Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, Seasons Greeting, Happy Holidays!

Wishing you the best of the season: good health and prosperity in all things.

Life is Good:)

I've Always Dreamed of Paris

There is something romantic about Paris. I have never had the privilege of visiting but I dream about going. I imagine cobblestone streets, old buildings with rich history, fine wine, and of course wonderful pastries. I also imagine seeing beautiful people.

As a result of my fantasy, I am drawn to all things Parisian: books,  photographs, relics, blogs and  even podcasts. One podcast that is dear to me is called The Simply Luxurious Life by Shannon Ables. I first learned of Shannon by reading her book of that same title. Then I found her blog. She is a self proclaimed Francophile. I can't say I am a true Francophile because I haven't studied about Paris and its culture. Instead, I have just absorbed information in passing and thus I continue to dream.

When I tell my kids of my desire to visit Paris, they give me so many historical details as to why they think I may not like it. I tend to ignore their remarks and my love affair with this place of my dreams continues.

Where do you dream of? Have you had an opportunity to visit. Did it live up to your expectations? Let us know and until then continue dreaming if it makes you happy because ultimately these little joys add to the Good Life:)

What Advice Would I Give to My 20 Year Old Self?

As I pondered the question, "what advice would I give my 20 year old self?", many thoughts came to mind. The obvious responses centered around spirituality, family, health care, etc. We tell our kids these things daily: pray often, God loves you, eat healthy, we love you. But outside of these very important but obvious words of advice, what else would I tell them and what do I wish I had known at the tender age of 20?

You Create Your Life by Habits

I wish I had known the importance of the seemingly mundane things that I kept doing repeatedly. These habits whether good or bad generated serious repercussions in my life. For example, I had the bad habit of not putting my keys in an exact location daily. As a result, I spent countless mornings looking for my keys and being late for work. On the other hand, I had some good habits, such as making my bed and balancing my check book. As a result, I tend to be very neat in terms of home keeping. In addition, my personal finances are in a good place. Our habits become us and the life we create is as a result of them. If I had known this when I was younger, I would have focused more on creating good habits in specific areas, which would have ultimately helped me to achieve my goals at a much faster pace.

5 Apps that I Use the Most

When you are a Mom and an entrepreneur, you are constantly on the go. Others are dependent on you to make important decisions or to complete mundane tasks. Thankfully, we all carry our little computers in our purses or on our person. Our mobile phones have so much potential to simplify our lives if we would download apps. Here are 5 apps that I use most often and that help me to streamline my tasks.

Xero

I've written on this blog about Xero. It's an accounting software that was built for the cloud. It also has an app wherein I can invoice customers, accept payments, reconcile accounts and so much more. When you are on the go, it is easy to map your customer's address via the app.

Hootsuite

If you are on multiple social media platforms, Hootsuite helps to save time. You can post once and your post is simultaneously added to multiple networks of your choice. Also, you can schedule posts which allows you to plan for the entire week and or month. With the app, you can easily manage your social media from any place in the world.

Google Docs

We all know that Google's email is a wonderful addition to our smart phones since with it we can respond to emails on the go; but how many of us have actually downloaded the Google Docs app. With Docs you can create and share documents on the go. When you are on your desktop, if you upload important documents to Google Doc, then you will have access to these documents when you are on the go. On the go access allows you to be more efficient because you can amend, share, edit, etc documents wherever you are.

Come Grocery Shopping with Me

I've had a smile on my face all morning. Why? Because I love grocery shopping for my family. Sounds weird, I know. It's just that I am a foodie. I love food, both cooking and eating. I'm not a trained chef, just a home cook who enjoys sourcing ingredients for the menus I've planned.

This week our menu includes:

• Lasagne and Salad
• Turkey Soup (using the leftover turkey neck etc that I placed in the freezer after Thanksgiving)
• Curry Chicken with Rice and Steamed Vegetables
• Fried Fish, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans
• Baked Wings and Salad.

There will be one day of leftovers and one day off from cooking, which is usually Saturdays.

Why menu plan?

5 Habits of a Successful Mompreneur

Habits are powerful and as the old saying goes "habits make us or break us." This is why it is especially important that we build good habits into our daily lives. Little things do matter because over time they create a big impact. Below are 5 habits that I incorporate into my daily life as a Mompreneur. I believe that these habits help to keep me organized as I strive to provide for my family and for the stakeholders who depend on me in business.

