication, worn by half of Hollywood, and declared a billion-dollar empire by people who track these things. I was not an early adopter. I was someone who watched the noise from a distance for a long time before deciding it was worth finding out what the fuss was actually about. What I found was that the fuss was, for once, entirely justified. I have a complicated history with shapewear. Most women do. The category has a long track record of promising confidence and delivering discomfort: rolling waistbands, digging edges,…

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    Fall Fashion Trends 2025: Cozy, Chic Styles You’ll Actually Wear

    January 7, 2026
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    Elevated Pajamas: The Work From Home Uniform

    May 5, 2021
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    10 Tips to Thrift Shop Like a Pro

    September 24, 2025
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Recent Posts

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