I'm greeting February as a new woman! January was all about rest and restoration, and boy did I soak it up. This is my first photography season where I didn't book any weddings in the traditional "off" months and it has been quite the experience being "off" for 2.5 months now.

I've learned that being a wedding photographer means truly embracing the ebbs and flows of life … and of business. One minute you're feeling incredibly stress-free and like you could do this "off" thing for the rest of your life, and then it all comes racing back to you: What am I doing sitting around?? I should be working!!!! What if I never book anything ever again?! How much time have I wasted sitting on this couch, just existing, not producing anything?!?!?!

Then my sanity returns and I remember what a gift this slow season is. I remember why it's crucial to just be for awhile. To not produce anything but dream about things. To pick up all those thing I neglected six months ago. To devour books and learn and learn and learn again.

It's a constant cycle but I'm excited to embrace that cycle for another 2.5 months. Soon enough it will be time to hustle and produce again. And that's a beautiful experience in and of itself.

February Goals

Read three books (Still Life with Bread Crumbs, Emma and Stitches)
Send/give encouragement to three people (I'm not sure exactly what this will look like yet, but it's amazing how much time and energy I spend on myself when I could be using a lot of that time to focus on other people. It's so easy to slip into that selfish and prideful pattern!)
Complete our 2014 taxes
Finish designing and hanging our living room gallery wall
Purge our house of old magazines
Continue writing content for my new client guide
Develop a realistic business budget*
Order a new, untraditional sample album (I'll be sharing soon!)
Experiment with fine art prints (i.e., order a couple different samples)
Finish the questionnaire for the spring workshop I'll be attending (so excited about this one!)