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Valentine’s Day Tip “Not Just Once A Year”

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Here’s a valuable Valentine’s Day tip that you can carry with you all year long.

Many of us wait for Valentine’s Day, to express our love and gratitude to our mates. I believe that the special attention that is paid to a mate on that day should be an everyday occurrence for the life of the relationship +/or marriage.

1043941_26514482My mate and I are fortunate enough to have actually been experiencing the added love that is generated on February 14th of every year on a daily basis, for over 19 years. From the day we met, all those years ago, we felt a connection that neither of us experienced in prior relationships. We felt mutually that we have experienced life together in a different era.

We honestly feel we are soul mates. Having that emotional connection helps us to appreciate the fact that we found each other again while living this life. That is why we feel that many couples are making a mistake by following society’s mores on when and how to show love and appreciation. For example, does a mate really need cupid’s day to arrive to have a date, buy them a gift or to make a romantic gesture? We say no you don’t!!! We firmly believe that couples in a successful and committed relationship show and give love on a daily basis with words and actions. It begins in the morning with both mates awakening and saying “I love you” and ends at night with those same words of affection.

As far as giving or receiving gifts, we give one another gifts everyday. Our gifts sometimes consists of making a hot cup of coffee every morning, just the way I like it. Or while my mate is preparing for work, I prepare and pack lunch with something special in the bag every time. To us, it shows that we are a team and shows love in actions other than purchasing expensive gifts.

Life is made so much more pleasant when in love. We are thankful everyday to “Mother Nature” for bringing us back together. So we say to all who have the great fortune of being in a loving and committed relationship to show that love everyday, not just on February 14th of every year.

Happy Valentine’s Day all year long!

Posted by Eve

How to Enjoy a Romantic Valentine’s Day At Home

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Tips for celebrating Valentine’s Day at home

Growing up, my mother always said, ” Your home should always be your oyster. ” I never understood that phrase and its full meaning until I was an adult.

Now, my home is my oyster and I take full advantage of it. In the past, me and my love would spend Valentine’s Day at a upscale restaurant or at a luxurious hotel, complete with room service. When we calculated how much money we spent over the years, we were astonished. It added up to be thousands of dollars. That money could have been better spent making home improvements or investing in our businesses.

With Valentine’s Day soon approaching, we are choosing to exchange gifts from the heart and have a romantic evening at home. Here are some of my ideas for having a great Valentines Day at home.

1. Make a dinner that consists of your partner’s favorite snacks, food and drink. For example, my spouse is an avid pizza eater and enjoys a ton of added toppings. So last year, when I called to order the pizza, I asked if they could make the pizza into a heart shape. To my surprise they did! My spouse was so appreciative of that simple gesture.

2. Next tip: adjust the ambiance in a room in your house. This could be the bedroom, living room, dining room or even the back yard (weather permitting). All that is required is to dim the lights and play nice easy listening music, whilst enjoying a meal, drinks and/ or appetizers.

3. If you happen to live in a warm weather climate, transform your yard into a Valentine’s Day oasis. You can do this by covering the patio table with a red table cloth and add candles and flowers. Also, you can string some outdoor lights to shrubbery, poles and awnings for an added effect.

4. Last tip: run a romantic bubble bath with rose petals added to the water, surrounded by lit candles and champagne for both of you to enjoy.

These tips for celebrating Valentine’s Day at home have yet to fail me. My spouse actually looks forward to them every year.

 

The Ache for Home… #HomeQuotes

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The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.

Maya Angelou

Tips for Mingling at a Holiday Party

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We all find it easy to talk to people we already know, but what about the ones you don’t. Here are a few tips for mingling at a holiday party that will help you have a pleasant conversation with a stranger.

First, enter the home with a smile, wipe your feet (shows courtesy) and openly state season greetings to all that can hear you. You should graciously bring the host a gift, showing appreciation for the invitation. When you are introduced, by the host, let’s say to the person’s brother, for the first time, say his name in every other sentence said. This helps you to remember his name.

When mingling at your holiday party, stick to light topics of discussion such as sports, kids, weather and such. Keep it simple. Leading in with a simple “it was a surprisingly a warm winter’s day wasn’t it?” gets the other person to respond and maybe inspire him to tell you a story related to the weather. Compliments are always good — you might also say ” your sister has a beautiful spirit.” That should get the conversation off to a good start.

