Meet Dorothy

One hand-written note, stuffed in a file at the SPAR office, dates our new house to 1904.  The original 1,500 sq. ft. house was a two-story vernacular structure with a cantilevered second story that hung over the first floor open-air porch. While there are no photos of the house until the 1950’s, SPAR documents detail various owners as far back as 1912. Owners include two widows, the Bryson Family and the Watson family (both pillars of early Florida).  The house sits on a stretched lot only 36 feet wide, but 203 deep.  One survey shows the house had a garage (or more likely, a stable), but it has since been demolished.

Wearing a dowdy awning in the 1950’s.

There have been a series of additions and changes to the house in the last 50 years. In 1962, an owner added a first floor addition to the back of the house increasing the size to 2157 SF.   The property was purchased in the 1970’s by an organization called “Church Women United.”  From what we can decipher, the Church Women converted it to commercial office space and at some point, enclosed the front porch to create a reception area. Adios porch! At least they installed a bay window with lovely burglar bars.  They covered the original wood siding with rectangular shingles and added a set of stairs that provided an exit from the second floor to the west side of the house.

In 1995, the Church Women allowed an agency called the Family Visitation Center (FVC) to use the house so foster kids could have supervised visits with biological parents.  In 1999, the Church Women donated the house to the FVC. A grant from the City of Jacksonville funded a renovation that included a new roof, refinished floors and wall repairs.  That was the last time anything was done to improve the house.

After sitting empty in recent years, the house was put up for sale in 2016. Lucky for us (and the house), two veteran Springfielders bought it with the intention of renovating it.  They began the process of painstakingly undoing decades of odd improvements and commercial changes.  By the time we saw the place for the first time, they had removed the plumbing, taken out the busted HVAC system, and stripped the house down to the studs.  It was basically a giant wooden box with a roof, a hodge-podge of windows (some in tact, some not) and a few doors.  At least it was easy see the original 113-year old wood!  The lumber at Lowe’s and Home Depot would blush in embarrassment if they ever met up with this wood.

Shortly after buying, the new owners found their dream house on the St. Johns River.  Rather than take on two house renovations, they decided to find someone else who might want to bring this house back to her former glory. Our realtor, who also lives in Springfield, told us about the house before it came on the market.  I wasn’t interested.  We had not fully committed to Springfield and frankly, the house looked, well, ugly.  I didn’t want to waste anyone’s time.   A few weeks later, our friend Jamie (featured here) suggested we give her a look anyhow.

When I walked inside, I started to see what this house could be.  The space is fairly open.  The hardwood floors are amazing.  The roof hasn’t leaked.  That’s a start, right?

Thanks to our friends for helping us name the house.  There were many terrific ideas, (Pearl, Marge, Gretchen, and Rose were some of our favorites), but in the end, Dorothy sounded right.  Dorothy was one of the top girl names of 1904 and is most well known for being the name of the lead character in the Wizard of Oz.

Which is cool, because…

Dorothy is going to show this family that there is no place like home.

Next post: We are gearing up for a tour!

Going vintage or a brand-spankin-new home?

Since getting married, Josh and I have owned two houses.

The first was an adorable bungalow built in 1948.

Our first house, August, 2003.

The second was a suburban traditional built in 1976.

Our second house on the day we moved in, April 2007.

We did significant renovations on each, adding a half bath and extra bedroom to the first house and completely overhauling the second one.

As we mentioned earlier, we have decided to focus our home search in the Springfield area where there is a really broad selection of housing inventory. Choices range from existing homes which are brand new (but have never been lived in) to 100+ year old historic ones (bungalows, traditionals, duplexes and mansions), to vacant lots where you can still build a new home, so long as the finished product looks historically similar to the other homes in the area.

We looked at all of the options in Springfield.   New, old, already renovated, currently in shambles, and so on.  If you are trying to figure out the pros and cons of new versus existing like we are, here are some things to consider.

