52 to Fabulous: What A Girl Wants (Week 1)

At the beginning of a new year, resolutions are on a lot of people’s minds (except for those that have decided after so many years of setting and not doing, it isn’t even worth the time thinking about them!). I don’t set them every year, but I am feeling like 2010 requires a new start after an eventful 2009, that did not include consistent blog posts. So I made 2 modest ones in my post – A New Year, A New Start for…, – get a weekly routine (like writing a weekly post) and live in the present.

Right after I posted, I then saw a post from the always inspiring (and just plain cool) Kelby Carr about her 3 words for 2010. Which got me thinking about what mine would be/are for 2010. Then I saw Linda’s announcement of 52 to Fabulous (and after I read and realized it was not about being fabulous at 52 , I thought the stars are aligning and participating in this challenge may actually encourage me stick to my resolutions, well at least post weekly (little victories!).

For right now at this moment (a girl can change her mind…), my wants for 2010 are aligned with my guiding words for the year:

1. Focus because any one that knows me, knows that I am either over-focused or all over the map with ideas. And I want/need to trim to FOCUS on the meaningful this year. Finding what matters, what is important, and focusing my energy on it. This also goes back to my desire to have a weekly routine.

2. Present because I find myself never enjoying the moment. I want to be present when I am playing with my kids, not thinking about what other things I should be working on. Undivided commitment to the present. Not dwelling on the past and what might have been, or thinking to future. I know people should plan, and I will do planning for the future, but I will do my best not to pine for the week to end or long for the next sunny day. I want to be present in every experience – good or bad. Time passes too quickly, it is important to be present.

3. True by being honest with myself and understanding my wants. As adults we get lost in life, in pleasing those around us, particularly after becoming a parent. It gets hard to distinguish what I want (or is what I want just what is easier for the family?). I want to make 2010 to be the year that I am true to my feelings and separate them from what others want. This doesn’t mean to make decisions without regard to the wants or needs of those around me. Not to make decisions that are just the path of least resistance, but are true to what I believe is right.

Maybe these wants are too broad or general, oh well, have to start thinking about what a girl needs…

A New Year, A New Start for…

It is unbelievable that it is already 2010. I know I think this every year “where did the time go?”. Oh well, I am not going to focus woulda, coulda, shoulda, but on making a new start for this new year. New year, new opportunities. Not going to set resolutions that I can’t keep, like “to stop being a procrastinator” – maybe something more gentle like “to procrastinate just a little less”.

This blog has gone to the dogs. It is neglected, well maybe abandoned is a better word. I am full of ideas, things I want to write and say, but never seem to be at the right place at the right time to complete the actual act of typing my thoughts. Full of ideas, and full of excuses. Right now I am resolving to set some time aside to write my thoughts for let’s say the week, even if they are random. I really need to write for me, it is a great release. Number 1: Stick to a weekly routine, at least on some things. In my daily life this would be sticking to my weekly Body Pump class. For this blog it will mean to write a weekly post. That should be easy enough, right?

You would think, but I have about 5 drafts for posts from the last 6 months. I start them, then don’t finish. Kinda like the way I clean the house . A good friend strongly suggested that I read the book, Driven to Distraction. I told her, I don’t think I really need to read it to know that I am ever so slightly ADD, and I know I would buy it, look at it start, maybe even start reading it, then uh…get distracted, put it down and forget about it. I also have posts that are drafted and were essentially done, but for some reason, I didn’t post. Rethinking what I wrote, wondering if I should add or change it. Then I would not go back to it, and you guessed it…forget about it, until it was too old to bother with! So why do I hesitate to publish? Well to be truly honest, I am worried about what people with think when they read it. What if I come off bitchy, whiny, or worst of all stupid? By writing a blog, I am making myself vulnerable for criticism. And logically I realize that expressing my opinion from the heart, will likely bring other points of view, and that if someone doesn’t like what I write, they can just choose not to read it. Really all the back and forth in my head is redundant and stupid (ya, I said it). My next resolve should be easy too. Number 2: Write from my heart at the moment, from my point of view, and don’t worry about what others think. [And remember that I can always edit or delete later - it is MY blog for goodness sake ]. For my daily life, this number 2 translates slightly different.

