Like so many other people in the world I have a #MeToo story. Only three people know about the details of my encounter, the man that assaulted me, an ex-boyfriend, and most recently, my husband. Why has it taken me so long to speak out? Like many others, I have felt so much shame about what happened to me.
Close the deal - Say thank you with some pizzazz
I had an event that I needed hotel space for, so I put it out to bid. We went through the typical process of reviewing the proposals and completed site tours. After our site tour with a particular hotel I received an email thanking me for my visit. These emails are typical from our sales partners, but this one struck me as creative and fun, which was definitely something to remember.
The day Mom quit (or tried to)
As a kid, I had it pretty easy. My own mother was a stay-at-home-mom until I was fifteen. She drove us down to the bus stop each morning. If it was cold and snowy outside she kept us in the warm car until the bus rolled up. She was there after school too. When the bus arrived she would whisk us away to our after school activities. She was always there.
It’s not about drawing the perfect elephant
I spent the morning drawing animals from every letter of the alphabet, in every color of the crayon box at my 3 year old’s request. At first, I attempted to escape the task by sitting on the couch sipping coffee and waiting for soccer to come on. I also tried to do things for the other kids like make breakfast and feed them. Anything to get out of coloring for the next half a day. As he persisted, the more I realized this was an opportunity to lean in.
Lack of sleep = a hysterical top 20 things I've done while sleep deprived
Who knew "ghosting" at work was a thing?
We were recently hiring for an open position in our office. We had a number of great applications and we picked our top candidates to bring in for an interview. We had a number of great interviews over the course of a few days and we were waiting for the final person to arrive. We kept working and waiting, and looking out the door. Five minutes went by, then ten minutes, and by twenty minutes our office convened to answer the question, "What will we do if this person shows up now? Will we interview them or turn them away?" We never had to actually act on the answer to that question. We were ghosted.
Happy Father’s Day to my husband
Yesterday we were driving back from a family reunion and all three kids were asleep in the car. I could have gone off to sleep myself, but instead took a moment to share something that goes through my head all the time. I turned to Jerry and asked, “Do you ever feel like you’re just running through life?”
What do you do with all your kids' artwork? There's an app for that!
So I don't know about you, but I get weekly, if not daily drawings from my kids' daycare. I'm thrilled every time I get something because I know they're working on drawing, coloring, learning numbers, printing their letters, cutting, gluing, and painting. Very important development skills for sure! The thing is I'm overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I get, because let's face it, most of it is... let me just call it like it is... it's crap.
What is a mom?
Planning group outings is like herding cats
My husband's best friend is getting married in September and my husband is the best man. This means he gets to plan a bachelor party on his behalf. Bachelor parties are no longer single night events to celebrate the groom before he gets hitched, but entire weekends packed full of tours, shows, entertainment, and good old fashioned guy bonding time.
My uncuddly baby
One of the best things about having a little baby is getting to cuddle with them. Babies that are under 6 months old can pretty much sleep anywhere and they’re always so cuddly to hold. I love having a cuddly baby asleep on my shoulder. It is one of the sweetest things. That is unless you have an uncuddly baby. My third baby is one.
Are you “mom enough?”
There’s an unspoken pressure that comes with being a working mom. I mostly know how to deal with that at this point (ignore the naysayers, build my own self-confidence that I’m doing the right thing, and sometimes even try and trick myself into believing that I am “mom enough” for my kids). Basically whatever it takes. But sometimes it feels like there’s not enough.