100th Blog Post

Hello friends! Happy Tuesday. This is my 100th blog post here in Undomestic Mom and I couldn’t be happier about it. I started this blog on March 7th, 2018 and I really had no idea where it would go. I thought I’d write about all mom-related things and see where it took me.

Well a few months in, I discovered that I had a knack for meal planning and I’ve written about it ever since. Keeping the blog running has been a highlight of the last 14 months of my life. Today I wanted to share 100 Things You Might Not Know About Me: The Undomestic Mom.

Blog Beginnings

1. 1. The name Undomestic Mom is a play off the book Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. Author of the Shopaholic series.
2. 2. In the book, the main character Samantha knows nothing about housekeeping and ends up as a maid for a family. I feel like I’m in a similar situation with my own family🤣
3. 3. I kept the blog secret from everyone in my life for about two weeks. (Except my husband because I ran into tech issues.) I didn’t tell friends or family until I launched it.
4. 4. They were all really supportive once they found out.
5. 5. Initially I was going to start a YouTube channel, but thought the blog would be easier to do. I was wrong, lol!
6. 6. No matter what platform you choose, telling your story on the internet takes a lot of hard work.
7. 7. I did my first Facebook Live on March 25, 2018. Only weeks after starting my blog.
8. 8. I started doing Facebook Live’s because I Googled “How to Get More Traffic to My Blog” and a bunch of articles said that doing Facebook Live would help.
9. 9. I had no idea what I was doing but I did it anyways! Video definitely calls my name.
10. 10. I’ve had to Google everything under the sun to keep my blog running. I once Googled “How do I get words on my pictures?” when I was trying to make a Pinterest graphic.

Younger Years

1. 11. I’m the second oldest of six kids.
2. 12. I have 4 brothers and one sister.
3. 13. I was raised by a single-mom and that’s where my frugal tendencies come from.
4. 14. She’s also who taught me meal planning.
5. 15. My mom didn’t drive until I was 22 years old. So she would meal plan for 2-3 weeks at a time and stock up because she knew she couldn’t get rides to the grocery store as often.
6. 16. My earliest culinary influences were my mom and Jeff Smith from the Frugal Gourmet.
7. 17. The first recipe I ever made was a brown sugar broiled grapefruit when I was six. True story.
8. 18. My second culinary influences were Susan Feniger (from watching Two Hot Tamales) and Bobby Flay (from watching Grillin’ & Chillin’).
9. 19. The first food I learned to cook on my own was scrambled eggs. Only took me 15 years to actually get them perfect😂
10. 20. The smell of over-cooked eggs will forever haunt my dreams.
11. 21. The first dinner I remember making by myself was chicken kievs and rice when I was 8.
12. 22. When I was 10 my mom worked nights and I cooked dinner for my brothers and sister multiple times a week.
13. 23. One time I made tuna noodle casserole and when I took it out of the oven it was super flat looking and I didn’t know why. I looked in the sink and saw the drained noodles that I forgot to mix in.
14. 24. Once when I was 12, I made a batch of cinnamon muffins from scratch without a recipe and they turned out perfect.
15. 25. I’ve never been able to recreate them.
16. 26. I was destined to be an entrepreneur. When I was 9, my brother and I cut up oranges and put them in baggies and went around the neighborhood selling them. We also tried to sell bags of dirt.
17. 27. I always loved baking because I have a sweet tooth. My mom would get so mad at me when I’d bake a cake on a 90 degree day.
18. 28. Growing up my best friend’s least favorite meal was beef stroganoff so I thought I hated it too. When I was 23, I had it for the first time and fell in love! It’s one of my favorite foods.
19. 29. I grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago and it shows.
20. 30. In third grade I won the spelling bee by spelling Delicatessen right.

Teen Years

1. 31. As much as I loved to cook, I never wanted to go to culinary school.
2. 32. I really wanted to be a radio DJ.
3. 33. My church fund-raised by making elephant ears at our local carnival and I thought that was the best job ever.
4. 34. Still didn’t inspire me to be a chef.
5. 35. I worked at a plant nursery in high school.
6. 36. That’s how I met my husband. He was best friends with my co-worker.
7. 37. That co-worker became one of my dearest friends and we have been friends now for 17 years.
8. 38. I’ve held a few food service jobs in my life. I was a server at Fridays when I was 19 and a server at Olive Garden when I was 20.
9. 39. I think everyone should be a server at least once in their lives.
10. 40. Customer service wasn’t my strong suit so I became a nanny when I was 20 and never looked back.

