{ a day in the life of ME - amanda from daily worth }

I'm excited to introduce you all to Amanda Steinberg, founder of Daily Worth. You all MUST subscribe to Daily Worth right now. Daily Worth is a free daily personal finance email newsletter for women. They deliver practical financial tips, empowering ideas and the occasional kick in the pants. Go subscribe...and then come back and read what a day in the life is like for Amanda raising 2 kids and running 2 businesses from home.

I have two kids and run two businesses. My kids are a 7-month-old girl and a 3-year-old boy. My first business, a Web consultancy called Soapbxx, will gross $300,000 in 2009 and employs eight people. The second company, an online finance publication for women called DailyWorth requires a team of four part-time contractors to operate.

The best news? I'm not insane. I have plenty of time to be with my kids. I even manage to find time to have a leisurely lunch or extended "ME" time.

Here's how I do it:

7am: Our baby girl wakes all of us up.
8am: We're downstairs, dressed, eating breakfast and packing lunches.
9am: My baby is cared for by a nanny. This nanny shows up at 9am and I hand my baby girl off. My 3-year-old goes to preschool. My husband always takes him to preschool. Bottom line: even if we're running late, I depart for my home office (top floor of our house) at 9am sharp. This is critical to me. 9am. Work.
9am-11am: After I clean out my inbox, I focus on DailyWorth, my finance blog for women. We send out a daily email, and this requires about two hours of my day to orchestrate.

11am-4:00pm: I focus on Soapbxx, my web consultancy. The tasks I concern myself with include:

1. Ensuring that I'm selling and closing the next $50,000 - $80,000 Web project.
2. Managing our project coordinators to make sure that they're planning and managing Website projects effectively.
3. Reviewing and testing Websites that are close to launch; logging tasks into our project management system that I think need to be considered or changed.
4. Producing strategic documents. Many clients hire my company because of the the strategic services I sell them. As a result, I personally handle a lot of the planning and strategy documents that go with selling large, complex websites.

I don't worry about Soapbxx's internal performance or quality because I've learned over the years how to hire only the best people. My team is exceptional and as a result, I don't have to micro-manage them or worry much. This did not happen by accident. I have 10 years practice hiring and firing. I've employed or contracted to 40 people over the last few years and only a select few remain.

4:00pm. I shut down my computer, scoop up my daughter, and drive to pick up my son from preschool. It feels incredible to me that I can run two companies and finish my workday by 4:00. Having been raised by a single mom who was forced into a strict 9-6 corporate work environment, I vowed to set up a life where I could be there for my kids more than my mom was for me. I don't blame my mom for her absence -- she did what she had to do to earn what she needed to earn in the 1980s. But I hated that she couldn't drive me to school, or be there for me after school. I'm structuring my life so that I can run my businesses and be there for my kids before and after school. Today, working moms can have it all if we plan properly.

4:00pm - 9pm. Family time! We run errands, make dinner, take baths, read books and every other bedtime ritual that makes having kids so special.

9pm - 11pm. Here's the part of my life that isn't so ideal. I generally boot up my Mac and do more work at 9pm. I know my husband would rather that I curl up on the sofa and watch True Blood with him. Sounds dreamy, really. But the truth is, these days I feel pulled to run through emails that came in from 3:30 - 7pm (there are often many) and finish tasks I wasn't able to finish during the day. I look forward to a day when I can stop work at 3:30pm and not resume until 9am the next day. Until my babies and businesses are more self-sufficient and systematized, it's a sacrifice I'm making, and hope that my husband realizes it's temporary.

11pm. Bed.

The keys to my operation:

1. I delegate a lot to very precocious people. I have a very responsible, motivated assistant. Without her, I'd be mad. She loves having her hands in everything from accounting to project management, and I love her for it. If she chooses to leave me (which she will some day), I'll have a very hard time replacing her.
2. I'm obsessed with cash flow and work with a great bookkeeper/accounting team. For Soapbxx to operate, we need to deposit $25,000 into our bank account every month. I plan quarterly and manage daily when and from whom checks will arrive. My bookkeeper claims I'm one of the best cash collectors she's ever worked with, and I'm proud to have mastered the science of receivables. Just last month, I got our receivables down to $0.
   
3. Once a month, I'll stay up until 4am if need be to push through things I need to get done. Sometimes, you just have to.

Does my story seem impossible to you? You have to take into consideration my manic, tightly-wound character. I'm more work-obsessed than your average mom. I love my companies and have very ambitious financial goals for myself (tens of millions, thank you). I don't exercise. I'm generally not eating proper lunches (note above: no lunch break). I do experience exhaustion. I wish I had more time to just be with my husband. For now, I'm satisfied with my structure and recommend it to my power mom friends.

Check out Soapbxx here and subscribe to Daily Worth here.

Thanks Amanda for sharing with us! If any of you have any financial topics or money questions that you'd like addressed on Daily Worth in a future post let Amanda know here!

{ a day in the life of ME - alli from bird dog press }

I'm so excited to have Alli guest posting here today! To say she is one of my favorite people in the world is an understatement...but she is! We have a blast together wherever we are - whether its on a river trip or attempting to navigate the subway system in Manhattan. I've mentioned Alli a lot on this blog - she designed & printed Henry's adoption announcements and made him a custom handbound letterpress envelope baby book. I must say that Alli is THE most creative person I know. Seriously. Just look at this yellow birthday bash she threw her son a few weeks ago! Does it get more creative than that?


I'll now turn it over to Alli who is going to share with us how she manages to run her own letterpress + design business while making time for her family, keeping the creative juices flowing and staying SANE....


