Welcome to my newest series which I will attempt to post every Thursday: favorites! Last week you got a little taste – or rather, a big taste (longest post in recent history!) of my first favorite: Mayi’s Life Is Messy Planners. If you missed it, do yourself a favor and give it a gander. Life changing.

But anyway, this week’s favorite is fresh flowers. Of all things I love to use when decorating, fresh flowers are definitely top 5. They add brightness, personality, nature, happiness, and sometimes a lovely subtle fragrance to any space. This little mini bouquet is from a local favorite, Carlton’s Florist, which has been on Glenwood Ave. in Raleigh for more than 25 years and going strong. I snagged just a couple favorite stems to help welcome Momma D when she visited for Mother’s Day. Peonies and hydrangea by the stem can be a bit pricey, but luckily for those of us on a budget, one stem has a huge impact – and they were a huge hit with Ma.

Peonies might be my favorite of the fragrant blossoms. Their scent is light and sweet and easily fills my space with an airy pleasantness. These blooms are almost at their end, but I tend to like them better when they are fully bloomed and kind of floppy.

I love putting fresh flowers in these old vintage jars I acquired. Lucky for anyone who doesn’t have cool vintage glass jars (haha, sorry I’m not sorry?), flowers can go in anything from a spare coffee mug to a cake platter, and everything in between. Get creative.

I try to grab a fresh bunch of something pretty from the grocery store or farmer’s market every month. It’s a special treat and definitely something to look forward to! What are your favorite flowers to keep around? Let’s see how many we can list in the comments!

Ever since I decided my bed was too big / bulky / not right for the size of my bedroom and put the mattress + box spring on the floor, I’ve yearned for a headboard. Something. Anything. To spruce up having a mattress on the floor. To give me something other than the wall to lean against while reading. To make me feel like an adult instead of a 20-something not-quite-adult with a mattress on the floor.

Well. The time for the ultimate dream DIY headboard is not here yet, and I think it may be quite awhile before that time actually arrives. Luckily for me, there are a bunch of non-insane, non-complicated, easy ideas to try without committing to an extensive project or needing a jigsaw and other messy [but super cool] man-tools.

So, welcome to my new bedroom! Recognize those maps? They used to live downstairs. I moved them. Obviously. [Super secret + fun project underway for replacing them.] No idea why the lampshade looks wonky, but I swear it was straight to the naked eye. Camera tricks!

I really love the new additions to the room, and I finally unwrapped some large euro-shams from Ikea and wrapped them in plain white cases. I have plans for those cases to spruce them up but it’s low on the list and they work fine as-is.

Let’s have a photo-happy tour and be sure to check out my source list at the end if you spy something you love!

I love the way the pillow cases are the exact coloring of the lamp shade. It works so well with the maps, too!

Favorite new hipster shoes. Got them at DSW so not sure if that makes them not hipster, but they are the most comfortable things ever. Worn them non-stop since purchasing.

A few weeks ago, I did a post on my vanity and the DREAM necklace display. The room is actually quite small, and I strategically did not photograph what you are seeing now because it was gross. Supremely improved, I think!

Got some questions from last week’s post on my awesome new planners about my gorgeous phone case – I found it a long time ago on Design Sponge and finally got around to buying one. Snagged on Society 6, it’s “Meadows” by Jenny Vorwaller. Her whole collection is beautiful and there are tons of fun cases on Society 6 – it’s a black hole time waster, so be careful.

This next photo is super boring but it perfectly shows what color the walls are painted, and also demonstrates a non-cute DIY because the light switch in the room doesn’t work. Walking into a dark room before turning on a light is in my top 10 things I despise the most in life, seriously. Too many episodes of Law & Order or something, but I absolutely refuse where possible to walk into a room without first turning the light on. This was my solution, made better by using those awesome vintage filament bulbs (ceiling and pipe made it too low to use a lantern or other covering).

And now, source list! Numbers go in somewhat clockwise order.

1. Black frame with signed matting (from my 25th birthday party) is from Michael’s.
2. Paper lantern from Ikea. Duh.
3. Maps from tiny store in San Francisco, frames from Ikea.
4. Lamp shade was a plain white shade from Target, and was possibly my very first DIY project ever when I recovered with that fabric (no longer sold).
5. Owl lamp from Home Goods.
6. Vintage nightstand I found on Craig’s List. Search using keywords “vintage,” “mid-century,” or sometimes specific decades works.
7. Sweater blanket (favorite thing ever) from Joss & Main.
8. Ruffle duvet cover (sans duvet, in my case, because it’s summertime) from Anthropologie, but no longer sold. I love this and this as alternatives (both are quilts, not duvet covers).
9. Pillow cases from Target’s new Threshold Collection. Euro shams and cases from Ikea.
10. Adorable alarm clock from Ikea
11. Paint color is Valspar Bay Waves.

