My daughter, Amaris, will turn 1 year old in less than a month. What a bittersweet milestone! Though it may be trendy to celebrate a child’s birthday with an elaborate party that includes a bounce house, mobile petting zoo, food trucks, and party favors, we’re choosing a much simpler approach. We’ll go on an outing as a family and enjoy … [Read more...] about Choosing to Have Simple Kids’ Birthday Celebrations
Reflecting on Life
Finding Peace with the Reality That You Can’t Do It All
A couple of weeks ago my husband started a new job. Instead of seeing him off on his first day with a kiss and an encouraging word, I was asleep in bed. I felt awful when I woke up and realized I had slept through his departure! My 9-month-old daughter was going through a rough phase where she was waking about every two hours. Having … [Read more...] about Finding Peace with the Reality That You Can’t Do It All
Getting Up the First Time Your Alarm Goes Off
I remember being annoyed during my freshman year of college when my roommate would hit the snooze button on her alarm multiple times before she’d get out of bed. My sleep would be interrupted each time her alarm sounded! Years later I got married and my husband did something similar. He would have several alarms go off over the course of 20 or … [Read more...] about Getting Up the First Time Your Alarm Goes Off
Getting to Know a New City to Which You’ve Moved
As many of you know, my family just moved from the DC metro area to the outskirts of Houston, TX. We’re slowly settling into life in our new city. We’re somewhat familiar with this area because I lived in Houston while in nursing school, but that was many years ago and I was in a very different part of the city. There’s quite a bit we … [Read more...] about Getting to Know a New City to Which You’ve Moved
How to Have a Genuinely Enjoyable Staycation
A week and a half ago I presented several reasons why staycations aren’t as lame as you might think. Today we’re going to explore some ways to make staycations fun and interesting. I believe that one significant reason staycations have a reputation of being boring is that vacationers often don’t treat them as true vacations. Instead, … [Read more...] about How to Have a Genuinely Enjoyable Staycation
Why Staycations Aren’t as Lame as You Might Think
A couple of days ago I was looking into staycation ideas. I was surprised to see how many writers view staycations negatively! They described them with words like “stupid,” “boring,” and “pointless.” I’m certainly not a staycation ambassador, but I think the concept of vacationing at home or nearby deserves a much better rap than it is … [Read more...] about Why Staycations Aren’t as Lame as You Might Think
What Determines if Your Day Is Good or Bad?
If you’re anything like me and many people I know, you absentmindedly respond to questions about your day with words such as “fine” or “okay.” If you really take time to reflect on your day instead of automatically responding with one of these neutral words, what factors determine if your day is good or bad? I realized recently that I … [Read more...] about What Determines if Your Day Is Good or Bad?
It’s no joke…laughter is good for you!
I love it when my husband and I get to laughing about something. It just feels so good! If you’ve laughed—really laughed—recently, then you know the positive, happy feeling I’m talking about. It turns out that laughter has many incredible benefits beyond the temporary feeling of elation that it provides. Check out these benefits of … [Read more...] about It’s no joke…laughter is good for you!
