Home fires…

Lately, I’ve been weighing an offer from a client to become a full-time employee. While incredibly flattering, the offer would be a significant change in lifestyle. In the end, that may be what matters. First, I should say that the client is absolutely fantastic and I completely enjoy working with them. It’s nice to haveContinue reading “Home fires…”

New normal.

So, it’s decided. Next year is a “new normal” year. On a long walk yesterday morning with the sun just peaking through, we gave ourselves a gift we’ve needed for the past decade: time. As I wrote about yesterday, we plan to finish our deck this summer and fall. We have a few weekends betweenContinue reading “New normal.”

Oh, Thursday!

Lately, I’ve been a bit busier than I had planned professionally. In terms of financial health and my microbusiness, that’s a very good thing. In terms of the considerable quiet space my brain needs? Umm, not so much. I need more downtime than I’ve been getting, honestly. On top of that, the weather has beenContinue reading “Oh, Thursday!”

Forty-seven million.

I’ve been doing some retirement planning. (Hint: I’m always doing retirement planning.) But I did the math. If a human being lives to 90 years old and there are 365 days in a year and 24 hours in a day and 60 minutes in an hour, a human will have just about 47 million minutesContinue reading “Forty-seven million.”

Strategically planning…

Last night, we held the first ever Family Strategic Planning Session. It may have been somewhat prompted by my doing strategic planning for a client, but our purpose was clear: this little family needed to build a life we didn’t have to escape from. And if we were going to do that? Well, we neededContinue reading “Strategically planning…”

My “porch of indecision”

It’s no big secret that I am/was a huge Jimmy Buffett fan. Anyone who can celebrate summer, relaxation, a margarita and the ocean is just A-OK with me. While I often fantasize about living a Jimmy-like life, the truth is that I am also fairly confident he was an incredibly hard worker and did notContinue reading “My “porch of indecision””

And just like that…

Even this blog is not immune to the wild swings of the stock market these days as its author wants to retire. The closer I get, the more I fear something will dramatically upset the apple cart. I can handle just about everything but an upset apple cart. Please leave my apples and my cartContinue reading “And just like that…”

The sum or the parts…

This past week has been, well, a week. Arriving home from Florida on Saturday, we landed in snow flurries. That should have been my sign. But hopeful after a week of wall-to-wall sunshine, I dismissed the omen. By Monday afternoon, I got the message: the week was going to be bumpy. But I made itContinue reading “The sum or the parts…”

After the wedding…

Before we got married 11 years ago, we noticed that our lives were incredibly busy. But we reassured ourselves that life would slow down “after the wedding.” Since that time, we have not just been married for over a decade, but we have attended several other weddings all with the hope that this would beContinue reading “After the wedding…”

Thinking outside of my own box…

Yesterday, I made some key moves that will preserve my little business for the long-term (YAY!) and allow me to be as successful as I want to be. Most importantly, it will also keep life and home calm, collected and quiet. After six weeks of some tricky navigating and dealing with more than a fewContinue reading “Thinking outside of my own box…”