Although I’m not focused on speed or my overall time, I have cut down from closer to 11 minute miles to an average pace of just over 10 minute miles (today was 10:05).

I’ve noticed a few things during this past month:

• The throbbing in my legs is not as prominent during the runs.
• I’m not as sore the next day after the run.
• It’s becoming easier to maintain a steady pace during the entire run (not slowing down significantly during the last mile).
• I really enjoy running with someone else! I ran with my pal Julie (who motivated me to sign up for this race), and 2.75 miles went by in the blink of an eye.

Wondering how I’m doing with the mental part of the runs? Somewhat better – though I still can’t fathom how I’m going to stay sane and focused for 13.1 miles.

Here are a few tactics I’m using to help me not think so much about the fact that I’m running, that my legs hurt and that I’d rather be sprawled out in bed in my yoga pants:

• I started listening to the Serial podcast that the whole world obsessed over. I’m glad I hadn’t listened yet because it definitely helps the run go by more quickly!
• Spotify playlists. Good music is clutch. MAL introduced me to a trick on Spotify so you don’t have to use all your data. First, you download all the songs you want to listen to. Then you switch to offline mode so you don’t use any data. Smart, right?
• Imagining that I’m singing karaoke. Yes, you read that right. Imagining that I’m belting out the songs I’m listening to at a karaoke night in my head helps me during the run. Sometimes, if it’s a really good song, I bust out the Mariah Carey fingers (if you’re a Mariah fan, you know what I’m talking about). I may look ridiculous, but couldn’t care less!

Speaking of music, I finally have good headphones, thanks to MAL getting me a running-themed Mother’s Day gift (which also included some lovely Nike running shirts).

I also started wearing a visor when I run during the day and it’s sunny, which helps keep my face cooler and prevents my mind from wandering and freaking out about too much sun on my face and skin cancer (another sign that I’m in my 30s and old).

Next milestone will be to work my way up to 5 miles. I shall report back soon.

Until then, lose yourself in some Mariah Carey GIFs.

The post Crossing the 4 Mile Mark appeared first on Essential Elements by Nikki Little.

It was part impulsive, and part calculated risk.

It was partly because I wanted to do it, partly because a good friend of mine encouraged me to do it, partly because MAL has been encouraging me to do it for several months and partly because I really wanted something exciting to look forward to.

The commitment is I signed up to run the Detroit Free Press half marathon on October 15 – two days before my 32nd birthday.

I wouldn’t really call myself a runner. I’ve ran in a handful of 5K races, and I enjoyed doing them. I do run on my own accord, but a runner? I wouldn’t really classify myself in that category.

And I won’t lie to you – I don’t love running. I’m not one of those “I can’t wait to lace up my shoes and feel the breeze on my face” types of people. I do enjoy it – for about 3 miles.

So how the heck am I going to run 13.1 miles? Well…I’m still working on figuring that out.

Thankfully, I have my lovely friend Julie to partake in the challenge. Heck, she just had a baby. My babies are 3 years old now. She inspires me.

I can do this. I want to do this. I will do this. I kind of pretend like I’m not doing this.

But with the weather getting warmer, it’s becoming a reality that I made this big, scary commitment. I can’t hide from it anymore. I have to start training.

I think I’ll feel better about it when I put a training plan together. Right now, I’m still kind of pretending like I didn’t sign up for it. But when I talk myself out of the shadow I’m cowering in, I know I need to get my act together and start figuring out how I make it 13.1 miles without collapsing during mile 5.

I thought it may help to document the journey along the way. It helped me during my 2.5 mile run this past weekend – I was thinking about what I wanted to write about in this first post.

I was also thinking about the many reasons why signing up for this half marathon was a terrible idea. You know, it was that self-deprecating type of talk that is so important to avoid if you want to maintain a positive attitude (I swear, I’m not going to have many of those talks with myself anymore!).

This is a bad idea because I don’t think I can run more than 4 miles.

This is a bad idea because I don’t have the mental stamina to make it for 13.1 miles. My mind starts to wander during runs, and I become impatient. I pay too much attention to how close I am to the next mile, or to the end of the run. I start to focus on everything bothering me – my thighs are screaming, my calves are tightening up, I’m too hot.

Physically, I truly think I can do it. I think my body can definitely make it 13.1 miles, with the proper training. Getting winded isn’t my problem. It’s truly a mental game. So, I guess my mental prep needs to be just as big a part of my training as the physical aspect.

I’ll stop rambling. For now.

I can’t promise I’ll write every week, but I would like to make a concerted effort to document this process. It gets me back to writing on this blog that I’ve poured so much effort into over the years, but intentionally neglected once the twins were born and there were too many competing priorities.

I have to thank the nice person who was talking to me through the @freepmarathon Twitter handle last week. He/she looked at my website and suggested I document the training process on my blog. I politely declined, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it would be a good idea. So thanks for the encouragement, @freepmarathon.

I’d love to hear from the real runners out there. How did you train for your first major run? What helped you with mental roadblocks? What products do you love most to help with the training? Leave a comment here or on my Facebook post (if we’re Facebook pals).

And, thanks for reading.

The post My Journey to 13.1 appeared first on Essential Elements by Nikki Little.

This is a guest post from Tricia Hexter. I invited Tricia to share her amazing story after she reached out to me via my blog after reading a post she discovered on Twitter. Once I heard her story, I knew she had to share it with more people. Her story is inspiring, and her courage/generosity is admirable. 

