Done Is Better Than Perfect

Screenshot of About Us page

Phew! What a week we’ve had! I seriously was in bed and asleep by 9pm last night.

I was exhausted!! I’ve been MIA the last week or so because we were preparing for a talk on marriage that we gave yesterday at a local MOPS group. I’ll be sharing more soon! But I will say, I fulfilled a dream I’ve had for years while simultaneously walking through one of my biggest fears, public speaking. Facing fears is exhausting!!! But still worth it, as I learned yesterday.

Speaking of dreams, well, this was more of a goal then a dream, but I hope this story encourages you today. Before Rosie Posie was born, we decided to take new photos for our About Us page and created a new video to replace the one on our Home Page. I figured we wouldn’t have the energy once Rose arrived and I had no idea if I’d want to be in front of the camera after being pregnant. And we actually managed to make both happen! And then we sat on the video footage and the photos for more than a year! More than a year!

But we finally, finally put the pictures up last week! I think we were holding out for perfection. Perfection will always prevent progress. I think we were waiting for the perfect time to make some big changes on our website. Who knows! I honestly can’t remember at this point, but I’m so thankful that we’re making changes. We’re finally starting to learn the art of shipping instead of waiting for everything to align in the perfect moment to hit send. Done is now better than perfect in our world! I think having a child helped us with this!

We could have been tempted to put it off even longer. I mean the photos are so old now, maybe we should just wait and take new ones at this point. But again, that’d be waiting for perfect. I have no idea when we’d take new photos at this point, and to be quite honest, these photos mean so much to me. They were taken when I was only a few months pregnant with Rose. And I miraculously found this dress at Anthropologie that will forever be a special piece of clothing – the blue and pink print represented a very special time in my life. We had no idea if baby Rose was a little boy or a little girl. I’m so excited to finally see these photos on our website!

We ended up deciding not to put the video on our homepage. We opted to replace the old video with a slideshow of some of our favorite wedding photos. I hope one day we’ll edit the video footage and share it on our blog, but I think we have changed and our brand is evolving in news ways that surpass the message we were originally going for.

So, go check the changes out! Let us know what you think! And if you’ve been sitting on a dream you’ve been dreaming for years or a goal that’s been hanging over your head for what seems like forever, just take a step today. A baby step! And maybe you just need to ship it as is, in it’s imperfectly perfect condition. Remember, done is always better than perfect.

Photo: I have to give a shout out to my girl Melanie Meyer who did my hair for these photos. I absolutely LOVED what she did and my experience having it done! If you need your hair done for a wedding, event or photoshoot, go to Melanie!

The Weekender

It’s Friday! And it’s raining (maybe snowing by you?) and I am so ready for the weekend. Vitaliy is leaving town so it’s going to be a girl’s weekend spent with my mom and Rose. And I’m excited about that!

Rose’s First Birthday: Speaking of Rose, we are weeks away from celebrating her first birthday. I honestly cannot believe it! I’m not into anything over the top. I’m thinking small and low-key with family and a few friends. Any tips or ideas for a first birthday party? Please share!

Whole 30: Vitaliy and I are starting our second Whole 30 on January 31. Have you heard of Whole 30? We did our first one last year when I was about 3 months postpartum and I felt amazing. It definitely takes a certain amount of dedication and extra time preparing meals, but the physical benefits are well worth the effort. This time we finally have a game plan for after the Whole 30 ends so I’m hopeful for more long-term change this go round. We’re going to do eat mostly Paleo, 90/10 – 90% Paleo, 10% wiggle room. Anybody have any Whole 30 or Paleo Pinterest boards or blogs you’d recommend? Anybody want to join us? We’ve got a group of about 10 people so far. So happy to not be doing it alone this time!

Date Night: We finally had a date night this week! We dropped Rose off to friends and went to a local coffee shop to caffeinate, breathe and connect. We spent the entire time looking face to face just talking. It was just what we needed.

MOPS: If you are a mom to little ones, I highly recommend finding a MOPS meeting in your area. I really wasn’t sure it’d be a good fit for me, but I was wrong. Being surrounded by a group of women who know precisely what you’re going through is so comforting. Every time we meet, I leave encouraged and ready to take on motherhood for another week.

Scary Close: Remember I mentioned I received two copies of On Writing by Stephen King. Well, I exchanged the extra copy this week for Donald Miller’s book Scary Close. I read the intro and first Chapter on the way to date night last night and choked up. Have you read it? I’m only one chapter in, but I’m intrigued. It made for some great conversation over coffee with Vitaliy.

What are you up to this weekend? I’m hoping for a lunch date with Mom and Rose on Saturday. Then church and rest on Sunday. Happy weekend, friends!

Photo: Can we go back to Christmas week?

Rose

The Truth
About Art

Writing when you are uninspired is hard.

If I’m lucky, I have roughly three hours during the work day to make work happen. The rest is now spent with my adorable little housemate. Needless to say, I’m still figuring things out. Everyday looks different. Some days seem to flow effortlessly. And you’re like, yeah, I’ve got this! Other days feel exhausting. And some days are just, blah. But isn’t that life with or without a child?

I texted Vitaliy this morning and told him I spent Rose’s nap time writing and when I finished I didn’t even have a complete piece. I have two possible ideas out of it that could become something, but nothing concrete. Nothing able to ship! He told me, yeah, the same goes for photos. Sometimes you just have to keep shooting until you see something.

So, here I sit. Rose is waking up from her afternoon nap and I’ve got about 5 half written pieces. Art is hard. But today I wrote. And today Vitaliy took photos. And at the end of the day, that’s what we need to do. Show up.

Because tomorrow, I just might see something.

Photo from 2013 while photographing a wedding with Teresa Halton in Palm Springs.

Palm Springs wedding photography