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  • Heigh-ho heigh-ho: cultivating meaningful work

    Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. ~Howard Thurman It’s a new month and that means a new guidepost from Brené Brown’s The Gifts of Imperfection.  This month’s focus is cultivating meaningful work—work that results…

  • Friday favorites: tis the season

    It’s December! Thanksgiving is over, Christmas music is playing, and there is snow on the ground. At our house, it is officially the Christmas season. This week’s Friday Favorites is all about season firsts. First holiday nails –Winter Wonderland! Seven-year-old Piper says the silver accent nail looks like a jingle bell in the snow. I…

  • What’s for dinner? Southern pork chops and sage rice

    When my children were young, I cooked a lot; nothing fancy, but pretty much every night. Now the kids are grown, and my husband, who works from home, is kind enough to prepare dinner most nights. This allows me to put in a full day’s work, work out, and still have dinner at a reasonable…

  • Friday favorites – Thanksgiving surprises and more

    I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving. If you are reading this, I assume you are coming out of your food coma–at least enough to work that mobile device or computer. Our Thanksgiving was not at all what we planned, but thanks to family and friends, we did get two delicious meals! Many of you…

  • Happy Thanksgiving & 10 things I am grateful for

    I was going to forego the usual Thanksgiving “Things I’m Grateful For” post, considering Friday Favorites are kind of a weekly thank you list, but then I felt a strange tugging to do it. Maybe it’s all the whining I’ve done lately. I feel the need to do public penance and acknowledge the many blessings…

  • Friday favorites

    Can you believe it’s almost Thanksgiving? This week gave me some pretty great things for which to be thankful. Thank you Mother Nature for another gorgeous fall day. It’s unreal to be eating lunch outside–and actually sweating a little–in mid-November. The wrinkles on my forehead aren’t just old age; I’m actually squinting into the bright November…

  • Book recommendation: The One-in-a-Million Boy

    It’s been a while since I read a book that I like enough to recommend to you. Recently I’ve read two, Lincoln’s Melancholy (which I’ll review in a future post) and the one I want to share today, The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Wood. This is the story of an unusual young boy bringing people together,…

  • Friday favorites: on the bright side

    This has been a challenging week, which makes this week’s Friday Favorites all the more sweet. Thank you Reflections for giving children another creative outlet and for recognizing Kanyen’s budding talent. Thank you Debbie for nurturing that talent. And thank you Kanyen for being awesome (she received top honors at her school)! Thank you Larry Hancock…

  • Giving up anxiety as a way of life; cultivating calm

    In the midst of chaos When the wind is howling, I hear The ancient song Of ones who went before And know that peace will come ~Susan Stauter It’s election day and coincidently the day I was scheduled to write about Brene Brown’s next guidepost—cultivating calm and stillness. Whatever your politics, I have a feeling…

  • Friday favorites – so much to be grateful for

    Can you believe it’s November already? The month of gratitude, and I have much for which to be grateful, so this week’s Friday Favorites are in the form of thank yous. Thank you Ashley for having lunch with me, and thank you Zupas for the delicious salad and red pepper soup (and, of course, the…