This past weekend, I turned 33 years young and I thought it would be a great exercise to challenge myself to do this. Really sit and go through 33 different lessons both from life & motherhood. What would I change? What would I tell my younger self? What new perspectives have I gained? So without further adieu…

1. Finding yourself isn’t a one and done thing. Daily you will have to enter into the hide & seek game. It’s more like “chasing yourself.”
2. For every 1 bad thing, 10 more good are right behind it
3. You’re special but not unique. Everyone shares in love and eventually loss
4. Vulnerability is necessary. It will show you who you’re safe people are.
5. You have the time. It’s up to you to make it.
6. Love what you do. If you dread showing up the next day, it’s not the right fit. Keep looking and trying new things
7. Don’t be afraid of being alone. Let yourself be from time to time.
8. Invest in earplugs to help knock yourself down a notch
9. Gut feelings are a real thing but sometimes it takes time to nail down. You might get it wrong but you need to in order to learn the moments you are right
10. Anyone who makes you feel stupid, doesn’t deserve your time. Friends, family, professionals, doctors, etc.
11. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Remember in the end, we’re all going to die one day. Morbid, I know. But seriously it’s true. What’s it matter?
12. What someone thinks of you is none of your business. It’s not your responsibility to fix the lens through which someone sees you
13. The future is better than the old days. Let yesterday go
14. You’re don’t have to like it all in order to say you’ve loved it in the end.
15. Don’t seek. Attract. The things that belong to you will find you. Focus on the energy you put out into the world and towards others.
16. Go to the dentist every 6 months and don’t skip. Even if you hate it.
17. Everything feels worse when you’re hungry and tired. If you’re having a moment, eat something. Drink water and try increasing your sleep first and then reassess.
18. Family dinners do not make great families.
19. Grief isn’t linear. It comes in waves. In the most unexpected of ways. Time doesn’t heal it but makes it harder to recognize
20. Forget ordering one meal at a restaurant. Order a bunch of appetizers and bring home the left overs. More food, more options, same price.
21. Be choosy about who you follow on social media. Ask yourself “is this a person I would want sitting next to me in a room full of people I know?” If the answer is no, unfollow. Do the same with your in person friends.
22. You’re allowed to ask for help. There is not one person on this planet who has been able to do it all alone.
23. Don’t get rid of a landline. Save it for 911
24. You are smart and capable enough to make your own decisions. You don’t need to get everyone else to weigh in
25. Don’t fucking cut your own bangs. Trust me, it’s not the move. Have a good cry, a glass of wine and PUT THE SCISSORS DOWN
26. You can do hard things. Don’t believe me, you are literally reading this. I doubt every moment that led you to this very day has been a cake walk
27. Numbing yourself doesn’t just take away the bad.
28. Name your anxiety and tell it to “bring it on.”
29. The fear of fear and pain is what will make it worse.
30. Tell him what you like and don’t like. Yes I’m talking about sex. They aren’t mind readers and there is nothing embarrassing about knowing what feels good for you
31. Say 1 kind thing to yourself every day. Even if you don’t believe it at first. Eventually you will
32. You weren’t born to be tolerated. You were born to be celebrated. Find those who will remind you of that daily.
33. You’re enough. You’re enough. You’re enough

If you have been following along on Instagram you know my feelings about dinner. I F*CKING hate it with a passion. I didn’t always feel that. I used to love cooking. Loved zoning out in the kitchen but as many of you with little kids know, it can be bonkers. It’s the witching hour for us and lord have mercy it is a lot.

For that reason, I have been taking the easy route and cooking our 5 staple dinners for months now. Frozen meatballs, pasta, tacos, etc. Nothing wild but I am tired of it. So I’m switching it up and challenging myself to bring new meals into the rotation. Still would like for them to be easy of course, which is exactly what this dinner was.

So with that, take a look below and remember if you want other recipes to try, be sure to sign up for my newsletter here where from time to time, I love including one exclusive recipe for subscribers only. You won’t want to miss out!

What You’ll Need:

• 2 lb fresh salmon- sliced into cubes
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1 TBSP honey
• 1TSP Garlic Paste
• 1TSP Ginger Paste
• 1TBSP Brown Sugar
• Sesame Seeds
• Sliced Avocado
• Edamame Beans
• White Rice (I used minute rice but I’d recommend trying going with something stickier the next time)

What to Do:

• Mix together soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, fish sauce, garlic & ginger paste and then add in cubed salmon
• Let salmon marinate in mixture for AT LEAST 30 minutes prior to cooking
• Once ready to cook, add salmon to a skillet with 1tbsp avocado or olive oil and cook on medium heat until all salmon has been cooked through and browned on each side.
• Cook rice according to instructions
• Add rice to a bowl, add salmon, edamame, avocado and garnish with sesame seeds (of course, feel free to add any other topping desired)
• Serve and eat your face off!

