Business, Family, Life, and Two Little Valentines

Owning your own business is nothing short of an emotion-filled roller coaster.  There are definite highs that make you want to keep going every day.  And then there are really tough lows as well, that make you wonder if there is really a point to all this work.  I love owning my own business.  I have the freedom to make it whatever I want it to be.  I have the joy of watching God bless it into what HE wants it to be.  

Being a mom is also a constant roller coaster ride.  And is definitely the hands-down most difficult job I've ever had.  (And I even managed a group home for teenage girls "in the system" one summer.  THAT was really hard too.)  Anyway, being a mom takes 100% full-time effort.  There are no lunch breaks.  There is no commute time.  There are no holidays or evenings to unwind.  But, I love being a mom.  The rewards are indescribably awesome. 

Now that I have two boys and am a full-time, stay-at-home mommy, I've had to take a good, hard look at what my business will now look like.  I've decided to limit my shooting time for family, senior, and newborn sessions to one or two weekends per month.  This means as senior season picks up this spring, I will have limited slots available.  Also, I've decided to give greater focus to shooting engagements and weddings, but will be limiting the amount of those I shoot as well.  

It is so important for me to be home for our boys and also for me to be home when Dan is as well so that we can spend time together as the four of us.  This does not mean I am reducing the amount of clients I am taking or that I am moving on to other things.  Not at all!  I am just re-focusing and condensing my time.  I want to be intentional about what I am doing with my time and also communicate to you what that looks like.  This also means I will be supplementing my blogging with stuff that is non-photography related so I will keep you engaged and coming back!  Keep an eye out for some Pinterest-inspired projects coming in the near future.  Maybe even one a week!  Can I do it?  We will see!

Ok, enough business talk!  Here are the valentines I made with the boys.  I love them.  :)  Enjoy!

 

The Jones Boys

I. Love. This. Family.  These guys and I go way back.  This is the third (maybe fourth?) annual shoot for them, but we met way before that.  These guys (and their sweet momma) are awesome.  And growing like weeds.  We had a fun morning playing in their neighborhood.  Enjoy!

This is 8-year-old Matthew

And 6-year-old Nicholas and 4-year-olod Brian

Thanks, guys!

Crafty Curtains

You may already know that we moved into a new house in October (just one week before Sawyer was born!).  We left our house of the last four years and started renting again.  With a rental house also comes white walls and cheapo mini blinds that must stay.  So, what's a color-loving girl to do?  Well, we have these three big windows on the walls of our living room that were begging for some style.  But, of course, it had to be style on a budget.  After all, this isn't our permanent home.  Anyway, I scoured Pinterest for awhile and finally decided what I would do.  I found a few tutorials online on how to make fake roman shades and a few on how to make painted drop cloth curtains and another few on how to paint pvc pipe to make pretty curtain rods.  So, that's what I did!

The roman shades are just the yellow fabric backed with cheap muslin and hot glued to the top of the mini blinds (shh don't tell the landlord!).  Once I hung them up, I just pinched each side where I wanted them to be gathered and stiched a few stiches to keep them in place.  Easy peasy.  

Then I went to home depot and bought 2 10-ft lengths of 1 inch pvc pipe and a corner fitting.  I had them cut to size at the store and then spray painted them with Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze.  I also grabbed some curtain brackets and finials and painted them as well.  Then everything had a much prettier look than just yucky pipe!

Also, while I was at Home Depot, I grabbed two 6x9 painter's drop clothes.  I cut them in half lengthwise and hemmed the egde with iron-on hem tape from Joann's.  Still not difficult, just time-consuming.  Once I had them the size that I wanted, I ironed on freezer paper to "tape" off where I wanted my 12-inch stripes to be.  I painted the striped with a dark gray-blue wall paint that we already had.  Once they were dry I just hung them up with curtain rings and viola!  I think they add a lot of life to a boring, white room.  

Now, oh how I long for a big gray sectional to go with them!!  

The Brown Family + A Little Blog Update

Just thought I'd check in and let you know what's been up around here.  We've still been living in newborn land, but I feel like our bearings are [slowly] returning.  Sawyer will be 3 months next week, and I can hardly believe it.  It seems like he has stayed in that "newborn chaos" stage much longer than Greyson did.  I am still feeding him every 2-3 hours. Around. The. Clock.  Yep.  So, that's why things have been a little slow in blog-land the last few months.  Anyway,  today I updated the sidebar of this site with new social networking buttons and [drumroll please] a Twitter feed for my new Twitter account.  Yep, that's right, folks, I have begun tweeting.  Make sure to follow me!  :)  Also, make sure to check my Etsy site regularly for new listings, and if you have a specific design need, please feel free to send me a note!  The link to my Etsy shop is now on the orange navigation bar up towards the top of this site.  

Anyway, that's enough business.  I just thought I'd post a few shots of the Brown family that we took waaay back in October, just 2 weeks before Sawyer was born.  [What was I thinking??!]  Anyway, here are their lovely faces...

The super-handsome boys, Carter (L) and Cameron (R)

And the adorable girlies, Addison and Abrielle.

Kristen + Branden

Happy New Year!  What better way to start off 2012 than with a rockin' engagement session!  Kristen and Branden were so sweet, and it was an honor to take their photos.  What a great start to the year!