Monthly Archives: November 2014

Today I’m calling in sick!  It’s a weird thing to do when you are your own boss.

Ever since I was little if I did too much or had too much on my plate, my body would react.  I would become exhausted or get a cold or just become really run down.  My mom always knew when it was going to happen and she would prepare for it.  She would warn me as I got older and ask me to slow down.  Even now, she does the same!  Mom’s always know!

This past weekend was amazing!  I spent all weekend in a gorgeous marshy field with this stunning weather and some families I absolutely love!  I had a blast catching up with them and photographing them and I felt truly blessed and honored.  I came home and thought about how crazy these few months have been and really how crazy this whole year has been!  I thought about how much I’ve been traveling for work and how it’s looking like the traveling isn’t going to stop any time soon.  That’s amazing!  I thought about how my weekends are booked solid with incredible families and that is something that last year I was only dreaming about!

My drives home from my sessions this weekend were filled with such gratitude and overwhelming emotions!

Then I got home yesterday… to a quiet house (Tuck and Linc went grocery shopping).  I ran upstairs to catch a few moments of peace with a new book and BAM… I was asleep (like hard core fast asleep) at 4:30 pm.  Who does that?!

I actually went to sleep last night at 4:30 in the afternoon BEFORE my two year old.  Tuck woke me up to eat dinner and then I went right back to sleep.  I was THAT exhausted and didn’t even realize it.

This morning I woke up and still felt like I could sleep for days.  I feel now the same way I used to feel after attending church or school lock ins.  The way you feel when you just don’t know if you could ever catch up on enough sleep.  Right now I’m coughing from allergies and I have NEVER had allergies before in my life.  I’m so off my game that while cleaning up after making our crock pot dinner for tonight I used a chlorox wipe IN MY EYE!

So I decided that today I’m taking a rest day and just calling in sick.  I hate to do it because I’m really excited to finish up the edits from this past weekends sessions, but I know I have to take care of myself too.  I still have more wonderful clients to see this week and they also deserve my best!

I realized this morning (after the chlorox wipe incident) that I haven’t really been taking care of myself at all lately.  I know my body and I know that I do have to do certain things in order to maintain my health!  Like my mom knows… I’m someone that can get easily overwhelmed when I have a huge plate.  I absolutely HAVE to take good care of myself!  I’ve been so busy lately that I’ve been blowing those things off.  I’ve skipped the doctor’s appointments I’ve set up.  I haven’t been going to the gym (in fact, I’ve ignored this cough for so long I haven’t even been able to teach body flow for several weeks).  I haven’t gone to get a massage (which I pay for a membership to Luxe because it helps my migraines) since April!

Gosh, I haven’t even showered regularly… I know that’s disgusting!  Hey… it’s the truth though!  I’ve been so busy trying to keep up with Linc in the muddy back yard shenanigans he loves, then running out to roll around in the leaves and dirt in my sessions that I just figure I’ll shower later!  SOOO GROSS!!!!

What I find most interesting about all this though is that a year ago I was barely even dreaming about this kind of busy!  This is amazing to me and I’m so beyond grateful that I just don’t have the words.  I love my clients so much!  I love that they believe in me and trust me to capture their memories and moments.  These precious moments of their family and little ones!

I want to make sure that what I do is perfect for them because they aren’t just clients to me!  They are extensions of my own family!  Once I met with these families… it’s just more than client and photographer.  Their faith in me really touches me in a way that I can’t ever explain!

This is why I don’t slow down!  I want to make sure everything is amazing and perfect and fast!

And my incredible family is supporting me in a way that allows me to do that!  Tuck never complains about a late night or a weekend where I’m working in the office.  If there is one thing he understands, it’s work and family balance.  I wish I had been more gracious with him about that!  I always push him to be more family oriented.  Tuck pushes me to see the business side of things.  We balance each other extremely well and we truly are a perfect fit for each other.  He is my driving force in this business.  He supports me to the ends of the earth and he believes in me when I sometimes don’t even believe in myself.  I feel extremely blessed!

This year has been an amazing year and I can’t wait to continue planning all these fun sessions with all these incredible families and stories!

But for today:  I realize I need to pause and slow down a bit.  In order to continue to give my clients and my family everything I have, I have to give some back to myself too!  I have to take a breather and catch up!

