Friday night in our house means Shark Tank night. Little J stayed up past her 8:00 bedtime one Friday night earlier this year and watched Shark Tank with us. Hubby and I have been a fan since it came on, but this was the beginning of Little J’s interest in the show. She was hooked immediately and now watches every week, including the reruns. It has made for some interesting conversations, such as explaining company valuations to a 6 year old.

This past Friday night, they showed a company that none of the sharks invested in last year. Especially tough on the business owner was Kevin O’Leary.  Kevin told the owner that he wouldn’t amount to anything and should just give up. Using this as motivation the business is growing and getting placement on shelves without the investment. The owner was very honest in the fact that just being on show helped him get the needed exposure, but Kevin’s words fuel him.

During the commercial, hubby and I talked a little about those people like Kevin O’Leary that motivate you because they don’t believe in you. Little J insightfully asked, “Have you ever had a Kevin O’Leary, Mamma?” My answer? “Why, yes, yes I have”.

Almost 7 years ago, I hired a consultant to help my company (at that time 4 of us) move in a new, more targeted direction. Suffice it to say that based on very limited information (some financial data), he recommended I shut down the business. Great news for someone getting ready to go to Disney World the next day. I thought about it long and hard while on vacation and came to the conclusion, that while we had suffered some financial setbacks due to the tech bubble bursting and 9/11, I would not walk away.

That day flipped a switch in me and drove me to make many changes. It served as the kick in the pants I needed to define success. Not his definition. Mine. Every time I get frustrated, I think about how much I want to prove him, and others like him, wrong. Do you have a Kevin O’Leary?

Tomorrow is the last day of school. Summer means no homework, packed lunches, or dance class. It means beach, late nights playing outside, and maybe even the pool. However, to the working moms (and dads) it also means the beginning of the summer shuffle. The juggling act of getting work done and spending quality time with your children.

This has always been a struggle for me, and something that causes undue stress every summer. Poor Little J has attended more meetings with me during the summer months than she cares to remember. She has always been a trooper, but, of course, I have always had tremendous mommy guilt. Last summer, I swore to myself that this summer would be different.

For once, I actually planned ahead. In January, I contacted a teenager that I just adore and offered her a babysitting job this summer for about 20 hours a week. Thankfully she said yes. Twenty hours will give me plenty of time to attend meetings and get work done though the summer, but it will also allow me to spend true quality time with Little J.

Little J is excited to have a “friend” to play with and so is mommy. How do you handle the summer shuffle?

You know the saying, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game”? Well this past weekend, I finally came to the realization that I have been in a funk for the last 8 months because I Hate the Game. And I plan on changing that.

I turn 40 this year and I got so caught up in the “what you should do before turning 40″ culture that I was really upset about where I was in my life. I don’t know what triggered the change this weekend, but now I’m ready to embrace 40 with open arms and no regrets.

Did I set some goals at 30 for when I hit 40? Sure did. Did I achieve them? Sure didn’t. You know why? My life, business and priorities changed drastically over the past decade and it was all for the better.

Moving forward, I’m going to change the game or at least how I play it. I’m not following what others think I should do or how I should behave. I’m going to stop comparing myself to others and then justifying my place in the world. I will not judge or tear down others to make myself look or feel better.

I’m going to try and banish the word should from my vocabulary. Boy, Little J will be happy about that.

Yes, I went from Day 9 to Day 11. This week has been so fast and furious that I totally forgot to take a picture of anything on the 10th. Summer is always interesting in my life because Little J is home and I still am running my business, including meetings. She is a total trooper and really knows how to keep herself entertained during meetings.

Yesterday, I had a meeting with a great friend who is also the designer I use for my business. We were discussing an a booth exhibit for an upcoming trade show. Apparently Little J was listening to every detail and here is her idea for the booth layout with her usual flair, complete with a chandelier and refreshments.

Thanks to my friend Jessica, I am taking part in August Break. Of course August Break was developed to take a break from regular blogging, but since I haven’t posted here since May I’m using it as an opportunity to get back to blogging. I’ve decided to use my iPhone as my camera of choice for the month.

