shoes, babies and cupcakes

Today I did something completely out of the ordinary. I took a few hours out of my schedule and had a lunch date with friends. From my experience it seems that when people think of a "work from home mom" a very specific image pops into mind. A morning in pajamas drinking coffee, casual lunch with friends, and an afternoon spent with Oprah, Ellen & Dr. Phil...all with a sprinkling of emails and phone calls throughout the day. Yeah right. Life as I know it is nothing like this, and for those of you who work for yourselves, by yourselves, I know you will agree.

To make up for lost time I scheduled my babysitter to come a few hours early. In order for me to wrap the day up early I would have to be disciplined. I plugged away at my to do list and managed to get almost everything done. At 12:45 I closed my laptop and headed out the door.

While sitting at the booth with some of my favorite girlfriends, I had what Oprah might call an "ah ha" moment. I never do this. This is so much fun. WHY don't I ever do this? I work for myself so I CAN have lunch on a random Friday with friends! That's it. I need to do this more often! Like clockwork we all commented on the same exact thought- you see, each of us felt a little guilty for taking the time to meet for lunch. As women (and wives, and mommies, and business owners) our to do list is never completely done.

For two hours we sat in a booth and talked about pretty much everything. From Allison's growing baby bump (her first, and it's a GIRL!) to Kristy's enviable shoe collection and my recent obsession with cupcakes, well, let's just say all of the bases we covered. We even congratulated each other for leaving our iPhones in our purses and not checking emails or texts (talk about MAJOR!).


We wrapped up the date with a hot fudge brownie sundae and it was divine.When the check came the marketing and PR part of my brain instantly imagined this message: 
   Grilled Chicken Salad: $13
   Babysitter for 2 hours: $24 (yes, I know...but she is worth it)
   Two hours with girlfriends and no interruptions: Priceless

Go ahead and cringe at the cheesiness of it all. I just couldn't help myself with that one! Lesson for the day? Ditch the Lean Cuisine and call a friend for lunch. It's totally worth it.