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Raising Decent Human Beings

by Laura
written by Laura

Since becoming a mom, I believe that one of my biggest jobs is to raise decent human beings that grow up to be contributing members of society. Important characteristics on my list that I expect are: being polite and kind to (almost) everyone, having responsibilities, being able to speak to anyone, and taking care of our earth. The number one way of teaching all these things are to do them myself and be a great role model.

Manners and Kindness

I refuse for my kids to ever be a bully or “mean girl”. They will be the one who takes the new kid in school under their wing or comforts a friend when someone else hasn’t been so nice. From a very young age, we have taught kindness, grace and manners towards everyone, including ourselves. Our family is fortunate that our kids have the opportunity to be in a diverse school and are exposed to kids different from themselves.

We all know and should teach kids about “Stranger Danger” and that is my exception for kindness and manners. They still look to me for permission to speak to a stranger who has first spoken to them.

At a certain age, manners were not only encouraged, but expected. It is easy to get out of the habit of good manners, even for adults, so this is always a work in progress. The hardest one for the kiddos these days is interrupting.

Responsibility

So many days I find myself picking up after the kids or doing one of their chores for them. I must stop myself and back up. It is way easier to do it myself, but it is not teaching them anything. They do have daily chores. The older kids have more, but all three of them are expected to make their bed daily, pick up after themselves and get their belongings out of the car.  The last one seems to be the hardest for them. Somehow, they seem to produce trash when riding in my car even on the shortest trip. It boggles my mind!

Ease of Conversation

My husband and I are naturally shy people. It wasn’t until adulthood that we could have a conversation with anyone and everyone. It is still not the easiest things for me, but I no longer have huge anxiety meeting and talking to new people. This is not something that I would like to be mastered by the kiddos at a young age to make it easier for them in the long run. We constantly put them in situations for them to grow in this area.

Taking Care of our Earth

Being good to Mother Earth is always a work in progress as we learn more and more.  My kids would never even think about littering, it has been instilled since birth as has recycling. We are all working on wasting less electricity by turning off lights and being conscious of running water. So many toxic chemicals have been cleaned out of our home that will no longer go into the water system or our body and hopefully never to return.

There is always room for improvement. I am not a perfect mom and I don’t have perfect kids. We all do the best that we can. While everything ebbs and flows, I will continue with my goal. What is important to you that you teach your kids? What are your best teaching tools?

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How Does Your Garden Grow?
BlogLife & Family

How Does Your Garden Grow?

by Laura
written by Laura

Do you have a garden? If so, I would love to hear your best tips. If not, you can learn along with me.

Growing up, the majority of our vegetables came from my grandparents’ garden.  We ate the very best tasting tomatoes, the sweetest corn and yummiest green beans among other things. My grandparents with a huge garden would provide veggies for the entire family and it was a yearly event to “process” the harvest. Instead of shopping at the store we would go to the pantry for the jars of some of the goodness or freezer for other goodness.

It wasn’t until I was an adult, shopping for my own food that I realized how lucky I was to have access to the homegrown food. It has been a process of trial and error to find and cook the vegetables that taste like what I remember as a kid.

For years I have dreamed about growing my family’s vegetables in my own garden. I decided that this would be the year. The kids are old enough to be involved.

We started some seeds in the house a few weeks ago. Bella has been taken responsibility for making sure they are thriving. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been as successful as we wanted. Maybe next year we will try to start the plants as seeds again.

Although we live in a pretty urban area, we are surrounded my wildlife. There is a nice sized herd of deer that visit us daily and LOVE fresh veggies... really anything that is edible. We also have a ton of squirrels and chipmunks (until the snakes appear) who also destroy crops.

I’ve been researching raised gardens and decided on using pallets with a “cage” this year for our garden. Creating the garden from the pallets is a pretty easy project and creates perfect rows for our veggies. The pallets I found needed a little modification. We used a crowbar to remove every other slat to give enough space for our plants.

