Do you guys have tips to share for stressed out moms? Sound off in the comments!

(And yes, you also get to tell me to NEVER do video again:)

If you want to be happier be thankful for things you have in your life more often.

That is the basic message in Thanks!, a book by Robert Emmons, a professor at UC-Davis who studies the field of positive psychology. I browsed through the book the other day at Barnes & Noble, after reading something about it in a magazine (if you are thinking I am going to be a good blogger and link to the article, you’re wrong — it was in some doctor’s waiting room and I couldn’t even tell you the title.)

This seems like a very simple concept but I know I don’t practice it enough. When I do, it works.
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I never hide the fact that I love to work and I am extremely passionate about what I am doing right now. But you know, work is work, and sometimes it’s tough to get through my long workday. So over time I’ve found a few ways to make my workdays a bit more pleasant and thought I’d share them here:

1. Start each day by doing something that energizes you. In an ideal world, I’d work out in the morning, before work.
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I was inspired to write this post after reading this GREAT article by Julie Wainwright, titled Five Life-Changing Mistakes and How I Moved On. It’s an article everyone who has ever failed at something should read.

I don’t think we talk about our mistakes, failures, messups nearly enough — not as moms, not as career women, not as entrepreneurs. I am truly guilty of this because many people I know think I’ve got it all figured out. (Ha!) And while I’ve gotten better at sharing just how imperfect my life really is — and have found out how great it feels to find out that I am definitely not alone in that — I think we can all benefit from sharing our mistakes more often. For me, the best thing about sharing my mistakes is realizing that none of them are the end of the world.

So I thought I’d share some mistakes I’ve made as a mom, and then in other posts, mistakes I’ve made in my career and as an entrepreneur. You know, pretending that you guys care to read this stuff.

#1 I drove myself crazy trying to get my daughter to 6 months on only breastmilk
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I’ve been having a tough few weeks, as this post probably indicated. Many of the comments you guys left there sent me right through my ceiling and into the sky of gratitude of being able to be part of this incredible community. If I could run and hug all of you, I would.

And then the other day I opened up my email and saw this:

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Mother’s Day is one of those holidays that I never appreciated enough before I became a mom.

In Russia, where I grew up, we didn’t have this holiday, and instead celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8th — it was customary to give gifts to your mom on that day, but the whole Communist taste to it made it a lot less personal. I love my mom and am very close with her, but somehow when we moved to America and started to celebrate Mother’s Day, it felt a bit commercial.

But no longer — it’s now one of my favorite holidays.
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I know envy is bad, I do. But it’s kind of like butter — I know it’s not healthy, but I can’t help but indulge at times.

So here are some things I envy in other moms:

Easy-goingness. I know it’s not a word, but you know what I mean. Moms who have this great ability to just roll with the punches and not get completely and utterly stressed out by all the work-life juggle insanity. Like your kid spilling milk on your new pants when you’re ten minutes late for an important meeting and the sitter calls in sick. (Not like that’s happened to me or anything…)
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Need a fun break? Check out these links from our friends on the web!

Tot Snob: WIN! - Arte Bebe Fantasy Shopping Cart. The rules are simple, choose up to $175 worth of merchandise from Arte Bebe and put the names of the merchandise in our comments. We will pick one winner at random and the winner will win everything that was listed!

Boston Mamas: Chittypulga Goodies! There’s just a few days left to enter to win a Fleurville diaper bag PLUS a $100 gift certificate to fill up the Fleurville with fabulous finds from Chittypulga!

Classy Mommy: Cabbage Patch Kids Fun to Feed Baby. Talk about a blast from the past! How fun to see my little girl enjoying one of these dolls. Check out review here on the latest Cabbage Patch Doll.
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It’s Tuesday, which for some reason feels like Monday, which in my book calls for a little bit of fun distraction. Here are some fun links from our friends in the blogosphere — go ahead, take five minutes for yourself and check them out:
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I was going to write a review of the new show, The Secret Life of a Soccer Mom, which premiered on TLC last night. I figured as someone running a company focused on working moms I HAD to do it. So last night I sat down to watch and couldn’t finish it. If you want my knee-jerk reaction to the show, there you have it — it felt unreal without being entertaining enough, so it didn’t pass the I-have-no-time-for-anything-that-doesn’t-entertain-or-inform-me test.

The premise of the show is intriguing and silly at the same time:

Each week one stay-at-home mom whoe gave up her career will secretely get to see the life she left behind.

If you must know, I don’t get why this has to be a secret from the family.
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