Tag: random thoughts

Coffee Beans

Food for Thought: Coffee Time!

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Sexy Spiced Coffee

“A cup of coffee shared with a friend is happiness tasted and time well spent.” ~Unknown

Some of my favorite conversations are sitting around the kitchen table drinking coffee with my husband, family or friends.   I just love the camaraderie and the stories (the sillier the better). 

It’s great to take time to unwind and just “be myself” around people who mean the world to me.  

“Some people make you laugh a little louder, your smile a little brighter, and your life a little better.” ~ Unknown.

My opinion -> Coffee breaks with loved ones ….priceless…

How about you?

P.S. Check Out My Recipe for Sexy Spiced Coffee

{Food for Thought} Dream…Plan…Achieve…

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”Energy is the essence of life. Every day you decide how you’re going to use it by knowing what you want and what it takes to reach that goal, and by maintaining focus.” ~Oprah

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As a working mother of two boys, there are days where I am “time challenged”.

It can sometimes feel like a lot…

Like most moms, I keep a “to do” list. I review my list everyday to make sure that I am targeting all of my priority items (personal, family and career).

Keeping a “to do” list and sticking to it has taken a big weight off of my shoulders.

Putting things on a “to do” list helps you separate the “have to do’s” from “like to do’s”. It also brings attention to the nonsense things on your list that do not line up with your goals (and need to come off the “to do” list).

By keeping a “to do” list, I realized that there are days when only my “have to do’s” get done and some days when I have to say “no” to people. This is okay. There is always tomorrow.

How do you manage through days that are “time challenged”?

…Denise

Food for Thought Friday - Challenging Times...Choose Your Path

Food for Thought Friday – Challenging Times…Choose Your Path

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Food for Thought Friday - Challenging Times...Choose Your Path

"The difference between a mountain and a molehill is your perspective."~Al Neuharth

Challenging times can be quite stressful…both for you and those around you.

How do you handle Challenging Times?

Do you hide and make pretend that it is not happening? This sometimes works…but only for a little while. Eventually, you are going to have to face the challenge and deal with what is happening. Denial is only a temporary band-aid.

Do you charge ahead and battle? For some personalities, this may be the initial reaction. The key word here is “reaction”. Being reactive is not usually the best path. It typically has a friend called “emotion” tagging along. Portraying emotion while being reactive clouds the message you are saying/sending….and you will have to resend your message again later (hopefully without too much damage control).

There are some ways to manage through challenging times without shying away or hiding in a cave.

You can “shift your paradigm” and find your “silver lining” and “go with the flow”. Not so easy if there are fundamental differences that you just can not accept. But, it is a choice and under the right circumstances it may be the best choice. As the saying goes, “choose your battles”.

Another approach is to take time to “Think“. Then, dissect the challenge into manageable pieces and develop a plan around what you can. You may not be able to address all of it. That is okay. Prioritize what is important to you and move forward.

Hopefully, at end of this journey, you can look back and realize that you gave it your all…that you learned something…that you didn’t let challenge overwhelm your life.

Once you remove the emotion, add objectivity and get some clarity…that challenge which seemed like a mountain at the onset may actually be a molehill.

The Versatile Blogger Award….

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One of my blogger buddies, Yertle was so nice to award me with the Versatile Blogger Award .   If you are not familiar with her site, be sure to pay her a visit. She posts great stories and her photographs are amazing. I truly look out for Yertle’s posts every day.

There are some strings attached to accepting the award… The award works like a chain letter. So by accepting the award, I have to share 7 blogs that I love (along with sharing 7 things about myself). I subscribe to a lot of my blogs and it was difficult to limit my choices to just 7….I could honestly add another 10+ blogs to this list.

7 Blogs I Love:

Savvy Entertaining features “Fun and Simple Tips for Entertaining at Home”. Shanna shares great recipes and tablescapes.

Sweet Life features incredible Latin recipes with a modern twist. 

Norah Loves Makeup is a great site to follow too. She features tips for makeup and fashion (along with product reviews too).

Finuca features sophisticated posts about home decor, books and food.

Latinaish is a great blog about her multi-cultural family. Her suegra stories are the best! There are many days where her posts make me laugh out loud when I read them.

Her Deep Thoughts is a blog that features stories meant to inspire the reader. The photography is great and I look forward to her Wordless Wednesday posts.

(Tienes) Una Cabeza de Coco is a blog that features posts on many topics. She writes great stories about life/relationships and informative posts about social media.


7 Things About Me:

1. Blogging about Spices is a my hobby.  My professional career is technology related.  My days get busy and cooking is very de-stressing for me.  Blogging has been a great outlet for me.  In a few weeks, I will be celebrating my 1 year blogiversary.

2. My favorite book of all time is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Also, I have read and love all of Lisa Scottoline’s books. I am currently reading Conquistadora written by Esmeralda Santiago.

3. Playing the piano is another hobby of mine. I wish I had more time for this… My favorite piece to play is “Malaguena” by Ernesto Lecuona.

3. Living a healthy lifestyle is very important to my family. I plan healthy meals and do intense cardio work outs 4-5 x a week. My favorite workout is the Turbo Jam DVD series…which I usually have to do very early in the morning.

4. I come from a family of all girls. Raising boys is a very eye-opening experience. Love it!

5. My husband is definitely my soul mate.

6. I am really scared of thunderstorms.

7. I talk in my sleep.

If you accept the blogger award from me, you have to follow this same template: choose 7 bloggers, and share 7 unknown things about yourself.

Enjoy!

Denise