We just returned from vacation yesterday, and in the mail we had a letter from the school telling us who Little J’s teacher will be this year along with when back-to-school night is. We decided to get the supply shopping done and went to Target today. Below is the required school supplies for First Grade. Yep, school is right around the corner.

I did it! I FINALLY got back to exercising. It was a small, a simple 30 minute walk in the neighborhood, but I did it. I am notorious for having 1 million excuses as to why I can’t exercise on a daily basis. I always thought it was strange to me that I didn’t like to workout given I was a 3 sport athlete in high school and then it recently dawned on me: I hated practice. I loved the competition part of every sport I have ever played, but practice was absolute torture to me. It was merely a means to an end that I had to tolerate.

Guess what? That’s the attitude I have adopted to get back into shape. I love the idea of being in shape and there are many things I want to do that require me to be in better shape namely family bike trips and hiking. So here it is, my decree to end the excuses and get back into shape. No marathon or triathlon for me, but the goal is to be about 30 lbs lighter, stronger and able to enjoy more family time outside being active.

In addition to the increase in exercise, I hope to change our family eating habits to be more fresh, local and overall healthier. Don’t worry, there will still be lots of goodies to be made, enjoyed and shared here. I can’t give the goodies up. I won’t stop baking or candymaking, so I will need some test tasters. Any volunteers?

So why post this? I believe in accountability and I KNOW you will hold me to my goal and hopefully provide me with support and ideas.

I’m not going to sugar-coat it. I suck at real-life networking. I do OK online, but still panic a little when reaching out to someone I don’t know whether via Twitter or leaving a comment on a blog post. I have no idea why I am this way, I don’t remember some horrible experience that scarred me for life. Of course, maybe that memory is just totally repressed. I am comfortable in a sales meeting or phone call that has been scheduled. I really do love speaking in front of a group, but put me in the middle of a room with people and I’m going to do one of 2 things: 1) Look for someone I know and hang out with them or 2) play on my iPhone. I told you, I suck.

I have become increasingly frustrated by my behavior because I am really missing some great opportunities to meet people. Last Saturday I attended a great event for Women Bloggers hosted by the wonderful Jen and Lara called Momz Share. It was a great opportunity to meet some wonderful women bloggers and I blew it. Totally blew it. I walked into the kitchen, got a drink, found someone I knew and proceeded to have the most wonderful time talking to her, but we never moved out of the kitchen. I did meet a few people on my way out that I had conversed with on Twitter, but did not muster up the nerve to approach anyone totally new.

I spent most of Sunday, beating myself up for this behavior. My biggest fear is that people won’t realize I am painfully shy and they will think I am a snob that doesn’t want to meet anyone. So after I was done beating myself up, I realized I have some more opportunities over the next 6 to 8 months to network at conferences. After the initial panic wore off, I realized I need to change my ways or not even bother attending any of these events.

Now I am on a mission to get over my fear of introducing myself to new people so that I can actually enjoy myself and make the investment in these conference worthwhile. So, I ask you, my friend, how do you get over your fear of networking. Any tips or strategies to help me? Please share.

My friend Jen’s blog post the other day about reconnecting with her passion for running inspired this post. What does flour, sugar and butter have to do with running? Absolutely NOTHING. I’m talking about the passion part. I have no explanation and I really don’t know when it started, but baking has been my go-to activity when I’m feeling stressed or just want to get my mind off work. There is just something about following a recipe and creating something yummy that brings me so much joy. I WISH running or any kind of exercising did that for me, but alas it doesn’t. Bathing suit season would sure be a lot more fun.

Last week I was preparing for my presentation about social media at the Frederick Chamber New Media and Technology Conference when I began to get really nervous about it. I have presented on many occasions, but for some reason this one was rattling my nerves. Common sense would probably tell me to prepare more, but frankly I knew the topic inside and out. So what did I do? Baked, of course.