Twenties

1. 41. I met Rachael Ray when I was 20 years old.
2. 42. She was on her 365 No Repeats book tour and was signing books at the Barnes & Noble at Old Orchard mall in 2005.
3. 43. She was not as nice as I expected her to be.
4. 44. She has inspired me more than any other chef on this Earth though, so I forgave her😂
5. 45. I went to school to be a nutritionist for a few years.
6. 46. During that time, I took two culinary classes and they taught me how hard it truly is to be a chef.
7. 47. And how late they stay up.
8. 48. That sealed the deal that I would never be one.
9. 49. I did learn a lot though. The basics of cooking are essential. Learn those first.
10. 50. I also had to cook a meal in front of the whole class and it felt so natural to me to speak to everyone while I cooked. My instructor told me I’d have a cooking show one day:)
11. 51. I got my food and sanitation license at this time and learned way too much about food safety.
12. 52. My instructor also like to share horror stories. Don’t eat at places with sticky seats, that’s all I’ll say.
13. 53. I worked at a place called Dream Dinners for a little bit. That was probably my first experience with how many people struggle with meal planning.
14. 54. Still destined to be an entrepreneur, my best friend and I started selling greeting cards on Etsy at this time.
15. 55. I decided school wasn’t for me. I loved being a nanny and selling cards on Etsy.
16. 56. I still haven’t graduated college.
17. 57. But it’s on my list of things to do before I die. Just for me, nobody else.
18. 58. Selling cards on Etsy was tough. Creating was a blast but promoting was hard.
19. 59. We closed up shop before we hit our first year but we still make cards for fun.
20. 60. Plus we have loads of good memories from doing that together.
21. 61. That failure taught me that having a successful business is not only about creating. It’d also about marketing and that’s the hard part.
22. 62. I became an aunt when I was 23.
23. 63. I got engaged on Easter when I was 26.
24. 64. My engagement ring is a marquis-cut Moissanite.
25. 65. I picked it out.
26. 66. 2013 was the second best year of my life. I went to Las Vegas, Nashville, had my bachelorette party, had my bridal shower, got married and went on my honeymoon.
27. 67. We got married on our 11 year dating anniversary.
28. 68. We went to Denmark, Norway and Sweden for our honeymoon.
29. 69. Norway was a bucket list destination since I was a little girl and I went on the Maelstrom ride at Epcot.
30. 70. The Maelstrom closed on 10/5/14. One of my biggest regrets was not going on it one last time before it closed.
31. 71. My birthday is October 2nd. I was going to go for my birthday and ride it all day and then fly home. I didn’t do it because I thought it was silly.
32. 72. Legit sad about it as I type this. Do the silly things.
33. 73. I had my first daughter when I was 29. Perfect way to end my 20s.
34. 74. Her name is Georgia, after my maternal Grandma.

Thirties

1. 75. I had my thirtieth birthday at a bowling alley.
2. 76. I’m really proud of myself for spelling thirtieth right.
3. 77. I had my second daughter when I was 31.
4. 78. Her name is Kerrigan, after Dwight in The Office dressing up as Kerrigan from Starcraft for Halloween. True story.
5. 79. I have a pool. I always wanted a house with a pool.
6. 80. I started a playgroup when I wanted to make friends as a SAHM. I got six friendships that I wouldn’t trade for the world.
7. 81. I have a black Nissan Rogue and I really wanted a black Nissan Rogue.
8. 82. When I want something, I go after it hard. That’s one of my best qualities.
9. 83. I’m a huge procrastinator. That’s one of my worst.
10. 84. I want one more child, maybe two.
11. 85. If I was a millionaire, I’d probably have a surrogate though because I hate being pregnant.
12. 86. I started the blog when I was 32.
13. 87. I lived the best year of my life when I was 32.
14. 88. I believe I can achieve anything I set my mind to.
15. 89. Through hard work and guidance.
16. 90. I’ve never been more proud of myself than I was this year.

10 More Random Things About Me

1. 91. I’m luckily enough to have three best friends.
2. 92. I want to travel to all 50 states before I die. I’m knocking off Alaska this year. And hopefully Colorado.
3. 93. My nickname is T. Almost everyone in my life calls me that. Except my husband who calls me Bebs. I also call him Bebs.
4. 94. I like to connect deeply with people. I’m awful at small talk but you can tell me all about your deepest thoughts and I will be extremely comfortable in that conversation.
5. 95. The Office is my life. If I could meet anyone, it would be Michael Scott. If I ever meet Steve Carrell, I fully intend on asking him if I can meet Michael Scott.
6. 96. I hate stinky cheeses, spicy food and foie gras. I love shellfish, burritos and these brownies that my friend Katie’s husband Tim once made. They are the best thing you’ll ever eat.
7. 97. I’m black licorice, you either love me or hate.
8. 98. I think my husband is the smartest and funniest man in the entire world.
9. 99. I think my daughter Georgia is the most kind-hearted, ingenious lady I have ever known.
10. 100. I think my daughter Kerrigan is the sweetest, cutest, devilish baby that ever graced this Earth.

The 101th Thing You Might Not Know About Me

101. My readers lit up my life the last year. From the comments on the blog to the comments on my Facebook Live’s to the email replies I have gotten, I’m so blessed to have such an amazing fan base behind me. Thank you so much for your continued support. Things are only going to get better from here.