The Having It All Project: Casey Carey-Brown

I'm thrilled to feature Casey, blogger at LifewithRoozle.com, on The Having It All Project today. Somehow I only found out about her blog recently, despite her living close by, but I'm so glad I did because as she says, her life rules. She rocked as one of the Voices of the Year at BlogHer, and getting to meet her was one of the highlights of the conference for me. Here's how Casey is having it all.

Briefly describe your life and what you think makes it unique.

We are a two mom family living in Boston. We have one child, a daughter, who is four. She is living the urban childhood dream, climbing fire hydrants, leaping off the neighbor's stoop, and swinging from railings one morning at a time. 

What are some of your favorite tips and strategies for coping with the chaos?

Our main strategy for coping with the chaos is to keep things as simple as possible. Meals are simple. Toys and messes are kept to a minimum. We find that if our home is organized and we manage the clutter, our lives as a whole are much less stressful.  

Please share a moment where it all broke down, and how you got through it.

We always break down around now, nearing the end of the summer. We accidentally over-schedule, it's too hot to cook so we eat out too much, we're tired, we're busy. So we let little things creep in. The rules about screen time (two hours on the weekends only) start to break down, the toys find their way into the living room, cooking at home means quick more prepared foods than we would prefer. Here comes the time when we need to decide: do we just hold our breath until September and try to get through? Or is now the time to start making some changes to get ourselves back on track? We usually go with the changes, but it's hard. We're tired. 

Do you have any balance role models? Anything you try to avoid because it wouldn't work for you?

Has anyone really been able to find the balance? I feel like as soon as I find it, something happens and I lose it again. I just try to focus on the good stuff, we try our best, and know overall that we're doing a good job. I think my role models are usually people who admit they don't have balance, that life is sometimes hard, but they try to find the joy in it.  

Think back to your 18th birthday. How is your life different from how you expected it to be then?

At 18, I envisioned a life where I would be married to a man, have lots of children, and stay home, probably homeschooling them. While that is certainly not the life I have now, I wouldn't change anything about what I do have. This life I have, though it's sometimes tricky, totally rules. I'm married to the love of my life who gives me more than I ever imagined. We have an awesome kid who teaches us about ourselves and the world every day. We really like her quite a bit. And we are able to work at jobs that are fulfilling while providing for our family. The one thing at 18 that I wanted more than anything, that I do have, is the ability to write. I have always wanted to be a writer, but for a long time didn't know what that would look like. My 18 year old self would be very impressed by all the writing I've done and how I've made that a priority.

Relate to what Casey is saying? Leave her some love in the comments. Read other posts from The Having It All Project here. Want to participate? Send me an email at havingitallproject@gmail.com