 

The landscape fabric was the strongest that I could find to hold the soil in and weeds out. I used a staple gun to attach the fabric on the back and sides of the pallet. I’m definitely not the expert on soil, but we used a combination of top soil, conditioner and a manure mix.

As far as the protection from our wildlife pets go, we build a cage from 1x2’s, 1x3’s and chicken wire. David took care of the cage construction and I took care of the chicken wire. Because being stabbed with a wire is not something I look forward to, I took care to bend and twist each of the cut wires.

To get the kids involved the initial part of the garden, I had them each decorate a clay pot for our herbs. While they loved this project, my time involvement was way bigger than theirs. It was like when you plan and cook a huge feast and it takes your family 15 minutes to eat it. Haha! They turned out great… almost exactly what I envisioned.

I’ll give you progress updates on our adventure.

If you want specific instructions on any of these projects, feel free to reach out to me!

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Be Good to Your Skin
Health & BeautyLife & Family

Be Good to Your Skin

by Laura
written by Laura

With spring break and then summer break is right around the corner, we are talking sunscreen.  Like most things, not all sunscreens are created equal. It is easy to go with the most known brands or the most convenient for application, but I want you to think twice about your choices. I am sharing what I use (not affiliated links) for my family at the end. As always, the most important thing is to protect your skin. I would rather you go with a little less healthy sunscreen than no sunscreen at all!!

Have you been good to your skin?

How good were you to your skin when you were younger?  Did you use sunscreen every time you went outside?  Did you occasionally let your precious skin get too much sun?  I will admit that I didn’t always take care of my skin. I can even remember a couple of times when I was in severe pain from not protecting it from the sun. This is the first time I have publicly admitted it, but I spent a little time in the tanning bed earlier in life and before our wedding.

I did know better and I was taught better, but I couldn’t think that far into my future.  Unfortunately, these decisions started catching up to me in my 20’s. Every time I go to the dermatologist for a yearly skin exam I have at least one atypical mole removed. I have even had a Basal Cell Carcinoma removed from my back, which left an ugly scar! At this point, I don’t what I dread more, my yearly lady doc or dermatologist checkup.

What really hits home is that most of the spots taken off have been in places my bathing suit covers so I know that it was the tanning bed visits that will continue to plague me!

Choosing to do better

I do enjoy being tan…not that my skin gets that tan, but I like having a little color.

On my journey to be healthier I knew that sunscreen had to be addressed. Before David and I took our trip to Mexico last year, I consulted my holistic health coach about the best sunscreen. Not only did I want product that was safe for us, but also the water and creatures that Mexico is trying to protect.

This is when I discovered the Environmental Working Group (EWG). It is a non-profit organization which rates products on their toxicity level. You can use their website to research products, but I like the convenience of the app.  It is my go-to before I purchase a product to go on my skin or on my body. This has been a huge eye-opening resource.

A big disappointment is the toxicity of the aerosol sunscreens. They are oh so convenient to slather the kids with sunscreen, but not so great for their little bodies.

I was on a search for a very convenient, safer sunscreen for my family and came across one from my favorite brand, Alba Botanica. It is aerosol-free and 100% vegetarian with no parabens and is biodegradable. It is not the cleanest, but it is cleaner than other spray sunscreens out there.

This is what I decided to have in my arsenal:

Thinkbaby cream and face stick, Aveeno Baby Face stick, Beautycounter Protect All Over Sunscreen, Alba Botanica Facial Sunscreen, Alba Botanica Sport Mineral Sunscreen and Badger Sunscreen Lip Balm. All of these are in the featured picture.

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Love of an Irish Woman
Life & Family

Love of an Irish Woman

by Laura
written by Laura

This week’s blog is a tribute to my sweet St. Patrick’s Day loving grandmother. I am also sharing the recipes on my take on Corn Beef and Cabbage.