Benefits of an existing home

• Existing homes are ready when you are.  There is no need to worry about finding a builder, getting permits, or worrying about how the weather might delay your building process.  You find a house, make an offer, agree on a price, close and move.
• You know what you are getting with an existing home, so long as you do your homework.  You’ll want to do an inspection of the home before you close on the sale, so you can avoid any unforeseen problems.
• You benefit from someone already buying all of the little things that are needed when you move into a new house.  If it has already been lived in, it is likely that someone already installed blinds, bought a garden hose for the yard, installed niceties like dimmer switches and shelving systems in the closets.
• The house has a story.  You might have beautifully preserved architectural details, learn about interesting past owners or events, or uncover treasure. And you’ll be adding your chapter to a really neat story.
• Trees.  You get trees. And plants.  Regardless of whether the house is one year old or 100 years old, the landscaping is already in place.  Even if you have to redo smaller garden beds to your liking, you benefit from greenery that is already thriving in place, and provides shade and character to your street and yard.

But…

• You have to live with other people’s decisions.  From shoddy DIY home repair to interesting décor choices, older homes can come with baggage.  Even if those items are easy to change, there will be an investment of time and money to make the house your own.  And there is always a risk that something large and expensive will be uncovered after you move in that was either unknown to the seller, or even covered up over the years.

Benefits of new construction

• With a new house, you’ll get exactly what you want.  New construction means you don’t have to invest in changing anything from previous owners. You pick your layout, your design, your finishes – it is a true reflection of you.
• Newer homes can be built with energy efficiency in mind.  Solar power, tankless water heaters, and environmentally friendly paints, flooring and building materials mean you can not only save money on the cost of living, but feel good about the reduced impact your home has on our planet.

But…

• You have to have lots of time and flexibility.  It takes time to find a design, a builder, get all of your financing worked out, get permits, and build a house.  Even the best experiences will have delays and changes.
• You better be good a making decisions because there will be TONS of them.  Even after you get all of the big ones out-of-the-way, you’ll have dozens, maybe hundreds of little ones.  Something as simple as what kind of door knobs you want can require several decisions: do you want round, egg-shaped or lever, chrome, brass, or bronze finish, key-locking or push-button privacy settings, and so on.

As for us, after we finished our last house, I was not keen on the idea of doing a home remodel again.  The dust, the chaos, the money, the choices… It was all too much to live through.

We thought wanted new.

But as life would have it, the Universe had something else in mind.

At the end of March, we toured a house that took us completely by surprise. And if you had not figured it out by now, we are embarking on a major renovation of a really old house.

This one makes the other renovations we did on our first two houses look almost silly by comparison.

And I cannot wait!

Jennifer

 

 

 

 

Four questions to ask yourself before your next move.

I have had a lot of time to think about things these last few months.  With no yard work or home improvement projects, no staging the house or cleaning up for showings, my calendar has opened up considerably.  Combine that with the fact that the boys can play  with any of the 2 dozen kids that live in the complex, and I’ve had plenty of time for day-dreaming.

While my thoughts have ranged from “maybe I should try surfing” to “I wonder if we could run away in an RV next year”, I kept coming back to the thought that the decision we make about how and where to live next will create the backdrop for some of the most vivid memories in our boys’ lives.  The next 5 to 10 years are the ones where they’ll be learning how to be members of society, and determining what kind of person they want to become. I find myself using this “backdrop” image as the starting point for where we go in the next stage of our lives and I have come up with a list of questions that helped me figure it all out.

1.) What do you want to be close to?

If you are considering a new location in the same metro area, this might be easier, but it applies to any move.  Do you want to be close to the beach or the mountains?  To be close to family or close to your dream job?  How far you are willing to commute to work?  Make a list of what is important first.  Re-order it second.

For us, family and commute times topped the list.

Family: My sisters and mother live in the next county over and I wanted to be able to visit with them without too far of a drive.  We were shooting no more than for 45 minutes by car to my mom’s place so that we have lots of opportunities for the boys to hang out with her, my sisters and all of the cousins.

