30 Year Vow Renewals – A Love Story
Thirty-two years. That’s how long we’ve been married now. There’s something ridiculously liberating about spending 30 years with your person. He gets me utterly and there’s zero judgment. Even on my worst days, he still gropes me. I don’t think he even has a concept of “bad hair days” when it comes to how he sees me. Every ten years, we’ve renewed our wedding vows, but our 30th was different. We started this tradition by accident actually. Our original wedding ceremony wasn’t entirely my created dream wedding. We’d eloped on a Tuesday (just 3 weeks after we started dating) with plans to keep it a secret until much later (that’s…
Intentional Living & Why it Matters
What is intentional living? LIVING IN A WAY THAT IS INTENTIONAL. I realize that may sound like I just repeated myself, but let that last line sink in for a minute… Living with intention means living in a way that is in line with your personal values, beliefs, and purposes. This can include religious, political, creative, or personal. In the end, it really comes down to understanding what matters to you and living a life intentionally in alignment with that. Intentional living means having defined goals for various areas of your life and then designing a life that helps you reach them. The problem is that most people live their lives…
Finding The Perfect Soul Mate
A few months ago, a friend contacted me for some relationship advice: she’s single, and there’s this guy she’d had her eye on. She wanted to approach him, but wasn’t sure how. At first, she consulted a singles group she belongs to. She explained that she wanted to approach him and tell him that she liked him and “would he like to grab a cup of coffee sometime”. They all had plenty of advice: “No. Let him come to you.” or “Don’t be too direct, men hate that.” or “Play coy and let him reach for you.” No wonder these people are single. Sheesh. Anyway, my friend got smart and realized…
Outdoor Thanksgiving Dinner
This Thanksgiving was my absolute favorite. And you know what? I got to see first hand how creating a specific feeling and atmosphere can truly set the mood for a whole evening. In a word, it was magic. It all started about 3 weeks before Thanksgiving: I was going to host Thanksgiving at my house, and there were a couple extra guests this year, making a total of 15. This troubled me. See, last year I hosted Thanksgiving, too. My dining table seats 8 comfortably, but at family gatherings we typically have at least 13 people. So, we squeeze in 5 more chairs somehow, and we all agree to forgo elbow…
How I Saved Family Day
I have a confession to make. When my kids were little, I used to yell at them. Especially on family day. Why on family day? Well, I used to wonder about that too. It should have been an awesome day. After all, I had my husband and all four of my kids in one place at one time, for the whole day. Perfect, right? Except it wasn’t. We’d wake up whenever everyone woke up, and meander about doing this or that in the morning. Not in any particular hurry. It was the weekend, after all. We wouldn’t eat breakfast because we already planned to go out for brunch. The kids…