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Carolina Fernandez - EzineArticles.com Expert Author
Carolina Fernandez earned an M.B.A. before working at IBM and as a stockbroker at Merrill Lynch. She left the corporate world to work as a full-time wife, mother, and homemaker.
Coming home to longer hours, harder work, and more demanding relationships left her feeling totally overwhelmed. Granted, she traded one investment field for another which has yielded immeasurable returns heretofore unimagined. Nonetheless, her frustration at her lack of ability in tackling all of motherhood’s ... [More]
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- What Mom Really Wants For Mother's Day - A Little Something
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] There were countless years when all I really wanted was a nap. Then some when the thought of a restaurant dinner out-no cooking, serving or cleaning up-was our family's little Mother's Day ritual. But our favorite "Mother's Day restaurant" closed when the economy headed south, and, frankly, the idea of spending all that money to feed our large brood just doesn't turn me on this year. No. Not this year.
- Recalibrating - What 2009 is Teaching All of Us
[News-and-Society:Economics] 2009 is going to be about recalibrating. For whether you realize you are doing it or not, you are changing something about the way you do things. It's our new reality. And so we better smile and make the best of it.
- What Women Really Want - Beyond Budgets and Botox
[Health-and-Fitness:Womens-Issues] A plastic surgeon, she told me that she'd been giving a lot of thought to the comments of her female patients. She was more intimately involved with them than most docs. And she found herself talking with them a lot, as one might expect a female doc to do, and hearing five resounding themes.
- Surprised by Joy in Vermont
[Travel-and-Leisure:Destination-Tips] You only have a few weeks - or days - left to find joy in fall's foliage. While you might be witnessing it in your own neighborhood, or perhaps have even driven somewhere close to home to see it in all of its glory, I can practically guarantee that you will not fully experience it unless you visit Vermont.
- Stretch Forth Thy Hand
[Home-and-Family:Entertaining] Entertaining requires lifting your spirits in order to lift those of your guests. It means taking your mind off your troubles and seeking to make everyone around you at ease. Of laughing, of extending, of reaching beyond your comfort zone when breaking bread with complete strangers whom you have worked for since dawn in order to create an evening to remember.
- How to Cope When Life Comes at You
[Self-Improvement:Positive-Attitude] We all need coping mechanisms for when life comes at us. Be it a health scare or a horrifying diagnosis, loss of job or loss of spouse, wayward child or ailing elderly parent, when life comes at us hard, we need to sort things out.
- What's the Difference Between a Hockey Mom and a Rocket Mom?
[News-and-Society:Pure-Opinion] This time of year finds me re-thinking my A-game. Now here's where Palin fits in. She's not just a hockey mom. She's a rocket mom of the nth degree. And she gives us plenty of tips on just how to get our A-game on the docket now that Labor Day and beach excursions are behind us.
- Yearnings For Home
[Home-and-Family] But it is this thing we call home that is the most important thing of all. Not the physical home to be sure. Homes come and homes go. Upholstery fades and the china breaks. But the substance of home remains embedded into our cores in a way that can not easily be forgotten or ignored. It is the smells. The visuals. The colors. The accents.
- Swimming For My Kid - and Maybe Yours Too
[Recreation-and-Sports:Swimming] Perhaps you too, can take part in something large. Relay for Life or a Triathalon perhaps. Something much larger than yourself. In honor of someone you love, as well as the thousands whom you will never even meet. The sacrifice will prove exhilarating. Meaningful. Very real.
- Cabinet Crazed - To Glaze or Not to Glaze - That Is The ($64M) Question
[Home-Improvement:Cabinets] Selecting kitchen cabinets. It will arguably be your most pressing design-and budget- dilemma, coming in a slight second to the drama of selecting your kitchen designer, interior designer, builder or architect for the project.
- Countertop Controversies - Carrying the Weight of Your Heaviest Kitchen Decision on Your Overburdene
[Home-Improvement:Kitchen-Improvements] Are you thinking about enrolling in a 12 Step Granite Recovery program? Know every granite pattern by first and last name? Memorized every vein?
- Broom Consciousness In a Dust Buster World
[Home-Improvement:Cleaning-Tips-and-Tools] Sometimes we need to develop a broom-sweeping consciousness because we live in a Dust Buster world. We need to free out minds of the noise of phone-mail and beeping emails. Of iPods and Blackberrys. We need to get silent. Sweep our floors. Or iron our pillowcases. Oil our countertops.
