One Mompreneur’s Carrie Bradshaw Fantasy

August 1, 2011
► Back'nGrooveMom, Girls Night Out!, Inspiration, productivity, Rebranding in Life, Work Family Balance

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I have not been writing as frequently over the summer.  It has been sort-of nice…I devoted a bit of time over the last few weeks to getting organized.  Cleaning my desk area, sorting through emails, tweaking my website, and making project goals for the 4th quarter all have taken priority.  BUT, I am really starting to miss it.  Writing for my readers is my favorite part of running this site.

There is something so powerful about connecting with other moms through my blog and building a rapport which leads to any number of scenarios.  It is so exciting to meet up at a conference, work one-on-one, or just answer comments on the blog.  Everyone is always promoting “authenticity” in blog writing, and I cannot say how important that factor is.  You must be real in order to connect with others and make a difference.

All this being said, I should be honest and write about my last few weeks and what I have come to call my Carrie Bradshaw Experiment.  For the last two weeks, my boys have been at sleep away camp affording me the time to attend to all the things that usually sit on the back-burner along with some LEISURE time.  With two more weeks left to go, I decided to spend some time reflecting on these last few weeks.

While I am not sitting here in a sexy bra writing my blog post like Carrie always works at her laptop in a gorgeous nightie, I have experienced my own little Carrie in the City over the last 14 days.  What did I learn?  Being a mom is a full-time job.  Being a momprenuer is a second full-time job.  Would I trade it?  Hell no!

At the beginning of the month, I speculated that I was having trouble with staying productive with too much time on my hands.  I really was (am).  So, what did I do?  I created extra projects for myself, hyper-scheduled my days with meetings, and worked past dinner time.  The most striking difference here was being able to work for long, straight hours that were not interrupted by basketball practice, homework, or dinner.

When I am not pretending that I am Sarah Jessica Parker on the set of Sex in the City, my work day starts early and ends late with my mom responsibilities sandwiched in between.  There are no long, jam-packed hours of work followed by a cocktail with Mr. Big (I mean HB).  After a few days, I really became very lonely for ditching my laptop for pancakes or tacos and sprite zero with the boys.

The other large discrepancy, is that I am really so much more glamorous with the boys at camp.  When my days occur in between school or camp drop-off and pick-up, I tend to stay local and close by to my home office for coffee appointments and meetings.  Last week with time on my side, I ventured for a coffee meeting (with prototype guy) to a totally trendy, hip European Espresso Shop.  Instead of grabbing my usual 2 pump, nonfat, no-whip white mocha……the barista made me a Cortado.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There I was having a delectable, authentic espresso beverage in the wholesale district of the city, conducting a meeting, and enjoying the blue sky.  I tried to envision myself in this role forever……NO WAY!  While it has been fun to pretend for a few weeks that I am Carrie in her Jimmy Choos living large in the city.  I am a mom at heart.  Without my boys being there and being proud of me, my business deviates too far from its original mission.

Now, that is not to say that I am still not going to live the fantasy for the next two weeks.  I am going to out with Charlotte, Samantha, and Miranda tomorrow night (Ok – well maybe not quite them, but a few of my close girlfriends) for a girls only night.  I have been enjoying making it to yoga more than once a week, and there is the unbelievable luxury of a late day pedicure.

I am going to strive to write, live, feel, experience, and share more.  Enough organizing and setting goals, it is time to get back to doing.  While, I would never, ever TRADE my crazy, basketball-filled, life as a mom to 2 fabulous boys tied together with being a mompreneur, the Carrie Bradshaw Fantasy has been nice.  At the very least, it has made me appreciate the chaos and crave more.

What are your thoughts?  Do you think that shedding your identity for a few days, or weeks, helps you be more content with who you really are?