Happy, Healthy New Year

Wishing all my friends, family, and obloggernewbie.blogspot.com visitors a joyous New Year. I am sending love, peace, and positive energy to you today, and intend to continue this plan throughout 2014. Be well, live well, and love well!!!

The quotation for today is “Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.” 

― Brad Paisley

#Tips #Holidays #De-stress

How can you navigate through the holiday season without feeling bent out of shape? Here are 5 Simple Steps to Help Minimize Stress during the Winter Holidays. Apply these techniques and let me know which ideas work for you. 

1. Look at the green leaves above and breathe easier. I put this theme on my computer monitor, because shades of green refresh my spirit, soothe my eyes, and are thought to increase productivity. Play around with your computer or tablet background color to find colors that relieve eye strain for you. Blinking, looking away from the screen for a few seconds, or taking frequent short breaks from the computer screen are helpful techniques to clear the mind and relieve tension in muscles. According to a recent National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) study, discomfort and eye strain were significantly reduced when computer workers took six five-minute "mini-breaks" throughout their work day.
2. Set your priorities to cut down on overcrowded schedules and overtaxed endurance thresholds. Many try to take on gift shopping, card sending, decorating and entertaining, and gift wrapping tasks along with regular responsibilities. Overdoing activities and a racing mind makes for cranky, anxious, and exhausted people. Keep it simple. Celebrate the traditions that really matter to you, or forge new ones that are fun and contribute to your health and happiness. 
3. Quality vs. quantity. "Shopping, especially if you're worried about money or getting elbowed in the stores, can drain the fun out of the holiday season. People who focus on gifts generally feel less holiday cheer than those who spend more time with close friends and family," explains Joanne Barker at WebMD http://www.webmd.com/parenting/family-health-12/reduce-holiday-stress

A Lesson From Nature in Autumn

Majestic Autumn Show at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond, VA

Fall wears a fiery coat that has wowed me this season. Splashes of crimson, tinged gold, burnt orange, and Sugar Maple yellow adorn the trees and landscape. Colors dance in the wind from points in New England to the villages and hills along the east coast. Autumn shows off its vivid hues in towns and cities across the U.S. as far north as border towns in Washington State. It is evident along the west coast, even traveling to select spots in southern CA like Julian, with an altitude of 4000 ft. Leaves blow and pumpkins, apples, and pears are harvested. The evening chill invites many to sit by their crackling fire with a cup of hot apple cider. Yet the heaps of crumpled, drying, brown leaves stir something else in me.

Here a Squash, There a Squash, Everywhere a Squash, Squash

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Couscous

Roasted Butternut Squash Sliced Lengthwise

Here's the real deal about "Winter Squash."

Aging Gracefully and Website Building is not in my DNA

Image by Shutterstock/Jonathan Feinstein

Why this photo, you may ask? It is clip art of the cross sections of many trees. Slicing the tree this way and counting its rings is one way foresters and botanists use to determine the age of each tree.

I chose it today, because I was born before the computer came into its own and feel like an old-timer in many respects. Today, I am reflecting about the rings that circle my core. There is a ring I earned as I learned to navigate around the Internet. Several others appeared as I shifted gears three times to keep up with my word processing programs. My first computer came with Lotus, but I moved on to Word Perfect, and now use Word. I've gained computer skills, since I started blogging in 2009, and am excited I've learned lots of things about health, nutrition, the mind-body connection. food, travel, and a green lifestyle.