Friday Five: Dopamine Menu Musts + Fresh Perspective

PLUS: Mom Flow Social Club recap

Happy Friday, flow-ers! So glad to be back after taking the week off after the first Mom Flow Social Club event last week! I was so spent, in the best way possible. I have so much to fill you in on so let’s make it happen.

P.S: don’t forget to listen to this like a podcast using the article voiceover feature at the top of this post (I read it to you with extra commentary!)

🥂 Mom Flow Social Club recap

I cannot believe the very first Mom Flow Social Club was is in the books and it was beyond fantastic… like, I couldn’t have imagined how well it went. To say I was thrilled would be an understatement. We had 52 guests who enjoyed wine, food, hand massages, bracelet making, giveaways and gift bags. Oh, and Momfessions where smaller groups broke out into separate spaces, anonymously writing down something that has made them feel guilt or shame about motherhood, putting it into a bag, and each woman read a random Momfession to the group. There was laughter, tears, and a level of connection we rarely get to feel. This pic is just a small amount of the Momfessions our guests wrote down, and they brought tears to my eyes for sure.

Here is what a few attendees said about how they felt after The Mom Flow Social Club:

I felt super light and optimistic. I felt less alone as a mother and more fulfilled as a human. So inspired.

Loved how the mom confessions were so relatable to all of us. Felt heard.

Happy, uplifted, refreshed, relaxed.

Like I had a nice night out with ladies in the same stage of life as me and could relate to me

Loved meeting other moms, especially entrepreneurs who could sympathize with the ups and downs of being a SAHWM. I wanted to chat MORE with them and share ideas that can help us all. Such a wealth of knowledge all in one room!

So many more, but I wanted to just give you a little peek and this filled my cup so much. I truly believe moms make the world go round and they are often overlooked, minimized, ignored. We struggle so much and feel so alone. Reading these further cemented that we need each other! This is going to be the first of many more.

✨New perspective

Roberto and his entire fam will be out of town coming up and I was feeling pretty nervous just because (and don’t eyeroll me but we are honest here!) I feel nervous being totally alone with any without family in town for 4 days. I was voice-noting my close friend talking through it, because we all know this is a form of therapy (hands up!) and she gave me such great advice. First of all, unsolicited advice when someone is venting can be extremely annoying unless I’ve felt understood and heard first. Like, please don’t prescribe anything until I’ve gotten it all out, and we’ve connected, can you relate? I digress. So this particular friend always makes me feel so so good about myself, like she ‘gets me’ and she gives sage advice every single time. She suggested that I look at this as a fun opportunity to do things with Lola and have some real mom and me moments, unique things we‘ve never done together. I love this so much. Guys, I think I may even let her sleep in bed with me?! We are very strict sleepers (meaning we have never co-slept, ever ever) so this would mayyybe be a huge mistake?! Keep ya posted. But I booked us high tea with friends, and I’m actually looking forward to it now. Perspective shifts really are everything!

💪🏽 Dopamine menu

The days are shorter, and we are exhausted, not to mention things are insanely crazy for us moms right now with the holidays. I can’t believe what we get done and manage over the holidays, like it is so intense. I could speak more on this, but I also am not one to get too caught up in every detail and recognize that simple can often feel so much better. THAT SAID, I want to do it in a weird way? OK, so anyways, I have taken up the practice of the dopamine menu, which means a selection of things you can do to give you those little moments of happy during your day, because I actually think that this can contribute to us feeling fulfilled and setting the tone. We all know if mama isn’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. This is mine:

Starbucks drive thru (it’s a treat for me, and holiday drink is a double tall 2 pump, no whip, peppermint mocha)
Lighting a candle
Turning on the fireplace
Podcast while I shower
Movie night snuggles and popcorn with Lola
Massages (feet and back, please)
Bougie dinner out with gf’s (just went to Bacchus at Wedgewood Hotel and it’s the exact vibe I wanted)
Using my heated steering wheel and heated seats
Girl dinner (dips, chips, veggies, Diet Pepsi w. lotttts of ice)
Bedtime TikTok scroll

🎁 My holiday hack

Something I like to do to streamline the holiday season is to bake for my gift list. It’s my very fave thing to honour the holiday season because growing up, xmas baking was a huge part of our celebration. The warm and fuzzies around Christmas baking is something we enjoy so much, and the moment I go back to my hometown for xmas I bake up all our family faves. Last year I baked around 15 Mimi’s Cinnamon Swirl Loaves, wrapped them up, and gifted with a ‘don’t open until xmas morning’ tag. It’s what we enjoy on xmas morning while opening gifts, so I love the idea that ppl closest to us will also! I want to share Mimi’s Cinnamon Swirl Loaf recipe with you, along with the rest of our fam faves, below.

Cinnamon Swirl Loaf - this is our most prized family recipe that I always swore I would never share, and then I did. This one instantly reminds me of my mom.

Butter Tart Squares - probably my second fave recipe for the hols and the only time I will eat raisins. Doubling the recipe is the only way here.

Twix Bars - for the caramel, shortbread and choco lovers (I suggest some sea salt on top!)

Pecan Snowballs - so festive, buttery and the easiest recipe ever.

Sugar Cookies - an ode to my grandma, I love cutting them into cute shapes and have started decorating them with icing. So fun to do with the kiddos!

✨ Things I’m loving right now

Just a reminder on holiday cards bc we just got ours and they are sooo cute!!! Minted always does our holiday cards and if you’re planning yours, make sure to use my code to save 20% and free shipping ERINHOLIDAY2024

Obsessed with my butter bell and even my MIL said she wants one (this never happens!)

The best gift for parents grand parents is a photo calendar! I get ours at London Drugs,

That’s it for this week. If you like this content, don’t forget to show up for me with a like or comment. Thanks for the comments Elaine, Mal, Whitney and Katie. Each comment means a lot to me!

xx, Erin

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