Guest Post: The Red Hot Life

I'm continuing my series of guest posts this month to let you meet some of my favorite bloggers. For March, in honor of her birthday month, I want you to meet my friend Liz Taylor (not that Liz Taylor).  Unlike the other bloggers who have posted here, Liz is not part of the Arkansas Women Bloggers group (although I'm sure she would be if she lived here!)  I actually knew Liz IRL before she even had a blog.  That's "in real life," mom.  Liz and I used to work together and she is a fellow mom of twins, so that right there is reason enough to love her.  Please check out her blog Live A Red Hot Life and show her some love!

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The Red Hot Life
By: Liz Cerami Taylor

There's nothing quite like a birthday to help you take stock of your life.

In 2010, I turned 40. To mark that milestone, I did something I'd been wanting to do since I was 11: I signed up to meet Rick Springfield, my first love. It was amazing, and he was as cool in person as I thought he would be. The photo of us together can be described in one word: bliss. Well, that's how I would describe how I felt at the time. He might remember it differently.

That day was really more than just a "girl meets her favorite rock star" moment. It was an epiphany. I had spent the five years leading up to it devoted to the needs of my family (like Rhonda, I'm a mom of twins) and to my job. I rarely took time for myself. I believe with all my heart that self-care is essential to surviving in this life, but I had been doing a lousy job of it. On that day, I did something for myself and it felt great.

Over the next year, I did a lot of soul searching and it became clear to me that I wasn't happy. I began a quest for a "Red Hot Life" -- one where I felt truly alive. Because if I wasn’t happy and full of life, how could I be the person I needed and wanted to be for those who depended on me? Sure, some people do it, but to me that’s not really living.

I decided that I needed to make some pretty big changes in my life. So I did. And I did them pretty much all at once -- I'm crazy like that. In 2012, I reluctantly ended a marriage that was not working, and I left my job of 18 years and found a new job that allowed me to move back to my home state with my kids to be closer (but not too close) to my family.

It's been about a year and a half since I made those changes, and I'd be lying to you if I said it was easy. I made a list last year, My 2013 Red Hot List, of things I needed to do to overcome some of the challenges I faced in my new life. I haven’t completed it yet, but I'm making progress.

People have told me how "brave" and "courageous" I am to start over. I think what they mean is "you're nuts," but I appreciate the support nonetheless. I have tried to use my experience to help inspire others by blogging about my story. My posts are infrequent because life is hectic, so when Rhonda graciously asked me to be a guest blogger here, I wasn't sure if I really qualified! But I am very grateful for the opportunity to encourage others, so thanks Rhonda!

It has been four years since the day that started off my journey to a Red Hot Life. In fact, I turned 44 earlier this month. A few days before my birthday, I asked my friends on Facebook to describe me. I wanted to see if their perceptions matched with my reality these days. They used words like "smart," "in love with Rick Springfield," "funny," and "successful." One word that was missing? Happy. But that's OK. Because the only person who really knows if I am happy is me, and that answer varies by the day. That's just the way life is. I know that I'm on the right path, and I plan to stay on it and see where it leads.

 

 

 

Liz is a working mother of three boys, including fraternal twins, who lives in Virginia. Read about her pursuit of a Red Hot Life and her love of Rick Springfield at Live A Red Hot Life.

 

Twin Tuesday

I found a cute little picture of the kids from our dentist trip a few weeks ago.  These two just have so much fun together! I hope they always love each other this much.

 

Boy Twin Funny:  He has started to refer to himself in the third person.  This is totally hilarious to me, as neither of the other children have done this before.  I probably enjoy having a conversation with him more than I should, especially when he's requesting a drink or volunteering information about his day at school. 

Anticipation

I can honestly say that I've never given much thought to the word "anticipation" until this week.  In reality, I guess it's a word that I can't even recall using much before.  I know there is even an old song about it, so it must be an important word, right? 

 

Well let me tell you, there is some major anticipation (not to be confused with constipation) going on in my house this week.  Lee and I are anticipating our 10th anniversary next week!  And we are really anticipating our upcoming trip to Las Vegas to celebrate.  A vacation!  Alone!  Out of town! Without kids! Is that too much? 

 

Normally I'm pretty even-keeled and not too excitable, so this is a strange feeling to me.  And by strange I mean JOYOUS!  There are a few times I can remember dealing with some serious anticipation, like when I was in high school waiting for my trips to Fayetteville to see THE BOY.  In college, I always looked forward to my Wednesday nights at Doc Murdock's when I was (almost) legal age.  And, of course, there was the anticipation of college graduation and waiting through nine months of pregnancy twice. 

 

The best I can remember, Lee and I haven't been alone away from home for more than two nights since the twins were born.  As much as we love those little turkeys, we really need a break from the cooking, cleaning, laundry and butt-wiping that goes on daily in our household.  I can also promise that I won't be having mac and cheese or juice boxes for an entire week.

 

It's been over seven years since our last trip to Las Vegas, so we are definitely ready to get there and see what's new.  There is so much to see and do besides gamble; this time we are finally going to do some sightseeing off the Strip.  We can set our own schedule or have no schedule at all; we can drink fruity drinks and stay up all night (ha)....it's our vacation!

