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Thankful for a Year of BIG Moves and SMALL Ones Too…

by Justice Fergie on November 21, 2012

in family,food,life,success

As I sit on the couch, exhausted from trying to get a jumpstart on the Thanksgiving meal by prepping most of the menu today, I’m taking a moment to reflect on the past year.

So much has happened! The biggie?

I left my legal career to make a go at this entrepreneur thing.  And while it’s been more work than I ever imagined, I wouldn’t change it for the world. I am just so, so thankful for the opportunity and the ability – and especially for the support from my husband to allow me to take this leap of faith. Trust me when I say, this was no easy pill for him to swallow!

The other biggie is that for the first time in the 8 years, I’ve been able to spend those quiet and mundane moments with my kids that I wished for for so long: random chatter on the way home from school; extra time for stories and hugs and impromptu trips to the park; volunteering in their classrooms; sitting with them while they do their homework; and an entire summer of just me and them (although it nearly killed me).  These were all little luxuries of life that I’ve missed because I worked a 9-to-5 job, 45 minutes away from home.  Let me tell you – I am overjoyed to be relishing in the mudane.

And speaking of relish, I’d better get back to mine. Cranberry relish, that is.

Before I go, I want to thank you. For reading what I write. For commenting. For sending me an email sharing your thoughts. For attending my events. For the sweet tweets and cards and phone calls. For trusting me to guide you in your journeys to live your passions. I do not take your support lightly. So…THANK YOU.

Wishing you a day filled with gratitude tomorrow. For the mundane moments and all.

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Happy Holiday Countdown Week 3: Simplify Your Gift List

by Justice Fergie on November 19, 2012

in Happy Holiday Countdown,Sponsored,family,life

This is it. It’s here. Thanksgiving Week and all that it means:

The official kickoff to the holiday season.

Christmas carols playing in the background while the lady makes your Oven-Roasted Chicken Breast Sandwich at Subway (true story from today) and twinkling lights on the houses of overzealous neighbors (ditto).

The rapid approach of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday.

But the most daunting prospect of all is creating and shopping for those on your holiday gift list.

Not this year!

Here’s how we’re going to handle this. A lovely 3-step approach:

Tip No. 1: Pare Down Your List of Gift Recipients

This is hard, I know.  But just think about it for a moment: if you didn’t get a gift from everybody you knew, or even everyone in your family, you’d probably not mind one bit.  Before we get swept up in the materialistic madness, let’s remind ourselves what the season is all about. Love and family and kindness…and those can all be shown in ways beyond a wrapped package.  So take a moment to think about who you really and truly need or want to purchase a gift for (as opposed to bake some cookies for or send a card with a thoughtful note or treat to lunch) and write their names on a list.

Hopefully that took a little bit of the pressure off.

Tip No. 2:  Get Help Finding the Right Gifts

Ok, are you ready to hear about the coolest thing to hit Holiday Season 2012? SheKnows.com just launched GiftPicks a social tool that allows you to get personalized recommendations for all of your friends.  Here’s how it works:

The tool quickly checks out your friends’ interests and likes and makes relevant recommendations (but none of your friends’ profile info is stored by the tool).  I tried this for a few of my friends to see how the tool worked and it was right on the mark! It pegged one of my friends as a Home Chef and another as a Gadget-Lover – both were totally right.  Then the tool shared a list of product suggestions based on their profiles and links to articles on the site where you can learn more about the items.

Gun-shy when it comes to using a tool like this? Go the old-fashioned route and ask someone close to your gift recipient what they could really use or what they might enjoy. TIP for all of my friends and fam: Don’t ask my husband – he has no idea. Ahem.

Tip No. 3: Set A Budget for Your Entire List

It’s oh so easy to get caught up in the spirit of giving (or in the excitement of a ‘sale’), but at the end of the day (or the year, as it were), you’ll be left with the credit card statement or suffering bank account to show for it.  I’ve done this for the past 3 years or so (more so to keep Santa in check) and it’s worked nicely.  But you have to stick to it! If you get something on the pricey side for one, then know that you’ll have to scale back a bit on another.  And that’s perfectly OK.

We’re saving your sanity here!

And that’s priceless.

**Tip No. 2 was inspired by my working relationship with SheKnows.com and the Mommalogues videos that I do weekly and this post is sponsored in part.

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