Manic Monday Is Back! | Richmond, VA Photographer

If you have been following my blog for a while, you may have noticed that I have not been nearly as active as I should be!  I admit, I have gotten lazy when it comes to blogging, BUT its not because I am a lazy person in general….in fact, it is quite the opposite!  I have really struggled in the past year “balancing” life.  I want to be a part of my kids life as much as possible before they are too old and want nothing to do with me and sadly I am not upholding to that.  I want my house to be in perfect order to fulfill my OCD tendencies and that isnt happening.  I want to be in the best shape of my life and not feel the burden of self consciousness ever again…..another failure…check!  I want my business to thrive and be filled with the love and passion I have for it.  I feel pulled in SO many directions, all very important, but none that I can give 100% to and I feel like a failure.  Running a full time business, being a wife, raising two kids, taking care of a household, trying to maintain sanity, exercise, and anything and everything in between is TOUGH!  I want to be a successful wife, mom, businesswoman, homemaker, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend and I honestly feel that I am failing in every aspect of my life.  I am so overwhelmed with trying to be perfect in all of those areas that I cannot possibly give my all to any ONE of them!  And that hurts.  It hurts me to think that all of these important people and areas in my life arent getting the FULL me.  I cannot possibly devote the time in all of these areas without something suffering.  I have come to realize there IS no balance…..at least not in my world!  As much as I have tried(and FAILED!) at balancing all of these things, it is impossible.  One or two things will always take priority and the others will be put on the back burner…if you were to walk into my home right now, you would see that clearly, housework has been put at the bottom of the list! ;P  And I often go back and forth as to what is a “priority.”  When I first began my business nearly 6 years ago, that was my MAIN vision.  I loved and nourished it like a baby and watched it grow and was proud.  Fast forward a few years to when I  realized I was not giving to my family the way I needed to.  In an attempt to maintain balance, I backed off for a bit and it was great!  I felt like I was a part of my home again and we were doing things as a family!  Naturally, I did not want to pull away from this and have become more active in Kaleigh and Carter’s school, sports, outside activities, etc.  I have developed new friendships and am more active.  It feels good to know that I am being there for my children as much as I can, but I feel that something is missing.  That love that I have for photography and the main reason I started the business does not feel full in my heart.  Its time to refocus.  I realize that I cannot have (and do!) it all but I want try harder to be the best I can in all aspects of my life.  I had a good friend tell me a few years ago…its not the QUANTITY of time, it is the QUALITY of time you spend with your {insert anything here!}  And it is true.  I may not be able to dedicate many hours to the important things and people in my life, but with the time that I have I can make it VALUABLE.  From a business standpoint, I am going to try to be more active on the blog and social media.  From a personal standpoint, I am going to try to be engaged with my family each day for at least 30 minutes–not checking emails, getting on facebook, etc!  Just BEING there with them, hearing about their day at school, etc.  BABY STEPS!! 😉  Anyway, this time of year is really busy with weddings, the kids’ birthdays, end of school events, etc. so I am going to try my best to post at least 2 times a week and hopefully come up with a consistent blogging schedule!  How do YOU maintain balance?  I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

So this past weekend was an unexpected break…I was supposed to shoot an engagement session in DC, but with the weather, we didnt want to chance it…as it turns out, yesterday was beautiful but I was able to stay at home and relax and get some much needed cleaning done.  I was also able to see Carter’s artwork displayed at the Arts and Sciences Festival over the weekend and hang out with some friends at the race track.  All in all, it was a good weekend, despite the cold weather on Saturday! PIN IMAGE PIN IMAGE

Onto the goals!  For now, Im just going to do a general goal list….I may do a weekly one in the coming weeks…there is just a lot going on now so its better to do a general list haha!

PERSONAL:

-edit personal photos
-5th grade banquet stuff(gathering photos, emailing committee, etc)
-set date and start planning parties(11 and 7 this year!!)
-design and order invites for parties
-exercise daily
-drink plenty of water
-go to bed earlier
-pack healthy lunches for the kids
-spend more quality time with family
-call family more often(we have a lot of family who have moved out of state and we don’t see them that often)

-LAUNDRY!

-buy storage bench for outside and clean out mud room closet

-Rugged Maniac this Saturday–my first time doing something like this!

 

BUSINESS:

-edit 3 sessions

-shoot 3 sessions this weekend

-blog past sessions that never made it to the blog!

-Compile and turn-in all tax info to CPA 

-design and order Sara’s wedding album

-rebrand
-overhaul on website and blog
-update images for all galleries
-sign up for google +
-submit a wedding
-start blogging more
-order new business cards, thank you cards, and notepads
-order new packaging material
-order usb drives
-design and order new sample album
-log expenses
-finish designing bridal guide
-order a few new props for the newborn sessions I have coming up
-clean out computer to make room for the wedding season
-become more active on social media
-set up a FAQ and review page on website
-send client photos
-make a consistent blogging schedule
-come up with topics for blogging
-establish and implement a better system for getting photos to vendors
-establish a workflow for submitting weddings to be featured consistently
-establish a more organized weekly schedule
-reach out to more vendors and get better with overall communication with them.
-update wedding day questionnaire
-catch up with a few photographer friends

 

I know this was a really long post, but I felt that I needed to put it all out there!  I am hoping it will help me be accountable!  Here’s to a Happy Monday!