My life has been more like a book than a blog post, so I guess I’ll start with our abrupt life change in 2010. We moved to Michigan after my husband lost his job in NY. It was an extremely difficult time. We were fortunate that my husband’s work ethic had preceded him and he found another job within a few weeks. Our kids were 2, 4 and 7 when we moved across the country, away from our family and friends, to call Grosse Pointe Park, MI home.

In the eyes of my children, we were going on an “adventure”! Our kids’ lives (and ours) were full of adventure, exploration and establishing ourselves that summer of 2010. Well, just after a year of living here, I was diagnosed with Stage 3, Grade 3 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (Breast Cancer).  I had to have the most aggressive form of chemotherapy and treatment for 9 months, followed by 5 surgeries.

Having spent so much time making good friends and building relationships in our new town we call home proved to be what saved my life…and my family’s, too. You see, having 3 kids is not easy. Then throw in a sick mom, a zillion doctor’s appointments, a distracted dad who is trying to learn what is going on with his wife, go to work, come home to a household to run – it’s truly the makings of a disaster!

Well, within days, a meal schedule was up. We had 9 months of meals delivered 3 days a week. Yup, you heard that right – 9 months of meals!!! My friends harmonized and worked out a schedule for getting my kids to and from school, to activities and everything in between. It was incredible, to say the least.

I could probably dedicate a whole chapter of a book to all the nice things that were done for my family and me during this heinous time. There really is no way to appropriately say thank you, so I took a different approach: I decided to do good back.

Right before my last surgery, a friend of mine from college had called and approached me with a business opportunity. I knew the timing of things was really not great for starting a business, but I told her I would think about it. I called her the next day and told her to sign me up! I was now an independent stylist for a women’s accessory brand called Stella & Dot.

I decided that since I was up to my eyeballs in medical debt, the commission I made from my sales would go directly to families going through a difficult time. By doing this, it’s not affecting my bank account directly, and it’s a way for me to be generous with money I would not have had otherwise. I posted what I was doing on Facebook and within minutes, messages were flooding my inbox with requests for fundraisers!

My first few fundraisers were being worked right from my hospital bed. We used Facebook as our means to spread the word, and the sales were pouring in. Since I really didn’t have any set expectation for this business, I was shocked to learn that in February 2013, I was #2 in the entire company in sales! And in 11 months, I wrote more than $14,000 in checks to people. Amazing, right?

I planned on helping others, which I did. What I had not planned on was success. In 4 months time, I earned an all expense paid trip to Mexico, thousands of dollars worth of accessories and a drive to find others who love what I am doing and want to do the same. Although I did not set out to make money at this, I have built a team of 21 women, and I do keep the money I make from them. I have found a new passion that is all mine.

Putting money aside, I did not realize how accessories could have improved my healing. As my hair was growing back in, I would regularly get new accessories at my doorstep. It was fun to think about putting them on and what I was going to wear, despite feeling like I was beat with the ugly stick! After having your breasts removed and being bald, feeling like a woman was a thing of the past. Stella & Dot helped me find me again.

A little over a year into this business, I can honestly say I love it. My goal now is to grow, and I am learning about all the different social media channels to help me get there. The balance of making money and giving to people is more than I could have hoped for. This business empowered me, gave me new purpose, and I’ll admit, makes me look cute, too!

Told you her story was awesome, right?! Want to help Tricia help others? Buy something (I personally LOVE Stella & Dot jewelry!), host a show or join her team. 

The post From Cancer, to Jewelry Seller to Community Supporter – One Woman’s Incredible Story appeared first on Essential Elements by Nikki Little.

I feel like I need to preface this post by saying I am not referring to my relationship with MAL. I promise!

You know the saying – “Nothing in life stays the same”…or something along those lines. I learned that lesson all too well in the past year raising twins. Nothing, and I repeat nothing, stays constant long enough for you to get comfortable (aside from how sweet and lovable they are, which I’m told may change one day when they hit two and three!). But, discomfort breeds rockstars.

The only thing constant about change is change itself. And that’s OK, right? Sort of. It’s OK if you’re someone who rolls with the punches easily. I never used to be that person. I’m still working very hard at being someone who adjusts easily to change, but I’m not there yet.

I’ve had a lot of life changes in the past year, as I’m sure many of you have. But I want to talk about one specific change that I think we can all relate to – relationships.

Think about those people in your life who you are positive you’ll always have a relationship with. You have shared so much and have so many similarities that you can’t fathom ever not having that person in your life.

So what happens when that person changes, and unbeknownst to you, all of a sudden your relationship is no longer that important? It truly sucks when that happens, but all too often, it does. And there’s not a darn thing we can do about it, no matter how much we overanalyze and try to figure out what we did wrong and how we can possibly fix it. Sometimes the onus simply lies with the other person, and we simply have to sit back and accept the change.

You learn a lot about your relationships with people when you go through something traumatic in life. In my case, some people who I thought would be there supporting me in some way, shape or form weren’t. To this day, I still don’t know exactly why. I have my theories based on observations of what has happened in their lives and where they are at now, but that doesn’t make it any easier to grasp the fact that a once very mutually beneficial friendship has fizzled.

I take things very personally. Always have. Always will. Any time a client has stopped working with my company over the past seven years and I was part of the team, I was crushed. It was never because I personally did anything wrong (it was usually budget issues, as is so common at agencies), but I was invested in that client.

I become emotionally attached to the people and work that mean a lot to me. So accepting change in friendships isn’t any different. I take it personally, and it takes me a long time to deal with that change.

But here’s what I’ve learned in my old(er) age: There are too many other great people in our lives who deserve our attention and time, and we shouldn’t spend any extra energy on those who don’t give back as much as we put forth to maintain a relationship.

