Some days are created to test your patience, today was one of those days. I woke up to a private message letting me know that my work website was down. When an ecommerce site is down, people don't make any money so it was pretty urgent and needed to be addressed immediately. Laying in bed I quickly sent off a few messages and texts to see if anyone could help. Had I been awake I could have called tech support myself, but since my brain wasn't awake yet I called upon others. I tried to wake up and make my way to my desktop so I could help. When I arrived and opened my browser a strange message appeared and warning messages flashed in front of me. I quickly realized this was malware and tried to close everything down. Nothing was working and there appeared to be 2-3 programs running that I never noticed before. I did a quick Google search and realized I needed to clean this up ASAP......as soon as I fixed problem #1 that I logged on to fix. Thankfully the work problem was ... [ Read More ]
The only evidence that I showed up for Christmas…
Why is it that mom is never in the Christmas pictures? Because she's taking the pictures and behind the camera. I tried to remedy that this year after reading a fun article on how to be in the pictures you're taking, but my camera doesn't have the ability for taking interval pictures. Usually my husband attempts to take a few pictures of my opening gifts with his phone, but this year there are no pictures of me on Christmas Day. The picture above was one I took myself while I was playing with the manual settings on my DSLR; which I think I've finally figured out how to use. I am excited for the future though, one of my Christmas presents from my hubs is a GoPro (affiliate link) which can take interval pictures. I haven't had a chance to play with it yet, but I finally picked up the microSD card today so I'll be playing the rest of the week. Christmas was low key this year. Hubs didn't make it home until Christmas Eve (afternoon) and had to leave again around lunchtime on ... [ Read More ]
Breakfast Granola Cookies & Stonyfield Yogurt
Less than one week until Christmas and I'm finally starting to get in the holiday spirit. There's something about being in the kitchen that brings it out in me. I'm able to recharge and relax offline and use my creative energy in other ways. The kids are out of school for 2 weeks and a little time in the kitchen with mom will entertain them for a few minutes at least...and keep them offline as well. Today we decided to make some breakfast cookies for the coming week. This post is sponsored by Stonyfield Yogurt & Nature's Path Organics. I absolutely love oatmeal cookies and peanut butter cookies, so I decided to see how I could tweak some of my favorite recipes into something a little more healthy for breakfast. Breakfast + cookies = easy mom trick to get your kids to eat something good! The ingredients are pretty simple; 1/2 cup of chocolate chips, 1 cup Nature's Path Pumpkin Flax Granola, 1 egg, 1 cup brown sugar, and 1 cup of peanut butter. I almost always have ... [ Read More ]
#JustBeYou with prAna & Oh My Yog {Coupon Code & Giveaway}
This post is sponsored by prAna and Stonyfield Yogurt If there's one thing that I've learned over the last 40+ years, it's that all you need to be in life is YOU. As a child I always wanted to be just like the other girls, those popular girls. I wanted to have the perfect hair, the perfect clothes, and the perfect friends. What I didn't realize at the time was that I'm not who I wanted to be when I was little.... ...I'm better! I look back over the profile pictures on Facebook of those girls I wanted to be like, and I realize that I'm more than happy with who I've become and who I've always been. I don't want to be "just like them" any longer and I wouldn't want to be anyone else but me. Oh, how I wish I had learned that 30 years ago. This was me today after a full day at work, after homework was done, and after dinner was in our bellies. This is how I looked at 8am this morning when I left to take the kids to school and the only difference right now is that I've ... [ Read More ]
Working through mom guilt…
It happened, my six year old told me something brutally honest this morning. "Mommy, put your phone down! You're always playing on it. Won't you play with me instead." (silence - let that soak in) ...I immediately set the phone down and finished helping her get ready for school. I made a conscious effort to not pick up my phone for the rest of the morning. I dropped the kids off at school, came home and went to work, but those words stuck with me ALL day! Am I really on my phone THAT much? Clearly, if a six year old thinks I'm on my phone too much then it's got to be true. Here's the thing though, I have made an effort for the past year to be more present in my kids lives. Not that I'm a absent mom (absent minded maybe, but not absent), but it's so easy to focus too much effort on the wrong things. I've made an effort to leave my phone on my desk when the kids are home from school in the afternoon, during dinner, and while they get ready for bed. ... [ Read More ]
