Mom Guilt at its finest as documented by a working mother

automatic reply: please excuse me while I go cry in a corner

the beast that is mom guilt comes in many forms. but no forms have compared in magnitude to a recent trip where i was away for exactly 7 days/nights in a row. as luck would (not) have it, a long anticipated girls weekend backed up right into a work trip. don't get me wrong, the time away is sometimes a welcomed full night of sleep, or a meal where no one pillages the goodies on my plate, but at the end of the week, it literally hurt inside. obviously by the photos i have included in this post, you can tell the girls were in the most capable of hands, but nothing compares to being there, present & included in the memories. at age 13 months old I was terrified to miss Amara's first steps (don't worry, they still haven't happened yet :-) and at 3 1/2 years old, it could have meant missing the first time asha proudly wrote her name. needless to say, being away for that long was rough.

while i was away, i received these most lovely photos from superdad. this girl starts with cheese, usually moves to meats, and leaves the veggies for the floor (aka for the dog)

grocery shopping.

hiking at the quarry by our house with both girls & the dog.

couch/snuggle/movie time most likely watching frozen.

after brewing up a batch of beer late one night after the girls went to bed, jimmy made fresh baked bread with the leftover grain....!!!

meanwhile...in a land far far away....

my first visit to the walton 5 & 10 museum in bentonville, AR!

"perhaps the most important thing to remember about sam walton's office is that it was usually unoccupied. he spent as much time as possible doing what he truly enjoyed - visiting associates in the stores."

supine woman | wayne thiebaud | 1963

(but if I could rename it, I would call it "working mother" hehe)

dragoon l walt kuhn l 1947

was super impressed by crystal bridges, a museum of american art in the heart of middle america!! could not believe the amazing pieces that this museum featured, and was a pretty cool spot to do a team offsite for a few hours.