I had lunch with a friend recently whose husband has been offered an amazing job… abroad. They have both worked abroad before and loved it, but this was before they had two kids. My friend had a super successful career in business before she took a bit of time off to be a mom, but has spent the last few years starting up a business of her own. It was just starting to pick up steam when this awesome job offer for her husband came through.

The decision to uproot your family and move a thousand miles away is never easy when you have kids (hey, we moved from New York to Boston and a year later, I am still recovering.) So much goes into consideration — living arrangements, schools, activities, work, etc. But when moving involves one spouse taking a dream job and another potentially slowing down her own career or business, it’s much more complicated. Read the rest of this entry »

I was on the phone with a business contact earlier today. We were having a great conversation and he suggested that we meet in person. Since he is based in a different city, I responded by saying something like: “That’s a great idea! I am going to be there on (such and such) date and would love to meet. I try not to travel too much because I have a young daughter and if you have free time, this would work out well.”

As soon as I said this, I’d realized that I probably made the mistake of outing my mom-identity too soon in our professional relationship. After all, this guy has an important job with an important company that could help Work It, Mom! in the future. And here I was, saying that I don’t like to travel too much because I am a mom. Read the rest of this entry »

I feel so giddy right now that I have to write a post about it:

I am Completely. Alone. In our house.

Read the rest of this entry »

Casual Friday with Mir—because some days are made for wearing your jeans and surfing the blogs.

Goooooood morning! You’ve made it through another week, and really, who could blame you if you spend just a little extra time reading blogs with your coffee today? No one, that’s who.

I don’t know him personally, but I just have to tell you that this installment of Project Christopher rocked my world.

Do you love Target? I mean, do you really love Target? (Truth: That blog scares me a little.)

Jenny went to Puerto Rico, and all we got was this hilarious entry.

Before you buy Spanx, please read this. And (an oldie but goodie) this.

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Ready to shop? Mother’s Day is nearly upon us, people!

If you’ve got the budget, this digital picture frame is the one to get—Philips is top of the line, and that’s the only frame I’ve seen that’s actually cute as well as functional. (Want other Amazon goodness? I’ve got your Friday Sale right here!)

It’s the biggest sale of the year at Overstock: 7% off and free shipping through that there link. Excludes media like DVDs, but works on big stuff where the savings could really add up.

Today only, take 20% off any one gift at Harry & David with coupon code BLOOM. Get something for Mom, or even better yet, something to share!

What do you get when you combine beauty, sun protection and a great deal? The Sephora Sun Safety Kit, of course. It’s $87 worth of products for just $25, and the profits from every sale are donated to the Skin Cancer Foundation.

Have a wonderful Friday and a great weekend, all!

I was at a restaurant for lunch yesterday and there were two women sitting at a table next to ours. While I was waiting for my lunch date to arrive I overheard them talking. I can’t make this stuff up:

Woman #1: “Did you hear that Jill got a new job?”

Woman #2: ” Yes, I ran into her husband at the school and he told me. It sounds amazing actually, but it’s full-time.”

Woman #1: “I know! She told me last time I saw her. It’s pretty intense and probably involves some travel. I just don’t get how she is going to pull it off and still find time for her kids. I don’t mean to judge, but I don’t think I could be a great mom if I worked full-time.” Read the rest of this entry »

This past weekend my daughter went to a birthday party where the activity was to make a mask out of clay. My daughter is almost four, while the party was for a bunch of seven year-olds (we’re friends with the family so she was invited), and she couldn’t do this on her own, so I had to help out. (It turned out that many of the seven year-olds also couldn’t soften the clay/shape it/cut it/attached parts to it on their own, but that’s not the point.)

After I helped my daughter get her huge chunk of clay into a mask that did actually look like a cat, it was time to paint it. My daughter jumped to it and as you can imagine, the colors were all over the place, the red from the mouth was running into the face, the brown from the nose was running into the mouth, and when she took a huge brush of yellow (to do the eyes, mommy!) it splattered all over the blue background color.

As I was watching her do this, I was having an internal debate. I can summarize it like this: Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been about a year since I last had a boss.

The boss I had at the time that I made the whole steady-career-to-full-time-entrepreneur change wasn’t a nice one. He was passive aggressive, liked to embarrass people, always blamed me or someone else if anything went wrong, and gave very little credit if things went right. I never cried at work — mostly because I think it’s bad for women to show so much emotion in the workplace — but I often ran to the bathroom or came home on the verge of tears from dealing with him.

Not having this person in my life has been a relief. But let me come clean and tell you that sometimes I really miss having a boss. Yes, even a boss who drove me nuts for five years. And here’s why: Read the rest of this entry »

One of the most common and I think, quite good, pieces of advice I’ve heard about being a working mom is to look at my life in terms of phases or chapters. We all know that it’s almost impossible to “balance” work, family, and personal time/interests at the same time — there just isn’t enough time in each day and not enough mental and physical energy to give each the same level of attention. But if we look at life as a series of chapters — with some more focused on career, some more focused on kids and family, some on ourselves — perhaps the trade-offs we make all the time can be a bit less conflicting.

Like I said, I like this advice. Many times when I feel guilty about not spending enough time with my daughter because of work, I use it to make myself feel less horrible. “This phase of my life is work-heavy,” I think, “but it won’t be like this forever.”

But I’ll be honest with you — I only half buy this argument. Read the rest of this entry »

Casual Friday with Mir—because some days are made for wearing your jeans and surfing the blogs.

Gooooooood morning, and happy Friday! As it so happens, there is very little casual about my Friday today—my daughter is turning ten and there is much pomp, circumstance, and cupcakes in the offing. But while I try to make all of her double-digit dreams come true, you feel free to kick back for a little bit.

I’ll probably write a sappy post later, but Shannon already covered the whole 10th birthday thing, probably better than I would.

You should wear a bra that fits you properly. You should also have helpful illustrations to show you why.

Ze Frank has yet another awesome project in Color Wars 2008, and I am loving the submissions for Youngme - Nowme (a collection of photos where folks duplicate an old childhood picture as their current, adult selves).

Know what the world needs? More anthropomorphized ice cream. Obviously.

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Shopping? Save some bucks and make me proud, people:

Today and tomorrow only, take $5 off your $25 purchase at Toys R Us through that link.

Need plus size clothing? Scoop up a great deal at Catherines—today only, use coupon code 776923906 to take $20 off your $20.01+ purchase!

Circuit City is having their Friends and Family Sale though Saturday, with loads of discounts and always free shipping on purchases of $24+.

And of course, I’ll be over browsing the Amazon Friday Sale. (And frosting cupcakes. Maybe all at the same time! Wooooo!)

On a good night I get 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep. In a great-once-in-a-random-while night I get 7-8 hours of sleep. Most nights, I sleep for about 5 hours.

I know this isn’t enough and I don’t need any experts to tell me that. I am tired, a lot, my eyes burn, often, I need some type of caffeine to get through the day (tea, lately) and my lack of proper sleep combined with lots of other stuff (like, apparently, not breathing enough) is beginning to cause some health issues. On days when my sleep deficit is high I get less done and am less focused.

I have every reason to do it, so why don’t I prioritize getting more sleep? Read the rest of this entry »