Today is Labor Day. According to History.com, this holiday is….
“…observed on the first Monday in September. It pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers. It was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century and became a federal holiday in 1894. Labor Day also symbolizes the end of summer for many Americans, and is celebrated with parties, parades and athletic events.”
As the unofficial end of summer, with rain in the forecast and school starting tomorrow, I am certainly feeling closure.
So here we go – right back to it, whether we like it or not. In honor of this Labor Day holiday, I’ll keep this post short and sweet. In honor of the crazy, back to school week ahead, the blog will be on break until next Monday, the 12th.
However you choose to spend it, enjoy this Labor Day Holiday, today, and the last moments of summer.
Before summer comes to an official close, I thought I’d share one of my favorite summer recipes. Typically prepared on the grill, I have brought this version inside to cook up on my new stir-fry pan, which I’m obsessed with by the way (thank you Mom).
My Food Network Stir-Fry pan – LOVE!
With a few minor adaptations, this May to September swordfish recipe is something I’d be happy to whip up when the weather is cooler, but I’m still in the mood for something light and refreshing.
Summer, winter, spring or fall; this swordfish recipe with mango avocado salsa is super easy and really tasty. Guests love it and it always makes a great impression when served.
When I’ve prepared this on the grill, I marinate the fish in oil, lime, juice, salt, pepper and even a splash of tequila. However, in the stir-fry pan I prefer to keep the fish dry so it can brown nicely – so just salt and pepper for today’s version.
The Recipe
Ingredients
1 pound swordfish, cut into cubes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 large avocado, cubed
1/2 cup red onion, diced
1 1/2 cup mango (in summer I use fresh, but this time I used precut, frozen and it was delish)
¼ cup chopped Italian parsley (original recipe calls for cilantro – I had parsley in)
Juice of 1 lime, more if you like
Salt and pepper to taste
A dash of red pepper flake for a kick
Directions
First prepare the salsa by combining the avocado, mango, onion, parsley, lime, salt, pepper and pepper flake in a bowl. Mix gently so not to break the mango or avocado. The frozen mango held up so beautifully, I may actually prefer it.
The salsa!
Heat stir-fry pan on stove top and lightly oil. Sprinkle swordfish with salt and pepper and toss in the pan. It cooks through and browns so quickly, you’re done before you know it!
Fresh swordfish cut into cubesSizzle, sizzle.
Serve over a bed of rice and you’ve got an amazing meal for every season.
The meal
I hope you enjoy this swordfish recipe with yummy avocado mango salsa!
I thought I’d get back to some basics today and there is nothing more basic than my drugstore makeup and skin care products. When it comes to beauty, fashion, home décor and even food, I’m definitely a high – low kind of gal. I’m willing to spend top dollar if I truly believe I will get my money’s worth, but if I judge a low cost item to work just as well, then that’s what I get.
When it comes to my collection of beauty products, I’m that person who has a drawer full of skin care, hair care and makeup products that I was sure would be a miracle solution. But each turned out to be nothing more than another pretty jar full of a concoction that performs no better, and often times worse, than the go-to drugstore makeup products I’ve been using since I was thirteen. All of the affordable cosmetics and skin care products I buy can be purchased at CVS. I go there so often, they should just give me a name tag and put me to work.
My Favorite Drugstore Makeup and Skin Care Products
Maybelline Great Lash – Lots of Lashes Mascara: This classic lash enhancer in the pink and green tube is not only my go-to, but a trade secret of many celebrity makeup artists. For less than $6.00, I’ve found that I get consistently good results. I’ve tried Lancôme, MAC and at least two dozen other drugstore brands, and always come back to Great Lash with the tapered tip.
