My life has moved so fast since last December, sometimes my head spins.  I left a secure job in the non-profit sector and started a new company with another power mom. I teamed up with a dear friend and blogger to form Momz Share. And, oh yeah, I’ve started training for the New York City Marathon.
Hectic much? Kinda.

People often ask me how I “do it all.” Honestly, I’m not really sure how to answer that question.  I know that for me, what I choose to do doesn’t feel like WORK.  It is, well…FUN.  ”Doing it all” in this case is the same as breathing and SMILING.

I recently had a striking conversation with a childhood pal about her passions. She wanted so badly to step out and make her dream a reality.  She is just not happy at this stage of her life.  Now, I’m not exactly qualified to give business advice, being a novice myself, but I do know a couple of things about blazing your own trail and taking a chance.

“The secret of making something work in your life is first of all,
the deep desire to make it work,
then the faith and belief that it can work,
then to hold that clear definite vision in your consciousness
and see it working out step by step,
without one thought of  doubt or disbelief.”
- Eileen Caddy

If there is something you want so badly that you can taste it, then I believe that you owe it to yourself to take a chance.  Just TRY.  Sure you will be scared.  Terrified, even.

Yeah, risks are scary. No doubt about it.  But think of how you will feel if you DON’T make a move.  If you don’t even make an attempt.  Regret is the worst feeling of all.

I encourage you to write down you innermost goals and start your action plan.  Ignore the insecure girl inside of your head and make your own opportunities. Take a risk. Making your dream a reality is so worth it!

RESOURCES

Career girls will appreciate this book: Why Good Girls Don’t Get Ahead But Gutsy Girls Do – Kate White

I’m exhausted.

But in a good way.  In a very, very good way.

This past Saturday we (Lara & I) held our second Momz Share event. (First event details here.) This one, appropriately titled “The Silver Spring Soiree” was hosted by the wonderful (and hilarious BTW) Jessica McFadden of A Parent In Silver Spring at the The Little Gym in Silver Spring, MD.  We had over 70 (totally lost count) bloggers from the DC Metro area in attendance!

Some of the night’s highlights?  Well, where to begin…

–>RAISING MONEY FOR CHARITY! An auction to benefit the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and Team Why Mommy, anchored by Sunday Stillwell of Extreme Parenthood in honor of our friend Susan Niebur of Toddler Planet’s courage and tenacity.  The women in attendance were extremely generous, buying up raffle tickets for the cause.  And the donations?  Well, we had THOUSANDS of dollars worth of DONATED items from business as well as an additional $1,000 donation from Bit Defender!  Truly overwhelming!

Our gratitude goes out to:

La Papillon Spa, Peace Love Lip Gloss, Bring It To Fruition, The Round House Theater, The Maryland Science Center, Port Discovery, The National Aquarium, Tuscan Home Decor & Design, All things Italian, Certifikid, Then Again Photography, The Melting Pot of DC, Tech Savvy Mama, Be Lifestyle MedSpa, Simplify Organizing,  BitDefender and their BitMoms community!  (Although she won’t want me to, I really must mention my creative-cohort at this point – Lara Dipaola.  She worked like a maniac to arrange all of this.  I did none of it.  She is my personal hero!)

–>WE MUST NOT FORGET THE FOOD! Food for the soiree was provided by Sarah of The Soupergirl,  Theresa of Treet, and the last minute heroics provided by  Done Right Catering.  (Seriously, they saved the day and personally supervised the entire time.  What a fantastic company.  Hire them NOW!)

–>GOT PASSION? We were also lead in an exercise in finding our passions by Lauree, life coach and owner of Simply Leap .  (I’m planning on writing a separate post on this tomorrow.  Inspiring stuff!) Also much gratitude to Melanie Spring of Sisarina, our Momz Share mentor and sponsor extraordinaire.

–> DID I MENTION THE NETWORKING? This is just such a unique opportunity to meet other area bloggers and network offline.  Someone told me that evening that Momz Share was “the best part of a conference.”  Which totally made me smile.  BECAUSE THAT IS THE POINT.  The entire reason we began this project was so that bloggers can network offline and build strong relationships.  We want everyone to form partnerships so that they can reach out and have support in their online efforts.

