I get multiple emails a day requesting session information and I feel bad each time I have to turn down new clients or let someone know I'm booked. But what a lot of my clients or potential clients don't know, is the full story...the fact that I have a full time career other than photography and two kids and the rest of it.....so I decided its time for a little installment of "a day in my life". So, here goes....
6:30am- alarm clock rings, and I hit snooze at least once...get up, get myself ready, throw clothes on Mallory (my two year old) while lance gets Maddox (my 5 year old, PreK student) ready for school.
7:05am- out the door. Drop off Mallory at daycare, drop off Maddox in the drop off line at school
8:00am- get to work. as an interior designer at an architecture firm, my day to day work varies from job site visits for progress review, client meetings, contractor calls, drawing floor plans, site plans, interior elevations, finish selections, presentation boards, fire marshal walk throughs and code reviews.....and sometimes all of this in one day......seriously. It's constant communication in person, on phone and by email. It's responsibility and progressive thinking. Everyone knows that I love what I do and I love what I am able to create for clients who always become my friends!!! (9 hours a day.)
5:00pm- head out of the office and hurry to pick up Maddox before 5:30 ( or pay a late fee, which I have had to do already this year). Then it's off to pick up Mallory at daycare, discuss their day in the car,call dad to update him on their day, and head toward home. My husband works nights at his side job,so we sometimes see him on his way out of the door when we get home, but sometimes miss him depending on our timing,
6:15pm-home. Unload car, dig through the refrigerator and pantry and decide what to cook for dinner. Start dinner while fixing fruit for the kids to snack on while they wait.
7:00pm- dinner time.
Homework. Luckily right now he is in prek so it's a matter of 10-15 minutes of handwriting.
7:30pm- bath time!!! (Note: once a week we have dancing which puts us at home at 6:45, so dinner and bath get rushed into one hour on those days!!)
8:00pm- read books in bed ( try not to let Maddox trick me into reading more than one!) it's one for Maddox and one for Mallory. then it's off to bed, lately Mallory cries for me to lay with her,so that's another 30 min or so for me curled up in a toddler bed with my baby, but I know it.s time that she will later refuse to spend with me,so ill take it while she lets me!!!
9:00pm- finally they are both asleep and if I didn't fall asleep with Mallory and I'm now groggy and heading straight to bed, I'm settling in at my computer for a few hours. Editing one session takes about one hour (uninterrupted) (as I type this Mallory is singing in her bed and Maddox just quit coming out to ask a few last questions as excuses not to sleep, so each night is different)
Typically I edit at least one session per night for my sanity and sort through images of the next session, then set up my computer to upload images overnight. I shoot 4-5 sessions each weekend and its always my goal to complete all of the sessions before Friday, which means one session per night, but sometimes life happens, that's why I tell my clients up to 2 weeks for edits since sometimes life happens and I don't get to edit each night.
10:00-10:30pm- lance is usually home by now and I jump in the shower, choose my clothes for work tomorrow, check the calendar and pack dancing clothes, lay out Maddox's school clothes, make to do lists, and try to get in bed before midnight,,,
11:30- lay in bed and catch up on the day with lance, pin a few things to Pinterest, or check up on social media before I crash....
Then it all happens all over again!!!!!!
Now... Before you go around thinking I do it all, let me be the first to tell you I do not!!
My husband does the dishes, the laundry, cleans the floors, washes the cars, keeps both kids every weekend all weekend while I do photoshoots, pays all the bills, takes out the trash, works a full time day job and a full time side job each weekday night....all for us, for our family.
My life sounds crazy, right?? Right, but I LOVE it!!! Im a little uneasy putting all this info out there...but I'm laying this out so hopefully people will understand my time constraints. Im not home each day editing and able to answer emails and phone calls... So sometimes it might take me two or three days to return an email, and sometimes it might take me two weeks or more to finish edits on your session. This is my side job (which I absolutely love!!!!! And I look forward to every week!)....but the hours of my photography job are 9pm-11pm weekdays, and weekends. I'm on 100% during these working hours, but from 6:30am-8am I am mom, from 8-5 i am designer, and from 5-9 I am mom again. I wear many hats....I do my best....but I can't do it all...which is hard for me to admit.
This is why I have a hard time saying no to new clients or additional sessions, because I want to do it all!!! I want to book every session and meet every new client. But I have to be smart with my time. And this is what I struggle with each day!
My dad always told me "Think about it...is this a NEED....or a WANT" and I've always struggled with the difference.
I WANT to sleep more, I NEED to spend more quality time with family and friends and I NEED to always WANT to be a better mom, wife, friend, designer and photographer! These are my everyday goals!
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