We’re hitting the road again.

We can’t help ourselves.  Actually, this time around the trip was not of our design but someone else’s.  One of Hubby’s cousins is turning 16 and her family is throwing her a big Sweet Sixteen Bash in Rhode Island this weekend.  Since almost all of his side of the family is in Miami, we want to attend the party and visit with the few family members that are up North. So that means…road trip!

I’m a little scared about it – Providence is a good 7-hour drive from the DC Area and I’m so not keen on long distance treks in the car with our three crazies.  But forget about the actual drive, there’s so much prep to do!  My car was in sad, sad shape (think: crayon, french fry and lip gloss build-up in the backseats) and so Hubby took it to be detailed last weekend so that we wouldn’t have to sit in a pool of gunk for 14 hours. Bless him.

Then, I had to take my girls to get their hair done last night.  They wear their hair in braids because: (1) it looks great; (2) it saves us so much time; (3) we don’t have to worry about swimming and bathtime; and (4) I am pathetic at doing hair (it’s ok – I’ve decided that I’m great at many things, but doing hair isn’t one of them).  So we made the 30-minute drive to their hair salon and spent the requisite 3 hours there.  Hubby took L’il Buddy to get his haircut yesterday, so we’re all set in the hair department.

Oh wait, I’m lying – I forgot about me! I’ll hit the salon today or tomorrow.

Next, I had to get everyone outfitted. I got the voicemail on Tuesday from Hubby: “The girls need dresses for the party. Click.” It sounded so serious.

Finding a frock for Giggles is always easy – pretty, pink and flowy and she’s a happy camper.  And I never have to beg her to wear her dressy shoes.  They are her preferred go-to.

Chatterbox is the complete opposite – I scoured the racks of Marshall’s for anything non-pink, non-frilly and non-flowy.  If she had her druthers, she’d wear jean shorts and city sneakers to the shindig.  I lucked out and found a subdued indigo dress that had a little bit of swagger:

And she approved. Phew.  Then we went and found her some non-pink, non-strappy shoes to go with:

I also found L’il Buddy some adorable dress shoes but have yet to find him an outfit.  That’s on tap for today.

Perhaps the biggest challenge was finding a place to stay.  Who knew that Providence was where it was at for Memorial Day Weekend?  Apparently everyone but me.  I waited until the absolute last minute (i.e. day before yesterday) to book our hotel room.  Almost everything is sold out thanks to Brown University graduation and the ones that have availability are $400+  I ended up finding one that was decently priced, had 1 room left (with just a King bed, oy) and has mixed reviews, so wish us luck.  We’ll be packing an air mattress for the kiddos.

Tomorrow we’ll need to pick up the 150 party linens in Hubby’s pickup truck, 30 minutes away, and take them to his other cousin who is driving them up along with 4,365 homemade mini desserts that she’s bringing for the event.  That should be an all-day project. Maybe I should get my hair done today after all.

Right now I’m off to Forever 21 to get the birthday girl the gift card of her dreams.

This past Friday I attended a mini-retreat hosted by a newfound friend, Dr. Nicole Cutts (aka @SuccessDoc).  It was called “Reclaiming the Goddess” and the purpose of the event was to:

Take some time out and network with other Powerful women in an inspiring atmosphere while acquiring skills to help you succeed no matter where you are on your Heroine’s Journey.

There are so many things about Friday that resonated with me, including Nicole’s proposition that we are all heroines on a quest: in our daily lives, we are charged to leave our comfort zones, go out into the world, fight the battles that we encounter, win the prize and then…share our experiences with the world.

How much do you love that?

The second thing about the retreat that made a lightbulb go off for me was the very first exercise Nicole had us do while sitting in our sister circle – it was called appreciative inquiry and it’s a technique generally used by organizations to focus on what’s right when you are facing a challenge, instead of focusing on what’s wrong.

What a refreshing point of view and one completely in line with my positive and optimistic personality!

