May 31st will always be a marked day for me. It is the day that my grandmother, a major mother figure in my life, passed away after a 9 month battle with cancer. She was only 66 years old. I was 11. The loss of my grandmother was the first loss I had ever experienced in my life up until this point – and tragically, my grandmother was also the person whom I had felt closest to. Grief has many…
March is Women’s History Month and I thought what better time to talk about some outstanding women who have inspired me throughout my life. Women’s History Month focuses on the impacts women have had in history and society as well as the barriers we have broken through for equality, a path, that we are still on today in many different areas. I decided to make a two-part series because while there are so many women whom I admire for their talent,…
The other day I was reminded of something my grandfather used to do as a hobby. I don’t remember ever actually witnessing my grandfather work on this hobby while I was around, I think it must’ve been something he did when we kids went home for the night (my grandparents took care of my brother, cousin and I while our parents worked). They were paper houses, like mini house models if you will. He didn’t need to buy any special…
Happy Wednesday readers! I hope this post finds you well. As we are approaching the holiday season I felt it was appropriate to share about a topic that many of us struggle with during this time of year: how to deal with a toxic family member. Most families have at least one person that is either difficult to be around (abrasive, argumentative, rude) or downright toxic (narcissistic, verbally abusive). While you may be able to avoid this person most of…
Today I want to share my meal planning process with you. Before I started meal planning, I found myself becoming stressed out quite often about what to make for dinner, I’d wind up making multiple trips to the grocery store throughout the week and always ending up with no food to cook on the weekend. That would often lead to getting takeout. The thing is, I truly enjoy cooking. But when I don’t have a set plan for the week it’s…
This will be our second year hosting both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hosting the holidays was something I had dreamed about doing for years. Growing up, my grandmother used to host the holidays and I used to look forward to the whole family getting together to enjoy dinner together in my grandparent’s small but cozy dining room. After my grandparents passed away, my godmother picked up the hosting, but once I got married, it was passed down to me. As stressful…
Who doesn’t love Christmas time? I think we can all agree that Christmas has the most magic when you’re a child, but when you become a parent, that magic comes back through your children. This year is Julia’s very first Christmas, and while she will only be a bit over four months old, I’m already thinking about some traditions I would love to start and maintain over the years. When I was a child, one tradition that we had was…