Pond’s Cold Cream – Wait a second, is this my grandmother talking? Well, I did first learn about Pond’s Cold Cream in the makeup department of my grandmother’s boudoir, but I reintroduced it to my own regime when I couldn’t find a non-oil makeup remover. As a contact lens wearer, the oil removers seeped into my eyes causing my contacts to get cloudy. This results in more irritation than the residual eye-liner and mascara that I was trying to remove. For less than $10.00 I invested in a large, 9.5 oz tub of Pond’s Cold Cream Cleanser that could last me a lifetime. I just refill a little container as needed and now I have the perfect cream based eye-makeup remover that works like a charm.
Wet N Wild Color Icon Liner Pencil– OK, now this one might raise some eyebrows, but for $.99 I can honestly say that I like this liner better than any others that I’ve tried. First of all, they sharpen easily and the pencil is long, so it lasts. It also applies well – smooth enough, but not so smooth that I can’t control the line. I can’t tell you how many expensive liners I’ve been through that glide on so effortlessly that I end up applying a shaky, jagged line that seems to smudge just as soon as it’s drawn. And with fun names like “Baby’s Got Black,” “Simma Brown Now” and “Taupe of the Mornin’” – Wet N Wild was an easy sell for me.
There you have it, my frugal finds! What cheap tricks do you have up your beauty sleeve?
I’m usually a decisive person. I know what I like and what I want, so there is often very little time spent making decisions. Earlier this year someone told me that this would be a year of change. Change can be stressful, but I am at a time in my life when I feel very open to it.
Lately, however I feel stuck at a crossroads. I’m ready for certain, inevitable changes in my life, but when it comes to making decisions about what my “professional” future should be, I don’t have a clear vision. Up until now, freelance writing has been great, but I am ready for more.
I feel like I am on the right path with my book and blog, but I don’t know where the path is going and that is driving me nuts. I have a million ideas swirling around in my head, but nothing has struck me as the best next step. I feel like a kid in high school who doesn’t know what they want to be when they grow up. “It’s OK,” a parent might say. “You don’t have to decide right now.”
But, I’m forty seven years old (there, I said it), I do have to decide and I think I should do so quickly, because I’m running out of time.
Fifty Is The New Twenty?
But am I? Fifty can easily be the new twenty. I know several women who have reinvented their careers after fifty and here’s an inspiration clip I recently posted on Facebook.
Gary Vaynerchuk is an entrepreneur and public speaker. Good message-old tee and scruffy face aside.
The Dilemma
Here’s my dilemma – While I want the professional success I’ve always known I’m capable of achieving, I also want to accompany Tony as he makes his slow progression toward retirement. He said something recently that really hit me…“Just as I am starting to slow down, she is ramping up – I’ll be happy to pass the baton.”
And I’d be happy to receive it, but I also know myself. If I take that baton, I am going to run with it at full speed. I will immerse myself in whatever I do, just like I did as a mom and more recently as an obsessive dog owner.
There is a really big part of me that’s been looking forward to the time when Tony and I can focus on being a couple again with fewer distractions. Dinners in the city, day-trips, travel and joint activities are all things we’ve talked about doing more of when we aren’t so focused on work, carting kids around and rushing home to let the dog out. A truly successful career does not happen without a lot of work and I question whether now is the time to start over.
What Now?
I’ll probably be at this crossroads for a while longer. I guess I am like a kid in high school who doesn’t have to decide right now. But I want to start making decisions soon and when I do, I’ll go all in to whatever choice I make. There really is no wrong way, but embracing the chosen path, without looking back, will be the key to my success; be it personal or professional.
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When Barbara Holbrook and Elizabeth Guilbeault of Daring Spirits reached out to me to be their Daring Spirit of the Week, I was flattered. When I looked into what Daring Spirits was all about, I was intrigued. When I read their slogan, “This is your life: Dare to go all in,” I was sold.
Daring Spirits is team of women dedicated to helping clients become fully present in their lives. Life today is busy, sometimes frantic. Too often we lose out on the full experience. The team at Daring Spirits takes a holistic, full-body/full-being approach to achieve focus and clarity. Through guided meditation, they help you engage your mind, nurture your body, integrate your spirit and bring mindfulness to work.
