sim·ply: adverb
     in a straight forward or plain manner
     merely; just

define Simple:

• free from guile: innocent
• free from vanity: modest
• of humble origin or display
• free of secondary complications
• constituting a basic element: fundamental
• free from elaboration or figuration
• not limited or restricted: unconditional
• readily understood or performed

     It can also have a negative association

• lack of knowledge or expertise
• not socially or culturally sophisticated: naive

 So why is simplifying your life important? Many people feel overwhelmed by their internal and external environment. With the addition of new technology so much information is constantly flooding your brain. It this necessary, what benefit does accumulating things and information have?
When you die, everything you've had in your life won't matter anymore.

Simply MME is about getting rid of extra things that I carry, mentally and physically, that are weighing me down. It is the journey of finding the boundaries of what is necessary and unnecessary in my life. I'm trying to seek clarity in what is important and what is extra.

*(This has been and continues to be my favorite song)

My Weekend as the Babysitter

I probably take too much on during my weekends.
This weekend was no exception. Starting off early Saturday morning I babysat a 1 and 3 year old. Being the sweetest kids we had blast playing outside and coloring.

After that I drove straight to my usual babysitting place, where I was greeted by three very energetic boys ranging from 8-17 yrs.

I stayed overnight and we spent the time attempting to burn off energy outside and carving pumpkin. We managed to get through the two days successfully completing homework, tidy the house and only one scraped elbow and knee.

This is a moment of peace, captured after picking up the oldest from the library.

I love when I get home and can take a nice hot shower and put on comfy socks. Even though my apartment is freezing bare legs feel so freeing.

My Calender and Procrastination

Why procrastination will make your day feel slow. Everyday in life people have a set task list (whether they decided to write it down or not) it is there. For me school work is something I don't particularly enjoy doing, although I am enjoying my nursing classes.
I procrastinate and do everything else possible before I finally sit down with my school work.
This is not a good way to start the day, I am dragging my feet and constantly thinking about what I have to do soon.

The best approach I have found is to do it first. Wake up and realize if you do it first and get it done with the rest of the day will be yours to do guilty free things. So this morning I decided not to pace around my apartment anymore. I listened to my lecture and after felt great.

My moleskine notebooks have been my journal/ planner/ calender of choice for over 5 years now. I love how they all are uniformed looking when put on a self.

My current calender I am obsessed about only writing in it with a Mitsubishi Pen.
The big paper clip gets moved each week and holds together exactly a month worth of pages. I guess that's a little crazy, but it's the little things that make me feel like my life is in order.

Whenever I travel I love drawing a little map. This happened a lot when I would travel for sailing regattas.

Being that I am so forgetful, it helps for me to write down things that happen during the day.


This journal is from Freshman/ Sophomore year of school. I wrote everything in, obsessive about lists and drawings. Taking clippings from magazines and of places I love putting together collages.

I love this picture of my parents. I keep special notes and things in the back pocket to look at if I am feeling down.

I also got over my fear of having someone write in my notebook. Now its so nice to go back and look what other people wrote and to see their drawings.

 Some calenders have address books in the back. One I used to record the books I've and the other I use for its original purpose.

Cold/ Allergy Remedies

I've always had really bad allergies since I can remember. Some how it never managed to bother my sister, Jessica too much (who I shared a room with). My dad however, took it upon himself to wake me up in the middle of the night with a small cup of the worst tasting cough syrup. After insisted I did not want to drink that awful stuff he forced me to take it and against my wishes never managed to remember a cup of water to rinse it down with.

Fast forward to my second year of college when I was placed in a room with my roommate Matina. The move in day, my mom to my complete surprise and horror came equipped with a bag full of medicine and other cold/ allergy medicine. She also stated right in front of my new roommate that I might be keeping her up at night with all my coughing.

Some how I always manage to play it off as just allergies until it develops into something worse. No matter how many allergies pills I take, it has no effect on me.
So how do I deal with these desperate times before bed when my face feels unbelievable full with all sorts of good stuff?