INTERESTED IN SEEING MORE PHOTOS? We have a Momz Share Flickr group and photos can be found here.  (Many thanks for Then Again Photography and Laura from Better in Bulk for their skills.  You ladies are amazing!)

INTERESTED IN READING OTHER BLOGGER’S TAKE ON MOMZ SHARE? There will be a link up here.

FEEDBACK? If you went and would like to provide feedback anonymously, do so here.

DC Metro Bloggers… our second Momz Share is this weekend!  Woo hoo!

Some quick bits of information for you:

• If you haven’t already registered, please check out this post and register. Our theme is “FINDING YOUR PASSIONS!”  Lauree Ostrofsky, life and career coach from  Simply Leap will be offering some tips and hints for busy moms on cultivating their inner passions and dreams!
• The location and time have changed.  Our new location is the Little Gym In Silver Spring from 8-11pm.
• There is a $10 food and beverage registration fee.  All money raised in excess of administration costs will be donated to charity.
• In support of Why Mommy’s battle with cancer, there will be an raffle auction with tons of goodies to benefit cancer research.  Bring $1 bills!!!
• Follow us on Twitter @momzshare and fan us on Facebook to learn the latest!
• Hashtag on Twitter is #momzshare
• We will have a McLinky link up after the event, details will be announced.  We also have a Flickr Momz Share pool for pictures after the event.  Video is encouraged as well!
• Blogroll can be found here.  We have 74 people registered so far.
• Jessica McFadden of A Parent In Silver Spring is the host!
• Melanie Spring of Sisarina will be at the event!  Melanie and Sisarina are official Momz Share sponsors and will be developing a website for Momz Share in the next month! Be sure to thank her when you meet her!

See ya Saturday!  (MUST REGISTER TO ATTEND – DON’T FORGET!)

On Saturday night Lara Dipaola and I had the privilege of launching Momz Share and playing host to 45 amazing DC Metro area bloggers!

In case you are not familiar with Momz Share:  The concept  is to simply provide a real life opportunities for moms who have a passion for blogging to connect, build relationships, learn, share information and form strong personal networks.  The events are held quarterly and hosted by a different, fabulous D.C. Metro Region blogger.  It is one part girl’s night out and one part networking.

Okay, official speak over. If you wanna read more, click here. It is now time to gush!

I don’t even know where to begin except to say that we had the most fabulous, interesting and diverse group of women.  I was humbled and in awe of every single one of them BEFORE they even got there. And to have them all assembled under one roof was truly an honor.  I am putting a linky on the bottom of this post because I think that while we were the hosts, THEY will tell the real story!

If you would like to see some photos from the event (Because, as we all know, a picture is worth a thousand words and I don’t have enough space on this blog for that.) —->We have a Flickr group here. More pictures will be added by the attending bloggers in the future so check back! (Why am I wearing a tiara, you ask? Lara provided it and well, the Tarara wine was so yummy that I felt a little “uninhibited.” Enough said.)

And permit me, if you will, to acknowledge the wonderful companies who came on board and donated services to help our vision come to fruition.  This would still be in concept stage if they hadn’t offered their services!

107 Designs –Michael Guill designed the Momz Share logo and buttons! He is an amazing talent and wonderful friend.  Give him some love on Twitter  @107Designs or check out his totally cool website here.

Sisarina – Lara and I met with Melanie Spring in Bethesda one day and she totally got the concept. Not only that, she jumped on board!  Her company Sisarina designed the Momz Share banner and soon to be collateral material, not to mention…. OUR NEW WEBSITE! (Under construction. More to come!) Wow, right? Tweet her up @sisarina  or check out her business online!

Tarara Winery – I can’t even tell you how overwhelmed we were with their generosity!  They jumped in with both feet and poured wine for our guests all night and even sent each lady home with their own vino.  Thank you to Jordan and Kerri for supporting Momz Share!  Give them some love @tararawinery and on the web.

And there is no way that I can forget Laura of Better in Bulk and Amanda of Then Again Photography for coming in and saving the day with their photography genius. Ladies, you are wonderful! (But I kinda already knew that!)