Sunsets in Winter
The weather is warm this week in Florida and I decided that tonight we were going to watch the sunset on the beach. We don't typically go out on school nights, but we were passing by the beach and I had to stop. The ocean was calling my name. I needed to fill my soul with sunshine, sand, and salt air. Children were barefoot, rocks were tossed, sand was thrown in the air. I'll find the remnants of the trip for weeks to come in the bottom of my purse and on the floorboards of my Jeep. Children giggled and dug holes in the sand. They got dirty. The rays of the sun peeked through the clouds and glistened the ocean below. Strands of hair glimmered. Memories were made. Bedtimes were delayed. Dinner was quick and not very healthy. The ocean shimmered and waited anxiously for one final kiss from the sun. As the sun and the ocean became one, the clouds were tinted with every color of the rainbow. The day was done. Location: Honeymoon Island, Dunedin, FL About the photos above: ... [ Read More ]
Happy Birthday Baby Girl
She's been featured on my blog since she was just a baby and Sunday she turned SIX! I'm still not sure how time has gone by so quickly. I'm now a mom of a six year old and an eleven year old. My life is full and there is never a dull moment. I know that sounds SOOOO cliche but it's true! She's in Kindergarten and reading like a pro. She still likes to sleep in our bed. She is independent...but really likes it when mommy helps her. She hasn't learned to tie her shoes yet. She's very artistic and loves to color, paint, and draw. She wants to be a vet when she grows up. She loves animals and always wants to pet any dog that walks by. She loves candy. She looks up to her big brother. She is the most beautiful, smart, and sassy little girl I've ever met. Yes, I'm a little partial but it's true! She had a wonderful birthday with just our immediate family and asked for Outback for dinner. She didn't have cake, but devoured the entire bowl of ice cream! Happy ... [ Read More ]
Best Summer Ever!
We started this summer with a plan, I even made an official Summer Bucket List with a few things each of us wanted to do this summer. I was looking back over my Instagram account this afternoon with my youngest and I'm so excited about how much fun we had this summer. I'm not writing this to brag or gloat over all the cool things we've done, but rather for me to look back over the best summer ever! It's really hard for me to believe that our 10 week summer is already coming to an end. I've been a little emotional all day thinking about it. This was the first summer that I didn't stick my kids in summer camp most of the summer while I worked. I decided that, as much fun as they have at camp, I really wanted to be part of their summer too. I have an amazing boss and a flexible job that allows me to sneak away from time-to-time to make memories with my family. I've paid for that fun by staying up past midnight many nights completing projects, but it's been so worth ... [ Read More ]
The Perfect Mother’s Day
What would the perfect Mother's Day look like to you? Would it be a vase full of flowers? Breakfast in bed? A handmade gift from your child? An hour to yourself without your kids clawing at your legs? A day out with friends at the spa? Things have changed a lot over the past 11 years of being a mom and so has my "perfect Mother's Day!" For me, a perfect Mother's Day would be one where I am unplugged from the online world and soaking up every moment I can with my family. I don't care about the gifts or going out to eat, those aren't the things you remember very long. I care about the memories that I can make with my kids. I started Mother's Day weekend a little early with a night out to the movies with some friends. Tonight was the opening of the new movie, Mom's Night Out. It's a movie about a young mom of three small kids who is "stress paralyzed!" Yes, that's really a word...at least in the movie! While I may not have the same life as the main character, Allyson ... [ Read More ]
What? Me Blog?
It seems like I haven't really spent much time on my own blog lately since I've been so super busy with work (Kelly's Closet) and writing for Tampa Bay Moms Blog. Some days I forget that I actually have a blog of my own to keep up. Today I have decided to spend the weekend focusing some of my energy back here; I'm attending the Type-A conference in Atlanta. I bought my ticket ages ago and haven't even looked at the schedule of events that start tomorrow. All I know is that registration and breakfast start early - somewhere around 8am! That means I'll actually have to get up and get dressed before I normally wake up. Let's talk travel for a minute. I absolutely LOVE to fly, but I don't love it so much when I'm flying standby out of Orlando when all the flights are overbooked. I also wasn't prepared for how busy the Orlando airport would be on a Thursday morning. I'm used to flying out of my tiny little Tampa airport where it takes me 15 minutes to get from my car to the ... [ Read More ]