- Sloweth Down
[Self-Improvement] I'm going to adopt a "sloweth down" modus operandi. Not mentally. I like thinking quickly. But certainly physically. I'm going to make a deliberate effort to drive slower. Walk slower. Eat slower. To stop and note beauty more often.
- I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] I have been forced to adopt a simpler approach to the Holidays. And so I have weeded out the frivolous from the essentials; trimmed my gift list; abandoned some earlier-treasured rituals; and adopted a "green" approach to help me accomplish all of the above while simultaneously helping preserve our planet.
- Spinning Your Holiday Web
[Relationships:Friendship] Webs get spun. And then they blow away and need to be spun yet again. With different threads. Different patterns. One not more beautiful than another necessarily. Just different.
- An Enchanted Holiday
[Arts-and-Entertainment:Movies-TV] Grab your spouse or your kid or your girlfriend or your colleague. And go see Enchanted. And vow to bring even a tiny piece of the movie back with you for those who move in and out of your life.
- Whacked on the Head by Beauty
[Travel-and-Leisure:Outdoors] Robust reds. Brilliant golds. Burnt oranges. Crystal-clear blue skies. This scene-trees on fire set against gorgeous cerulean-blesses me every day when I drive up my hill towards home.
- One Tiny Stamp
[Self-Improvement:Leadership] Service comes with a price. Sacrifices to families and to jobs. To spouses and to personal exercise routines. We know that we are helping others, and that without our efforts, the job may not get done at all, let alone get done well. And these things are, indeed, necessary for communities to function at their best.
- Keeping Up With Your Dog
[Pets:Dogs] When we both admitted the extent to which our dogs received grooming attention, I laughed - "My dog gets better grooming than I do!" to which she responded - "Oh, not mine! I take really good care of myself!"
- Ruling Your Roost
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] Those of us rocket moms (and dads!) who have clear ideas-and distinct roadmaps-of how we'd like to nurture, guide and train our kids... indeed, we've proactively planned and thought about the kinds of childhoods we want our kids to have... will sometimes be at seemingly complete odds with others who either have different visions... or who have not yet taken the time to sort out parenting's many, distinct nuances in the various cycles of the job.
- Beating the Back-to-School Blues
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] More than the start of a New Year, the beginning of the school year causes me pause. And anxiety. The demands are palpable. Anxiety hits full force and I physically feel it: my chest pounds, palms sweat, stomach flip flops. And while I don't personally get into a full-blown funk, I always feel the blues to one degree or another.
- Renovating the Heart of the Home
[Home-Improvement:Kitchen-Improvements] Somewhere between the eighties and the start of the new millennium, we collectively (as a nation) decided that a completely remodeled, bells-and-whistle-loaded kitchen would be the benchmark for a good house.
- Mirror Mirror on the Wall
[Health-and-Fitness] Freshly-scrubbed skin remains a virtue as well as a sign of health and vitality. Rosy-colored cheeks always win over paleness, as do bright, sparking eyes and clean, clear teeth. Indeed, the impact of physical attractiveness, of cleanliness and vitality, cannot be denied in our culture as well as of those around the globe.
- You Want Me to Do What?
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] If you ever feel "Twas but for the grace of God I go," you are not alone. While not doormats, we certainly are the glue that holds our families together.
- It's What Mom Really Wants for Mother's Day
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] What mom really wants for Mother's Day is for you to be her mind-reader. To know before she even asks for it what it is she really wants.
- Defrizzling the Frazzle
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] Families are moving too fast these days. Speeding through life from one activity to another with hardly a thought as to what we're doing for whom and why. I am as guilty as the next mom: rocket mom or alpha mom or stay-at-home mom or working mom or single mom or married mom. Step-mom or Stepford mom. We’re moving too fast.
- Hello Miss Sunshine
[Self-Improvement:Inspirational] My plea this week is simple: Live as if you believe in the hopes and promises of spring.
- No Big Deal
[Home-and-Family] As you go through these years carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, I hope that someone - your spouse or your kids or your parents or your best friend - will give you grace. Let you get through the messes without being too hard on yourself.