Now I should provide a little back story first. During Twitter conversations before the conference I had mentioned that I would bring some cookies to conference to share, so it was something I talked about, but didn’t know if I would have the time. I really didn’t have the time, but the baking Siren was calling me. I went to my list of recipes I want to try. Yes, I have a baking to do list. I am always on the hunt for interesting sounding recipes to add to this list. If you have something I should try, leave a comment below with it please.

The recipe I decided to try that night was suggested to me by @kimthewriter for Homemade Oreos I mean, seriously, how can you go wrong with an Oreo? I checked the pantry and had all the ingredients, so it was time to get to work. As I started measuring ingredients, I could already feel my shoulders begin to relax and a relaxed smile come across my face. I was in the zone. I had Little J there helping me with adding ingredients and shaping the cookies while we listened to some music and laughed. Everything was right in the world. Sappy, I know. Bear with me, I’m having a moment.

By the time we finished, we had a delicious cookie that we both had to keep ourselves from devouring them all. I had relaxed and with one more review of my notes was ready for my presentation. I took the cookies with me to the conference, because next to the actual baking process the next best thing is sharing them with friends. I was happy to leave the conference feeling that my presentation had been a success and my cookie container almost empty. Both were a sign of a great day in my book.

Your turn, hit the comments and let me know where you find your zen. Also give me some things to add to my baking to do list.

It’s that time of year again. Valentine’s Day. I have never been a big fan of February 14th, probably because I spent most of them single until I met Hubby. Now that I’m married and have Little J, it’s really become more of a family celebration. Usually cards and small gifts for each of us finished up with something fun for dinner at home. I’m big on themes, so usually dinner has a theme to it. One year was Spanish tapas and one was all spicy food.

This year, we are thinking fondue. Little J has never experienced fondue and we figure she will think it is a lot of fun. Especially the chocolate kind. I still haven’t planned out the menu yet, so if you have any great fondue ideas, please let me know.

So keeping in mind that I’m running a pretty G-rated blog here, let me know what you have planned for Valentine’s Day.

I’m not trying to be a downer on my usual light-hearted blog, but I just feel the need to get this off my chest. I have tweeted it and posted it as a status on Facebook, but I think it deserves more than 140 characters. These snowstorms over the past week have hit local business hard. There was a great conversation about it this morning on Twitter among a lot of my Frederick friends. Sorry I can’t remember everyone in the conversation to give credit to, but you know who you are. :-)

Some of the ways these companies have been impacted are:

• Lost revenue from not being able to be open and shoppers not being able to get out to shop.
• Events canceled or postponed meaning refunds or delayed payment.
• Expenses from paying for snow removal or taking care of any damage the snow may have caused.
• Hourly employees who lost pay because they couldn’t make it to work or work was closed.
• Shipments to companies have been delayed causing inventory issues.
• Mail not being delivered has meant payments are not received.
• Meetings being canceled and purchasing decisions delayed.
• Let’s not forget this is Valentine’s weekend and a day that many retailers, florists and restaurants rely upon.

All of these affect the bottom line for business both large and small, but the smaller businesses are affected more due to their finely tuned cash flow system. One hiccup in the system will throw the cash flow dance off rhythm. I can completely attest to this being a small business owner myself. While being snowed in for a week most likely won’t have a lasting impact on me, things like the recession and 9/11 did. Anything unexpected that causes people to not spend money, whether for fear or being snowed in, can be crippling to the businesses they typically support.

So what can we do? Once your local governments have deemed it safe to travel on the roads, make an effort to get out to your locally owned small businesses and show them some love with you wallet. Our family did this on Tuesday before this latest storm. We wanted out of the house and decided to visit one of our favorite pizza shops for dinner. We have already started talking about where we want to get out to this weekend to eat and for a little retail therapy. I mean Little J and Hubby both deserve a nice Valentine gift after being snowed in with me all week

Finally, don’t just limit it to this weekend. It’s going to take awhile for businesses to recover, so when you have a choice on where to make a purchase or eat, look locally first and know that your purchase is really making a difference.

You know you want out of the house anyway, so get out there and make a local business owner smile.