***Thank you to Digital Parents Collective for inviting me to the Microsoft #OMGTips event and luncheon.  This post is not sponsored, however I did receive a free one year subscription of Microsoft 365 to review.  All opinions are, as always, mine.***

Lately, I’ve started pondering about paid work.  Nothing too drastic or in depth.  Once in a while I wonder what my options are.  Full time? Part time? Job share? Casual?  All the thinking turns into the proverbial headache.

What I am certain of, is the desire to return to the work force in some significant capacity because within, there are the remnants of a career woman screaming to shake some business trees again.

So why don’t I?  What’s stopping me?

I’ll be the first to admit that time management skills have somewhat dulled, lately.

When I used to be able to easily fill up my diary with 10 – 15 client meetings every week, I can now barely figure out what’s happening for dinner.

If there’s anything that’s terrifying me about going back to work is the fact that I would have to juggle motherhood, marriage AND having to be all profesh and stuff.

Several weeks ago, Digital Parents Collective kindly invited me to the Microsoft #OMGTips event held at swanky, The Establishment.

There were some innovative speakers, including  Melissa Doyle from Channel 7’s Sunrise, celebrity chef Ben O’Donoghue, inspirational high school principal, Stacey Quince and Microsoft tech guru working mum, ex-army officer Sarah Vaughn.

If companies and organisations are encouraging employees to achieve work/life balance, there’s certainly the commitment to provide the appropriate technological tools to make it happen.

Whether it was from an entrepreneurial, educational or corporate perspective, the speakers gave valuable tips on how to make working and home life easier and super efficient with a little help from technology.

Since the event, I’ve installed Office 365 on my Mac (for other Apple users, please ensure that your Mac OS X is supporting, at the least, version 10.5.8).  I’ve been extremely pleased.

In fact, dare I say, a new found sense of confidence has emerged.

I love how I can now write my posts hassle free on a Word document and link it directly to my blog.

Being able to sync my Outlook calendar with Mr Surfer’s is going to eliminate a LOT of misunderstandings and miscommunication when planning family appointments against my own schedule.

There’s even now the option to use Microsoft’s SkyDrive – cloud storage for all my files accessible from any one of my devices – even my smartphone. (You can install up to 5 devices with the one subscription of Microsoft 365).

The inner geek in me became terribly excited.

While I’m sorting out in my head and my heart what the next chapter of my career will be, I know now that I can be fully equipped and dare are I be completely clichéd, ready to take on the world.

I have one year subscriptions of Microsoft 365 to give away to 2 lucky readers!

To enter:

• Follow With Some Grace on Facebook
• Subscribe to With Some Grace:

• Leave a comment on the blog post telling me how you use technology to make life easier for you.

The important stuff:

• This giveaway is only open to Australian residents
• Closing date for entries is Monday, 15th of April.
• The winner will be contacted via email on the following Tuesday.
• If the winner does not reply to my email within 24 hours, another winner will be chosen.
• Entries will be judged on merit and decision of the winner will be final.
• Winners will be sent a copy of Microsoft 365 via Digital Parents Collective