It’s as simple as that. Easier said than done, especially if you’re like me. But I’ve become pretty good at it, especially as I am forced to make great use of the time and energy I have for each day. There is no extra time to wallow in my sorrows about damaged relationships…particularly ones I played no part in damaging.

It hurts to let go of someone who once meant a lot to you. The memories will always be there, and you’ll always feel a tinge of sadness when you see that person out and about or read something about him/her on Facebook.

Just remember that change happens, and it’s for a reason. Quit killing yourself trying to understand why. Accept it, and move forward. And please don’t hold a grudge. It does no good for your mental health or well being.

Don’t forget that sometimes the change lies within you. I’m not the same person I was a year ago. I’ve learned from my experiences and grown/changed because of them. I know that as a result of those experiences, I am not as close with people I once was, partly because our lives went in separate directions.

Things will change…and that’s OK.

Your turn. I’m sure many of you have experienced changes in friendships/relationships. How have you gotten through the change?

Photo Credit: Nanagyei via Compfight cc

The post Things Will Change & That’s OK…Or Is It? appeared first on Essential Elements by Nikki Little.

Every nonprofit has to host fundraising events. But, not every nonprofit gets creative with their fundraising events to attract new people who will hopefully turn into volunteers and supporters in the future.

Habitat for Humanity Detroit is one of the smart organizations that figured out how to have a super fun and unique fundraising event – Red Carpet Bash Detroit. I’m proud to serve as a social media ambassador for this event for the second time in three years (I would have last year if I hadn’t just had the #littlebabies!).

The primary purpose of the event is to honor the volunteers of Habitat Detroit who do on-site construction, non-construction or work in the stores. The Habitat team decided to turn it into an Oscar night party to broaden their reach and to introduce the organization to others who may not be as familiar with Habitat Detroit, but want to get glammed to support a good cause.

The money raised from this event supports Habitat’s mission to rebuild Detroit, one neighborhood at a time. The organization is investing your dollars back into the neighborhoods they’ve been building in. How can you not feel good about coming to this event?!

I had so much fun at the event two years ago. I got to stand next to a giant, golden, sparkly Oscar. Awesome photo op, right???

Me and my bestie, Andrea Pecoraro, at Red Carpet Bash Detroit 2012.

On to the details:

Date & time: Sunday, March 2 at 6 p.m.

Location: Max M. Fisher Orchestra Hall

Ticket price: $75 (regular); $350 (VIP glam pack, including limo transportation, makeup and/or hair styled at Todd’s Room in Birmingham, private champagne reception)

What can you expect at Red Carpet Bash? Well, first of all, you get to watch the Oscars in a gorgeous Detroit location. And, there will be a strolling dinner created by Forte Belanger, live entertainment, music and dancing.

There will also be some really cool celebrity guests, including Nicole Curtis from Rehab Addict on HGTV (who doesn’t love HGTV?!), Ashley Gold of Hard Core Pawn on TruTV and Matthew Richmond, fashion designer – Paper Dress Code.

Scott Bettinger, who handles marketing and promotions for Habitat Detroit, shared some other inside info with me. The live art exhibit from Matthew Richmond is going to be crazy cool. Matthew is designing two dresses made of construction materials (both dresses are copies of Oscar dresses worn by celebrities), and live models will be wearing the dresses at the event.

Additionally, there will be a silent auction with items such as The Wolf of Wall Street movie poster signed by the cast, a DJ room and live entertainment courtesy of jazz band Rare Standard.

I can’t give away too many details, but there will be a fun surprise to kick off the event that Scott promises will be a “showstopper.”

Have I sold you yet on why you should attend this event? Hope so.

Habitat Detroit has graciously offered me a pair of tickets to give away. All you have to do is send a tweet through the widget below and include the #RedCarpetBash hashtag, and you’ll be entered to win. Giveaway ends at midnight on February 26. 

Best of luck, and hope to see you on the red carpet!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The post Get Glammed For a Cause at Red Carpet Bash Detroit (and Win Tickets!) appeared first on Essential Elements by Nikki Little.

2013 was the best and most challenging year of my entire 29 years on this earth. It was the best because after a very tough pregnancy and 5.5 week hospital stay, I had two perfectly healthy identical twin boys, Nolan James and Evan William (aka, the #littlebabies).

Words can’t begin to describe how incredible it has been to watch these little dudes grow from less than five pounds at birth to 22 pound 10-month-olds with insanely vivid personalities…and they’re crazy smart (I know, every parent says that, but come see them and you’ll see why I say that!). If you care to read more about my birth story, go for it.

But, this year wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns. I was very honest when I wrote about my struggle with postpartum depression. I’ve overcome it, but many challenges have stuck with me throughout the rest of the year, and I struggle every day to chip away at my weaknesses. My hospital stay was so.incredibly.difficult. I’m glad I took as much time off work as I did to care for the #littlebabies and get physically/emotionally stronger, but when you love what you do in your career and spend eight months away from it, you feel incomplete.

To cap off the year, I thought I’d share the eight lessons I learned during eight months of maternity leave. These aren’t all related to parenting. Hopefully some of these life lessons will help you if you’re currently going through something difficult, or if you hit a few bumps in the road in 2014.

1. I’m much stronger than I ever thought I was. If someone would have given me a glimpse into my pregnancy future before it happened and told me everything I would have to endure and overcome, I would have never believed them. When the doctors told me I potentially had two more weeks to stay in the hospital before delivering than I initially thought I had, I had the biggest pit in my stomach. I honestly didn’t know how I would survive another two weeks. I didn’t think I had the strength to do it. It ended up being a little less than two weeks, but I did it. And I’ve gotten through every other obstacle that has come my way this year. Just when you think you don’t have the will to push forward, you dig deep and muster up the courage. It is possible to overcome what seemingly feels impossible.

