Filed under Soothing Suggestions …

The Marriage of Coffee and Graphic Design

I like love coffee and I like clever design ideas, so when these two things come together, I am especially satisfied. Take this bag of Caribou Coffee, for example.  At first glance I took in the color combinations of two shades of brown and light blue on a canvas-textured light brown background.  Soothing colors that … Continue reading →

To Nap or Not To Nap?

I count it as a certainty that in paradise, everyone naps. -Tom Hodgkinson, British writer and editor of The Idler Judging from the way my family feels about napping, this must be true.  Time spent in the comforting refuge of  bed and blankets, head cradled by pillow or arms and legs wrapped ’round a pillow, somnolent … Continue reading →

Sixty Seconds of Happiness

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness. Looking at it that way, you have to wonder why anyone would want to hold onto anger!  Sure, you can’t always avoid or prevent being angry; our bodies are wired to respond in any number of ways to stress and challenge, anger being … Continue reading →

There Is Nothing Better Than A Friend

There is nothing better than a friend, Unless it is a friend with Chocolate. …Or chocolate milk or brownies or anything chocolate-y, for that matter. Chocolate is a true mood-elevator and instant happiness-bringer.   Now it’s you’re turn…how would YOU finish the quote? “There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend … Continue reading →

Bedtime and Balloons

Sometimes life is so busy.  There’s work, there’s play, there’s challenge, there’s stimulation.  The body gets tired and the mind gets worn out.  In fact, the mind gets a better work out than the body, at least in my case.  And by the time my husband says it’s bedtime, my body just wants to stay … Continue reading →

One of My Simple Pleasures: Quick Sticky Buns

The great thing about simple pleasures… is that they’re, well, simple, of course!  While the all-time simple pleasure that tops my list is a freshly brewed cup of coffee accompanied by a crossword puzzle or a good book, another really simple pleasure I enjoy comes from the November 2007 issue of Real Simple magazine: a … Continue reading →

The Simple Pleasure of Observation

My cat, Charcoal, often joins me in the kitchen when I am tidying up after dinner.  Sometimes he sits on the dishwasher door as I’m loading the dishes, looking up at me, affectionately, licking his chops in his subliminal way to suggest that I should pour him a spot of milk.  Sometimes I give in; … Continue reading →

New Year’s Resolutions

Resolution. I’ve always hated that idea.  Making a resolution at the beginning of the new year.  It conjures up images of torture, for me.  You have to give up something or stop doing something, or do something more.  Or you have to do something better.  Be a better person. But no pressure.  No, because you … Continue reading →

‘Tis the Season to be Jolly? Getting Into the Holiday Spirit

“Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la! ‘Tis the season to be jolly, fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la!” …or, at least that’s how the song goes.  While the holidays are a time for celebration and socializing, gift-giving and indulging, for many of us they are a time for worry, anxiety, and depression.  There are pressures to … Continue reading →