1. Neti Pot

Not too long ago was I brave enough to try this. I was scared of 'I'm not sure what', happening. It's not a miracle worker but it helps just enough to make it something I am willing to do.
Its as simple as:

• Boiling water, letting it cool
• Adding solution
• Tilting your head and letting the water run through

I still get a little nervous when I do it. The best way I can describe it would be if you had a running nose and decided to go in the pool (which is probably not the best idea). It's that same clean feeling, although you still have the deep congestion.

2. Aura Cacia

This room diffuser I purchased this week at Wegmans! I have constantly admire it in the past and finally picked one up! At only about $14 it was a great investment! The oils I got were Tea Tree and Eucalyptus. Both have great antibacterial properties.

 

I was a little confused where the pad goes so this is a picture, it goes under the comb looking part.

I am not into air fresheners but this is amazing and helps me breath easier. Breathing the Eucalyptus in helps clear my sinuses the best. Just a few drops on the little pad, then it plugs into the wall. It's current location is not ideal because it is on its side. Being the only outlet in my bedroom though, it will have to do.

3. Water

This is the most important. Cold/ Allergies dry up everything possible. The mason jars help me to drink more because I don't have to keep refilling.

4. Humidifier

I did not add a picture because I have yet to take it out of my storage closet and clean it off. But putting a humidifier in your room at night in your bedroom with the door closed it amazing!

There are two kinds; cool mist and warm mist. I have the warm mist but the cool also works will.
https://www.kaz.com/kaz/thermometers/products/vicks-warm-mist-humidifier-v745a-v745juv/
This is the kind I have, its wonderful and has lasted several years.

5. Hot Wash Cloth

I also enjoy taking a wash cloth and running it under the hottest water possible and putting it over my face. It helps to breath in the hot air.

6. Thank you notes

When I don't feel well it also becomes an excuse to do all the things I love that get put off. Writing thank you notes and notes in general is one of my favorite things to do. This is a kit that came in a box my mom sent me from FabFitFun (I will do a post on it soon).

 I love the old time wax stamp. There was a bit of an issue though hhaha oh well.

What goes on during an Architecture Review?

The biggest question I get about Architecture is "what do you do during all that time spent in the studio?"
Today I am going to reveal exactly what I do...

The basic structure of our studio course is this:

• M, W, F class from 1-5 (it's supposed to start at 1:30, however our professor arrives early at 1. Lucky us)
• Most days we have desk critics
• This year we have partners that we selected at the beginning of the semester (mine is Nik)
• We spend every day working to improve our plans, elevations and sections of our design for our building. This is done on the computer using AutoCAD, Illustrator, Photoshop and Rhino (I also made the realization that I don't despise the keyboard sounds on my mac as much as the computers at school)
• At school it is a constant process of typing commands into the computer to tell it what to do: AutoCAD
• The professor goes around to each group and talks with us. This year, our professor Harry Warren is extremely nice and he likes to take a big roll of trace paper and a fat black sharpie and draw all over it with ideas and suggestions.
• Each day is a repetition of this until...

The Reviews!

Sitting rather comfortably is Zack, I think he enjoyed his picture being taken. Mainly I wanted to get Kenzie behind him. She watercolors sometimes during the review. People have different strategies to staying awake during reviews. They range from straight coffee injections to mild nudges from fellow students.

The boards below are from the scheme review from today. It is a presentation of all the work we have done in front of critics and other studio groups.

* Side note: The top of the page is supposed to be white, I'm not sure what is happening with the colors right now.

 

We got a rather ridiculous comment about the small tree size, 22' is how tall they are.... I was planning that they would just be planted. Does that seem small to you? haha

 

Just trying to upload them individually is crashing my computer because of the file size and data
PS. If you look at the top of the page you will see the sections and elevations. 

Also featured is my partner, post review. He is from Connecticut and wanted to be silly with the sweater. We tried our best to coordinate our outfit.

Tiring day

Today was a hard day. From the moment I woke up I knew I was doomed to 5 hours of reviews to listen to.