2. I’m much weaker than I ever thought I was. I consider myself a strong person. I went through a very difficult few years in my early/mid twenties. I thought if I made it through that, there was nothing else I couldn’t conquer. Well, I still believe that, but I was a bit naive about the difficulty of future challenges. I’ve given in to my weaknesses too many times this year. I recognize that. I have given myself pep talks at the end of the day and committed to not acting or feeling a certain way the next day, but then something inevitably pushed down on my weakness button and caused me to buckle. I think as long as you continue to recognize your weaknesses and work at them, you may never 100% overcome then, but you can successfully manage them. That’s what I’m working toward. It’s totally unrealistic to expect perfection in any aspect of your life.

3. Having a support system in your life is vital. I wouldn’t have made it through this year without the support of my husband, family, friends and my work family. Period. No matter how strong or independent you are, everyone needs at least one person they can lean on and 100% trust when life gets tough. I am beyond grateful for every person who supported me and my family this year. If you could use a better support system, build one now before you need it! And it goes two ways – you need to support others before you can expect support in return.

4. 50/50 balance doesn’t exist. Aim for efficiency. If you think it’s possible to achieve work/life balance, sorry to burst your bubble, but it isn’t. There will always be something you feel is lacking – you aren’t home enough with your family, you didn’t put enough effort into that new client project, etc. Aiming for harmonious balance is setting yourself up for failure. Instead, try to find efficiency in your life. Be as efficient, productive and successful as possible with everything you do in life. You’ll miss the mark some days, and that’s OK. But you’ll feel a huge weight lifted from your shoulders once you choose the efficiency mindset over the balance one. I promise.

5. Seeking advice is important, but your gut/heart will never lead you astray. I did what most other first-time parents do – I got as educated as possible through books, research and other parental advice before the #littlebabies arrived. I revisited earmarked pages in books frequently during the first few months when I had no idea what I was doing (or what they were doing!). I got sidetracked and confused by advice from others, sometimes welcomed, other times not. The times I’ve listened to my gut have been the times I felt the best about the decisions I’ve made. I’m not saying don’t listen to others. I received phenomenal advice from people I trust, and I am so appreciative of that. But, I’m glad I’ve stuck to my guns on several occasions and chose to do what I felt was right. I won’t always be right, and neither will you, but sometimes good old intuition and instinct will be your best guide.

6. Letting go is one of the hardest things to do, but you must try. I’m the poster child for a Type A personality. I credit it for why I’ve been so successful in my career. However, some of those career strengths have morphed into parenting weaknesses. Babies are amazing little creatures, but sometimes no matter how hard you try to “go by the books” or do what you think/know is right, whatever you’re trying to accomplish isn’t going to work. And it can be crushing. This is one of those things I may never be very good at, but I’m working on getting better. I’ll probably never be the type of person who lets things roll off her shoulders and who doesn’t dwell on whatever is bothering her. But learning to let go, even just the slightest bit, is very healthy. When you feel the anxiety/stress start to creep up, choose the calm approach as often as possible. Deep breaths work magic.

7. Slowing down and appreciating the “little things in life” is essential. This is another one of those lessons I’m still working on. I’ve always zipped from one thing to the next, but most days I feel like my power button is turned to a crazy high speed. Here are two examples of what happened to me when I didn’t slow down:

• I was tired one morning (let’s be honest – I’m tired just about every morning), and I was hurrying to get down the stairs holding Evan because he was really hungry. I was going too fast, and I fell down the top two stairs and hit the landing in the middle of our stairs. Thankfully, I didn’t dropped Evan. But I just about passed about because I was terrified, and I ended up with the most painful (and hideous) looking bruise. You can bet I gingerly walk down the stairs every time I have a baby in my arms now.

• MAL and I went to breakfast a few months ago, and I ordered pumpkin pancakes. Our server must have only heard me say pancakes, because I got plain pancakes. But, I didn’t even notice they were plain until I already ate half the plate. I was too busy thinking about a million things, talking to Mike and checking something on my phone. Ridiculous, right? True story.

Now that I’ve been working on it, I’ve noticed I’m able to relish more in the small, yet incredible moments that frequently happen when you have a lot of life blessings.

8. What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. This is a mantra I’ve firmly believed in for a long time, but this year pretty much moved it to the top of my “life lessons” list. I told this to a friend of mine who is only a few years older than me and who is battling breast cancer right now. I know things happen that are so utterly terrible that you haven’t the faintest clue how you’ll get past it and come out the same person. But you can. And you’ll be a better and stronger person because you battled and conquered.

Your turn. What’s something you’ve learned in 2013? 

The post 8 Lessons Learned After 8 Months of Maternity Leave appeared first on Essential Elements by Nikki Little.

I used to focus on the “love” topic more years ago, but once I redesigned my blog and shifted the content strategy a bit, I started talking less about it.

So I was excited when I read this post on Spin Sucks about the 99 Things I Love in 10 Minutes challenge because it’s a great opportunity to bring that topic back.