Commute time: We considered how far we wanted to be to our jobs, the boys’ schools and big-city amenities and venues.  Our upper limit for any of these was 30 minutes by car, shorter if possible. We wanted more time to do things, less time getting to the things we wanted to do.

Items that made the list, but were less important were closeness to the airport, closeness to the boys’ soccer fields, or to major shopping outlets.  Also, we did not have to consider zoning for schools since the boys currently attend a magnet program, but we did noodle the proximity to their future schooling needs.

2.) What do you want to be walking-distance or biking-distance to?

This is different than the above because you can be 10 minutes from the beach by car, but the terrain might prevent you from biking there.   You need to consider what things need to be the MOST convenient.

Are you picturing walking your dog to get your morning coffee at Starbucks?  Do you want to be able to get gas or buy a gallon of milk without a long drive?  How about your favorite restaurants?  Is there a way to live close to one that you frequent?

If you are looking at neighborhoods with amenities, do you want to be really close to the community center or pool…or really NOT close.  (Maybe you don’t want people walking by your home all of the time on their way to go swimming.)

Photo by Patrick Tomasso

 

For us, we wanted to be able to walk with the boys to get dinner at one or two neat places, or to be able to ride our bikes to the river or to a park.

3.) What kind of weekends do you want to have?

After we moved out of our last house, we said we never again wanted to have a yard that owned us.  Our weekends were spent mowing, edging and blowing, mulching bagging and weeding.  And when we finally caved and hired someone, we had to add in the extra funds into our monthly budget to cover the service.

Untamed rural and urban homes often have little upkeep, while suburban homes have more work required and might even fine owners whose yards are not kept in good shape.  Condos and townhomes might have no upkeep required for individual owners, but you may be assessed for the costs to have a professional crew do the maintenance for common areas.

We decided our next house would have a smaller, more manageable yard; it would be big enough to kick a soccer ball around or let the dog out for exercise, but not so big we had to work on it all the time.  We ruled out suburban neighbors with big lots, as well as condos or townhomes.

4.) How close do you want to be to your neighbors, literally and figuratively?

The obvious answers to this question address proximity to the next house or unit.  Do you want to share a wall or share a fence?  Do you want to run into people as you pull into the garage, or wave by them as you drive out of the neighborhood?

It is also about lifestyle.  There are plenty of condo-dwellers who live on opposite sides of a wall who never speak to each other.  Similarly, there are many suburban, planned or rural communities that have neighborhood events where people make a point to get to know each other.

We have missed out on making friends in a neighborhood for a decade.  I envy those families who have neighbors who socialize in the street, whose kids play together, roaming in packs on bikes and passing effortlessly between houses, and who look out for each other.  We were looking for a place with a robust, intentional community-feel.

Photo by Blake Wheeler

 

Before we got clear on what we wanted, we were literally all over the map.  This exercise helped us come to the conclusion that we need to limit our search to the neighborhoods in and around the city center.   It has made taking the next steps in our search so much easier.

Considering moving?  Let me know if you have other variables you considered or if these helped you with narrowing your search.

Jennifer

Three years. Two businesses. The update

In January 2012, a group of strangers gathered around me to form my team for a local business building competition.  Fifty-four hours later, this same team emerged victorious. We had won the first-ever Jacksonville Start Up Weekend at the University of North Florida, developing a company concept called “The Pinstitute”, a business which monetized projects on Pinterest.  For the first half of that year, the work of turning “Team Pinstitute” into a real company, later renamed Mystikit, had become my extracurricular obsession.  Every minute not at work or with my boys, was around a conference table at CoWork or on my laptop at home, trying to launch a start up.

Cover of Access Magazine, a section of 904 Magazine, 2013.

And then I had coffee with a friend.