- Daring to Be You or Why Lime Green is My Black
[Self-Improvement:Inspirational] Daring to do your own thing - to be different - takes some guts. But it gets easier as you get older. You just don’t care what other people think as much as you used to! Sticking your neck out to express a dissenting opinion, wearing clothes that buck the industry standard, or rearing your kids in ways that make you seem like an odd duck are all part of living life creatively. Wearing green cords instead of blue jeans.
- Playing Hurt
[Self-Improvement:Grief-Loss] Most of us are carrying around a burden or two every
day. Illness. Separation. Prodigal children.
Brokenness. It is not the playing hurt that separates
you from me. We are all playing hurt. Daily, to one
degree or another. Playing joyfully while playing hurt
is the most difficult thing in the world to do.
- Nagymama's Hungarian Chicken Soup for Your Family's Soul
[Food-and-Drink:Soups] Fewer aromas fill up your home better. Fewer memories of your children's home could be stronger than the ones this will create. Try to keep a pot of this going for the rest of the winter. I am trying to do the same
- Whipping Your House into New Year’s Shape
[Home-Improvement:Interior-Design-and-Decorating] Hypothetically or for real, it’s time to at least start thinking of de-constructing your home's Holiday wonderland. Time to throw out the gingerbread houses and un-eaten cookies. Time to put all of those hard-to-find-home-for gifts away. Time to read the Christmas cards one last time and organize the photos.
- Rocket Mom Takes on Winter Old Wives Tales
[Health-and-Fitness] But it got me thinking, once my head stopped pounding that is, about all of those old wives tales that your mom and mine—and our grandmothers, too—told us when we were little kids. About keeping colds and flu’s at bay. Believe it or not, some of them are true and some of them are just plain silly.
- Simplify Simplify Simplify
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] This Simplify Simplify Simplify thing might sound harsh…but life seems quite short to me these days. So I have officially changed course and I am giving you official license to do the same.
- Celebrating Traditions—or Why Hosting a Quinceanera is a Grand Thing
[Relationships] And I stopped and thought about how these traditions come and stay. About how generations of children have celebrated religious heritages with bar/bat mitzvahs and christenings and baptism parties; about how American girls have Sweet Sixteen’s and how Latin girls have Quince’s. About weddings. And how these events occur just once in a lifetime. Once or twice in a family.
- The Pluck Factor
[Cancer:Leukemia-Lymphoma-Cancer] Strong-minded people serve as tremendous inspirations for me. When life throws you a curve ball, a U-turn, a disappointment or an unpleasant surprise, the outcome will oftentimes be greatly dependent on the way in which you handle yourself during those times.
- Minding Your Manners
[Self-Improvement:Motivation] Little things count. And minding one’s manners—one of those littlest things of all—is one of those little things that counts the most.
- 7 Must-Do’s for Fall
[Arts-and-Entertainment] The rush of back-to-school has taken a backseat when other stuff hits: parent-teacher conferences, Fall recitals, and soccer and football practices every other day. We’re anxious to regain equilibrium. To get perspective before the anxiety-provoking Holiday rush. To catch your breath, delight your senses and enjoy the company of family and friends in the beauty of this season we’re finding ourselves in.
- On Spread
[Self-Improvement:Inspirational] I’ve been giving much thought lately to “spread,” or to the impact I’m having on those around me. Most days find me frustrated that I don’t have very much of it, feeling that once I’m gone, my legacy won’t be large enough, that enough lives won’t have been positively affected by my having been here, and that I won’t have had the effect that I always hoped I would have had.
- Writing Your Way through the Holidays
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] Make a plan. Stick to your plan. And write write write.
- What’s Your Story?
[Self-Improvement:Inspirational] What’s your story? If someone had to work on your epitaph, what would they write? If you sat twenty of your closest friends and associates around a table to distill your story into a handful of words, what would they be? Do your everyday activities reflect the real you? Do your friendships help you to become the person you feel destined to become? Is your work life representative of your life work? If you had to choose just one word to define you, would you be able to come up with one?
- Something to Wake Up For
[Self-Improvement:Leadership] Want glowing skin? Sparkling eyes? A youthful bounce to your step? Longevity? Vitality? Find something to wake up for. Be it your own kids or your spouse, your neighborhood or your elected officials, worldwide hunger or inexcusable illiteracy: get involved! It’ll help you put that foot on the floor every morning and encourage you to truly get up and at ‘em.
