Your Health and Your Kitchen

Recently, I was diagnosed with diabetes. The writing was on the wall, the disease is on both sides of my family and ever since I passed forty I have become very lazy about exercise and eating healthy. My unhealthy lifestyle certainly added to my chances of becoming diabetic. I felt sorry for myself for a few days, but then I decided to get motivated and do something positive. Cooking my own meals has always been a way for me to eat delicious food, manage calories and save money.

At my office, it is not unusual to spend $10 for a lunch high in calories and usually low on nutrition. This expense and calorie glut only adds to the problem of trying to eat smart. If your office is like mine, there are always trays of doughnuts, bagels, wraps, and desserts around, as well as the bowls of candy that are on our desks. When Halloween and Christmas roll around it’s a safe bet that your weight starts creeping up.


I have learned to control my diet and spare my wallet by trying to fulfill my needs in my own kitchen. Being diabetic means eating frequently and always being aware of sugar content and carbohydrate consumption. Having my lunches and snacks with me helps me to avoid all the temptation lurking at the office.

I love to cook and plan my meals, and read the food section and advertisements for specials. There are a lot of people who simply are not able to cook all the time and are too time deficient to do these jobs. Hiring a personal attaché for a few hours a week can make a huge difference in your life. Together, we would create a weekly shopping list taking advantage of store sales, and focusing on your (and your family’s) needs.

A very important part of being able to create and design wonderful meals and snacks is working in a kitchen that is well appointed and user friendly. Your kitchen should entice you to experiment with cooking and get excited about food. Regular inventory of your groceries, organizing the cooking items and arranging the area to “make sense” keeps costs down and makes preparing meals much faster and easier. There are wonderful organizational products for sale that help maximize efficiency and production in the kitchen.

I offer these services as a 21 year veteran of commercial kitchen production, catering, personal meal preparation and my own love of cooking and feeding people. It is a great pleasure to have people enjoy not only my preparations, but to assist them in developing a better relationship with food and their kitchens!

Peggy Sparks
Personal Attaché (specializing in kitchen and diet optimization)

Attaché Services, LLC
Helping Women Thrive in Their Personal and Professional Lives
11951 Freedom Drive, Suite 1300
Reston, VA 20190
703-251-4526
http://www.attacheservices.com/

The Power of a Woman’s Legacy

I attended a charity event over the weekend that moved me. It’s not a well-known, big name charity. The Georgia V. Nichols-Campbell Foundation was established by a woman, a mother, a teacher in Arkansas whose mission was to help students in Eudora, Arkansas attend college.

Years later, her son carries on her legacy, with his own wife and daughter looking on in support as he delivers the keynote address. I got stuck after his first sentence. He shared something that left such a vivid image in my mind. He said, ‘now I understand why my mother was horse after each of these events’. When he said that, something shot all the way through my body. It caused me to picture this strong, motivated, self-sacrificing, determined, busy, female professional. I could see her getting up morning after morning to prepare her own children for school as she prepared to go in and devote her time and energy to building the next generation of leaders. That, alone, was a full plate. But she wasn’t satisfied with just that – she wanted to see her children (her biological children and her students) reach their potential and attend college. But she didn’t stop there – she actually galvanized hundreds of people to raise funds to send ‘her children’ to college. But her legacy didn’t stop there – it was so strong that her son carried the torch all the way to Northern Virginia.

Women amaze me.

So, how do you build that kind of legacy? How do you leave a legacy that has total strangers in awe of you, simply at a few words spoken by your offspring. Isn't this what all mother’s dream of? Leaving a mark that is so significant that your children are devoted to a life of service in your honor? I don’t know that anything else could make a mother more proud.

Legacy is something we all leave. It’s not only reserved for the wealthy or well-educated or high-achieving or a certain race or gender or economic status. It is something we have control over, although we don't always consciously acknowledge it. It’s something that gets passed down from generation to generation. It’s the fuel of dreams. It’s the secret motivator behind action.

We are shaping the future of our world by the legacy we are leaving. Legacy is a compilation of all the little decisions, little interactions, little experiences all tied together. We all need to be more deliberate about the legacy we leave. Its too critical, and as I witnessed in the event this weekend, it will impact not just our own families but people all over this world who come in contact with those we've influenced and the work we have started. What a huge responsibility - but, what I huge privilege.

So, in the midst of our busy lives, lets make sure we preserve energy for leaving a legacy that will count.

Attaché Services, LLC

Helping Women Thrive in Their Personal and Professional Lives
11951 Freedom Drive, Suite 1300
Reston, VA 20190
703-251-4526
http://www.attacheservices.com/

Personal Downsizing - Doing More With Less

Whether we choose to or are forced to, all of us will need to adapt to this changing economic climate. As corporate leaders, your business unit will need to meet it's objectives with less people. As homeowners, some will have to decide to sell or face foreclosure, them move to a less expensive home. Many will think twice before taking a long road trip and instead will opt to travel less and vacation closer to home.

Times are changing and we must change in our personal lives as well. We need to have a personal downsizing excercise. We need to choose what stays and what goes. We need to ask ourselves how we can do more with less. How can we enjoy life and spend less money? Here are some ideas:

• Host a Halloween costume exchange at your home
• Instead of going to a movie, pull out a board game or deck of cards
• Walk to the grocery store
• Buy items on sale or in bulk
• Shop online, taking advantage of free shipping specials
• Carpool or take public transportation
• Work from home more often
• Bring your own lunch instead of eating out

But, what if you could do MORE chores in LESS time?

How about if you could have MORE energy and LESS burnout?

How would you feel if you could do MORE of the things that really matter to you and spend LESS time on busy work?

Here's how Attache Services has helped our clients do MORE (using us) with LESS (of their own time and energy):

• Organized closets, drawers, and cabinets so weekends can be spent relaxing
• Cleared out clutter in a library so family time can be more enjoyable
• Identified and completed a list of to-dos in preparation for a vacation, eliminating the exhaustion experienced by travelers before they even get to their destination
• Created a filing system for personal and business materials, so work can get done without frustration and wasting time locating items
• Completed errands and shopping, so work and quality personal time didnt have to be interrupted

We specialize in helping women do more with less.

BUT, there's more! Not only will we do the work, but we will help you decide what work needs to be done during our complimentary consultation.

Call us today to begin your own personal downsizing.

Attaché Services LLC
Helping Women Thrive in Their Personal and Professional Lives
11951 Freedom Drive, Suite 1300
Reston, VA 20190
office - 703-251-4526
mobile - 571-245-1818
www.attacheservices.com