Special thanks also go out to the Maryland Ensemble Theatre and Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center for loaning us gorgeous linens for the soiree!

EXTRAVAGANTLY AWESOME DRAWING PRIZES WERE PROVIDED BY: e.l.f. Cosmetics, Soge Shirts, Jasmere.com, Thien Kim – Passion Parties, La Papillion Spa, Port Discovery, Lisa Helfert Photography, 107 Designs (Additional information on there contributions can be found here.)

TAKE HOME GIFTS FOR THE LADIES WERE DONATED BY: Tarara Winery , La Papillion Spa, Seed Body Care, e.l.f. Cosmetics, Jasmere, MET – The Fun Company (Additional information on there contributions can be found here.)

The next Momz Share event will be held on May 22nd and will be hosted by Jessica of A Parent in Silver Spring! We will require another round of registrations which will begin this Friday on this website.  Look for details on the event and the topic from @mammamania, @dipaolamomma and @jessicaAPISS via Twitter soon!  And BTW – the next event better not end in a trip to the ER. But that is another blog post entirely, isn’t it?

Name and Name of Blog: Cara Blevins (aka Carabee) Land of Bean

Other blogs you write ? BlogTrotting

Twitter name: Carabee

Tell us a little bit about your blog:

Totally true tales about the insanity that abounds in a home with the most crazy active, picky-eating, loud talking, mess-making, teleporting, destruction-wreaking toddler on the planet. She’s just lucky she’s so darn cute.

What do you love the most about blogging?

It’s cliche, but I really do love the sense of community within the blogging world. When I first became a stay at home mom, I had no idea how isolating it can be. Just me and my daughter day in and day out. Sounds like heaven until you actually have to live it. Blogging helped me get through those early crazy days. When I didn’t know anything about anything, (not that I have a clue now) and felt SO lost and alone. I didn’t want to complain to my husband or friends because I feared they would judge me and think I wasn’t cut out for it. As a type A career woman before, I know they were all watching closely. Which isn’t to say that they weren’t supportive, they were, I’m just crazy like that.

Because of blogging, I have made some amazing friends. Relationships that have spilled over into the real world and become very much a part of my everyday life. I have come to realize that there is no “normal” when it comes to kids. And perhaps most importantly, that no matter how insane I might be feeling, I am NOT alone.

Name one thing that might surprise people about you?

This won’t surprise anyone that knows me in real life, but I am a huge Sci-Fi junkie. Give me a space adventure over a romantic comedy any day of the week. It all began with Star Wars and Luke Skywalker when I was a wee lass of only 3 years old. Since then, it has only gotten worse. I don’t go so far as dressing up as a Princess Leia at ComiCon, but I do know how to say “success” in Klingon. Yep, I’m a geek.

We all love to discover new blogs.  Name two of your favorite blogs on the internet!

Not to Brag - NTB was one of the first blogs I read and she has kept me engaged and entertained ever since.

Momisodes – Funny and touching, Momisodes posts wonderful stories about her life with Dadisodes and Babisodes and is expecting Babisodes 2.0 in a couple of months.

Let’s give a big welcome to another  Momz Share participant for the first quarter!   Go visit her blog and laugh hysterically!

Name and Name of Blog: Amanda of parenting BY dummies

Other ventures? http://thenagainphotography.com

Twitter name: @thenagainphoto

Tell us a little bit about your blog: parenting BY dummies is a guide to parenting by someone who has tried everything you don’t want to do.  Well, actually it’s less of a guide and more of a warning.  Written by a photo loving, talkaholic, SAHM of 3 boys known affectionately to her readers as Dumb Mom, parenting BY dummies is a mostly happy, always chaotic, semi disorganized, but 100% honest blog about motherhood, boyhood, and awesomeness.  Emphasis on the awesomeness.  Dumb Mom’s partner in crime, Dumb Dad, rarely shows up on the blog as the consensus is that he’s cute but has next to nothing constructive to contribute.  P.S. Enjoying some laughs at my expense is both expected and encouraged.

