A girls' night out that really WORKS

I keep meaning to write about my Learning Circle but life keeps getting in the way!

I miss the days when I'd discuss the meaning of life alongside other much less deep but very fun topics with roommates and friends back in my single days.  I love a good conversation.  And while my kids certainly seek out some conversation with me (everything from "Want to hear another knock knock joke?" for the 500th time to "Do you think aliens really exist?") and my husband and I squeeze a few conversations in here and there, I miss hanging out with other women without our kids crawling all over us.  I do.

Thanks to my Learning Circle, every 3rd Wednesday night at 8pm, I can plan on a seriously uplifting, fun and idea-filled evening with some great women.  We trade off meeting at different group member's homes.  We all read a thought-provoking but pretty short article on motherhood (provided by Power of Moms) and then we get together to discuss the concepts in the article with the help of some great discussion questions (again, provided by Power of Moms).

Last night we talked about this article called "I was Cute, Fun and Smart - and Then I Became a Mom."  We all talked about what we miss about our pre-mother selves - and what we've gained from becoming mothers.  We talked about ways to infuse more fun into our lives, to feel a little "cuter" and to pursue our talents and interests in ways that work well with our current primary pursuit of motherhood.  People brought up some great points.  Then we all left with the challenge to make some resolutions that build on what we discussed - and share those resolutions with each other.  Here's the resolution I just emailed to my group:

"I'm going to keep a list of all little things I do to make regular old life more fun with my family this month (as I go about my regular day, I'm going to keep asking myself in the moment, "how could I make this fun?" - like we talked about).  Maybe I'll even blog about some of the good things I'll hopefully come up with.  I can be fun.  I can I can I can!"

And here are my friend Rebecca's resolutions - she's putting my lame resolution to shame!


"Hopefully I will be cuter after finally getting my hair done tomorrow (hallelujah!). Plus, I am going to smile more. I have just posted signs all over my house that say, "S.M.I.L.E." and I am hoping that my children will notice them, ask me about them, and then remind me of my resolve to smile more. In doing so, I hope the smile will resonate through my voice and interactions with my family.


I am also going to learn how to use one new option on my camera AND look into taking a photography class to start learning how to take better pictures of my cute kids!


Also, I have started a list of fun things that I do with my family and I'll keep adding to it.


Whew--wish me luck!"