This weekend was my first big traveling trip of the year, as I drove from my home in Southern Maine to Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York for a packed weekend of newborn portrait sessions. Many of you know that I was a live in nanny in New Haven for almost 5 years before going full time with my photography business and making the move to Yarmouth Maine. I can hardly believe this September will mark two years since the move! Last year, I was traveling A LOT to Connecticut for portrait sessions, and through experience got better at packing, and figuring out what I needed on the road to make life a bit easier. (Like a cooler in my car for fruit and easy to grab snacks!)

I stayed focused the weeks leading up to my trip, knowing how traveling can make my todo list seem extra daunting upon return! The last thing I wanted was to lose the momentum I had begun to really make, in consistently maintaining tasks in my business- things like keeping up with blog posts, my email newsletters, and social media feeds. You know, all the other tasks that you do so that you CAN go out and photograph sessions all weekend. The tasks that build the brand awareness and bring in the bookings.

A huge goal for me this year is to not spend so much time maintaining my business, that I never have time to step back and dream a little bigger- create that bigger project, or launch that new resource. In other words, to create room to grow!!

My word of 2016 as I shared in January is “Well”. I want to do 2016 WELL in so many things, and yet even after weeks of hard work in the office, I still left home feeling like things weren’t quite as “done” as I would have liked them to be. BUT… I am giving myself the permission to miss perfection by a mile. Because “done” isn’t always a clearly defined destination. In fact, as a business owner, truly “done” is often mythical…We can always add more to our list! I am still trying to find my sweet spot of intentional hustle and intentional rest– and sometimes it’s not perfect, and that’s ok.

This morning I photographed a dreamy in-home newborn portrait session in Madison, NJ. For the first time, I photographed with much more film than I did digital, and it has me on the edge of my seat to see the film scans. I will be sending them in first thing Monday, as tomorrow I have a second newborn session in Rye, NY. It’s a full weekend!