Simply Dakota Marie

November is for cozy blankets, warm drinks, slower evenings, and getting lost in a good book. This month, I'm mixing Christmas romance with thought-provoking audiobooks focused on personal growth, psychology, simplifying life, and seeing things from a different perspective. Cozy Christmas Romance Snowed In by Catherine Walsh- I will forever read anything by her! She is one of my favorites! Just Say I Do by Catherine Walsh Thought-Provoking Reads 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think by Brianna Wiest The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt The Mountain Is You by Brianna Wiest The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson The Correspondent by Virginia Evans A little escapism, a little self-reflection, and plenty of cozy reading time. I'm looking forward to seeing which books leave the biggest impression on me this month. Have you read any of these? Which one should I start with?

 Somehow, we are already more than halfway through August. In just a couple of weeks, kids will be heading back to school, routines will start shifting again, and we will officially be heading into the final month of Q3. And if I'm being completely honest, this summer didn't look anything like I thought it would. At the beginning of the summer, I essentially gave up on my business to pursue a new opportunity. I gave up my clients, stepped away from the business I had built, and tried to let someone else carry the responsibility for a while. I thought maybe I needed a break. Maybe I needed something different. Maybe I needed to stop being responsible for everything. And while I genuinely picked a wonderful group of people to work with, the transition was much harder than I expected. I struggled with giving up my clients. Some of these people had been with me for years. I had watched their kids grow from babies. I had become part of their routines and their lives in small but mea...

I thought that if I gave up my cleaning business, I would feel better. For years, I convinced myself that exhaustion was simply a result of being too busy. If I could just remove one thing from my plate, I would finally feel rested. I would wake up motivated. I would have energy to tackle projects, spend time with friends, pursue hobbies, and enjoy life again. But that isn't what happened. The business is gone, yet the exhaustion remains. Lately, all I want to do is sleep. Not because I am lazy. Not because I don't have goals. Not because I don't care. I'm tired in a way that sleep doesn't seem to fix. Maybe you can relate. Perhaps you've spent months, or even years, running on caffeine, determination, and a never-ending to-do list. You tell yourself that once the busy season is over, once the kids are older, once work slows down, once you take a vacation, then you'll finally rest. Then the opportunity arrives. The workload decreases. The calendar...

I love a good checklist. There is something about writing things down and slowly crossing them off that feels grounding. It turns big ideas into small steps. It turns dreams into plans. In 2026, I decided to push myself to do more on my own, for myself. Taking Roxie along doesn’t count as being alone, though, because she’s my built-in adventure buddy. This list started with a bigger dream. For my 35th birthday , I want to travel on the Rocky Mountaineer from Banff to Vancouver and finally explore the West Coast. I’ve dreamed about that trip for years, and instead of waiting until someday magically arrives, I decided to start building toward it now. So before I turn 33 , I made a list of 32 things I want to do . Some are small. Some are personal. Some are adventures. Some are practical steps toward the life I want to build. None of them are about perfection. They’re about living a little more intentionally. Here’s my list. 32 Things Before 33 Go on a solo coffee date at a cute loca...

Have you ever paused for a moment, looked at your life, and realized you are not where you expected to be? Not where you planned to be. Not where you thought you’d be by now. And somehow… you’re not even sure how you got there. That’s where I found myself recently. A few years ago, I believed I had built something solid. My cleaning and organizing business was growing, clients trusted me, and it felt like the kind of work that could carry me forward for years. I truly thought I had created something stable and sustainable. But somewhere along the way, things changed. Over the past two years, I’ve watched pieces of that life slowly unravel. In some ways, it feels like I nearly burned the whole thing to the ground. And if I’m being honest, there were moments when I mentally walked away from it, too. The strange part is… I still love the work. I love helping people create homes that feel peaceful and manageable. I love the satisfaction of transforming chaos into calm. I love knowing that...

Less isn’t about having nothing. It’s about making room for what matters. If your home feels heavy, cluttered, or louder than it should, the solution may not be better storage or stricter routines. Often, it’s simply less. This isn’t a post about perfection or minimalism as a trend. It’s about creating peace, clarity, and breathing room in your everyday life. We’ll talk about why decluttering feels emotional, why small changes matter more than big purges, and how gentle rhythms can help you reconnect with your space without overwhelm. When “More” Becomes Noise We live in a world that celebrates accumulation. New purchases, new systems, new habits, new goals. When something feels off, we’re often told to add something to fix it. Another planner. Another basket. Another shelf. But clutter isn’t always a visible mess. Often, it’s decision fatigue, unfinished intentions, and emotional weight disguised as objects. Every item asks something of us. Time. Attention. Maintenance. Spac...