Can you really say you’re coming back to blogging if you never really started? Well, here goes!

My focus word for this year is ‘renew’, which means a lot to me on many fronts. With business means I’m restructuring and reprioritizing the way I spend my time, energy, and efforts, and letting God get the glory for all the amazing things He’s been up to over here. Why? Because, over the past 3.5 years, I’ve done:

• 37 events in 5 states
• bought a house
• gone through 3 renovations on said house
• had three amazing children (Warner, Jake, and one baby in heaven)

But also, I’ve battled really intense chronic hip pain with little relief, mourned the loss of a baby, supported my husband through 5 job title changes, and accepted ‘failure’ by closing shop on a business that I made tons of sacrifices for and poured a lot of time and effort into starting.

Somewhere along the way, a combination of ‘busyness’ and the refusal to let myself feel joy over milestones (and sorrow in the sufferings) that deserved to be not only acknowledged but celebrated  got in the way of documenting this business journey. On one hand, I get so stuck in accomplishing goals that I forget to love the process because I’m already so focused on the next task to complete; on the other, I over analyze the best ‘strategy’ for things like blogging for business that I never actually start out of fear that I’ll look back on it and be disappointed in the way I did it. Ironic because I spend so much time trying to help my clients enjoy the process.

All that to say, within a week, I had my dear friend Annamarie Akins over for a picnic and then was at a coffee shop with my dear friend Nikki Santerre  and started talking to both of them about where to start with blogging. Through great conversations, there was a resounding ‘get out of your own way’ and ‘enjoy what you’ve done’, and they’re right! Who says I can’t talk about my business and the things going on in my personal life in one place? Probably a really great marketing expert, but I guess it doesn’t really matter to me anymore. You see, when your passion and purpose behind what you do dictates how you decide to do things, you can’t really ‘regret’ the decisions that you make, because they came from a pure heart. My definition of success  isn’t in what anyone thinks about how I run this business, but in how I love and serve my client’s  and vendors I work with– so I’m going to ‘get out of my own way’ and start blogging consistently!

 

So, here’s to a ‘new start’, and I hope you’ll follow along. Here’s to looking back over some of my favorite events, sharing a little more of my heart behind the business, documenting the joys of being a mom and a business owner (hard work, people!!) , and all the laughs along the way. Seriously, I work with the greatest people that bring me so much joy and laughter– can you tell?

Thanks for these pictures, Photobooth of Charlottesville. My crew knows how to have fun!

 

Here is a little sneak peak for what you’ll see next week 🙂 Can’t wait!

Photos by Annamarie Akins Photography