Thursday, May 24, 2012

Action Item Update: Slow and Steady (Wins the Race?)

I'm sure posting these goal updates are more for me than for you, even though you don't realize it - you are holding me accountable and so I'm going to keep reporting out.

I'm slowly but surely accomplishing items, and while I'm not running through things incredibly fast - I've clipped up my pace by focusing on what is interesting me at the time.


In the past 2 months, I've completed 15 items! (AND May isn't even over yet, so hopefully I can eek out a few more!)

A couple of highlights:

- I made a printable (ie - figured out how to post a pdf of my blog and enable it to be downloaded.)

- I read (and memorized) my study guide to take my ACE Group Fitness Instructor Exam - (AND I passed!)

- I've been reading a lot - for fun! I downed Mockingjay (super surprised by the ending - but liked it), The Accidental Tourist (a little sad and hard for me to read, but an interesting perspective), and The Lover's Dictionary (super fast read, but it was just ok.)

- I started taking Stroller Strides classes (workouts for me and a stroller ride and songs for baby) AND I took an online class about teaching pre/post-natal fitness so I can teach my own classes!

- Baby and I have been a ton of places, but the highlights would have to be the Zoo and our local pet store! The zoo was a planned trip (for Mother's Day,) however the pet store was a sporadic trip for dog food that turned into a long tour. My son LOVES animals and it's been so fun to see him see new things. If you can't make it to a zoo or just need to kill a little time, check it out, (aquarium displays are equally entertaining.)

- I went through my closet and started getting rid of all my work clothes.

- I had two fantastic nights out - one wine night with the girls and one date night with the husband! Yay!

Overall, it's good to see my progress moving and I think it was helped a lot by changing my perspective about my goals.

Sincerely,








Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Happy 1st Birthday Baby!

Today's my son's first birthday! The saying, "the days are long but the years are short," true in my book. This year just flew by!

We were so blessed to be able to have a little one year celebration this past weekend with family and friends. Little man had a blast attacking his first cupcake! We put together a real simple celebration (mainly with ideas from my One pinboard!)


We also had a first birthday photoshoot with the lovely Kari from Karianna Photography, who got some fantastic shots! Below are a few of my faves but you can check out a bunch more via this post on her blog. She was super nice and was great to work with; we totally recommend her if your looking for someone! A lot of the ideas for props, the cake and icing recipe, and such I also got via pinterest and you can check that out on my One Board too!

First Birthday and Cake Smash Photo Shoot

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Sincerely,






P.S. - Cake Smash Birthday photos via Karianna Photography. Check her out!





 

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Monday, May 21, 2012

Finally Feeling Some Tangible (EMPLOYABLE) Results


When I started The Employable Mom, I wanted a space to organize my experiences of staying employable while on my "extended maternity leave": and so I began doing some talking (actually a lot of talking), plus some research and more research, and self-exploration and now I'm doing a lot of "doing!" To be honest it's keeping me really busy but a lot of where I am now is due to the things I was doing back then, like: goal setting, finding ways to get out of the house and be social, getting CPR and First Aid certified (which has surprisingly come in very handy,) and a ton of other things. I've loved all the self discovery but I'm even more excited to be doing something that makes me feel productive because I've finally found the mommy project I've been so desperately looking for!

Let me give you some context: a few posts back, I shared some potential BIG NEWS and now I can almost certify that it's official BIG NEWS because next week I'm going to finalize the paperwork for my purchase of a pre/post-postnatal fitness franchise! I'm really excited, I think that this will enable me to gain a lot of marketable skills in addition to trying a whole realm of new things!

Now buying a franchise isn't for everyone, and I still plan on peeking into other employable opportunities for SAHMs, because one of my goals for EM is to really flush out all of the options out there. However, EM will see a few changes, mostly in posting regularity, but possibly in content. And once I get over the newness hump of running my own business, I'll most certainly re-evaluate my plans for EM.

I guess what I'm trying to do here is give a little update on my project's progress and renew my commitment to my Employable Mom community. I don't want you to think I've forgotten about you as my posts move to being more far and few between. I'm anticipating that I will maintain this speed, but don't anticipate that I stop all-together. I've still got a journey to document; plus I've got big things planned and I'm excited to share them with you!

Sincerely,

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

A Pretty Fricking Funny Feed Read to Break-up the Monotony of the Day

I've become a pretty bad blogger in the past two weeks. This is seriously the longest I've gone because despite all of my thoughtfully organized nap times and such, it has been literally thrown out the window due to some serious over-programming/sick baby-ness that has unbelievable got me off my kilt.

So for today's feed read I'm just going to pass along a few laughable links I've been hoarding from you, and hopefully, come Thursday (my new "day") I'll be able to post a bunch of other really great posts I'm been working on.

While nursing my son, I get about 3-5 min where I can just sit & read. Every week, I'm going to start you off with a Feed Read: links to sites that I enjoyed and would recommend to you whenever you get your own five minutes.


A hysterical children's book.

Funny post about the many wardrobes of mom and another about mommy math.

A great (and hysterical) example about being careful what you film (or put on social media.)

Some hilarious reviews of Amazon products.

Lastly, an interesting (and maybe not so hilarious) look at why wedding dresses cost so much. Same thing when you slap "baby" on a product.


Sincerely,





P.S. - Seen anything else funny on the web? Share your links below!