the streak began last friday. with our fridge recently replenished with wholesome goodness- it started. the eating out. we hit six restaurants in three days before we called it quits. (two urban licks, sun in my belly and fellini’s among others, so good!).
on sunday night, we were really struck to find ourselves feeling sick and lethargic- but people eat out all the time, right? right! what makes our experience different? i’d love to launch into explaining our organic, fair trade, grass fed, sustainable lifestyle but that would be a stretch. we don’t really budget for that so you will, in fact, find bleached flour, white sugar and a few instant lunches lurking in our pantry. so it isn’t that. maybe we usually eat slightly more balanced meals at home and practice some sort of portion control? i don’t really know.
what i do know is that after seeing so clearly the effects of typical restaurant food we were motivated to talk about how much healthier we could be at home. we do tend to eat fresh but maybe we should live that strictly organic, fair trade, grass fed, sustainable lifestyle i mentioned previously. if three days of restaurant food can change us for the worse, maybe three days of eating pure whole foods could dramatically change us for the better? maybe my logic is flawed but i’m tempted to try it. i should really do some research…
on a different note, be sure to check back tomorrow for some changes we’re going to be making!
we first met jean only two weeks before her wedding! she had booked us through the mail and we’d corresponded via email so when it came time to meet her face to face we were ready…we thought.
we met her for a cappuccino and she began telling us her story. remember how i said we were ready? not true. the first thing she filled us in on was that she and bj had recently been married. jean laughed at our failure to hide our surprise and explained that bj was canadian and once they moved to atlanta it had been in their best interest to go ahead and tie the knot- we laughed for a while about how much pressure that took off their upcoming wedding! at the end of our meeting, jean left us with a quick warning about how crazy awesome their celebration was going to be. and oh, it was. here are a few of our faves:
the sun was out in full force and it was doing beautiful things with the decor! even the shadows were worth a few images:
old homes with staircases like this always make for interesting shots. i love how full this image is:
jean and her father arrived to the ceremony in a carriage and it was a big hit. the driver was even kind enough to stay after the ceremony and take the little kids for a trip around the block- what a great idea!
the place cards had little bells for the guests to ring and encourage the newlyweds to kiss- no broken glasses at this wedding!
little kids love matt, i think he nailed this next shot:
such a sweet moment during their first dance…
this is my favorite picture of jean; she just looks super stunning here:
jean & bj, it was awesome to spend saturday getting to know you and your families; thank you so much for choosing us to capture it all! you should probably know that matt said ‘eh’ after everything he said for days, haha! no doubt we’ll run into you guys around atlanta- we look forward to it!
when matt and i first started the biz we were working from 9am until 2am, daily. we were struggling with controlling our workload and the thought of free time was only a joke. on a whim, we ordered the audio book (we didn’t have time for reading for goodness sake!), ‘the four hour work week’ by tim ferris– we figured that if we could reclaim even one hour of our day that we would be thrilled. so as we stared into our computer screens, editing, answering emails and researching, tim’s voice droned on in the background telling us to stop exactly what we were doing. annoying. yes, but we were listening and what he was saying eventually started to click for us. we created an ambitious 9-5 schedule and became increasingly excited about how much our lives could change. although things can get in the way of the schedule (i’m talking to you, october!); the hour we set aside in the middle of the day for ourselves is invaluable- we call it personal hour and it rocks our world.
we get messages on twitter, facebook and via email about our ‘personal hour’ so i decided to explain it all at once here on the blog. some people seem to think it’s a great idea, some are interested but unsure and some think the idea of spending an hour a day to themselves in 2008 is absurd. i know you’re busy, trust me, i am too, but if spending time for yourself could mean better efficiency in getting done all of that work you have to do, wouldn’t you just have to try it? it’s possible. thanks to tim ferris’ straightforward advice and an article in real simple, i came up with a quick and easy way to help me create my personal hour. i’d love for you to grab a sheet of paper and give it a shot!
.let’s dream.
what makes you happy and relaxed? what do you wish you could spend more time on? what soothes you and makes you feel refreshed? is it reading (my personal fave!), or volunteering or being outdoors? or maybe it’s taking a bath, or diving into a hobby (mmm, cooking) or indulging in a manicure? spend a little time creating a list of as many of these activities as you can imagine.
.reality hits.
now make a list of what you actually spend your time on. while at work and while at home. be specific. break things down. separate email from facebook and the treadmill from the tv. a lot of things on this list will be required for your job and your life- write those things too. if you have trouble with this list real simple recommends keeping a time-diary for a few days to record what you’re really up to during the day.
.give it up.
think about how long you spend on certain activities on the reality list, then compare the activities taking your time to what you’d rather be doing (the dream list). can you cut anything from the reality list to create some time for the dream list? when i look at it that way i’d love to cut the amount of time i spend watching tv in exchange for some fresh air and a good book! is there anything on your list you can save time on by doing a couple times a day and knocking it out all at once instead of little bits every five minutes? hum…email? google reader? those hit me where it hurts; clearly i don’t have this all perfected yet! is there a way to limit distractions while you’re working on your required work? maybe gchat doesn’t need to be on all day or maybe the tv doesn’t need to be on while you’re cooking dinner; would that help you be more efficient?
.just do it.
hopefully by now you’ve realized a few things that can help you recapture some of your time. i know i’ve realized some new things just by writing this! now it’s time to be intentional about the dream list. take the hour you’ve created and use it to really refresh and energize by enjoying something off of your first list! it works best for me if i take my hour at a specific time every day but it might be different for everyone. if this seems to out of reach maybe you could start by enjoying a personal hour twice a week or just on the weekends but once you start, i have to warn you, it’s addicting!
i hope this has been at least a teensy bit helpful! i’d love to hear your ideas for reclaiming time; i think we can all agree we’re always in need of more! best of luck to you!