Plan your Day the Night Before

Every evening I plan for the next day. Planning helps me to think of what I want to accomplish and it also allows me to manage my time better. With a family and a business, at times I am juggling so many obligations: a child has a chorus concert at 6:00 pm, another child needs to be picked up from College because her Christmas break has begun, payroll is pending, an employee needs a job letter, not to mention dinner and general homekeeping. I am quite sure you too have a lot on your plate. For me, planning allows me to segment my day between: 

• Home
• Business
• Kids
• Personal Time
• Family Time

Though I may not get everything done daily, at least I am aware of what needs to be done. I can then delegate and or postpone. Not keeping it all in my head helps me to be a lot more organized. Daily planning works; but keep in mind that annual goal setting and monthly planning helps one to accomplish so much more.

Christmas Decorating

Christmas is really the most beautiful time of the year! Seeing all of the decor in the stores makes me feel very happy. Though some are Scrooges, even the Scrooge must admit that people seem happier. My family tends to decorate around Thanksgiving weekend and this year was no exception. Here I have shown our home as decorated for Christmas.

Repurpose and Reuse

D

I love the Nest. It has such unique items for the home. Just recently, I went shopping for candles. My shopping items were packaged in such a beautiful Nest shopping bag. When I got home, I just couldn't discard that bag. Instead, I folded it up and placed it in my garage.

If you follow my blog, you would know that my planner is a 1917 Leuchttrum. I am a person who keeps planners from year to to year. I archive them when they are full. Thus, I have planners dating back to 1995. They are precious to me. I have things written down regarding milestones in my children's lives, such as when they lost their first tooth. Also, there are doodles that they drew in my planners when they were really tiny.

Because I value my planners, I take good care of them. Unfortunately, my current journal has pen marks on the outside cover. I've been looking for a cover and I even considered buying some expensive leather options. Then, I remembered my shopping bag. So instead, I repurposed and reused the shopping bag as my planner's cover. What I enjoy about this option is that it can be seasonal. For now my journal reflects the Christmas Season and I can easily change it up as the season changes.

I think it's cute. I love it. What have you reused and repurposed? Share below. Life is Good:)

How I Stay Organized

As a Mompreneur, I have to keep my business ventures as well as my home and family organized. This is no small feat because everyone and everything pulls you in multiple directions. At times, this may leave you feeling overwhelmed, undervalued, and incompetent. Trust me, I know I've been there. Over the years, I have finally figured out what I need to do in order to stay sane. I have learned from many different gurus; I have read many different books and I have used multiple resources. In the end, I needed to figure out what works for me.

There is no guarantee that what I present herein won't change again in the next year or even in the next six months. All I know is that it's working for me right now, at this specific place in time. I am sharing with you hoping that you can glean something from my experience thereby discovering something new that can work for you.

Leftover Thanksgiving Ingredients

Hello! I am so so excited about this post. I grocery shopped this past Friday. As I looked at the old food in my freezer, I saw some leftover pumpkin puree. My daughter made pumpkin bars for Thanksgiving but there was 1/2 cup leftover. She placed the remainder in the refrigerator. Eventually, I placed it in the freezer to avoid spoilage. But I thought when I saw it looming in the freezer that we needed to do something with it so it wouldn't be wasted. Thankfully we did.

Remembering to Eat Lunch and the Christmas Spirit

Today was a rather stressful day at work. I am a work at home Mom, a Mompreneur, an entrepreneur who is also a Mom. Ours is a family business. So my husband and I have built this business from the ground up. We have been in business for 20+ years but the length of time doesn't make it any easier.
Our kids have grown up with this business and the stresses are real for them and for us. As I sat at my desk, I pondered on what I can do to remain focused and positive. For me, at least for today, it was the simple pleasures of lunch and thinking of Christmas.

I ate my simple lunch of a grilled turkey and cheese sandwich with a cup of hot cocoa in my beautiful Christmas mug and I was happy. In that moment, I realized that all we need is good food, good rest, and the love of friends and family.

Christmas is coming and I am excited. I am not excited about shopping etc. Instead my excitement comes from knowing that all of my loved ones will be together and that we can celebrate our love for each other and we can celebrate our Faith.

God is good and he is ever present in our lives. Imagine lunch and the thought of Christmas brightened my mood today. What simple pleasures are helping you through the day? Share below as we live, learn, and grow together. Life is Good😀

A Healthy Snack Idea

Have you ever been working all day long and before you know it, it's mid afternoon and the only thing you've eaten for the day was breakfast?

If you are a busy Mompreneur, as I am, I can attest that this happens more times than it should. And yes, it happened today.

My solution was to grab a quick healthy snack. There were two Stonyfield Organic strawberry yogurts left in the refrigerator. So I added, almonds, pumpkin seeds, cinnamon, and coconut flakes. Did I say it was yummy! It was so, so, yummy.

We grab snacks all the time for our little ones and at times we forget that kids snacks can be our snacks too; all we have to do is add whatever our adult palate desires. For me, I wanted some crunch. But at the same time, I wanted to add the healthy fats from coconut flakes.

