People often say to me, “your house must be perfect.”

It’s not.

My friends and family can attest to that.

Sure, it’s my own little Petri dish and I have a lot of fun figuring out how to make it as organized as possible. I get to experiment and tinker in the hopes of a more streamlined and peaceful existence.

But it does NOT look like the cover of a Martha Stewart magazine. Or a model home for the Container Store. Or a recent HGTV makeover.

It is a real home, with 3 real-life, complicated humans living in it. And I make it a point to tell people this.

Because life is not a Pinterest competition.

You do not have to have a pantry with matching glass containers that are perfectly and elegantly storing every piece of cereal, every dry bean and every grain of couscous.

You do not have to have every damn LEGO drawer color-coordinated until the day you perish.

You do not have to roast the chicken perfectly and then cut the chicken and then serve the chicken, all while your adoring children sit quietly in their hand-sewn-by-you outfits.

Instead, you can choose to surround yourself with only those things that bring you joy.

And you can be completely unapologetic about that.