So today (just for today) I’m going to step away from the computer and the camera.  I’m going to take an incredibly and ridiculously long shower!  I’m going to curl up on the couch with my 65 lb. pitbull who thinks she’s a newborn baby!  I’m going to read a book and enjoy the silence and stillness of the house while Linc is enjoying his friends at school.

I might get bored even!  And that’s OK!

If you need me today, you are more than welcome to stop by but the rule is you must be in comfortable clothes.  You could also preferably stop by around lunch time maybe with some panera in hand 😉

I’ll be here… just catching up!

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Hi and Happy Friday!

Ok so usually at the beginning of a month I try to write out some goals for myself!  It keeps me on track with all the businessey stuff I am not so awesome at!

I know it’s the 7th of November but let’s just pretend it’s still the beginning of the month!  I mean it’s technically still the first week of November!

  • NO MORE YOGA PANTS!  Yes this is the first on my list!  I feel like this is on top of my goal list every month.  I love my yoga pants, I really do.  In fact, I prioritize my yoga pants and lululemon gear over all the other clothes I own and Tuck owns when it comes to what needs to be washed.  I’m not outlawing yoga pants at all because I do love them and I believe they can be quite fashionable.  I just need to mix it up a bit!  I have the habit of wearing all lulu every single day!  I do work at the gym, I do teach yoga so there’s part one of my excuse.  Part two of my excuse is that I have a crazy active and wild toddler!  I chase him around all over the place and he loves to play in the dirt and mud.  I feel totally better getting my lulu muddy than my nice J crew clothes.  BUT I think there is a time to switch some things up!  I have a crazy pinterest board filled with some pretty awesome outfit inspirations.  I need to mix some things up:  lulu bottoms and scarfs and sweaters!  Plus maybe ONE day my husband will take me on a date 😉
  • Mondays:  business admin days!  I need to get better about task days!  Make sure all my ducks are in a row and all my busy work stuff (post office, admin emails, contracts, invoices etc) are all taken care of at the beginning of the week!  Mondays are a great day to sit down and knock all of those out so the rest of the week I can feel free to work, edit and play!
  • Carry the camera again!  I was great about this when Tuck was deployed!  Now, I’m slacking on this.  I need to start bringing the camera with me and having it available around the house!  Linc is really super fun right now!  He is mimicking us right and left (which means we have to be super careful what we say and do) but it’s also super funny!  He is all over the place with his skills and language development and I feel like I am just missing so much when it comes to documenting all of this!
  • Teach Tuck Manual Settings:  Tuck is great with the camera but he hates it when I ask him to use it.  This means I have like zero photos of me and Linc together.  It also means if I’m not outside with the boys, I don’t have any images.  One thing I love to do is cook dinner for my family.  I may not be the best cook but there are some things I love to make and I make them pretty OK!  While I’m in the kitchen, Tuck and Linc are usually outside scooping dirt or rocks with all of Linc’s dump trucks or excavators.  Tippers usually outside playing too and I feel like there are soo many missed opportunities for some great images.  I’ll throw my camera outside to Tuck but he just rolls his eyes.  I need to teach him how to use the manual settings so he will LIKE taking images.  There is a fun challenge element to manual settings.  You have more artistic control.  Auto settings are just point and shoot and I know Tuck finds that boring.  The challenge will be learning from me.  He’s not a fan from learning from me.. hence the brand new surfboard that has been hanging out in our garage since I was pregnant.
  • More At home lifestyle sessions:  There is nothing like an at home session!  I ADORE these sessions but I hardly ever get the opportunity to do them!  What’s more beautiful and real then documenting your family in your home and special routines that you do as a family.  Think your special pancake breakfast you make with the kids.  Think jumping on the bed in the morning or family movie with popcorn!  They don’t always have to be indoors either.  These sessions are about whatever is special, routine and ritual for YOUR family!  What’s something you love to do with your kids that you have set up as a tradition!  What do your kids love to do right now?   Do they love to ride their bikes in the driveway while you sit in lawn chairs and cheer them on?!  Do they love to jump in the leaf pile you just raked!  These are the memories you will WANT to have.  Do you always walk on the beach on Saturday mornings and collect shells?  Let me capture these moments for you!  Family sessions aren’t always about the polished dressed up images.  They should also be about the every day moments too.  Those are the moments your kids will cherish and share with their children as traditions when they are adults!
  • Continue with Advocare:  I’ll be blogging about this because let’s face it Healthy is awesome!  If you haven’t heard of advocare be ready to read these posts and fall in love!  I’m a pretty healthy person on the outside.  If you look at me or know me on the surface:  I’m healthy!  I teach body flow, I run (even though I hate it) and I work out.  Looking at me you would say I’m pretty healthy and fit.  If you really KNOW me though… I’m a walking disaster!  I have a number of health problems ranging from migraines to anemia and worse!  I might be petite and little but I’m not really healthy!  Advocare is helping me become AMAZINGLY healthy and FEEL AWESOME!  I’m going to start blogging my journey on this incredible product because it’s just phenomenal!  Read my story and find out what this product is doing for me on Monday!