- Reconnecting
[Travel-and-Leisure] Children grow and reconnections to their life-shaping forces and faces must be re-kindled. Keeping relationships alive provides nourishment for our souls. Refreshment for our spirits. Continuation of ideals. Succession of friendships.
- If the Devil Wears Prada, Can a Rocket Mom Wear Jimmy Choo’s?
[Shopping-and-Product-Reviews:Fashion-Style] If the devil wears Prada, can a Rocket Mom wear Jimmy Choo’s? Can she—no, should she—wear Kate Spade to pick up the kids from the bus-stop, Ralph to the grocery store and Lilly for supper on the terrace? Can a Rocket Mom facing four college tuitions allow herself the indulgence of thousand-dollar Manolo’s?!?
- Ordinary Souls, Extraordinary Acts
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] An Memorial Day article honoring those who fight for our freedoms.
- Going the Distance
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] Without a doubt, the last few weeks of school are amongst the busiest in the calendar year. Graduations, recitals, concerts, sporting competitions and final exams all exert undue influence over the time and energy of students and parents alike
- Infusing Heart into the Hearth of the Home
[Home-Improvement:Interior-Design-and-Decorating] I’d like to think that some kitchens stand—from decades of use or from recent renovation—where roasts are basted and hearts are repaired. Where bills are paid and where lunchboxes are packed. Where we value the notion of nurturing: through meals and through conversation. With preparation along with presentation.
- What Mom Really Wants for Mother's Day
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] So I felt confident that, with the "what I really wanted concert" behind me and a possible mani/pedi ahead of me, that the week leading up to Mother’s Day would be smooth sailing. And then a flyer poked out of the newspaper and a gadget caught my eye...
- Keeping the Train on Track
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] One thing I know for sure: mastery commands respect. As does consistency. Perseverance. Persistence. Stick-to-it-ive-ness. We reward singers who make it all the way on American Idol and athletes who make it to the Olympics.
- Very Talented
[Arts-and-Entertainment:Humanities] We can all aspire to be Very Talented. And Very Wonderful, too.
- It's Not About the Bunnies
[News-and-Society:Religion] Go ahead and splurge on chocolate and on baskets. On flowers for your home or in a new outfit or on travel. This is a time for celebration, to be sure, come Easter Day. But allow yourself in the next few days, to internalize the conflict of Holy Week. It is one time of year when your internal struggle should be palpable.
- Weighing In On Spring
[Health-and-Fitness:Womens-Issues] Bathing suit season is upon us, whether we like it—or care—or not. Perhaps as we struggle through “the anorexic challenge” before our nation’s young girls—as well as our collective desires to be tan and thin and able to fit into a bikini (or one-piece or heck, even a pair of shorts), we can get a grip by getting our arms around the situation…and around our own daughter’s shoulders.
- The Surprise Factor
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] Life is mostly all about process. But sometimes it’s about the actual performance. And the surprises that come with it.
- Fighting March Madness Fully-Armed
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] Motherhood brings with it a near-constant feeling of unsettled-ness. Of never really feeling like you’ve truly got it all together. Because just when you finally make it past one hurdle you’ve got another one staring you in the face.
- Wiping Out
[Self-Improvement:Inspirational] Wiping out is all part of the deal if you want to play at all. If you step into the arena, you’re going to wipe out sooner or later. It’s not wiping out that separates you from the rest of the world. It’s how you wipe yourself off after you wipe out.
- 7 Lessons I Learned from Bunny
[Womens-Interests] The success and elevation of the likes of Bunny Williams’s (and Martha Stewart’s, Rachel Ray’s and others’ for that matter) work on the homefront certainly seals the fact that women everywhere are yearning for domestic direction.
- Fluff the Magic Dragon
[Self-Improvement] A significant date in the secular world will converge with a significant date in the religious world to give me significant pause. April 15th stamps the due date for tax collection and March 1 will mark—literally—those of us who honor Ash Wednesday.
- Giving Away
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] Friends have cautioned me—particularly this year, what with Nick’s leukemia and almost-daily three-hour round-trips to the clinic where he receives chemotherapy—that this would be a good year to not be overly involved in preparations for Christmas. Not to "not do" Christmas... for how could a Christian ignore one of the holiest days of the year?
- Mary's Response
[News-and-Society:Religion] To fathom the response of Mary is to capture one of the most powerful messages of Christmas.
