If you don’t follow me on social media, you are probably wondering what happened to my blog the past three weeks! After being patient for weeks (boy, was that hard!), because of the server having problems and so much more stuff that I don’t understand because I’m not tech-savvy, happened. I am just thrilled to have my blog back again! Though, I did lose my last blog post from my Wisconsin trip. But, we won’t talk about that. 😉 We will go ahead and get back to where we left off!
I have been planning to blog this post before my time off even happened! I know it’s going to be lengthy, I’m sorry!
(Photo by: Breeductions Photography)
A few months ago, I knew I needed to take at least one or two days off to celebrate mine and David’s anniversary, since we want to do that yearly!
But, I didn’t know exactly what weekend we wanted to do it since our anniversary would land on a Tuesday. Well, we had to make a decision soon, because I was starting to get booked 1-1.5 months in advanced and I needed to reserve that time off for us.
We finally set it. After that, I continued to get booked and booked and more booked around the dates we picked.
As the weeks continued and I was working so much, I was getting SO excited for our time off. Not only was I working long hours, but so was David. He started to work more 10 hour days and then started to work weekends. Our time together started to shrink and we really missed each other, but we knew that our weekend together was coming soon.
While lots of other creatives take at least ONE day off a week, I can’t take a whole day off. SIDE NOTE: I do take some evenings or mornings off through out the week. I will be honest, I am a WORKAHOLIC. I always have something to do. As a business owner, there are tons you have to do! I love what I do, so I enjoy it all!
BUT, even if I am a workaholic and I take sometime off during the week to spend with family, friends, and other loved ones, I still needed this WHOLE weekend off.
No camera, no laptop or desktop, no emails, nothing business related!
It was tough to turn down a wedding, multiple shoot inquiries, and a few second shooting requests, but it was worth the time off between the months of constant work. Yes, I might have lost lots of money, but the time off was more important to me than the money. (Yay for fellow photographers to refer those clients to!)
Here are some personal reasons why I wanted to take those few days off:
– To catch up on sleep that I lost over the previous weeks and months of constant work.
– To re-energize myself for the upcoming busy months ahead.
– To not get burnt out
– To spend time with my love with out any distractions.
– To continue to have a healthy mindset
There are SO many reasons why business owners and people in general, should take the time off! It really is re-energizing and worth it! Every since that weekend, I have been taking more time off during the week and I have loved it!
(Photo by: Jaime Davis Photography. More photos from our anniversary session to come!)
If you have been reading all the way down to here, thank you so much in your interest into what I have to share! It really means a lot!
I was going to make two blog posts for the “taking time off” & “Mine & David’s Anniversary Weekend,” but with how the two go together and not wanting to spam the blog with so much personal stuff, I have decided to combine the two. 🙂
If you are a little lost and wondering when our anniversary was, it was on May 17th, but we celebrated it on the 13th-15th! I wanted this blog post up by the following week, but the sad news hit that week.. my blog was down!
I am so excited to share it all with you right now though! 🙂
On the Friday we started to celebrate, I got hair, nails, and makeup done. David got to sleep in, go to the gym, and relax. We then headed out to meet with Jaime of Jaime Davis Photography for our anniversary shoot. After the shoot, we headed to one of our favorite restaurants: California Pizza Kitchen! I usually have pizza with him, but I knew we wanted to not count macros and be “fattys” for the weekend, so I thought I would get a healthier option and have a high protein meal before we got ice-cream and zebra popcorn at the hotel!
On Saturday, we woke up early for the complimentary breakfast (gotta stock up on that free food! heheh!) and fell right back asleep with full tummies to only wake up around noon! Oh my, it felt amazing to sleep! Is it just me or does hotel rooms have the most amazing beds? I could sleep forever on them! We then spent our afternoon munching on more food, free smoothies, and sitting at the pool! The rest of the day was spent watching tons of movies. I haven’t had the time to just RELAX and be lazy all day and it felt amazing! Yes, it was hard to not think about my long to-do list waiting at home for me, but it was worth it!
Our quick mini-vacay’s last day was on Sunday. We woke up for the breakfast again, but then checked out, went to the movies, beach, and ended the day with dinner and a workout at the gym. As you will see, he is the good looking one between us 😉
It was three days spent with my love and there was no work, no distractions, and being present with each other. It felt so nice to just get away for a little bit!
After spending those days and really making sure we were present with each other, I fell even more in love with him. 🙂
If you have read all the way down to here, AHH! You are amazing! <3
Again, I am SO excited to have my blog back up! I am so excited to share all the sessions I have had since mine and David’s little vacation in the middle of May! Keep a look out! I have LOTS to catch you all up on + some pretty pictures! heheh! 🙂
Thank you so much for following on my journey of life + Photography!
XOXO,
Shelby Danielle
{Follow me of Instagram for daily updates: @ShelbyDaniellePhotography}