I want to use this blog as the place that I talk about the experiences of the passed (particularly with the good, bad, ugly of having a business). I want to focus the rest of my life on living in the present, being in the moment and not focusing on what happened yesterday and what could happen tomorrow. I know I spend far too much time worrying about what might have been or what could be. The last month or so I have been almost fully focusing on the kids, taking a hiatus from worrying (that word again, maybe I should say fretting) about the state of business (something I am not going to delve into now). It has been tremendous to live in the present. Enjoying every giggle (every whine, cry and scream) with the kids. Because of the snow just before Christmas, we had 2 full weeks together. Everyday, all day. And despite the stress of making sure everything was set for Christmas (with Santa coming and all…), it has been a time of living in the moment. So Number 2 is big – focusing on the present, enjoying every moment, and putting the past in perspective (it can’t be changed, but can be learned from).

For now 2 resolutions are all I can handle, of course I will keep my standby of procrastinating less (which Number 1 is really just a product of…).
2010 is a new year, a new start for an abandoned blog, and an opportunity to soak up all the potential of today.

[Can't really find the words I want to express what I mean, but if I ponder too long, I will think and rethink, to the point of futility. Closing my eyes and hitting publish.]

The ‘Glamorous’ Life: Heather Stouffer, Founder & President, Mom Made Foods LLC

This interview in The ‘Glamorous’ Life series is with my dear friend, Heather Stouffer, Founder & President at Mom Made Foods. Heather and I were destined to be friends – Sarah Masterson at DC-Baby wrote a post mentioning both of our companies. Immediately after reading the post, I wrote Sarah and asked for Heather’s contact details. Sarah writes back: “Heather already emailed and asked for yours too.” Great minds think alike

Having your own business can be a lonely endeavor. Sometimes friends and family can’t relate (or get tired of hearing about “the business”!). Finding someone who understands the dilemmas, the stress, and can even celebrate the little triumphs is priceless. Heather’s friendship, support and advice has made my entrepreneurial life a little easier.

Over the last few years, I have watched Heather grow Mom Made Foods. I have also been lucky to have my kids be product testers for the growing line of Mom Made products! I think you will enjoy learning about Heather and how she took her passion for delicious, healthy food and turned it into a smart business. [If you have read my Tirade about school lunches - you know I share a passion for healthy foods for our kids!].

Tell me about your business
Mom Made® Foods makes healthy and convenient age-appropriate meals for kids 6 months to school age using USDA-certified organic ingredients grown in the USA. I founded the company with the mission to help children begin and sustain a lifetime of healthy eating. Our foods are available nationally at Amazon.com and in the freezer aisle of SuperTarget, as well as at select Whole Foods, Wegmans, Ukrops and other retailers. Mom Made is known for the great taste of our foods. We believe it’s a combination of our carefully developed recipes, fresh organic ingredients, frozen/fresh process, and a big dash of love that make Mom Made’s foods so delicious!

Did you always want to have your own business? What made you take the leap to start your business?
My parents divorced when I was 9 years old and my brother was 11 years old. My mom went from being a stay-at-home mom to a full-time working mom. She had no choice but to rely heavily on me and my brother to help with the chores. On a normal weekday afternoon, she would call from work after we arrived home from school. She’d tell us what we were having for dinner and assign each of us things to prep for dinner before she came home at 6pm when she’d finish the cooking. I took it for granted that my brother and I quickly learned how to make everything from hollandaise to fajita marinades at such young ages.

The little inspiration for Mom Made, Heather's son, Emory.

Fast forward to my adult life … My husband and I agreed well before we married that we shared a common passion for food. It was our goal to have children who were great eaters who ate a variety of healthy foods. We both enjoy healthy, fresh foods and especially ethnic foods. In 2005, around the time my son was 6-months old and starting solid foods, I embarked on a journey to raise him eating a variety of healthy, organic foods. With a love for cooking and a passion to make sure my son ate only the best, I found myself in my kitchen on Sunday afternoons pureeing and freezing organic fruits and vegetables. When I was in a pinch for a convenient option I found there were no organic food options available that didn’t involve a jar. I believe that good food does not have to be complicated and should be easy. I didn’t eat jarred food so why would I feed it to my son as some of his first foods! I knew fresh fruits and veggies were best, and frozen a close second. I soon realized that there was a need for healthy, convenient, organic foods for older children, as well as for babies. When my friends began asking for my foods for their babies, I knew I was on to something. With the help of my brother, a professional chef, and a passion for organic foods and children’s nutrition, I launched Mom Made® Foods in 2006 at our local farmers market in Alexandria, Virginia. The Mom Made journey began!

