As the clock counts down tonight, November 30th, I’m racing to write this blog post.  Many of you know or may not know, I started a new job in June of this year.  With that job, I’ve faced the challenge of finding the right balance in my life between work, my blog, my prior commitments, my friends/family and living a gluten-free life.  I’ve always been able to carry a very full plate (love the play on words here), but now at 40, I’ve also learned, painfully as of late, that I don’t have to run at warp speed and/or be super woman.  I’ve hit some major stumbling blocks, not meeting deadlines professionally, as well as personally, completely dropping my blog for 3 months, not spending time with friends and not sticking to my gluten-free lifestyle due to stress eating.  I hate disappointing people and when you’ve worked so hard to build a reputation of being reliable and dependable personally and professionally, it can be a crushing blow to one’s self-esteem (at least it has been to mine) – It’s made me incredibly unhappy and completely stressed out.

Where am I going with this post you ask?  Well I am incredibly lucky to have just the most amazing mom and girl friends!  I was talking to my mom about my recent struggles, and how I feel as though I’ve lost my way, lost the balance in my life and ultimately disappointed myself.  My mom said “Rachelle, you cannot be all things to everyone.  At 40 years old you need to get back to basics, strip everything down and focus only on the important things.  And you need a day at Disneyland!”  Thank goodness for moms!  She really is right.  Letting those words of wisdom soak in, I also recalled a recent conversation I’d had over dinner a few weeks back with my lovely friend Karen Morgan (@BlackbirdBakes), we were talking about keeping it simple, getting back to the basics and focusing on what’s important.  That night Karen also lent me the new cook book from Ferran Adria “The Family Meal,” in which he talks about it being about family and keeping it simple.  It blew my mind and I knew that I wanted to tie it in with a blog post somehow.

Well, last week I found out my mom and my 94-year-old grandmother are moving here to Austin. Perfect timing I thought!  I talked to my mom about getting her and my grandmother settled in and that on Sunday nights, I wanted her and I to cook the family dinner together, working through Ferran Adria’s “The Family Meal” once recipe a week (Thank you Karen for this amazing idea)!

So each Sunday my mom and I will be preparing meals, gluten-free of course, as laid out by Ferran for his family at El Bulli, because Family is so important!  And mom I’m gonna hold you to the trip to Disneyland! And a big shout-out to my amazing girlfriends for your love & support!