Do you ever suffer from that mid-afternoon slump when you feel your energy start to wane? It may be the time when you also want to reach for a snack. Before you grab a quick bag of potato chips from the closest vending machine, consider choosing snacks that give you more energy. Here are a few to pack at the beginning of the day to keep you going.

Apples

Apples are loaded with nutrients. In addition, they are complex carbohydrates that are designed to provide the fuel your body needs to get through the day without the crash that simple carbs often lead to. You can include them in smoothies as part of your breakfast or a snack.

Bananas

Bananas are not only nutritious, but they’re also convenient to take with you for a mid-afternoon snack.

If you’re setting up your outdoor space to enjoy the summer, a grill ought to be on your shopping list. However, a grill can be a complicated purchase if you’ve never bought one before. Here are some tips to help you buy the right grill.

Size Matters

The first thing you want to consider is how many people you will be cooking for on a regular basis. This will help you determine the size of grill you need. Remember that when the cooking area is listed on a grill, it may include the racks and searing burners. This will limit the actual space you have to cook the food. Therefore, look for the number of hamburgers or steaks it will hold to give you better information.

Charcoal or Gas

Most people are fans of either charcoal or gas and will never consider the other option if they don’t have to.

Arguably the best way to listen to any music or podcast is through a set of high quality headphones that cancel out background noise and rest comfortably over the ears. If you’re serious about sound quality, you’ll want to invest in a pair. Here’s our round-up of headphones that provide the best listening experience.

Bose QuietComfort 15

$300

Bose has been a leader in headphone technology for years, and invented the “noise-cancellation” category. Their newest pair, the Quiet Comfort 15 is the best noise-canceling audio equipment yet. However, sound quality diminishes slightly at very high volumes with distortion on deep bass sounds.

Your job, relationships, and countless other factors can inhibit your sense of well-being, but one way to prevent feeling like an over-stressed emotional wreck is to set personal boundaries for yourself. These boundaries should impact all aspects of your life – emotional, psychological, physical, mental, and spiritual. If you want to live happier with a higher quality of life, consider the following tips.

Personal Limits

Do you know what triggers your anxiety? Being able to identify the cause of your stress is the most important skill to master when setting healthy boundaries. Knowing specifically what makes you uncomfortable or resentful is also the first step to finding a tolerable limit. If you’re unable to immediately pin down aspects of your life that cause unnecessary pain, stress, or resentment, take out a sheet of paper and write about your worst experience that day. By writing down the experience you can reflect on what ignited the conflict, or why it began in the first place. Following this process a little bit each day, like keeping a journal, will help you determine over time where you need to set limits. For most people, it’s pretty easy to identify the biggest problems in their life - sometimes it’s a boss, a working environment, or even something as simple as traffic.

Before you start taking your old bookshelves and dressers to the nearest donation center, try this simple repair tutorial to make your old furniture look brand new. With a bit of planning and some elbow grease, you can give your furniture a makeover that lasts.

Repurposing

The first thing to do is consider the many ways your old furniture can be repurposed. Perhaps that scratched coffee table just won’t do any more in the living room. If you refinish it, it can work as an excellent plant stand in the sunroom. Likewise, that old backdoor could be used as a top for a table. Old broken dishes can be repurposed as decor and art by using broken pieces as a mosaic for a bench, table, or tissue box.