I learned about her decision to start her own business.  She had begun selling a new (to me) anti-aging skin care line developed by Kathy Fields and Katie Rodan, the same two dermatologists who developed Proactiv.  The company was attracting clients all around the US using a newly launched web-based business model, having already succeeded in retail (in places like Bloomingdales, Niemans and even Nordstrom, where it was a #1 clinical brand by 2007.) Consultants like my friend promoted the products and processed orders, while the headquarters handled inventory and took care of shipments direct to the clients.

She was running this business around her own full-time job, activities with her husband and two small children, and her many fitness and faith obligations.  She did not host monthly meetings or parties.   She did not have to drive around  town delivering her orders.    She had the full backing of the company with a money back guarantee on all sales, and was growing her business leveraging little pockets of time in her day.  Three months in, she was killing it.

I compared the two businesses.  MystiKit was a huge challenge and an adrenaline rush to work on.  It was time consuming, untested, expensive and all-new, but it was so very exciting and I believed it could be a huge success.   Rodan + Fields was a business that I could do while I was sitting in my car at red lights, waiting for my kids at soccer, or sitting in bed, drinking tea at 9 pm at night…and make money immediately.  The products were terrific and I had an out, if I needed it. (60-day money back guarantee on new consultant kits.)

I wanted to do both.

I realized I could do both.

I should do both.

I would do both.

Three years later, when most studies say that more than one-third of all new businesses will have failed, I am happy to report that both businesses are still alive and well, albeit they don’t look like I thought they would.

MystiKit still operates today under the leadership of my co-founder, Felix Frayman.  I left my post as CEO after more than 2 years, realizing that the only way for this idea to achieve maximum success was to have a full-time CEO.  The decision to step down and let Felix take over was not an easy one, but it was the right one.    I was not interested in leaving my full time job to run our business full time.  That was that.

The 2+ years I spent as the CEO of a true startup are invaluable to me.  Learning first hand about what it takes to get a new company off the ground from scratch, about how to raise external funding, how to take a concept from idea to reality, and to recruit top talent in a competitive market was like earning a second, and much more real, MBA.

My Rodan + Fields business is a whole other story.  After nearly 3 years, I have been privileged to serve more than 100 clients around the US and work with dozens of women (and even a couple of men) on starting their own companies.  And while this business is my own, I am not saddled with any of the significant overhead costs or administrative headaches that a “from scratch” business bears on its back.

HH and me hanging with two more seasoned co-founders, Katie Rodan and Kathy Fields, November 2014.

The time I spend on my business is minor, compared to the personal, professional and financial rewards I have gleaned from it. What I thought would be a way to pay for the car payment or fund Christmas each year has far surpassed my expectations.  Not only has the income been a boon for our family (more on that in a sec), but I have honed my coaching skills, strengthened my time management abilities, and thickened my skin. (I came into this business having harbored a few negative preconceptions about direct selling and I get that a lot of people do as well.) I have new friends and business partners all over the US and have learned from watching this company deal with its own “start-up” lessons due to unprecedented growth.

As for the profits, my R+F business has been in the black since October of 2012.  Even better, it has been our family’s second largest source of monthly income.  And the travel?!? Free trips to Napa Valley (April 2014), Nashville (September 2014) and San Francisco (November 2014 and the first kid-free vacation for me and HH since 2007!!) Now, I am on track to earn a trip to Mexico in the Spring of 2016.

I look back at my decision and I am still amazed I took the leap.  With a full time job, three kids, AND another company to run, the least of my worries didn’t even seem to be that I had no knowledge of skin care. (I am embarrassed to admit I washed my face with a bar of yellow soap and I had the red, uneven skin to prove it.)

But I did it anyway.  I jumped into a multi -billion dollar industry with what is now the 4th largest US skincare company. I have learned from amazing people, changed people’s skin, and helped others grow their own businesses.  I am a better person for having taken this risk and it is only just getting started.

I’m always looking for smart, busy, and driven folks.  It doesn’t matter if you live in Miami or Maine, New Mexico or Newfoundland (yes, we are in Canada), if you want to give it a go, we should be talking over a cup of coffee or connecting via cell while you are in the car running around in your own busy life.

Who knows where we’ll both be three years from now.

