I just spent the last 5 days on the Italian Riviera with 3 friends from college, one of whom is lucky enough to live there. I don’t know what was more healing, the clear blue Mediterranean Sea water, the delicious food and wine, or just being with old friends and staying up all night laughing until my stomach hurt.
So my friend in Italy, Angelica, is a mom of 3 kids: her oldest is 3, and her twins are 6 months. These are the happiest kids I have ever seen, and Angelica makes it look easy. Is it the air in Italy, or maybe the food? I don’t know how she does it, especially as she is a full-time working mom. All I know is that back when I had 3 kids under 4 years old, it was full-on stress, 24/7.
You would think that, since Angelica is one of my closest and oldest friends, that she would be a loyal momAgenda user. You would be wrong. I was horrified to see what she calls her “agenda”:
Needless to say I nearly threw up when I saw this “system,” and my friends almost died laughing at the look on my face.
Despite her horrific-looking system, she is really making it work. She has everything super-organized, from meal planning to her household help to her errands. She had every day planned perfectly, and knew how long each excursion would take and exactly what train or bus or ferry we would need to get there. She even knew exactly which shops we needed to visit on our shopping day so that we could bring home legit Italian goodies for our families. And of course, which Italian shop serves the absolute best focaccia in the western world.
Angelica is just one of those lucky few who were born organized. This was evident back when we were in college, when she was President of our sorority our junior year, among many other responsibilities she took on at Colgate, not to mention her school work and a very busy social schedule. I wish I was born with this skill, but sadly I am someone who has to work hard at being organized.
This brings us back to our Monday Challenge. Here is your question:
Is organizing innate? Or is it something you have to work at?
i thinkit’s innate, and it’s 90% anal-retentiveness and the other 10%OCD: I’m lucky enough to actually have to use these skills for work, so instead of being considered annoying, i’m actually considered efficient!
i love you and thank you for the visit (and the compliments).
ps: it ain’t easy,i’m just good at faking it!
xxoo
I’m hyper organized—you know me. I was maybe the only girl in college who vaccumed her room weekly because I can’t stand clutter and mess. That’s how my brain works – my brain and my surroundings need to be decluttered in order for me to function efficiently.
But the real reason why I had to chime in on this post is because…THAT’S ONE GOOD LOOKING CAPPUCINO IN THE BACKGROUND!!
Love you girls! xo
Wait, we had a vacuum in college? Wow, you learn something new every day…:-)
That’s true, it is definitely innate for Angelica, and I will never forget the to-scale drawings of your bedroom you would send your mom… you and Heidi were/are so organized, I don’t know how you guys put up with me!!!
i’m a virgo and obsessively, compulsively and anally organized. i have 4 kids age 10 months to 6 years, all with different interests and needs. i have a husband who not once in the nine years we have been married has bought his father, mother, sister or niece/nephew a birthday/xmas/mother’s day/father’s day present. i work teaching yoga so have to be organized in my class plans ie – not repeating the previous week’s poses, and keeping track of who’s injured, who is new and who is pregnant/has their period.
i don’t think you can work at being organized. to a degree, perhaps, but you’ve got to be born with an ability to micromanage. oh, and you have to cut back on the vino. it used to be a bottle a day. now, more than 2 glasses and i can’t remember shit.
from the mamagirl’s sister.
ps – oh yeah, i couldn’t do it without my momagenda. mine’s purple.