You know, the age where you're suddenly a REAL adult. You're no longer just a kid in your 20's. The age where you can take your past mistakes and experiences and put them all behind you, because now you're 30, and you've got your sh*t together. Super mature. Super responsible. You're THIRTY.
So I was dreading it, like most 29 year old women. And as the big day was getting closer I kept hearing "You're going to LOVE your 30's!" and "Now you're older and wiser!" and blah blah blah, stuff about so much more wisdom and maturity. All I heard was "older" and "wrinkles" and "gray hairs" and "expanding waistline" and "you're no longer in your twenties." I wasn't buying what everyone else was saying.
So I had a big celebration, and for a day I felt awesome. I was incredibly blessed by wonderful friends and family who came to celebrate with me and the night was full of laughter and hugs and drinks and good times. And all I felt the next day when I woke up, was THIRTY.
So anyway, since I've been THIRTY I've just been doing more thinking, like older, and wiser people do. And all I've concluded is I still don't feel like I've got my sh*t together.
The last blog post I wrote on here was way back when I was 29. If you read it here you'll see that I was trying to figure things out, and you would have thought that by the time I turned 30, I would just know what I was doing.
Not so much.
Let's review my 4-point plan from my last post:
1. My MAIN focus is my FAMILY, first and foremost! Taking care of them is my #1 priority.
This hasn't changed one bit! I feel like I'm getting a better grip on the being a stay-at-home-mom-thing. I am loving it, and I wouldn't change anything about it. Still my #1 priority!
2. I have big plans with BeautiControl. I see myself promoting to Director and earning the perks that come along with it (can we say free cars, trips, jewelry, and MONEY!?!?) So this needs to continue to be my main focus as a business, and where I spend the majority of my time that I set aside to do "work." Which will be while Lyla is at preschool, or sleeping. So there still isn't much "free" time, but I am going to do it! I would LOVE to schedule a spa or makeup consultation with you!
I've been slacking here. Since my last post, we decided to buy a house, try to sell our other house, move, unpack, and we are still working on trying to sell our other house. This has been just a little time consuming and I've been focusing on making our new house a home for my family. I still love BeautiControl, and it's not going anywhere, and either am I! I'm always up to spa-ing some overworked, underpampered ladies, so let's get it set up!
3. I need to slow down on doing photography for other people for awhile... I never planned to make a business of it when I started, and as much as I love taking pictures and learning, it has been taking the focus off of the other areas I want to focus on. I want to continue to practice on Lyla, and eventually get around to editing, printing, and displaying some of the millions of pictures I have taken of her. I want to be able to take my time learning, and develop my skills before I jump into anything more with it. I am blessed to have plenty of other shoots lined up for awhile... so if you have spoken to me about pictures, or if we are already scheduled, this will not be changing!!! If I am still working on editing your pictures, rest assured that I will get them done as quickly as possible, but I also want to take my time on them to assure that the work is to the best of my ability! I am VERY blessed to have some opportunities to shadow a talented photographer while doing some second shooting at some weddings this fall.... so I know this will take up a lot of my time as I work on editing those pictures and developing my skills as well! But in the meantime, please understand that I will not be booking any more sessions (unless, like I said, we have already talked about them! We are still on!)
I think I've been confusing a lot of people by this statement. When I post a new picture on facebook, I get "I thought you quit photography?" Here's the thing. I never feel like I started being a "photographer," so I can't say that I ever "quit." How does one become a photographer, anyway??? Today anyone can buy a fancy DSLR and claim to be a photographer. It's the new, cool thing to do, I guess. When I bought my DSLR I never once thought "I think I'm going to become a photographer now." With any other job, you can't just wake up one day and decide you want to be a teacher, or a doctor, or a lawyer, or whatever, so I didn't think you could just wake up and decide to be a photographer. I knew a lot more went into it than just buying a decent camera. I just knew that I wanted a hobby and I wanted a hobby that I felt good about. And who isn't going to turn down opportunities to practice their hobby when someone asks them? So I was glad to practice and do pictures for people, but then I just feel like it got out of hand. Suddenly people were using the words "Photographer" and I thought "who are they talking about?" I never, ever claimed to be a "photographer." When people asked if I was "doing photography," I explained that I love taking pictures and I'm very much a novice but I do love taking pictures and practicing so I'd be happy to take some pictures. And then I guess word spreads quickly when you are doing things for cheap, and if I gave one person a good deal I had to give the next person a good deal. When someone would ask me my "pricing," I would have no idea what to tell them? Since I wasn't a "photographer" I had never even took a second to sit down and think about it. So I turned into an overbooked, underpriced novice with a camera, when all I wanted was a hobby and to take pretty pictures of my daughter. So I had to step back and get caught up and figure out what I was doing. And if I WAS going to "do the photography thing" I wanted to feel confident about it. I wanted to have actual prices and guidelines and a contract and whatever "photographers" need to have. I didn't want to be just some person with a camera who decided one day that they were going to be a photographer. I am still curious as to how you ever get from that point, to the point where you ARE a photographer? I can say that from the time I purchased my camera up until today, I've learned a ton, and I've put a lot of time and effort into trying to learn it. Do I still have a lot to learn? HECK YEAH! Does the learning ever stop with photography? Or any job? Or life?
So now I'm just rambling, and I don't even really know where I'm going with this point. I do know that I love taking pictures, and I love learning more about photography, and I can't help myself but I drool over everything I want to have (Canon 5d Mark iii, I WANT YOU) and check it out online all the time and sometimes I even put it in my cart and then I'm snapped back to reality and quickly drop it from my cart before anyone catches me acting all crazy. But in the back of my head I can't help but think maybe someday I can afford it, maybe I could do this photography thing, maybe if I set some guidelines and prices, I could make it worthwhile and enjoy it and help bring some income in (because if you refer back to point 2 you will see that we are still trying to sell our house. Read: 2 Mortgages!!! Some extra income couldn't hurt!!!)
And then the other day I splurged and purchased a whopping $8 logo on etsy.
I was just tired of putting my plain jane name on my pictures when I knew for a few bucks I could slap on a pretty looking name with a pretty picture of a horse. And then when I shared it and put it out there, I thought "Oh crap, did I just claim to be a photographer!?!?" I still don't think so. But wow, I sure liked the way my name looked with the word "photography" under it. But I am thinking that in the next few months, I might give it a go. An actual, real, thought out, planned out, go. I'm still working on figuring things out. I don't even once, NOT FOR A MINUTE, want to pretend that I can compete with all of the amazing, established, REAL photographers out there. But I do enjoy it, a LOT, and if I can make a few people happy with some nice pictures and memories that will last a lifetime, that's enough for me to make it worth it :) So stay tuned....
Oh yeah, back to my 4-point plan,
4. I do still want to earn my Norwex Kit for free! I did one party, and it was pretty easy so this doesn't take up much of my time at all, so I am confident with still doing this on the side. If you are looking to save time, money, and reduce the amount of chemicals you use in your home, contact me to set up your Norwex demonstration!
This didn't happen, and I'm okay with it. It all came about at the time the house buying/moving/house selling thing came about, and if I had to slack somewhere, this was where it had to be. I do love my Norwex products though, so I'm glad I got (bought) the kit so I can have all of the goodies to clean my house with!
If you've made it this far, you get a gold star. In the case that you are feeling like you've wasted 5 minutes of your life that you'll never get back, I'll add a cute picture to make it worth your while:
Now that I have the internet again I'm thinking I might frequent this blog just a little bit more often. We'll see.
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