The challenge is to set a timer for 10 minutes and list as many things you can possibly think of that you love, with the goal being to list 99 things in 10 minutes. Here’s my list:

1. MAL
2. My boys, Nolan and Evan
3. My dad and brother
4. All my extended family
5. My friends
6. My job and work I do for clients
7. Singing
8. Dancing
9. Things that sparkle
10. Fashion
11. Reading
12. Writing
13. Mariah Carey (yes, truly)
14. Bulldogs
15. Summer
16. Playing tennis
17. Working out
18. Eating healthy
19. Learning new things
20. Rain
21. Massages
22. Pedicures
23. Relaxing
24. Watching my twins hit new milestones
25. Meeting new people
26. Volunteering
27. Connecting people
28. Speaking
29. The color pink
30. Feeling appreciated
31. Eating good food
32. Having a dance party with my twins
33. Laughing with my bestie, Andrea Pecoraro
34. Spending time with my other besties, Natalie and Danielle
35. Taking photos
36. Looking at old photo albums
37. Organizing things
38. Shopping
39. Sunsets
40. The smell of spring
41. Hanging at the beach or poolside
42. My wavy hair
43. Teaching someone something new
44. Listening and helping others with their problems
45. Reminiscing about good times
46. The combo of peanut butter and chocolate
47. The smell of a rose
48. Talking to old friends
49. Success
50. British accents
51. Grey’s Anatomy
52. Being warm
53. My black yoga pants
54. My wedding ring
55. My Chilean family
56. Christmas
57. Being pleasantly surprised
58. Feeling genuine happiness
59. Being appreciated
60. My birthday
61. Amici’s pizza
62. Kale salad
63. Getting my hair done
64. A hard workout
65. Pilates
66. Running
67. My neighborhood
68. Detroit
69. All the relationships/opportunities I’ve had through social media
70. Karaoke
71. Parties
72. Getting glammed up
73. Red lipstick
74. My Louis Vuitton purse (coveted for a LONG time before purchased!)
75. Nice, honest people
76. Technology
77. Laying in the grass
78. Feeling the breeze
79. The sound of wind chimes
80. My 1st grade school picture
81. Hugs from MAL

As you can see, I only made it to 81. Ten minutes goes by quickly! I know there are more things I love that aren’t on this list. I forgot my favorite store, Target, animals and *gasp* my kitty, Big Ern. Sorry, MAL!

Up for the challenge? Try to create your own list of 99 things you love in 10 minutes. I’d love to hear feedback on my list in the comments, and share a link to your post if you create one!

Photo Credit: seyed mostafa zamani via Compfight cc

The post The 99 Things I Love in 10 Minutes Challenge appeared first on Essential Elements by Nikki Little.

Make sure you read this post through to the end! There’s a little surprise waiting for you. 

Let’s play a quick guessing game (it’s super easy – I promise!). Business A and Business B have had their doors open for 50 years. Both have had some tough periods since the economy went crazy in 2008. Business A sticks to its original strategy. The CEO directs leadership to keep doing things the same way because it’s too risky to make a change. Things have been working for 50 years, and even though it’s a bit hit-or-miss now, the CEO is confident things will pick back up if everyone just keeps pushing forward and doing what they know has always worked.

Business B takes a different approach. Business B decides to take some calculated risks and shift the business strategy to appeal to new demographics. The CEO realizes times have changed and what worked 10, 20, 30 years ago no longer works. Customers want to be reached and appealed to in different ways. They want new products in the store that reflect the more modern times. CEO of Business B gets that. So he and his team come up with creative ways to get the business booming again.

Which business do you think will thrive? I told you this was an easy game. Business B, of course!

For many, many different reasons (including increased competition, the economy and customers increasingly using the Internet to learn about and buy products), businesses have to find new ways to retain current and attract new customers in order to keep their doors open. So what do you do if you’ve been in business for 85 years? Well, you do something similar to my Business B example above.

Now I’ll give you a real world example. I had the opportunity to visit the newest La-Z-Boy concept store in Sterling Heights, MI to check out the products and learn how the 85-year-old business has evolved to appeal to new customers. The team at La-Z-Boy realized there was a stigma associated with their company. People hear La-Z-Boy and they immediately think recliners (I did!). Many don’t associate the company and its products with contemporary design and fashionable home decor. La-Z-Boy has worked hard to add a huge selection of home accessories to its product offerings, but not enough people (particularly women) know that. So what has the company done? Got a little more creative to change the business and the demographics of its customers.

From a macro level, La-Z-Boy brought on Brooke Shields as a spokesperson in advertisements and brand ambassador to speak to that new target audience the company is trying to reach. They added an accessories rewards program where you get $25 in free accessories when you spend $200. They created a free in-home design program where an interior design professional will come to your home and help you take that picture in your head and make it a reality in your home. The designer provides an entire floor plan (like the one below), along with 2D and 3D designs. Did I mention that program is free?! I so wish I knew about that when we first moved into our house. I love clothes fashion, but I am nowhere near as privy to home fashion as I am people fashion.

They’ve also focused more on creating an experience for customers at their new concept stores. The store felt very inviting from the moment I walked in. Immediately to the left of the front door, there was this vibrant display with accessories.

It immediately drew me into the store. This display will change with the seasons. You don’t even see recliners until you walk further into the store, which is smart. If you want customers to know you’re more than just one particular product, you better show them what they’re missing the minute they walk in the door. La-Z-Boy did a great job of that.

There were so many vibrant colors and interesting looking pieces that I had a hard time focusing on one thing for too long because I quickly found something else that appealed to me. There is still a section with all recliners, but the majority of the store I visited was filled with mini rooms (like the examples below) complete with furniture, accessories and rugs.  I saw many examples of how I could design a room with La-Z-Boy products. Granted, I was taking pictures for this story, but if I wasn’t, I would have spent a lot of time in there because I saw so many products that I wanted to work into my house.

 The sign in the above photo pretty much sums up how I would describe many of the products – timeless pieces with a contemporary twist. How perfect, right? An 85-year-old business doesn’t have to completely revamp its product offerings to appeal to new customers. It just has to put a new and more modern/creative twist on them.