Best,

Jennifer

Times two.

Dear readers and friends,

I am double-blogging.

While this blog has been on hiatus for the most part in 2014, I am now actively blogging on the site for the new Sudbury School of Jacksonville.

Posting there has revived my love for blogging in general and I am guessing that I will try to post on both sites in 2015.

When the posts are about my kids and the potential changes we are trying to make about their education, I will try to post over there.  If you are interested in learn more about this kind of school, which is a complete 180 degrees from traditional educational methodology, here is the most recent post from the other blog.  It is about Minecraft and the role of video games and other “time wasters” in education.  There are another 10 or so posts over the past 3 months as well.

Have a happy holiday season and see you in 2015!

Jennifer

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise.

In June of 2004, my newly-wed husband and a few close girlfriends threw me a surprise 30th birthday party at the home of another beloved friend. I was dressed for a lazy day at her pool, (i.e. ratty t-shirt, ball cap, no makeup – you get the picture), not a happy greeting from a few dozen of my closest friends. It took a few minutes for the shock to wear off.  (In fact, I started to bawl.)   BUT after I brushed my hair and had a beer, it was was a banner day.

Who could have known that “surprises” would become my unofficial theme for the next 10 years.  My 30s have been chock full of big ones, little ones, happy ones and of course, a few sad ones, to keep me on my toes.

Here are just a few:

• Baby #1: A boy in 2005.  Vader’s birth was not only really late, but his gender was a surprise.  He came out screaming and peeing all over the place.
• Family migration: Not one but TWO sisters would leave South Florida and move to North Florida, making it the place with the highest concentration of “Bloch Broads” in Florida.  How did that happen?
• Baby #2: A pregnancy in June, 2007.  We had just bought a 1970’s traditional house (complete with a green potty) and planned to spend 2 years fixing it up.  THEN, we’d planned to have another baby.  “Well,” we said, “I guess, we can handle one more kid?!”  But then, 6 weeks later…
• PSYCH – IT IS TWINS!  Now we are really getting the whole “Want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans.”
• Start an IT company:   HH said, “Hey you have a good idea.  You should go tell someone about it. You never know what could happen? Perhaps it will turn into something.”    So I register and pitch my idea at the 2012 Jacksonville Start Up weekend, win the whole thing in dramatic fashion, meet my dream business partner along the way, co-found MystiKit.com, make the front page of the Jacksonville Business Journal (two times), and become a 2013 Top Innovator in North Florida. Huh??!?!
• Lose loved ones: In the span of 3 years, HH and I lost 3 parents, all way too early.  Never any way to prepare for that.  Sandy, Lou and my dad are all missed daily.
• Start a 2nd company: After confessing to my friend that I could not simply take on one more thing, I did anyway (thank heaven.)  Even when the Bank of American layoffs impacted HH last fall (another surprise), we have not missed a beat thanks to Rodan + Fields. In fact, we are better off now than we were when he was working full time.  Now HH gets to focus on his dream job for a change.  Meanwhile, I have been pleasantly surprised with trips to Napa Valley, Nashville, Austin and (hopefully) San Francisco.
• Build a kitchen where our dining room once was, and then demo the old kitchen – because…hmmm…well, I am not sure, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.  (Just ask my friend Meghan, who helped swing the first hammer for demolition back in January 2011 during the Super Bowl.)  Every step has truly been a surprise, because I am the designer, and I have no idea what I am doing next.
• A kid with ADHD:  This one has been HUGE.  I have learned so much about what my boys need, especially Vader.  Coming from a family of all girls who got good grades and sat still in church, the surprises keep coming.  Some days are filled with “ah-ha moments”; others are chock full of random grenades being lobbed in our direction.  You just have to move out of the way, let the bombs go off, and move on.
• My friendships.  I had good friends in high school and in college, but the group of gals and guys who I am lucky enough to call friends in my 30’s is so diverse and talented, loving, funny and smart, I am in awe. From my Cruise Girls, who I have celebrated birthdays, babies and holidays with, to my Junior League friends, who have seen me at my finest (tailgating before the Whale of a Sale or buying not one, not two, BUT THREE Christmas trees at the Festival of Trees – SURPRISE HH!) to the folks I am lucky enough to have served with on philanthropic boards and worked beside at volunteer events, to my co-workers at the Chamber, Cornerstone, Mystical Basket, and at my current job, to the moms I have laughed and cried with about parenting, to the ladies I am lucky enough to work with as business partners at Rodan + Fields… I am surrounded my amazing people. So many of these people came into my life in my 30s (or became a bigger part of it over the last 10 years) and I am constantly surprised (and grateful) at the marvelous company I get to keep.

