The lost ritual of family dinner and how to rediscover it

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As we hurtle through 2019 it’s easy to forget where we came from, and how far we have come. From nomads living in the savage darkness of prehistory to present day, where our cities grow millions strong. The way we live and communicate has evolved quickly and dramatically. The idea of family is now malleable, your friends are your family and you are free to make a new family with whomever you want and however you want.

Rapid social change has been welcomed by most and despised by some, but there is something that hasn’t changed since the dawn of man. Our love of food. More specifically, or love of sharing food with others.

The shared meal is a cornerstone of our species. It brings us together, however fleetingly, and as we share food; we share ourselves. Some meals become ritual, like the family dinner, where every night the family has a chance to be together as one and learn about each other’s lives.

Sadly though, as the frenetic pace of modern life continues, some of our rituals disappear. The sit-down family dinner seems almost like an antique but is as important now as it ever was to communicate with your family, whoever or whatever that means to you.

Bring it to the surface

A clean and sturdy surface for eating is paramount to reclaiming the ritual of family dinner. You don’t need much, just a family (the hardest part!) and a space to eat. Your surface will need adequate size and strength…but where to find such a coveted item? Shockingly, a dining room table ticks all these boxes.

Obviously, the size of your family dictates the size of dining table needed. If your family consists of you, your mysterious house mate and his pet mouse, a small dining table would be perfect. Larger families may even consider going the entire dining room set.

How’s it made?

To be sure the ritual becomes a ritual you will need to repeat it. By establishing a set time for meals, you reinforce the idea that a significant group event is taking place. The food shared is almost irrelevant, if the family is brought together and communicating the ritual is complete. Making all members of the family feel comfortable and relaxed is important, again, the choice of dining table can have a huge impact on comfort levels.

When choosing a dining table, take into consideration the seating arrangement and materials used for construction. Rectangle shaped dining tables such as this dining table from Domayne provide a classic shape with enough room to house a large family. Round tables are another less popular option, they provide no more seating than a rectangular table whilst taking up more floorspace. A round table can make the family feel equal (no big boss taking up the head of the table) and can be a perfect way to serve food in a fun way (lazy Susanne anyone?)

Incentives

Once the dining table has been found and placed in an ideal location (watch for corridors of movement, and as a rule leave about half a meter of space between chairs and walls.) The second step is to prepare the food. As stated previously, the food you share is almost irrelevant, but GOOD food will keep things fresh and ensure everyone wants to be there. Foods that are fun to share are a good way to add some spice to family dinner.

As we soar into the future, we must be grateful for the things we have and the people we love. In 2019 family means different things to different folk, but we must cherish our families and make a conscious effort to come together. Hopefully, the lost ritual of family dinner will be making a comeback.

Image by Karolina Grabowska from Pixabay


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Mistakes To Avoid When Storing Gold

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Gold has enchanted us since time began, and has always been the most recognised form of wealth that is globally accepted, yet it can easily get damaged, and with that in mind, here are a few gold storage mistakes to avoid.

Storing Gold

  • Forgetting Where You Left It – It is very easy to suddenly have an idea of a secret place to leave an item of gold, then completely forget about it. Out of sight is out of mind, so you won’t be thinking about the item, and when you do finally remember, you have forgotten where you put it.
  • No Secure Storage – If you leave an item of gold jewellery laying around, the chances are it will disappear, and rather than taking any chances, you should keep all gold items in a secure location. If you are looking to buy or sell gold, check out GoldBuyersMelbourne.com.au, who are a leading gold dealer who you can trust. Many investors have their wealth in gold bars, which they keep in a safety deposit box, which is the safest place to keep such valuable commodities.
  • Avoid Hard Surfaces – Gold is a very soft and malleable metal, therefore you should avoid it coming into contact with any hard surfaces, which would easily scratch the gold. Gold jewellery should be kept in small velvet bags, which ensures the item does not come into contact with any material. Putting a gold watch in the same pocket as your car keys could damage the surface, so it is important to avoid any abrasion with solid objects.
  • Jewellery Damage – All kinds of things can damage the surface of gold, such as perfumes, lotions and sprays, so you should clean your gold jewellery on a regular basis. You can learn how to clean gold jewellery from this informative blog, which will help you keep your gold jewellery in tip-top condition. There are custom jewellers who also repair gold jewellery, so before you sell a broken item for scrap, find out if it is repairable, as this might be a better option.
  • Wearing Gold While Swimming – Many people lose a necklace, ring or bracelet when swimming in the ocean, so it is a general rule to remove all gold jewellery before going for a swim in the sea. On the beaches of Sydney, there are gold hunters who patrol the sands with a metal detector, and gold jewellery is a common find. Wearing gold when playing contact sports is never a good idea, as the gold could injure a third party, not to mention yourself.

