Ten days into the new year, and many of us are still trying to make time to put our grand resolutions for 2017 in place. Either many of us have resolved to eat better, exercise more, start a budget, be patient with our children…or some of us are still figuring out what our goals should […]

Shopping season is here—unless you are one of those super organized people who shop all year for Christmas and store up gifts in your hall closet, most of us spend December running around, looking for that special gift for those on our list, and hopefully finding a good deal as well.  With the retailers tossing

I am a saver at heart and like to have all my buckets “funded”; I make a special effort throughout the year to slowly build up my gift account.  I have a separate bank account that I transfer money into every week, albeit, just a microscopic amount based on the amount of money I typically […]

We live in a very large neighborhood that is packed with kids. So, as you can imagine, Halloween is a very big deal. We were warned in advance to stock up on way more candy than we thought we would need, because we would almost certainly run out. I did actually overestimate on this front, […]

This past week, the fact that I pay in advance for the kids to be able to order lunch at school was discussed in our car one morning.  Ben, my youngest son, said “You pay for those lunches?  I thought they were free.”  To which my sassy ten year old daughter replied, “Seriously?  Nobody gives […]

This year’s election stands as one of the most contentious with two of the most unpopular candidates in history. While the campaigning is certainly providing plenty of material for late night talk show hosts, Saturday Night Live, and cable news channels, the impact of the winning candidate concerns many Americans.

Two weekends ago, the entire Meridian family headed out to Airlie in Warrenton, VA for our “second annual” picture session. The purpose was twofold; 1) to get updated pictures for our website and office, and 2) have some nice photos for our Christmas cards each year. As far as family pictures go, things

If you don’t know already, I love to play golf, so I apologize again for making so many references to golf. But, after a long weekend of beautiful weather (even though we need rain!), golf is certainly on my mind. There are lots of golf expressions out there, and in some ways, the sport* has […]

Every year, we return to the same condo at Sandbridge Beach—we enjoy the same activities as the year before, and we eat at the same favorite restaurants.  It may sound boring, but our familiarity with the accommodations and the area relieves the stressful unknown of going somewhere new. The comfort of the known is