Real Talk

Wobbling Toward Grace, Part 2 :: The Days of Beautiful Chaos *This is a Part 2 of a series. Read Part 1 here. I was old when I became a new mom, and maybe that was what isolated me from the colleagues I had called friends. Also what made me overly protective and what motivated me to take 58,000 photos of my baby every week. I am also an introvert who found myself pregnant at 43, filled with a delight I had never expected I would, or could, experience, and which I had talked myself out of believing would ever be part of my life, talked myself into believing I, for some reason, didn't deserve. And, like many new moms, I kept...

In Defense Of Public Schools Public or private? This seems to be a very hot topic nowadays. It’s easy to see why. We want our kids to have the best of the best, don’t we? We want them afforded every opportunity available to them so they grow into mature, responsible, HAPPY adults, right? That’s the goal! My family and I are very fortunate to live in a great public school district where we know they’ll thrive, but the question of public or private honestly never came up in discussions about education when our kids were babies. After all, my husband and I both went through the public school system and had no solid complaints. So here’s some reasons we LOVE our public...

You Snooze, You Win! :: Life Hacks For The Time-Management-Challenged I was once given an art assignment that consisted of a blank sheet of paper with the word “TIME” at the top in bold letters. Our only instruction was to draw in the space below based on the word prompt. I stared at the paper and felt a flood of mixed emotions - both positive and negative. When it comes to four-letter words, this one might be the most sensational. I have many positive memories regarding the word time; the way my Cajun Granny would always say, “Well, y’all got time ...” when we’d announce we were about to head home after Sunday lunch. She’d start a pot of coffee or get...

Celebrating Big On A Budget :: Tips From A Mom Of Four I’m a mom of four. That means four birthdays, four times the Christmas gifts, four times the Easter basket stuffers, etc. You get where I’m going with this? It’s A LOT. If I were to have my way, I’d be super extravagant and holidays would be filled to the brim with every gift and experience imaginable but alas, in today’s economy expenses add up really fast and no matter how you look at it, four kids is EXPENSIVE. So in the spirit of keeping up with a somewhat manageable budget, here are some of my tips and tricks to keep cost at a minimum while still holding onto that...

Magic Does Exist :: Work-Life Balance As we enter into the new school year, I am acutely aware of my ability to support my kids in a way that I was not able to previously as a working mom. As a full-time businesswoman, I’ve always had to juggle home life and work life, and up until about two years ago, I dreaded the constant battle between priorities. The struggle caused stress and mom-guilt galore. I didn’t realize how much control I had in doing something about my career when it came to prioritizing my family. I have two kiddos, ages ten and seven, and they have attended two different schools for several years now. Their summer schedules did not grace my...