We are meant to have goals in our life. Money is not the goal.   It's a means to reach our goal. It requires more patience and more planning when we make use of this resources. What would you like to do other than making money?

Curiosity is more important than money.  We all want to go to our dreamland. Where is your dreamland? Spot a place that you have fascinated for long to have a visit. It is my curiosity to explore the different between the dreamland on my mind and the reality. I would like to visit Wordsworth House in Cockermouth of Cumberland. You feel amazing to follow the footsteps of Wordsworth to find whether the golden daffodils are growing “beside the lake, beneath the trees "fluttering and dancing in the breeze" and "tossing their heads in sprightly dance“.  I wonder whether the daffodils are really so much beautiful same with Wordsworth had described in his poetry. I really want to take a closer look.

Homemade D.I.Y stuff is a creature adventure. It is easy, frugal, creative and fulfilling.  It demands from us to focus both physically and mentally on a task. If you’re concentrating on your crafty work, you can’t be worrying about anything. It also gives a great feeling of pride in using your hands to create something unique. There is something wonderful about pointing to your baby’s shoes and saying “I did that".  Every stuff has its own character, it charms, you feel good about your creativity. You make it and your loved one used it.

Sometimes, I feel tired in a relationship, I talk to myself:

I can do much work as any man,
I know how to cook my food;
I can do my laundry;
I can earn the money to support my kids;
I can drive the car to any place I want to go;
I can even fight and beat a strong person;
I have friends to hang out with...
If so, I don't need a man....

And when I felt loneliness, I wanted to find the companionship. I realized that someone you couldn't find, someone you shouldn’t find, and someone you were not able to find...

Well, yes, you would feel so good to have someone that you want to spend the time in the rest of your life and a heart fill with love. When you feel tired in a relationship, do you remember the day you first start talking with each other?  Travel back in time when you first met him. You knew that exciting, terrifying feeling like butterflies in your stomach. Set up the romantic moment with him, have a candle light dinner, end with a kiss like the first time all over again....

Gathering with the school friends bring me back to the days when I was 20 something youth. Friendship beat money.  People around keep talking, telling jokes, someone burst out laughing. It is the magic of the community leads to happy quality time.

While you give your time to help the local charity, you feel good about yourself not only because you are helping others, it will also help you.  Maybe you can join the program of foster parents by using a couple of hours reading, playing, sitting, and talking with children. Give the children love and attention.

My world is boring.  I want something new and exciting to feed my brains. Reading a book is a great way to explore something extraordinary out of my realm of understandings.  It gives me a lot of fun, imagination, entertainment, and learning.

I couldn’t agree more that the happiness part of the vacation happens when you start planning or anticipating a great time ahead, aren’t you?  Summer vacation had become a routine for my family. The journey can be heaven, or it can be hell. Nevertheless, few things in life that will impact you as much as traveling will.  It’s better to travel thousands of miles than to read thousands of books. On the other hands, travel miles but learning nothing, then you are just a postman (proverb).  The adventure is out there. How will traveling impact your life?

Riding the hot air balloon to take a glance at the stunning view of the magnificent landscape in Luxor is never short of amazing. My hubby, John, asked the pilot:
John: "Why did all those hot air balloons not fly in the same directions?"
Pilot: "It is normal.  The balloon flight path is depending on the wind condition and pilot control."
John: "Had accident occurred before?"
Pilot: "Yes, sometimes accident did happen. I think this time is ok."
John: "How long have you been working for piloting the balloon?"
Pilot: "Oh, me? I learned the skill of piloting and practice 5 times. And then I can do the job.”
John: "Do you need to get a license to do this job?"
Pilot: "Yes, I used three hours and then I was able to get the license."

The balloon was not moving stable and the pilot seemed unsure where the balloon could be landed.  All passengers grasped the basket tightly and prayed for a safe landing.  The balloon was finally landing on the sugar cane field which was not in the planned location. They stayed on the ground for half hour waiting for the crew to collect the passengers and equipment.

And there were many more stories from the traveling experience...

Ever wonder you would feel boring on a cruise?  If you are traveling by plane, you only have to endure for hours.  And the cruise trip is talking about staying on a ship for weeks.  The key is who is your companion.  Last year I asked my mom to join our family vacation trip on a cruise. When she was young, she never had the time and money to travel.  I couldn’t agree more to believe that “the greatest tragedy of the family is the unlived lives of the parents” (Carl Gustav Jung).   I enjoy the time to talk about life with my mom on the ship deck at 2 am.

Every trip is meant to be an Easter egg-riddled journey for the kids. The children are having so much fun when they are playing around.  A child can laugh 500 times per day! Ever wonder why the children laugh much more often than adults do.  We don't need to be serious all the time, leave ourselves some time for pure silliness, like a child.  Maybe everyone has a child heart, whether you are six or sixty years old.

