What are some of the most important lessons that you’ve learned? Many people are going back to school now after the summer break. Hopefully, in the next nine months of school they will learn many important subjects. This got us thinking about the fact that there’s also the school of life lessons which is always in session.

Do you have a pet or have you ever had a pet? In the USA, 70% of people have had a pet or lived with one sometime in their lifetime. What got us thinking about this subject is that some friends recently lost their dogs due to illness. We’ve had several wonderful dogs and we certainly understand pet owners’ grief. It can be similar to losing a family member.

Have you attended the largest twelve day event in North America? At first you might think, “no way”. Now we’ll ask, “Have you ever attended the Minnesota State Fair?” Then your answer might be, “Yes, I’ve been there.” These events are actually the same event. The Minnesota State Fair is the second largest state fair after Texas and the Minnesota State Fair is the largest twelve day event in North America, attracting nearly 1.8 million people.

We wondered about the effect of nature on creativity. We got to thinking about this because, this weekend, the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is having Art in the Garden. We attended last year, saw art in many forms, listened to good music and enjoyed some food. There were different activities to please almost everyone. We also found some unique and creative gifts. We’ll definitely be attending again.

How do you make a great first impression and why is it important? That’s not what we were expecting to ask this week but we came across something that brought this question to mind. Stay tuned to learn what we saw that prompted us to bring it up.

We wondered, is your stuff stopping you? Do you want to simplify your life? These may seem like strange questions but they came to mind because this is national Simplify Your Life Week. A Google search revealed over 20,400,000 results on how to simplify your life. Simplifying by getting rid of stuff often allows people to have more freedom and a fulfilling life.

We recently enjoyed Appreciation Day at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and it got us thinking about the importance of appreciation. There’s a saying, “The deepest craving of human nature is the need to feel appreciated.” We recognize there are several benefits of feeling appreciated and there are also significant benefits of expressing appreciation.