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Thursday, January 28, 2016

Time Saver: Lemon Water Cubes


In our neighborhood many of our neighbors have citrus trees and we are often given lemons. We planted citrus trees last year, but do not have any fruit yet. We actually think 2 of the trees died, which is a total bummer. Anyways....recently we were given a TON of lemons and usually I juice them and freeze the juice in jars. This time my mother in law suggested I put them in ice cube trays and pop into my water every so often for lemon water. Oh yea great idea MIL, why didn't I think of that sooner?! I actually have clients who do this on a regular basis as well. I guess it just needed it to hit me in the face. I juiced all the lemons in my juicer, but it is super easy to do it by hand as well. One of my clients uses Mumi & Bubi baby food trays and I love using these too because it is sooooo easy to pop the frozen lemon cubes out. They are made in New Zealand. I always put the leftover juice in jars to freeze and some in the frig to use. This is such a time saver and something that will force me to drink more water more often. I am going to post something, hopefully soon, of many time saving kitchen/meal tips I've learned from experience and from awesome clients. What are some of your time saving tips?








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Wednesday, January 6, 2016

2016 Goals


For the past couple of years I have been posting my goals for the year. Here are 2015 goals. 2015 was a great year, but at the same time a tough year with loss. When I was writing down my goals during the holidays without ever looking back at what I wrote (I need to do this more often through the year), I realized I wrote many of the same goals that I had last year. Not listed are goals my husband and I made together for 2016 that we want to accomplish together.

Let's recap my 2015 goals, which I think I can always work on:
  • Be more positive: I think I did great with this, well, at least much better than previous years.
  • Have gratitude: I am forever grateful for what I have, whom I am surrounded by, what I get to do, etc. etc.
  • Be more patient: Still working on this one, but I think I did much better this past year.
  • Be present: I really need to still work on this. I did ok.
  • Go somewhere new: We went to Edisto Beach, SC and was able to explore Charleston and Destin, FL along the way. Some of us road tripped it and I rode with my aunt and uncle.
  • Stress less: this past year was stressful in many ways. Still need to work on it.
  • Try / learn something new: I tried a ton of new things this past year. I need to do a post about this.
  • Accomplish yoga goals: I still can't do the splits, but feel I can hold me plank longer. 
  • Host more parties and dinners in our new home: We had a lot of people over, but I didn't host as many as I would like. 

2016 Goals

Meal Plan: I love the cook, but frankly Bryan and I just don't always have the time to. This will save time, money and hopefully not waste as much. We ate out and many Trader Joe's frozen foods (we don't normally eat a ton of frozen food that I didn't prepare, but most of their frozen foods are really good and we love their fried rice)

Random Acts of Kindness: I have done this in the past, but I want to do it more this year.


Learn to Use my Camera: I love my camera I got last year and have learned so much about it. I have only really used it to take blogging pictures. I want use it to take more everyday pictures.


More Me Time: This past October I we were in Austin for a music festival and I stayed longer than Bryan to attend SXSW Eco. I rented an eco Airbnb. I LOVED having the downtime to myself. Don't get me wrong I love being around Bryan, but it was very stress free away from the general demands of life. I went to Black Swan Yoga, got a haircut at Milk + Honey, tried several different oyster places during happy hour, went to different eateries in general, did a little shopping (found a love for Outdoor Voices), watched tv, wrote, read and met up with a friend. It was fun and I want to do it again this maybe back to Austin because I LOVE Austin or somewhere else. Several years ago I would go different places here and there to decompress maybe I'll start doing that again like yoga, meditation, museums, zoo, etc. 


Try / learn something new: I am adding this again because I had so much fun with it the past couple of years.



2015 Business Goals Recap:

  • Blog more for Eco Modern Concierge (perhaps the personal blog too): I did blog more than I had in the past, but not consistently like I would have liked. I think I may shut down my personal blog because I am not sure I want my life of my husband and I exposed like that. Still thinking about it....
  • Work more and find something that really challenges me: I worked a lot more and so thankful for new clients and connections I made this past year. There were plenty of challenges along the way and I am always up for more!
  • Collaborate with and meet new people in the area: Well I certainly met a TON of new people in 2015. I really got out of my comfort zone and went for it. I did get to collaborate with some great people.

2016 Business Goals:

Collaborate More / Establish Relationships: I would still really like to collaborate with more businesses, bloggers and people in general. Whether it is in Houston or elsewhere. I have great relationships with my clients, but I want to establish ongoing and good relationships with the people, businesses, vendors, etc. that I work with throughout the year. Along with meeting new people, businesses, etc to collaborate with and build working, business relationships with.


Write Down Successes (big & small): I want to really remember everything I accomplished (or didn't)  throughout the year and it's hard to remember if I don't write it down. I also just want to keep a log of who've reached out to, who has reached out to me, and just day to day things I do to hopefully grow & improve my business.


Teach / Write More Articles: This kind of goes with collaborating, but I would really like to teach more perhaps add some workshops or online courses and guest contribute on blogs. 


Join more Professional Organizations: There are several professional organizations that I have been wanting to join for sometime now and I just need to pay the money and do it. I try to look at it in a way where it is beneficial for price vs. how many clients come of it or connections I make through it. You never know who you will meet.


Up My Promotional Material Game: I really need to get new gift certificates and promotional material made. I want to try to source it locally and eco hopefully. 


Blog / Create an Editorial Calendar: I was really hesitant to put this on my list of business goals because blogging really hasn't been my thing. I enjoy it, but It takes sooooo much time. Hopefully if I create an editorial calendar it will be something that I can stick to and not pressure myself to write often. It's hard to come up with new, unique content that others haven't already covered. I'll keep on trying. 

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