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Hey, thanks for signing up for our monthly newsletter, we appreciate your support and interest! To find the latest in news and information to help you create a better life of balance, check out our website at www.balanceaustin.com.

Is it Spring, or Music in the Air?

March is the time of year where the feeling of renewal surfaces.  You know what we’re talking about.  It’s the feeling that Spring is in the air, and it’s time to open up the windows and let the breeze flow through. 

March is also Music in our Schools Month, and if you are in Austin, Texas it means South by Southwest.  Austin is unique in that no matter who you are or what you do, there is something for everyone.  This month we urge you to Balance your life by exploring why we live in the Live Music Capital of the World!   

While you may not have the coveted badge or wristband, Austin music venues offer something for everyone all month long.  Check out some of the “no wristbands required” options below (as a matter of reference, www.showlistaustin.com is a great resource for seeking out free day shows during the SXSW Festival):

1. Mess With Texas 2 Festival at Waterloo. This free, family-friendly festival offers a day of free music and comedy featuring Janeane Garofalo.
2. Annual Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo.  The rodeo is in town and has something for every music taste, young or old.  Check out www.rodeoaustin.com for a complete list of entertainers and events.

How Do You Create Balance?

In February, Jennifer Anderson offered this advice:  “…wow, is Balance ever necessary in MY life… I have five kids under the age of 8, and the only way to stay sane is to prioritize my life down to the hour.  From the minute I get up, to the minute all of the kids are in bed, I have everything either on a system or planned out.  My husband thinks I’m a freak, but it’s the only way I can keep it all together!”   

Thanks Jennifer, and for sharing, we’re sending you a gift from all of us at Balance!

Want to be a part of Balance? Visit www.balanceaustin.com and click on “Your Balance.”  If you feel like you have tips to share with other women, don’t be shy!  If your "How I Create Balance" entry is featured, we’ll send you a gift like Jennifer above!

Sunday Morning Balance Breakfast Hour

Yes, it’s our commercial free hour of Sunday morning Balance Breakfast Music on Mix 94.7 and Majic 95.5.  We continue to receive excellent feedback from people waking up on select Sunday mornings to hear what their fellow Balance subscribers are suggesting.   Special thanks to Shannon Denton and Jackie Rodriguez for programming the February 17th edition.  For your efforts, ladies, we're going to send you a Balance gift bag loaded with goodies!

If you have a playlist that sets your tone every Sunday morning, click here and submit five songs.  Go ahead, this is your chance to program a radio station, even if its only 15 minutes!  The next Sunday Morning Balance Breakfast Hour will be at 8am on March 23rd on both Majic 95.5 and Mix 94.7.

Balance Favorites

Keeping with Music in our Schools Month, we offer some suggestions on how to bring music into your life.  If you aren’t a festival fan or have too many toddlers to tow, consider bringing music to you.  The Austin School of Music is run by Austin musicians from the past and present.  Classes are offered for beginners to advanced and any specialty in between, including Girl Guitar, Music Theory, Songs of the Beatles, Rock Band Class, Rolling Stones Band Class, Blues Band Class, and more!  Click on www.austinschoolofmusic.com for more.   

Featured Health Tip

It’s a fact. More than 20 million Americans have some form of diabetes. And about a third of them are undiagnosed. If you’re a smoker, overweight or have a family history of diabetes, you may be at risk.  So what should you do?

1. Talk to your doctor. Ask for a blood test to know for sure if you are diabetic or not.
2. Change your lifestyle. Just 30 minutes a day of exercise coupled with a reduction  in body weight can cut your risk for diabetes in half.
3. Don’t panic. If it turns out that you are diagnosed with the disease, it’s still possible to lead a long, healthy life.

Because early detection is key to controlling diabetes, your friends at Scott & White Health Plan urge you to get checked soon.

Scott & White Health Plan.  We’re Texas friendly.

Daylight Savings Sleep Suggestions

March 9th marks the Spring Daylight Savings time change.  Spring forward… fall back, remember?  Each time we spring forward, that one hour lost is bound to catch up with us, so Dr. Aparajitha Verma, a neurologist at the Sleep Disorders Center, Methodist Neurological Institute in Houston, offers some tips on how bounce back after losing that precious hour of sleep. 

1. Start changing your hours before the time change. Get up an hour earlier and retire an hour earlier.
2. Sleep in a quiet and dark environment and set the thermostat at a slightly cooler temperature.
3. No reading, eating or watching TV in bed.
4. Don’t watch the clock!

Click on www.newswise.com/articles/view/537488/ for a complete list of suggestions as we move the clock back. 

This Month’s Featured Podcast

This month, we caught up with the Casserole Queens, local food providers to the masses in Central Texas!  We sat down with Sandy Pollock, a graduate of the prestigious French Culinary Institute in New York City, and her business partner, Crystal Oaks, a former citizen of corporate America in the marketing world, to discuss how they achieve Balance even though they are running a very popular – and busy – business.  Click here to learn how they do it.

Balance Event's This Month

This month, the Balance street team will be out and about with inspiring new Balance goodies, including a Balance T-Shirt and blue bonnet seed packets just in time for Spring!
 
Check below for where we will be…

• Thursday, March 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th – Cool River Café from 6:30p-8:30p (4100 Parmer Lane)
• Sunday, March 9th – Bridal Events of Distinction – Austin Convention Center from 12:30pm -5pm.

Check out our Events page at balanceaustin.com/events.html for updates on when and where the Balance team will be.

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