First of all, I’m sorry for being such a bad blogger. I know my posting has been spotty lately and while I like to imagine that no one notices or cares, I know that, as shocking as it is to me, there are actually people who read this blog daily, enjoy it, and notice when I haven’t posted. While I find it absolutely bizarre that you people are interested in reading about my life (don’t worry, I know it’s really Eleanor that you’re here for) I hate to disappoint anyone.

So, I thought I’d give you all a little update and let you know what’s going on in my life, so that maybe you’ll understand why I’ve been dropping the ball with my blogging.

I’m guilty of consistently, completely, and compulsively overbooking myself. Josh thinks it’s an illness, and I don’t think he’s wrong. I pile things on my plate and when it’s full, I look for more, and I can’t say “no” when people ask me to do more. I think that I should be able to do everything and even more than that. I absolutely recognize that this is a problem, is not healthy and is not normal.

Right now, I’m working three days a week downtown at a legal aid clinic. It’s a temporary position, I’ll be done in December. I’m running the clinic for the directing attorney while she is on maternity leave. I see about 8-12 clients per week. I love it. Really, really love it there. I’ll probably post more about it later. And I get to take the train downtown which gives me some time to read, which I wouldn’t have otherwise.

I’m still running my estate planning practice and have been taking a few other types of cases lately. I do that work the other days of the week, and on the train, and on my lunch on my days at the clinic.

I’m still getting my photo business going. Slowly building business, taking care of clients, working on my business and marketing plans, future projects and promotions, planning some changes to my pricing and collections, constantly reading and learning about building a photo business, among a lot of other little tasks.

I also volunteer with Assistance League Santa Clarita. I’m the website administrator, so lately I’ve had some little projects making changes and updates to the website. And I’m a member of the Public Relations committee, so I’ve had meetings every couple of weeks for that and I’ve been helping to work on the PR for the Sunset in the Vineyard event, getting an online event registration site set-up, and getting it linked to an online payment system, and linked to the website.

Aside from all of that I get Eleanor up, make her breakfast, and get her dressed and take her to school each morning. I pick her up around 5 every evening, then go home, get her a snack and make dinner. I cook every night except some Saturdays and most Sundays when Josh makes dinner. I do most of the daily cleaning. And Josh and I switch off on packing lunches and cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. Although I think I’ve been doing most of that lately while Josh gives Eleanor a bath and gets her ready for bed, so that we can both be done with housework by 8:30 or 9 every night.

I give myself next to no free time. I never, aside from our new Family Movie Night and my train rides downtown, just sit and watch a movie or read a book. I don’t have down time anymore and if I did I’m not sure how I would feel about it. I blog, or edit photos, or read legal blogs or photography business blogs, or marketing blogs whenever I’m not actually working, taking care of Eleanor or doing housework.

I don’t tell you all of this to complain, not at all actually. I do all this because I either enjoy it, or because I’m doing it to take care of my family. I also am not saying all of this to brag about how busy I am and how much I do. I am beyond sick of people bragging about how much they have to do and how many things are on their to-do list and how much busier they are than everyone else and look at how many things I accomplish. I know that we’re all busy, everyone is busy and tired.

I say this because I have reached my breaking point. I am in burnout mode. And I know that I need to force myself to take a break, cut myself some slack, let myself not do it all for a little while. Things will absolutely slow down in December, but until then, I’m going to try to take things a little bit easier before I have a breakdown.

All of this is to say, if I’m not blogging much now or through the end of the year this is why. I’ll do what I feel okay doing. I’ll try to keep you all entertained as often as I can, but some nights and weekends I’m not going to blog, I’m just going to sit, paint my nails, and watch a movie. Believe me, it will keep my sanity intact and make for a better me and a better blog in the new year ahead.

xoxo,

Maggie