I just love it when Oprah and I are on the same page. Soon I’ll be a billionaire, too! And everyone will know me by my first name! Oprah talks about “alignment” in her “What I Know for Sure” column in the January 2012 magazine. She says, “With alignment comes enlightenment. When you’re aligned with your heart’s desire, Continue reading
Aligning What You Do with What You Care About…
Quick workout can be just as good as slow…
This is straight from the January issue of Self magazine but I couldn’t find it online to link to. So I’ll practice my transcription skills I used on so many temp jobs…
“Exercisers in a full-body strength program who did three sets of eight quick, explosive reps sizzled up to 70 more calories than when they did the same workout at a more comfortable pace, notes a study in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. To turn up your burn, move fast with good form.” Continue reading
Tackle Your “Money Makeover” a Little at a Time
Carmen Wong Ulrich gives a great plan for getting a handle on your finances in this month’s Good Housekeeping. She calls it a “Two-hour Money Makeover” and God bless the person who can hunker down and take the 2 hours to do it. Between interruptions and lack of willpower, I wouldn’t bet on myself. But I did something similar one month for 10 minutes a day, and it worked really well — made progress, saved money and felt in much more control of where my money was going by the end of the month. Continue reading
Mad Libs for Managing Time and Working Toward Goals…
Yes, it’s January but I’m not going to talk about dreaded resolutions. Instead I’ll offer an alternative, a “Daily Balance Sheet” of sorts — a simple gut check of what really matters to you, a moment to tap into your subconscious to recognize what you care about.
Check out these questions. The answers can be your guide to do what you really care about on a daily basis. Whether you touch on each one every day, or just a few, you can advance your goals every day…10 minutes at a time. Continue reading
10 Minutes a Day to Appreciate Poetry
I’ve always wanted to be someone who understood poetry. I wanted to appreciate the beauty of the words, and the mood the poem evoked, not to mention it would represent that I was insightful, evolved, creative and generally bright. Instead, I’m more of a literal, nuts and bolts kind of girl. I’d read a poem and wonder how everyone else knew that the rose or the whale or the ocean meant so much more than a rose or a whale or an ocean. Continue reading
Mrs. D’s 5-minute Chocolate Cake — perfect holiday treat!

My mother’s friend, Patt, sent me this recipe for a yummy, easy, virtually cleanup-free cake. Christmas came early this year! This is one the kids can make in a flash. But you may want to stretch it out when you’re trying to fill those vacation days… Continue reading
Saving Time with an Artificial Christmas Tree — Scrooge-like or sensible?
After having a fresh Christmas tree for my whole adult life, we finally went fake. I thought I would handle it with much emotion and go through the 7 steps of grieving — having had a fake tree as a kid, I thought I’d never go back. Despite the happy childhood memories of assembling the tree with my dad (sorting all the red painted tips for the bottom row of branches, blue for the next level up, etc.) and the laughs around my mother’s decision one year to only assemble the front half of the tree and put it against a mirrored wall, I never thought I’d go back. Continue reading
Finding Your Morning “Waggle” — the ideal morning routine for you
I’ve finally hit on a morning routine that really sets me up for a good day. It means I have to get up before the rest of the house, but it pays off immediately. Instead of that panicked, “Holy cow, everybody get up, we’re already running late” feeling that has filled many a morning, the first bit of the day is now all mine. And no matter how much I have to give away the rest of my day, I always know I had a little time just for me way back when.



