The first step in my quest to change is to become part of a Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) this summer. Last weekend I went to a CSA open house. I didn’t even quite understand how CSA’s worked before I went. Thankfully, they had a CSA 101 class that I quickly discovered and attended. In short, you pick a farm that you want to buy a produce share from throughout out the spring, summer, and/or winter. The produce is fresh, organic, and local. My mouth is watering already. Because the farms are within approximately a two hour radius they provide local pick up sites around the city that you can pick up your fresh produce every week.

If you want to know more about CSA’s in your area, here is a website for you: http://www.localharvest.org/

Anyway, I have to share my latest discovery. And for those of you who watch the Oprah Show, you’ve recently seen her talk about this book. The book is call “The Kind Diet” by Alicia Silverstone. Now before I continue my thoughts on this book let me back up and tell you a little bit of history. I’ve had this ideal in my head about what the perfect diet would consist of in a perfect world. That is if time, money, and resources were not a concern at all. This diet would consist of zero processed foods and all natural foods that were fresh and organic. If you live in America, you should know that is a hard feat to strive for. On the Oprah show, Alicia Silverstone talked about her book and the idea of just flirting with the idea of eating natural and unprocessed food. I thought, what the hell, I’m interested, so I’m going to buy the book. I can flirt, and in fact, I’m pretty good at it.

So, I order the book on Amazon, it came in the mail and I start reading it. The first chapter is on eating meat. And its important for you to know that Alicia Silverstone is a vegan which is not something that I’m necessarily considering, but I like how she is completely so far to one side. Her diet consists of this ideal that I was talking about. Anyway, so in this chapter about meat she describes why meat isn’t necessarily the best thing for you to eat and what it does to your body. All I have to say is GROSS!! I’ve ate a ton of meat in my life. I opened up my lunch today to eat my normal turkey sandwich and I actually threw it out because I couldn’t even stand to look at the processed meat that I was eating. I actually surprised myself.

I’m not sure what the next chapters are going to bring me, but I just have to tell my husband sorry in advance. This book may unleash a freaky side of me. I might find myself growing armpit hair and making hemp necklaces. Okay, I’m totally kidding, but I am interested to see the changes that I make. I notice people who eat a natural and unprocessed kind of diet and they seem so alive and energetic. That is ultimately what I want.

Recently I decided that I’m going to look for people that I want to be more like or who intrigue me and ask them to go to lunch. First up? Our children’s music teacher.

Let me give you some background information before I tell you the rest. We initially signed up for music class to invite and encourage healthy and thoughtful development into our children’s lives. We’ve been attending this program for two years now. We happen to have the teacher who owns the program. Through bits and pieces of different conversations over the past two years, I’ve gathered that this woman was a teacher, a CEO, has her PHD (that she doesn’t mention anywhere), and is now clearly running a music program that she runs straight out of her heart and with passion. I’ve recently realized that because of this woman, I’m learning more in this class as a parent than my children are and they are the ones attending it.

I went a head and scheduled lunch with her. Mind you, this woman doesn’t know me well at all and I went ahead a sent a random e-mail to her asking her to lunch. I told her in the e-mail that I’ve noticed that she was passionate about what she does and I’d like to know more about how she found something that she loves to do so much.

Last Friday was our scheduled lunch date. We planned for 11:30. I showed up 10 minutes early just in case. Nervous, of course. What was I actually going to say during lunch? I kept waiting and waiting. It was 11:40. I had all these things going through my mind of why she wasn’t there. Things like she forgot, something else came up, I accidentally gave her the wrong restaurant name. You name it, I thought of it. Well, thankfully she showed up. It just took her longer than anticipated.

We sat down for lunch and I can’t even tell you how it all started, but she started all the way back from college until today telling me about her journey through life and the decisions she has made a long the way. She was telling me how she went from being a teacher to a CEO, and in the middle of that was in a terrible car accident that clearly didn’t slow her down much. Eventually she quit a really high paying job and started a children’s music program. I started questioning about how she really figured out what she wanted to do in life. As a result, she started giving me some valuable advice.