Sometimes, we forget to pamper ourselves or to just simply take care of ourselves. We can set alarm reminders and or we can have an app that remind us to drink water, stand up from the desk, go for a quick walk, etc. etc. However, apps themselves can be so cold, so boring. If a friend or spouse, or even a colleague says let's share this healthy snack, or let's go for a quick walk, we might enjoy it better. More importantly, we may be more inclined to remember to take care of ourselves because we know others care.

Whether you are doing it for others, yourself, or because an app reminds you, take good care of yourself. Eat healthy meals, healthy snacks and let us continue to learn, grow, and share:) Life is Good!

Happy Mother's Day 2017: Are You Still Striving for Balance?

 

 

Today is Mother's Day! What a wonderful day to commemorate the love, life, and sacrifices of Moms the world over. Words are insufficient in expressing our love for them.

If you are a Mom, Happy Mother's Day. Even if you are not a Mom, Happy Morher's Day if you are someone's Mother figure and if you are constantly serving as a role model for nieces, nephews, God children and the like. Without you, where would any of us be?

For Mompreneurs, your life is one of balance; at least that is what we want to believe. Ultimately, I think that we are passionate about both Motherhood and entrepreneurship. As a result, we tend to be totally consumed in whatever we are doing at the time. I can recall working at my desk from 8:00 am all the way to 3:05 pm. Not long you say? But the issue was, I had to pick my middle schooler up by 3:10 pm. So, I was late, especially since her school is 15 minutes away. I was late not because I love my child less than any other Mother, but because I was totally engrossed in what I was doing for my business. Sad? Yes. But it has happened the other way around as well, where I may have forgotten a very important business deadline because I was engrossed in an event with my kids. 

I know. There isn't a comparison and believe me when I say that I compare not. I just know that balance does not exist for me as a Mompreneur. Instead of striving for balance, I aim to: 

1. be fully present and in the now so that I don't miss the important details,
2. invest in productivity and/or organizational hacks/programs/software/technology to assist me in navigating my very demanding life,
3. delegate those things that I personally do not have to complete,
4. let my family know how much they mean to me at all times without being afraid to say I love you at every opportunity 
5. allow time to refresh, refocus, and recuperate from my very demanding life style.

Regardless of whether or or not you are a Mompreneur, you too, perhaps, are either in the pursuit of balance or have given up on such a goal and instead, have chosen to be fully engrossed in one task at a time. Either way, you are an awesome woman! Happy Mother's Day! Life is good:)

The Path: A Time to Choose Your Destiny

I had a beautiful walk along a beautiful trail.  While walking, I thought of the concept of …the path. Many times in life and in business we meet a juncture where we have to choose our path.  Sometimes the path is before us, but it is not of our own making, the pressures of life, job, relationships, and responsibilities force us along.  Other times, we are afraid to venture onto a path of our own making, one that burns within our soul for fruition….it screams, take me, take me; yet, we ignore it.  The caveat is that the paths we take literally determine our destiny. Choose wisely and live a life of no regrets.  Each path has its own twists and turns, its own lessons.  Learn them, lead a life fully engaged and you will not have to repeat them.   

In future posts I will be speaking some more on how to live life to the fullest  and continuing to offer career, business, or personal advice.  

Monday Inspiration for Mompreneurs

Carl Schurz Quote

Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters; you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny. -Carl Schurz

Happy Monday, welcome to Monday Inspiration for Mompreneurs! Every Monday I will share a quote that inspires me in my personal life as a mom and as an entrepreneur. Today's inspiration is Mr. Carl Schurz amazing quote, posted above. Mr. Schurz was the first German born American elected to the United States Senate. His quote reminds us that we are human; imperfect, subject to error but yet we can still strive.

Yes we can't touch the stars, but striving to touch them is really what matters.  Metaphorically, this striving guides us. For instance, ideally I am determined to be the best Mompreneur that I can be. For me, this means a myriad of things. For instance, one of my goals when my kids were young, was to read to them nightly. We all know the benefits of reading; so this ideal is not at all controversial. Yet, in my daily life I was not able to achieve this ideal 100% of the time. On the nights that I couldn't read to them, I used audio books or my hubby told the girls stories and or they played stories in a round which is a game where they made up their own stories. Because of this ideal, my kids are wonderful readers.

Striving for the stars, ones ideals, guides us toward greatness and or our ultimate destiny. What are your ideals? It's ok if you are not achieving them 100% of the time; despite this they are are your guideposts through this journey called life. Life is Good:)

Business Mogul and Brand Developer

 

 

I am a business Mogul and I am going to build brands!

This mantra has been resonating in my head for the last several weeks but it has been in my spirit for a lifetime. Being an entrepreneur is not only operating a service oriented business, it is also a creative process.