There are others…

I have left out a few of the surprises that taught me life lessons through pain or heartbreak, but like the ones above, I could not have predicted them.  While I would not want to go through the ugly ones again, I wouldn’t change a thing.

My 30’s have been, hands down, the best years of my life.

So bring it, 40.

The 30’s set the bar pretty high.  Let’s see what you can do.

 

 

Hello again…

I have not written a blog post in 10 months!  I am blown away that time has passed so quickly, but boy, did I fill it with a ton of good stuff. Rather than boring everyone with a recap, (you can all see it on FB anyhow), I will just move on and tell you “hello” again.

Hope to be back more often.  There is so much to say and I miss hopping on WP to say it.

~Jennifer

 

And I Quote, “BEST BIRTHDAY EVER.”

Today, we celebrated Vader’s seventh birthday.  It was our first all boy party and it was all boy.

All boy.

Turtle’s tough face (with Splash in the background).

Eight of Vader’s cub scout and school buddies joined us for a Karate Party at the Karate America up the road from our house.

The instructor and his business partner are the reason this party was awesome. (And they are consistent.  This was the 3rd party we have attended and every time, it is amazing.)  Master Ekholm has these boys following directions, listening, learning and laughing all at the same time.  He talks about self-control, discipline, respect and honor.  Ms. Bonavota manages all of the other details.  I just smile and take pictures.

Using the party favor head sash as a prop.

They run the boys, break boards, play dodge ball and make jokes.

King of the Karate Place.

After pizza, cake and karate, the boys all sit down and actually pay attention to the gift opening.  Each giver is applauded for his generosity and the receiver is actually aware of who gave what.

It was Vader’s favorite party and all I had to do was assemble the goody bags.  The boys and I did that last night after I got home from DC so even that was a fun activity.

I was planning on baking a cake, but I ended up buying one.  Even though I had an idea about what I wanted to make, I had nightmares about the green penis cake from the Star Wars Party of 2010. (It was supposed to be a light saber.)

The store bought cake was chocolate with chocolate icing from Costco and we stuck a ninja action figure in it.  He loved it.

And now, we are back home, enjoying the quiet as the boys punch their punch balls and Vader revels in his new toys.

So I agree.

Best.

Party.

Ever.

A Mother’s Day stroll with Splash

Splash and I took a walk today, just the two of us.  This is rare for a few reasons, not the least of which is that HH and I have kids who hate to be left out of any activity with either of us.  For some reason, Vader and Turtle did not put up too much fuss today.

In addition, it was not my idea.  Splash asked me if we could go.   And since my entrepreneurial team took the night off, I was home on a Sunday and I was able to join him.

We walked down to the end of our street, turned right and leisurely strolled a few blocks.  And along the way, I had the chance to get to know my littlest baby (younger by only 1 minute behind Turtle) a little bit better.

I asked Splash about what he wanted to be when he grew up.  He noticed some litter along the side of the road and decided he would be a trash collector.  (Not that we live in a trashy neighborhood, but we saw a few cigarette butts and bottle caps on our tour. He vacillated between chastising the litterbugs and getting really excited to show me what stuff was on the ground.) The alternative career path for Splash was Spiderman, which he added just as we passed a wicked awesome spider web with all kinds of cool stuff in it.