The end! Which parts do you like? Am I the only one who changes decorations at the drop of a hat? Let’s share our secrets in the comments!

Hi. Get ready to change your life, like right now. Lots of awesome photos and organization in this post.

These planners are my new sanity enhancement. Life improvement. Organizational genie. Magic happiness fairy.

Ugh. I love them so much I just want to show pictures and not type words. But I must share.

Some of you know that I’ve been a fan of Mayi Carles for quite awhile. She’s been my creative magic fairy coach for almost 2 years and is the best cheerleader, like, ever. Also, her Friday Video Time posts are basically the best way to end the week. Anyway, she has these awesome things called Life is Messy Planners and even though I’ve known she’s awesome for forever, I never bought them. One day I was feeling particularly unorganized, without purpose or direction – a long mental list of things I wanted and needed to do and no way to manage it, track it, help me remember it. And boom. There was Mayi and her planners. I snagged the pack, and have not looked back.

1. Daily To-Do Planner. I sit down every evening or morning and write out my entire day. I cannot describe how this has improved my life. Actually I can. I get SO MUCH ACCOMPLISHED I’m like the accomplishment queen now. I don’t watch TV while working. I remember to eat. I don’t get sidetracked with Facebook or Pinterest. I DO get everything done. I DO stay motivated. I mean, Sara DOES. Right?!
2. Weekly To-Do Planner. For things like “pay this bill by this day” or when I need to run an errand at some point, or when I need to order those stupid contacts already because I’m on my last pair for crying out loud.
3. Peeking on the side there is my “To The Market!” grocery printable. I know! I use my own printables, too! Go snag one here - it’s free.

As each hour passes and/or I finish whatever is in the box, I like to color in the little circles. Because coloring is fun, even (especially?) for adults. Oh but there’s more to color!

At the end of the day, I love to color in the smilies and take a few moments to reflect on my day. Admittedly, if my mood is poor, it instantly improves when I reflect and choose a face to color in. And yes, I am keeping these in a folder for safekeeping. Because I keep things.

And there’s even more coloring!

I love this mini water intake tracker. I love coloring in the glasses as the day goes on. It’s like a mini race almost. And, like the early start time, the empty glasses mock me when I look up at them. I’m refilling my tumbler more than ever before.

I keep these tacked to my cork board above my desk – easy access for checking in with my progress, adding items, and obviously for coloring and checking things off. The Month at-a-glance calendar is also super useful:

The cool thing about these planners is that it’s more than a daily, weekly, monthly agenda. There’s goal tracking, idea cultivating, yearly income tracker, fitness goals + plans, and so much more. If you’re starting or running a business, these are so for you. If you’re a busy working professional, these are for you. If you’re a stay-at-home-and-super-busy-mom, these are for you. And they are so pretty! I love all of Mayi’s illustrations, and having that little extra pretty in my day has seriously improved my productivity and even daily contentment.

Seriously. Man-Piece made fun of me when I first started using these planners, saying something like, “You just like them because they’re pretty.” Um, well, yeah, duh. It’s not nearly as fun to put your to-do list on a blank sheet of paper, now is it! And thus why I was so unorganized before.

My website and blog organization has also skyrocketed. The Monthly Blog Planner and Monthly To Do Planner are both great. Great place to jot down post ideas, cross off posts I’ve done, ideas for collaboration, projects, literally anything. And you don’t even have to be a blogger to benefit.

Also Mayi doesn’t know this, but the fact that the daily planner starts at 6am and I typically don’t get up until quite a bit later than that (cough not telling you when) has slowly and subtly shamed me into starting my day earlier. Haha. Who knew a pretty piece of paper would be the thing to get my lazy self out of bed. [And glass containers strike again! Look how pretty my push pins look in a shot glass!]

I love every single one of these planners, and see Aladdin reference above. Because ya’ll, life IS messy. And I am not ashamed to say that pretty paper goods help me stay on top of the mess. Do you want some? I bet you do. Because seriously they are SO pretty and useful! If you want to snag a set to keep up with your own messy life, go snag some here.

NOTES: I work full-time from home for an actual company. If anyone happened to notice the sample daily agenda features lots of blogging and photographing, please note it’s a sample of perhaps my ideal day, should my full-time job ever go away. I don’t actually blog and do crafty projects all day, despite my hopes and dreams. Also note: the links above are affiliate links. I’m an affiliate for Mayi because I love her, she knows what she’s doing, and her planners are amazing. I would share these awesome beauties with you even if I wasn’t an affiliate. I also subscribe to her newsletter and have paid for one-on-one coaching. If you have an issue letting me benefit from your purchases, use this link to find her planners.