Happy Valentine's Day & Fat Tuesday!
prepping for Lent...
Happy Sunday! Whew, what a crazy start to February! I was sick two weekends ago and then Rosemary came down with another ear infection last weekend. My hope is to get this newsletter out each week but thanks for your patience and understanding when it doesn’t happen.
So let me catch you up with what’s been going on…
Growing a small, family-owned business is intense. There are a lot of relationship dynamics on top of the logistics of employee management, revenue optimization, scale strategy, ect, ect. The last year of my career has definitely been the biggest learning curve since I started Ringlet in 2016. Now working for JC Law as COO, I am in a totally different realm of the legal world, even though I’m still operating in the professional services industry. Balancing work, family, marriage, faith, and a side business (Catholic Women in Business), is a lot. I’m re-learning how to emotionally and mentally regulate stress and prioritize my time.
We had our annual firm party last weekend. It was a fun occasion to get dressed up!
This week I haven been mentally preparing for Lent to begin in just a few days. I was gifted the Blessed Is She Lenten devotional and I can’t wait to dive in. The theme this year is “Rescued: Lent with the Lamb of God” builds off of BIS’s Advent theme in December which was “Jesus the Good Shepherd”. I loved contemplating the protective and caring nature of Jesus for Advent and I’m looking forward to
Lastly, my Co-President Taryn and I were guests on EWTN’s show Women of Grace with host Johnette Williams and the episodes aired this past week! You can watch Part One Here and Part Two Here. It was such an honor to talk about Catholic Women in Business, our mission, and how the Lord has shaped our ministry over the last six years.
How are you entering Lent this year? Are you feeling burnt out or energized as we enter into this new liturgical season?
Things I Loved This Week:
The girls were given these sensory bins this week and they were a big hit! They spent hours playing with them. I have to say the pieces in the bin and the play dough were definitely higher than any other bin they’ve had before.
I ordered a few pieces from the Meri Meri Valentines Day collection that arrived this week and they are adorable! I’m a huge Valentine's Day fan. We plan to celebrate on Fat Tuesday this year since Ash Wednesday falls on February 14th.
Speaking of last minute Valentine’s Day gifts…Hunter gifted me with this necklace this year for my birthday/Valentine’s Day. He had the girls’ names and our wedding date engraved on it. I can’t wait for it to arrive in the mail!
Taryn and I recorded a Catholic Women Lead podcast episode a few weeks ago about “a day in our lives”. We detail what this season of our lives looks like as a part-time-working-from-home-mom (Taryn) and a full-time-working-outside-of-the-home-mom (Elise). I really appreciate learning about other women’s day-to-day schedules, no matter what work looks like for them.
Have a wonderful Fat Tuesday (I hope you get to eat lots of sweets!) and a peaceful Ash Wednesday.
xo Elise Crawford Gallagher