 

Ten years.  Ahhhh, so much can happen in ten years.  We've each had a parent diagnosed with cancer, we've nursed and said good-bye to both of Lee's parents, we got our first dog, had our first child, moved once and lived through the shock of having twins.  Who would have thought when we got married on that sandy beach in Florida in 2004, that all this would happen to us in ten short years?  It's been a wild ride, and plenty difficult at times, but I sure wouldn't change a thing if I could.  I'll be anticipating the next ten years for sure.

 



Say Hello to My Friend Paige

I started the year off by deciding to share a little piece of my bloggy friends on my blog each month.  Last month Fawn shared a great idea about Technology Tickets to help monitor your children's screen time.  For February, I'm proud to introduce Paige from Approaching Joy.   I met Paige the year I attended my first Arkansas Women Bloggers conference and have enjoyed getting to know her since.  What first attracted me to her blog was her eye for everything artistic:  photography, design and fashion--everything that I am a miserable failure at.  She has such a warm light about her, for real, that's what she reminds me of...like a little Tinkerbell.  I've asked her to guest post today, so here's Paige!

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Hi my name’s Paige and I have memory problems. While not diagnosable (thank goodness) it’s always been something I have had to work with. For example, the time I forgot / misplaced my lovely (i.e. expensive) DSLR camera which I blogged about here .  

 

When Rhonda asked me to guest post for her I said, “Sure!”…and then promptly forgot. After she reminded me I sat astonished. She has three kids, a full time job, can simultaneously make biscuits –That, dear friends, is talent and skill and memory that I simply do not have.  However, it was her reminder that made me wonder, “What would I do if I WERE in her situation?” My answer: Rely even more heavily on technology. Calendar reminders are currently my life saver but what if I had even more things to juggle? Enter the web-based app “If This, Then That”.

 

If This, Then That (IFTTT) is a useful tool that I discovered when handling Social Media for a brand new nonprofit back in the summer.  It is set up to run an action for things that you want automated.

 

Example: Rhonda has cute kids. See exhibit A- Her Instagram feed.  Let’s say Rhonda wanted to make a picture book will all the cute things her cute kids do during Spring Break. To help this process along she would go to ifttt.com and set up the following equation, or recipes, as they’re called on the site-

 

IF THIS happens: @mamabramell posts an Instagram picture with the hashtag #BramellFamilyVacation

 

THEN do THAT: Save those pictures to a dropbox folder

 

By doing this she saves herself the extra hour it would take combing through her photos after vacation. The fact that she doesn’t have to waste the mental energy on this extra step? Priceless. Cool feature: If people choose to make their recipes public then you can search through them to see what automations may make your life a bit easier. So go check it out and then come back and let Rhonda know what recipe you’re most likely to use to save time. Check out my favorite recipe here: Paige’s Favorite IFTTT recipe.

 

 

 

 

Paige is a relatively recent addition to the Northwest Arkansas community where she currently works for a nonprofit. She loves taking photos that Rhonda declares "artsy" but she has no idea of how to best use the photography skills other than to overwhelm her friends instagram feed. If your Instagram feed needs to be overwhelmed follow her here .

 

Pinterest Made Me Do It

Lately, I've made a genuine effort to cut back on carbs.  I started doing a food journal and quickly realized that I have a serious problem with carbs, and that I've been in denial about it.  But I also know that sometimes you just have to have some bread!

 

One night I was making dinner and knew rolls would really go great with our meal (I don't even remember what it was now).  However, there was nothing but stale sandwich bread in the house:  no biscuits, rolls or french bread to be found.

 

With the main dish already cooking, and me not wanting to go to the store, I went to Pinterest to look for a quick recipe that included ingredients that I already had in the cabinet.  The name alone, "30 Minute Rolls," got me.  And now, as I read through the recipe, I realize that I didn't follow it exactly.  Since I was in a hurry, I'm pretty sure that I didn't let the dough rise for the amount of time it says.  And I also don't have a fancy stand mixer with a dough hook, but I thought they turned out great anyway.

 

 

Give these a try the next time you need an easy, quick recipe for rolls.  Let me know if you like them!

Big Sis Bragging

We had parent-teacher conferences earlier this week at Big Sis's school.  We are so happy with how she has excelled this year!  Her teacher let us know that she works well by herself and in groups, and that she is respectful of others in the classroom.  She has improved on just about every subject since last semester.  She is reading at grade level (and probably above) and doing fine in math.  We just need to work on the talking in the hallways and when it's quiet time....but, secretly, I'm OK with that.

 

 

 

 

 We are so happy with her first grade teacher.  I'll admit, after having such a great kindergarten experience, I was doubtful that we'd get lucky twice.  But we did!  Big Sis just adores her teacher!  Here is a picture she texted me on "mustache day."  Of course, Big Sis doesn't want any part of dress up or silly days at school.  Only on PJ day!  I can't deny that she's my kid for sure.

 

 

 

 I also love getting random texts from her teacher to show me that Big Sis is having fun or doing her work at school.  It just makes me feel very connected to the classroom.  It also makes me a tiny bit sad that Big Sis is growing up.  My heart is full and Lee and I are so very proud of our little bookworm.

 

 

 

Twin Tuesday

We had a mini photo shoot before school pictures the other day.  My little hams sure do clean up good!  It's hard to believe that they will be moving to the 4-year-old class before we know it!