As gold is such a valuable commodity, one should always store it in a safe and secure location, and gold jewellery needs to be cleaned often, which will help it to maintain its glow and shine. If you would like to add some gold to your portfolio, there are online gold dealers who can sell you gold in many different forms, and all it takes to find a reputable gold bullion dealer is an online search.

 

Image by Markéta Machová from Pixabay


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Lamudi Launched Housing Fair 2019 at TriNoma

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Lamudi has facilitated again another successful housing fair. This year, the leading real estate platform launched the series at the TriNoma Activity Center. Like the past lodging fairs, the Lamudi Housing Fair in Trinoma offered a broad selection of property offerings from some of the country’s biggest industry players. The exhibitors were SMDC, Aspire by Filinvest, Futura by Filinvest, Prestige by Filinvest, The Hauslands, Amiya Raya, Taft Properties, Robinsons Communities, BPI Family Housing Loan, Grand Monaco, Ortigas & Company, Phinma Properties, Pag-IBIG Fund, SandariBatulao, and Suntrust.

Online Real Estate Marketing Seminars

More than property selling, the housing fair also aimed to educate and help real estate experts boost their businesses. As such, the individuals who were in participation were blessed to receive free online land promoting trainings led by Lamudi Academy’s learning development coaches. Some of the topics discussed during the two-day event were Top Online Lead GenerationChannels,  Conversion of Online Leads to Sales and The Power of Lamudi.

Property Discounts and Foreclosure Auction

Exclusive property discounts were also given away to aspiring property seekers. Similarly, Unionbank also hosted a property auction at affordable price points.

Homebuying Seminars

For first time homebuyers, the Lamudi Housing Fair at TriNoma also gave prospective property buyers the lowdown into how to approach this important but otherwise challenging undertaking. Representatives from Pag-IBIG Fund talked about the agency’s End-User Financing Program while the Land Registration Authority was also present in the event to guide property seekers in their land titling concerns and questions.

Several experts in various facets of real estate also imparted their knowledge to property seekers and sellers. For instance, a talk on Property Photography was discussed, as well as Interior Design Essentials, especially for small spaces.

“The Lamudi Housing Fair is the perfect venue for those actively and passively looking to invest in a property. Each one of our housing fairs has a goal to connect buyers to the right people so they can make the right decision. By bringing together property seekers and property sellers, we are helping them understand the steps involved in the decision-making process and learn from each other.” Lamudi CEO Bhavna Suresh said of the Lamudi Housing Fair.

“We had hoped that TriNoma would set the tone positively for this year’s run and needless to say, we were not disappointed by the turnout. The following ones will offer the same benefits, if not more, to attendees as we really want our housing fairs to provide value and worth their time.”

The next Lamudi Housing Fair will be happening on July 20 to 21 at Glorietta, followed by SM Cebu in September, and lastly, SM Mall of Asia in December.

The Lamudi Housing Fair in TriNoma was sponsored by DMCI Homes, Aboitiz Land, Land Bank of the Philippines, Land Registration Authority, Food Panda, and Red Doors, also, in partnership with Philippine Daily Inquirer Property, Business Mirror, Business World, Malaya Business Insight, The Philippine Star and ThinkBIT as official registration partner.

For more information, please visit the official website.

 


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How to Get Started With Your Own Interior Design Company

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interior design

Starting any business is no easy feat, even when your business is centered around a hobby that you’re passionate about, like interior design. It has different complexes than starting an ecommerce business, and you should understand the ins and outs. The world of interior design business is vast and growing. The bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census found that the amount of interior designers increased by 11.9 percent to 68,067. The number of firms also are up by nearly 6 percent to 12,642. If you’re considering starting your interior design company, here are a few steps you should take:

Determine Your Niche

There are many niches in interior design, and by honing in on one of them, you can stand out from the rest. For instance, do you want to focus on basement remodeling, furniture refinishing, or one of the many other dozens of subfields in interior design? Sometimes, you might find yourself honing in on a theme instead of a particular area. Whatever niche you decide on, be sure of two things 1) It’s a niche you’re passionate and happy to work with and 2) it’s a profitable niche.

Think About Branding

As an interior designer, branding is very important. After all, interior design is a very visual field, and how your brand represents itself is of the utmost important. Your website design is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. People will make judgements based on first impressions alone, and if you haven’t put thought into what your branding will be, you could lose valuable clients. Branding is how you differentiate yourself from the hundreds of other interior design companies out there. Take a look at this list of small business branding success stories to help steer you in the right direction.  

Don’t Forget About SEO

No matter how great your services are, if you don’t have the right SEO strategy, it becomes very difficult to excel above your competition without a plan. “Every business needs SEO to increase brand awareness,” says eWeb Results, an agency that offers Houston SEO services. “If you aren’t proficient in SEO, you should work with a reputable local agency who has proficiency in your area. The ultimate goal is to rank locally for people looking for those services in your area.”