I learned that Splash wants to have 10 kids – 5 boys and 5 girls.

I learned that the boys will be named AJ and Christopher (which are names of kiddos in our extended family) and he will have a Splash Jr.  In fact, he thought for a second about all of them being Splash Jrs. (Great…my kid would have the family where everyone says, “You know, he names his kids like George Foreman did!”)  All of the girls will be named Christina.  (This one is puzzling.  I don’t know that we know another kid named Christina.)

I learned that Splash wants a big house, but he will only have 5 beds for his 10 kids.  (He thought it would be fun to have all of the kids share a bed with a sibling, but when I asked him if he would share a bed with one of his brothers, he said, “No way.”)

The best discovery was on the way back.   When I asked Splash how he was going to earn a living to support his large family or if he was going to be a stay-at-home dad, he said he was going to do both.  “In fact, I will just be a mom.”

Atta boy.

Thanks for reading.

Jennifer

PS – For the record, HH does in fact do both.  AND he knocked the ball out of the park on Mother’s Day.  I slept in until 9:00 am, took a nap at 4:00 pm AND got new goodies for the yard.  There is homemade salsa in my future!  Thanks, honey!

Girl power is good.

Yesterday, I got to play at The Player’s Championship.  I did not “play” in the way that Phil Mickelson plays, and thank goodness for that.  I have not swung a golf club in a decade.  I would hurt someone.  Myself.

Instead, I spent the better part of my Monday hearing from a few amazing women, and visiting with and meeting several more. I attended the Executive Women’s Day at The Players.  It was the second year of the event and it has become a prototype for Executive Women’s Day events that are popping up all over the country at other major golf tournaments.  My lovely and talented friend Elizabeth from Junior Achievement in North Florida graciously extended the offer of a ticket for me to join her. (Many thanks, Elizabeth!)

The speakers were terrific.  The marvelous Jacksonville entrepreneur Jennifer Marko, owner and CEO of Bottle Snugglers, rocked it on the panel along side three other dynamos including hometown girl Carla Harris, author of Expect to Win (and we got a copy of the book as a favor to boot!)

The highlight for me was the luncheon keynote speaker Michelle Peluso, former CEO of Travelocity, whose own path took her from the White House to internet start-up stardom.  She is now successfully balancing a family and a life with her newest role at Citi.

I smiled and wept with the rest of the audience as she read a letter she wrote to her daughter, who is now 3 1/2 years old, right after her daughter’s birth.  It focused on grace; grace and strength, grace and integrity, grace and success and failure.  It may have been written for a child, but it resonated with me.  In the last few months, more than once, I have felt awkward and clumsy in my role as mother to three boys (when I grew up with sisters), a newly ordained entrepreneur, an executive board member alongside amazingly successful professionals and so on.  Try as I may to prepare for each of these roles, I still occasionally feel like someone is going to find me out.  And while I know I am in each of these roles for a reason and I am capable and blah, blah blah…grace is not something I feel radiating from my out-spoken and forward-propelled body.  Today, Michelle made me realize that a little grace can go along way in balancing those occasional icky feelings of insecurity and fear.  Like that expression says, “Be like a duck…calm and serene on the surface of the water and paddling like hell underneath.”

I was equally impressed with her approach and steadfast commitment to work/life balance.  She said she works until 5 pm each day…and not one minute later.  She goes home, spends time with her kids and hubby, and then, after everyone is in bed, starts her second shift from 8 to 11 pm.  That is basically what I have been doing since January, and knowing that it works for her, and that I should not feel bad about not sitting at my desk in my office each night until 5:30 or 6:00 pm brought a smidge of relief to me.

So, I left today feeling pretty good about things.  Things may not be perfect…there are broken windows that need repairing…friends I miss seeing for coffee, dinner or drinks more than once every other month…a Pinterest to-do list a mile long…and 3, err…5… 7 new lbs. that have finally caught up with me (as if I can eat Combos for dinner and get away with it.)

But, all in all, things are good.  And good is good.