Despite my desire for all of my mommy breaks to be focused on pampering and indulgence, one thing that I am challenging myself with is to seek diverse experiences during this year long journey!  This week's mommy break presented a great opportunity to do both!

WVON, Chicago's oldest African American News Talk Radio hosted an event called Speak Sistah Speak - An Evening with Valerie Jarrett!  I discovered the event through my Facebook newsfeed.   Easy mommy break!  I purchased my ticket about two weeks in advance, not even worried about schedule collisions because I was going to make it happen no matter what.  The week prior, while my husband was enjoying the DR (check out Week #5, Mommy Break #5), I realized that the event would be taking place the Monday after he got back home.   There was about 15 minutes of "mommy guilt" empathizing with  my husband having to deal withjet-lag and wanting to help the kids get to bed on time and then I snapped out of it! (smile). The journey must go on!

Side Bar: I am not sure if any other Mommy can relate, but Mondays are ALWAYS hectic for the Walker family.  No matter how hard I try to pack lunches the night before, get the kids down "on time", put away a load of laundry.  I always snooze myself awake and then wake up feeling rushed (wait this is every morning but I will save that for future post).  I have to figure out how to tighten up the routine. 

Anyway, back to the event.  So Monday morning,  I politely remind my husband about the event and that it is going require him to pick up both kids (from two different schools) because I wanted to be there promptly at 6PM.  He was kind of enough to oblige, so I sent a text with the dinner plan and tied up some loose ends at work before I left.  Upon arriving to the DuSable Museum of African American history, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that prior to the event there would be an open bar with heavy hors'douevers (SCORE)!  About an hour into the reception it was time to hear her!  Star Jones structured the interview to discuss some of the most pivotal moments of her 8 years as Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama.  The stories she shared were fascinating.  She had an awesome career leading up to her chance encounter with the future First Lady Michelle and President Obama and has a bright future ahead. 

Despite the insightful first hand accountsshe shared, there was one statement she made that resonated with me the most:  "Keep your sights on your true north".   When she first stated it, I thought "what is my true north".  I recalled that its the values that define who I am and I realized that in always going 100mph I never take a moment to reflect, define, and re-align to my "true north" .    In order to be the best "NICOLE" I can be, in every facet of my life, I need to always be guided by my "true north".   I will definitely be more intentional about this in 2017!

Ok, enough of the fluffy stuff!  

This week's Mommy Break also included a pampering opportunity with my monthly MomMeHour event!  This week's event, "Dress Like a Mom - Mommy Charity Event"  was hosted by the retailer, Evereve.  Evereve was founded by a Mom who wanted to create a new shopping experience for Moms who were trying to embrace their new post-baby physiques but still feel stylish and cute.  The event was a ton of fun! Moms were greeted by wine and cheese and a personal stylist to help them choose new pieces to update their wardrobe! Shopping, great conversation, and wine.  It really doesn't get any better than this!  I am episodes of mommy frumpiness... this was definitely a good kick start to challenging my normal wardrobe habits!  The icing on top is that 15% of the proceeds went to the Primo Center for Women and Children so our shopping helped a mom in need! 

Mommy Break Lesson Learned:  Don't feel guilty about fitting in two mommy breaks within one week.  If the stars align... 

Mommy Break Tip:Intellectually stimulating mommy breaks are a good thing!

Mommy Chore Tip: They will be there when you get back :)