08/24/2026
I think my busy season officially started this weekend.
After a really lovely summer with more pauses, more reflection, more time with my girls, and somehow also one of the busiest seasons of my business behind the scenes, I looked at my calendar and realized something Iām still trying to wrap my head around.
Itās August. And Iām fully booked for the rest of the year.
There was a version of me 10+ years ago who would have thought this was the absolute dream. Imagine having a season that hasnāt even really started yet and already knowing every space is filled. People trusting you with their families, their babies, their lives. I donāt think I ever want to become so used to this that I forget what a gift that is.
But Iām also learning that sometimes the things we dream of come with a weight we didnāt really imagine when we were dreaming about them.
Being fully booked also means looking ahead and realizing there isnāt magically a quiet week coming. There isnāt necessarily a little opening where life will tell me to rest. There are expectations and emails and galleries and people I deeply want to show up for. And if Iām not careful, something beautiful can very quickly turn into me just holding my breath until December.
So this year I did something very simple that somehow feels quite big.
I booked the breaks before I needed them.
Actual empty days in my calendar. Days where Iām planning on being spectacularly lazy. Not answering much. Not catching up. Not secretly turning them into admin days because I suddenly have āfree time.ā Just being with my kids, eating something good, lying around, going somewhere if we feel like it, and remembering I am a person outside of the thing I love to do.
Maybe this is one of the stranger lessons of building the thing you once dreamed about. You spend years learning how to fill the calendar, and then you have to learn how to protect the empty spaces inside of it.
Still learning that part.
But very, very grateful to be here š¤