- Angels Unawares
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] Be not forgetful to entertain strangers this holiday! Invite them into your world. And you will be delighted to find-as I have in both my moments of "horrible judgment" as well as in my moments of complete transparency-that God puts people into your path to make your journey not just more bearable, but more enjoyable, too. Angels unaware. Each one of them.
- Getting Hearts and Hands Ready for the Holidays
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] Many people refrain from practicing generosity to those outside
their small circle of concern because of the lack of money with
which to do so. But inexpensive gifts can be handmade for pennies if we will only stretch our imaginations and put our hands--and those of our children--to good use.
- Overlooked Blessings
[Self-Improvement:Spirituality] But during this past week, I came across the phrase "overlooked blessings," although I cannot recall where I read it or to whom it should be attributed. Nonetheless, the phrase has certainly stirred up more emotion than has the notion of "counting my blessings." For it is profoundly more thought-provoking to conjure up blessings that have been there all along but for one reason or another have gone unrecognized. To all of a sudden be alert to hidden treasures which we’ve taken for granted. Never counted. To be startled by the diamonds in our own backyard, the jewels in our own children’s crowns, and the pearls around our own mothers’ necks.
- Surprised by Beauty
[Arts-and-Entertainment:Music] And then the oboist, a highschooler I had never met before, with
a bandana covering her hair and too-many earrings covering her
left ear, came in, followed by the clarinetist, to create
extraordinary beauty. And I just sat there, with tears rolling
down my cheeks, an uncontrollable reaction to witnessing
magnificence.
- On Connectedness
[Arts-and-Entertainment:Humanities] We are, each and every one of us, in this life struggle together, like tiny separate dots…just waiting to be connected.
- Motherpie and Applehood
[Home-Improvement:Interior-Design-and-Decorating] Scarecrows have taken their stands against lighting posts; wheelbarrows hold fresh-picked bounty; and roadside stands offer cider, caramel apples, and home-baked pumpkin pies.Ahh!!! Fall is finally here!
- Archiving Our Families
[Home-and-Family] A couple of weeks ago, a dear reader emailed me for help on documenting her family’s life and history. For several generations, we knew this as "stuffing pictures in shoe boxes." If we were super-organized, we used photo albums. Today, we call this "scrapbooking."
- You Gotta Laugh
[Health-and-Fitness:Beauty] Impressions do mean a lot and first impressions mean even more. But where, exactly, do you draw the line? Do we need to wear make-up when we drive the kids to school in the morning or meet the other moms at the bus stop? When we make a quick trip to the grocery to pick up the milk? Or run into the pharmacy to grab a readied prescription?
- Getting Back Your Groove
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] In trying to get back our groove, I am trying to put myself into my kids’ heads. I find myself consciously disengaging from the mindset of planning my New Year (writing down goals, hosting some parties, and celebrating with friends) and trying to put myself into their shoes by remembering what it was like each and every year of my own childhood on that “First Day of School”…or the official start of their New Year.
- Celebrating the "Day of Deliverance"
[News-and-Society:Religion] Celebrating July 4th with solemn acts of devotion has never been ingrained into my thinking about the day.
- Crowning Him King for a Day
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] Let’s hope that fathers everywhere understand the unique role they play in our lives, in the lives of their children, and in today’s culture at large. Let’s hope that on Father’s Day, father’s everywhere felt special. That they know, deep down inside, that their efforts on our behalf are fully acknowledged, truly appreciated, and deeply cherished.
- Going Out On a Limb
[Travel-and-Leisure] Travel has always offered one of the foolproof ways to nurture creative genius. Whether your trip is planned to the nth degree or designed for infinite opportunities for serendipity, go out on a limb and watch your creative spirits sour!
- A Day to Remember
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] We have taken a day set aside to honor our heroes and turned it into one big, happy, American playdate.
- Growing in My Garden
[Home-and-Family:Gardening] People grow in gardens. And growing in love and joy is, after all, what growing in one's garden is all about.
- The Cost of Beauty
[Self-Improvement] The cost of beauty can never be measured by the price of stuff anyway.
- Making a Mother's Day Memory
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] So just how can we celebrate Mother’s Day as a holiday with those we love—and yet honor the wishes of its founder? How can we encourage others to express loving sentiments to us—rather than encourage them to purchase loving sentiments? And where does chocolate fit into the Mother’s Day equation for crying out loud?!?
