Erin Akin Carroll

It’s no secret that I am completely obsessed with all Erin Condren products. It all started with the amazing Life Planner and I haven’t been able to quit since then.

Using the Life Planner has really been a great experience. It’s my favorite planner I’ve ever owned and I’ve loved it so much that I’ve just continued to scoop up tons of Erin Condren products. I have some personalized stationery, gift labels for every member of our family, address labels and book plates for my boys’ books. I also just got some fun goodies for Hudson to use for Halloween at school.

Her designs are playful and bright and they’re perfect for any occasion or just to have to make your desk look prettier and help make the simplest task more fun!

Some of my favorites include the Call Me Cards, the Life Planner in Candy Lace in Mocha & Multi, the Book Plates, and the Large Circle Address Labels

I’m so excited to be partnering with my friend Nina, from According to Nina, on this really fun giveaway! We wanted to share the Erin Condren love with all of our readers!

Pretty exciting, huh? That means there are two blogs with two winners! There will be 4 total winners who receive $25 to use at ErinCondren.com.

But in order to be entered, you have to do the follow two things…

So make sure you visit the ErinCondren.com Facebook page ,”like” it, and leave a comment saying we sent you. Then jump over to AccordingtoNina.com to leave your comment there, too! And then you could be one of four winners! *If you already “like” ErinCondren.com on Facebook, just tell us that in your comment.*

And guess what!

If the ErinCondren.com Facebook page reaches 6,000 fans before the close of the giveaway at 11:59 p.m. (EST) on Thursday, September 22, there will be a BONUS WINNER!

Nina and I will each post two winners on each of our blogs on Friday morning after using the Random Integer Generator to choose two random winners per blog.

Good luck! We will announce the winners on Friday afternoon!

I know I’ve mentioned this SO many times, but September 23 is the last day the 25 FREE Mommy Cards from Minted will be…. free. After that you’ll be paying regular Minted prices. So don’t miss out! Click on the link below to get your 25 FREE Mommy Cards.

Get 25 Free Minted Mommy Cards

There were a few random things I wanted to share this week, but never got around to posting about all of them.

1. Last Sunday afternoon, we took Hudson to Sesame Street Live. His second birthday was in June and his KK and Poppie gave us tickets to see Sesame Street Live in Greenville and they also got us passes for Hudson to meet some of the cast before the show. He is right at the perfect age to go to this. He loves Sesame Street and he absolutely loved the show. He sat in his seat the whole time except when he couldn’t see, and then he sat on his Daddy’s lap. He never made a peep. He was just mesmerized by the characters and the music.

We were on the front row, so we were pretty darn close. The characters would come down on the floor and Hudson was so excited that they were so close. But he still wouldn’t let them touch him. I wonder what it will be like with Santa Claus this year.

Before the show, we got to meet Abby Cadabby and Grover. Hudson was excited to see them, but definitely didn’t want to touch them. We couldn’t even get him to give them “knucks.”

poor Hudson… his mommy is a big nerd

2. My friend, Nina, and I have really fun Erin Condren giveaway coming up on Monday morning. So stay tuned and  get excited! And we promise we won’t make you jump through 8 million hoops to enter!

Yesterday, Erin Condren had a fun Facebook party where she was chatting with some of her fans. I totally forgot about it until Nina sent a text to Meredith and me, reminding us to get on Facebook because Erin Condren had posted this funny picture! I was dying laughing and then I wanted to run to California so I could go work in their offices with them.

3. You may have noticed a button on my sidebar for a fun company called List Plan It. They have so many amazing organizing tools and printables for you to use. They’re not free, but you can buy a one year subscription to download and print all that you want. And then it’s yours! I have loved this site and have used the printables for my home organization notebook and my recipe binder. Click here for hundreds of lists to put your world in order.

Just recently, I purchased an eBook from them called 100 Days to Christmas. Sweet Nina has already gone through the whole thing and done a great vlog review on her blog. Yesterday marked the first day of 100 days until Christmas day, so I started looking at my eBook. The book breaks down each day and gives you suggestions on things you can go ahead and do to prepare for the Christmas and holiday season. One of the biggest things for me is getting my shopping done and getting my addresses for Christmas cards organized. So I’m loving this eBook to help me stay organized so I don’t get overwhelmed later.

For me, as soon as November rolls around, life gets crazy with outside church and Junior League commitments. So I don’t want to be going crazy during such a fun and special time of year.

4. My twitter and blog friend, Katie from Loves of Life, created a super duper fantastic Fall Bucket List printable. Y’all. This thing is super cute and it gives you some great inspiration for fall activities with your family and friends. This is my absolute favorite time of year, so I love her list. It reminds me not to let this season pass by without soaking it all in and enjoying some great time outside.

Katie’s printable is free! Just click on her blog and read about how to print it out. Then print it out, frame it and check things off the list!

photo from Loves of Life

Do you ever find yourself doing something that you never thought you’d do? Or maybe you just never thought you’d be old enough to do something?

When I push my kids through the grocery store in the buggy and buy formula, diapers, and endless bags of string cheese for Hudson, I think, “who am I?”

How did I get here? I mean, I totally love it. But just seven years ago I was finishing college and didn’t have a plan in the world. So I went to grad school. And now here I am. I met my husband and instantly knew he was the one. We got married almost almost three years later, had two babies and now I’m here shopping for formula and diapers. I’m cooking casseroles and trying to make sure they’re toddler-friendly.

I think it’s truly remarkable how our lives can change.

I lie awake at night worrying about things I never imagined worrying about. You get pregnant and as you’re preparing to have your baby, you don’t think much past how to feed them and how to get them to sleep through the night. But what about the worries of how they’re doing in school? Or how they’re progressing developmentally or whether or not they’ve eaten enough fruits and vegetables?

The obvious answer here is that I’m a mother. But is the girl from seven years ago still there somewhere?

Sometimes I don’t know. When you have kids, your heart and your mind are consumed with your kids. You’re changed. You’re softened and in some ways you’re hardened. You want them to be healthy, safe, happy, kind, caring and if you’re like me, you’re praying that you are helping to work in their heart to bring them to Jesus. It’s heavy stuff and it’s a lot of responsibility. Obviously. You think of them first.

But you also can turn on the “mama bear” so quickly and come to their defense and rescue. How crazy is it to think that I am my kids’ advocate? I speak for them. I look out for their best interest. Me!

There was a time in my life when my only responsibility was to get up and go to work every day. I could sleep in on Saturdays, stay out as late as I wanted and zip off out of town for the weekend. Most of us had a time like that in our lives.

But I truly don’t miss those things. Now I clip formula coupons and send Hudson to his room when he misbehaves. But I also snuggle and sing songs. And somehow, over the past two years, I’ve grown up. People have said to me on this blog (mothers that were wiser than I was) that this time would come. I’d stop worrying about what people thought of me. I’d stop focusing on silly things and appearances. It’s just too exhausting to try to keep up and to waste time with insecurity. (Trust me, I still have plenty of insecurities, but they’re much better than they were.)

At the end of the day, it takes me a pretty long while to turn off the mom mode and get to a place where I can clear my mind, completely unwind and let go. Maybe that will change with time. If I’m with a fun group of girls or my husband and I are out by ourselves, I can find that silly spirit of mine that has been slightly stifled by responsibility and overwhelming love.

But that responsibility and the overwhelming love are the reasons I get out of bed in the morning. I can look back sometimes with nostalgia at that girl I used to be while I thank God for where I am right now.