I have so many creative ideas that have yet to be explored. This exploration can and will take my entrepreneurial pursuits to the next level. My brands will leave a legacy not only to my progeny but also to all those who are benefitted by their use. 

So, the above picture is now part of my vision board. The words are already in my spirit. I will take the necessary steps! I am a business Mogul and I am going to build brands!

What resonates in your spirit? What have you had a notion to do for some time but have not yet accomplished? We all have something. Share below and we will learn and grow together. Life is good:)

Feeling of Malaise: A Mompreneur's Thoughts

Nature Can Help Improve One's Mood

Today was one of those days when I did absolutely nothing. Why? I felt as though I had no direction.

It all came to a head this week while driving home from flute practice with one of my daughters. I asked her how was practice; she smiled. I then said, "what is so funny?" Her response was "Mom you ask too many questions."

I get it. This may be typical of teenagers. As parents we may want to probe but they want to ruminate on their thoughts and not necessarily share everything. I was literally shocked into silence. I did not expect such a response. But the most shocking ramifications of such a response was my internal reflection and quest to discover who I am outside of my kids and outside of my entrepreneurial pursuits.

My identity as a Mompreneur has always been wrapped up in these two roles: I am a Mom, I am an entrepreneur. That's just who I am and for 24 years I have totally embraced all the demands and responsibilities that come with them. However, as kids become more independent and as a business becomes more successful, these roles become less dominant in my day to day activities. My feeling of malaise comes from the realization that I haven't yet figured out what makes me tick outside of these parts of my identity.

The same child apologized a day or so later, after she realized that her response was hurtful to me. But I explained to her that apologies weren't necessary because I understand that sometimes she just needs to think before sharing. I also thanked her for shocking me into self reflection.

So how did I deal with my feeling of malaise. Here are some things that I have decided to do:

1. Spend time focusing on me by doing things that make me happy: reading, going to the movies,  chatting with friends, cooking, decorating, etc.
2. Spend time alone and or in nature by taking long walks.
3. Focus on what my lifelong purpose is supposed to be by trying different things and rediscovering my passions.
4. Continuously set goals and plan based on this purpose.
5. Enjoy time with my husband because when the kids are all grown; he will still be there.

My day of no direction was in actuality quite helpful as it allowed me to reflect and to pull myself out of the negative emotions that were beginning to overwhelm me. Life as a Mompreneur isn't easy but life in itself is a challenge and we have to continuously evolve as life presents different scenarios for us to interpret.

What do you do when you are feeling down? Are you a Mompreneur of teenagers? Share your thoughts below. Life is Still Good:)

Julia Child

I saw this article about Julia Child and had to share. As a person who loves homemaking, I have always followed the life of Julia Child, especially when she was on TV with the Pampered Chef. Perhaps I loved her also because I love all things Parisian and her focus has always been French cooking. Hope you enjoy this article as much as I did. Enjoy! Life is good:)

http://mentalfloss.com/article/92087/day-1963-julia-child-debuted-french-chef

Happy MLK Day 2017: Trump Meets with MLK, III

Image Source:

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2017!

MLK, Jr. was an awesome American who unified this country as he fought for the Civil Rights of people of color and women; and for that he gave his life. Today and everyday we have a decision to make. Do we live in fear of the future or do we embrace hope for a better life. MLK's legacy is that of hope, despite the current circumstances.

Today our country is in turmoil with regard to the issue of race. Every other day there is something on the television about police brutality against people of color. Sadly, even the police are being abused though many of them are working in this field simply because they believe in equal justice under the law and are fervently trying their utmost to do what is right.

What do you we do? Do we cast blame at the feet of those who we deem to be our adversary? In his farewell speech, President Obama said that we should get from behind our computers and speak with each other.

Well today, January 16, 2017, President Elect Trump has invited Martin Luther King, III to the White House to speak with him http://usat.ly/2iEyMjf. Just recently, he invited Steve Harvey. Trump's open style of communication may ultimately be a blessing in disguise. The first step of diplomacy is communication. No matter your politics, we can all agree that communicate we should.

The Bible says to bless your enemies and to pray for those who persecute you. MLK, Jr. said "Love is the only force capable of turning an enemy into a friend." So today, I have hope for tomorrow, hope that MLK, Jr. did not die in vain; hope that the activism of current leaders is also not in vain, hope that ultimately we love America enough to live by the creed of our founding documents and that hope and love conquer all.

And finally I pray that whatever is spoken today between President Elect Trump and MLK, III further serves to bind us in the bonds of brotherhood, the bonds that were spoken about so eloquently by the late and great Martin Luther King, Jr.

How do you feel today with regard to MLK Day, the state of our country, the fact that Trump met with MLK, III? As you think about whether or not to share, remember that communication is the first step of diplomacy. Life is Good! :)