According to the Appreciative Inquiry Commons at Case Western University (I know! who knew?), appreciative inquiry is defined as:

[T]he coevolutionary search for the best in people, their organizations, and the relevant world around them. In its broadest focus, it involves systematic discovery of what gives “life” to a living system when it is most alive, most effective, and most constructively capable in economic, ecological, and human terms.

My husband often teases me for always seeing the best in people – even when their worst is staring me in the face.  I kind of like that that’s my disposition – and learning about this appreciative inquiry technique is a validation of sorts.

Apparently some really smart people think that focusing on the positive works.

So there.

What gives you life when you’re most alive?

School is out is less than a month.  Normally for us that means the beginning of a complicated matrix of various summer camps, programs and aftercare situations.  Not this year! Since I am, ahem, jobless as of January, we decided to cut back on the expense of summer camp for three kids (and expensive it was – think ~$5,000 for 12 weeks x 3 last summer) and keep them home…all summer.

Lord help me.

The event planner and itinerary junkie in me decided that this would be an AWESOME opportunity to create a summer camp schedule for us.  We’d do fun activities and go on exciting field trips and spend loads of quality time together and it would be AWESOME!

And now it’s almost the end of May and I have no idea what I was thinking.

Twelve hours a day with my three crazies with nowhere to go and no one to occupy their attention but me? Then, throw in the fact that Blogalicious busy-season is just getting started and it’s a recipe for disaster folks.

Or is it?

Here’s my semi-ambitious plan for our summer schedule:

6am – 10am: Mom wakes up early and gets some work done before our camp day begins.  Hopefully Hubby will get with the program and get them up, dressed and fed since he works from home 3 days a week.

10am – 3pm: Camp Mom – 5 hours of sheer, unadulterated awesomeness

3pm – 5pm: Downtime (i.e. leave Mom alone)

6pm – 8pm: Dinnertime, Family time, Bathtime, Bedtime

8pm – 11pm: Mom gets more work done if she’s not conked out.

Sounds brilliant, yes?

I’ve been rounding up activity ideas on my Camp Mom Pinterest board that I will use for inspiration throughout the summer and am waiting for Teach Mama’s 2012 Summertime Learning eBook and Camp Stimey’s 2012 program with bated breath.  I also have been filing away PR pitches for products and services that could be useful to us.

It all looks good on paper! I’m trying to ignore my dear friends and family who say: “Um, have you thought about getting a sitter?” and “Maybe just register them for camp for part of the summer?” with their concerned glances and doubting smiles. I know you think I can’t do it. I just know it. But I’m a highly motivated and capabale human being.

Ok, I don’t think I can do it either. But I’m gonna give it a shot!

Let the games begin.

I love handbags. I do. Not so much the cutesy little clutches, but big beautiful tote bags.  In fact, I have a closetful to show for it.  We all know how much my closet drives me insane. And now that it’s starting to push my husband over the edge, I’ve decided to tackle the beast head-on.  I started this morning when I couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t breathe and began with the floor of my closet.  An assortment of random sandals and slippers and tote bags later, I can finally see the floor.

Being able to see the closet floor is so overrated, by the way.

I was able to sort through my sandals with little heartache but the handbags! I can’t throw them away! Even if they are beyond repair. Or are they? Help please.

Exhibit A:

My patent leather Bugatti Croco Cole Haan tote.  I adore this bag. I rocked it for a good 3 seasons because the burnt orange color just kept working.  But now, the corners are worn and the leather is cracked.  Is it salvageable?

Exhibit B:

My Kenneth Cole oversized tote.  I couldn’t find a decent photo of it online, and my iPhone camera isn’t doing it justice, but trust me, it’s gorgeous in person.  I needed a large bag for my commuting days that could hold my lunch, work shoes, book, umbrella, and smaller handbag – it did the trick and looked good.  But somewhere along the way, it got stained with some kind of red dye (or maybe there was red coating underneath the leather that’s coming through?) Either way, it’s a mess and I’m sad about it. Can it be saved?