On a micro level, La-Z-Boy has invited people like me to their new concept store as part of a blogger outreach program to see all the product offerings (particularly the accessories) and to learn about the creative things this company is doing to set itself apart from competitors.

This is such a no-brainer. If you are a company that has physical products, why wouldn’t you reach out to relevant people in your community and invite them into your store? Having a manager or owner take 20-30 minutes to spend with people showing them the store, educating them on the company and its products can do absolute wonders for a business trying to expand into new demographics. It helps if those people like to take photos and videos and share them with their online communities, like I do.

Additionally, they’ve done some creative things like bringing what they call Swatch Guys to the Columbus Art Festival. They were decked out in suits made from La-Z-Boy fabrics. Such a fun idea!

When I asked Mike, the store manager, what else sets La-Z-Boy apart from its competitors, he shared that his sales team doesn’t work on commission. They operate under a “no pressure selling” method. They keep records of all their customers’ interests and purchases, so you don’t have to worry about finding the same salesperson if you leave and come back another day. Their products are handmade, made in America and have a lifetime warranty. They’ve made almost all of their products customizable so you can mix and match and basically create your own product.  La-Z-Boy will be opening three other concept stores in Michigan in the next year.

Here are a few products that I thought were super cool and would LOVE for my house:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the beading on this couch.

So what’s the moral of the story? Adapt or die. That’s a bit dramatic, but it’s so true. Businesses must, must, must get creative and find new ways to keep staying fresh and relevant and appealing to new customers while still retaining their current ones.

If you see anything in these photos that you like and you live in southeast Michigan, there will be a grand opening celebration at the new concept store in Sterling Heights (address is 14405 Lakeside Circle, right by Lakeside Mall) this Saturday, July 27. La-Z-Boy is offering customers 25% off storewide to celebrate.

AND…La-Z-Boy is letting me give away a fun product! One lucky person will receive the below Leo Ottoman. The winner can choose any fabric he/she likes. All you have to do is visit the La-Z-Boy site and tell me what one of your favorite pieces is in the comments (it can be any product you see on the site). All comments must be posted by 5 p.m. this Friday, and I’ll notify the winner after that. Please leave an email and/or Twitter handle in your comment so I can contact you if you win. Good luck!

Disclosure: La-Z-Boy invited me to check out its new store and share my feedback on its products. I’m receiving $1,500 toward home furnishings. However, these are my true opinions about my experience. I only do this type of work if it’s completely relevant to who I am and what I write about on my blog.

The post Get Creative With Your Business to Stay Relevant – The La-Z-Boy Story appeared first on Essential Elements by Nikki Little.

I talked last week about my struggle with postpartum depression and how finding ways to get through such a difficult time is so important for a person’s health and happiness. Today, I want to talk more about ways to keep you and your family happy and healthy.

It’s hard enough to take care of yourself when you’re juggling a million things every day and being pulled in several directions. Do you eat healthy enough every day? Do you get enough exercise weekly? Do you drink enough water? Do you go to the doctor for annual physicals/checkups and to the dentist twice a year?

I bet you answered no to at least two of my questions. Now, throw in the addition of raising tiny humans. It’s flippin’ hard to make sure you’re doing everything possible to raise happy and healthy children, on top of making sure your own mental/physical well being and happiness doesn’t slip too far down the totem pole!

Here’s what I’ve been doing to keep me and my little dudes happy and healthy:

#littlebabies

• Making sure they get enough to eat every day and paying close attention to signs that indicate they’re ready to increase feedings.
• Talking to them all the time and playing with them to help their little brains develop.
• Helping them to have a good balance of sleep and awake time during the day so they sleep well at night (doesn’t always work because sometimes they’re hell bent on fighting sleep during the day, but I try!).
• Giving them lots of love and cuddles.
• Reading them books (their attention spans are pretty short right now, but I get in a short book every chance I can!).
• Keeping them clean and yummy baby smelling.
• Taking them for walks and out to other places so they can see the world and experience new sights/sounds.
• Taking them to the doctor on schedule to make sure everything is OK and that they’re gaining enough weight.

Me

• Accepting help. This one is HUGE! Unfortunately, not everyone is blessed enough to have family and friends nearby to help. Luckily, we are. Accepting help whenever I can has been a huge help for my sanity. 
• Eating healthy and drinking lots of water.
• Exercising and playing tennis.
• Making time to see friends and to have people over to see me, the #littlebabies and MAL.
• Giving myself pep talks to help put things into perspective. Even with a lot of help, I get overwhelmed. I frequently give myself pep talks to try to stay positive and do my best to not let things I can’t control frustrate me or get me down.
• Writing and sharing my experiences to help others.
• Giving back. Even though I don’t have time to volunteer right now, it makes me happy to support local organizations and friends who are doing activities to raise money for a good cause.

Speaking of a good cause, part of the reason why I’m writing this post about health and happiness is because I’m involved in a project for a charity called Child Safe Michigan. And, for those of you in Michigan who may not have heard about this organization (which I hadn’t until just a few days ago), I thought it was important that you learned more about it.

Child Safe Michigan is a foster care, adoption and mentoring agency that works with neglected, abused and at-risk children. The organization makes a direct difference in hundreds of children’s lives every year. I’ve worked (and do work) with many organizations that help improve the lives of children (Friendship Circle, Children’s Leukemia Foundation of Michigan and Operation:Kid Equip), so I was happy to learn about yet another organization that helps children. Supporting organizations focused on children is even more of a passion now that I have two little nuggets of my own.