Sunday nights, I try to sit down and conjure up an image of what my ideal week would look like. I try to list just five things to accomplish per day. It rarely goes according to plan. But I find, that having goals and attempting to balance a routine motherhood with entrepreneurship on paper helps me to at least have something to work toward. Being a night-owl by nature and living in the Mountain time zone makes me feel behind right off the bat each morning when I awake to start my day as the East Coast has been bustling for hours. A schedule of must-dos and exact time-slots only bring me to disappointment at the end of the week when everything isn't crossed off the list. I try to think of tasks bundled into categories such as having an "media & marketing" day or a "design" day as once you're in a certain mode, things tend to get done quicker as opposed to switching gears too many times in a few hours. I think that rhythm over rigidity is the answer {at least for me}.


Last week, my husband was out of town for work, which makes all of this that much harder. My little one's best friend lives just four houses down the street and so my neighbor {whose husband often works nights} and I planned our meals together using what we already had on hand or in the garden and had activities set up for the kids, trading off houses and workload. It looked something like this:

Monday : salmon on a bed of arugula with avocado & asparagus / play-doh
Tuesday : penne & bolognese sauce with garden tomato caprese appetizer / hand & feet tracing
Wednesday : fajitas with sauteed squash & zucchini from the garden / backyard playset
Thursday : bangers & mash / puzzles
Friday : garden veggie pizza / movie

While the above scenario isn't a typical week, we do dinner together a couple of times per month, lunch in the park often and meet up for walks around the block and pump track Strider bike sessions just before or after dinner with the little ones at least twice weekly.

And as for that elusive ME time, my favorite thing to do is sip a Bhakti Chai and write a letter to a friend. The hope is that they will write back and the next ME time will be spent sipping and reading a good, old fashioned, hand written letter. Ahh.


Thanks so much Alli for guest blogging here today! Be sure to visit Alli's fab blog here, shop here, tweet with her here, more amazing photos of her work + studio here and Bird Dog Press website here. ps - I'm in love with all of her feedsack designs and her new birthday and sympathy prayer flag cards.

{ a day in the life of ME - tara hogan from ink+wit }

Today's {a day in the life of ME} guest is Tara Hogan, the amazing designer behind the Ink + Wit line of goods and a yoga teacher in upstate New York. I met Tara at the National Stationary Show last year and was instantly smitten with her poise (amidst chaos at the show), her amazing designs and illustrations and her desire to get out of the show and to a yoga class stat (as that is what my body + mind were calling for too - well that and some babycakes cupcakes, but that's another story). I also grew up and went to college right near where she now lives with her husband and cats.

Before I turn it over to Tara...I wanted to link to a couple of great posts on Decor 8 and show a few more images of her home and work.

ink + wit's everything counts poster {seen here in my kitchen}

Pommebirds letterpress print.


Tara's living room via decor 8.


More of Tara's home via decor 8.

Okay, onto Tara and what her days are like... I asked Tara what helps keep her sane amidst being a one woman working show...and how she tries to keep things simple.

I stay sane by doing the following things:

FAST ( with green juices + watermelon)
YOGA (daily practice)
MEDITATE (5 minutes daily)
BREATHE
WALK
KISS AND HUG MY HUSBAND
ASK FOR HELP
PLAY WITH MY CATS
VACATION
PURGE THE OFFICE CLUTTER
TAKE IT ONE DAY AT A TIME
LOSE THE EGO

Staying sane, hmmm, is that a trick question? Seriously, I have had my days where my sanity went out the window. I admit it. And, what I realized I had to do was hire help, take frequent breaks away from the computer and iPhone and just not think. Thinking about everything will give you a heap of anxiety and stress. You just cannot get it all done. It is impossible. Especially in today's world. The demands on creativity are so high that we have almost become robotic at times trying to finish and please the audience. But, it is a commercial profession and with that comes acceptance of grinding out a lot of concept, design, and production. Hence, hire help.

INK+WIT started to grow a lot since October of 2007. As soon as bloggers took notice more and more (a big thanks to you all) more tasks came to be on my end. In the beginning you try to juggle all of them and then you learn to let go. Letting go, here is where yoga philosophy comes into play with me anyway. You must surrender to what is. Be present. Stay still, meditate on what you want. Purify your space, body, mind, and intentions. Practice tapis, yogic discipline. The cleaner the body (the cleaner the mind and lack of attachments).

It is easy to get attached to business, press, stellar performance. I have kept myself grounded by understanding everything goes through a funnel and passes through a series of individuals in this creative world. With that known you learn to receive each bit of press and possibility for your life and business with ease as you fully know it may not work out. That will take a load of stress off feeling like everyone you ask to is going to give you a blog post, magazine coverage, or contract. What is meant to be is meant to be. You plant and sow your seeds. You weed your garden. You decide how to arrange it and what to move and shift. But, you also know nature rules all and that when life is up in arms you remain still like nothing happened.

In terms of what I put into my body {I am a vegan}...
I have to say there is not much meal planning, even with my Feed ME meal planner! While my husband eats many of the vegan dishes I have grown to love such as quinoa with Braggs amino Acids, sesame oil, agave, and spinach, he eats meat and dairy too. Minimally ,but it is part of his menu. He likes to cook so he often makes his own dinner. Because of the food difference we do not plan many meals with exception to going out for Thai, Indian, and Japanese. Most of what I prepare are young thai coconut milkshakes. I drink one everyday. Meat from 2 Thai coconut, the water, agave, acai, and vanilla. Or, I skip the acia and do banana cacao powder. One example of my lunch and dinner is a large bowl of avocado with greens, and sometimes quinoa, brown rice, jasmine rice, or spirited bread. BUT, the sprouted bread we have now has wheat gluten and can really make me ill. It takes time to test out what works. I feel great being vegan. It makes perfect sense to me and I feel better than ever. Key: GREEN JUICE. It keeps you alert and strong.

