It’s time to stop the rushing and working and worrying. You can always pick that up later. For now, as we come to the end of another year, let’s all take a deep breath and calm ourselves. As my holiday present, I’ve put together a little virtual retreat for you. You’ll find some wonderful calming images, music, books, and quotations below… Read more.
Posted in Holidays, How to, Inspiration, Personal Care
Tagged calmness, end of year, Holidays, How to, Inspiration, personal care, reducing stress, stress reduction
Posted in Home Office, Personal Care, Personal historian, Self-employed, Tips
Tagged freelancers, Holidays, How to, overworked, Personal historian, personal-care, self employed, time off, Tips, vacation
Posted in Holidays, How to, Inspiration, Personal Care
Tagged calmness, end of year, Holidays, How to, personal-care, reducing stress
Posted in Holidays, Personal historian, Tips
Tagged courses, DIY, gift ideas, Holidays, Life stories, Personal historian, Tips
Victoria Inner Harbor
My regular readers know that I recently took a two-week break at home. I previously wrote about “staycations” in The Secret to a Successful “Staycation”.
Here’s some added advice based on my recent experience.
Would I do it again? The answer is definitely yes. But given what I’ve learned, I’d adjust some of my plans and expectations.
Photo by Evan Leeson
Tagged advice, Holidays, How to, Personal historian, self employed, staycation, Tips
It’s time to stop the rushing and working and worrying. You can always pick that up later. For now, as we come to the end of another year, let’s all take a deep breath and calm ourselves. As my holiday present, I’ve put together a little virtual retreat for you. You’ll find some wonderful calming images, music, books, and quotations below. Start anywhere you like. There’s the three minute Whispering Sea guitar video. You can feast your eyes on all the sumptuous calming images from Google. There are three books you might want to check out. There are also some insightful quotations on calmness, my favorite being:
The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.
~James Allen
Wander through Google’s calming photos and feel the tension draining away. Click here for some gorgeous images.
For some quotes click here . And there are more here.
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Posted in Holidays, How to, Personal Care
Tagged calmness, end of year, Holidays, How to, reducing stress, stress reduction
Last December I wrote about some low cost or no cost gift ideas. And with the holiday season quickly approaching, I thought it was time to suggest some gifts that have a personal touch.
DIY bookmarks. Here’s something for the bibliophile in your family. It could also be a nice little gift to include in a card to your clients. There are several sources that can help you with this project. Fabio Sirna has created four charming downloadable templates that you can run off on your printer. Check them out here. In addition you can go to e.m. papers and for US$5.00 download ten printable bookmarks. Each has a reminder of one of the “10 factors recent science has identified that lead to feeling more happy and satisfied with life” such as Have an attitude of gratitude and Make friends and treasure family. Be sure to check out Bookmark Craft Projects. There’s a list of sixteen different bookmarks you can make.
One of a kind blank cards. “I use semi-colons.” Here’s a great set of cards for any aspiring writer. They’re available from Etsy for US$2.50.The product description says 
“Show off your semicolon skills; your friends will be so impressed. The card measures 4 by 6 inches, comes with a lovely blue envelope, and is blank inside so you can write a whole lot of complicated sentences.”
Online writing courses. Give a gift certificate to a friend or family member who’s been talking about writing a memoir. An online course could be just the ticket to get them going. Check out a previous post I wrote, Get Started on Your Memoir by Taking an Online Course. In the article I’ve listed four sites offering writing courses.
Instructional DVDs for the videomaker. Videomaker magazine has put together a comprehensive series of instructional DVDs. You can find out more here.
Family heirloom recipe. For those of you who have a special family recipe, print it up on some good quality paper stock and include with it the actual cooked item. For example, my mother makes the most wonderful oatmeal raisin cookies. Anyone who’s eaten one claims they’re the best in the world. And I think they’re right. So, I’m thinking of getting the recipe from Mom and baking up several batches of cookies. My friends at Christmas will get a family heirloom recipe and some cookies to match.
Photo by iStockphoto
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Posted in Courses, Holidays, Life stories, Personal historian, Tips
Tagged DIY, gift ideas, Holidays, Personal historian
It’s Monday and time for some “tasty” links. One of my favorite picks this week is Slow: Life In A Tuscan Town. The book is a reminder of the potential that photos have when put in the hands of a creative story teller. My thanks to APH colleague Marcy Davis for alerting me to this story.
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Posted in Monday's Link Roundup
Tagged Douglas Gayeton, family stories, Holidays, life story, link roundup, Native American, oral history
Better late than never! This Monday’s Roundup has some great ideas for family history gifts and holiday scrapbooking. You’ll also find some interesting memoir links, particularly the one from the Philadelphia Inquirer on Celebrating the memoir.
Celebrating the memoir – fiction’s day is done? “When browsing online or in a bookstore, one might easily conclude that every third person in the country is actively engaged in writing or reading a memoir.”
Ethnicity project reveals students’ shared traits across cultures. “The students were assigned to interview a family member to determine what traits characterize their family’s cultural heritage or ethnicity, and in the process to learn more about themselves.”
Holiday Scrapbooking, Writing, & Remembering. “When orange and yellow leaves begin swirling in funnel circles outside my windows and large pots of soup and stews and homemade bread ignite my taste buds, I begin thinking about holiday memories past and how I will inspire the new ones we will create this year.”
Love Hurts: Betrayal in Memoir. “When you write about your life in essay or memoir, you naturally lean toward things that have some emotional weight: the people, places and events in your life that have had enough heft to have left a mark. Often these things involve family members—whether siblings, mates, parents or children. This is where it can get sticky.”
Now’s the Time to Start on Family History Gifts. “We don’t mean to rush you into the winter holidays—it was just Halloween—but if you’re thinking of giving family history-related gifts this year, now’s the time to start. Many such gifts require prep work: For example, you’ll need to gather, scan, digitally touch up and label photos for a photo CD; start laying out an online photo book or calendar; or collect and transcribe family stories. Maybe you want to check another record or two before finalizing a compiled family history.”
Heinz® Ketchup and Josie Bissett Team Up To Grow 57,000 Wholesome Memories. “As American families turn to simpler pleasures this summer, Heinz® Ketchup and Josie Bissett are teaming up to encourage them to celebrate a priceless part of daily life: memorable moments. At HeinzWholesomeMemories.com, families are invited to share their personal photos and favorite memories, from backyard barbeques to baseball games to family traditions. For each story shared, Heinz will make a donation to the National Gardening Association (NGA), and 57 memories will be selected to win a Growing Wholesome Memories kit, filled with supplies for creating new memories at home. In keeping with the iconic Heinz “57,” the goal is to collect 57,000 inspiring memories.”
Passing on a recipe legacy. “A recipe for wonderful memories and fascinating stories begins with a hand-me-down cookbook.”
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Posted in Monday's Link Roundup
Tagged family stories, Holidays, Life stories, link roundup, memoir, Tips
Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home!
Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, 1836
This is a wonderful time of year for reflection and reminiscing about past holidays. Why not write down a favorite Christmas memory and share it with a loved one. It could become a new holiday tradition.
Photo by Kris de Curtis
Posted in Holidays, Life stories, Memoirs, Quotes
Tagged Christmas, Holidays, Life stories, quote, reminiscing
