Friends, today marks the 7th birthday of Boston Mamas! I remember so well where I was 7 years ago: finishing my postdoctoral fellowship, feeling my way through new motherhood, and finding myself utterly amazed when I started blogging and discovered this incredible community; both via readers who started responding to my work and fellow bloggers. I never could have predicted the wonderful friendships and opportunities this blog would bring over the following years. I'm so grateful to all of you for being a part of it.Friends, today marks the 7th birthday of Boston Mamas! I remember so well where I was 7 years ago: finishing my postdoctoral fellowship, feeling my way through new motherhood, and finding myself utterly amazed when I started blogging and discovered this incredible community; both via readers who started responding to my work and fellow bloggers. I never could have predicted the wonderful friendships and opportunities this blog would bring over the following years. I'm so grateful to all of you for being a part of it.
Are you looking to add a bit of flexible work to your life? I'm hiring! Right now I very much need to take a page out of my own work/life balance playbook and delegate. I'm looking for two awesome, motivated, and creative people to fill ad and editorial positions. In both cases, the work can take place from the comfort of your computer (anywhere in the US; applicants need not be in Boston) and would be 5-10 hours per week. Read on to learn more:
Today is Jon and my wedding anniversary. Thirteen isn't a classic milestone; in fact, it's a number that gets a bad rap, but when I think about the number in terms of all of the things that Jon and I have experienced together (e.g., two children, six apartments, two countries, three graduate degrees, two major career leaps, and countless burritos and scoops of ice cream), the number simply feels major. I couldn't help but peek through our wedding album last night...
Friends, I have super fun news. Today Asha and I will be on NPR's Tell Me More with Michel Martin to talk about summer and scheduling (or overscheduling). This has certainly been a topic that's been top of mind for me personally, given that I work full time, need to lock in some summer scheduling, and have a kid who prefers a lot of downtime! Broadcast times vary depending on where you live, so check the Tell Me More site for your station details. I hope you'll tune in!
Tomorrow I head to Laguna Niguel for Mom 2.0 Summit and I'm excited for many reasons. First, it's always so powerful and energizing to connect in person with the blogging community. Second, this will be the first time I've seen Asha since Minimalist Parenting launched (no need to tote my Flat Asha cardboard cut out!). And third, Asha and I are leading a session called "Minimalize" Your Workflow: Practical Steps for Enjoying Your Blogging More By Doing Less and also doing a book signing for Minimalist Parenting at the conference. Yay!
There are many challenges that come with parenting, but today I have been most challenged by my overwhelming urge to weep (in response both to the week's tragic, chaotic events and stories of bravery and compassion, such as this incredible story of fortitude) and the need to maintain a sense of calm and stability for Laurel and Violet. It has been a day of dissonance on so many levels, most acutely punctuated by:
Every time tragedy strikes nationally or around the world, my heart tightens and my eyes leak. But there is something different and deeply painful when crisis culminates in your backyard. I'm not being dramatic when I say that Boston runs through my blood. I was born here (at Brigham and Women's, when it used to be the Boston Lying-In Hospital). I have spent the better part of my 39 years here. My babies were born here. Boston is my home. When the explosions erupted at the Boston Marathon yesterday, I was a flood of emotions.
One of the most beautiful things about the online space is how incredibly nimble people can be to make awesome things happen. In October when I traveled to Ethiopia as part of the ONE Moms delegation, our team created such an online stir about fashionABLE that they were able to create three new jobs. This past winter, fellow Ethiopia companion and dear friend Gabrielle Blair, of Design Mom and Alt Summit, worked with ONE and fashionABLE to challenge the Alt community to design an exclusive ONE/fashionABLE Mother's Day scarf. And today the beautiful Genet scarf is available for purchase (with free shipping today and tomorrow).