What’s the most glamorous thing you’ve ever had to do for your business?
I find that people think that being an entrepreneur in the organic food business is glamorous. When I meet new people at a party, for example, and they ask me what I do, I tell them about Mom Made. It usually goes like this…their jaws drop then they inevitably ask if I’ve seen the movie “Baby Boom” with Diane Keaton from the 80’s (If only I had a dollar for every person who had asked me that question since I started this business…). Then they start asking a gazillion questions, such as how wonderful is it to own your own business, etc. It’s hard for me to answer their questions because while this business is absolutely a dream come true for me, we have an amazing team who I love to work with and I could not be more passionate about our mission, 99.9% of my work days are far from glamorous.

Little do they know that the FOOD BUSINESS IS NOT GLAMOROUS, especially not the FROZEN FOOD BUSINESS. It is not glamorous to put on gloves, a fleece, a hairnet, ear muffs and the warmest jacket you own in the middle of June to head into the freezer to move product or do inventory. It is not glamorous to track shipments to make sure they arrive to our distributors on time. Nor is it glamorous to loose sleep because you’re consumed by all that needs to be done to grow the business.

Mom Made found at SuperTargets!

What is the most bizarre thing you were doing while on a business call that you wouldn’t want the person on the other end to know?
I am always multi-tasking but most bizarre would probably be when I was on a media interview while at the wheel of a refrigerated truck on my way to make a delivery. The journalist knew that I was on the road but I did not tell them that I was driving a truck!

What do you wish someone had told you before you started your business or what advice did someone give you that you wish you had listened to?
I had an advisor early in my business planning from SCORE (www.score.org) who was 80+ years old. She had managed a family business of 20 grocery stores while raising her kids. I told her that my greatest concern was how I’d juggle managing my own business and maintain the relationships most important to me – being a great wife, mother, friend, daughter, and sister and also add in life as an entrepreneur. Her response was so poignant in the beginning when I made the leap to start the business…”Heather, you’ll adapt and make time for what is most important to you as you launch this business.”

What she didn’t say was that the “adapting” would never stop…each stage of the business brings new challenges to the balance in my personal life. I have to regularly tell myself her advice to force myself to adjust and adapt with the momentum of life and juggling growth obstacles with Mom Made.

What’s the biggest surprise you’ve found about running your own company?
There’s nothing more gratifying professionally than having a customer call or email saying that their child (especially the very picky eaters) love Mom Made or that our baby food was a child’s VERY first food they ever ate. It is such an honor to be a part of the change in making our children healthier.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned along the way?
Listen to my husband, the greatest sounding board, when he has advice about the business. While he works full-time as a sports reporter, he knows so much about Mom Made, our market, etc and he’s able to take the emotion out of the big decisions for me.

Looking back, is there anything you wish you could have done differently?
While some of the lessons learned have been hard and stressful, I don’t regret any of them as they have been a part of our journey to get us to where we are today. The journey continues…

My dirty little secret…I am not Wonder Woman

I am going to confess something that makes me uncomfortable. I am somewhere between 2 worlds. I am both a SAHM and a WAHM.  I work from home, but the fact is when you are starting a business, it can take a while before you actually contribute income into the family. In fact starting a business where you design and build products takes capital. We have spent at least what is considered the average family income on starting this business, and it will take some time before we see return on our investment. Everything we make goes back into the business to keep branding and keep building product. So I am between two worlds and my guilty secret is that in order to do my business, I need to have childcare. We have an au pair. Yes I said it. I make no money, and spend money to build a business and I pay someone to help me with my kids. Seems an odd way to contribute to the family, right? Hence, my guilt.

