Entrepreneurialism

I am sharing my thoughts on my entrepreneurial journey so far and encouraging anyone who has ever had dreams about working for themselves.

How To Build Foundation

Check out this quick tutorial on building and layering your foundation for flawless coverage that lasts all day long.

Thank you for watching.

33 Weeks

Here is where I am at this past week. I am 33 weeks pregnant, I have little accomplished on my "Get Done Before Baby Arrives To Do List" and I am feeling extremely unmotivated and complacent about it. The last few days I had to ride out some emotions. I have been here before, emotionally mixed up and not sure what to do about it, do you ever get like that? Tell me I am not alone in this place here people.

Please don't take my little emotional sharing as a lack of gratitude for the healthy baby growing inside and physically I feel pretty great. Like most challenges in my life, the mental struggles are always my largest obstacles to overcome and like I said, this week I have just been feeling emotionally mixed up. 

I am doing my best to soak up all the awesome one on one time I have left with Luke and at the same time feeling a little like less of the mom I use to be. It's not as comfortable for me to sit on the floor as it use to be and there is pretty much no room left for Luke in my lap when we read books together, I feel a little like I am failing sometimes.

I am also trying to find a balance with work as this time around I am not signing off for a year, I am just taking a little break and hope to be back servicing clients in November. I have had to turn a few jobs and promotional opportunities down in the end of September and throughout October because of the various unknowns of labour and baby land, and that's difficult for me to relinquish control of. 

And like most of my sharing, simply writing out my thoughts helps me to feel less anxious about the current phase I am passing through.

And I am just passing through, today was a really great day and its easier for me to share my tough feelings now that they are behind me. I am truly learning to find little joys in tough days and weeks, and comfort in the fact that I always come through the other side brighter, stronger and with greater perspective. 

Lastly I am just excited to meet this new person, introduce Luke and see our family grow. 

When I was at this point in my pregnancy with Luke the song Anticipation by Carly Simon kept playing in my head as well as, I would repeat to myself just like Dory "just keep swimming". 

Today is Friday and somehow on Fridays the world just seems a little brighter and my worries are not as big. I am feeling like I have made it through this little storm, I rode out the emotions and did my best to find the good in a few gloomy days. 

What do you think? Have you been here before and how do you ride out your mixed up emotions? 

Camping Beauty Essentials

We are off on our first family camping adventure this weekend! Packing is always a very strategic process for me and I really do my best to pack as little as possible and bring what is essential. This being said I always manage to come home with things I didn't use or wear. I thought it would be cool to share the beauty essentials I have packed for this trip, check out the video below to see whats in my camping beauty bag.

Thanks for watching & happy weekend!

My Text Buddy

After I shared a hard motherhood moment on Facebook when Luke was a new baby, I had a friend from my past private message me to simply say "if you need someone to talk to, I am here". Our Facebook private messages turned into text messages and we have even chatted on the phone and sent snail mail since reconnecting. She lives far away now and we hope to visit in person in the future but don't have any plans to do so at the moment, we just text a few times a week.

I believe that as long as we have one amazing friend we have enough, but I also believe we can never have too many friends.

Our text conversations span everything from beauty, to motherhood and everything in between.

How was your weekend? 

What do you have planned for your day? 

What's your favourite bronzer? (we both love beauty) 

This is how our conversations often begin and then they sometimes lead into the daily trials we are facing in our lives. When my friend first messaged me she said that sometimes it is easier to share honestly about our struggles with someone outside our everyday circle of friends. I feel very grateful for this friendship and know that she is only a text away if I need someone to chat with while I sit on the floor and play Lego for the 20th time that week. I have said it before but I will say it again, motherhood is a sport best played as a team and I am so glad to have many different women on my team in various relationship forms. 

I am sharing this little story for two reasons; 1) I am really grateful for this rekindled friendship and 2) If you have ever seen a Facebook post and wondered if you should send someone a private message to say your thinking of them or to find out if they need to talk, just do it, one more caring friend is never a bad thing.

Those are my thoughts for today, but what do you think, I would love to know your thoughts too.
xoxo
Audrey

Frosty & Bronze Makeup Tutorial

I am talking bronze skin, frosty eyes and tight lining your eyes, lets get to it!

Potty Training Perspective

After 5 days of potty training here is what I have learned; pay attention to my child, follow their lead and trust my gut.

Potty training is something that intimidated me, I watched videos, read articles and accepted advice from friends who have travelled the road before me, for months leading up taking the plunge. Then last week I decided Luke was ready and because I had to wait at home for the cable guy to arrive between 8-5 I figured we may as well take advantage of being forced to be home and get to work.

Day one went good for the first 8 hours but as we approached the end of the day I could tell Luke was sick of trying to pee on the toilet every 15 minutes. If we were going to continue on this journey in a positive way, I needed to reevaluate the system I was following. I woke up the following day with a fresh perspective, I am going to do what works for Luke and what works for Luke does not have us at home all day trying to pee on a timer for 3-4 days in a row.

What I decided worked for my son was going about our everyday activities and simply being prepared that he may have an accident. Yes a little more work for me but oh well.

So far I am happy with the way things are progressing but the biggest lesson for me on this potty training journey is to always remember to pay more attention to my child then to the format or system I am trying to get him on to.

This personal lesson is very timely as I prepare for the arrival of baby number two. I had a lot of trouble breastfeeding Luke and I am very positive about trying again but in the midst of all the articles and advice about breastfeeding, I think it will be easier for me to pay attention to this baby and feel confident in trusting my mothers intuition.

The saying "mother knows best" has so much weight, we really do know what we are doing, even if it looks different from what other moms are doing.

xoxo
Audrey 

Gods Got This

Hang out with me on a little drive while I share some thoughts on gratitude and how putting God at the centre of my life has helped me gain strength over negative thoughts and discover purpose for my life.

Pray, Dont Worry

I think I have written on this topic or something similar to it before but this is something I have been working on a lot lately, instead of worrying about an area of my life or someone in my life, I pray about it.

I combat negative thoughts by quickly sharing my fears with God and then handing the details of the situation over to Him. Then I repeat internally or sometimes out loud, "you have got this God, help me to know what I need to do to move your plan forward". Worry is a lack of faith in God.

Luke 12: 22-25 is a great example of this truth.

Then Jesus said to the decibels: "Therefore I tell you do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: they do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Worry and stress has been proven to be bad for us in many different ways, can you think of a time when worry actually got you something good? I can't! It distracts me from the moment I am in, makes me tired and irritable and nothing good results from my time spent worrying. This still has not completely stopped me from worrying but I am getting better at trusting that God has everything under control and instead of spending time worrying, I spend time with God, finding out where he needs me to be and what He needs me to do.

This does not mean I throw all caution to the wind hoping God will also clean up my messes in the wake of careless living. It just means that I use the worrisome thoughts as a trigger to remember to trust God. One day I would like to get to a place where I can sing Gods praises when I have everything I need and even when I am in need. I know I am on my way there though.

I also sometimes worry about the people in my life. If I have had a conversation with someone who is struggling with something, I sometimes find them popping into my mind and then I begin to worry or wonder if they are ok. I have taken this as a sign from God that this individual needs praying over, my worry is not going to do anything good for my friends but my prayer, now that stuff is powerful. I know this for two reasons: 1) God hears all prayers. and 2) I have seen the things I pray for come to fruition in Gods perfect timing.

1 John 5:14 is a great example of this truth.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 

So I am going to be stepping up my prayer game and putting down my worry game because I am ready to move forward effectively with the plans God has for me.