Lela Davidson's Blog, page 6

Working Mom Life: Presence Is a Virtue

Working Mom Life is an interview series featuring real working mothers who are figuring out how to get the job done. Because there are more ways to be a working mom than there are ways to fold a cloth diaper, we can all learn from each other. Join the conversation #WorkingMomLife.

Brandi Riley is a social media and content strategist, lending her influence to some of America’s top brands. Not working was never an option. Brandi started mom life as a single mom, and like many working mot...

Where Are You Making Do?

My hair dryer exploded this week. Literally, sparks came out of the little box where I have plugged it into the wall for I don’t know how many years. I really thought the whole thing might start a real fire. I smelled thatweird electrical fire smell and sniffed the outlet several times, in between concealer and mascara. I stopped short of texting my husband, who was traveling for work. Because what could I say? Hey, honey, there might be fire in the wall.

There wasn’t. I’m lucky like that.

Ev...

Working Mom Life: Don’t Worry, Be Happy, Say No

Working Mom Life is an interview series featuring real working mothers who are figuring out how to get the job done. Because there are more ways to be a working mom than there are ways to fold a cloth diaper, we can all learn from each other. Join the conversation #WorkingMomLife.

Amy Bradley-Hole is a force of nature. I know because I’ve been in a room with her.Her energy and ideas seem to be never-ending. She’s got two young sons and a resume full of stops and starts and start-overs. I r...

How To Handle Change in 3 Easy Steps

Handling change is a critical skill for anyone. If you’re alive, you’re handling change all the time. But some life circumstances throw change at us faster than others. How we deal with it can be the difference between freaking out and settling in.

When I returned to the world of those who work with other humans in close quarters toward common goals I resumed the practice of some skills and started cultivating others in new ways. In addition to attending meetings and being held accountable fo...

6 Book Club Books for Working Moms

You’re a working mom and you’re in a book club. Time is precious. And while it’s super fun to get together with girlfriends and drink wine and eat snacks, and have opinions about books you may or may not have had time to read, there are only so many meetings in a row you can get away with not reading the book. (In my experience this is approximately 37% of the time, missingno more than two books in a row.)

When it’s your turn to select the book, take the opportunitychoose one of these 6 ideal...

Working Mom Life: Living Full

Working Mom Life is an interview series featuring real working mothers who are figuring out how to get the job done. Because there are more ways to be a working mom than there are ways to fold a cloth diaper, we can all learn from each other.Ihope you’lljoin the conversation #WorkingMomLife.

Michelle Unabia might be the busiest person I know. And not in that crazy to-do list, make up things to do busy, but in that way that women are when they refuse to let go of any of their ambitions in the...

That Time I Went Insane Over Office Supplies

I got up at four in the morning. Crazy, I know, but my husband does it one day every week so sometimes I show my solidarity by getting up with him. It’s a bad idea, a pointless show of support that usually does not end well, but if I’m lucky I get a lot of work done before the kids wake up. On this particular morning I paid bills, cleared my inbox, and worked out a four-leg carpool schedule for my children’s cotillion class. We can all rest assured the children will be on time to the classes...

Faking Balance: Time Management by Panic Attack

I’m taking the day off today to take care of a few things. I’ll get to thatin a minute, but first, this working mom thing, in case you haven’t heard, is not easy. And before you warm up your fingers to compose your strongly worded comment about how dare I complain, what with my good job and my supportive husband and my healthychildren. Let me beat you to it. You’re right. I’m incredibly fortunate.

I have an amazing job that I lovemostly because I get to work with really smart, really sensitiv...

My Daughter, My Stylist

My daughter asked me to go shopping yesterday—clothes shopping. This was a first. Until now, we’ve shopped for her or we’ve shopped for me, but we haven’t “gone shopping” together. I was excited to get her buy-in on her own wardrobe, but I had ulterior motives, too. My daughter, you see, is also my personal stylist.

“Mom, can we shop somewhere else this time? Besides Old Navy?”

But… I have coupons, and reward points, and—

“Like, can we go to Aeropostale? And Forever21?”

While Gaby is particular a...

That One Time I Was Adulterous

It started out innocently enough, as these things often do. Just a text here, some slight dissatisfaction there. There was no big conflict, but rather a slow growing apart that snuck up on me. Everything became inconvenient. Nothing personal, but I had needs and he was no longer able to meet them.We had been together nearly ten years, almost half my adult life with the same man. He knew how to make mefeel beautiful. But the idea of someone new, with new techniques, thrilled me and at the same...