Between housework, errands, family obligations, and professional duties, maintaining a healthy balance between work and home life is nothing short of a juggling act. If you feel as though you're being pulled in a thousand directions, read these tips to help refocus your priorities and help shed some stress.

1) Ask for help.
As they say, "It takes a village." Reach out to friends, family, and neighbors for help on days that you're stretched especially thin. For instance, you might trade off carpooling or babysitting duties with a neighbor, or assign chores and errands to family members.

2) Just say no.
Establish clear boundaries. Train yourself to ignore unimportant work emails when you're off the clock. Similarly, do your best not to bring personal issues into the workplace. If you're overloaded with work, tactfully relay the fact to your employer, and ask for more time if handed additional assignments.

3) Make yourself a priority.
When you're responsible for the welfare of others, it's easy to put your own needs and ambitions on the back burner. However, you'll likely find that a little "me time" will go a long way in helping you deal with everyday obligations. Be sure to schedule time for your own hobbies and interests every week.

The Top 10 Tips for Balancing Work and Family Life [Mom MD]
14 Steps to Achieving Work-Life Balance [Salary.com]
6 Strategies for Work-Life Balance [Oprah]
Get a good balance between work and life [Action for Happiness]

CC-BY-2.0/Flickr/John Ward

Austin’s Wink Restaurant & Wine Bar believes in supporting small farms and sustainable agriculture, and it is a member of the international slow food movement. Wink sources more than 75% of its menu items from within 100 miles of the restaurant, and the menu changes daily depending on what ingredients are fresh and available.

For diners who want to take a tasty tour of the day’s best offerings, Wink features a daily chef’s tasting menu of five or seven courses. Wink also features a daily farm and garden vegetarian tasting menu. Appropriate wine-pairings enhance each course. The elegant and intimate restaurant space fills up quickly, so reservations are recommended. Guests can also enjoy the full menu, and a more casual environment, in the Wine Bar.

The Wine Bar opens at 5 p.m. daily. The dining room opens its doors to dinner guests from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and from 5:30 p.m. ‘til 11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Wink Restaurant & Wine Bar
1014 North Lamar Boulevard
Austin, TX 78703
(512) 482-8868
www.winkrestaurant.com
www.yelp.com/biz/wink-austin

CC-BY-2.0/Flickr/jenny-pics

You went into your weight loss plan with high hopes and determination, but somewhere along the way you started feeling pretty worn out. If your diet feels more frustrating than it’s worth, you may need a bit of help. These handy weight loss apps will help you to manage the foods you eat and count calories without taking the enjoyment out of eating.

MyFitnessPal
MyFitnessPal is one of the most popular diet tracking apps available today, and for very good reason. The app’s expansive database includes the nutrition information for just about any food imaginable, enabling you to enter each meal that you consume into the log and watch your calories without stress. You can deduct calories each time you work out, and there’s even a feature that scans the barcodes on packaged foods to make adding them even more convenient.

My Diet Coach
If you need a bit of motivation to get your diet back on track, My Diet Coach is the app for you. Just like a personal nutritionist, this app gives you helpful reminders about your nutrition goals and offers advice, such as to drink more water or fill half of your plate with vegetables at each meal. You can even record motivational photos to visualize your weight loss along the way.

CC-BY-2.0/Flickr/Ralph Daily