Okay, I’m going back in.

For the past seven days I have been laid out with bronchitis and a sinus infection. It started out as just a hoarse voice while I was in Miami and then by the time I got back home, it escalated to what I thought was a cold.  By mid-week, though it was clear that this bug wasn’t playing and I was stopped dead in my tracks.  As my friend posted on Facebook:

“God had to do something!”

I’ve been operating at break-neck speed since the holidays: working on my {re}Treat, heading to Blissdom, traveling with the family for Spring Break, popping over to Chicago, managing the mayhem of home and I guess the straw that broke the camel’s back was heading to Mom 2.0 last week.

Learning to take care of myself is a constant challenge but it’s evident that I’m going to have to figure something out or my body is going to do it for me.  This week I’ve been posted up in the bed, unable to do much of anything – quick trips to the grocery store or to swim/dance lessons for the kids resulted in dizzy spells and the sweats.  I finally broke down and paid the doctor a visit over the weekend who prescribed me with antibiotics and orders to REST and TAKE IT EASY for a while.

Um, yeah. About that.

I really am going to take the message to heart because I’m good to no one in this state! And now that my next trip isn’t until August, I am so excited to not have to travel for a couple of months.  Also, I can spend my energies focusing on Blogalicious 2012 and only one or two (ahem) other projects. Plus, summer’s on the horizon which automatically means slower paces and leisure time.

In theory.

Kicking off Saturday Enjoying Brunch with the Shot@Life Ladies

Laura and Carrie really outdid themselves this year.  The venue is spectacular! I can’t believe that during all my years living in, and traveling to, Miami that I’ve never beed to the Ritz-Carlton on Key Biscayne – I’ve been missing out.  But not only was the setting amazing, the group of bloggers in attendance was impressive.  And not in the sense that there were rockstars there (like Jenny and Kristen and Isabel and and Gretchen and Ciaran), but in the sense that everyone was so warm and down-to-earth.

Also – I enjoyed the sessions. I was expecially excited about the Stepping to the Front of the Line: Case Studies in Doing Things Differently session (more on that in another post) and the Setting Your Course in What’s Next: How Do You Even Do That? session.  Neither disappointed.  For several months, I’ve been feeling as though the blogosphere – and me personally – has been in a state of flux and lack of clear direction as to where we’re headed as a platform and as a community, so I was intensely curious to hear what the presenters had to say in these discussions.

Key takeaways from these two sessions for me were…

You have to be brave with your life so that others can be brave with theirs
~ courtesy of Love Crunch

Live Hungry. Champion Good Ideas. Stand Behind Good Ideas.
~ courtesy of Living Social

Be Prepared to Adapt.
~ courtesy of Gabby Blair, Design Mom

Be Innovative In Responding to Challenges.
~ courtesy of Karen Walrond, Chookooloonks (more on this one in another post too!)

I was also very much looking forward to hearing Brene Brown speak for the very first time. I loved her.  It was like chatting with a brilliantly in-tune friend.

That afternoon was the highlight of the day though – we had a 12×7 Anything-but-General Session.  There was a lineup of 12 different speakers, myself included, who had 7 minutes to present on their topic.  It was such a fun and interesting approach to solving the conference organizer challenge of providing lots of great content, giving people the opportunity to speak without packing the schedule and losing overstimulated attendees to, say, the beach.

And? My presentation went swimmingly! My topic was Channeling Your Awesome: Keys to Aligning Your Passions Into One Business Strategy - seemingly impossible to fit in 7 minutes!  The audience was engaged and thanks to the sage advice I received from Karen, Anastasia and Monique, my content was well-received.

Giving my spiel...and rocking Humid-Miami-Hair.

Saturday night I had the privilege of joining some fabulous ladies for dinner at Essencia on South Beach – I was in heaven being able to order an entire snapper and satisfy my yearning for saltwater fish.  Then, I headed back to Key Biscayne to do a “poetry” reading at the Bounce and Hallmark Desserts and Delights Party – big fun.