Child Safe Michigan’s vision is a community where every child has a safe and loving family free of abuse and neglect. To accomplish this, Child Safe:

• Strives to be a compassionate and competent system of care.
• Provides a full continuum of care for children and families involved in the welfare system.
• Supports and promotes active learning to help children reach their full potential.
• Enriches the lives of children and guides them to become caring citizens.

Talk about the ultimate way to keep children in need happy and healthy! I had no idea that approximately 14,000 Michigan children are in foster care at any time, and about 3,000 Michigan foster children are available for adoption at any time.

Here’s a short story of how Child Safe Michigan helped twins:

Timothy and T’Maiya were four months when they were placed in foster care. Timothy had two broken arms with an upper body cast to hold them in place, a broken leg, human bite marks on his chest and a blank stare. T’Maiya had six broken ribs. These were the saddest babies and one of the worst cases of child abuses witnessed by Child Safe. Parental rights were terminated after two years of fighting with the courts. The foster parents adopted the twins in summer of 2012.

Heartbreaking.

So you know how I mentioned that I’m all about supporting charities? If you enjoy doing the same (and seriously, why wouldn’t you?!), here’s how you can help Child Safe Michigan. The organization is hosting its annual fundraiser, Celebrities, Cards & Monte Carlo, this Saturday at the swanky Townsend Hotel in Birmingham. There will be celebrity guests, a cocktail reception, dinner, a live auction, dancing and gaming. Individual tickets are $250.

Now, I know that’s a bit of a hefty ticket price. If that’s not in your budget, you can always donate directly to Child Safe Michigan to help the organization bring health and happiness to abused, neglected and at-risk children.

If you do decide to attend the event, MAL and I will be there for a few. I’ll be live tweeting and sharing photos of the celeb guests and all the other fun things happening.

I would love to hear how you keep yourself and your family healthy and happy. Do you do some of the same things I do? What have you found works best to balance it all?

BONUS: If you leave a comment answering the questions above, you’ll be entered to win a little prize from me that you can use to do something for you and/or your family that will bring you happiness. Comment before noon on Friday. I’ll select a winner at random. You don’t have to live in Michigan to win. Sound good? Share your feedback!

Disclosure: I’m receiving complimentary access to this event and compensation for this sponsored post through TweetTeam.com. While I’m excited about this project and a free evening out, I wouldn’t have done this if it didn’t align with what I write about on this blog, and if I didn’t think you, dear readers, would care about the topic. Promise!

Photo Credit: Nina Matthews Photography via Compfight cc

The post Child Safe Michigan Helps Kids in Need – Keeping Families Happy & Healthy appeared first on Essential Elements by Nikki Little.

This isn’t an easy story for me to tell. It’s really hard to admit that I suffered from postpartum depression after the #littlebabies were born. But, I got through it. And in order to share how I got through it, which is something I wanted to do to help others, I knew I had to share the details about what I endured.

I initially wrote this for the Mind:Share Project blog and had planned to post here after it ran there. The site’s owner is a bit behind on posting, so I decided to post here first. It’s a big long, but I hope you’ll read it and share my postpartum depression advice with anyone in your friend/family circle who is pregnant. 

No one ever expects to suffer from depression. It’s not one of those inevitable life events, like turning 30 or losing someone you love. Even if you live through something that you know could induce depression down the road, there’s no way of knowing if or when it will hit you…and how hard.

Since May was Mental Health Month, I thought it was a fitting time to share my experience with postpartum depression. I wanted to share my story in hope that it will help others who find themselves in a similar situation, but I’ve also been dragging my feet. I consider myself to be a strong person and have survived many challenging obstacles in my life, so it’s not easy to admit that I experienced something that I couldn’t handle as well as I would have liked. I’ll get to this later in the story, but admittance and acceptance are the first steps toward recovery, and it’s so important to recognize when you’re depressed and to take the necessary actions to combat and control the illness.

Here’s my story. I learned I was pregnant with identical twins in the fall of 2012. My husband and I were a combination of ecstatic and terrified (two at once for our first go-around with pregnancy…what?!?). My pregnancy was fairly typical (at least for twins), until I was diagnosed with a condition called vasa previa at my 16-week appointment in November. Fast forward to January 2013. I was admitted to the hospital for monitoring at 28 weeks, with an expected delivery date of 32 weeks.

What I didn’t realize until I got there was that “monitoring” including being poked by more needles than I had in my entire life (needles induce major anxiety in me, so you can imagine how well I didn’t handle being poked constantly). I had also developed a minor case of gestational diabetes, so I had to have my fingers poked for sugar testing daily at first, then three times a week. Long story short, everything went really well and I ended up delivering two very healthy boys, Nolan James and Evan William, on February 22 at 33.1 weeks.

My doctors talked to me numerous times about postpartum depression throughout my six-week stay in the hospital. They also gave me literature to read on the issue, constantly asked if I was experiencing any symptoms and reminded me to let them know if I started feeling depressed. While I experienced an array of emotions in the hospital, ranging from fear and exhaustion to hope and gratitude, I never felt depressed.

However, I quickly realized my doctors were preparing me for developing postpartum depression because of everything I had and would be experiencing – a long hospital stay that forced an always-on-the-go person to severely cut back on activities, a condition that potentially could have negatively affected the health of my babies, premature babies who would have to stay in the NICU and then bringing home two premature babies without any experience taking care of one baby, let alone two.

