Leaving a Legacy... Of Happiness

Yesterday I attended a memorial service for my grandfather who passed away last spring at the age of 93.  During the memorial service my father asked everyone to sit in a circle and share a favorite memory of my grandfather.  I learned from his relatives and neighbors and co-workers that what was left in their minds was not what he did or how much money he made or what he looked like but how he touched each and every life he came in contact with by generating happiness.  He saved many lives as a volunteer fire fighter, he protected the job security and benefits of the people who worked for him, he painted houses and built cabinets.  He was always ready to lend a hand and pass on a book that he thought you would enjoy.  He did everything with a huge smile and laughter and a very loud rooster crow.  He was happy in the moment and he shared that joy with everyone around him... especially the ladies!   (Over the years I watched him bring a smile to the face of many a cranky waitress.)  My grandfather did all of these things because they made him feel good, not because anyone was going to pat him on the back or even say thank you.

How he lived his life ties very much in to thoughts I have been having recently about my own life and my own legacy.  I want my existence to be about what I have given instead of what I have collected.  I want to give positive energy and happiness and inspiration.  I want to help my kids learn to do the same.   I want my job to be driven by connecting with people and creating not accumulating wealth.  I want my kids education to focus on learning how to learn and being inspired to be creative instead of preparing to get good standardized test scores.  I want our lives to be about doing things because they make us happy, not because we are going to get a big gold star.

When I leave this life I want my relatives and friends and co-workers to sit around and share the stories of how I touched them.  I want them to feel like I made a real connection with them and that I brought them happiness.  I want my kids and I to learn to give to others, not for the thank you that I might get but for the joy it brings us.

A New Way to Eat ... The De-Throning of Dinner

I am very excited that I have a new plan for eating!!!!

Now, I need one because over the past couple of years I think I have gained 15 pounds.  I attribute it partly to starting a business where I make cake all day and partly to my kids dancing from after school until about 6PM each night.  I sometimes stuff a scrap of cake in my mouth and I sometimes resort to take out pizza more nights a week than I would like.

Once I realized that I was on a bad path, I did really try to get back on track.  I listened to my very nutrition conscious friends.  First there was a phase of juicing for breakfast and lunch, there was a phase of being a vegitarian, then a dabble into paleo, and a few month stint with Weight Watchers.  None of these fit me.  Juicing felt great but I think I was depriving my body of enough food until dinner and then it didn't know what to with it.  I like all of my food groups so rigidly eliminating some just made me unhappy.  And Weight Watchers is expensive and I can really track what I eat on my one.

So for a while I have been wallowing.  Trying to figure out how to eat healthy, not stress out over having to make dinner for 2 young kids starting at 6PM and keep to my diet of no processed foods.  I have been eating very little for breakfast and lunch and saving it all up for dinner time.  And a glass of wine.  Because for me it has always been all about dinner.  Clearly some mental attachment there.

And today it hit me.  Into my head popped something I heard a long time ago.  That you should "eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper".  And I realized perhaps this would work perfectly for us.   I am up early and I love breakfast food.  I can make a nice, protein-laden breakfast each morning to get started.  I can eat a normal lunch packed in my cute bento box.  And then I can have a much lighter dinner made of mostly easy to cook or even precooked veggies and maybe a little leftover protein or some beans.  Maybe a soup or stew I can easily reheat.  Or a loaded up salad.  And on Sundays I can combine lunch and dinner into an earlier family dinner and splurge on a heavier meal like homemade sauce or everyone's favorite meatloaf.

I have no idea how this will work but it feels right even before I started.  I feel like it will be lighter and more energizing on my digestive system and my lifestyle.  And as a byproduct, maybe even my body.

I am really excited to give this a try!

Finding Creativity ... In the Craft Store

Yesterday I went to the craft store.  And I left my credit card in the car.  On purpose.

My mission was to spend an hour slowly walking through the aisles to see what caught my eye.  Once something did I would take a picture of it.  

Some things I took pictures of were things I really wanted.  Like this book Creative Doodling and Beyond.

Some things I thought would make a great cake.  Like this rubber stamp of a tree filled with animals.

Some things I wanted to figure out how to make at home and do with the kids instead of buying the stuff.  Like these really pretty flowers from the American Girl wreath kit.

And some things I just liked and I am inspired to come up with a way to use them.  I was thinking that these cute elephants and flowers and stars might be a really nice embroidery or maybe the inspiration for some birthday cards this year.

It was really fun to just wander around with no purpose and to be free of the desire to buy anything!   It was a great spark to my creativity.