This Mom's Day Out was sponsored by MY SALONSUITE. As always, I only post about services I truly love and think you should experience.

Does this sound familiar, mama?

You love being a mom, and pride yourself on being the glue the family needs to function. You spend most of your days working, doing laundry, keeping up with the house, making sure your kids are fed, bathed, happy. If you're like me at this season in my life, you literally get ZERO time to yourself. I am up early in the morning and go straight to work. I get home late in the evening, and as soon as I walk in the door I'm on mommy duty. I finish feeding my daughter dinner, let her play for a bit, give her a bath, read books and watch Elmo in my bed (that's our current thing right now and I love the snuggle time). Finally, around 9 or 10 I put her to bed, but not because I want to... I just miss her when I'm working this much.

Once she's asleep, I am then faced with THREE choices. No time to do them all, so I have to choose one:

1. Take a shower, get in the bed, maybe read a few pages of a book and fall asleep.

2. Cook dinner for my husband and I, not knowing when he will be home and not sure if I'm even hungry for it. On nights where he gets home at a decent time, I will try and spend some time with him before I go to bed.

OR

3. Get some blog work done. Chances are I have deadlines or need to catch up on emails. This is something I truly enjoy, so I accidentally end up staying up until midnight or later some nights.

What normally happens? NOT number 1. I actually can't remember the last time I did that. It's usually a mixture of 2 & 3. And in my line of work, there is pretty much zero consistency.

I was recently reminded of how important it is to do some SELF CARE. Does this schedule sound like I've been allowing myself that time at all lately? No. Can I tell the difference? Majorly. My anxiety and stress levels are through the roof sometimes if I haven't been taking a moment for myself. And then when you DO finally get that time, you feel guilty! Do we ever win? One day mamas, one day...

This past weekend, I actually got to have a real MOM'S DAY OUT with my good mama friend Sarah. What did we do? We got our hair and nails did, and hit up the all mighty Target. Hashtag, BASIC? Yup. Do we care? NOPE. Did we actually take this picture? YUP. The morning was just what we both needed. A little pampering, fellowship, and fun to recharge us both for the week. 

Finding and connecting to other moms can be really hard and frustrating. When you find a person that you click with, you know you've got a friend for life. Mom friends are different than high school friends or college friends... because honestly, you met for one reason: you're a Mom. I love staying in touch with my friends who have different lives than I do. But sometimes, you just need that friend who understands what you're going through, because they're going through it too.

Our Mom's Day Out was made complete by My Salon Suite - which offers a unique experience. We saw Larry from Larry's Hair Bar and he gave us the full experience: hair wash, blow dry, and style. He was a true pleasure to be around. Diedra at Platinum Pink Couture Buckhead did our nails and got us looking so fresh. By the way, both of their spaces were beautifully decorated. Each stylist has their own private space within the building, which adds a level of luxury to each experience. 

Mamas, don't forget to take care of yourself. It's important we surround ourselves with strong women that lift us up instead of tearing us down. If you're having a tough time, reach out. Chances are that other mama you know is too. Take time to reset your soul. You're not "just a mom," you are YOU.