In middle school I had a project about the 1930’s and had to create a newspaper with a handful of articles. I remember wanting to interview my Gramps for one of the articles. Fortunately (and unfortunately) he was on a trip when it was time to do the interview and my grandmother, MaMarie, asked why I couldn’t interview her instead.  The conversation with her opened my eyes to the incredibly amazing woman that she is. Growing up my cousins and I always idolized Gramps and don’t think we gave Mamarie the credit that she deserved. She is one of the strongest women that I have ever known with 94 years of wisdom. Who can beat that?

And she has some great hair and skin. Please pass those genes to me!

Mamarie is an Irish farm girl from Maryland. She grew up as the oldest of 4 with very little conveniences. She has told me stories of having to use the outhouse in the middle of the night during the Maryland winter, learning how to drive a stick shift truck in the middle of a field and giving birth to my 10-pound father at home in August! She supported my grandfather during WWII and the rest of his entire life. Talk about a dedicated woman! She has been the glue for our family since the 1940’s.

As I get older, I can appreciate our similarities more and more. She is a Renaissance woman and when I was younger, I don’t remember her needing much help with anything. With all her talents, abilities and hard work, her hair and makeup are always perfect. Unless you catch her in the garden, you will not see MaMarie without high heels or pearls. One big difference between us is her magical green thumb. She can grow anything and loves being outside. As a young adult, she would give me plants and ask that I bring back the pots after I kill the plants, LOL!

Besides holding all my babies for the first time, my favorite memory of her as an adult is her dancing at my wedding…nonstop…all night.

Before the family grew exponentially, she would send cards to us for every holiday. St. Patrick’s Day is her favorite holiday so there was always something extra in that card. She also loves her Corned beef with cabbage, so I am going to share my take on it with you.  It is not authentic and I’m aware of that. I cook for my family’s taste.

Corned Beef and Cabbage with Mashed Potatoes

 

Find my recipes here:

Corned Beef

Steamed Cabbage

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

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Love at First Sight
Life & Family

Love at First Sight

by Laura
written by Laura

How do you feel about Valentine’s Day? Take it or leave it? It is a holiday that I have never really liked. When I was younger it always made me anxious because either my expectations were out of whack or I was so shy I didn’t want anyone ask me if I had a boyfriend or liked a boy.

 

As far as the hubs, we would rather have a date night when restaurants aren’t so busy. We typically go out a few nights before or after the holiday rush. What gal doesn’t like flowers, but I love getting them randomly as a surprise not when they are expected. Am I weird?

 

In honor of the season and because we are so boring, I will tell you about the first time I saw my husband, David.

 

I was a junior in college and decided to spend the summer at home. My dad helped me line up an architectural intern position at a local firm.

It was my first day and my manager, who ended up being a mentor for almost a decade, called me into his office to debrief about the day. I remember being so sleepy and just wanting to go home.

Then, I looked out the window and saw this gorgeous guy getting into his car. In my head I was thinking that I must somehow figure out how to meet this guy. He must work somewhere in the 5-story building...

Look at these babies! One of our first pictures together. Fall 2006

Keep in mind that I am (was) painfully shy, and this kind of thought had never gone through my head before.

 

Two days later I walk into the break room and come face to face with the same tall, dark curly headed, blue eyed hunk I spotted out the window. How could I be so lucky? He works in my office? Of course, I froze and can’t remember if we even spoke to each other, but for me, it was love at first sight.

We were ALMOST engaged! January 2007

About 2 weeks later after a few office group activities he asked me out on our first date!! I won’t bore you with all the details, but we dated for the summer and then went our separate ways. We both had a lot of growing up to do and we eventually found our way back to each other. Unbeknownst to either of us until years later, we each told someone close to use that we would eventually get married.

A favorite picture from our wedding. It was our "First Sight". May 2008

We got married 6 years after we first met. He will always be the love of my life and takes amazing care of our family, but it is not always sunshine and roses.

