{photo by vicki lynn photography}
I can hardly contain myself. I can’t believe I’ve kept this off my blog this long…

Tomorrow, I have a local magazine coming to my house for several reasons. Remember how I do happy dances, in particular “leaps” around my house when good things happen? This would be one of those moments. First, I am being featured in an article about Mom-trepenuers ….mommas staying home with little ones and running businesses from home. I’ve been in business for a long time (real estate), but in this new little venture I have surely found my passion. Lucky me, I’m going to get some local exposure for it, too! Yippee!

Second, after I met with the publisher, she asked if I would be willing to style a party for the fashion spread in the magazine…..ummm, hello? YES! Dream gig, right?! Another happy dance….
So let me start with this Mom-trepeneur thing. If you don’t know me, I would say that I am a “working girl”. I have ALWAYS worked and always been very motivated. How many girls do you know that were AVON ladies when they were 14? Who does that? Obviously, it was something my mom suggested and I went for it! My real estate career started early as a weekend receptionist (the month after I turned 16), and then going to real estate school on a summer off from ASU, when I was 18. I also babysat, worked at LA Fitness, interned for a culinary magazine, sold Gold Canyon candles and did tea parties for little girls. Oh, and the real stuff after college…I worked for a large advertising agency, several real estate companies, and then partnered with my momma to open our own real estate company about 8 years ago.

Here I am, in an awful real estate market, with two little ones and the opportunity (or need) to stay home with them. (I must say thank you to my wonderful hubby and mommy who are out there working hard in that awful real estate market!) Being the the person I am, I cannot sit still….and discovered the world of blogging. Okay, so I did try to blog about real estate previously. However, I am a very POSITIVE person and I just can’t find much to say that is positive about the real estate market. Not to mention, if someone wants me to show them properties, it’s tough to be available when you have two small children. So with a little time on my hands and a need for accomplishing something (not that raising children isn’t an accomplishment, but you know what I mean), I decided to blog about things that make me happy..and The TomKat Studio was born (Tom = Tommy, Kat = Kate)!

After getting some great responses on projects that I posted, I decided to throw together a shop on Etsy to sell some of the things that I like to make. Seriously, I really just wanted to see if anyone would buy my stuff. I’ve made invitations since I can remember, but I have never attempted to sell them before. Not that I wouldn’t want to, but more for lack of time when running another business.

So……here I am….a Mom-trepeneur and loving it!! I feel like I’m just getting started and have so many ideas, but I’m going to have to figure out a workable balance! In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy the thrill of a new adventure!

Okay, so this post went way off in a direction that I didn’t foresee…..so more on the magazine shoot tomorrow! I need to go to bed, if I want to try to be pretty tomorrow….