{We do not have children but we do have 3 cats that are our kids and they all eat healthy too. They eat Mark's free range chicken 1X a week, some dolphin safe tuna, and Pet Guard's soft cat foods as well as have some olive oil here and there. I did try to make them real people dishes with brown rice, shredded carrot and fish but they got finicky. Animals get tried of the same foods too like us. And, they need their cat dish washed after every meal just like us.}

In terms of new products and projects, I am in the process of launching a line of woman's apparel.



Thanks so much Tara for sharing with us more about your day and your new projects! To check out her great goods click here and to subscribe to her great blog click here.

{ a day in the life of ME }

Today's {a day in the life of ME} guest blog post is by Kristina - she is married to my cousin Blake. They are raising 3 wonderful children (with what appears effortless ease) and have found creative ways for Kristina to stay home with the kids (and did I mention she runs EVERY morning before the crack of dawn for some ME-time)? Welcome Kristina!

On Who I Am- I am a stay at home mother of three. I have been home full time with my three children- Britton 6, Abby 3, and Maycee 1, since Britton was 14 months. At the present time Britton is in school full day, my husband travels 2 weeks out of the month (sometimes more), works from home (in our bedroom) when he doesn't travel, and I run a preschool from our kitchen/living room 2 mornings a week. Sound crazy??


On Our Typical Day-
Life with three children is busy. Our day starts very early, for me at 5:30 am. I haven't always been a morning person, but about a year and a half ago when I couldn't find any time to exercise, I decided to become a morning person. 4 days a week at 5:45 am, I run between 4-7 miles. I am lucky enough to live near two friends who also love to run early in the morning. This makes getting up much easier- when I know someone is waiting on me. We run all year round, which means running in the dark and also means running in the cold. The best thing about making this commitment to run in the morning is that 1) I don't have to worry about finding time to exercise during the day and 2) I come home awake, energized, and happy. From the moment I get home, it is pretty much non-stop. The kids are awake and it is time for breakfast, baths, getting dressed, etc. and getting Britton to the bus stop by 7:50 a.m. I must say that my husband is an active participant in our morning routine. He travels quite a bit for work, so when he is home he is very helpful before he starts his work day. Two days a week I teach preschool from our house. After Britton is off to school, I have an hour to shower, make last minute preparations for preschool and 5 extra 4 year olds arrive at my house at 9 am. On non preschool days, Abby has dance/tap one day and gymnastics on another. Because I am her preschool teacher, I feel like she needs to get some instruction from other adults, so she is in three classes. They are only 5 minutes away and I carpool with a friend to save on the amount of "trips" I have to make. Our mornings are pretty busy with either preschool/or classes, so every afternoon we spend at home. This is time for naps for both the girls and time for ME. I have somewhat of a schedule for myself during this "free time." Mondays (which also include our weekly shopping trip) and Thursdays are cleaning days. These are the days I clean bathrooms, mop, laundry etc. I found that I could clean every day, but I make myself only do it two days during the school week. Sure, we do the dishes and things like that every day, but the deep cleaning is saved for those days. Tuesdays and Wednesdays I use my free time to do the things I like: scrapbook, read, work on unfinished projects, etc. I also use this time to make phone calls for preschool, appointments, calls to family. After naps, I try and play with the girls until Britton is home at 4 p.m… Our nightly routine consists of homework, dinner time (we make a huge effort to sit down together EVERY night for our meal) and then everyone (including all three children) helps with the cleanup of kitchen. Sundays are church/family days. I am so thankful for Sundays!! After we attend church as a family, we make a huge effort to only spend time with family- this means no friends over, no errand running, and no eating out…Only family time. It may seem like we spend enough time together during the week, but Sunday is different. It is more quality time (playing games, watching movies, talking, etc.) Sunday does also give me the opportunity to nap and make homemade dessert. (More reasons I love Sundays!)

This is pretty much our schedule during the week. But, Blake does travel, so throw that in there, or a surprise throw-up fest in the middle of the night, teething, or watching kids for a friend - then the "typical" schedule becomes tweaked.

On Teaching Preschool from Home-
I decided to do this a couple of years ago and finally put it into actions. I have a teaching degree and I figured this was a great way to use it, earn some money, save some money (by not having to send Abby anywhere for preschool), and full fill my need to do something other than being a mom every day. It has worked out great. I hope I can do it for a few years.

On Our Budget-
I have always wanted to stay at home with my kids. After we first had Britton I went back to work part time as a Special Education teacher. After one year of teaching and paying daycare, gas, etc, I decided the little I was making every month wasn' t worth it. So we decided to live off of one income. The hardest thing about living off of one income is the stress it puts on Blake to make all the money to provide for a family of 5. However, he is completely supportive of me being home. I have always tried to do little things to make extra money to take a little stress off of him. I have watched kids part time for working families, sold things on eBay, substitute taught, etc. Now I am teaching preschool. Staying home is a financial sacrifice. But it was important to us. We have learned to live with less and we have always had enough. I am a coupon cutter, sale watcher, I consign most of my kids clothing, shoes, toys, etc. for extra money. I have a garage sale every June. I try to be creative with what we have. We live in an area where it is pretty easy to find fun, FREE things to do with children. We don't have money to have a padded savings account, our summer vacations are to Wyoming, I drive a van with 150,000 miles on it... But again, it was important to US for ME to be home and we have made it work. I realize it doesn't work for everyone. Our plan is for me to go back to work when Maycee is in school full time. Then we will hopefully have more money to save, travel, etc…

On getting time for ME-
As any mom knows, it is important for all of us to get time away from the house, away from the kids. Sometimes this means a trip to the store alone, dinner with friends, or a date with Blake. I make time every week for ME time. Blake and I go on a date every month. This isn't always easy to plan- but we do it because WE need it!

