One of my first memories as to why I like fashion, was of me as a kid walking around my hometown of Torino in Italy during a winter afternoon and noticing an older lady that was probably in her sixties with a beautiful long winter peacoat, pointed flats, and a Louis Vuitton bag. What I didn’t know then was that I thought that having that life was so impossible that I kept walking and told myself that life just didn’t exist for me.

Little did I know that as a kid I had a secret talent and passion that was a gift. I just didn’t think it was something I could tap into and use in life to make a career out of it. 

I believe God gave us all innate gifts that are unique to us. Too many times we shy away from our talents because we don’t understand how to channel and use them.

As a kid I was very artistic. The problem with loving the arts is that I didn’t know anyone who had pursued them and had success at it. I only knew my professors only pursued academics. I spent my childhood with people telling me that what I loved was a great thing, but it would never pay the bills. 

My problem was that I was hanging out around the wrong people. People who didn’t know how to teach others how to pursue their passion and be successful. For example I believe the majority of musicians, me included being one as a kid, are taught in school to either become broke school teachers, or broke orchestra players. And that maybe 1 or 2 of them can have a shot at becoming famous. As if there wasn’t any other option in between. There are many fulfilling careers that don’t revolve around become famous that are just in between and are still very fulfilling.

Also, almost any type of career has its stigmas and is frowned upon for something. 

The trick is that it is up to us as individuals to figure out what we love, and find the best way to break into that industry, and not wait for outward validation to do what we like.

I have learned lately that if I love something bad enough, doubtful voices can only weigh me down if I am not convinced of what I am doing. Nothing can destroy my foundation if I love what I do and I am at peace with where I am at. 

If I am unsure, have some doubt, or still question whether I love what I do, people criticizing my choice will only hurt me because they are bringing back to the surface doubts that were already boiling just under the surface. If they are gone, their voice will enter from one ear and go out the other. 

For a long time I wanted to pursue my motherhood lifestyle blog. The one thing that kept me from pursuing it full time were my own doubting voices. I was afraid people would view me as shallow, or make fun of me for liking clothes. What if people thought I just cared about my appearance and clothes? I had so many concerns in my head as to what people might view me as. Most of those came from my own stigmas and negative views about this industry. Something which held me back a lot.

I have also learned over the years that the right combination of passion and talent is what one needs to build what they love. For example, the reason why I chose to pursue a mom lifestyle blog is because I have really enjoyed being a stay at home mom. I have made a game out of it and called my self and traditional old fashioned housewife. I have taken pride in what I was doing and was often asked how I was able to do what I did. I wanted to share with others my systems and routines, and that’s where I had the desire to start this blog. 

There are many unique new ways to pursue ones passion nowadays that with the right amount of wits and persistence, many barriers that used to make things  impossible, can now be broken. 

Something else I have noticed, is that  many people try and compete with others within their industry. They become obsessed with their competitors and try so hard to copy every one of their moves, never satisfied that they can’t quite seem to catch up. But here is the problem. What they don’t understand is that it’s not a competition. When you challenge someone who is passionate with what they do, you will never stop them. Because the love for what they do is what drives them to wake up everyday and show up. 

There are many lifestyle blogs for moms, but if I get caught up on studying my competition, I will only copy what others are doing and not focus on sharing what I know.

Too many times I notice people focus on an outward result instead of being their own best version,  and pursuing their own individual passion. 

I’ll share an example. My husband is a Real Estate Broker. I also have had my license active and have worked behind the scenes with him for many years while the children were little so that I could help him out and understand what he was doing while being a stay at home mom. We loved what we did so much, that we honestly never questioned whether David my husband should be in a different industry. 

I have watched many people ask my husband who absolutely loves Real Estate how he has the life that he has. Followed by them asking what he does and how to do it themselves.

 I often remind my husband to remind everyone to ask themselves this one thing. 

Are they truly passionate about real-estate? Or do they just want a lifestyle? Because the lifestyle is only the byproduct of a well lived and pursued career. 

Do they see themselves going to house after house. Do they love it so much that they will talk about it while on vacation and research articles late at night?

 So much as to go visit vacant homes just for fun on evenings, and study every grid in the whole county during their spare time. Do they want to naturally learn every single nick and cram about a transaction?

Do they love it enough that if they donated their whole proceeds to help someone else, or split half of it with another agent they will still close the transaction and fall asleep happy knowing they did some good and move on to the next thing because they know they are doing it for the love of helping others with the knowledge they have gained?

