Time to Walk and Talk!

                                                          

                                                             

                                                              This Sat. July 2 @ 7:00AM

OK, the peeps have spoken, Community Walk this Sat. starting from the Front Porch at 7AM! I will see if The Midnight Smoker is available. We will walk about three miles with a stop half way through for a rest, stretch and a little snack. Please send me a message if you need directions.



Our last walk was a great big success with many showing up early on The Front Porch to hit the road. Looking forward to seeing some familiar faces as well as some new ones.


Cris

P.S.  Good news, The Midnight Smoker is avaliable!

Hello Summer!

Greetings from The Front Porch!

Happy summer, it is finally here. Just a few weeks ago, my daughter told me she thought summer vacation should not start until it stops raining. I had to agree with her, as they ended their school year with thunderstorms and rains coats, you would have thought they were entering into winter break instead of summer vacation.

Now we are into our 28th day, it reached 100 degrees, and we could not be happier. OK, maybe I might be the happiest. However, hot weather equals slip and slides, water parks and late evenings on The Front Porch.

I have been challenged by a good friend to put my agenda aside and to live out my motto, embracing my moments with my children and asking myself “what if” and filling in the blanks. What if I decided to leave the dishes to be done the laundry to be folded and the rooms to be cleaned for another time and joined my children for a day of fun?

Today I lived in the moment while I wrapped myself around the what if and I left my to do list on the counter and jumped in feet first with my kids as we sat in the air conditioned theater melting into a sci-fi movie, something I never do.

As I watched my teens sit on the seat of their pants, wide eyed and enthralled by the story on the screen, I realized how much I miss out when I put my agenda before my relationship with them.

I recently read in a devotional book that God calls us to be still so that we could receive His blessings. As I read that I thought “no, I can’t do that”, being still so God could bless me is opposite of what I have learned to do.

Yet, as I sat still today, the blessings I received from my time with my kids are something I will hold on to for the rest of my life. I am learning that when I enter into these moments with my teenagers for no other reason then to enter into these moments, I get glimpses of the adults they are becoming.

Tomorrow is day twenty-nine and it is taking everything in me not to write out a long list of things I need to do. I will hold tight to today and remember what it looked like when I put my list to the side and allowed myself to not just promote a motto of the moment but also live in it myself.

Thank you my friends, you know who you are, for challenging me to step away from my own structure and box and step into the summer with my kids.


Cristina

Happy Father's Day

Greetings From The Front











A day to remember and a day to be thankful. As I sit and listen to my children prepare breakfast for my husband my own mind wonders back in time.

Early morning greetings to my gruff father who showed little emotion,that fact still never stopped all six of his children from pouring on the love and celebrating this day.

We had a tradition of baking cakes for all occasions not just birthdays, so there was nothing more enjoyable then gathering around a Father's day cake and singing to the most important man in our life.

It has been thirteen years since my father passed away and not a day goes by when I wish I could bake him just one more cake. As gruff as he was he always let us know that we were his priority and that being a husband and a father made him rich.

As the smell from the kitchen tickles my nose I am brought back to the moment. I hear my son making his own traditions in the kitchen. He is preparing breakfast to honor his hero, his father.

I watch how my children have grown to love and respect the most important man in their life and it makes me want to bake a cake and sing.

Cristina

Goal Setting

Greetings From The Front Porch!

Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals

• Specific

• Measurable

• Attainable

• Realistic

Specific

A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six "W" questions:

*Who: Who is involved?

*What: What do I want to accomplish?

*Where: Identify a location.

*When: Establish a time frame.

*Which: Identify requirements and constraints.

*Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.



EXAMPLE: A general goal would be, "Get in shape." But a specific goal would say, "Join a health club and workout 3 days a week."

Measurable

Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal.

To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as......How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?


Attainable

When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.

You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.

Realistic

To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.

Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.


Timely

A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there's no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? "Someday" won't work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, "by May 1st", then you've set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.

T can also stand for Tangible - A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the senses, that is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing. When your goal is tangible you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable and thus attainable.


Thank You
SMART Goals

Cristina