One piece of advice that she gave me was to start making a list each week of things that I get excited about. It could be anything from a conversation that I have with someone to the way that I tie my shoes. She said that over time I will start to see patterns which will show me and idea of what drives me. She said that it will lead me to some fresh perspective and ideas.

She also talked a lot about being present with myself in my daily life rather than trying to worry about an end result. This was a very good point as I often worry about what the end result should be.

The lunch lasted almost two hours. I was trying to soak in every piece of advice that she had. I couldn’t be happier about how lunch went. The lesson learned here is that its worth it to do something out of your comfort zone because it returns something much bigger in return.

Over the weekend I read the book “48 Days to The Work You Love” by Dan Miller. In his book, he has a chapter about creating a life plan which talks about having balance in all areas of life. Those areas include work, family, recreation, community, church, and personal development. He talks about how so many of us put the majority of our energy into work which in return doesn’t leave much room for the other important things that would fulfill us. His message states that really all of those areas should be equal.

I’ll be the first to admit, I get overwhelmed thinking about how to fit it all into my schedule. However, one thing that I love about incorporating these other areas into my life is the opportunities that they will present to me. I know that they can only lead me down new paths that I otherwise wouldn’t have discovered had I only focused solely on my work.

One thing I read in this book was that if you keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same results. That is so true. So, what am I going to do? Well, I want to improve on recreation and community.

To start, today I stayed after church and attended a meeting on how to get involved with volunteering. Even if I volunteer an hour or two a month, I’m exposing myself to meeting new people and helping our community. For recreation, I have scheduled two times this week to work out. I actually have a work out bag ready at work to use during lunch and then I’m going to work out in the morning on Friday.

So you have to start somewhere. I’m especially excited about community and personal development because these are the areas that will continue to open doors for me. Take a look at the list. What do you think you can do to start creating a more balanced life for yourself?

During our conversation she started asking me about all of the things that I value. Some of the things that I listed off included my marriage, my children, self-development, etc. I couldn’t quite figure out how my job and my values related, but I went with the flow!

After I had my list of values, my life coach had me think about my current job and see if it went along with my values. I scored each value between 0 and 5. 0 being it doesn’t meet that value at all and 5 being it completely meets that my value. For example, one of my values is my children. Do I feel like by having my job I’m able to spend time with my kids, be there for my kids, and everything else that goes behind what is important to me in order to value my children. Once you go through and score everything you can start to see if your current job is supporting what is most important to you in life. If it is not, then perhaps it may be time to start thinking about other possibilities that would more closely align with what is important to you in life.

If you have other ideas in your head about what you want to do, you can do this exact exercise and try to figure out if it too would be a fit to your value system. I think this has value in it and I’ll definitely be keeping it front of mind as I try to think of other possibilities for myself.

The first thing that always comes to mind as my values are my kids. I know that no matter what career decision or direction I take throughout life, I want plenty of time to be with them as they grow up. What I mean by this is that I don’t want to be “those” parents that are so career focused that my kids are off getting into trouble and loosing their core values because mom and dad are too busy to notice what is going on.

As I was explaining this to my Life Coach, she said one line that said it all. She said kids spell love as this…. T.I.M.E. Isn’t that the truth? I couldn’t agree more. It’s the point that I was trying to get at, and now this thought has been running through my head all day. Kids, more than anything, love having their parents attention. In fact, kids need their parents attention.

In all, its such a good reminder for us parents out there. Your kids want you. It’s worth so much more than any material thing that you could every possibly give them.

So this blog update is my nothing blog. It’s by blog for random thoughts that I’ve had throughout the week that I’ve wanted to share.

First, I want to share my favorite blogs that I like to follow. If you have a blog out there that you read and love, please send me an e-mail. I’d LOVE to hear what it is. I’m addicted to getting involved with what’s going on in everybody’s lives. It’s a great way to see how other people are spending their hours each day.

Here we go, here are some of my favorite blogs right now:

http://www.dooce.com

http://www.moneysavingmom.com

http://www.wearethatfamily.com

http://www.dolessenjoymore.blogspot.com/

http://jessicavitalis.com/

http://www.littlemonkeylikesbananas.blogspot.com/

http://www.onceamonthmom.com

Also, previously I talked about how my husband and I were going to start Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover. We have been doing it and are committed to it! Have you ever just used cash? It’s a wake up call and I love it. I feel so in control of my money. I can’t wait to see what this year brings.

