Friends, I am so excited to kick off my new series with the fabulous Lisa Milestone. Lisa is a good friend, a great mama, and owner of my favorite little party store, Pippa and Co. Everything she does is pretty as can be and you can follow her on Instagram @pippacoevents. Now for the interview!
Q. Tell us a little about your family. (Names, ages, fun facts).
Mom to Tycho 3.5 years & Philippa (Pippa) 1.5 years. They love dancing, singing, and talking very loudly.
Q. How do you find work/life balance? Any helpful tips to share?
Along with my partner & husband Philip, we help one another to have time for the family, our jobs & ourselves. I tend to be the one who cleans and coordinates our living space. I also take the lead on dressing the kids each day and getting us out the door. Philip is the one that keeps us nourished for all meals plus does most of the food shopping, keeping it very local and all organic.
Together we raise our kids by making the time (even with as little that we have) to be extremely present in their lives – one way we do that is by enrolling our oldest at a co-op preschool. it allows us to be a “working parent” 1 day a week, which we alternate, plus fulfill a “job” for the school. It’s very rewarding to be so hands-on in the classroom and in maintaining the school. It builds a strong sense of family for us and creates a wonderful community for our kids.
Q. How do you carve out time for yourself? What do you do when you find it?
Any chance I can – but truthfully in this first year of opening the Pippa & Co. storefront, ME time is sometimes just working & building on this dream business that I’ve started.
Q. What do you like to do with your kids? Any easy snacks, gear or products that are lifesavers/time savers when you are out on the go?
We love to take the kids on art & science museum adventures, nature hikes & meet ups with friends. Our orbit baby stroller has been the best purchase we ever made – 1 kid in the seat, the other one on the skateboard. Our latest purchase is good as they are getting older. Instead of buying a second car – we figured out a better and more efficient way to get around our little town of alameda was to get a cargo bike. After visiting Copenhagen years ago, we knew one day we had to have something like the cargo bike they use, the christiania, and after much research found this amazing dutch bike (babboe curve) that is imported & sold from a great shop in Palo Alto.
Q. As a busy mom, how do you approach cooking and meal planning?
I try to plan simple 30 minute meals – the quickest & tastiest way to do that is for me to follow a recipe. my go to collection of cookbooks are the FoodMade Fast series from williams-sonoma . Although, Philip is the one who does most of the cooking and he usually sets a delicious meal in the slow cooker. He’s originally from Wisconsin so these typically end up being hearty midwestern meals – but he gets creative, makes it up as he goes along and adds loads of fresh veggies to keep it healthy.
Thanks for sharing, Lisa! Have any great work/life tips to share? Contact me at inquiries@shiragill.com to be a featured mom on the site.
