dream office

I'm not entirely sure what I would say my current job title is {maybe "career gypsy"?}, but I do know that I absolutely love what I am doing - which these days is a little bit of everything. I have always had a lot of interests and passions and the fact that I am making money in a variety of ways doing a variety of things is really what I love to do. I am just not cut out for the 9-5 desk job. 

My array of jobs has me working primarily from home which I also love. Although, sometimes it can feel a bit suffocating having every aspect of your life {work, home, family, dog} surrounding you 24 hours a day, which is why I am finding myself drifting off in to home office day dream land quite frequently these days. We absolutely do not have room in our townhouse for me to have an office but I am hoping some day in the not-so-distant future we will buy a home that has an extra room or even an extra nook so that I can have a cute little space all my own. 

And until that day comes, I will continue to spend time in home office day dream land, also known as Pinterest. Please join me in combining all of these fantastic elements in to one perfect Kristin the Career Gypsy office space.

And yes, my office {someday} will absolutely have some sort of nod to Leo, Britney, Beyonce and most likely the Backstreet Boys too. #notsorry

I'm Like a Headless Chicken

In an attempt to give you a visual representation of the basket case I have been this past week, I made the mistake of googling "Chicken with it's head cut off". I really shouldn't have been surprised by the results, but I'm such a lunatic right now I didn't even think about it. Needless to say, if animal guts gross you out - don't be dumb like me. 

So anyways, this past week I have been...ready for it...running around like a chicken with my head cut off. 

Cue visual aid: 

It all started last week on Tuesday. My co-worker Amber and I convinced my boss that we needed to have an outdoor marketing lunch by the lake. It was a gorgeous day and he obliged. After a nice two hour lunch and a couple of cocktails, the day was shot. And then Wednesday rolled around which just so happened to be the same co-worker's birthday. So, we once again found ourselves lakeside enjoying sunshine, amazing food and cocktails. 

And then Wednesday was shot. So then Thursday rolls around and I have work piled up a mile high. I normally love having a ton to do because it makes the day go faster but in this instance it was more stressful because my dad's huge tournament started that night, so I was also getting things ready for that. 

Thursday flies by in a giant hectic blur and then I am off to meet my mom and friend, Sharisse downtown St. Paul for the BEYONCE concert!!! This was my 4th time seeing Lady Bey {twice with Destiny's Child and one more time a few years ago on her solo tour} and I have to say this was BY FAR her best show. We were dancing fools and had amazing seats. 

And if you're friends with me on SnapChat you most likely received a video much like this: 

that would be me and Sharisse going ape-shit when B played Diva (our fave song). 

The concert went late and I wasn't home until after 1am, which meant my 6am wake up call on Friday morning came much too quick. But, I was up and at em and had Kenley all ready to go to my mom's for the day while Jason and I worked the tournament. Saturday, I got a little break from tournament life to take Kenley to her friend Vinny's FIRST birthday party! The party was nautical themed and was so ADORABLE! 

We had a great time!

Saturday night I was back at the gym working the tournament until late and then was back again on Sunday, but this time with Kenley. Sunday is usually a pretty easy day at the tourney so it was fun to bring Kenley and introduce her to tournament life. 

She helped her Auntie Beeb with admissions, 

She made a new friend, Henry, who is the son of one of my dad's coaches. 

and she got to hang out with Richard Pitino, the new head coach of the Gopher b-ball team. 

Sunday night we had our tournament after party to celebrate surviving yet another long weekend of basketball, which once again had me up late. 

Now this week so far has been filled with catching up on work, having lunch with Kelly, having dinner at my in-laws, being sick and somehow finding the time in all of this to get the house cleaned, get the shopping done and have the crafts made for Jake & Carolyn's shower this weekend! 