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday and an awesome weekend!  Here’s a little bouncing treat from my little man!  He’s a little bit of a bully on that air track!  He loves to bounce so much it’s hard to get him off.  And well… where’s Linc is his favorite game!  Sometimes if I leave the room for a second, he scares me because he hides so well in the couch I really can’t find him!

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Photography is amazing!  I truly feel blessed that I have found this gift and by gift I don’t mean that I have this gift!  I mean that I truly feel blessed to be given this gift of photography!  I feel blessed to be able to meet so many wonderful people and see so many beautiful and raw moments.  I feel blessed that when I say “I’m going to work” I come home with a re-affirmation of how crazy beautiful and adventurous and lovingly messy in all the right ways life can be!

There is one thing about photography that can be tricky… it’s finding a balance not between work and life but between wanting so much for yourself and wanting so much for the others who are also striving to succeed in this wonderfully awesome field!  A wonderfully awesome yet sometimes competitive field!

If you are a competitive person by nature, it can be really tricky to navigate:  sad but true!  One thing about me:  I am a really competitive person!  I’ve always been this way.  I played a lot of sports growing up and I’ve always had a drive that made me want to be the very best at whatever it is I was doing!

I really worried when I started in photography that my competitive nature was going to get the best of me.  How was I going to cultivate positive and true relationships with other photographers if I was competitive?  How would I grow if  we were always going to be working towards the same jobs?

Somehow though… this competitive bug that I have didn’t quite bite the same way as it had before!

Maybe that’s because I had Elizabeth!

I’ve actually known Elizabeth a really really long time!  We grew up together in the same neighborhood.  Her older brother and I went to school together all of our lives actually.  Our parents are still in the same neighborhood and they still talk and catch up in the grocery store!

It wasn’t until I found out Elizabeth was also into photography though that our friendship really grew into what it is today!  This is something I am truly grateful for and thank my lucky stars for every night!

One really important thing people tend to forget about photography when they think about all the things they need or want, is to make sure they have a friend and confident who also is growing right along with you!

This is a tough community!  Art is a tough community because it’s all subjective!  It’s all at your own pace and if you aren’t working at it, it can leave you behind in the dust.  It’s super important to have someone there by your side to push you and keep you motivated!

Elizabeth and I do this for one another!  We have each other’s back no matter what!  This doesn’t mean we are each other cheerleaders ALL the time.  Sometimes we give it to each other pretty straight and pretty bluntly.  It’s the only way to grow!  The difference is, I know she wants to see me succeed and I want to see her succeed!  We push each other  HARD!  We make sure we share our tricks and our tips.  We share our gear and our precious ideas too!

She’s my go to girl when I need someone to bounce an idea off of that I’m just not sure about or I can’t quite get right.

She’s the one person that I know no matter what happens.. she will be there!

She’s there to pick me up when I’m feeling low or having an off day.  She’s there when I’m super excited about something (that no one else will understand!)

We are better together because we are growing together!

So here’s to US today!  We’ve been shooting together for a while now but never really celebrated it!

She’s also doing some really BIG things right now with her business and her branding!  Things I’m super excited about and super proud of her for!!!

So here’s to us and all our crazy shenangians together!!!

Thanks for always being my partner in crime!  Thanks for always having my back YO!

You my girl EB!

Thanks for always being there to remind me how ridiculously goofy I am when I’m shooting!  Also how un-ladylike I am too!

your turn will come my friend!  your turn will come!  I will catch you!!!

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