Friday 28 February 2014

Inspired by: WAHM

Gorgeous stacks of fabric that will become a #colordivequilt. I love it so! @annamariahorner thanks so much for making such amazing fabrics! #colordivequiltkit
My Colour Dive Quilt Kit from Anna Maria Horner, the WAHM extraordinaire!
WAHM = work at home moms. 

For the past (almost) eleven months I have felt a little bit alone in my position as a work at home mom. I know a lot of stay at home moms or working moms who are on mat-leave for the first little while and then go back to work. We all juggle our lives as moms, wives and career women. But as a work at home mom I've been feeling a little isolated, like I couldn't really relate to the moms I know because no one shared my specific set of circumstances. 

Then I saw this series that one of my favourite blogs, A Cup Of Jo did a few years back. Scroll to the bottom and there are 8 interviews with work from home moms that I found really inspiring. The irony of the whole situation is that it took me the better part of a day to string together enough minutes to read the interviews. I was constantly being pulled away by work or life. Ha! Balance. The unattainable dream! After tucking Rowan into bed last night I finished reading the interviews and then chatted with Chris about how I think we can improve our work/life management and I'm feeling really good about it. I think carving out a bit of time once in a while to reflect upon your situation and find ways to make small changes that will hopefully make life more organized is really important. We've set new goals for ourselves, now lets see if we can stick to them!

Another blog post I read recently that really struck a chord was this one over on A Beautiful Mess about changing dreams. It highlights the importance of making plans, dreaming big, but then going with the flow. Following your path, even if it takes you places you didn't know you wanted to go. I feel like running TFA has had a lot of "changing dreams" moments. When I started TFA over 6 years ago I had one vision for my business, as time passed, life changed and our strengths and weaknesses became more clear to me things haven't always gone the way I thought I wanted them to. And I'm totally ok with that because I think that we're ending up exactly where we're supposed to be. 

And while I'm randomly chatting about work, motherhood, dreams and life, I've got to mention that stack of fabric pictured above. It's a Colour Dive Quilt Kit designed by Anna Maria Horner (the quilt pattern and all the fabrics) and I cannot wait to sink my teeth into it! Anna Maria Horner is an amazing textile designer who's aesthetic is so different from mine, but is still somehow so incredibly appealing to me. You know I love a good rainbow gradient, so there is just no way I could pass up this quilt kit. Anna Maria happens to be a mother of 7, her youngest just a few weeks younger than Rowan. If I'm not mistaken, she also works from home, and though I don't know her, just reading her blog and following her on instagram I really get the impression that I could learn a lot from her about balancing work and life with a busy family (her's being 7 times busier than mine!) 

Wishing everyone a very happy weekend. I've got two boys at home (ok, one baby and one man) who are both feeling a little under the weather so I think we'll be spending a good deal of it drinking tea and taking long naps. Doesn't that sound nice? We'll see what Rowan has to say about that.