It's been awhile. Again. I don't know who is still popping by here since I haven't 1) been posting or 2) been sharing any semblance of new posts on the social mediaz, but hullo to whoever reads this. I found myself with a couple extra minutes this morning & freshly poured 2nd cup of coffee, so I figured I could share some updates on our little Tree.
Wedding season is over! That's right, Amelia & I made it through Tart's first full event season at the end of October, & have been using November to organize 6 months of event mess, look our husbands in the face for longer than 10 minutes, see some family, & work on our upcoming Holiday Wrap Bash (that you're all in invited to)... because, you know, why relax when you can plan another party? We're addicted, apparently. Our first season was honestly incredible. We learned so SO much & made amazing memories with once-clients that are now-friends. The hustle continues & our 2016 (& even 2017!) clients are in full swing, but we've definitely had some time to just be still. Find rest. Catch up on Once Upon a Time. The important things in life.
5 year anniversary! Okay, I'm very upset that I never showed up on here to write a 5 year anniversary post, so I added a retrospective post to my to-do list two minutes ago. We had such a lovely anniversary weekend, thanks to miraculously not having any weddings booked for Tart that weekend. We had toyed around with taking a big vacation, which turned into a little cabin in the woods vacation, which (after 2 straight months of non-stop travel for both of us) turned into mini daytrips that didn't require any suitcases packed or planning or anything. Just face-staring, conversation-having & hand-holding with a side of adventuring. IT. WAS. GREAT. We got to explore Philadelphia, enjoy a DC restaurant we'd been wanting to try, & go on a apple-picking/wine tasting excursion in the mountains of Northwestern VA. Still crossing our fingers for that big vacation in the upcoming months, but our actual anniversary weekend was everything we needed it to be.
New job! I started a new part-time job this past week that is just the beginning of simplifying this slightly nonstop life I've developed. I've eliminated an hour & a half of straight up commuting from my day by taking this job that is a 6 minute walk from our apartment, which is essentially just buying back time to work on Tart things & other ventures. It's a great fit & a good pace, so now I just have to get through the miserable part of beginning a new job where you don't know anything, are trying to learn everything, & mostly just look like an idiot all the time. MY FAVORITE.
Other life things! It came as no surprise but was still accompanied by sheer joy that my younger sister Meredith got engaged in September to her longtime beau, Brandon. Having the time of my life designing their wedding at the DREAMIEST venue for next May. My older sister had her newest baby at the end of September, so most of my every day is spent plotting the next time that I will see her babes. I celebrated my 27th birthday (ughhhh) in mid-October, over a wedding weekend that turned into a big surprise that Amelia & Jared plotted for me, which included my parents, my curly haired sister & my nearly 3-year-old LIGHT OF MY LIFE niece showing up in Richmond for my birthday dinner. My dear friends Chelsea & Andrew tied the knot at the beginning of this month & we were able to make the quick trip to Norfolk to watch them say I do. We've had visitors galore, with some of my family up here last weekend & Jared's parents arriving this weekend. Holiday travel plans are in full swing & we've only succumbed to listening to Christmas music three times. I think. We also bought a coffee table. Which may not seem like a big life thing, but when you're living life one apartment at a time & usually too scared to buy any extra furniture because "we'll be moving soon," this was a prettttty big commitment. Anyways, we think it's beautiful. Everyone else thinks it's a glass coffee table that we'll rethink once we have a baby. They're probably right.
All about that balance! & so begins the part of the year where I try to start balancing my life & advance towards feeling accomplished with something/anything at the end of the day. With my significantly shorter commute, I'm hoping to actually find & stick to a workout regiment. Not to sound dramatic, but I'm 27 now & it's about time to commit to something as adult as working out. Even though I hate exercise. Like so much. But I also love Shake Shack. Like SO much. I'd like to start cooking more, writing more, Facetiming with far away family & friends more, reading more, laundry-ing more. Too often I find myself emailing in a dead silent family room, because even music feels chaotic when combined with all the things running through my mind.
The word this year for both Tart & my personal life has been: Intentional. It's a weighty word, & a constant goal. It's easy to just put pretty things out there in the world. It's easy to keep a blog simply because I've had some sort of journal since I was 8. But from printing photos to actually getting out of bed when my alarm goes off to breathing life back into a seemingly dead blog, I want to be intentional. With my time, my resources, my friends, our plans for the future.
So yes, read between the lines. I have something up my sleeve for this blog. I'll be keeping you posted on my intentional pursuit.
xo
