Life is a great big juggling act. There’s work, family, friends, and chores that surround you each day. And then in the middle of all that it’s suggested you get eight hours of sleep, eat six small meals a day, and exercise for at least 30 minutes four to five times a week. 

There are 168 hours, 10,020 minutes, and 36,072,000 seconds in a week (I think) yet there never seems to be enough time to get everything done.

If you didn’t know the Fall season is just about every photographer’s most stressful time of year because everyone loves a good Fall wedding! And don’t get me wrong, I do too, it just means I’m booked every weekend for three months straight and then try to attempt to stay afloat of my workload. It’s stressful and sometimes the best way to be productive is to actually step away from your work. And so that’s what I did.

Both Erik and I had been working like crazy. He was busy constructing the set of Peter Pan & Wendy on top of his regular teaching job, I was substituing every day on top of the wedding I had to shoot on the weekends. We were barely seeing one another and that crack was felt between us. We are truly one another’s best friend and we were missing one another. When we were home we were spending more time on our phones or being distracted by other material goods that we were putting quality time to the way side. It was sad and frustrating to both of us. It was creating the start of a vicious cycle so we decided to nip it in the butt.

We both took a day from work and we went out. We went to one of our favorite little towns, Lambertville, NJ & New Hope, PA to enjoy the day together. We got up bright and early, got dressed, and headed straight to one of the diner’s that had been on our “to-eat-at” list since one of our first visits, Sneddon’s. I ordered funfetti pancakes (which were out of this world!) and Erik ordered a specialty omelette. Once our bellies were full we stopped for some coffee at my FAVORITE coffee shop in the whole wide world, Lambertville Trading Company. It was a pretty brisk and windy day the warm cups kept us cozy as we walked around and paroused the small businesses. I think that’s one of the reasons why we love those towns so much, it’s pretty much all small businesses and we support #shoplocal as much as we can. The towns also welcome dogs with open arms and we are huge dog people so this is a major plus for us.

I had heard about Lambertville’s abandoned train cars just a few days before we so made it a priority of ours to find them. They were actually relatively easy to find and it allowed us to enjoy a little stroll along the canal and the beautiful fall foliage. While searching the internet for things to do earlier in the week I also came across the antique train rides. Erik looooves trains so I knew he would jump all over the chance. The train ride provided us a little break from the cool weather and a chance to sit.

The day gave us a lot of joy but more importantly it gave us the time to reconnect with one another. Sometimes the best way to reconnect is to disconnect. It’s a daily challenge to practice this but we’ve slowly been making changes. I got a new phone a few weeks ago and instead of loading it with all the apps that I used to have, apps that only encouraged me to waste my time and my mind, I have kept them all off and it has been a huge benefit to keep me off my phone and busy with things that are more important and to have conversation with those around me, not sit in silence. The gym has become a bigger priority and it’s effects have been hugely worthwhile. It helps relieve the stress after a long day and lightens my mood which in turn keeps the home a happier place.

So, in this season of thanks and giving who are you most thankful for that helps keep you motivated when you’re feeling stressed and overwhelmed?