And they are….WELL!!!
Men in this house=recovered. Bless it.
Yesterday I took Jack out for a Momma Date; he was the first to get sick, thus the first to get well and he was itchin’ for a change. So we hit up Tim Hortons for lunch and I sacrificed greatly by playing on the playground with him in the FREEZING weather for all of 10 minutes. Then I had to duck back in the van, because I’m a weinie like that.
It was a good date with a very good guy; I’m determined to make it a priority to go out on more dates with my boys!
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Alright! Something I have put off for too long due to the plague that hit us! Sweet Michelle contacted me and offered to write up a post on a great organizational idea; one that has me all kinds of inspired. OH, my pinterest boards (and my life in general) are a chaotic mess. So I’m going to follow her advice…read up!
How Inspiration Boards Can Improve the Way You Plan
If you’ve found a project you’re passionate about but haven’t been able to properly organize your ideas, try not to panic. There’s a simple solution to this problem, even for the most scatterbrained among us. Creating an inspiration board – a collection of images to help inspire imaginative thinking – is fun and helps you to identify the technicalities in store for your project.
Get Organized
Organization helps to oil any work process, and creating an inspiration board is one way to organize your thoughts. The board will allow you to organize your fabric samples, sketches and photos in one place. Placing a cork board on the wall above your desk, replete with pins, is an excellent way to keep your ideas organized as they occur to you. Thanks to social networks like Pinterest, it’s even possible to create an online inspiration board.
Manage Your Time
When you become overwhelmed by your project, it’s easy to lose enthusiasm for it. An inspiration board helps buoy your good feelings for the project because you’ll be able to better separate the great ideas from the not-so-good ones. This will help you understand how your project is shaping up. You can get rid of any ideas that no longer interest you by simply unpinning them, and in this manner you can stay focused on the ideas that matter.
Plan Your Budget
You don’t want to get to the end of the rainbow and find out you’ve gone way over budget on your project, and using an inspiration board can help you keep things in check. By pinning your options on a cork board, you’ll be able to explore the quality items and services that you can afford. Choose where it’s best to splurge and where you need to cut back.
Inspiration boards are as abundant as ideas; there is a different sort of board for every kind of project. Inspiration boards can serve to help you redecorate your home, plan an engagement party or pick out a fashionable spring wardrobe. Get started and you’ll soon see that an inspiration board is one of the best ways to breathe life into your projects and plans.
Maybe you’re not looking to re-do the guest bedroom, and you’re just looking for some new meal ideas for the family. Whether you’re looking for new recipes to try out, or looking to plan a dinner party for friends, inspiration boards can even be helpful for meal planning. Take the below board for example. It may be spring, by snowstorms are still leaving us in winter wonderland. Comfort foods are a great way to get out of the cold weather funk.
Nothing says comfort food like delicious Italian food! What’s the first food that comes to mind when I think Italian? Pasta! Just thought of homemade lasagna makes me hungry. Although it’s a more time consuming recipe, I’ve used it as the anchor of inspiration for my board. With foods like pasta and pizza, you can get really creative. Making your own pizzas is great for group gatherings. You can create smaller personal pizzas for each guest, or bake large pizzas with a variety of tasty toppings. This can also be more cost effective than ordering from local pizza place. Making your own pizza can also be a fun activity for the little one’s: a fun way for them to learn and be interactive.
If you’d like to keep it simple, a delicious bowl of ravioli will do the trick. The jumbo ravioli served right near my home at Pino Bianco, a popular Syracuse dining spot, is probably my favorite thing to order. It’s always delicious and warms me up on cold days. You can switch up your own ravioli using plain tomato sauce or try a white sauce. Ravioli is great for those picky eaters.
The sky’s the limit with Italian food: make it Italian week with a different Italian inspired dish each night. Plan the meals for the week ahead and only have to make one trip to the grocery store! Don’t forget the wine!
Photo credit: Garlic Bread | Lasagna | Jumbo Ravioli | Homemade Pizza
Michelle Pino has provided these tips in hopes to educate others on how to lead a more organized and less stressful life. Michelle believes a more organized approach to tasks will result in more completed goals. Her hobbies include crafting, cooking and learning about healthy lifestyles. Michelle is thankful to have had the opportunity to work with Jennifer and together share their ideas on “This is the Finest Kind of Life”.
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Michelle, thank you thank you! Now I want an inspiration board for pretty much every area of my life.
TGIF friends! Tonight Erick and I are off to Portland for that birthday trip we missed last weekend. First night away in…in…I have no idea. Pray for my parents…and Luke; this will be his first overnighter with the big boys! Eek! Have a great weekend!