On things I have learned as a MOM-
Shortly after becoming a mom, I realized that there were things that I was really good at, and then things that were more of a weakness for me. I made the decision early on that the best things I could do for my family were be really good at my strengths, and while not dwelling on my weaknesses, try to become better and/or learn more. I try very hard to live in the moment and realize that what I have is such a huge blessing. It is easy to look around and see that really, things could be much worse. I try to not dwell on what I am not, but what I am. I have also learned as a mom that I have to be flexible. What our family struggles with this month is different than what we struggled with last month. Our kids are changing and as a result our strategies on how we teach and deal with them must be evaluated constantly. I try really hard not to wish away this precious time when my kids are little. It is so hard sometimes to be a mother of three little ones, but I know that there will be a time when I long for the days when they were young. I have also learned that when I put my mind to it, a really can do anything. Two years ago, I never would have thought I would get up 4 days a week and run in the dark. I also would have never thought I could "handle" a husband who travels. But I have learned that through determination, optimism, and lots of prayers, I can handle a lot more than I thought I could.

Blake and I both realize that we aren't perfect parents. We have made lots of mistakes that we look back on and say, "Wow, we probably could have handled that better." But we can say we are doing the best we know how. We are truly proud of the family we have created together. We rely on our faith that our life on earth has a purpose, to be the best we can possibly be, to give service to others and to build an eternal family. This is what makes US truly happy.

{ a day in the life of ME }

Today's guest blogger is by Heather...I got to know Heather recently and was inspired by her plan to be entirely debt free (including their mortgage) within 8 years!! Here's how they are doing it....Thanks Heather for sharing! Enjoy!


I suppose my husband and I always thought we had the same goals in mind when it came to money. We both liked small luxuries in life such as getting coffee and a breakfast burrito on the way to work or taking part in fun activities with family and friends, even traveling to do so. Somehow we managed to get by without any major financial setbacks until we purchased a business that we operated for two years longer than we should have. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't all bad. I liked what I did each day, so did my husband for awhile. Life was good.

Fast forward a couple years. Somehow, discussions about our money were getting harder. Accusations would fly. Feelings were hurt. Unresolved issues festered. Our goals seemed clouded. How did our credit cards, student loans, and business expenses get so out of hand? We could not communicate effectively about our finances. Thank goodness for organization! My husband and I love to be organized. On a regular basis, we organize our garage, our camping gear, our kitchen shelves, our refrigerator, our closets, well...you get the idea. We derive sheer pleasure from clearing our lives of clutter. It's kind of a family thing - so much so that my father-in-law termed it "Otterizing" (our last name is Otter). Funny thing though....money never got organized. Infact, it pretty much got ignored. Unfortunately, ignoring it didn't make the "spent" part go away. We are not extravagant people, although, we lived beyond our means. Even the non-extravagant lifestyle has wants. The lines between need and want blur easily.

One weekend while camping with our neighbors, they mentioned this guy, Dave Ramsey - some financial guru. Long story short, the neighbors' story appealed to my husband in such a way that within two weeks of the camping trip, he'd gone "gazelle" about our finances. If you know Ramsey, you know about getting gazelle intense. Anyway, Dave Ramsey's debt snowball concept clicked with us. We read his book "Total Money Makeover' and we downloaded a free debt reduction calculator - a spreadsheet tool. Talk about cool! This spreadsheet is Otterizing at its best! We are so organized about our finances now - and it's actually fun. We have discussions weekly - no exceptions. We haven't had an argument about money in months and it feels great.

To top it off, we no longer buy breakfast burritos and coffee in the mornings. We make our own. Every Sunday our kitchen becomes an assembly line for burritos. We roll up about two dozen - breakfast and lunch variety. We set our coffee maker to "delayed brew" mode before bed every night so it's piping hot at 5:30 a.m in the morning. I haven't missed Starbucks a bit! When you're affording your life, even Folgers tastes good. If you're interested, here are links to Dave Ramsey's website as well as a site you can get the spreadsheet for debt payoff. We don't follow every single thing Ramsey suggests, but many of his concepts have been life changing for us.

Daily ME:

My Blackberry signals that morning has arrived, yet again, around 5 a.m. When it comes to consistency, the morning never skips a beat. If I made good choices the night before, I jump out of bed by 5:15. Good choices include ironing work outfits, my husband preparing lunches, and getting to bed by 10 p.m. Not so good choices like watching a movie or hanging out till midnight, blowing off lunches and setting out the next day's outfits result in dragging out of bed later and rushing through the morning. We enjoy eating our breakfasts together, so usually, we make good choices at night so that's possible.

During the week, we stick pretty close to home. I commute an hour each way to work, so I leave by 7 or 7:30 and don't get home until 6 p.m. This means I only have a few hours to spend with "my guys" each day. I usually do the morning routine with our son and drop him off at daycare. My husband picks him up and makes dinner every night. Yep - that wasn't a type-o. My husband makes dinner every night! He's a wonderful cook. My schedule wasn't always like this. I worked part time until 3 weeks ago. I always had 2 days at home with my son and my household. Getting chores done is harder now, but we adjust. My husband and I are a great team. I can't imagine doing "life" without him. Part of my reasoning for working full time goes back to our financial decisions. We finally concluded that although it's wonderful to be at home with our son, it's also wonderful to provide a stable financial ground for our family to survive and thrive on. It's more than just "making more money" - that's good, but the big picture for us is twofold: creating new habits that we can pass on to our son so that he won't make the same mistakes we did. Or, at least, if he makes them, he'll have the tools to fix them much earlier than we did. The second goal is to be completely debt free, mortgage and all in 8 years. This will allow us to make more choices - choices that are not dictated by a mortgage payment, car payments, student loan payments - DEBT! Running our household is a second full time job for both of us, and we take alot of pride in doing it well. When our marriage and the household are running successfully, everything else falls into place. Working full time doesn't necessarily have to be a burden on the time and quality we give to our family. It does, however, take effort to make it all work.

