Dinner.  At Home.

For the past couple of years, as embarrassed as I am to admit it, we've been a fast food family.  We always were so busy running around or late getting home for work that it just seemed much easier to grab something at a restaurant and rush to the next thing on the agenda.  I knew it wasn't healthy and so occassionally I would put together a menu and run to the grocery store.  (I was taught very well by my incredible super woman mom how to plan with a menu, make a list,and go shopping.  I know how to cook and used to love to bake.  My dad called me Betty Crocker when I was 10 years old.)  The problem was making the dinners once we got the food home.  I knew I wanted to be having dinner every night together but...there were too many things going on.

I decided that I needed someone that would make me be responsible.  My kids.  If you tell your kids something, especially if you tell them they are going to get to be a part of something fun, they'll never let you forget it.  That can totally be helpful to you.

Instead of making my own menu and slaving over a list and what to have each night I made a list of all of the things our family likes to eat along with some easy to make dinners.  Each night is one person's night for dinner.  They get to pick what we're going to eat and they get to help make it.  They get Mom and/or Dad's time and they get to have their say about what we eat.  Occassionally, they also get to go shopping, too.

So these pictures are from the Emma's night (Tuesdays).  She picked lasagne, salad, and corn.  Mike is the expert lasagne maker so he was the helper that night.  Once they got the lasagne in the oven they got to read together at the table until the timer beeped.  It's become a lot more fun...and we eat at home every night.  We don't even have any of the kids asking to eat out somewhere.  They want to get home and make the dinner they've been looking forward to.  The big benefit is the time we get to spend together and that we're eating a lot healthier.

Adapt this for you:

*If you're single: see if you have a few friends that would like to trade off nights of cooking, make dinner plans for the week and then meet at each other's houses at a set dinner time every night (or just a few nights a week).

*If you're married with no kids: trade nights with another couple  without kids and have dinner together a few nights a week or just take turns between the two of you choosing dinner and making it together.

So much of life is about creating a meaningful life and existence.  How can you make dinner time a way to be a meaningful time of the day and one that you look forward to instead of dread?

healthier. LIFE.

It's time...

to get your life back.

For the past year the number one goal of my life has been to reclaim my life from my business.  As many entreprenures know, it's easy to become completely submerged in growing a successful business.  You spend a lot of time, work, blood, sweat, and tears making it happen.  One day you realize that you've given up a lot to get where you're at.  Sometimes, you wonder if the opportunity costs may have been too high.  That's the day things change or you can keep going at the rate and speed you've been going.

For me, that was the day things changed.  I knew I didn't want to keep living a life where I seldom saw my kids and when I did I rarely enjoyed my time with them. Mostly, I spent my time fretting about what I should be doing for my clients instead of sitting and reading with my sweet kids.

Since that day I've been making changes and I'm loving the chance to be a mom, a wife, a business owner, and a photographer.  Changes always come at a price and this price has been worth it.

So...I want to share my discoveries with you and hope that these LOVE. LIFE. TIPS. will help you out.  Whether you're a single person looking for more ways to add meaning to your life, a mom with not enough time and too much work, a business owner who is drowning in the responsiblities and stresses of being successful, or just want to be more aware of your life I hope you'll find some help in these posts.

Stay tuned!

be. LOVE.