At the time I thought I would not face depression, partly because I had already survived a very difficult period of my life, which resulted in an estranged relationship and then sudden loss of my mother, without getting depressed and without needing any type of therapy to deal with it. Please note – I am not saying there is anything wrong with people who do get depressed or need therapy or medication due to life’s challenges. I just assumed that because I had already gotten through one very difficult and emotional situation without those support mechanisms, I would be able to do it again.

I have never researched the probability of this so let me preface this next statement by saying this is total assumption and not fact based. While I knew I could get through trying times without falling into depression, part of me also has anticipated experiencing it at some point in my life because the disease is part of my family history. My mother suffered from depression and bipolar disorder, and her mother suffered from similar mental illnesses. I have worried for many years that because two generations of my family have experienced severe depression, my day would eventually come. And, I thought a difficult pregnancy could be the life experience that would take me down that path.

Back to the pregnancy part of the story. Within a day or two of coming home from the hospital while my twins were still in the NICU, the postpartum depression came out of nowhere and leveled me like an F4 tornado taking out an entire city. I was an emotional and physical wreck. I experienced side effects of having a C-section that I believe contributed to the depression. I was being pulled in multiple directions that left me feeling like a yo-yo while I tried to balance taking care of myself, coming to terms with the fact that I was a new parent to twins and getting back to the hospital each day to be with my babies.

The word that I can best use to describe those first few days when the postpartum depression hit is fog. I felt like I was in a 24/7 fog. I couldn’t think clearly (I partly blame the Vicodin). I felt no emotions other than sadness and anxiety.

This trend continued once my boys came home. They were superstars and had no breathing or eating issues while in the NICU. Even though they were born at 4 pounds 2 ounces and 4 pounds 11 ounces, they thrived in the NICU and had a shorter stay than my family and I expected. I knew deep down inside that I was happy they were coming home, yet I couldn’t experience any joy. I so desperately wanted to feel joy and happiness. I asked MAL several times through tears why I couldn’t feel happy. I wanted him to tell me why everyone else in my family who spent time with the boys could laugh and experience joy, yet I couldn’t. He, along with several others, helped me understand that it was due to the postpartum depression, and while it was normal that I was feeling this way, I needed to do whatever I could to get past it.

I truly was an emotional basket case. I burst into tears immediately if someone said the wrong thing to me, or if I felt like I was doing something wrong related to taking care of the babies. I rarely smiled. I often sat alone in a catatonic state crying, or worse, showing no display of emotion whatsoever. My highs were few and far between. My lows were frequent and painfully raw.

It’s also important to point out that I’m a person who likes to be in control of situations. I plan ahead, I am detail oriented and very Type A and things go well in my personal and professional life when I can lead the charge and have at least some control of the outcome. All you parents who are reading this are probably shaking your heads laughing because you know you have very little control when it comes to babies! They dictate how things are going to go in the beginning – not you. My strengths actually turned into my weaknesses in this case because not being able to control things or predict how my babies were going to behave was like pouring gasoline on a fiercely growing depression fire.

I talked to my doctors about what I was experiencing, and they suggested I start on a low dose of an anti-depressant. As one of my doctors described it, I was teetering on the edge of falling into a deep, dark hole, and we needed to do something to move me away from the edge before I plummeted further into the darkness. While I very much was against taking medication, I finally gave in and took the low dosage for a month.

I took the medication for me, but mostly for my babies and MAL. I couldn’t take care of myself, and until I could, I knew I could not provide my babies the love and care they need and deserve. Plus, I didn’t want MAL to have to learn how to be a parent on his own without the support from his wife.

MAL is my rock and stood by my side through this entire experience. He came to the hospital to see me every single day for the six weeks I was there. He held me while I cried uncontrollably. He constantly reminded me that I was a good mom and I would get through this, with him helping and supporting me every step of the way. Several other family members and friends have also supported me through my journey. While I know the medication helped, I truly believe it was their unwavering love that got me over the postpartum depression hump and moved me toward happier days.

Whether you experience postpartum depression or any other form of depression, I have two important pieces of advice for you:

Accept it. Do not fight depression. When you go through something in life that knocks you off your feet and severely impacts your emotional well being, accept that it’s happening and do something about it. Do not ignore it or think you’re a stronger person if you try to get through it on your own. We all need help at times. Admitting that you need help is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of strength. You have people in your life who love and depend on you. When you suffer from depression, so do others around you. Never forget that.

Find coping mechanisms. I realize that some forms of depression are so severe that creating your own coping mechanisms won’t do a darn thing. But in cases where you have some control over your mental state, coping mechanisms can really help. I listened to music. I started exercising as soon as I got approval from my doctor. I repeated certain phrases to myself (“This too shall pass” and “Left foot, right foot, breathe”) when I started feeling myself spiraling.

I am grateful that I overcame my postpartum depression within two months of delivering my twins and feel fortunate that I did not experience more severe symptoms. While it seemed like a long time while I was dealing with it, I of course realize now that it wasn’t. It was merely a blip on my life radar.

However, it gave me a glimpse into the life of someone who suffers daily with the disease, and it scared the hell out of me. I now know went my family members went through. I now understand how a close friend of mine with the disease feels when his depression sneaks up on him time and time again. I will never pretend to completely understand what someone who has suffered from this disease for a long time feels like, but I wanted to share my story because I want people to know that we can’t be embarrassed or think we are any less worthy of human beings because we experience depression.

One last thing – If you have a friend or family member who experiences something traumatic in life, please be there for them and watch for any red flags that indicate they may be heading down the path to depression. If you know them well enough, you’ll know when they’re lying to you if they say they’re fine, but their actions are telling you a different story. Help them. Be there for them. Encourage them to follow doctor’s orders. Show them that you love them. You could be their lifesaver.

Photo credit

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