Would you like to know how I made a slam-dunk this year when back to school shopping for my daughter?   It was amazing!   I love, love, love living my life this way!    

I don't know about you, but for me, when it comes to shopping there are days that I enjoy taking my time looking for the perfect outfit or pair of rocking shoes.   However, there are days when my "to-do" list is overflowing.   On those days I need to be laser-focused to accomplish my goals for the day. 

On this particular day, my daughter needed a new pair of tennis shoes and not any pair of tennis shoes as she was longing for a new pair of Nike Air Force Ones.  They were all the rage at her school.  She had been wanting a pair for almost a year now.  Since she needed a new pair, I decided that we would buy them for her back to school shoes.

After researching the shoes, let's just say they were definitely were not a cheap pair of tennis shoes.  I love the feel...

Why I Changed the Code on the Lock Box of My Heart.

When you travel to a new place with all the new sensations that the adventure brings one can experience a multitude of feelings. Excitement, wonder, joy, freedom along with a need to learn about the new environment to understand where the best places to travel and where one might want to explore with caution.

Checking the travel advisories like you check the weather advisory. Checking your list to make sure you have what you might need on your journey.   Do you need a raincoat, umbrella or do you need to detour around a particular area for a less eventful passage? As a child, I traveled the world with an air of certainty that God was always my guiding light and compass. My constant go to for help.

My relationship with God and Jesus were my home-base. I came into the world hard-wire with this natural relationship. No one taught it to me. Maybe you have a connection like that yourself with your home-base too or maybe you are...

Throughout time the age old questions that new parents have had to decide is how are we going to raise and guide our children when it comes to discipline.   Some parents chose to follow the well- worn path of continuing  to raise their children the way their parents chose to  raised  them.   While other couples decide they want to change some things up from the way they were disciplined by their parents.   Still others may decide they are going to raise their children completely opposite of how their parents raised them.

Let's look at the definition of the word discipline as defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. 

1.  Discipline -

a.  control gained by enforcing obedience or order.

b.  orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior

c.  Self-Control.

My husband Jeff and I were newly married we had not given much thought or conversation to how we were going to discipline our first child Tori.   One day we found...

My daughter, Allie, exclaimed, “No way Mom!”  But I did it anyway!  It was a sunny crisp day in January, and Allie and I were going to take our dog Annie on a walk together.  It was a chilly day and I needed to wrap up so I could enjoy our walk together. Allie warned me that if I was going to do what she thought I was going to do, she would walk ahead of me. We had no idea the surprises that were in store for us that day on our walk.

When its cold outside I like to walk with a hat that will keep my head warm.   I had a feeling that the perfect hat for our walk on this cold day would be my Cool Elf Hat.   This was my favorite hat from the holidays and it always made me smile.   It was red and white striped short stocking hat that had big elf ears on it, and one of the ears even had small gold hoop earrings. Across the front of the hat, written in white letters was Cool Elf.  (Check out my look in the picture to...