My Story - Main Line Mama

Hi! I’m Bridgid. Welcome to my site!

A little about me…

You’re probably wondering with all the charts… my background’s in finance. I graduated with honors from West Chester University, receiving my Bachelor’s in Business Administration with specializations in Finance and Accounting. As a life-long Chester County resident, I really enjoyed spending my college years in the seat (really the heart!) of the county. I loved the area so much, I got my real estate license and paid for school, in part, by selling local real estate.

After college, I started my career with the U.S. Department of Treasury – The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA for short. My job was to audit the auditors… yep, I helped keep the IRS in check! My work help detect and prevent inefficiency, waste, and abuse in the government. My team would conduct performance audits where we would review certain high-risk programs, looking at things like whether taxpayer rights were potentially violated, or if process inefficiencies were costing the agency – and taxpayers – money. I would conduct reviews from start to finish – from researching laws, regulations, guidance; to extensive data analysis during fieldwork; to writing reports with our findings, then proofing, fact-checking… and fact-checking again. My team’s reports would then be sent to the Inspector General, the IRS Commissioner, and often, Congress.

I was extremely career-oriented, taking a lot of pride in my work and focusing mostly on how to get the next promotion. Then something completely unexpected happened… The day before my 26^th birthday, I met my (now) husband, Kevin, in Avalon, NJ. I fell pretty fast, and soon after, my life revolved around him and his two children from his previous marriage, Brooke (now 14) and Christian (almost 11).

The first few years of integrating our modern family were a whirlwind. My life had changed so much, so quickly… and I had no idea what I was doing. My focus on work shifted as I tried to figure out the answers to the seemingly infinite series of questions that ran through my head…

How am I going to be a good step-mom? (OMG how am I already a ‘mom’?!?)
How am I going to run a house?? How do I even decorate a house? (Wait, Restoration Hardware is HOW MUCH?!? … Is it tacky to use the Target coffee table from my old 900 sqft apartment?!?)
There are how many soccer practices this week?! Ok, how can we organize this so we all know what’s going on?? (Speaking of organizing, what the heck is going on in our pantry? I guess I should probably do something about that…)

…You get the idea. So while my friends got their MBAs… I got myself an SUV. I mean, there is A LOT of soccer…

My heart (and schedule!) grew that much fuller when our family of four expanded to five, then six, with the births of my daughters Brianna (now 4), and Blaire (2) the following years. I had everything that a working mom could dream of – beautiful, healthy children; a loving husband; a comfortable home; a successful career… but, I felt like I was being pulled in so many directions and no longer doing anything well. I couldn’t give 100% to anyone, and hated letting down the most important people in my life. Although it was a very difficult decision to make, I decided to leave my job at TIGTA shortly after Blaire was born to be a stay-at-home mom.

I’m a mom, but that of course doesn’t mean that I stopped being me. It also doesn’t mean that I stopped using the analytical skills that I’ve been honing for the better part of the last decade. Quite the contrary… I’m just focusing my mental energy towards more domestic and community-oriented endeavors. I still problem-solve in much the same way I always I have, similar to the way that I conducted my work at TIGTA. When I’m trying to solve for something unknown, I tirelessly research and analyze data until I’m able to reach an acceptable conclusion.

And now, with the creation of Main Line Mama, I’m going to report my findings to you!