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How to Give Gifts People Want
The Lord loves a cheerful giver. I’m usually a cheerful giver. My hyper-analytical nature usually enables me to come up with thoughtful gifts. But I do feel stressed when I don’t know someone well enough to give them the quality of gift I would want. This post will show you a process for selecting thoughtful gifts in an organized way so that gift giving isn’t stressful as it tends to be. One of the principles I live by is not to bring clutter into this house. My aversion to clutter is complicated by my guilt about throwing things away. As a result, I often decline free stuff, other than candy,…
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3 Ways to Practice Gratitude
How many Thanksgiving dinners have I attended where the family members were made to state something they were grateful for? Enough to know we all could use a little help to experience gratitude more often in our lives so that we aren’t grasping at straws. The answers always range from surface level- an xbox, to practical– job, to sincere– grandma still being with us. Not inherently bad answers, but would those be our answers if we were inclined toward identifying things that we are thankful for? What if we didn’t have to think of things that we use often or that people in worse situations don’t have? What if we…
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Pumpkin Spiced Latte Macarons and Why You Should Make Them
I started baking on a whim. I threw together some cake mix cookies before work because I had been non-committal about attending a coworker’s baby shower on my lunch. I was new to the team and didn’t know her, so I couldn’t genuinely celebrate with them. (I could now.) Actually, I remember that someone asked if I was okay. Surprisingly, everyone loved the cookies. I ended up making them again by request and gaining the confidence to try other things and ultimately took on the the fabled macaron. Macarons Macarons look fancy, which signifies the level of skill they demand. There are hundreds of articles, videos, and blog posts about…
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Fear of Flying…With an Infant
Flying with an infant for the first time can be intimidating, but like other things in life. Experience is the best teacher. A challenging trip shouldn't keep anyone from enjoying family on the end of the trip.
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New Mom, New Me
I have a terrible haircut right now thanks to postpartum breakage. My baby is 7 months old and I still can’t fit into any of my old, regular-sized clothes. I quit my job, but my house isn’t always clean, dinner isn’t always done. Who am I right now? Racked with anxiety and reclusive tendencies, I can clearly see I am not the same person. I used to be so shiny and ambitious. I used to be mad at my husband because he wasn’t as eager to please me as I was him. Now going above and beyond on anything doesn’t cross my mind. Instead, I exist in the relentless cycle…
