Creating pleasant seasonal rituals and routines has many benefits, bringing our awareness and focus to the present moment, relieving stress, and enhancing gratefulness. Good habits are well-planned, regular and predictable. Predictable rituals motivate everything from buying habits to household activities. ...

Time has a way of triggering us to find a way to sort through life’s trinkets and treasures. Unplanned life events also force an evaluation: an unexpected retirement,  adult children or elderly parents moving to your house or you moving to theirs. ...

How many times have you talked about your bucket list? It's a fun conversation to have with friends and often turns up s a few surprises. If you don't have anything on your bucket list, maybe it's time to get one. Your bucket list is a roadmap to stay on track to self-fulfillment and to try new things, some for entertainment or pleasure, others for professional goals. Read on to find out what's on the bucket lists of some Northeast Ohio folks (and what they did about it), and find out how to get going on yours. ...

Girlfriends. They’re celebrated in pop culture but can be elusive in our own lives, especially as we age. When the kids leave home or we leave our jobs, we can lose those convenient and easy friendships that emerged from our more transitory, midlife stage. ...

Cheap, chic and oh-so-fun, furnishing your home with thrifted and consigned items is exploding in popularity. While many of us are right-sizing at this stage of life (and depositing unwanted items at consignment and thrift stores), others have discovered those very places are also great spots to unearth new-to-you treasures. ...

The first decision to navigate is where to live. Mine, yours or ours? Is it best to sell both homes and purchase one together? Of course, the financials need a deep dive, and having a financial planner involved is a vital piece to the puzzle.  ...

How’s it working for you?  We’re talking about your space. Spending an entire year mostly homebound, working, relaxing, teaching and cooking, we learned what is and isn't working for us. As we slide into spring 2021, many of us are more motivated than ever to improve our spaces to better reflect our personalities, activities and families. It’s not about perfect magazine spaces but curated joyful spaces.  ...

Over time, a relationship with older grandchildren means seeing each other during the holidays and major family events. Grandparents can feel marginalized during this later stage. It is on us to look for opportunities and common threads of interest to stay relevant and connected.  ...