Most surprising or coolest thing that has happened as a result of your blogging? That people read it.  I’m still surprised/flabbergasted/confused that people come to my blog and read it and act like they like it.  Now that my followers list is growing to a more respectable number, I’m starting to think people do a lot of pressure following of my blog.  Like, they get there and see that I have like 500 followers and think, “Oooh, she must be good, all these people like her, I better like her too!”.  And, I’m totally fine with that.  I mean that’s what I do so I totally get it.  I guess that’s just my I-wanna-be-a-cool-kid-high-school-dork talking, but whatever.  As long as you come visit parenting BY dummies from time to time and praise me shamelessly, I mean leave a comment, I don’t care what got you over there.  Even if you’re like the jerkwad that keeps searching for “teen boys tight jeans” and landing on my I-hate-teen-clothing-trends-because-I’m-too-old-to-pull-them-off post, I’m okay with that, but I do hope you find something else you enjoy as well and possibly think about getting some help.

Aside from blogging, what would you name as some of your passions? Photography.  It’s pretty much the only other thing I like to do because it makes me feel all special (it’s not “just the camera” I swear it’s not) and creative and it gets me outta the house.  Plus, it makes people super happy to see nice photos of themselves and their kids and I kinda like that.  Making people happy is sorta my thing.

We all love to discover new blogs.  Name two of your favs!

Knitter Mama:  She’s all relaxed and zen and the total opposite of me and my parenting style that she makes me feel calm and centered when I read it.  Plus, she’s #1’s godmother so I love her IRL too!

Blog Baby:  Hilarious!  Plus Blog Baby and her brother are shamefully cute.  It’s an honest and open blog written by a Canadian photog mom.  Even though she’s going through some tough things right now she’s still keeping it real and I love that about her.

Let’s give a big welcome to the second Momz Share participant for the first quarter!   Be sure to stop by her blog to meet her…

Name and Name of Blog: Jessica McFadden

Blog Name: A Parent in Silver Spring

Twitter name: JessicaAPISS

Other blogs that you write:

I contribute to A Parent in America on The Washington Times Communities and the DC Metro Moms Blog, I freelance in The Washington Post Weekend Section on family activities, I work writing for Nickelodeon Parents Connect, and on Thursday nights I appear on A Family Affair with Tommy McFly on Mix 107.3, DC’s #1 FM Radio Station to provide listeners with fun, out-of-the-ordinary weekend activities.

Tell us a little bit about your blog, A Parent In Silver Spring:

I am a family features writer.  I started A Parent in Silver Spring two years ago in order to help parents in the DC area easily find resources and fun activities to share with their kids.  I don’t preach – I’m just a fellow mom making oodles of mistakes – but I try and deliver the goods with a sense humor.

Most surprising or coolest thing that has happened as a result of your blogging?

By logging onto Blogger for a free blog and creating a homespun family resource in January 2008, I have been able to create a flexible, profitable career that incorporates educational fun for my children, keeps the kids as my top priority, but satisfies my dream of working as a writer.

Name one thing that might surprise people about you.

In my 20s I used to go out every night of the week, and in my 30s I’m now obsessed with all these daytime activities for kids (the shoes are sure more comfortable!)  I sleep with two cats on my feet but have an irrational fear of encountering undomesticated small mammals in the wild.   I love pretentious indie films and also tweenie bopper romances about traveling princesses wearing ice skating pants.  I used to be horribly messy until the ability to DVR all those home organization and hoarder shows straightened me out. Pretty standard really.

We all love to discover new blogs.  Name two of your favorite blogs on the internet (with links) and briefly tell what you love about them.

Only two?  How about two types of blogs?  And I have got to keep it within the DC area family or we’ll be here all day!

For fellow resource blogs, I think that AutMont, Baby Bunching, Mothers With Cancer, Teach Mama & Tech Savvy Mama are incredible sources of information and I am inspired by the work they are doing.

For personal blogs, I think that Jodifur, Lemmonex, LivitLuvit, MamaLaw (the masterminds behind Blogalicious), Mommy Needs A Cocktail, Not a Girl, Not Yet a Wino,  Petroville, Smiling Mama, BananaBlueberry, DC Urban Dad, Caffeinated, Laundry for Six, and heck all of the voices at DC Metro Moms and The Washington Times Communities (um no, they don’t pay me to say that) are distinctive and should receive a tiara-wearing place in your RSS.