And grown-ups, these tools aren’t just for you. Our busy, stressed kids can benefit from guided meditation too. Check out these meditation techniques to help the back-to-school experience be a positive one: for parents and students alike.
I am pleased to introduce my second guest blog here at 3 Olives & a Twist – welcome the wisdom of Daring Spirits’, Barbara Holbrook and Elizabeth Guilbeault:
Barbara Holbrook: Co-Creator and Energy WorkerElizabeth Guilbeault: Co-Creator and Energy Worker
Meditation Techniques to Help Your Kids Stay Relaxed and Focused
The kids are heading back into the halls of academia soon and we parents are checking off the back-to-school list:
pencils
folders
new sneakers
grounding cord
roses
gold sun
Wait, what’s a grounding cord? Do they carry that at the office supply store? Roses? What are those for? Gold sun? Will that even fit in their locker??
Rest easy, you and your kids already have these essentials. All you have to do is put them to work for you, and they’ll make school – and life – a little gentler for everyone.
Grounding cords, roses, and gold sun are all visualization tools for meditation to use anytime, anywhere to diffuse tension and ease stress.
Grounding Cords: Get Present
A grounding cord is simply a way to connect to the earth and help us be fully present. It’s great for those times when our energy feels scattered – getting everyone out the door in the morning or driving car pool are great times to use a grounding cord! Here’s how:
Visualize a line of color, a tree trunk, a string of twinkle lights, a tail – it can be anything, the more light-hearted; the better! Imagine the line extends from the base of your spine or your hips down through the ground to the center of the earth. If you don’t know exactly where the center of the earth is, or what it looks like, don’t fret! The intention is enough to make it work for you. Notice how it helps you feel more connected to the activity at hand, how your attention is more focused and you feel more rooted in the present moment.
Roses: Destress and Diffuse Tension
Roses can be employed to diffuse tension, and they’re a fabulous way to help us detach from things that we might not want to carry with us. Think about the stress kids bring home from school (or adults bring home from the office!) “Blowing roses” gives us a way to let go of that stuff and reset our spaces for ourselves. We use roses simply because everyone knows what they look like. You can also use bubbles; kids can easily see bubbles and imagine them bursting.
Visualize a rose (or a bubble) out in front of you. Now blow it up! Pop it, explode it, watch it turn into beautiful fireworks. Experiment with roses or bubbles of different sizes, with sending them far away (we love to shower the middle of the ocean or the moon with fireworks!), and with blowing them up behind you, next to you, above you. You can even put specific things into the rose or bubble – for example, the guy who cut you off in traffic, the test score, the frustration over homework. Notice how much lighter you feel, how your body feels calmer and you feel more at ease.
Gold Sun: Relax and Rejuvenate
Gold sun is a great one for teens and adults, in particular, and little kids love it as a bedtime ritual. It’s a way to fill your space with your own unique vibration, the energy that makes you, well, you. Using your gold sun, you can quickly and effortlessly connect with the deepest truth within you. It can help you make decisions that align with the highest and best version of who you are and who you are here to be. It’s also very healing to your body, so it’s a lovely way to relax and feel rejuvenated any time.
Visualize a gold sun 1-2 feet above you. Imagine that sun shining down on you, feel the warmth as it surrounds your body and even soaks in to your body. Let it be soothing and calming, let it energize you and help you see yourself clearly. Allow it to fill you with love and peace. See the gold surrounding you, buffering you from other peoples’ energy and giving you space to choose your best path easily.
Pop these tools in their imaginary backpacks and you are giving your kids, and yourself, life skills that will grow with them and make learning and life a little less stressful and a lot more fun!
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Thank You
Thank you so much Barbara and Elizabeth for these back-to-school meditation techniques – Daring Spirits specializes in guided meditation, clairvoyant readings, coaching, energy readings and healing. Learn more about Daring Spirits at:
