If anyone was looking for girl power in the City of Brotherly Love today, they didn’t have to look much further than joining the 8,000 women at the Convention Center. I was fortunate enough to attend the 12th Annual Pennsylvania Conference for Women and left with a sense of empowerment I have not felt in a long time. Some take-aways from today:

• Start a meeting highlighting the positive instead of jumping into all the problem and sucking the energy right out of the room
• When you try something new, you either succeed or you learn from it
• Read a lot (check), increase your language skills, and know your audience
• It is okay to admit you don’t know how to do something, but make sure you surround yourself with people who know can do it for you
• Develop a daily habit for risk –
• Trust your gut
• Do nothing and cherish the downtime

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One of my friends posted these 26 things on Facebook, and I thought it would make a quick and easy blog post! 26 Things About Me A- Age: 44 B- Biggest fear: Not living my best life C- Current time: 9:30 PM D- Drink you last had: Chocolate Milk E- Everyday need: “I Love You’s” from my family and orange tic tacs in my purse F- Favorite song: I Hope You Dance G- Ghosts, are they real?: No H- Hometown: Sewell, NJ I- In love with: Scott J- Jealous of: Brand new kitchens and super-organized closets K- Killed someone? No L- Last time you cried?: Almost cried at work about a week ago, but I grabbed a drink of water instead and pulled myself together. Whew! M- Middle name: Michelle N- Number of siblings: 1 sister. She is awesome! O- One wish: Better gun control laws P- Person whom you last called: My daughter to tell her I was going to be late. Q- Question you’re always asked: It is a tie between “What are we doing today?” and “Did you publicize my event?” R- Reason to smile: Going to spend Thanksgiving with my sister this year. A rare treat! S- Song last sang: I Like to Move It Move it. In the car with Andrew T- Time you woke up: 5:30 am U- Underwear color: Purple 🙂 V- Vacation destination: Next vacation – LA/San Diego in the spring W- Worst habit: Repeating myself in a conversation …repeating myself in a conversation X- X-Rays you’ve had: Wrist (broken), ankle (not broken), chest (for pneumonia) Y- Your favorite food: Boston Kreme donuts on my birthday Z- Zodiac sign: Aquarius

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Ever feel like the ringmaster in a 3 ring circus? Managing my career, my family and my house is similar to working as a tightrope walker, a lion tamer, and a juggler. I will take these things in that order. The Tightrope walker – As a working mom, it feels like I’m walking a tightrope. Every day, I start out putting one foot in front of the other and look straight ahead. And whatever I do, I try not to look down. By the way, I’m not walking the tightrope in sensible shoes. No… I’m walking in heels. Some days, I make it across to the other side (ta-da!). Other days, I make one false move and I’m face first in the tangle net. And I have to climb my way back up to the top again. The Lion Tamer – If you have teenagers or tweens or one of each (like me), I don’t need to explain this one to you. Some days the lions purr and love to cuddle with me. Other times, they are ferocious and all I can do is throw them a piece of meat and slowly back away from their roar. The Juggler – I juggle schedules which is so much more dangerous than knives and fire torches – okay maybe not the fire torches – but it feels that way, I used to think my busiest day was Tuesday when my son has school and then 3 activities – Hebrew at 4:30; scouts meeting at 7 pm and soccer practice at 8 pm. Now I know my busiest days are the ones ending in the letter “y”. On the four other days of the week, my son has swim practice, Weekends are crammed with soccer games, Sunday school, and choir practice. And this is all just for one kid! Tack on a few more activities and a social life with my older daughter and I’m throwing balls in the air left and right, doing a fancy spin and catching them all in the right order. By the time I get home at night, I’m throwing clothes in the microwave for dinner and food in the dryer. Wait, scratch that and reverse. See what I mean? I’m also taking a big risk this year. A death-defying sideshow featuring me trying to accomplish some of my own career and personal goals like writing more and losing 20 pounds. Can she do it??? Come January, I expect my momentum to kick into high gear as I have to start planning a bar mitzvah. I figure this will give me more to write about and less time to eat.

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