Three basic tenets guide my day to day existence: take care of each other and myself, leave things better than I found them, and listen more than I speak. When I'm able to follow all three, life is good!

{ updates from ME 2 U }

photo courtesy of Blue Lily Photography.

First things first. No sweet bebe boy yet. The contractions have halted and the {big guy} is in there quite possible for a few more weeks. I say big because at Sara's last ultrasound over a month ago he was over 7 lbs and kicked so hard he BROKE one of her ribs {ouch}. So, we will continue to exude patience {yeah right} and pray for a healthy boy soon. ps - we have decided on a name. We are going to hame him William Henry VI (after Will of course). I wanted to call him Sixx, but no one thinks that is as funny/cute as I do. Samme wants to call him {little Willy} but that won't be so cute when he gets older! lol! So we've decided on {Henry}. But, not Hank. Let's make that clear upfront. However, his nickname might very well be HULK depending on his size at birth! I'll keep you posted. But thank you again for all of your well wishes! Oh and I've updated our personal blog with recent photos if you are interested.

Speaking of baby #2 on the way...This baby is like starting over in many ways. As it has been 4 1/2 years since we had an infant and over 2 1/2 years since we've changed a diaper. All of the baby stuff we used with Samme has been passed on to family & friends, so we do need to gather some new things. I'm working very hard to keep it simple and not go overboard (crib, dresser -also use as changing table, diapers, wipes, basic onesies, sling, etc.) But I will admit that I did find myself in the babyGAP while in Boulder buying this this and this. I couldn't resist.

{More on my attempts to not accumulate un-needed baby stuff soon ...is it even possible? Oh and pics of the nursery in the works soon... }

Okay, so the winning bidder for the Nie Nie auction is ACBritt! Please email ME your email address and I'll let you know who/how to send payment to the Nielson's recovery fund. I will get your sanity saving prize package in the mail the week of 9/22. Thank you all for your support!

Some good news on the Nielson's recovery here and a wonderful article in the NY Times about the blogging {communities} efforts to help the Nielson family here. Another great article here. And a great video of the Today Show interview here. I've been so inspired by the outpouring of support & love for Stephanie and her family. You know how I always say "delete blogs that don't inspire you to be a better person, a better mother, a better wife, a better friend." Well if I had to choose only ONE blog to read for the rest of my life, it would be hers. In fact, I recently just read back through all of her archives and printed out a bunch of her recipes.

The winners of the {get your yoga ON giveaway} finally are...

The Yogamatic custom mat...I've decided (along with Yogamatic) that we are going to create a custom yoga mat for Stephanie/Nie Nie with the above photo. As many of you know she was a yoga teacher in Arizona and our hopes are that someday in the near future she will be able to look down at a beautiful yoga mat with a picture of her family and find some peace as she faces a long road to recovery. You all can get your own uber-cool custom yoga mat at Yogamatic!

And if any of you are interested in a LobotoME mantra yoga mat let ME know and I can see what I can do about uploading a high res image for you.

Even Keel Shorts - Sarah
Even Keel is offering up a 20% discount in honor of September as National Yoga Month. At checkout enter: "NYM2008"

Yoga DVD - Rachel

Yoga DVD - Hannah

Yoga DVD - Leigh

Yoga DVD - gkstratos

HTC Book - Jana W.

Please email ME ( info @ lobotoME . com ) your mailing addresses and I will get your prizes in the mail asap.

Oh and some of you asked ME how FitME month went. Well, up until a week ago I was doing great...I didn't end the month on a super strong note but all in all it went well. I think having a great, healthy month going into several months of sleep deprivation will certainly help ME stay sane and healthy. The 1/2 marathon training isn't going as well - it might be OTC {off the couch}. I'd love to hear how yours went!

At some point this month, depending upon the arrival of Henry, I will get back to a semi-normal schedule of blogging. Stay tuned for some great posts on how to have a simple, meaningful Christmas, back to school organization tips, sugar-free halloween ideas, another great giveaway, sanity saving tips going into the busy holiday season & MORE!

{ a day in the life of ME }

Today's {day in the life of ME} guest post is from a dear friend Sarah. I met Sarah years ago when she was my yoga teacher. She & her darling family have since moved from Durango but we still keep in touch and she is my uber-talented graphic designer for a lot of the LobotoME line. Be sure to check out her great blog here. Welcome Sarah!

I’m a thirty-one-year-old, work-from-home, happily married mother to a 2-year-old girl. When my husband and I met my sophomore year of college, everyone thought we were a good fit because we were both ‘old fashioned.’ I’d say that’s still pretty much the case. We live relatively simply. I’m a graphic designer with my own business, based out of the extra room in our home. My husband quit his career as an airline pilot after our daughter was born, so I ramped up my business while he’s watched our daughter and gone through the rigors of changing a career. Since we’re all home together, we eat three meals together a day. We hang clothes on the line. We have a garden. We don’t watch TV. We drive old cars. We’re relatively frugal. All of our furniture is from a garage sale, family member, or the occasional dumpster!

