mommy mondays: all nighters

i snapped this picture with my phone early this morning.  i stood at the kitchen counter packaging orders that needed to go out while my husband stood at the counter to keep himself awake while working on his laptop.  my husband and i met in college and we spent many nights pulling “all nighters” cramming for exams and writing papers.  it’s funny how years later, we’re still pulling all nighters.  sometimes though, it’s those quiet, long nights when the kids are sound asleep, that the most work gets done.  i imagine i will have had many all nighters by the time the national stationery show arrives in may.  sigh.

tangent tuesdays: my youngest

today is my baby’s second birthday.  i remember that day clearly… i went to my regularly scheduled doctor visit and at to everyone’s surprise, it turned out i was going to deliver sooner than later.  the doctor told me to tie up loose ends at home and head to labor and delivery.  i remember leaving the doctor’s office stunned.  i called up my husband and told him we were having a baby, but to first come home as quickly as he could to help me package my orders and drop them to the post office {i know, crazy.  it was probably all the hormones making me a little nutty.}  she was so tiny, born at only 4lbs and 3 ounces.  now, 2 years later, she has a full mouth of teeth, running fast, and doesn’t stop talking!  i am so blessed that i have the opportunity to run my business from home while raising my children– it’s a difficult feat, but incredibly rewarding.  happiest 2nd birthday to my baby girl!

happy mother’s day!

things i’m afraid to tell you

so, i follow a lot of bloggers for a lot of reasons.  their style.  good content.  great photos.  inspiration.  etc, etc, etc.  on one of the blogs i follow, ez from creature comforts posted about  “things i’m afraid to tell you”, {inspired by this post here and here by jess of make under my life } and decided to rally other notable bloggers and encourage them to post about being transparent, real, honest.  it’s incredible how this little campaign has turned a bit viral and how many bloggers, big and small have been brave and have written truthful, raw, honest posts {and some very witty} about the things that bring them fear, discomfort, anxiety.  so, in the spirit of the movement that ez and jess have started, here is my short list of “things i’m afraid to tell you”.  i encourage you to visit ez’s site to find a list of bloggers that have agreed to be open and share.

–i procrastinate, i do.  in everything in life.  even when given so much time to finish something, i still procrastinate.
–my house is messy 95% of the time and it drives me nuts.  if you were to stop by my house unannounced, i would probably detain you at the door and you would definitely not be able to go upstairs.  when forced to though, i can clean up like no body’s business.
–it’s hard being a stay-at-home work-at-home-mom- juggling 3 kids, keeping house, fulfilling orders, all the while keeping my sanity, or at least trying to.  i question myself and my mothering skills when i see other moms {including my own mom friends} so put together and polished and calm and patient with their children.
–speaking of children, mine bring me the greatest joy AND drive me crazy.  i tell my husband not to be surprised if he finds me embracing my legs and rocking in the corner one day.  it’s not funny to make light of that, but i’m not being funny.
–i have a potty mouth.  i’m trying.
–i follow all of these letterpress and stationery folk and think, “seriously, how do they do it?  do they have kids?  do they have a nanny?  a cleaning lady?  a money tree growing in their backyard?  do they sleep at night?”  cuz dammit, i sure don’t {not the kids part}.
–when i’m really in it, with packaging orders or in the middle of designing an invite, my kids take advantage that i’m preoccupied and literally snack on and do whatever they want.  then i snap back into mommy mode and catch them doing whatever they are not supposed to be doing and think, “i’m the worst mother ever”.  working moms, outside the house have it hard too {don’t get me wrong} but to be the primary care taker of your children is no walk in the park.
–i have a degree in english with a concentration in writing and my grammar is embarrassingly terrible.
–i don’t consider myself a blogger, i’m just a letterpress printer and small business owner that has a blog so i assume that if you {meaning the teeny tiny handful of you that actually read and follow this blog} are here, you probably want to know about letterpress and print related things, but deep down, i wish i had an anonymous personal blog where i rant and rave about anything and everything.
–sometimes i like how i’m not really known among my stationery and letterpress peers and in the whole blogsphere and social media ramblings… sometimes it feels like high school or competing with the joneses or a really long rat race– it’s tiring and gets old fast.

so there.  some truth for you.  i could go on and on, {believe you me} but this is plenty personal for me considering i am not at all personal on this blog.  if you have a blog, i encourage you to do the same.  wear a little bit of your anxiety and fear and honesty on your sleeve {if you don’t already} and then hit “publish post”.  feels good. 

image by ez of creature comforts

mommy mondays: ex-real estate agent

my real estate license expires today and marks my official departure from the real estate industry.  before my letterpress life, i was a real estate agent with baird and warner, the oldest independent brokerage in the country and the largest in illinois.  i worked out of the lincoln park office, which was the #1 office in the state.  we had an awesome office and extensive sales training.  over the course of my real estate career, i saw a lot of homes- mini mansions with elevators, posh high rise condominiums looking over lake michigan, white picket fence homes in the suburbs, to beautifully rehabbed four squares {let’s not mention the handful of rat infested, poorly maintained, dilapidated properties i saw, even a condemned property a client was trying to view, sheesh!}  so, when i passed through a nearby downtown suburb over the weekend and verbally expressed to my husband how it would be perfect to open shop in one of these vintage homes, can you imagine how my draw dropped when i saw this perfect little place?  for sale and zoned transitional for work+live/live/work!  it was built in 1907, the perfect little home for my 1900′s old presses and some sweet retail goodies.  sigh… day dreaming.