- A Mom Grows Up
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] I brought to my other kids' sporting events exhaustion,
frustration, and apprehension. But for this fourth and youngest,
I was able to bring pure unadulterated delight. And that, for me, is growth.
- Celebrations of Spring
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] Spring is here! It's time to make final preparations so that the joy of the season is fully evident in your families and in your homes.
- Spring is in the Air!
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] While it certainly hasn't left much evidence here in New
England-no crocuses popping up, no morning birds waking me up, no T's and capri's showing up-there are sure signs that Spring has, indeed, arrived. The snow has melted. New life is on its way!
- Shakin' Things Up
[Home-Improvement:Interior-Design-and-Decorating] Life is all about shakin’ things up. If we don’t shake ‘em up voluntarily it seems that life shakes things up for us. Whether we’re ready for the shakin’ up or not.
- Simple Love Acts
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] Frankly, I’ve never been one to fall wholeheartedly into the whole Valentine’s Day ritual. Don’t buy my hubby silk boxers with little hearts all over them; don’t question our marriage if he walks in the door sans roses.
- Playing Hurt
[Self-Improvement:Inspirational] Playing hurt is never as much fun as playing pain-free. Not in football nor in tennis nor in life. But playing hurt is something that, every now and then, we are forced to play. And sometimes through it, but certainly in the end, we'll see the beauty in strength.
- Be There and Be Glad
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] Enjoying life, living wisely and well, and infusing it with pleasantness certainly means living with integrity. It means building character. Growing through pain and suffering. But it also means allowing the tiniest, simplest acts of everyday living to be enjoyed with clarity. With gladness.
- The Ultimate in Creativity
[Self-Improvement:Spirituality] Your benchmark in excellent motherhood is not simply intellectual advancement or creative achievement. You have the responsibility of nurturing their hearts and souls so that they are fully prepared to meet the world head on, offering along the way their unique perspective and God-given talents so that all the world will benefit.
- Moving Beyond the Fundamentals
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] Motherhood is not a science. It's an art. Release your own style. Your own technique. Dare to paint your days with your own fresh, bold stroke.
- Climbing the Learning Curve
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] Our learning curve is steep. That there are no overnight successes in motherhood. That getting a handle on the scope of the job takes more energy, more understanding, more strength, more passion...and requires more sleep!....that we ever dreamed possible.
- Creative Thinking in the Midst of the Mundane
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] The mundane--oftentimes dreadful--realities of motherhood have been with moms since time began, and likely will stay with us for, well, the rest of our lives. There's no sense despairing, no need to wring your hands, no time for wishing them away. But take heart. There are tricks to conquering the mundane to keep you from going completely insane.
- Keeping the Spirit
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] Keeping the spirit of the holidays after the holidays have clearly passed is one of the challenges of being a Rocket Mom. Ice-skating in cold air brings oxygen to the brain, rosy cheeks, laughter, friends, bonding with my kids, and a sense of community in this New England town of mine. Looking like a fool when I fall? Black-and-blue reminders of my middle age? Bruises to my ego? Well...that's all part of motherhood.
- Be My Valentine
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] This holiday has existed since Pope Gelasius officially declared it a Christian holiday in 496 A.D. to honor St. Valentine, the patron saint of lovers. But let’s face it: whether it is celebrated with religious significance in your family or not, this holiday comes with certain expectations.
- Valentine's Day is Almost Here-But Should We Even Bother?
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] One of the flower-candy-greeting card-industry holidays is almost upon us. Aside from lining their coffers with millions of dollars, your lover practically relies on it for getting attention, romance and sentimental gifts. But should we, as consumers, even bother?
- It's All About Process
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] The process of motherhood is not about immediate results. Quick fixes. Flash-in-the-pan success. Motherhood requires embracing the challenges that come our way on a near-daily basis. No one ever told you it would be easy. No one ever told you it would take this long.
- Fresh Start
[Self-Improvement:Motivation] But they don’t call it "New Year" for nothin’. It’s a time to start anew. To wipe the slate clean of all of your baggage, garbage and overage. And get on with brand spankin’ new.
- Releasing
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] Releasing is tough stuff. It requires shedding of the old and welcoming in the new. Offering up the closely-held things of the past and ushering in the unknown mysteries of the future.
- Embracing the Spirit of Giving
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] Every year—at about this time—I start writching around to crank things up a notch. To pull out all the stops. But I engage midway through Advent with a palpable anxiety about getting everything “done.”