My typical day goes something like this:
6:30 am: Wake up, have black tea (with milk and honey) and toast with peanut butter, feed my daughter, chat and catch up with my husband, get ready for the day
8 am: Walk downstairs to my office, check email and blogs (~15 mins, sometimes more), start working*
9 am: Kiss my daughter bye (who goes next door to our neighbor’s house, with whom we share a part-time nanny). She spends about 10 hours a week over there so my husband can get some work done.
10-12: Work, sneak in a workout**, have lunch with the family when my daughter comes back.
1-5 pm: Work at my desk
5-6 pm: Prepare or help with dinner***, play with my daughter outside, water the garden
6-7pm: Eat dinner
7-9pm: Play with my daughter, bathtime, hang out with my husband, bedtime for my daughter
9-10 pm: Read and/or hang out with my husband
10-11pm: Bed
*Work consists of everything from logo and print design to packaging and websites. I do a lot of work for non-profits in Colorado, and for the past year have been involved with emagineGreen, a women-run eco direct sales company based in Arizona.
** Exercise happens either early, before breakfast (usually a run, bike ride, or yoga), at lunch (yoga), or afternoon (a Zumba dance class). It is best accomplished when I have it planned out ahead of time. I also teach a yoga class once a week – with moms and babies, and I’m training to do a marathon in September (run/walk).

Feed ME
***I’m mostly vegetarian, so meals this summer often consist of a variation of greens or squash from the garden, tofu or beans or fish, and rice or other grain or pasta. (Unless my husband prepares the meal! – then it’s more likely to include chicken, and a vegetable other than greens!) We’re on a pretty tight budget, so we’ve eaten a lot of beans and grilled tofu (really quite good!) this summer. I also can’t say enough about having my own garden. I am in no way an expert gardener – I have found that if you water anything enough it grows!



Free time
I don’t have a lot of free time these days (sound familiar?). It’s crazy – after you have a child you realize how little ‘extra’ time you have – once all of the ‘must-do’s’ are off the list, when I do have a moment, I love snuggling up with a good magazine or book, doing yoga, making something, baking, meditating (very rare these days). I used to be a prolific journaler, but that hasn’t happened much since my daughter was born. I probably don’t make enough time to do the things that are really important to me, and instead spend too much time screensucking (blogs are a blessing and a curse). We don’t have watch TV in our house (although the Olympics was an exception, and the rabbit ear antenna above our TV worked quite well, thank you.)

Chocolate saves the day
My goal right now is to declutter and simplify my life. I’m thinking that might help me feel less scattered and overwhelmed. There’s always too much to read/too many recipes to make/crafts to try/ideas and theories to explore/self improvement goals to attain. Often I just get so overwhelmed that I don’t do any of it! So I’m wondering if paring down first the physical stuff, around me, then setting goals to simplify my life will help? Just physically reducing the number of things vying for my attention (unread magazines and books, unfinished craft and art projects (can anyone say wedding album?), then online blogs and resources, clothes I never wear, etc etc.) It seems on any given day my attention is diverted in so many directions that I get so bogged down, I get nothing done (except my work deadlines!). What if I, simply put, had less stuff to focus my attention on? I already don’t watch TV, read a paper, and rarely listen to the news (sometimes to my embarrassment), but I often feel so info-glutted it’s as if I’m in a vortex and don’t even feel tuned in to the basic inner-workings of me, my life, and how I’m feeling at any given time. When it gets really intense (and I’m triggered by the stress of work), I head to the kitchen to look for something sugary (ideally chocolate).

Being aware
Although I have crazed days that result in that vortex-like feeling, for the most part, I am aware of how I’m feeling at any given time. I’m tuned in to my body. I do pay attention to those things. Being aware is a constant challenge, but a goal that I work towards. Vipassana meditation, from the Buddhist tradition, is my spirituality. And it helps with the whole awareness thing. My awareness is prioritized: 1. Paying attention to ME – taking care of myself so that I can 2. Be there for my daughter and husband – fully present, engaged, not resentful, and happy. I also need to remember to practice compassion, and send lovingkindness to myself when I get frazzled, and accept things as they are (of course, I need to slow down long enough to have a chance to recognize that I’m frazzled, and then to send those compassionate thoughts my way!) I’m also planning on having another child, so it’s about to get more interesting!

ME time
The best way I can take care of myself amidst the busyness of my life is to schedule time for ME (and if you’re reading Jenny’s blog, you know all about this!). And I’ve found that that ME-time is best utilized when it involves moving my body. I sit all day at a computer, so exercise or yoga is the best and most valuable use of my ‘free’ time, then say, a craft project (although I’d love to have time to do that, too!) Exercise affects me in other ways: it reduces my stress level, inspires me to eat healthy, and keeps me feeling good about myself. It is a home run. Now if I can just remember that and not slack off … (oh, and my mantra after becoming a mama in regards to exercise? ‘Something’s better than nothing’!)

Grateful
I feel really blessed to have a job I love (most days!), an incredibly supportive husband, a beautiful child, good health, and a home. I have so much to be grateful for. Here’s a good quote on that front, which I’ll end with. Pretty much sums things up for me right now:
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” --Melodie Beattie

Have a wonderful day everyone!

{ a day in the life of ME }

My second posting in the { day in the life of ME } series...my great friend Maureen. She & I grew up in the same small town in upstate New York. We've known each other forever but have gotten closer (despite our geographic separation) in our motherhood adventures & our shared desire for a simple, sane & healthy lifestyle. Here's what her days are like. Doesn't her life INSPIRE you? And don't you think she should be paid to write?!?! NOTE: Her days begin at 4:30 AM. Yes, 4:30 AM everyday. Thank you Maureen for sharing your day with us...


There are few things in life that don’t require an asterisk (that is, an explanation, a disclaimer, some context.) I won’t spend time here describing what those things are because this is supposed to be about { a day in the life of ME } (which comes with its own long, winding trail of asterisks).

