Friday night in our house means Shark Tank night. Little J stayed up past her 8:00 bedtime one Friday night earlier this year and watched Shark Tank with us. Hubby and I have been a fan since it came on, but this was the beginning of Little J’s interest in the show. She was hooked immediately and now watches every week, including the reruns. It has made for some interesting conversations, such as explaining company valuations to a 6 year old.

This past Friday night, they showed a company that none of the sharks invested in last year. Especially tough on the business owner was Kevin O’Leary.  Kevin told the owner that he wouldn’t amount to anything and should just give up. Using this as motivation the business is growing and getting placement on shelves without the investment. The owner was very honest in the fact that just being on show helped him get the needed exposure, but Kevin’s words fuel him.

During the commercial, hubby and I talked a little about those people like Kevin O’Leary that motivate you because they don’t believe in you. Little J insightfully asked, “Have you ever had a Kevin O’Leary, Mamma?” My answer? “Why, yes, yes I have”.

Almost 7 years ago, I hired a consultant to help my company (at that time 4 of us) move in a new, more targeted direction. Suffice it to say that based on very limited information (some financial data), he recommended I shut down the business. Great news for someone getting ready to go to Disney World the next day. I thought about it long and hard while on vacation and came to the conclusion, that while we had suffered some financial setbacks due to the tech bubble bursting and 9/11, I would not walk away.

That day flipped a switch in me and drove me to make many changes. It served as the kick in the pants I needed to define success. Not his definition. Mine. Every time I get frustrated, I think about how much I want to prove him, and others like him, wrong. Do you have a Kevin O’Leary?

Tomorrow is the last day of school. Summer means no homework, packed lunches, or dance class. It means beach, late nights playing outside, and maybe even the pool. However, to the working moms (and dads) it also means the beginning of the summer shuffle. The juggling act of getting work done and spending quality time with your children.

This has always been a struggle for me, and something that causes undue stress every summer. Poor Little J has attended more meetings with me during the summer months than she cares to remember. She has always been a trooper, but, of course, I have always had tremendous mommy guilt. Last summer, I swore to myself that this summer would be different.

For once, I actually planned ahead. In January, I contacted a teenager that I just adore and offered her a babysitting job this summer for about 20 hours a week. Thankfully she said yes. Twenty hours will give me plenty of time to attend meetings and get work done though the summer, but it will also allow me to spend true quality time with Little J.

Little J is excited to have a “friend” to play with and so is mommy. How do you handle the summer shuffle?

You know the saying, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game”? Well this past weekend, I finally came to the realization that I have been in a funk for the last 8 months because I Hate the Game. And I plan on changing that.

I turn 40 this year and I got so caught up in the “what you should do before turning 40″ culture that I was really upset about where I was in my life. I don’t know what triggered the change this weekend, but now I’m ready to embrace 40 with open arms and no regrets.

Did I set some goals at 30 for when I hit 40? Sure did. Did I achieve them? Sure didn’t. You know why? My life, business and priorities changed drastically over the past decade and it was all for the better.

Moving forward, I’m going to change the game or at least how I play it. I’m not following what others think I should do or how I should behave. I’m going to stop comparing myself to others and then justifying my place in the world. I will not judge or tear down others to make myself look or feel better.

I’m going to try and banish the word should from my vocabulary. Boy, Little J will be happy about that.

Meet my friend, Jessica aka JessHibb. She is the one that re-introduced me to the joys of instant photography and told me about August Break. We had breakfast with a bunch of friends this morning, and I thought it would be fun to take a photo of Jess and the camera she is using for August Break. Be sure to check out her site to see the cool journal she is making this month.

In the DC area today, we woke up at 5:30 to a major thunderstorm and finished up the work day with another. I ran to the grocery store around 6:00 and took this picture of the sky from the parking lot. I’m really done with all the extreme weather we have had in the past 9 months.

Yes, I went from Day 9 to Day 11. This week has been so fast and furious that I totally forgot to take a picture of anything on the 10th. Summer is always interesting in my life because Little J is home and I still am running my business, including meetings. She is a total trooper and really knows how to keep herself entertained during meetings.

Yesterday, I had a meeting with a great friend who is also the designer I use for my business. We were discussing an a booth exhibit for an upcoming trade show. Apparently Little J was listening to every detail and here is her idea for the booth layout with her usual flair, complete with a chandelier and refreshments.

You may know that I love to bake, but for the past several months I have really lost my baking mojo. I didn’t even want to look at recipes for baked goods. Nothing. That all changed on vacation. First I went to Long Beach Island, NJ and visited some of my favorite bakeries and ate many goodies. This past weekend I was in New York where I consumed wonderful cupcakes, Italian cookies and French delights. All of this has brought back my desire to become a better baker. Today I took inventory of my baking supplies and made my shopping list. This picture was taken in my pantry of some of my baking supplies. Fire up the oven!

To say there were a lot of giveaways at BlogHer would be an understatement, but the 2 times that scored me major Mom bonus points were Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. For double bonus points, Jenn hooked me up with Silly Bandz. Thanks Jenn.

On our final night in NYC, we decided to splurge a little and go to dinner at Bar Boulud which is a Casual French Bistro owned by Chef Daniel. The dinner had a few firsts for me, namely beef cheeks, pate and pork belly, and I thoroughly enjoyed all of them. I didn’t take pictures of all my dishes because I was too excited about eating them, but here is a shot of the menu.

For lunch today we went to Veselka Restaurant for pierogis which were delicious with a capital D. After lunch we headed over to an Italian bakery called Veniero’s. I bought some cookies to take home and it has become quite a challenge to not dig into them. Here is picture of one of the cases at Veniero’s.