Lastly, I’ve been thinking a lot lately how I want to spend more time with my girlfriends, so I’m adding it to my to-do list. Now that my baby is almost 9 months, I’m starting to feel a little bit more freedom to go out and do something. I’m very excited because next weekend I’m going out for breakfast with about five friends.

So there, that was my nothing blog. I love it!!

Happy weekend!!!

Well, let me tell you what I’ve learned from being home with two kids for 17 days in a row… it’s damn hard! I’ve loved every minute with my kids and will miss them terribly tomorrow, but I have to admit it is kind of appealing to know that tomorrow when I go into work I get to sit down in a chair for eight hours and not have to move unless I want to. Not only that, I’m guessing that when I talk with customers over the phone they probably won’t start crying or throw a tantrum if I I say something wrong.

I can now compare the “working mom” life and the “stay at home mom” life. To my surprise, the same problem is still lying within in me. I feel like I don’t have enough time to catch up on my list, which then makes me feel like I’m not enjoying my weekends the way I should be because I’m trying to catch up before the next week rolls around. It’s a continuous cycle that I can’t seem to break.

My plan now is to find a solution. I’m going to start by scheduling one day off per month at home by myself. I’m hoping this will be a step in the right direction. We’ll see where that takes me and then I will continue to make adjustments until I feel a little more calm.

There’s a pretty good chance a family member or friend of yours is struggling with an issue that is making their everyday tougher than usual right now. Whether it is losing a pet, wanting to have a baby, trying to get a job, etc. My challenge to you is to stop and think about your family and friends and try to see what is going on in their lives. I unknowingly did this by accident today and I’m so glad that I did.

Just a little while ago I finished putting the kids to bed and I was revved up and ready to get working on my never-ending to-do list. However, a friend of mine popped into my head and being the professional procrastinator that I am I decided to give her a call and see what’s new. It just so happened that she wasn’t having a good day and I could tell that she needed someone to talk to. She talked and I listened. It was equally as healing to her as it was to me. Having that connection with a friend was rejuvenating and I’d like to think that she felt a little bit better after we talked as well.

In any case, there is most likely someone right now that would be delighted to get a call from you or would love to know they are being thought of. You’ll feel so accomplished by giving support to a friend who needs nothing more than someone to listen, over running around trying to accomplish something off of your to-do list.

I woke up Wednesday morning, took one look outside and knew right then we were not going ANYWHERE! A blizzard came and there was 18 inches of snow that fell overnight. Normally in this situation I’d think that I won the lottery, but knowing that I have a lot of work to complete with an upcoming vacation, its mid-week, and we are going full steam ahead, I clearly didn’t have time for a blizzard!

I laugh at this now, but I really thought it was possible for me to work from home for the entire day with my husband and kids home as well. As the day began, I quickly realized that even though I had a to-do list, my family’s to-do list and needs were completely different.

I spent the first couple of hours getting frustrated because I couldn’t do it all. My kids needed my attention, but my work did just as much. In the midst of this, my phone rang. Who of all people was it? My boss. How, oh how, was I going to tell her just how productive my day was going the first couple of hours? The conversation was actually exactly what I needed to hear. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought she was a little mouse in the corner watching us. She advised me to give my children the attention they wanted and deserved and to work in-between the times when they were napping or sleeping. I hung up the phone and my day continued on a different path.

I ended up completely focusing on my children. We played out in the snow, took pictures and videos, set up a train table, played with that, and the list goes on. We created a day full of memories. In between all of the fun, when the kids were napping, I worked like crazy. In the end it ended up being productive at work and at home.

So what is the lesson learned here? A to-do list will still be there when you have time to get to it. An opportunity to spend a day with your children mid-week because you are stuck home due to a blizzard doesn’t come often. Just enjoy it when those opportunities become available. Children are only little for a short time so be present in the moment and embrace every giggle they have to offer you. The benefits will far outweigh accomplishing a to-do list. And chances are, you’ll be recharged and work even harder when you resume to your daily routine.