Welcome back (to you, but mainly me)! I am sad that I’ve been inconsistent with blogging as of late and am thrilled that I think this week we will be back to a regular schedule. A friend asked me how my work schedule was looking this week, and upon looking at it, it feels like it will be the first week that truly seems manageable in a while since I am no longer doing two different roles and can focus on styling and dedicating time to training the girl who took my place. I have had so many shoots the past couple of weeks that I don’t feel like I’ve had my head on straight and am excited to be in town and attempting to find a new normal in this role.
Since I had yesterday off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I am treating today like my Monday and am excited to bring you along on the adventure that has been this past week. If there were a preview, it would include: a trip to Atlanta to attend market for work, setting an alarm off, and having a run-in with the police, a friend visiting town, and a cracked ceiling. You really can’t make this stuff up!
Monday was my most normal day of the week starting with a 5:15 class at true40 as their balance challenge kicked off (the challenge is to attend 15 classes before the end of the month, and since I was out of town this past week I’m not sure if that will be a reality for me). I had a location photoshoot scheduled for that day for a small space home style issue we are releasing in the spring. We shot two different condos in the same building owned by a really sweet mother and daughter. They made me look like I was doing a great job, given how well decorated they were. I am really excited to see how the issue turns out now that I’ve styled three different spaces for it! We somehow managed to finish photographing both of the apartments around 2:00, and I headed to the office to unpack the props from that shoot and started pulling props for the shoot I had the following day. I left work a bit later than normal but still had time to eat dinner and put on comfy clothes before going to my friend Macy’s house to switch between watching The Bachelor and the National Championship game. Once the game was into the third quarter, and we had watched the entire episode of The Bachelor, I opted to head home and go to bed.
On Tuesday, I had an in-studio food shoot for Southern Cast Iron magazine. This included six recipes to fill ten pages in their July/August issue feature about one bowl baking. We didn’t start working on the photos until close to 10:00, which caused us to leave a little bit later around 6:00. I don’t feel as well versed in food styling, but I am really pleased with how all of the photos turned out and am looking forward to seeing that in print as well. I was hoping to unload my cart when we finished but needed to head to the gym if I was going to get in a workout, shower, and packing before I needed to go to bed. I did a Peloton workout at the Y before making my way home. I made dinner and showered and attempted to pack to head to Atlanta the following day for work. I finally went to sleep around 10:30, with most of my bag packed for the trip.
I woke up early on Wednesday morning and was able to get a lot done before heading into the office. I had to do a few last-minute things before the three of us going to AmericasMart left for Atlanta at 8:00. I was able to work on our way there and ordered props for shoots I have this week on the road. We got to Atlanta a little before noon and were able to check-in and head to the press room to grab lunch before beginning to get a feel for market. We started by wandering around some of the temporary booths in buildings one and two. I had the best time seeing how so many different shops set up their booths to showcase their designs and products. Stay tuned on my Instagram stories (@prepinyourstep) today for a better look at some of my favorite vendor discoveries! Market ended a little before six, and the two other girls who I went with and I went to a restaurant near where we parked before going to our Airbnb to check in and call it a night. When we got to the Airbnb, we didn’t have the smoothest check-in given that the alarm started going off, and we weren’t given the code to turn it off. Fortunately, when I called the owner of the house, she answered and was able to provide it to us to turn the blaring noise off. It wasn’t until after that experience and looking around the house that I was told by my co-workers that this was not the Airbnb I sent them pictures of. I laughed pretty hard about that slip up on my end until we heard a knock on the door and a police officer showed up to question what we were doing on the property and why the alarm had gone off. After all of that excitement, I was even more exhausted and ready for bed.
America’s Mart opened at 8:00, so we aimed to get there a little after that to get breakfast in the press room and begin our only full day there. It took a bit to get my bearings on the setup, but I was able to talk to some great new vendors that we could potentially use in the future while stopping in and saying hello/seeing what was new with vendors we have a pre-existing relationship with. Many of the booths had snacks and drinks, and one of my co-workers and I ended our day with frose at Corkcicle’s booth. It turned out that Mila and Emma (the Instagram famous kids from this account) were there, and we didn’t figure that out until after the fact. When we left around 6:00, we went to another restaurant nearby and went back to the Airbnb to hangout seated in our pajamas after being on our feet talking all day.
Friday was our last day in Atlanta, and we made our way through the rest of our lists before eating lunch and heading back to Birmingham around 1:00. We got back to the office a little before 3:00, and I was excited to head home and read on the couch for a while. I eventually unpacked, organized my room, and got our guest bedroom ready for Sophia since she drove in town for the long weekend. She got to Birmingham around 7:00, and we went for dinner and margaritas at La Paz before coming home to catch up on the couch and eventually go to bed.
On Saturday, I slept in until about eight, and Sophia and I sipped coffee on the couch for a while before getting ready to go to Bandit Patisserie in Homewood for breakfast. After that, we went in a few stores in Homewood (even though it was pouring rain all day) and went to The General and Shoppe in Highland Park before grabbing lunch at Olexa’s in Mountain Brook with Nell. After that, we went back to my house and opened Christmas and birthday presents from one another and started watching The Morning Show, which Sophia had already watched and insisted on me starting. Holy cow was it addicting. I’m embarrassed to admit that we finished it in a single weekend, but it is that good. After one episode I showered, we watched another one, and then we got ready to go to dinner at Ollie Irene in Crestline Village. It’s a bit more expensive than our usual dinner spots, but it was delicious and worth it for a splurge. After that, we grabbed a drink at Carrigan’s and came home to watch another episode.
On Sunday, we woke up to no power after a transformer blew near our house early in the morning. We got ready in the dark and met Macy and her sister Turner for breakfast at Woodlawn Cycle Café. I had not been there but was really impressed with the setup and food. Since the power was still out, Sophia and I went to Continental Bakery for more coffee after that. When we did come home close to noon, we watched another episode of The Morning Show and then met one of our roommates from senior year, Caroline, and her dog Blaez for a walk through Mountain Brook. Sophia and I were hungry once we finished that and went to Real and Rosemary for a late lunch before spending the rest of the afternoon/night watching The Morning Show. I was shocked after the last episode and am so glad that they have already confirmed that a second season will be coming out in November. If you take anything away from this post, it’s that you need to watch The Morning Show.
On Monday, Sophia and I went to the 8:15 class of true40 since I insisted that she try my favorite workout in Birmingham before she left. She hit the road once that finished, and I made a grocery list so I could go to Trader Joe’s and get my errands accomplished. Once I got home, I showered, prepared food for the week, and then got ready, so I could meet Nell at Starbucks to get some work done before going on a walk. After that, I caught up with some friends and my parents before heading home to put away laundry, organize my room, and eat dinner before heading to Macy’s to watch The Bachelor with friends. I packed my bag for the following day and then went to bed.
I hope that y’all had a great week as well and hopefully had yesterday off!
No comments :
Post a Comment