Monday and Wednesday we are presenting our apartment complex scheme reviews. This review it is Nik and my turn to go on Wednesday.

I got to studio early and did work. 

Before the review started, Nik and I went to Tim  Hortons because we thought it was a good idea to get our professor coffee. He always comments whenever someone has food, where his portion of it is. During the first review the coffee got knocked over and spilled all over the floor. (Thanks to the boys who got paper towels and attempted to mop it up) I'm not sure what this was a sign for but not the best way to start the next 5 hours.

The good news is I spent the review looking over my nutrition notes because I have a test Wednesday night. I guess if I have to be stuck there I might as well be productive.

It's difficult being at school all day. After the review I worked more on the boards for our review until I left early at 6pm. 

When I walked outside, it was raining. I'm obsessive about checking the weather so I was surprised. Let's just say I did not enjoy the freezing cold walk to the car. 

Now I'm so happy to be back in my nice cozy bed. Too bad all my stuff is still sprawled across the living room floor, unpacked, from this weekend. Oops

Home for the Weekend

This weekend my parents went to Boston so I was asked to watch the boys. On Friday I had dinner at Tom's parents house and they got food from Amore. It was so delicious and after we had fruit tarts from Wegmans. My favorite!

 The puppies have really bad anxiety about being left at home alone even though they get many trips outside. They enjoy going on walks the most and just putting on their leashes sends them into a wild frenzy.

 Noon on sunday we met our friends Kevin and Claire at The Apple Farm. We didn't end up picking apples because it was nearing the end of the season and most were picked. It was almost too cold and windy to pick apples. However, Kevin being the tallest and most weathered outdoorsman among us was able to reach the few remaining good apples.  What a good apple.

What we ate most of was not the apples but the tasty treats that The Apple Farm had to offer.

This is the expression I got when I was supposed to be napping/resting and Tom found me looking at my phone under the covers.

I appreciate people so much

I've always know and am continued to be reminding that I have wonderful people in my life.

Nikolas has been my friend since freshman and he has always been there for me through all the difficulties that Architecture brings. Today for example we had an Architecture Theory test that counts for 40% of our grade. Together we split over 100 pages of dense dry reading and wrote notes for it. The test went so well because of it, everything I wrote down was on the test and everything he had in the notes was on the exam. It reminded me one how a friendship should work. In this instance it was half and half. Sometimes however one of us needs to pull more than the other and we are always there for each other. I feel so lucky to have him as my friend.

We also understand each others need for a special treat before classes and rough tests.

My backpack is really heavy, I can never seem to lighten it no matter what I take out of it. I love my Northface though, it very supportive and all the compartments and pockets are great to fit everything into.

Another wonderful thing is comfy clothes that come in the form of presents. I am not saying they are wonderful people because they give me presents but more that they think of me! I love them regardless haha
The vest is from my mom which I love and am constantly wearing.
The shirt is from Tom's mom Elizabeth from her recent trip to Martha's Vineyard. It's from the black dog! It has to be the softest shirt on the island, I truly wish it was acceptable to wear every day. It is also in my favorite color, white (which isn't actually a color).

This is right before the exam. You can tell by Nikolas and Victoria that we are ready for this exam.

I also spoke with my Human Growth Development teacher about my interview tomorrow and she was extremely nice and positive. It is so nice to hear from a teacher that is passionate and loves what they are doing. She told me to just be myself and share my passion for caring for people. She also stressed the importance of listening to people and that although rules and protocol are important, it is also important to be a leader and make decisions on what you think is right.

My dad called today to talk about this weekend when I go home to take care of the dogs. I always enjoy talking with him and when he calls to talk. There is something very special that I feel when my parents are happy and in a good mood.

Tom is also such an amazing person in my life. He uplifts my spirits and when I over react about something he always calms me down, which is an incredible thing to have in a relationship.

Lastly I would love to include Brittany in my wonderful people today, because not only did she stop at Wegmans to pick up dinner supplies after work, she brought cake!