Laura Morey is a public relations professional, founder of SimpleSolutionsDiva.com, actor and Ponte Vedra resident.
Can you please tell us about your background?
I am a freelance public relations professional with more than 20 years of experience, but I have been involved in acting for years. I consider myself very lucky to have the opportunity to do both; it fulfills both sides of my personality. As Simple Solutions Diva, I’ve been featured on CafeMom.com and have been a featured lifestyle contributor on WTLV-TV/NBC 12 First Coast Living.
My husband and I moved to Jacksonville from Boston in 1995, and moved to Ponte Vedra Beach in 2000. My college-aged daughters were born and raised here, went to elementary and middle school here and both graduated from Ponte Vedra High School.
What is Simple Solutions Diva? What inspired you to start it?
SimpleSolutionsDiva.com is a website for simple solutions for around the home, kitchen, garden and more. As the host, I present simple how-to videos to make life easier, whether it is a simple recipe, a DIY project or just a great idea for organizing. I host, film and edit every video, and the majority of videos are filmed in and around my home. I’m self-taught, so it is interesting to see the quality of the videos change over the years.
My acting agent asked me to create a website to show off my home shopping channel demonstration skills. As a self-described “Domestic Diva,” I was always looking for ways to do things at home that saved me time and energy. It just seemed to be a natural step to create something about making things easy around the home for others!
What’s your best advice for people who are trying to simplify their lives?
For me, life is all about spending quality time with my family, so that is what drives me to find creative ways to do things simply. When you simplify your life – reducing clutter in the home, streamlining a recipe so it takes less time to make – you are creating space for what is important to you. So, my best advice for simplifying anything in your life is to find what is blocking you, negatively distracting you or holding you back from doing what you really enjoy and tackle that in a manageable timeframe. Maybe it is the pile of junk sitting on your desk that gives you anxiety, or your cleaning chores that really need to get done, but it isn’t your favorite thing to do. Break up the project in small bites.
As an example, one of the most difficult things for me to do on Simple Solutions Diva was a video series called “Clear The Clutter.” I teamed up with a professional organizer and we tackled my VERY cluttered crafts closet. I was so surprised how upset I was during the process. Once I finished the project, I couldn’t believe how much lighter I felt afterwards. It made me realize how important it is to keep things simple.
What do you enjoy most about living in Ponte Vedra?
I think Ponte Vedra has that great, small town feel, where you know so many people. When I was growing up, my family moved every few years for my father’s job. The idea of my children living in the same town for most of their childhood was important to me.
I love how people get involved in Ponte Vedra – we aren’t afraid to spearhead volunteer projects, get involved with our schools or come together to support our community and our neighbors. In Sawmill Lakes, my neighbors and I created several community events 18 years ago and it is fantastic to see them still going strong! Our annual Sawmill Lakes July Fourth Bike Parade and our Easter Egg Hunt are great memory-making events for our children.
And Ponte Vedra is constantly evolving and growing, so it has been fun to see it change over the last 18 years.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I love to garden in my back yard – I think I, personally, might keep Ace Hardware in Ponte Vedra in business! My husband and I also enjoy travel, something he jokingly calls the annual “Keep The Love Alive Tour.” At this point, I think my husband could have a second career as a travel planner!
-Edited by Jon Blauvelt
