Launching “The ‘Glamorous’ Life” Interviews!

Not always champagne & caviar...

OK, so I was thinking, I am not the only mompreneur out there living the ‘glamorous’ life. Since starting Chic Tots, I have met so many moms (& aunts, grandmothers, daughters, sisters) and dads (uncles, etc.) that have started a business because they needed a product, they couldn’t find. They had a moment that just inspired them. Maybe it was their children, maybe it was something that had been there all along. I just know that the journey I am making, I have not been doing it completely alone. I have met others at different stages of their business, and these kindred spirits have helped me along the way (even if it just words of encouragement “you can do this” or “oh that happened to me”). The ability to call one of these friends (that totally gets what I am talking about), has been one of the best parts about the business for me.

Although the path of having a business is not really ‘glamorous” it is really interesting and full of surprises. It will be fun to learn about the way each of the businesses featured has evolved.

Look out for the first interview this week with a cool entrepreneur. I will be posting a new interview each month.

Memorial Day Cookouts 1, 2, 3…

Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend has become to mean the first weekend of summer. Although summer doesn’t “official” begin until June 21st (the summer solstice and the longest day of the year in terms of daylight), for most Americans Memorial Day weekend is summer. Our neighborhood pool opens and pools all over the country and it is the count down to summer vacation (I don’t know, isn’t that an oxymoron - my kids home all summer doesn’t really feel like a vacation - ha!)

As a family, we have spent the weekend going from one cookout to another and to the pool. We couldn’t even cookout ourselves this weekend, cause well we weren’t home! Saturday we were at a friend’s cookout and pool opening get together. Kids were in the pool all day, seriously, they were in bed by 8pm, with no fuss - out. Sunday we went to our neighborhood pool, but they were too tired to swim! Our 4 year old, Asher, fell asleep on his towel and chair after only being at the pool for 20 minutes - my husband had to carry him to the car. At home proceeded to sleep another 3 hours (!) before it was time to go to, you guessed it, the next cookout. This one started at 6.30pm on Sunday night. It was at one of my husband’s co-workers house. We had the youngest kids there. Our kids are THRILLED to follow around the big kids (pre-teens/teens). Luckily these big kids were terribly sweet to ours and let them follow them around and took care of them. Honestly, one older boy was asked to take care of Asher, and another boy said “I want to take care of him too”. So nice to see this!

We were able to  have a nice time without any worries about the kids (of course, except for the 11 month old, who was in her sling enjoying the adult conversation, food & desperately trying to get a sip of mommy’s margarita! We didn’t get home until after 11pm! Didn’t stop them from waking up again at 7am.

In a little bit we are going to cookout #3 for the weekend, Memorial Day weekend. Kids are asking who’s birthday it is? Why do we have so many parties? We are trying to explain the meaning of Memorial Day. Right now they are just see this weekend as pool, watermelon, and fun. And it is embarrassing to say, but sometimes I forget about the meaning. It gets lost for me in the cookouts and time at the pool. This is my reminder and for anyone else out there lost in the fun and celebration.

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service.

I just wanted to take a personal moment to remember our troops and all those that have sacrificed their lives for our country. And say thank you.

Here is a great video someone put on youtube.

True Meaning of Memorial Day

SiteWarming Party Tonight at 9pm EST!

Eat. Shop. Laugh.

These 3 words describe this past weekend. They aren’t the only words, more would be drink, smile, reminiscing, renew, pamper, and sleep. I had the opportunity to have a girls weekend in Chicago. My best friend from high school, Jodie (we have been friends since we were kids some 30+ years), and I flew to Chicago on Friday evening to go stay with people we reconnected with on Facebook. Yes, sounds crazy but felt so natural. In the last 6 months or so on Facebook, I have found and been found by a bunch of old high school classmates.

High school is so long ago but even so there are people from that time that time that were such an important part of my life, my growing up. Two women in particular (Dana and Robin), these were the two we went to see after having lost touch for 20 years. In high school they were funny, crazy and really warm loving people. They haven’t changed a bit. I laughed so much this weekend I thought my side was going to split. The friendship we left behind renewed itself in minutes of being with them. Actually it was renewed the moment we reconnected on Facebook. Funny, how time and distance doesn’t seem to affect some friendships. It was such a whim to take them up on the offer to visit in Chicago, but it felt right. And it was, the only regret from the weekend is that it was too short for us all. The 20 years apart, just disappeared and we took up where we left off.

Pampering breakfast from Robin - Delicious!

What made this weekend so perfect? I already said the laughter, great conversation and well, gossip (”who do you keep in touch with?” “whatever happened to so and so?’ “They really got married? No way!”). Great food was an integral part of the weekend.  I am the only one with kids, and my main request was no kid friendly restaurants. I mostly took pictures of food - isn’t that sad?

We started our weekend on Friday night with Margaritas, home-made gaucamole, & chips in Robin’s beautiful, showroom apartment over looking Chicago. We relaxed. Saturday, she made us the most perfect breakfast/brunch - frittata (honestly, I don’t know how to make this, and she did it like this was her usual weekend routine!), fresh fruit salad, & freshly baked cinnamon buns. Come on, could a girl get pampered anymore? So nice to not have to do the cooking, or cut the food or  hear “Mom, I’m firsty” just as I sit down to eat!