Since I essentially work for myself I think I should just arrange my schedule around the kids. I appear to other moms like a SAHM – I volunteer at school and drive the kids to after school activities. I will leave the baby at home with our au pair and while I am waiting at an activity for the other 2, I am making or returning calls. Some times I am editing something I have written or looking at fabric prints. I am multitasking the best I can, but I couldn’t do it without help. The people that don’t know I have a business look at me like, “wow she has full-time help and stays at home – nice”. Believe me I am not lunching and shopping, however without an income to show “hey, I am working”, I do feel embarrassed.

My SAHM friends, they do it all on their own. I consider them super moms. I even have WAHM friends that don’t have help, and I am amazed at how they do it, they are wonder moms, super women. Me, I am not either of these things. I just don’t have it in me to be a good mom, wife and business woman alone. I get grumpy and overwhelmed. I know my limitations, but even with that,  I still would rather be wonder woman.

There, my dirty little secret, it’s out. The kicker is our absolutely fabulous au pair has fallen in love (good for her), is getting married and leaving us next month to move to Ohio with her new husband. So this summer,  I better figure out how to get some super powers fast.

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

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!

Kicking & Screaming

Unfortunately, I think there is a better late than never theme for me when it comes to the hottest trend. You know you are late to jump on the bandwagon when every magazine is writing about it (I mean magazines have waaaaaaay early deadlines) and ever time you turn the TV on there is a news segment on it.  This has been my experience with Twitter (and well all the other social media or Web 2.0 that came before it for that matter). On February 5th, 2009, I took the plunge and set up my Twitter account (which I had signed up for in December 2008, still not really sure how I did it, but just left it).  For goodness sake, I had just figured out 6 months before how to reconnect with old friends (or people I went to high school with that I don’t remember) on Facebook. I had comfortably lived with ignorance is bliss, but enough was enough. And even though I had to go kicking and screaming, it was time for me to enter another new world.

Keeping my head down, and sometimes ignoring the world around is unfortunately, another theme in my life (I blame that on the fact that I think I am ADD and tend to hyper-focus). Anyway, so the last few years I have had my head comfortably buried in the world of product design and production. An area I had no experience and no friends or family that knew anything about it. It is an absolutely non-tech world but the most crucial part of the business I had decided to start. Funny thing is my former life was in the high tech industry in marketing and communications. I used to know about telecommunications infrastructure, IP routers and networking.  Being out of it for 4 years now, all those terms just sound foreign to me. Considering, I have never taken the time to learn to sew (I know, hard to believe – why on earth would I start a sewn products business?!), I have been able to bring my design drawings to fruition and have built beautiful products (patting myself on the back .

Everything I know about product design, fabric sourcing, pattern making, production, etc. I have learned through trial and error (some of the missteps warrant an entire post or many posts), like finding a good pattern maker is easier said than done and sewing contractors in the US are a dying breed (even if you want to make it in the US and can find decent production most Americans do not want to pay the extra price of what it costs to produce it domestically – a reality that still makes me very sad!). Anyway the point is I learned by doing, asking and making mistakes (that’s how we learn right?).

So here I am again, learning, which is a good thing. I had an objective with tweeting to get followers and well make my business and to eventually benefit from some social media magic. So begrudgingly and with much trepidation (how could these be addictive?) I started following, being followed and tweeting. I felt like the new kid at school trying to get with the cool kids, the in crowd. Gosh I really don’t like the way that feels. The worst part about Twitter is you really can’t get more followers or get involved unless you chime in on other people’s tweets. Chiming in is like butting in on a conversation where you may not be invited. With twitter you can’t see people’s reactions to your tweets. It’s like a comedian trying out a new joke and nothing, just silence. So you may respond to someone, and they don’t actually acknowledge that you said something. Or you tweet something, maybe ask a question and are met with silence. Not a single @reply from ANYONE. But more times than not, someone will respond. Like about a month ago my Outlook crashed, I was devastated and tweeted about it. I got a response and advice from someone who I was not follow and was not following me. The advice he gave me was priceless. I couldn’t have found answers that fast even searching on Google. So I thought, oh I am liking Twitter even more now.

Although my motives were more for business than for personal to delve into social media, I am actually finding the experience, pardon the choice of word – social. Working at home can be lonely at times. Starting a business is hard. I don’t have colleagues to complain to!  And even though I don’t always get an @reply from what I tweet, I still feel like I am talking to someone and I read other tweets (and hear conversations). It is amazing how much personality can actually be felt through 140 characters. And I have started to feel connected to certain tweeps. There are people just by the choice of their avatar/picture or their profile name, who make me smile when I “see” them. Ya, so now I get it, it’s social and a community. Duh.

