Dear Friend,

First of all, thank you so much for your kind response to my letter last week. It’s so good to have the support and understanding of someone who understands and gets it. The response I received definitely made me feel so much less alone. This time / age / season of life is full of changes and I never really know which part of it is just me or which part of is it a normal part of getting older. Either way, it was so great to hear from you and to get your perspective….

Read More

The post Dear Friend, A Simple Fix appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Dear friend,

Hello! I’ve been meaning to write you for quite some time to share a little bit about what’s happening around here. There’s so much I want to tell you about, but I’ll try to keep it as short as possible so not to take up too much of your day.

I’m just going to come right out with it…this past year or so has been a difficult one for me when it comes to blogging. About 5 years ago (coincidentally right around the time my brother passed away), I noticed a shift in my brain. I began having trouble focusing and following through on things or even really caring much about things I formerly cared a lot about. As a former Type A, get stuff done, kind of person, this shift was really hard for me to deal with. I’m not sure if it was the grief, getting older, hormones, or what but there was a definite change I had a hard time dealing with….

Read More

The post Dear Friend, I Miss You appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Hi friends and welcome to a slightly delayed episode 2 of The E.A.R.L.Y Show.

The E.A.R.L.Y Show is all about:

• E – What I’m Eating (maybe a recipe I’ve tried or a food product I’ve loved)
• A – What I’m Asking (things I’ve been curious about and asked Google, Siri or Alexa)
• R – What I’m Reading (this could be a book I’ve recently read or a blog post or magazine article I’ve found interesting)
• L – What I’m Loving (anything I’ve come across lately that I’ve really, really loved)
• Y – Your Turn (you get the chance to share some of this with me!)

See below for links to all the resources I mentioned in this episode so you can quickly click over and find more information. The ten minute episode is below. I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for all your comments and support. …

Read More

The post The E.A.R.L.Y Show Episode 2 – No Rise Pizza Crust, Bathpack and More! appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Sometimes the thought of changing the world is overwhelming. How can my one small act of giving or kindness make a difference? Can buying someones coffee or complimenting a stranger really do much in the whole scheme of things? I’d like to think yes….

Read More

The post 20 Awesome Ways to Show You #CareEnough appeared first on Dine and Dish.

A friend of mine recently told me she has banned the word “busy” from her life. She was tired of people being “sooo busy” all the time, running off their constant list of to-do’s, and complaining about their packed schedule. When I asked her what she uses instead or how she has banned “busy” she said “instead I choose to look at busy as full…my life is so rich and full that I have all these activities and obligations.”…

Read More

The post 6 Ways to #LiveFull in 2017 appeared first on Dine and Dish.

It’s that dreaded time of year where we “fall back” and set our clocks behind an hour for Daylight Savings Time. Technically, this means we should all have one extra hour to do with as we wish! If you are stuck on things you can do to fill that one hour time block, I’ve got 5 suggestions for you….

Read More

The post 5 Things To Do With An Extra Hour appeared first on Dine and Dish.

I’ve had a serious problem with my ability to focus lately. Well, let’s face it, it hasn’t been just lately. I’d say for the past 5 years or so my focus has been off, but it has really been magnified recently.

I have had the hardest time focusing long enough to sit down and check / respond to emails, write blog posts, schedule social media for the blog, be organized with banking, invoicing, and other tasks.

In addition, this week I locked my keys in the car twice, left my purse in the lunchroom at the grade school, forgot to take my daughter to volleyball practice, and left the stove burner on for an hour while I took a meal to a neighbor with cancer. …

Read More

The post Regaining Focus Through Writing appeared first on Dine and Dish.

I was sitting at my kitchen table on a Sunday morning, reading the newspaper and drinking my coffee. It was a quiet morning, the kind I absolutely love. I felt happy and loved, but overshadowing this feeling was a simmering feeling of discontent. I couldn’t put my finger on where that feeling was coming from, because on the surface everything seemed perfectly fine.

A few minutes passed and I decided to pick up my phone and check Facebook. The first thing I noticed was a status update from my best childhood friend, Julie. She currently lives in Georgia, but I noticed that her update said she was driving home to visit her parents in our hometown. Our hometown of Altamont, KS was 2 1/2 hours from my house. I hadn’t been back since my high school reunion many years prior.

As I was sitting there, a sudden feeling washed over me…one I couldn’t ignore. I needed to go home, and I needed to visit Julie. My week ahead was a busy one, but I knew I had to find time to make the trip home, even if it was for just a quick lunch and hello. …

Read More

The post It’s Time to Show Up appeared first on Dine and Dish.