Our honeymoon May 2008

How did you meet your significant other? Was it love at first sight? Do you have any fun traditions for Valentine’s Day?

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Value
Life & Family

Value

by Laura
written by Laura

This is the second year that I have come up with my “Word of the Year”. I have shared with you that my word for 2018 was “Balance” and my problems with it as we approached the fall. Because of my recent fail, I was on the fence about having a word define my year and intentions for a whole 365 days. Then the perfect word hit me! VALUE! Yes, I love it, and I’ll tell you why.

You are valuable, I am valuable, our time is valuable, and we deserve for everyone to recognize this. 

I even ordered an engraved bracelet to remind me on a daily basis.

Value for my kids

The biggest, most important job I will ever hold is raising my kiddos and making them into upstanding members of society. They need my love, time and attention. Daily valuable time is necessary.

Value for you

This blog is for you! You need to find value in my tips, tricks, recipes and overall support. Please let me know what value you are looking for from me.

My time is valuable

Because I want to be present for my kids, my work day is typically 9:30-2:00 three days a week. Sometimes I can sneak in a little work between when my two oldest go to school before my babe wakes up. The afternoon is dedicated to them and completely slips away with snacks, homework, after school activities and dinner. When I was a mom of 2, I could stay up until 11 each night and complete household tasks. When my third was born, that all went out the window. I am exhausted by the time the kids go to bed. It is so important to do things of high value the 4 hours of quiet time I have during the day.

Value for my family

We are going on 8 years of me being a stay at home mom. While there is no doubt that I have always created value for my family, this year I will provide more monetary value for the household. It’s time for this mama to have a new car. I love my car because it is spacious, comfortable and safe, but she is not so pretty anymore and is ready to retire. Me paying for another car is a goal for 2019.

I need value in return

It seems that I say “Yes” way too much. I want to be at every vendor event, mastermind, networking event and training that I can get my hands on these days. Can you tell that I have major issues with FOMO? I love meeting new people and learning as much as can about them. Truth is: not all these events are created equal. This year I will spend more time researching events that I attend and making sure that they are high value.

Having a word bring me back into focus when I go astray. Do you have a word for the year? I would love to hear it.

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Life & Family

Goodbye 2018

by Laura
written by Laura

As the year quickly comes to an end I’m thinking about my goals and desires for 2019.

Is BALANCE possible?

In January 2018 I came up with “balance” for my word of the year. I thought I wanted balance between my family and my business but really, I wanted to be a perfect mom, wife, daughter, friend and entrepreneur. It has been a constant struggle. I recently listened to a book that told me that there was no such thing as balance. I felt a little foolish. Did everyone but me know that balance wasn’t possible?

2019 will have some changes. Better systems for home and business will be in place, kids will know limits and expectations and I will be better organized. I will have abundant time for my family and my business because I will implement the systems and time blocking. All of this sounds great, right? Check back with me in March to see how I am doing.

My cup must be filled

While I fully intend for all my goals to happen, big picture, a happy family is my greatest desire. That does not mean just happiness for my kids, but for my husband and me also. It took me a long time to realize that it is really hard to give to my family without first filling my cup. Filling my cup means having a creative outlet and helping women and families make healthier choices. It makes me over the moon happy to help people put forward their best self.

Truth is that I am not super human. Being with my kids as much as possible is my top priority, so some things have to give. Time is ALWAYS working against me and I have to rely on people to help.  You never know how you can be equally helping someone reach their goals when they are helping you reach yours.

My Laundry Angel appeared

A mentor of mine asked me this summer what I could remove from my plate that takes me a lot of time and do not enjoy. Laundry was the first thing that came to mind. Crazy thing is, when it was a subconscious thought, my laundry angel appeared.  Not kidding! It has freed up so much of my time and energy and I am supporting a small business at the same time.  Maybe your task to eliminate is meal planning, grocery shopping or cooking. There are so many options accessible these days to help take the burden off you so that you can give more focus to your goals.