I’ll spare you the details and give you the Birdseye:

• I am not very organized in a tangible sense but I tend to see things clearly in my mind.
• I rarely feel productive enough but when I stop to think, I’ll admit I’ve accomplished a lot.
• I believe that a better way of doing things exists, but I’m okay with doing what works for now until I find it. I worry sometimes that I’ll never find it.

So before you read on, know that every asterisk you’ve ever read probably applies (including but definitely not limited to: every child is different, consult doctor before starting an exercise program, sleep requirements vary according to individual, never run alone, and side affects are rare but may include…).

Here is MY context:

• My daughter turned two in April. When she was nine months old, I left my job and started my own one-man business so that I could be home with her. I spend a lot of time studying how businesses and organizations operate compared to what their clients need and how they get what they need. Then I propose how these businesses and organizations can restructure or reconfigure what they do to: a) meet their clients real needs, b) increase productivity and outcomes, and c) maximize resources (money, time, people).

• What I really love to do is write but I wasn’t making the time to do it and no one was holding me accountable to do it. So I started a blog last October. While I’m not always sure where it will lead or what its purpose is, I am certain that I enjoy it. That is enough, for now.

• I do not have childcare for my daughter and I never have. What I do in a day is what I do in a day. Our families (my husband’s and mine) are a six-hour drive away. I could find help if I wanted to. But the truth is, I’m both blessed and motivated to make being home with her work. So I do. I make it work.

• I must run. I started running, seriously, about five years ago and I haven’t stopped since. You can read about why I love it here.

• I have an incredibly supportive and involved husband. He is my right hand and my left hand at the same time. We are in life and love together.

Here is MY day:


What You May Notice:

• My day starts at 4:30 am. I have always been an early bird; the difference is that now I moonlight with the night owls. It serves many purposes: (running, writing, paying the bills, and devoted Ava time when she wakes).

• I have three blocks of work and writing time on any given day, totaling between 7-10 hours. All while my daughter sleeps.*

• I have two blocks of Ava and ME time (not including sleep and meal activities)—one block serves to exercise our bodies the second to exercise our brains.

• I have one block of family time—sometimes we walk, sometimes we swim, sometimes we go for an ice-cream, sometimes we just play on the floor—the what isn’t important as long as we do it together, undivided in space and time.

*I know that every child is different, but as soon as I detected a pattern to her newborn ways, I put my daughter on a schedule. Knowing when she would sleep was essential to my ability to pull this business off—and now I’m convinced it’s a big part of why she is so happy, well adjusted, and smart (since it didn’t come from me)! As early as six-weeks old, Ava has had the opportunity to sleep in her own bed every single day at the same times (of course, times change with age). The result is a little girl who sleeps between 12-14 hours per night and 2-3 hours per day and tells me when she is tired and needs to sleep. That gives me lots of working and running time and gives her lots of processing and repairing time!

What You May Not Notice:

• I run six days a week and weight train at least twice a week.
• I practice yoga at least once a week, but I aim for twice.
• I pray every morning and feel off-balanced if I don’t; sometimes praying is just closing my eyes and being quiet.
• I make healthy dinners every night, except Saturday’s when we eat out; despite my intentions. to routinely plan ahead with my FeedME, I tend to know what I will fix only an hour before I put it on the table.
• We read in between everything (waking, potty, eating, sleeping) and sing on our way to everything.

So, while this day-in-the-life isn’t accessorized with glamour and Gucci, it sure is filled with loving and living. There are hard days among them and doubt-filled ones tucked in between, but what I’ve learned about days in general is that they pass way too quickly to want them to end…so on the bad ones, I think about what makes Ava happy—and then, suddenly, I am happy too.

{ a day in the life of ME }

This is a guest blog, part of my new {a day in the life of ME} series on LobotoME Brain Fog Blog. This first one is from a great friend of mine, Julie, a busy mother of 3 who manages to work, be a great mom, travel with her family, work out everyday, have a clean, organized house and feed her family healthy meals everyday. {She & I try to sneak out for yoga class together at least once a week for our SANITY.} She uses her momME planner, feed ME pad & check ME pad each week and hopes to use the Sit ME pad soon and have a date with her hubby. I think you will all enjoy hearing how she does it all. Thanks Julie for sharing your Sanity Saving Tips with us...

So when Jenny asked me to do a guest blog on her site, my initial thought was, “oh no, my new mantra is to say NO to anything above my daily requirements because I over-committed my summer by saying YES one too many times.” I decided to do this blog however, because Jenny is a dear friend and also I wanted to give her some free time this week to spend with her family. So why me??? I think Jenny thinks my life is crazy, IT IS, and she thinks I balance everything somewhat well---I guess that depends on who you ask and it would most likely be a different response from my husband, children, parents, co-workers, friends, etc.

I am a busy, working mom (36) of three children all under the age of three—yep, that is correct, although Jaden will be turning four next month. I joke to my friends that even though I have my Ph.D. and I am a college professor who got tenure and promotion to Associate Professor just this past spring, people still look at me as I trounce through the grocery store with three young kids in tow like I never graduated from high school and haven’t heard of birth control. I actually have done both, but we had twins the second time around, hence, the magical, busy number of three small children. The twins are now 15 ½ months old and things seem to be getting harder instead of easier, is that possible???

