I’m sitting on the porch drinking my morning coffee – my favourite time of the day and coincidentally the time when I get the most thinking done. It’s a rainy day here at the cottage, but I’m thankful for the surrenity I feel at this moment.

Recently I was playing 20 questions with a friend (I know, we’re adults, who still plays that right?!) The question came up “What is your dream job?” and without hesitation I responded with “I’m doing it.” I don’t take that for granted for one second. I know how fortunate I am to be running my own business and even better, running that business doing what I love. I am thankful for every family that hires me to capture their portraits, without them, without you, I could not continue on.

I have had a lot going on in 2016 and my blog posts have taken the brunt of the neglect. They’ve become “here are the photographs from my recent session” mashed with “look how cute this baby is” – don’t worry, I’ve noticed too! I’ve been meaning to write an update for a while, filling you in on what’s going on in my life. No better time than the present right?

During the Winter, as many photographs can attest, it can get very boring. Days are short, leaving the house means shovelling 2 feet of snow off your car (okay, maybe I’m exaggerating but it sure feels that way!) and self-motivation reaches an all time low. With the exception of newborn sessions, sessions are few and far between, you don’t want to be outside for an hour and neither do I!

In January a job opportunity fell into my lap. It was also doing something I love – working with plants in a nursery. The timing was perfect and I couldn’t picture myself doing any other part-time job (fast food, no thanks!). I debated for a very long time; should I accept the job? Does that mean I’ve failed as a photographer? I’ve worked so hard to get people to respect my career choice, what will they think? After 3 years of being a full-time photographer I would no longer be able to answer the “do you do this full time?” question with yes.

After much deliberation – and tears – I accepted the job, with one condition, the moment it started to interfer with photography, I would say goodbye. It was a long couple of months getting back into the swing of waking up at 6am and working 5 days a week. Not to mention my body was in constant pain – if you ever thought working in a greenhouse was easy work, you were wrong!  Once Spring came my “part-time job” became a little more time consuming. I worked 60 to 70 hour weeks shipping plants to get stores ready for May 24 – Sunday’s my only day off – was spent shooting, catching up on emails, editing, throwing together blog posts and to top it off – tax season! Now the nursery has slowed down again, I’m back to 40 hours a week, half day Friday’s and weekends off (can you say everyone’s dream job?!)

When I started I had no idea how much I would fall in love with this place. I’ve made some great friends, I’m learning Spanish from all of my Mexican Amigos, if you follow me on Instagram you know how proud I am of my newly acquired muscles and as much as I make fun of my AWFUL tanlines, I’m proud of those too.

I never thought I’d make it past my first few months of pain but I did. Then I didn’t think I’d make it through the 70 hour weeks, but I did. Now I’m not sure I’ll make it through the heat this summer – but I’m going to give it my all. If or when the time comes that I need to say goodbye to the nursery, it’s going to be a sad day, or week, or more – because I truly love it there! But for now I am putting all my energy into doing both. It makes things a little more difficult only being available 3 days a week for sessions, but I appreciate your patience and flexibility.

I smell bacon, which is my que to wrap this up.
Until next time.

WordPress sent me statistics from my 2013 year. Perhaps I should move to Australia, it seems I have some fans over there!

I definitely wouldn’t mind the Aussie heat while I freeze my bum off over here in Canada!

To all of you – in North America or across the world – who take the time to read my blog, thanks for the love!