giveaway: nurturing the soul of your family: 10 ways to reconnect and find peace in everyday life

nurturing the soul of your family book

I was given the book Nurturing the Soul of Your Family: 10 Ways to Reconnect and Find Peace in Everyday Life by Renee Trudeau a few months ago, to read and see if I liked it to review it.

And here I am reviewing it…since I didn’t only like it…I loved it.

Just a little about the author:

An internationally recognized coach and consultant, speaker and author, Renée Peterson Trudeau’s company has helped professionals and entrepreneurs create passion-filled careers and come into greater work/life alignment through integrating who they are with what they do.

She is also the author of the award-winning The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal: How to Reclaim, Rejuvenate and Re-balance Your Life, co-author of Courageous Parents, Confident Kids: Letting Go So You Both Can Grow, a contributing author to best-selling What Happy Working Mothers Know. The book I review here is her newest one.

I think people and things come into your life for a reason when they do…Trudeau is on faculty at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, (which I hold dear to my heart since one of my adult yoga training guru’s was part of Kripalu), and Esalen Institute, (I love, love, love). When this book was sent to me, I was thinking about my father’s health, which my family has been concerned with for some time and some critical decisions we needed to make were happening at that time.

The book starts out with the idea and concept of self-care and essentially finding internal peace.

She quotes Audre Lorde in a passage, “Self-care isn’t an act of selfishness, it’s self-preservation, and it’s as vital as oxygen is to my well-being.”
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greek orzo salad: perfect summer & july 4th picnic recipe

greek orzo salad recipe

So I had tried a greek orzo salad at this restaurant a few years ago and thought about making it at home. I put together a few ingredients and then each time I made it, I perfected it with different items. Now a days, I throw it together anytime we need to go on a picnic or for a potluck since it’s the perfect take along dish. It’s easy to make in large batches, is vegetarian and tastes so good. My mother in law even asked for the recipe and followed it step by step to make for all her friends, (she still raves about it), and we all know what a big compliment that is when your moms like something YOU made instead of vice versa! It’s perfect for the summer  since it’s cool and refreshing so be sure to try it out for your next summer gathering, especially if you are having a 4th of July party… it’s a total crowd pleaser;) Let me know if you make it!

-Puja

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pregnant and craving wine?

Navarro Vineyards Grape Juice

When I was pregnant, it didn’t ever feel like I missed wine a whole lot, but there were definitely certain dinners or moments I thought, “Ah, how nice it would be to unwind with my husband again over a glass of California Pinot Noir.”

Our friends Maya and Kunjal up in San Fran know and enjoy their wines like we do… and pre-baby, we would make it up to Napa and Sonoma at least once a year to indulge and try the newest and oldest collections with them and other friends. Kunjal recommended Navarro Vineyards Grape Juice to us when we were with them during my pregnancy and my husband remembered that, so for my 30th birthday surprise party, he ordered a case so I too could partake in the clank of birthday cheers with everyone else’s glasses. [Read more...]