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Balancing Life + Work
Dress: Tahari ASL – wearing size 2 (c/o) / Heels: Steve Madden / Bag: Cult Gaia
I have many things I want to share but sometimes I’m not sure if it warrants a dedicated blog post or just a few bullet points. In this case, there are so many things blowing through my mind I just want to verbal vomit it all LOL but I’ll try to do so in an organized manner.
Starting the middle of March through now has been blowing by which is terrifying considering the next season is summer and I’m not looking forward to 110 degree heat in Phoenix – and I don’t have an international vacation planned (the first in five years) unless you count Canada, which I don’t. Personal life with some work:
- My in-laws came in town for two weeks and helped tremendously around the house – especially getting my unused patio ready for The Home Depot reveal (see my patio on their blog). It was a dream to finally work with THD, it’s been on my bucket list and I hope for more collaborations!
- Being a landlord isn’t glamorous. Sometimes it might seem easy, but it’s not when you realize you have another property to take care of. It’s not exactly double the trouble or anything but maybe it’s like having a house and a quarter of the maintenance you have to do. It’s hard work but in our case the rewards are worth it but it’s still work and we’ve been juggling some home repairs as soon as I got back from my 1 week of unshowering bliss LOL ok I did shower like every other day – it was a week of relaxing at mom and dad’s back home in Nor Cal.
- Benjamin and I photographed a wedding! It’s been four years since I photographed a traditional wedding. It’s coming up on the blog this week. We did wedding coverage for about two hours, portraits, first look and ceremony and more portraits. I would go back to wedding if I only had to shoot for two hours.
Oh! Did you notice the brickwork behind me? This is the rest of the brick border we had our handyman Richard complete after he did work around the new patio. I’m glad we finally bit the bullet, it was quite the investment and it was hard to find someone to do it that we trusted, but after over 5 years of using my makeshift brick work which was scouring used brick from the alley from neighbors who did expansions (I’m resourceful LOL and cheap) we have a REAL border. Our yard grew up!
Nothing like a patio makeover reveal with The Home Depot to make you get your crap together. Seriously. Sometimes I think, no, I KNOW this blog motivates me. I convince Benjamin all of our home improvement projects are an investment for the blog. Do I write off the winter rye, you betcha. I can’t twirl around on grass that looks yellow from November to May.
Being a blogger makes me put on pants and do my hair. It makes me put on a dress and it makes me a little more fashionable. It makes me try and it motivates me to do more, and in the best way. It elevates my life by making me pursue the extraordinary in ordinary. OK now I feel like I’m trying to write a Hallmark card. Onto a few resolutions:
- Not every opportunity is actually a real opportunity you should take. I had to realize time at home doing nothing might reap more benefits than attending an event and having to work to actually be there and do what, be seen? I can recognize good opportunities for good causes but sometimes time with a friend or by yourself is a better reward.
- I want to go back to touching things once. The pile of papers get higher as the weeks go on and so if I touch a bill, pay the bill and file it.
- Need to stop panic texting. Does anyone else do this? I get so caught up into answering that if I’m stressed out I word vomit. Altho anyone I word vomit to means I’m super comfortable with them, I don’t say anything mean it’s just me panicking about life. It shows when I feel overwhelmed.
I wanted to share this group photo from Easters (yes the “S” for you Nacho Libre fans). I wait all year to say Happy Easters haha! Anyway we hosted and my casual hey come by we’re making food anyway turned into a full blown party. Thanks to my in-laws for helping I couldn’t have done it without them and it was a trial run for a bridal shower I’m hosting next Saturday. Thank goodness some of my girlfriends are coming over before hand to help, it’s nearly impossible to do it all.
Another thought of appreciation, friends that are like family are priceless. It takes time to pour into them and every moment you spend with a friend is an investment, and I truly believe the return on that investment is priceless, just look at this photo of love. This is like my family photo. Speaking of family, I had a thought for a really deep post I want to work on, something odd to discuss but it dawned on me, it’s imperfect life.
But what is perfect is this weather right now. Now if I have a second I’d love to research someplace to go internationally but first comes finding a female designer to help with the home expansion – the economy has been so great (SO GREAT!!!) but it’s been difficult to find anyone to call back but I also need to settle down in my own life with projects before I start a major one.
I might be OK with this summer being pretty chill, but we’ll see. The hardest part when the weather gets hotter is shooting indoors or shooting really early on Saturdays since those are now the days Benjamin and I work on projects. We’ve got a long work day this Saturday from 8:30 to around 4 pm of me getting makeup and hair ready and shooting.
If I can swing a behind the scenes post I will, but it’s another thing to think about, but I think it’d be really fun to show you how much hard work and organization goes into doing this blog. It’s not easy and it’s also not all glamorous, but I do love ALL of it even when it’s hard work. The return on putting time into this blog is just like friendships, it’s worth it and the results come in a form that’s priceless, like a better version of you.
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