Do they love it enough that year after year and client after client, every time a new call comes, they can’t wait to go help that person solve not just a transactional problem, but understand why they are making that life decision and knowing they have been entrusted with a person with a very complex important life who will need guidance, a listening ear, and the most knowledgable person on their side to give them the best advice for them, and not just for their own personal Real Estate bottom line as a Realtor?

That is passion. I have loved watching and learning from my husband how loving others and finding purpose each day in within ones career is very much possible and can become a whole thing. Money is often sacrificed in the process and other times is just a byproduct of everything else. The journey was the joy. 

I decided to keep pursuing my blog because  after speeding over a decade in homes, I keep going back to my childhood dreams. When I first got married to David, I remember he gave me a budget of 200$ dollars and said: “ Honey I know you love clothes, go get something nice form the mall.” We went together and found some cute things. But also felt extremely underwhelmed by the meager non fashionable stores that were available to us in our small college town. I came from
Italy, the capital world of fashion. I knew I couldn’t find here what they had there.

We were walking around, when David said to me, “Don’t worry, some day together we will do a fashion brand.” He already knew me more than I knew myself. He knew I loved clothes and that I wanted to do that. I just didn’t think it was possible at that time in my life. 

I love healthy food, motherhood, an organized home. I love to dress, care, love, teach, and raise my children. I have tamed the inner fashion monster in me so that I am not a shopaholic, and have learned to shop with purpose and pick things that I absolutely love and I want to share all of this with others. 

I have learned this because we grew up with little money and I have been a stay at home mom my whole marriage. But compromising style was never an option for me so now I want to share what I do on my journey. 

“FIND YOUR WHY TO HAVE THE COURAGE TO  PURSUE WHAT YOU LOVE”`

Next week I am going to share more about why it took me so long to start pursuing my passion and what life curve balls made it seem impossible for over a decade.

To keep reading and find out more about future posts don’t forget to subscribe at the bottom of my page.

The post WHY YOU SHOULD  PURSUE YOUR PASSION appeared first on Life At Casa.

I am super excited to get back at blogging a lot more than the past. 

Truth is blogging is a really hard journey and one’s gotta want it for it to work. Making money with it is a beast and learning how to rank on google is even harder.

But the reason why I have decided to still do it is because I really REALLY love it. 

I consider myself a teacher at heart. But right now I am a mom and I don’t want to go teach boring stuff at schools. Instead I am very passionate about other subjects in life.

One of them is the one that I am going to discuss today! 

Fashion and clothes! ParticuarlyI want to focus on moms everyday outfits ideas.

I remind myself every time I write here, that if I can help but one person or change someone’s life it is worth it. So here I am putting my skills out there to hopefully help someone in return. 

Keep in mind that my goal is not to select fast fashion items. 

By that I mean clothes that you will wear and wash twice and you will be wondering why you ever thought it was a good buy. 

My goal is for every woman or girl out there to have a closet they love so much that every item in it, is their favorite and will last.

So I try to do that with some balance. If I find a good deal I will post it in here. But otherwise I will post the best of the best of what I can find because I want you to love what you spend your hard earned money on. I want you to love it for more than one winter, and I want you to feel like a queen when you put your clothes on, even if you may not end up spending your day out in public and being seen by everyone. 

You do this for you first and then everyone else. 

For TODAY I am will share my first board. It’s a very elegant outfit that I think it’s perfect for Christmas or New Years. I got it for myself as well. I chose it because it’s still comfortable enough so I can bend, chase after little kids, but not compromise on being warm and still elegant for church or a party or a nice walk in the city. 

An elegant Christmas reminds me of parties and white and gold. What a perfect way to celebrate by not only decorating the tree, but also wearing something festive. 

the skirts runs a little big so I would suggest to go a size down. I paired with 3 different styles of shoes. Two of them are originally handmade in Italy and made by the one and only Jimmy Choo. His shoes are timeless pieces and glitter gold is a color they have mastered for many many years now. For the sweater I can also recommend a more sustainable brand if you are looking for 100%  pure cashmere which you can find here instead.

Moms everyday outfits ideas

So here they are and you can click on each item to see where they are from below, and their price and purchase.

When purchasing from one of my links it doesn’t change pricing or anything, but by purchasing from one of my lists I make a super small kick back which in return compensates me for the time I put into putting these items together.

I would love for you to help me  by using one of these links if you decide to purchase any of these.

 Don’t worry everything is anonymous and I won’t even see who bought it. 

Also I will be posting LATER this week my Christmas list of gifts and how we have found a way to never be disappointed with what we open under the tree the hubby and I. 

Followed next by how I started to curate and create a perfect closet where I love everything that is  in it. 