I am so all over the board, it's unreal. I have about 80 thousand thoughts running through my head and I'm hoping at some point I can get my shit together and get things done! I'm exhausted. I'm a lunatic. And I'm totally stressing myself out...but you know what, I can sleep when I'm dead! So until then I'll be the crazy lady running around with a messy bun on the top of her head trying to remember where she last saw her cell phone. 

Have a lovely Thursday everyone! 

Baby Talk :: A Day In the Life

Happy Tuesday people!
It's time for my weekly Link Up...BABY TALK!

I LOVE reading about the daily routines of moms. When I was pregnant I was so fascinated by and curious about what life with a baby was really like. I don't think anything can really prepare you for life with a new baby, but I found comfort in knowing that eventually (even though sometimes it doesn't feel like it) life will settle in to a routine and it really will....I promise! 

Not all moms are the same and not all babies are the same, so obviously not all routines are the same. Not only that, routines can vary drastically from day to day. Even so, I want to share a typical day in our daily life to maybe help you new mamas and mamas-to-be. Our routine changes day-to-day because Jason's work schedule is kind of random, and things are pretty different for us on the weekends and on Fridays when I am home with Kenley. But, this is pretty much a standard week day and the basis for the rest of our days as well. 

6:15am: My alarm goes off.

I start my day by hitting the restroom, throwing on some sweatpants and then getting my baby! Most days she is awake and waiting for me, others I have to wake her up (this will usually depend on what time she goes to bed the night before). 

I give her 80 million kisses, change her diaper, get her dressed for the day and then feed her. 

It doesn't matter how early it is or how badly I want to still be sleeping...seeing that little face first thing makes every day so much better. 

Once Kenley is all taken care of, it's time to get myself ready. Kens will either hang with her dad or chill in her bumbo and watch me get ready. She is fascinated by teeth brushing!

After I'm ready to go, I put bottles in to the diaper bag and make sure that my pump bag is packed with empty bottles and all of my pump supplies. Next is probably the most interesting part of our day....getting out the door. Jason always helps me pack up and load the massive amounts of stuff we need in to my car. 

my laptop, my pump, my purse, the diaper bag, Kenley's bed, play mat & bumbo, the puggle (she gets to go to daycare too) and, of course, the baby.

When everything goes according to plan (which is rarely) we're out the door between 7:15-7:30am. 

Depending on the day, Kenley goes to either my dad & step-mom's, my mom's or J's dad & step-moms. Then every once and while she'll spend the day with her Auntie Natalie. It's a lot to keep track of, but we are so grateful to have family willing to help us!
Kenley is dropped off at one of her many daycares and I am on the road to work by 7:30-7:45ish. 

I make a quick stop at Starbucks (not every day, but a lot of days) and am at the office at 8:00am, err more like 8:15am. 

I work from 8:00am-5:00pm and pump at 10:00am, 12:30pm and 3:00pm.

I've been having some problems with my supply lately, but that's a story for another day. Kenley goes through three 5oz bottles a day at "daycare" so I pump what I can and send her with formula for the rest. 

While at day care Kenley follows a eat, sleep, play schedule. She usually takes two naps during the day, a long one (2-3 hours) in the morning and a short one (30 minutes-an hour) in the afternoon. And, like I mentioned, will eat 3 bottles.

Happy girl at "daycare".

Depending on traffic I get home between 5:15 and 5:30pm, and Jason is already home with Kenley. Right when I walk in the door I label and store my breast milk and clean my pumping supplies (otherwise I forget and there is nothing worse than wasted breast milk).

Now I can finally squeeze my little Kenny! I usually change in to sweatpants and then will start dinner. I'll do as much of dinner as I can before Kenley cries, then I feed Kenny while Jason finishes dinner. We've been eating dinner at the table as a family lately and I LOVE it!

Now that is FINALLY nice out, I want to start adding walks around the neighborhood in to our routines....I'm thinking after dinner will be the perfect time!

After dinner, we'll play with Kenley {activity mat, singing songs, making noises, reading books, etc} until she starts showing signs she's ready for bed. 