Beautiful Table. Gorgeous Company.

My roomie Elena and I wrapped up Saturday staying up late and chatting; ahhhhh another good day.

{I actually wrote this post on Thursday night and then got distracted and forgot to publish it! Typical. So here are my retroactive thoughts from Day 1 of Mom 2.0 Summit…}

Every single time I’m preparing to go out of town to attend a blog conference I run around like a chicken with my head cut off prepping my workload and my household for my absence.  Invariably, I end up questioning why I’m going – do I really need to be gallavanting off in Miami for 3 days?

And then I arrive at the conference and realize – Yes. Yes, I do.

That’s how I’m feeling right about now at the end of the first day of Mom 2.0, after a quick dip in the pool, #ONEMoms and Microsoft happy hours and the White Sand White Party sponsored by LG and Honda.

I love nothing more than seeing friendly faces and giving hugs and laughing with these gals who get me.  It’s such a rejuvenating reminder that what we do is awesome, even though it’s intangible and confuses the daylights out of our non-blogger friends and family.

I’m among my peeps and I love it.

Today marks exactly 4 months of my being a 100% solopreneur.  While it’s been completely exhilarating, it’s also been completely overwhelming.

Real talk.

The simple fact of it all is that the daily structure that I once had while working a 9 to 5 is gone. Out the window! And I totally underestimated what that would mean for my household, my family and my life.  Having to be somewhere at a certain time forces you into motion – and from that other things flow.  For example, needing to be in the office for 9:30am meant I had to be on the road (showered and dressed) at a certain time with my lunch in tow.  It also meant having 10 minutes to sit down on the train or when I first arrive into the office and take inventory of the day ahead.  Dishes, laundry and errrands all had to wait until my workday was over.  Now, without me having to be anywhere, the structure of my day had turned on its head.  I thought I was just being hard on myself and figured that I’d find my way after a few weeks, but it never happened! Instead, I’ve been muddling through days where I did some of everything, but got “nothing” done.

And it’s been driving this hyper-productive, Type-A personality – and not to mention my husband, cray (or kray depending on your school of thought).

I was on the phone with a girlfriend of mine and she was having the same issue.  We decided to heed the cliche advice that we’d been hearing for work-at-home women and moms: Schedule Your Days.

Seems a little extreme, but I am a love of lists, schedules and itineraries, so it didn’t faze me in the least and I gave it a shot.  Putting together My Week Ahead actually gave me some iota of comfort in that I was taking control of my discombobulated life and creating a plan.

I’m so anal, I know.

But it’s been an entire week since I did the schedule and it’s been working so far.  Of course, monkey wrenches are thrown in and I’ve had to adapt and revise, but that’s life, right?

I have time scheduled in for exercise, for getting dressed (why oh why has this suddenly become so difficult?), for taking a lunch break, for work hours, for playing with the kiddos, and everything in between.

And so I warmly share with you my…

Solopreneur Sanity-Saving Tidbit No. 1:
Schedule Your Days ~ both the personal AND the professional tasks

Your mind (and home) will be better for it.

When I first heard of the term “semi-homemade” from Sandra Lee on The Food Network, I thought it was brilliant.

And an accurate description of how I roll.

As much as I adore trying new recipes from scratch, the opportunities for hours to play around in the kitchen are rare (i.e. non-existent).  And so, over the years I have become a master at creating tasty dishes that involve shortcuts – a la Sandra Lee.

I was searching for a doable Chicken and Dumplings recipe for this weekend and came across this one by Southern Plate – homemade chicken + ready-made biscuits = score!  I also love to combine different recipes and pull the best of each to create my own version.  I’m thinking that I’ll pull in some of the steps and ingredients from this Southern Living recipe since I’m really liking the seasonings listed.

I’ll serve it with a crisp cucumber salad to cut the richness of the main dish.

Have a lovely weekend.