After lazily having breakfast, we finally got out into the city after 12pm (yes, a slow moving, lazy weekend!) and went shopping. We must have spent hours at Nordstrom, where I got a very long overdue pair of new jeans (last time I bought was 4+ years ago, trying on jeans not my favorite pastime).

All that hard work shopping (and laughing), made us hungry. So sushi was our choice. Of course delicious, and the presentation fabulous!

Sushi dragon roll that actually had a head Pretty cool.

Getting ready to go out to dinner (ya, we moved our reservations at Boka to 9pm since our sushi lunch was so late), it felt like high school again. We remembered getting ready to go out at my house. I think we almost always got ready at my house, and after our evening, everyone spent the night at my house. Mostly because my mom was super trusting and I didn’t have a curfew. Funny thing was, I had no boundaries, so I created my own, whereas all my friends had boundaries and wanted to rebel. I wonder how I will be as my kids become teenagers. Not sure if my mother’s method worked or if I was just born overly responsible. This is really something I don’t want to think about - I want my kids to stay 6 and under forever!

One of the funniest things about the weekend, is that it felt weird ordering drinks and wine. The last time we were all together we were, well, underage. Not that we didn’t drink, but this time we were legal. And very much so, 40 is just a few short months away! We have come a long way from the Bartles & James wine coolers (seriously, we drank those - uugh).

I think we are all grown up. I am not sure any of our lives have turned out as we expected in high school. Not better or worse, just different. But the people we were then, are still the core of who we are today, and the friendship we shared then has stayed with us forever.

Our weekend together was so perfect, we have decided to make it an annual girls trip with just the 4 of us. Picking a new city each year to meet, eat, shop, and laugh. I can’t wait to start planning for next year!

What is Mother’s Day without Mom?

I know I am a mom, but for me Mother’s Day is still the day I thank my mom. And it just never quite feels like Mother’s Day without being able to pick up the phone and call her. I lost that privilege in January 2005 when my mom lost her more than two year battle with pancreatic cancer.  I miss her every day, but Mother’s Day and her birthday (which if my sister or I forgot we would have been permanently disowned), her absence is really felt. Up until 6 years ago, I had celebrated every Mother’s Day as a daughter, grand-daughter or aunt. The day was never about me, but always about those around me, particularly my mom. Who had in many ways raised us alone (my parents were divorced). And there was one thing my sister and I, and anyone who know our mother, were certain, everything she did was for her daughters and all those she loved. Family (real and chosen) meant everything to her. She loved being a mother, the matriarch, and she adored being a grandmother.

One of the few pictures that my mom and Tatum "look-a-like"

Mother’s Day is one of the holidays designed to sell greeting cards and spike retail sales. I think my mom alone supported the greeting card industry. Unlike me, she always had a card ready to send someone and it was sent on time for the occasion. How befitting that I started this post the night before mother’s day and of course have missed the day all together. Ya, in this way I am not my mother’s daughter, and I sincerely consider that a bad thing (she was wonderfully thoughtful and giving).

I remember  having to go through my moms things after she died, and finding a drawer filled with greeting cards for every occasion. Also in that drawer was her address book that she must have had for at least 30 years. I looked up my name and saw each time she had scratched out an old address for a new one since first going off to college! She always sent me a birthday card, Christmas card, and when I became a mother, she made sure I got a lovely Mother’s Day card.

I can’t say I was always so good to her, always so thoughtful. I could barely remember to buy a card, let alone get it in the mail on time for her to receive it on Mother’s Day. Around Mother’s Day I just remember feeling stressed about what we should do this year. This was the thing, my mom always said, I don’t care if you forget any holidays, just don’t forget my birthday, but truth was, she loved being the center of attention of her family. She loved when my sister and I went all out to make her feel special. The problem was, we never knew what would actually make her happy. Our mom never needed anything. If she wanted something, she just bought it for herself, making it extremely difficult to find a good gift, much less the perfect gift. Any gift was mostly just more of something she had already had. Weeks, sometimes months before, my sister and I would talk and say “oh jeez, what are we going to do this year?” I could feel myself tense. I didn’t want to disappoint her, but I am not that creative and not a planner! It took the last few years of her life for my sister and I to finally realize what for our mom the perfect gift was — it was just our attention and being together. Don’t miss understand, my mom loved nice things like diamond jewelery but if you couldn’t get the most dazzling, you could give her a rock from the street and get the same reaction!

My fondest Mother’s Day memory is long before I had become a mom. It was 10 years ago, and I was working at a high tech startup, getting my MBA at night, single and living the high life. My sister was living out in Sacramento with my brother-in-law and my nephew (2 years old at the time). Our mom had planned to be out there visiting during Mother’s Day. I had found out I needed to be in San Jose for a tradeshow right around Mother’s Day. We didn’t tell our mom, we made a plan. My sister knew my arrival time, I called from my mobile. I knocked on the door. My sister asked our mom to answer the door. She opened it and her jaw dropped. “Oh my God, I can’t believe it”, she said it with her accent (my mom was Indonesian and if you ever meet me in person, I can do her accent in a heartbeat). She blushed and smiled. We had succeeded in giving her the best Mother’s Day - Both of her daughters together.