Every trip is once in a lifetime journey. You may have a chance to visit the same place in some other days. But what you feel the moment right now would never be the same in another time on another day. I have a habit to keep a pen and a notebook (hard copy) handy so that the best of those feeling made it to paper all the way along the journey. You would feel more in control and is missing less.

People say that if you don’t like selfie, it’s a sign that you’re old.  It is common for the kids to get hooked to post the stunning photos on Facebook to win thousands of “like” as if they had made a remarkable achievement. Well, yes, I saw numerous spectacular selfies were impressive, but the cost is high if they persuade this interest to the stupid behavior.  During my summer vacation in two years before, I had joined a boating activity with the kids. A young girl tourist enjoyed selfie all the time focus on the phone camera rather than the dangerous environment. BAM! She had overturned, her head crashed with hard stone, dreadful scarp face was the result.

Traveling allows you to understand the other culture and make new friends. What is the topic you would like to talk with a stranger? I love to talk about eating and food.  Exotic food culture is fascinating:

You were not able to enjoy the vacation if your hubby did not remember to switch off from his office work. I told him what was the meaning of the family vacation if he spent most of his time checking and replying emails. Many people get an incomplete concept to think that if you want a career, you have to sacrifice your family life. If you want a family life, you have to sacrifice your career. How come your time is an accounting of minutes? Your time is a measure of commitment, concern, and efficiency. Not everything is a zero-sum game.  Most people you encounter are just visitors. The family is for life.

For some people, they are not able to get over the anxiety from non-refundable fares, tight schedule, security issues, natural disasters or any other inconvenience things that may happen on vacation.  It did happen when you asked a cab driver for the places of best theaters or restaurants, but he brought you to the crappy place that is far from your expectation. It's not a big deal.  Vacations are meant for enjoyment.  We should spend the time to unwind and relax.  It is true "there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing" (Alfred Wainwright).

Are you settling for less than you deserve? How settled are you?  How will you describe yourself?
Unmoved as a rock
A vase rarely moves an inch; or
A bird in a cage; or
A lamb ties a belt around its neck; or
A swallow is flying to a faraway destination occasionally stop over for a rest; or
A fly is flying aimlessly to nowhere.

What if you are an artist to build the rock balancing work.
It seems like impossible and unlikely. You get it. It’s difficult. Not impossible.

Have you ever asked your parents how much they had sacrificed for the family? What were the opportunities that they had given up?  What was the cost?  Are you willing to make the same sacrifice? Why? What did they say?  How about you?

You aren’t the same as your parents were 20 years ago.  You have new experiences and lessons learned.  And society isn’t the same either.  You like to find new ways to balance and blend career and family. You can do it.

1. Essential vs. Useful
Not everything has equal importance. If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will. It takes discipline and knowing your own priorities.  Your boss may demand extra long hours; your co-workers may ask you to solve their problems, or your friend may ask you to buy them something. Couldn’t agree more for the hardest thing to say is "no" because you want to be helpful, to be nice and to get approval from peers and boss.  However, you need to say no to create more time to focus on your current priorities.

When someone comes to distract your current priority, you've to ask yourself:
Is it important?
Is it important for me?
Is it important now?
Essential and Useful is not the same.

Great performance at work is useful, approval from the boss is useful, but family relationship is essential.  The family should come before business, isn’t it?

2. It’s not Zero-Sum Game
When you talk about work-life balance. It is as if you are asking can a woman half pregnant?  If you spend more money on housing, you will have to spend less on your car. Many people view their lives in much the same way that every additional expense has to be matched with an equal reduction in spending. If they want career, they have to sacrifice family time. If they want a family life, they have to sacrifice their career. This concept is misleading.

The quantity of hours spent working or thinking about work, or hours spent with our families, does not predict achievement or life satisfaction. Instead, the quality of those hours- how stressful or relaxing they are – is a much more crucial in producing a satisfying family life and career.  Your time is a measure of commitment, concern, and efficiency, not just quantity.  You manage to do what you are doing when you are doing it.

3. You Always Have a Choice
Feeling guilty about working, feeling guilty about not working and contributing to the family, feeling guilty about not making enough homemade dinners, feeling guilty about enjoying 'me time'? The hard thing is that sometimes we forget we have a choice. We feel like the choice had already been made for us. Things will be what they will be.

If you’re a career mum and the nine-to-five, Monday to Friday grind is not worked for you.  You may talk to your boss about flexible schedule; or reduce your hours to a part-time job.

Unless you’re in prison, you don’t have to do anything. You choose to do things. You might ask, “What difference does that make? I have to do the laundry, or I choose to do the laundry. Either way it has to be done.” It’s the difference between taking an action because something of value is at stake for you and taking an action because you are being forced to do so.  Doing the laundry is a choice you make because you value being clean.  You do the laundry for your family members because you love them. Is anyone forcing you to do the laundry? No. When you see all the options you have, you can begin to appreciate the choices you make.