The post Moms everyday outfits ideas, starting with a Holiday One! appeared first on Life At Casa.

I have been trying to enjoy each day of summer and take the time to look at the sunsets, enjoy the scenery, and spend time outdoors with David and the kids.

What seemed like a weird few weeks coming, slowly has started to feel like months and now a year. But lately David and I have been trying to create our motto to make it through these times.

I won’t take credit for it because it is David’s motto.

“THIS YEAR WE ARE GOING TO THRIVE, NOT JUST SURVIVE.”

I love hearing it because it’s so easy to write off all of our goals and throw everything out the window when things seem to be so wrong with the world.

But the truth is the world has been broken for a very long time. And there is always something that could be holding us back.

Wars, pandemics, inequality, poverty, difficult economic times, uncertain times, crime.

It was when things were at its worst that many amazing things have always happened in history.

And why not be us the ones who do that rather than leaving those successes up to someone else.

Sometimes it’s easy to fall for the belief that we are just average people and that  there is not much of a difference to mak.  “It will be up to someone else.” we may think. Someone like Ghandi perhaps or some big influential leader.

But just because the whole world might not recognize what we have done or ever see it, it’s not a reason for us to live an average life.

I was in shock when I saw how man was sent to the moon in the middle of all the pandemic and all the protests on the streets. During those weeks it could have been easy to just sit tight and not do anything because everything was going bonkers after all.

Yet, what a symbol of hope for me it was to see something so amazing happening. Something that will have a long lasting effect on humanity and that will bring lasting changes and will be remembered forever.

For me a symbol of hope was the fact that we have the technology to go to space and come back. See space and its grandiosity. That brings me so much hope.

I love looking at space. I feel connected to God when I look up. I see how big everything is and how he is definitely in charge even when I may doubt at times, because sometimes all I do is look directly around me, and I don’t see much good happening in our direct environment.

For us this year to thrive has meant to keep going with our businesses and start a new one.

To keep on homeschooling my kids, to keep doing sports. I signed up for an interior design course because it has been a long time dream of mine.

We have kept focusing on our education this summer and our long term goals for our kids to graduate high school and college at a certain age. I have seen that happening when our older son Davide was able to skip a grade and go straight to 6th for the upcoming year. Small things that at times I wasn’t sure whether we needed to put on pause or not, but have decided that this is where we can have an impact and move forward with things, so this year we didn’t want to stop.

I don’t know if any of this may help you, but I hope that if you had a goal lately, that you won’t put it aside forever and remember that all we have is today, and to not wait for a far distant future before going after the things you dream of.

To also keep our kids entertained in the midst of it all. With us being at home so much and in those early mornings when the kids wake up and it may be tempting to just sit and watch tv…

We have been playing educational games.

One of my favorite games are the OSMO activities, and this year they have come out with two new apps.

One of them is a math game. And the other one is a shape activity.

The post Thriving not just surviving appeared first on Life At Casa.

I love when the days are finally longer and the sun is out. I feel cheery. I remember the better days I have had here in Utah. Today was particularly a beautiful day when I picked up Davide and Siena from school. Zara was in the back chilling, and I was a bit early. Siena got out as one of the first kids and was standing in the front next to her buddy reader. She had her big curly hairs all down and out since she showered this morning which usually does not happen in the morning so it’s rare for her hair to be down during school. I felt such a joy and love for her. My heart just started pounding with the love I felt for her. I usually here people talking of butterflies and this outpouring love. I often feel love in different ways, but today I can honestly say that my heart jumped and pounded so hard when I saw my little daughter and I felt so proud that she is mine. To be her little mother and to have that privilege.

When kids are little, we often take the time to cuddle them, love them, snuggle them. As they grow we get busy. We sometimes stop being tender with them. We sometimes forget they still may need a hug and words of affirmation even when give us their worst.

We may have other kids enter the picture as well. And at times we focus so much on how we miss them being little and how they were in the past that we forget to celebrate them right now in the moment. Today as they are. Today reminded me to celebrate my kids now, and not wait for the perfect house and the perfect moment in my life to celebrate my kids or to celebrate with my kids. I used to envision myself living in a mansion and having a library in a home with mahogany cherry red cabinets and soft couches. I then envisioned my daughter then a teenager, sitting with me in that room and talking to me and her dad. I may not get that in this lifetime, but I do have my daughter, and I am ready to forget about the things I may not have, but celebrate the now with them and how lucky I am to have them all right now in this moment.

They are healthy, they are strong, they are happy, and they are here with me sharing this journey by my side. Yes they are growing, but they are excited to grow and so should I be about it.

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