Image Credit: SouthernLiving.com

Chicken and Dumplings
by Christy Jordan’s Southern Plate

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 chicken breasts
• 32 oz Chicken Broth (feel free to use water with bouillon cubes added)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1-10 count can Pilsbury layers biscuits
• salt and pepper to taste
• flour

Instructions

1. Cook chicken breasts in approx. 4 c. of water until fork tender, about 45 minutes. Place broth in medium to large sized pot. Stir cream of chicken soup into gently boiling broth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pull biscuits apart into three layers. Dip each layer into flour and then tear each layer into three pieces and drop into gently boiling broth mixture. Do not stir biscuits a lot, or they will cook up, only gently push dumplings down into broth as they float to the top. Cook about ten minutes after last dumplings are added. Add shredded chicken and turn on low until ready to serve. added, Tear up chicken, add to broth mixture.Turn to low until ready to serve.

**************

Classic Chicken and Dumplings
by Southern Living

Ingredients

• 1 (3 3/4-lb.) whole chicken
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 3/4 teaspoon pepper, divided
• 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
• 3 cups self-rising flour
• 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 2 teaspoons bacon drippings*
• 1 cup milk
• Garnish: chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

1. Bring chicken, water to cover, garlic powder, thyme, 1 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper to a boil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 1 hour. Remove chicken; reserve broth.

2. Cool chicken 30 minutes; skin, bone, and shred chicken. Skim fat from broth. Add chicken, bouillon, and remaining 1 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper to broth. Return to a simmer.

3. Combine flour and poultry seasoning in a bowl. Cut in shortening and bacon drippings with a pastry blender until crumbly. Stir in milk. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll to 1/8-inch thickness; cut into 1-inch pieces.

4. Drop dumplings, a few at a time, into simmering broth, stirring gently. Cover and simmer, stirring often, 25 minutes. Garnish, if desired.

*2 tsp. butter plus 1/4 tsp. salt may be substituted.

In the car on the way home from preschool today, L’il Buddy started screaming about a rainbow to the point where he was inconsolable.

The worst part of it was that neither I nor the girls had any clue what he was talking about.

“Did you make a rainbow at school today?” I asked. Nope (communicated via a furious head shake).

“Did you see a rainbow when you went to the playground?” Chatterbox asked. Nope.

“TURN AROUND MOM! TURN AROUND!” Chatterbox started yelling – “MAYBE THE RAINBOW IS BEHIND US!!”

I was tired from a day of running around all over town and we were almost late to Giggles’ ballet class.  I was so not turning around.

Thankfully Giggles stepped in (with her level-headed 6 year-old self): “Maybe he would like a rainbow cake like the one we made for [Chatterbox]‘s birthday party last summer.”

“A rainbow cake!” I said.  “That we can do – let’s make a rainbow cake tonight, ok?” The idea was met with an enthusiastic head nod and he wiped the tears from his cheeks.

Phew. A temporary moment of peace.  I cannot stand hollering when I am driving. It makes me nuts. And I was 110% certain that he would completely forget about it by the time we got home.

No dice.

As soon as he ate his last spoonful of rice, he said: “Time to make the rainbow cake now, Mom?”

Drats.

“Absolutely!” I said.

Double Drats.

I’m a big fan of not letting kids down because it’s their endless hope and dreams that make children magical. And so a rainbow cake was in the works.  I found a box of Red Velvet cake mix in the pantry (Nice! Red is totally part of the rainbow!) but was stumped about how to pull off the other 6 colors.  From the way back of the fridge I rustled up a 3/4 full can of ready-made frosting (those things don’t really expire, right?) … but it was Strawberry flavored and therefore pink. This was looking more like a Planet Mars cake than a rainbow one.

And then I remembered the forgotten bag of candy Easter eggs that they had lugged back from Miami…which then reminded me of the forgotten mini bags of Gobstoppers from Halloween…which led to…

A MIGHTY FINE RAINBOW CAKE THANKYOUVERYMUCH.

The End.