I am baffled that today is my last Monday of work for 2019. I head home on Wednesday for a shoot I was assigned in Fairhope that is taking place on Thursday. It’s really convenient to get to be home for that, but I’m kind of sad that I don’t have more time to celebrate Christmas with my friends in Birmingham before leaving. Next year I need Thanksgiving to be earlier, so things don’t feel quite so rushed. Fortunately, I got to spend lots of time with friends this weekend, and I have no doubt that January will be here before I know it!
I’ve been loving starting my morning with quiet time by the Christmas tree and is making it feel more worthwhile to have set up a Christmas tree. Monday, I spent most of the day unpacking boxes and packing things up for my first solo location shoot on Tuesday. I had to run out of the office in the afternoon to get flowers and spent the end of the afternoon arranging those and loading up the van to be ready to go the following day. Once I left, I went to the Y to work out and then came home to shower and finish wrapping some presents and making place cards for the shoot.
Tuesday morning, I woke up to lots of rain and colder temperatures, which made me nervous since I knew I’d be the only one unpacking everything from the car once I got to the shoot. Thankfully, the homeowner had me pull into her garage so that I didn’t end up drenched after grabbing the flowers from the office and getting some extra greenery. Set up took over an hour, but I am so pleased with the final result. The shoot included five recipes, which gave us plenty of time to get detail shots between the food shots, and it’s crazy to think that this is already ready to go for Southern Lady’s November/December 2020 issue. Cleanup took much longer than expected even though we got our last shot around 3:00, so I spent the better part of the afternoon packing everything back up and cleaning the space. I came back to the office to unload and then had to get a manicure on my way home from work for a shoot I had to model in the next day. I was exhausted by the time I was finally back and showered, ate dinner, and got in bed.
I've been living in this $30 pullover!
On Wednesday, I got to the office and tackled a few emails before having to head to the location of the shoot I was helping with. This one was for Victoria Magazine, and another stylist and I had to “model” evening gowns, jewelry, and hairpins for a feature they are doing. I definitely struggled to keep a straight face and am a little bit terrified to see how these photos turn out since this is unlike anything I’ve done. The team on the shoot was a ton of fun, which was helpful, and we finally finished around 3:30. I got a bit more done at the office before heading home to eat, shower, and change into my pajamas before my friends came over for bible study at our house. Once that was over, I got in bed and attempted to read before falling asleep.
Thursday was the first day in a while that I was at my desk all day, and it was heavenly. I was SO productive and crossed a ton of things off of my to-do list. I really can’t remember the last time I’ve been that productive. I was able to get through resources, invoices, and emails in record time. After work, I came home to get cleaned up before going to dinner at Slice with a friend. We decided to go bowling after that and ended up at a bowling alley where it was league night. Everyone there was decked out in bowling gear and bags, so we decided to try a different bowling alley that was much less intimidating. It ended up being unlimited bowl night, and we played nine games, all of which I lost. Bowling is definitely not a hidden talent of mine, and I am sad to admit that my finger was bruised and my wrist was sore when I woke up the next morning.
Since I got home a bit later, I slept in some on Friday before going to Starbucks. After that, I picked up a few props that were needed for my shoot and made my way to the office. The shoot wrapped right around noon, and I ended up being behind Nell’s mom on my way to the Summit. I said hello to her and ended up getting lunch with them before running into Trader Joe’s for supplies for the party my roommate and I were having that night. The Summit was a zoo, and I’m hoping I don’t have to go back until January, given how chaotic everything was. I cleaned our house, started some food, showered, and took a nap before it was time to party prep. Sadly I failed to take any pictures (aside from Nell dressed as a Christmas tree). A bunch of our friends came, and we played Picolo before some of us decided to go out to Moe’s after. It was crowded there, and we stayed for a bit but ended the night playing pool at Nana Funks before heading home.
I woke up earlier than I thought I would on Saturday morning and sat by the Christmas tree in my pajamas watching Christmas movies and attempting to work on blog posts. I did a bunch of laundry throughout the day and took an accidental two-hour nap in the afternoon. Eventually, I got ready and went to dinner with Nell at Bamboo on Second before seeing It’s A Wonderful Life at the Alabama Theatre downtown. When the movie ended, we decided to go to the Christmas bar, Miracle, that opened in Queen’s Park before coming home and going to sleep.
I don’t know what got into me on Sunday, but I was in a major cleaning mode. This was great timing since now I’ll be coming back in January to a cleaned space (although after being away I’m sure it’ll need another good cleaning). I washed all of my bedding, including decorative pillowcases, swiffered our entire house before vacuuming, and deep cleaned appliances. In the afternoon, I went out to grab a few Christmas gifts and food for the party we were hosting that evening. I came home and showered and wrapped some presents before prepping to have our friends over for an appetizer dinner and a game of dirty Santa. I thought I was clever and gave this item as well as a Smirnoff Ice, which bit me in the butt when I unwrapped a six-pack of Ices and a pack of bean boozled. The game didn’t last as long as it could of since there wasn’t a ton of stealing, but I loved seeing what everyone chose to bring. Everyone stayed till around 9:30, and my roommate and I cleaned up before going to bed.
I’ll be wrapping things up at work this week and am doing my best to have the last of my holiday posts live on the blog this week. That means you may want to come back and check the blog more than once a day since I have LOTS planned for y’all!
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