Most Popular Blog Post of 2013

I wanted to do a quick recap on what my most popular blog post of 2013 was because it really surprised me.  What was it, you ask?  15 Reasons I'm Awesome.

Why was that such a popular post?  I have absolutely no idea but I have over 1000 views on that.  Am I really that awesome?

I wrote about my life, how I overcame some obstacles in my life, why I sometimes lie to my kids and how I can entertain them on almost no money.  Is that interesting to people?  Maybe.

Maybe it's because I had low self esteem at that point but yet I was able to come up with 15 reasons why I was awesome. 

Or maybe it's because I seem to be supermom. 

I mean, I can shower in 10 minutes or less... I can also do my makeup while holding a bathroom door closed with my kids trying to break the door down... Or maybe because despite having a full time job and being a single mom, I can still make dinner from scratch and attempt to clean my house.

Hey, maybe it's even because I could care less if my house is a huge pig sty.  I have kids, that's always my excuse for surprise visitors.  And because if they came unannounced, they shouldn't judge me.  Pick up a damn phone and call before you come.  At least give me a frikkin heads up so I can shove shit into a closet.

I've also become a pro at getting my 8 year old's extremely thin and soft hair into a ballet bun for her dance classes.  How?  Well, I'm supermom.  And that bun donut thing is a lifesaver.  With a crap load of bobby pins.  But if anyone asks, I'm just going to stick with the fact that I am supermom. 

My 8 year old also says "I hate you" almost once a day but it doesn't phase me.  I feel like if she hates me, I'm doing something right.  She won't hate me for long, she knows I'm her ride for going over her friends houses, I can pay for her dance classes and I can say "no" to just about anything. ;)  Her "I hate you's" are very short lived.

Eyes in the back of my head?  Forget that! I have eyes in every single room.  I can sense with my mommy-senses if there is trouble brewing or if my 6 year old decided that our wall is better than her easel paper.  (It happens!)  I can also clean that damn wall better than anyone else can. (Or so I think.)

I still wonder why that was the most popular post of 2013 but then I think to myself...Hey, it is because I am that awesome. :)

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There is a method to all of my productivity and daily madness

I'm going to tell you a secret...

I'm crazy but sort of organized and very productive.  Is that really a secret?

Ok, scratch that...I'm sometimes productive and that's not really a secret at all.

What's the secret to my madness of being a single mother with a full time job?

I'm fanatical about using my favorite iPhone apps to keep me organized.  While I may not be a perfectionist and have a crazy organized house, when it comes to the hours in the day I need to prioritize and utilize my apps or I would go insane. 

Or may I am insane to begin with.

Organizing My Days

Agenda, my calendar app, is my go to app for my main organization and prioritizing my day.  I use different calendars that I set in the native iPhone app for different categories of what I have to organize every day.

Work is blue.

To Do's are green.

Kids are purple.

Important Reminders are brown.

And the list goes on and on...

I love how the categories are put into my main month view as little dots so I can go into the day at anytime and see exactly what I need to get done or remember.  That app has been a huge lifesaver in the past few months.

Organizing My Errands & Reminders Further

I also utilize Any.DO for reminders and categorizing my lists of what I have to do.  I'm able to see what I have to do for the month as a whole and in the categories I place them into. (Blog, Kids, Work, Life, Groceries, Shopping, etc...)  It allows for me to see if I can get something done earlier than the date I wanted to have it done by.

If I have any extra time in my day, which is rare.

I can also have a electronic copy of things that I need to get done for work just in case my paper to-do list gets lost for any reason... or if something is spilled on it. (I blame my kids)

Shopping lists? Since I'm crazy anal about having things categorized into aisles when I'm going grocery shopping I use Grocery IQ.  It allows me to have multiple lists stored for multiple stores while being categorized by aisle, which makes me happy.  I'm just too damn lazy to keep walking back and forth around the store if I forgot something... that's why I like having everything categorized into aisles and organized all nice and neatly. :)

I also use Evernote for my reminders and documents that I need an electronic back up for. 

Am I still stressed even though I prioritize my day and my to-do's?  Of course I am.  There aren't enough hours in the day and I can't split myself between a million places at once.  (It would be cool if I could, that would be my go-to superpower.) 

How do you stay organized and less stressed?

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Random Facts about Me! Part 2

I do have some new followers and hope to gain some as well so I decided to write another post with more random facts about myself.  I'm not too interesting but I do have some pretty damn good facts that may seem a bit interesting to some of you! :) If you have any other questions for me, post them in the comments section!

1. I have an addiction to cell phone cases.  With my iPhone 4 I had about 20 cases that I would change with my mood.  I wish I was joking with you!  Every time I go to a mall that has a cell phone accessory kiosk or Target, Walmart, Apple, etc...  I had to look at the cases to see if anything caught my eye.  Now that I have the iPhone 5, I need to rebuild my collection.  I have only 4 for the iPhone 5 so far. (And have had the phone for 2 months.)

2. I love to take photos. In fact, I have taken over 1,000 photos on my phone that I have taken with it.  I used to have over 3,500 but most of them are now on an external hard drive.  Constantly I am downloading new photography and photographing apps to try to get new inspiration.  

3. My first celebrity crush was Jonathan Taylor Thomas.  My friend, at the time, loved Leonardo Dicaprio.  We used to have fights (for hours) about who was hotter.

4. My dream as a child was to be a figure skater.  I figure skated locally (competitively) for 16 years solo and synchro.  When I was 17 I took a bad fall during an exhibition and broke my ankle.  Unfortunately, after a cast and physical therapy, I never got back into figure skating.  It was a passion of mine and I regret that until this very day.

5. I own my own business.  Aside from my full time day job I own my own Virtual Assistant & SEO/Social Media business doing consulting, managing and coordinating.  My day job is being a SEO Analyst for a large corporation.  Somehow, I manage being a mom, having a FT day job and my own business... I constantly wonder how I do it.

6. I have the thickest hair ever.  I hate it.  I've always hated it and get it thinned out as much as I can.  My hair is also extremely damaged from years and years of drastically dying it constantly.

7. My uncle is a Roman Catholic priest.  He's been a priest for 35 years and despite this fact, I am not religious.  My uncle has been like a second dad to me since my dad died when I was 2.  I don't know what I would do without my uncle and his understanding and compassion for others.

8. I went to High School 2 blocks away but my mom drove me every single day.  Mostly because I would have been late every single day if I had walked and the fact that I was very bullied and had numerous physical threats.

9. I've lived in the same house all my life. For the exception of the 2 years that I lived in Philadelphia due to art school.  I probably would still be living in Philadelphia if I hadn't gotten pregnant when I was in college.

10. I am extremely picky about pens. I will not write with a pen that doesn't have a cap and the ink flow has to be perfect.  Again, I wish I was kidding.

11. I LOVE LOTIONS! My favorite lotions are the super thick ones with cocoa & shea butters. (I.E. B&BW Shea Cashmere and just traditional Cocoa Butter.)

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