So you might wonder what a typical day is for me. The time my day starts depends on my three children. If all goes well, we might make it to 5:45 am. My husband leaves at 6:45 am for work, so on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I am on my own until 5 pm with three kids (Tuesday and Thursday, David takes Jaden to work with him and then drops him off at preschool for the day). During the school year, I teach on campus these days and things are even crazier than in summer. First thing I do is nurse both the twins, yes, I am still nursing, they were to be weaned last month but somehow that didn’t happen. Then I quick do diaper changes/get them dressed for the day while trying to keep Jaden entertained and then I make a mad dash for the shower—if I don’t do this now, I never will. The shower always ends up with one or more children trying to push open the glass shower door because they can no longer entertain themselves—I am quick, five minutes or less. By now they all want breakfast but I need to quick put lotion and what little make-up I wear on. During this process, I generally have the twins crawling on my lap. I quickly get dressed and upload one twin in each arm (~20 lbs a piece) and head downstairs. Jaden by now has no more patience and wants to eat now. You might be saying, why don’t you feed them all first and then take a shower? Well our house arrangement isn’t perfect right now because Amara's room is connected to our bathroom and there is no door between the two rooms so in essence she is in our bathroom. As a result, I need to get the shower out of the way so I can put her down for her nap after she eats breakfast without waking her up (our house is currently for sale - a great house for a family of 4, but not 5!). I feed everyone, let the twins play for a bit and then put them down for their morning nap by 8:15 am. I then get Jaden set up with something to play with or he goes outside jumps on the trampoline, plays in the sandbox, etc. Whew….I quick scarf down some cereal while reading the news online and my emails. I have about 30 emails to respond to everyday for work so this takes up quite a bit of time. Before I know it, it is 9:45 am and I need to quickly get Jaden dressed because my Body Sculpt class starts at 10 am. I wake the twins up, change diapers, get snacks, mad dash out the door and arrive a few minute late for my class. I carry my purse, a baby in each arm and Jaden by my side into the daycare hoping one of the twins doesn’t slip out of my arms. Whew, 10 am and I feel like I have had a full day---is David home from work yet??? SANITY TIP #1 for MOMS: Find a workout class that has daycare and build it into your schedule—your body, brain, and children and husband will LOVE you for it. I have been doing the same class for 3 ½ years three days a week and have hardly missed a day except when my midwife demanded at 20 weeks that I stop all exercise when I was pregnant with the twins. Seriously, this is the BEST gift you can give yourself even if you hate exercising. It is so empowering to have a free hour during the middle of the day to focus on nurturing the body that nurtures others 24/7 (Tuesday and Thursday I run 4 miles in morning pushing the twins in my BOB jogging stroller with friends while Jaden is at preschool). After class, I try and have a play date for Jaden or do something special for him since in the morning I am so busy with the twins. We come home by 12:30 pm and I feed everyone, besides me, and I get the twins down for their afternoon nap. I feed my children healthy, whole foods. We are vegetarians and eat mainly organic food. I did start eating fish while pregnant with the twins and am still eating it and enjoying the protein. Don’t get me wrong though, Jaden eats more than plenty his share of crackers and bars and while they are organic, I don’t really consider them healthy, whole food. Since Jaden doesn’t take a nap anymore, I let him watch one video lying in his bed while the twins sleep. I have guilt over this sometimes, but I also have work that I need to squeeze into my day and he needs quiet time or he will be an overtired, cranky preschooler by 5 pm. So while everyone is in their rooms, I grab a bite to eat by 1:15 pm and then get to work. It is summer break, but as I mentioned, I overcommitted myself this summer. What do I need to squeeze in to the 1 ½ of “free time” I have you might ask?? Here is my list of things to do for the summer: Revisions for scientific manuscript for Fire Ecology Journal, revisions for invited book chapter on the Ecology of the Eastern San Juan Mountains, prep and give volunteer plant walk for Colorado Native Plant Society, prep and give volunteer plant walk for the Mountain Studies Institute, create an ACCESS database for the Forest Service for plant ecology analysis, start data analysis and writing two new scientific manuscripts for my long-term forest restoration fire research project, coordinate with my intern for San Juan Collaboratory, work on invasive weed project for Aztec Ruins National Monument, work on Environmental Assessment for the Vegetation Mgt Plan for Aztec Ruins National Monument, work with students on their senior seminar research projects, work with colleague and students on a fire ecology study in the Missionary Ridge burn area, attend climate change conference and establish research project for summer Field Ecology course related to early snowmelt, climate change, and plants, attend and present oral presentation at national Ecological Society of America conference, coordinate with local non-profit to have a class participate in a cooperative learning experience for fall….is that all, not really. Anyways, I think you get the point, I am BUSY. Kids wake up, snack, play, dinner, play, bath, books, and bedtime by 7:30 pm for twins and 8:30 pm for Jaden—don’t forget to throw quite a bit of chaos into the mix. I then take 30 minutes to relax (read blogs, email friends, de-clutter our house, etc.) and then back to work on my “to do” list and bed by 11 pm. SANITY TIP #2: Work as a team with your partner. David is amazing. The minute he walks in the door, he helps me with everything. In the beginning, I definitely had to ask for help, but now we pretty much have it down for the most part to keep our evening chaos in check. By this point you might be asking, I am after re-reading this blog, “is she happy?” The answer is YES. SANITY TIP #3: The only moment is the moment in which we are presently living. Focus on that and try to leave the past in the past and let the future happen through the actions you are taking in the present moment. For this is the only thing we truly can control. This helps me make it through some of my long days and the recent six day puke/diarrhea parties the twins had literally ON me—trust me, you don’t want to know what this past week was like. In moments like this, I go back to my life mantra from Thich Nhat Hanh, if you haven’t read anything from him, it is a definite must. His teachings are very simple, but that is the point. Life doesn’t need to be difficult if we slow down and show compassion for ourselves and others. “Breathing in, I calm my body, Breathing out, I smile. Breathing in, I am in the present moment, Breathing out it is a wonderful moment.” I have said this mantra in some of my most painful life moments and have accepted these moments graciously. I gave birth to my 1st son, Denali, at 21 weeks gestation and repeated this mantra throughout his birth even as his spirit left my body and I wept uncontrollably.
LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH, and SMILE.