Organic search is the primary source of website traffic; although paid traffic can be fruitful, it cannot outdo organic search. Search engine optimization also helps build credibility and trust with search engines, because it ultimately aids the user experience—which is what Google cares highly about.

Build Your Portfolio

When you launch your business, initially you might find trouble seeking your initial batch of clients. This is because you’ll find yourself in a classic Catch-22 situation: you can’t get clients without a portfolio, and you can’t secure a portfolio without clients.

For this reason, you should highly consider doing some client work for free when you’re just starting out. You’ll get some much needed work from offering your services for free, as well as some early reviews that can help you win paying clients. However, before you take on design clients pro bono, be sure that they have the budget to accommodate what they’re looking for. This helps protect you from from failing at an insurmountable project.

Photos, Photos, Photos

As an interior designer, you need as many photos as possible. You’ll need great photos for your portfolio, your website, and your social media pages. In interior design, your pictures are the digital property that represent your talents. If you don’t have a professional camera, it’s time to invest in one. And if you aren’t proficient with leading editing software, consider hiring a freelancer. This will help save you some valuable time, and will ensure you put your best foot forward each time you post a photo.

Launch a Blog

A blog is the perfect foundation for an ideal SEO strategy. In fact, websites with blogs are nearly 500% more likely to get indexed in Google results pages. First and foremost, you should create an editorial calendar to keep your blogging efforts on track. Consistency is very important here.

Use contests and popular events to help launch your blog. For example, the annual One Room Challenge is an interior design challenge that encourages homeowners to redesign a single room in their home over the course of six weeks. Though the official challenge consists of 20 bloggers competing in this design showdown, hundreds of other participate unofficially. And many bloggers follow one another in a quest to become inspired by the work of others. Over the course of six weeks, many bloggers experience an influx of traffic during this time.

Image by MagicDesk from Pixabay
 


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4 Things To Consider When Buying A New Rod

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Often, new fishers take the time to replace their line every time they get a new reel. That’s because they tend to keep line on their reel longer than they should. But it’s something that needs changing a little more frequently than you may realise.

The same goes for your fishing rod. If you’ve decided it’s time for a new fishing rod, here are a few things to consider when buying a new one.

1. The Weight Of The Rod

There’s no right or wrong choice when it comes to picking the perfect rod. But things can get a little daunting. Once you know what you’re looking for, it gets much easier.

If you’re going for smaller fish, you’ll want an ultra-light rod. The smaller, lightweight rods are perfect for first time fishers, too, and youngsters who are just getting into fishing.

Lightweight rods are great for popular pan fish, while medium light and medium rods are perfect for trout, catfish, bass and walleye. If you’re after bigger fish, like pike and salmon, you’ll need a medium to heavy rod. For really big fish like tuna, opt for a heavy-duty rod.

If you’re a more experienced fisherman, you’ll probably want a good assortment of rods, like one of those Jig rods, in different weights. But a good starting point is a rod weight that matches the kind of fish you’re going after.

2. Length And Action

Length and action are closely related. Shorter rods are extremely light, so you’ll notice the entire pole bend when you catch a fish.

When it comes to picking out a new rod, look at both the weight and the line rating. Typically, shorter rods have lower line ratings which could limit the type of fish you could go after.

The action of a rod is the amount of bend when pressure is applied to the end. A good choice for first-timers is a multiple action rod as it will allow the action of the rod to alter depending on the size of the fish.

3. Rod Construction

Design and construction play important roles in your rod’s reliability and durability as well as ease of use. If your rod just isn’t serving you well out on the water, it’s time for a new one.

What’s more, sold piece fishing rods are harder to move around in wooded areas, and some fishermen have trouble fitting a long single piece rod in the back of their car.

If space is limited, choose a multi-piece or travel-ready rod, such as a telescopic rod that can transform into a full-size rod once you’re on the water.

fishing rod

4. The Material

A fishing rod is only as good as its construction, so material choice is paramount. Today’s rods are made from different types of materials, each with their own pros and cons.

For example, bamboo rods are popular with new and veteran fishers alike. They come in a huge variety of sizes and weights and can vary considerably in construction and quality, which is why it’s important to shop around. Good bamboo rods are durable and reliable.

Fiberglass rods are also a popular choice, but they’re more geared towards first timers. These rods are usually medium or lightweight and lack the strength needed to tackle and reel in larger fish.

Overall, if your rod just isn’t doing the trick anymore, it’s time for a new one!

 

Image credits:

  1. Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels
  2. Image by Carol Garnett from Pixabay
  3. Image from pexels

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