- Rocket Mom Shops New York City
[Travel-and-Leisure] My promise to bring to you New York City bargains was ever-present in my mind as I pounded the pavements throughout mid-town Manhattan and much of the lower West Side.
- Where Hustle Stops Bustle
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] My visit with old friends this weekend validated what I’ve always known—but have often been simply too busy to stand back and rightfully acknowledge: hustle stops bustle around a table.
- Doorbusting
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] It’s official. The world can be divided yet one more way: those who doorbust and those who don’t. Those folks who doorbust think it’s the most normal thing in the world; those of us who wouldn’t be caught dead doing so think they are absolutely nuts.
- Asking for Abundant Blessings
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] For starters, I had an incorrect understanding of the word “blessing.” I had, of course, heard the word, seen the word. Hundreds if not thousands of times before. But we use it incorrectly. And it leads to misunderstanding.
- O Be Careful
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] It’s especially now—with rampant over-sexualization by our culture practically smacking our kids in their collective faces; lack of commitment to ideals and values, to spouses and friends; political corruptness; and materialism overcoming rationalism—that reinforces the notion that instilling moral excellence into our children is arguably one of our biggest jobs as parents!
- It Only Takes a Spark
[Self-Improvement:Inspirational] Most visionaries have suffered inordinate personal suffering. Not witnessed it secondhand. Not read about it. Or heard about it. But experienced it.It is the suffering, really, which serves most often as the springboard for profound change and energetic movement to goodwill on a massive scale.
- Standing on Tall Shoulders
[News-and-Society] I’ll spend some time not only jotting down the names of recently departed saints; I’ll meditate on the lessons they taught by their everyday lives. Simple. Uncomplicated lessons.
- Finish Lines
[Self-Improvement:Goal-Setting] If we stay completely focused on the strength, speed or fullness with which we cross finish lines, we miss out on most of the good stuff. We miss out on what happens in the middle: life.
- The Brook's Song
[Travel-and-Leisure:Outdoors] I hope that this fall brings you time to retreat into solitude. That be it into nature or into a friend’s home; into travel to a faraway place or into the down-filled cushions of your living room sofa: that you are able to make time for solitude.
- Little Victories
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] In motherhood, especially, we get caught up so frequently--and so miserably--in the mundane responsibilities of our job that we fail to recognize the small, simple things as little victories.
- Igniting Boldness
[Relationships] Something happened between childhood and adulthood which allowed me to claim the freedom to recognize that when good chemistry already existed, I could be bold about the ignition. Somewhere along the way I crept out of myself and started walking into other people’s lives without fear of rejection.
- Goal Setting and Vision Casting
[Self-Improvement:Goal-Setting] It's that time of year again: time to reflect back on the past year and evaluate relationships; examine areas where you spent your valuable time, money, and energy; ponder goals set last year and revise new ones accordingly; and count your many blessings.
- Eliminate Common Time Busters
[Self-Improvement:Time-Management] Performing redundant tasks, putting your time into ridiculous
activities, and wasting minutes here and there all add up to
significant amounts of unproductive time over your lifetime.
- Taking My Breath Away
[Self-Improvement:Inspirational] See how many moments you can add to life by the number of breaths it takes away.
- Snipping Dangling Threads
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] Your home needn’t look like it fell out of a Ralph Lauren scrapbook or a page in the Orvis fall catalog. But it can be creatively staged to reflect the new season in which we find ourselves.
- God Lives Under the Bed
[Self-Improvement:Spirituality] My wings are too heavy to soar. Traveling under a storm cloud has certainly curtailed my usual "zip-a-dee-doo-dah" attitude towards life. I hope that you will take a lesson from Kevin...and that it will sink deeply into my own soul so that I can meet you in full force next week.
- Watering the Grassroots
[News-and-Society] Most of the world’s great movements were fueled by anger or by righteous indignation. At social injustices. Economic imbalances. Medical emergencies. Political persecution. And many of these were pushed into the national consciousness by the power of one individual who caught hold of a vision and boldly moved forward.
- Chasing the Blues Away
[Self-Improvement:Inspirational] Chantal was a new friend, a darling child ten years-old whom we’d met in the chemo clinic, where she was being treated for leukemia, along with our son, Nick. She’d been recovering perfectly well, having endured a bone marrow transplant with a perfect match; her spirits were always bright; and she radiated a sweet spirit, oftentimes completely unbeknownst to her, and even when she didn’t feel up to being particularly sweet. Her personal battle was nothing short of heroic. By simply showing up, she exuded inspiration to me and to everyone else in the clinic.