As in, it's the official publication day for Minimalist Parenting, not "I'm celebrating St. Patrick's Day a couple of days late" day! Asha and I are so grateful for the amazing reception the book has received, and in general, I'm overwhelmed by abundant feelings given that yesterday was Violet's 2nd birthday and since I'll soon head to BlissDom (where the idea for the book was born). I wanted to express my gratitude to you all for being part of this journey and also share some updates:
When ONE asked me to share a recipe in honor of Sweet Potato Day -- an effort to raise awareness about world hunger -- I immediately thought of a recipe I enjoyed one Thanksgiving in Maryland. Jon and I were away from our families and our dear friend Joe invited us to his mom Chris's house. It meant so much to me to be welcomed in for the holidays, and the food -- including Chris's sweet potato casserole with bourbon and marshmallows -- was insanely good.
In one month (minus a day) Minimalist Parenting will officially release and there's been so much great stuff happening! I'm mostly staying offline this week for the holiday break, but I have some timely news to share and figured I'd round up all the recent goodness in one post. Asha and I are so grateful for everything that's been happening and you all are a huge part of this. Thank you for being a part of the journey!
Friends, I'm so excited to share some fun Minimalist Parenting news today. Thanks to the generosity of Isis Parenting, there is going to be a totally awesome (and fabulously do-gooding) Minimalist Parenting launch party here in Boston! Please join us on Thursday, March 28 at 6:30pm at Prudential Center to enjoy an evening out, meet other awesome parents, celebrate the launch of the book (I'll give a short presentation and will be available for high fives, questions, and to sign books), and support an amazing charity all at the same time!
Today's Dear Boston Mamas query comes from new reader Amy via e-mail:
Hi Christine, I recently discovered your site and love it! It's super helpful for a working mother of a 6-year-old and 3-year-old. I find it refreshing, very well-written and with a great dose of humor. One question: I was inspired to clean out the junk. In doing so I've been able to give a lot to consignment (I love Growing Up and Revolve in Belmont) however, I have a lot of gently used toys, women's clothing and household items that I would like to go to charities who give these items away to the needy for free. Can you suggest and organizations? Perhaps Cradles to Crayons for the children's items? Any ideas for the adult items?
Today's Dear Boston Mamas query comes from a mom on the South Shore via comment. Coincidentally, Boston Mamas contributing writer Priya (who recently relocated to the South Shore) already was working on a post about South Shore indoor activities and shares a roundup of leads in response to the question:
Anyone have any ideas for party places/venues for the South Shore or even the Cape? I swear the South Shore is LAME and all the cool places are North and West :(
Ever since Asha and I finished writing Minimalist Parenting in July, we've been chipping away at a seemingly endless to-do list (actually, multiple to-do lists...thank you, Basecamp) related to the book. All the work has been good and productive (for example, check out our new website, which I redesigned during the winter break, and please join our totally non-spammy mailing list!) and it's incredibly exciting to finally be in the year 2013 and realize, OMG, we can now say the book comes out THIS YEAR and start sharing some of what we've been up to. Here are two exciting developments:
Happy New Year everyone -- I hope you enjoyed a wonderful holiday! I apologize for not giving proper warning about my radio silence here...I had a post queued up to let you know about my holiday plans for the site, but ended up falling off the social media map in the most delightful way. Taking work into low gear + truly living the minimalist holidays mantra afforded me the most relaxed and restorative holiday season ever! Anyway, during this window of down time, like many folks, I spent a lot of time reflecting on 2012 and thinking about the year to come. Today, I wanted to share eight intentions I'm setting for 2013. I would love to hear yours as well!
It's hard to believe that this time last month I was in Ethiopia with ONE Moms -- the trip still lives so vividly with me (I just dreamed last night that I was headed back to Africa). Many of you asked how you could help -- I hope to circle back soon with a list of ways to help the specific sites we visited while on the ground in Ethiopia. Meanwhile, today, I'm asking you to consider making a difference by taking two actions in twenty seconds. So simple. So easy. So important.