I start Kenley's bedtime routine sometime between 7pm and 8pm depending on her mood. While I'm getting Kenley's jammies ready and stripping her down, Jason will fill the tub and get everything ready for bath time! 

This is Kenley's favorite part of the day! No matter how tired or cranky she is, she will instantly cheer up when it's bath time!

While I'm getting Kenley ready for bed, Jason will clean up our dinner and do all of the dishes, clean the day's bottles and run the dishwasher, which is SO helpful!

After Kenley is all squeaky clean and in her jammies we will rock in our glider and she will eat, I'll tell her stories or sing her songs and we snuggle. This is my absolute favorite part of every day. 

Once those little eyes start to look tired, I put Kenley in her crib, turn on the sleep sheep, give her a bobo {pacifier}, give her a kiss and thank God for giving her to me and ask Him to keep her safe. 

Once Kenley is in bed, it's my turn to shower. The mornings are pretty busy as it is so unless I want to wake up at 5am {which I don't}, I shower at night. After my shower, I get everything ready for the next day...I have found this to be absolutely crucial for getting out the door in any kind of timely fashion - I get bottles ready, empty dirty clothes and any other items from Kenley's diaper bag and re-pack it with a clean outfit, bib and burp cloth and will make sure it's stocked full of diapers & wipes. I make sure I have everything I need for my pump and prep/organize my lunch for the next day. 

 FINALLY I can take a load off and spend some time with my hubby. 

We are usually in bed sometime between 10-11pm and I'll sneak in a quick episode of Gossip Girl on the iPad and then get some sleep so I can wake up and do it all again the next day!

Whew! It seems like SO much when I type it all out but this has become or normal. Being a working mom definitely poses some challenges and requires some extra work and organization but it's been going great for us and I am so grateful we've fallen in to a routine which seems to be working for everyone.


Don't forget that every Tuesday is the Baby Talk link up!
Join in and share a post on anything pregnancy, baby, or parenthood related!

My Sorta Second Job

Happy Frickin' Friday everyone!!! 

I apologize for my extreme absence lately! But I have been crazy busy. Not sure if I've explained this before or not, but I mention it every now and then...so I might as well try and explain why I am so darn busy this time of year. 

My dad runs an elite AAU basketball program called D1 Minnesota (formerly Minnesota Pump N Run). Pretty much my dad recruits high school basketball players to play for his program during their off season. He has three teams (17, 16 and 15 year old boys) comprised of some of the best basketball players in the state of Minnesota. His teams travels around the country playing in highly competitive tournaments, allowing the boys to play other elite players from all around the country and also to get recruited by college coaches. There's a ton more that goes in to it, but I won't bore you with all the crazy AAU details. 

In addition to D1 Minnesota, my dad also runs three NCAA Certified tournaments a year, two in Minneapolis and one in Denver. 

These tournaments aren't affiliated with D1 Minnesota but obviously his teams play in them. Basically, my dad invites other competitive AAU programs from around the country to come and play in his tournaments. Along with the teams, my dad invites college coaches to the tournament so that they can watch and recruit players. It's definitely the coolest part about helping run the tournaments. I've had the opportunity to meet Bill Self (from Kansas), Josh Pastner (from Memphis), Bo Ryan (from Wisconsin), John Calipari (from Kentucky) and many others! 

My big job for the tournaments is to put together books for the college coaches. These books have a roster for every team playing in the tournament with information on each player....height, graduating year, address, phone number, high school, etc. Basically all the information a coach would need to recruit a player. It's definitely a HUGE undertaking since each tournament has over 100 teams playing in it. Then once the tournaments start I do everything from checking in the AAU teams, helping the college coaches, selling admission, updating brackets, you name it. 

It's a TON of work but it's so much fun. My family is definitely the definition of a basketball family and if these tournaments aren't proof, I don't know what is. All of us kids (and Jason) help and have even recruited the Beeb and her hubby Jake to help out each year too. 