So as corny as it sounds, I feel the virtual Twitter community. I don’t think I am addicted, but I do look forward to reading tweets. And most of all I no longer feel like I am working alone. And whenever I need to I can start a conversation and be heard.

Chic Mama, what?

I am going to talk about the choice of the title for this new fantastic blog – “Chic Mama – mother, woman, diva?” Joke, right? Well, ya!  I founded Chic Tots, inspired by the birth our first daughter, Tatum, who we affectionately called Baby Diva, cause she wanted everything right away and I believe from time I was in labor with her, she believed we were her entourage.

To serve my demanding little diva, I started coming up with product ideas. I also imagined, if I had my own business, I’d be a glamorous, jet-setting entrepreneur – a Chic Mama. But the reality of life and raising a family, and setting priorities, glamour is just in my head and love is in my everyday.

My everyday life feels (and is) far from chic. A chic mama, I am, in my own dreams – where I AM absolutely fabulous & glamorous. But there is more to the word chic (pronounced sheek or scheque NOT chick – you have no idea how many people say chick!). If we take one of the definitions of chic according to m-w.com it means “cleverly stylish.” So think style with a practical purpose. I like to solve problems. If you even mention a problem or I hear a problem in something you have said (you may not see the problem, let me show you the way…), I am on it like white on rice. Hubby doesn’t find it a very appealing quality, and I do try to keep it underwraps when he is telling me a story to share not to solve.  Anyway finding a solution to a problem stylishly – ya, I am all about that. Moms in general have to creatively solve problems. We have to work smarter, be clever to keep our sanity.

So a cleverly stylish mama, that can make a little sense. I can still imagine as I day dream (in all my free time), that I am fabulous. At least for right now, my kids think I am and that is enough for me.

Better late than…

Starting this blog should have happened a few years ago. Thought about it many times, like I thought about starting a journal, but never did it. I buy a journal for myself, have received several as gifts, and they remain new (except for one pretty one I got in which I started writing down baby product ideas as therapy when breastfeeding was so difficult which led to me actually starting my company, Chic Tots).

Blogging is actually more logical for me than keeping a journal. I never write. I can’t even hold a pen for long without getting a cramp. As a lefty, I never really learned how to properly hold a pen and I do the whole upside down writing thing, bending my wrist in a way that is just unnatural. I type. I happily type. I remember getting a computer in college and all of a sudden my papers dramatically improved. Writing on paper, to do it well, means re-writing and more re-writing. Something holding a pen upside down with an unnatural bend in my wrist made me not so inclined to do. Also procrastination plays a major theme in my life, and well if you wait too long to write a paper, there is no time for rewrites. Enter the computer – cutting and pasting – MAGIC. Revise by typing. No more sore hands or finger calluses (ya, I really hold a pen way too tight). Typing on a computer, brilliant.

So blogging is logical if someone wants to read the ramblings in my head. Seriously, my head rambles and I don’t even know what is going on in there. Maybe writing a blog is therapy for me (like writing down my wishes for products as a sleep-deprived struggling new mom was) and if someone wants to read it that’s cool. If I can share some of my experiences about my business journey or life in general (I am not an expert, but I am opinionated), and someone else finds it useful great. I do like talking and once people get to know me they realize I am not always sure of what I like but I know exactly what I don’t like. I freely give my opinion, sometimes to another’s disliking and sometimes I speak too quickly before thinking about the impact of what I am saying.  Ya have to know me to love me (well at least tolerate .

As far as my writing, I am sure that whatever I post, if I go back and read it, I will want to re-write and re-write, and tweak until well I’ll wish I had never written it at all – delete. I will vow now to not over think and just let it be. I will purge the thoughts out of my head, and just won’t read it (maybe years later)!

Welcome to my bloggy journey as a typer (yay computers), mother, woman, and diva (more on the title of this blog another time). I am all these things and many more. I approach all aspects with a mix of trepidation, joy, confusion and love. See rambling chaos – fun!