not necessarily in this order

  On   Fridays , I work from home. The only video-on call I had was with my direct reports and boss, so I threw on a t-shirt and leggings and made the most minimal effort on controlling the curls – this was the morning after my tie-dye adventure, after all! Now, this is a casual, team catchup/all call, but everyone kept pausing after they said anything to ask me if I was ok…. I got more and more uncomfortable until I blurted out “ why is everyone being weird?!?!? ” Turns out, the t-shirt I grabbed had a picture of a marshmallow on fire walking with a smile; above the picture, it said, “ BURNT OUT ” and below it   continued   “ BUT OPTIMISTIC ” – however;   only the top showed   on the Teams screen and everyone thought is was a cry for help, haha! I took it as a sign from the universe and ran away after that meeting to get a fancy coffee and my library holds….   Saturday , Lil Momma had the busiest day. Luke had to step in to run a softball tournament f...

  “ No weeks off ” as a camp strategy for Lil Momma kind of blew up in our faces. We had a problem at one of the camps 2 weeks ago and then had to go back this week and had another issue. It’s been a bit of a bummer for my girl. Then, I made a   classic parenting mistake … Let me set the scene: I don’t want to send chills of despair through anyone who has been through this, but it was  THEME WEEK.   My feelings on having the final week of this specific camp require a different outfit for each individual day will be reserved for a later post when this season of life is over…   My mom crew and I found out about THEME WEEK the weekend before it began and divided and conquered; Monday was  Barbie  and we all had a pink shirt, Tuesday was  Disney  and someone found cheap Disney shirts for those of us who aren’t Disney families, Wednesday was  Luau  and we had leis from a Trunk or Treat last year, Thursday was  Color Wars  so to...

  9 full days into August and I’m less behind on my hope to average 7,000 steps per day than I thought I would be, which is a win in my book (a win in my shoes?)!   I had thought it would be a slow ramp up to 7,000ish steps a day. My in-office days are wildly random right now with “no weeks off” summer camp roulette, but I do spend my days there running around the building be it for snacks, meetings, or to film someone here and there. As I’ve mentioned in the past, my work from home (WFH) days are the bigger problem as I tend to get lost in my to-do list and not make time to move around much.   However, I’ve found a “carrot” to get me to get down to the basement and work in some quick between meetings and/or camp pick up treadmill walks and, of course, it’s an almost stereotypical tip for when one may not be as motivated to do a task:  I designated a show that I only watch on the treadmill   I know, not groundbreaking. However, I’ve always had trouble with this ...

  One  These are the flowers that Luke gave Lil Momma after her performance of  Descendants the Musical  last Friday. He was so proud of how he explained them to me (and anyone else who would listen):  They are just like Lil Momma: bright, loud, and all mum, mum, mum, mum…   The man can’t resist a dad joke, haha sigh..       Two  One month out from seeing (and paying a ridiculous amount) for the nutritionist I had been seeing since October and I feel pretty good. Now, I would never recommend someone else find a nutritionist on Instagram, nor commit to seeing one for 6+ months out of pocket (in my defense, I was in a low moment feeling like I didn’t know how to eat like an adult and she was a RD and an NP); however, the initial months were incredibly helpful for me to break some deeply ingrained “food rules” I held, a lot from growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s in a specific food environment. I really learned so much and  eat so much mo...

  My “momiversary” is at the end of August - 10 years of mothering Lil Momma on the outside. It’s wild - and I’ll have plenty of thoughts to share! However, it’s also really hit me that  it’s time to reclaim some space for me : to reconnect with some of who I was before all this, to be who am I am now, and to be who I’m gonna be next.  In that spirit, here are  5 hopes for the month  that I hope will guide me in that direction: One  Average 7000 steps per day for the month (there’s a step challenge at work, so that’ll be good motivation) Two  3 stories from the past few months for the blog (quitting the nutritionist, Lil Momma’s theater camp, and starting this new strength workout app) and 2 reviews (books? the Barbie movie? tbd…) Three  Make myself a dentist appointment. I left my last dentist Jan of 2020 and just never made finding a new one happen Four  Less screentime, more real life (‘nuff said) Five  Do one thing every week just fo...

  This whole week went wrong. Well, that’s a bit dramatic (but so am I, so…); this whole week was hard. Harder than it should have been. But it’s kind of my own fault.   I had emotionally bolstered myself for Luke’s first business trip since Feb 2020: it was only 36 hours. We had food. I had the camp drop offs and pick ups blocked off. I would get my workouts and my reading and my rest when he got back. (At midnight) (because why not?) <<insert roadwork on our street>> <<insert work drama>> <<insert unexpected night work on our street>> <<remove Lil Momma sleeping, sigh>> So, now I’m off my game and tired when my poor mom, who lives in an assisted living 35 minutes away, calls Tuesday night because they’re going to Walmart on Thursday and she doesn’t have any money. (She has money, just no cash readily available unless I bring it to her - she is fine!) <<remove my workout window after work on Wednesday>> <<remo...

Oh, what a week it’s been; the stomach bug, chlorine burns from a pool for my Lil Momma (and a bee sting), quitting softball, the start of an intense theater camp, and a trash week at work. I’m not in the mood to reframe it all, haha, but here are some small joys keeping me going:   One  The cool side of the pillow; always and forever   Two  The rush of adrenaline when you’re 2 chapters into a book and you realize you may not be able to put it down   Three  Lil Momma is in charge of her book club this week and has all her discussion questions ready   Four  Sleeping through the night after multiple nights of not sleeping through the night   Five  I made it through the first strength workout for this new program I’m doing (I mean, I’m sore – but I could do it!)   Six  Sitting on my deck with my coffee and hearing all the birds chattering away   Seven  LM’s joy at reading in her hammock    Eight  Lazy fami...