Remember to not just talk about yourself. People can’t stand that and will quickly try to get away if you take it too far. Always avoid politics and religion at a holiday party with people you don’t know that well because you can easily insult or offend others when speaking of these topics.

Lastly, always remember to be polite and excuse yourself from another person’s presence. Don’t just walk away to refill your glass. When you excuse yourself you’ll feel more comfortable inviting yourself back into the conversation later.

If you follow these tips for mingling at a holiday party, you should have a pleasant conversation with a stranger who just might possibly become a friend.

Posted by Eve

How to Manage Going Back to School as an Adult

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There are many reasons why going back to school as an adult could be the best decision you’ll ever make. Maybe you’re tired of not earning enough money at your current job or feel like your current position is a dead end job.

For myself, I felt like a robot in the the corporate world with no chance for advancement. So, I chose to return to school to learn a new trade. It was challenging to juggle my adult responsibilities with school work (kids and all). Also, as an adult you must work in order to pay monthly bills and sometimes also to pay for school, so money is tight. Along the way, it became easier as I figured out ways to make the new journey painless as possible. It took much thought, yet I found a few ways to make it work for me.

Write Everything Down & Be Prepared to Multi-Task

The first thing I did was to put my priorities in order, by writing everything down on a piece of paper by order of importance. The categories were work, school work, household chores and socializing.  I quickly learned to multi-task. For instance, while on my lunch break at work I would catch up on my school work. Always bring your lunch to work so that you are not wasting precious time leaving the building (and spending too much money on fast food). I brown bagged it every day during the semester, making sure that I was eating energetic foods.

Accept Help from Others

The next lesson I learned was how to accept help from others. For instance, family, friends, class mates and instructors. For example, my girlfriend helped me with my studies from beginning to end, which was a major help. We did this as we prepared and ate dinner. I then made friends with some of my classmates. We would agree to meet on some weekends to assist one another with any problematic work from school. I found my instructors were very willing to provide some time after class to answer any questions that I had.

Minimize Minor Activities

While going to school as an adult, I had to limit the amount of time spent on relatively minor issues, like household chores. I made every effort to clean up after myself at home and do chores every Sunday for one hour only but I realized that everything didn’t have to be “spic and span” for the time being. As for socializing, I choose to limit my outings with friends and not talk endlessly on the phone. I learned to keep my eye on the prize, graduating. Every day that I went to work was a reminder of why I was working so hard going back to school as an adult. I had my highs and lows, yet I never gave up. I managed to graduate and am now looking forward to my bright future. Sometimes you have to make temporary sacrifices to have long-term comfort and success.

Posted by Eve

How to Convince Aging Parents that Assisted Living Can Be a Good Thing

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For years my siblings and I have been trying in vain to explain to our aging parents that they require assistance with their daily activities. We first had an in depth conversation with our parents on the benefits of assisted living. We explained that the most important factors are their safety and security. They are both currently experiencing major health issues, that makes it dangerous for them to venture out into their neighborhood.

We felt that it was dangerous for them to do the basics, such as: grocery shopping, banking, doctors appointments or just enjoying a beautiful day outside. For example, our dad’s vision has been steadily declining for years. He even shared a story of how he was harassed by a group of teens (or so he thought), while simply getting the mail. They had rummaged through his pant pockets in the hallway on the way to the mail box in his apartment building. Worst of all was that he could not identify his attackers to the police. Needless to say, we were all sad to hear that story. Our mom then shared an unfortunate story of how during one icy winter day, she had an issue of her own. She went out to purchase groceries and as she was about to step off the curb, she slipped on black ice falling to her knees. Keep in mind that she had just had reconstructive knee surgery two months prior. That fall had set her healing process back for weeks. We were extremely concerned after hearing both of their stories.

So with love and compassion, we began to explain how living in a senior-assisted living home would benefit them. First, we explained to them that they would have round the clock care from a nurse on duty. They would also have transportation available to take them to doctors appointments, purchase groceries, social outings etc. They would also have a dining hall to socialize with other seniors. We even told our dad that they would teach him how to navigate in and outside of his apartment with his walking stick.

At the end of the loving conversation our parents finally admitted that the senior living facility sounded like a good idea. Thankfully, they are now awaiting their move-in date and are excited to have a better quality of day to day life.

It takes patience and understanding, but with basic reasoning it’s possible to convince even a stubborn elderly parent that assisted living may be the way to go.

Posted by Eve