- Reunions and Reconnections
[Home-and-Family] Few things grip me more than watching the strong embrace of a reunion. Be it husband to wife, mother to child or friend to friend: the call to human love—after love of our Creator—is our highest calling. And when one hasn’t seen someone for awhile, or when the embrace is unexpected from fear of the unthinkable, that embrace is of the sweetest kind.
- A Plea for Being Outrageous
[News-and-Society] One could not be fully human if she were not moved by the visuals of Katrina portrayed via our media.The contrast of the visual of wealthy vacationers driving up to the Cape, to Nantucket and to the Vineyard proved a glaring disparity so painful that, as if by centrifugal force, I found myself ejected off my down-filled sofa and onto my office chair, sending emails to the broadcast media, begging for answers to this rescue mission crisis.
- Shattered Visions
[Relationships] Shattered visions take all shapes and sizes and forms. Bereavement. Relocation. Injury. Divorce. Shattered visions are never easy to endure. They're all part of this difficult, painful excursion through life.
- Gift of a Letter
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] It is my hope that the hand-written letter will remain a most valued gift from the heart...
- Heart of the Home
[Home-Improvement] What makes the kitchen the heart of the home, anyway? In this real estate frenzy of the new millennium, where success is measured by capital gains, square footage and location-location-location; how much is enough, after all? Do we really need commercial-grade stainless steel Wolf ranges and double Sub-Zero’s? Granite countertops and farmhouse sinks with copper faucets? Islands with pull-outs? Seems like we do. A Harvard University study found that Americans spent $233 billion on remodeling and repair projects in 2003, with kitchen re-do’s topping the list. A stunning 4 million Americans will do a kitchen remodeling project of some type in this year alone!
- Marching Towards Mother's Day
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] This coming Sunday is our “big day,” moms. It’s the one day a year when we get officially honored for what it is that we do. I don’t know about you, but I usually find myself reflecting on exactly what my role is, anyway. Motherhood has evolved over the past two generations into a job which, many would argue, looks far different than the job our own mothers knew.
- No Artificial Ingredients Indeed
[Travel-and-Leisure:Outdoors] Costa Rica's national motto is "pura vida." The pure life. Or "life is good." I'll say. What with monkeys offering our singular wake-up call swinging limb to limb just outside our hotel balcony, to iguanas joining us on our walk to
breakfast, to a highly venomous snake slithering right before our eyes on our drive to dinner... nature called out loud and clear. Everywhere.
- Inch by Inch
[Cancer:Leukemia-Lymphoma-Cancer] Whatever your personal struggle or your present-day worry: adopt an “inch by inch is a cinch” plan of positive action. Ask yourself at the end of each day: “Did I move forward?” And if you did—even by an inch—you can sleep soundly in the assurance that you will triumph in this journey of life. One day not far from now, inch by inch, you’ll celebrate wholeness. You’ll celebrate complete healing.
- Misplaced Passion
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] Plans are underway for end-of-year recitals, end-of-year concerts, and end-of-year teacher appreciation brunches. These are exciting times, but unfortunately they can also be times of unnecessary stress. One reason: misplaced passion. Many of today’s women who have previously poured their passion into their careers are now looking for outlets in which to re-direct it. In most cases, this passion is being invested with energetic doses into the health and well-being of children and families. But in some cases, women are directing their passion into arenas which have no long-term impact on the health or well-being of the child, the family, or the community at large.
- Bonjoie! 7 Lessons I Learned in Paris
[Travel-and-Leisure] Paris was, for me anyway, the fruit of nearly fourteen years of musical training in my kids. Friendships forged with the most unsuspecting partners, as commonalities were uncovered and shared. Barriers erected by political divisions, theological differences, and ideological disparities collapsed under the international love language of music.
- Joie De Vivre
[Travel-and-Leisure] The pleasures of romance, like fine French cuisine, cannot be denied. They must be experienced as frequently as possible. Embraced for all of their possibilities. Enjoyed to the fullest.
- In the Blink of an Eye
[Self-Improvement:Grief-Loss] None of us ever think about the time slot of a blink of an eye. Yet so much of life happens just there.
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