When we first moved into our home (a little more than 2 years ago exactly), I used all of my saved up money to hire professionals to paint a majority of the rooms, including our laundry room. I had a previous color I had like for our bathroom back in our old home, so I figured I’d just stick with that. No testing it, no reconsidering, I went forward and as you can guess, I HATED IT!

So after paying a nice $200 for this catastrophe of a room, I sat for a whole year, hating my decision. It was way too blue and way too dark, still kind of gross and while I think laundry will always be one of my most hated chores, the room’s aesthetic certainly didn’t help motivate me. Finally though, thanks to wonderful COVID [note the sarcasm] and New Jersey lockdowns, I had the excuse and time I’d been needing to start a new project. Not willing to spend any more money on this room, I did this all myself and all for under $250. Yes, I know that technically means in the long run I spent $450 on this project, but we’re just going to pretend like my waste of money never happened…

BEFORE:

After:

Walls

Starting off, I think its best we begin with the biggest change of all–the walls. Lets start off with our accent wall. Knowing that I wanted to give our laundry room a little change but within budget, I knew hiring someone to install real tiles weren’t an option. However, after seeing ads and good reviews for peel & stick tiles on amazon, I figured I’d give it a go. For this specific space, I only needed 4 orders of the tiles since 10 sheets come in a one pack and measure a little under 12×12. On top of being super easy to install (its like a giant sticker), they were super affordable and don’t require really any other tools for install. Scissors and a ruler are all you need, incase you have to make cuts. Done in less than two hours, this part of the project was so simple and made such a big impact. Oh and incase you are wondering about upkeep, its been over 2.5 months since installing and they are still stuck good the wall.

As for the rest of the walls of the room, I went with DuJour White by Valspar. Recommended to me by a great Instagram account, @littlelattihouse, this white is as close to perfect as white paints come. It’s not too cool or beige, has no pink, blue, grey, or yellow undertones, and is just dreamy. In fact, I will probably end up using the same exact color when it comes to us redoing our bedroom because it’s just that perfect.

Sink

When we moved in, there was already a plastic slop sink in place but it was old, stained, and just plain gross. Additionally, the house’s previous owners built the stand it was resting in, which was a little rough looking. I’m pretty sure they built it with scrap wood. When I first planned this makeover, I really wanted to rip it all out and get a nicer sink. However, I soon realized that this would have been a much bigger headache because when they installed our new floor, they installed it around the existing plywood. Had I taken it out, there would have been a big gap of no floor to work around. So with that being our situation, I had to keep the wood stand and decided to just replace the sink. After installed (a job I’m proud to say we did solo), I then decided to take a thin piece of plywood and use it to cover the base of the sink. I then topped it off with a fresh coat of paint and while it’s not the nicest thing, it is 100x better looking. Plus it ultimately saved us money to go this route so I really can’t complain about that!

Shelves

Even though it’s hard to tell in the before pictures if you look closely enough you will see what the shelves looked like originally. Both are pure wood and used to be in a dark stain. The middle two were actually purchased from amazon while the lower shelf was one I constructed with the help of my dad. It was also stained in a dark walnut to match. While I could have kept them the same, I have such a love for all things light/natural wood. Because of this, I decided to strip them down. Using just a palm sander, it was long and tedious work but it was totally worth it in the end.

As for brackets under the long shelf, these are the ones we went with.

Hardware

Spray paint has come so far in the past couple of years! Seriously, they have paints that look like metal, sea glass, chalk paint, and more. Don’t believe me? Go to any hardware store and look at their selection.

For this project, I had the existing hooks that I really didn’t feel like replacing completely. Instead, I decided to buy this flat black spray paint and they look SO GOOD! I have actually used this paint for doorknobs and lamps in our home and they also turned out so great. Highly recommend this paint.

Decor

Last but not least, I grabbed what little decor I could find from my new favorite store, Habitat for Humanity Restore. I had no clue our town had one and after recently discovering it, I am a frequent buyer. Best of all, all of the decor I find from there is usually from the dollar shelf. In fact, I recently found a vintage laundry wash board and paid 58 cents for it!

In the future, I plan on making a new post here about how to navigate a thrift store because while it can be overwhelming, it can pay off tremendously.

---

Now, tell me, what do you think the chances are of me actually enjoying laundry? I’m thinking zero but hey, miracles happen!