So anyways, tournament season is in full swing which is why I have been too busy to find the time to blog! We have a little break until the next tournament now, so hopefully I'll be back to blogging on a regular basis! 

Have a great weekend my friends! 

How Do You Do It?

MOMS!

How in the H do you do it?

I recently went back to work (sad face) and am having a really hard time wrapping my head around this new schedule. I am at work all day and when I get home ALL I want to do is snuggle my baby! By the time I do get home and eat dinner, it feels like it's already time to give Kenny a bath and get her ready for bed. I have no clue how I am supposed to get laundry done and make dinner and I can't even think about working out, let alone spend time with my baby and God forbid have some alone time with my hubby! I know that having a routine and being on a schedule is best for me and Kenley but 

HOW DO YOU GET IT ALL DONE? 

Our schedule as a family of three is a lot to keep track of. My new work schedule has me working longer days Monday-Thursday so that I can work a few hours from home (and be with Kenley) on Fridays. Our amazing parents are helping us take care of Kenley during the weekdays and Jason's Mondays and Tuesdays are super easy and he usually leaves late and gets home early. Trying to keep track of our work/daycare schedules AND trying to find time to work out, get Kenley on a routine AND keep our house clean was making my head spin.

So, I took to my old pal Excel to create a weekly schedule for myself. I spent more time than I'd care to share on this precious spreadsheet, BUT I think I was able to find time to do the things I want to do and still be able to get quality time in with my loves (can you tell that I am a visual learner?).

Take a look...

I'm using this as a jumping off point, I'm sure there are things that may not work out and I certainly know that life with a baby is unpredictable. And I'm sure this schedule will probably need to be altered as Ken gets older and as the seasons change, but for now, let's hope it works! I'm excited to try this (and stick to it) for a couple of weeks to see how it goes!

Wish me luck!

I'd love to hear from all you mamas, both working moms and SAHMs.

What is your daily schedule? How do you get everything done and still keep your sanity
(not to mention have a life of your own)?

This Weekend...

Happy Monday party people! I am in a shockingly wonderful mood this morning despite the crazay allergies that have invaded my head and eyes and nose. 

This weekend was a busy one. 

Friday night husby and I stayed in, grilled steak kabobs and watched an insane amount of college basketball. It was bliss...for those of you who don't know, March Madness is like Christmas at our house. AND WHAT GREAT GAMES! Holy smokes, Lehigh beating Duke? Can't get better than that! 

Saturday, my sweet husband joined me at work to help me and my boss do some final assembly and set up for the Wedding Fair. It was so sweet of him to help us and in return I sober-cabbed his green ass around for St. Paddy's Day. 

We spent St. Paddy's downtown St. Paul with our friends. It was CRAY. They were estimating that there were 100,000 people downtown...and I don't doubt it. I had to wait 26 minutes to go to the bathroom! And while I was LOVING the 80 degree weather, I was not loving the crowd of drunks while I was stone-cold sober. Thankfully, my husband loves me {but more truthfully, loves basketball} so he was more than fine with bailing a little early to head to Champps to watch basketball.

Sunday, my boss and I were at the Wedding Fair. Since starting my new job in September I have been helping to create a stationery side to our business. We named it Paper Event and the plan is to specialize in wedding invitations. Speaking of, if you are on twitter or facebook pretty, pretty please follow or "like" Paper Event! 

Anyways, three times a year there is a HUGE Wedding Fair downtown Minneapolis and this was our first time with a booth. 

The fair went GREAT! It was a really long day but we got a ton of interest and had the opportunity to talk to A LOT of brides, a lot of which seemed super excited and interested to meet with us. I'm really proud of all the hard work we put in to the show and I am praying that we get business out of it to warrant all the long days. 

I hope you all had great weekends and enjoy your Monday. 

xoxox,