Tell me, what fills your cup? What is your burdening task? Do you have specific goals for 2019?

 

 

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BlogLife & Family

Mindset and Gratitude

by Laura
written by Laura

Mindset is a subject in my life that is recurring every time I turn around recently. Last night I heard a fabulous woman talk about subconscious thinking and it all really hit home to me; a positive mindset, gratitude and the subconscious can provide a happy life with abundance.  This is a lesson that I want my family to learn way earlier than I learned myself.

Being negative was no longer how I wanted to live my life

A few years ago, I was going through a rough patch. My husband was getting his MBA while working full time on top of trying to change careers. Because that wasn’t enough, we had a new baby and a three year old. I was constantly bringing my husband into my misery and loneliness. One day he finally snapped and let me know that my negativity had to go. After a few days (or weeks) of self-reflection, I decided that complaining, feeling sorry for myself and being negative was no longer how I wanted to live my life.

Being in a place of gratitude and positive thoughts has changed my world. Yes, life is very busy and overwhelming at times, but I welcome that because I know that I’m making an impact and helping people everywhere that I go. Even on the hardest days I remind myself of my blessings. Finding joy in every situation can keep you on a positive path.

If I want my kids to live a life of gratitude, I must teach it and show them everyday

It has become all too clear these days that my kids rarely come from a place of gratitude. This is a hard pill to swallow because I know that it is because of me. Do I give them too much? Do I do too much for them? Are they too often surrounded by people who have the same mindset as them? The answer to everything is YES! If I want them to live a life of gratitude, I must teach it and show them. It is an everyday journey, but I guarantee big steps will happen in 2019!

 

The most gratitude I have is for all my family and friends who have supported me and my dreams my whole life even when I wasn’t so grateful. I am also grateful for my friends who I have met through business and networking. Relationships with girlfriends are hard. My original career had some vicious women and it gave me trust issues, but over the past two years I have met some really incredible women and they have shown me what it is like to live a life of gratitude and abundance and where that can lead you. These days I am not taking this for granted because I know that I am blessed!

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A Different Kind of Thanksgiving
Life & Family

A Different Kind of Thanksgiving

by Laura
written by Laura

Thanksgiving in my married life has been very different from my childhood. All my close family lived within an hour from me. Thanksgiving was something we looked forward to, but it was only an afternoon with family. One thing remains the same…pecan pie is still one of favorite Thanksgiving treats.

Our wedding 2008

My husband’s family life was much different. Thanksgiving had always been an event for his extended family. It was a week of being all together and loving it (most of the time). David promised his grandmother that as long as she was alive, he would always be at her house for Thanksgiving and he honored that.

I just celebrated my 12th year with this clan. While we lost Marylou, the matriarch of the family, in April, her traditions and presence were felt throughout the week. All her recipes were used for the Thanksgiving feast. The song that the whole family would sing before the meal was printed on pink paper in her honor. The one thing that was missing, that no one missed, was her tomato aspic. Yeah, I didn’t know what either.

She loved her country

A decision was made for the home, where we all gathered, to be sold before next Thanksgiving and we were encouraged to start our own family traditions. A few years ago, this new tradition idea would have made me happy. Every year seems to get harder traveling with 3 little kids 9 hours in the car and then to be in a strange house. Now, I’m heartbroken that my youngest will not remember Thanksgiving in Virginia and how much his Ma’Mama loved him. And my sweet husband just has memories of his grandmother who was so very important in his life. Part of me is lost because 1/3 of my Thanksgivings have been with this larger than life woman.

Holding her first great-grandbaby Thanksgiving 2009

In true form of the season, I will end with what I am thankful for and it will be in honor of the one and only Marylou. I am so very thankful that she loved my family and me unconditionally. I’m thankful that all my babies spent time with her and my older two had a special bond. I’m thankful for all the wonderful recipes she shared with me that I will always make for my family. Lastly, I’m thankful that every day we can look around our home and be reminded of her.

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