Life Lately + February Goals

Happy February, guys! I hope you've been staying cozy this winter. We've been vacillating between having a great time being holed up inside and cabin fever. But the best thing for me? January was a successful month of margin in my life!

It helps that my work slows down in the winter. While I've shot a couple sessions and even a wedding, I've also been able to keep up with editing and behind the scenes things that are largely ignored during busy season. PLUS, I read two books (one and two) as a start to my #18booksin2018 challenge, spent lots of time with my little guy (he even started gymnastics classes, which is just hilarious), had a couple dates with Nathan and caught up with a few friends.

It feels SO good to be balanced.

One other huge positive to having margin in my life this month? Nolan hasn't been able to go to daycare for the last couple weeks (hello flu season!), but I haven't been stressed about trying to juggle work and having him home with me. It's official. This slower lifestyle is here to stay!

Are you experimenting with work-life balance this year? How's it been going so far?

Here's to hoping February is just as balanced for all of us.

February Goals

  • Read two books (The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin and A Simplified Life by Emily Ley)
  • Send 2017 vendor galleries
  • Create newborn guide
  • Complete 2017 taxes
  • Organize personal photos
  • Work on 2017 personal video
  • Create 2017 personal album
  • Plan and go on a date night
  • Celebrate Valentine's Day!
Personal Goal Setting

October Goals

Autumn in Ohio I stayed SO busy in September, as evidenced by my lack of blog posts. Here's the thing about blogging. I love it, I really do. As a journalism girl, I get to fulfill my love of writing on this little blog here. However, one thing I've learned while running this business is that I have to take care of my clients first (shooting, editing, e-mailing, meeting) and then myself (exercising, eating right, resting), and that doesn't always provide a lot of extra time for the other things that I reallllly want to accomplish (blogging, shooting for myself, staying super up-to-date with social media). Owning a small business is a whirlwind--a good one--and I'm always learning something new. I promise I'm going to be introducing some really awesome people to this blog soon enough. For now, my reach-for-the-stars, I-wish-there-were-30-hours-in-a-day goals for October. It's my last super busy month of the year, and I'm going to try to keep up with everything. Even if I only get 24 hours a day.

October Goals

  • Finish Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (ironic that I'm having a hard time finishing this book in the midst of my busy season?) and read Everything I Never Told You
  • Continue developing a realistic morning routine, especially as the days start to slow down
  • Finish decorating our kitchen nook
  • Start training for the Cincinnati Turkey Trot (yes, I have to train for a 10K!)
  • Go on a fall hike
  • Take one weekend day completely off to spend with Nathan
  • Host Nathan's family for a weekend
  • Edit all September work and stay caught up with October work through the end of the month

February Goals

Winter Trees in Steamboat Springs I'm greeting February as a new woman! January was all about rest and restoration, and boy did I soak it up. This is my first photography season where I didn't book any weddings in the traditional "off" months and it has been quite the experience being "off" for 2.5 months now.

I've learned that being a wedding photographer means truly embracing the ebbs and flows of life … and of business. One minute you're feeling incredibly stress-free and like you could do this "off" thing for the rest of your life, and then it all comes racing back to you: What am I doing sitting around?? I should be working!!!! What if I never book anything ever again?! How much time have I wasted sitting on this couch, just existing, not producing anything?!?!?! 

Then my sanity returns and I remember what a gift this slow season is. I remember why it's crucial to just be for awhile. To not produce anything but dream about things. To pick up all those thing I neglected six months ago. To devour books and learn and learn and learn again.

It's a constant cycle but I'm excited to embrace that cycle for another 2.5 months. Soon enough it will be time to hustle and produce again. And that's a beautiful experience in and of itself.

February Goals

  • Read three books (Still Life with Bread Crumbs, Emma and Stitches)
  • Send/give encouragement to three people (I'm not sure exactly what this will look like yet, but it's amazing how much time and energy I spend on myself when I could be using a lot of that time to focus on other people. It's so easy to slip into that selfish and prideful pattern!)
  • Complete our 2014 taxes
  • Finish designing and hanging our living room gallery wall
  • Purge our house of old magazines
  • Continue writing content for my new client guide
  • Develop a realistic business budget*
  • Order a new, untraditional sample album (I'll be sharing soon!)
  • Experiment with fine art prints (i.e., order a couple different samples)
  • Finish the questionnaire for the spring workshop I'll be attending (so excited about this one!)

*I'll be using Nancy Ray's Business Budgeting Guide. We talked a lot about finances in my mentoring session, and it was so helpful!

What does your February look like? Do you have something exciting planned this month?

October Goals

October Photography Goals October is all about getting caught up! I finish my 2013 wedding season halfway into the month, and the rest of this fall I will be working on getting things wrapped up so I can spend the holidays with my family and start thinking about 2014 (what?!). I am SO looking forward to my October weddings and sessions. I'm thinking lots of beautiful leaves and late afternoon sunshine. Bring it on!

Professional

  1. Finish out my 2013 wedding season on a high note (i.e., shoot my last three weddings the BEST that I can and get them all edited and out the door)!
  2. Finish all album design for 2013 season.
  3. Get halfway caught up on Facebook albums (through July 2013).
  4. Get caught up on vendor discs.
  5. Submit at least three weddings.
  6. Blog every weekday.
  7. Start writing content for my new website. :)

Personal

  1. Read two books (Weird, Their Eyes Were Watching God).
  2. Celebrate Nathan's 30th birthday!! :D
  3. Go for a bike ride in the national park.
  4. Buy a pumpkin.
  5. Plan a weekend in Chicago (visiting the city around the holidays is becoming our thing!)
  6. Continue training for Cincinnati's Turkey Trot (you guys, I'm only up to 1.5 miles! This is going to be painful!)
  7. Do a "spring" (fall?) cleaning in our house.