Whoever said off season wasn’t busy was smoking crack. Okay, maybe that’s a bit dramatic. Things have definitely not been as fast paced as they are during busy season…but at the same time, when you think about off season, you imagine yourself having a ton of free time, which hasn’t been the case for me this year. I guess off season can technically be whatever you decide to make it…you can keep yourself busy with goals you set for your business, or should you decide to chill more and rest up for the busy season, that’s okay too. One of the joys of running my own business is making up my own rules! That joy can be hard to keep in perspective in such a comparison driven industry (and really, it’s the times we live in more than anything else), but it’s awesome when you get a moment of clarity and realize, “You know what?? I do what I WANT. Ain’t nobody the boss of me”.

Between doing behind the scenes work I know I won’t have time for April-November and training for a marathon, life has been pretty jam packed. So when a weekend rolls around like this past weekend where we literally only had ONE thing planned, I get really excited. I’m getting to that age where I really relish time spent at home doing absolutely nothing…the only entertainment I really need are my kindle app on iPad and my DVR! Okay, and John and Lucy to keep me company. This weekend we hung out with our friends the Lovells on Friday night (Sarah made the BEST steak tacos and strawberry margs) and then slept in two days in a row, and grocery shopped. So thrilling, right? I loved every minute of it!

The only thing I didn’t really love was spending time at the gym. I decided to start strength training because I noticed some strain in my lower back muscles in my longer runs (15+ miles) so I figured, hey, strengthening my back muscles couldn’t really hurt anything.  I was actually pretty surprised at how much I did actually enjoy lifting free weights (dead lifts, squats, assisted pull ups etc) whereas I HATE working out on the machines at the gym. I don’t see a future for myself as a body builder, but I do feel so much more confident about working out at the gym and really giving my body the strength I need to shoot weddings and run. I’m learning that doing good things for your body that are sometimes unpleasant in the short term (like, say, eating healthy and working out) are so beneficial to your quality of life in the long term.

Speaking of running, I have a 20 miler on Thursday and I am SO nervous. My last run was a 17 miler and I was pretty wiped out at the end. I was supposed to do an 18 and a 20 to finish out my training for the marathon, but I decided I would feel more confident about finishing the race after completing a 20 and a 22. If I can do those, I sure as heck can run, walk, or crawl the last four…especially since on race day I know I’ll have so much more adrenaline from the crowds, onlookers, etc than I do when I run all alone like normal.

I want to start sharing some of my weekly goals with you guys via these Monday morning posts, so here are a few of the things I want to get done this week:

• Order more business cards for WPPI. I’m not really a self promote-y type of person, so I rarely carry business cards…but last year I learned that business cards are really important to exchange with people you meet so you can catch up with them and social media-ize with them after you get home.
• Paint over the chalk marker spots that I can’t clean off of my office chalk wall
• Photograph the office for the blog
• Buy nightstands for our bedroom
• Write a few exciting blog posts for you guys!

What’s on your to do list for the week?? Feel free to share in the comments! Hope you all have an awesome Monday!! Here’s a peek at Valentine’s day shoot I shot for Heart Love Weddings designed by Dear Sweetheart Events! Look for the full shoot on HLW tomorrow!!

PS: Thanks to everyone who has completed the survey so far! If you haven’t had a chance to do it yet, you can still fill it out by midnight tonight to enter for a chance to win a $25 J Crew gift card! Make sure you complete all ten questions (partially completed surveys won’t count toward the giveaway) and leave your name on your survey, or comment HERE to let me know you filled one out to be eligible to win! I’ll announce the winner tomorrow morning!