productivity

Pregnancy, a blogging hiatus, and learning to rest

January 26, 2016 by Asharae 4 Comments

As I sit down to share my thoughts on the last couple months, I can tell that my writing muscle is feeling a little rusty. I feel sort of like I’m getting back to doing yoga after taking weeks away from my mat. Everything feels a little sore and in need of some good stretching.

In the fall I had all good intentions of sharing delicious recipes as well as a few fun DIY handlettering projects in anticipation of my book release – but I somehow forgot that fall is to wedding photographers what tax season is for accountants. And this fall was our busiest yet. I think at one point I was buried beneath 9 weddings to edit – yikes. All our days pre-Christmas turned into seemingly never-ending hours with a how-much-can-we-get-done-before-we-sleep-tonight mindset. Luckily we have amazing couples who are sweet and understanding and (mostly) patient, but we knew some things had to be put on the back burner for the time being so we could focus more on each of the couples we serve. So. I reluctantly decided to step away from this little online space for a bit.

In stepping away I found some freedom to rest – freedom to not spend every waking hour working on either Grain & Compass or This Wild Season. It was refreshing and necessary I think, particularly in a season where so much actually did need to get done each day. Being able to work hard when I needed to allowed me the freedom to relax each evening before bed, stay away from my inbox on the weekends, and simply say no to some things. That freedom to rest has been a life saver in a season that otherwise has felt hectic and unsettled.

In the midst of learning how to step back, make time to rest, and also buckle down and get work done when necessary, we found out that we’re expecting a baby this summer! (Yes it was on purpose, we’re due July 11th, no we’re not finding out the gender ahead of time, and yes you actually can touch my belly – I’m very proud of it. Any other questions?)

Beyond anything Tim and I have done together, this feels like our wildest and most exciting adventure. I’d been so terrified, honestly, of getting pregnant for so long that I just kept putting off the conversation for later. When Tim and I finally confronted what it was we were avoiding, and really started to get to the bottom of it, we realized we weren’t trusting that the Lord was going to provide for us if we added a baby to the mix. We were afraid he wouldn’t provide the money to support a baby, enough work to allow us to continue doing what we love, or the time for us to follow the various things we’re passionate about. Realizing this and naming our fear was huge for us.

We had always wanted to “get to the next step” before we even began to think about kids. We realized though that if we kept doing that – if we kept waiting for the next best thing – we would never ever arrive, and we would never have kids. So, over the course of a few months our hearts slowly changed and softened toward the idea of having a baby sooner rather than later. That terrified feeling isn’t completely gone, but we are so grateful and excited to be on this adventure together.

Faithfulness of our Labor

October 9, 2014 by Asharae 4 Comments

A friend of mine shared this article by John Piper a few weeks ago and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Throughout the past several weeks I’ve felt the pendulum swing back and forth – from feeling like I’m exactly where I should be, doing exactly what I should be doing to then feeling discouraged, as if all the hard work we do each day is for nothing.

It’s easy to get so bogged down by other people’s opinions and the things we feel like we’re supposed to be doing to fit in or be successful.

After a particularly frustrating bout of discouragement the other week, I grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote a quote from Piper’s article to post over my computer – “The Lord measures the faithfulness of our labor, not our success.” (Go read Piper’s article, especially if that quote doesn’t make much sense to you.)

It doesn’t matter to God how many clients we have lined up for next year. It doesn’t matter how many Instagram or Pinterest followers we have. It doesn’t matter if we respond to emails in two minutes or two hours or two days if we must. God’s not keeping tabs on these things and labeling us as “successful” human beings if we meet a certain standard.

Instead, he “measures the faithfulness of our labor.” Are you doing what you do with care and creativity and a willing heart, whether you receive recognition or not? Or are you begrudgingly taking the next step, wishing you could just “be there already” – wishing “success” would just be handed to you? More often than not, I find myself in the latter category. I start complaining and whining that nobody else “gets it” – that they don’t see the hours of work we pour into the things we love (I’m writing this post at 1 in the morning, if you’d really like to know.) But when I get anxious and concerned about what people think, I lose sight of the goal. I lose sight of the Lord.

What if each day, instead of immediately opening my inbox to see what clients I need to answer to, I instead take a deep breath and say – Lord, what would you have me do today? How can these seemingly meaningless, mindless tasks of editing photos, answering emails, sorting receipts, and uploading files bring you glory? How can these things change from meaningless and mindless to meaningful and life-giving, both to me and to the clients we serve?

I ask this question over and over. I’m one of those people who believes at the depth of my soul that the lives we live should be meaningful. We shouldn’t while away our days wishing for something better. It’s hard. And most days I do it very poorly. But one day, one hour, one minute at a time I want to aim to be more mindful. I want to consider not “how can I be more successful?” but “how can I be more faithful in my labor?” How can I be more present with my friends, my family, our clients, with Tim? How can I use this place, this time, and the gifts that I have to honor and glorify and point back to the Lord, through each of my hesitant, faltering steps.

Photos are from our trip to visit friends in Arizona this summer – I’ll be blogging more of those here soon. That is, once I surface from the piles and piles of editing currently on my plate 😉

Breakfast Bagel

April 14, 2014 by Asharae 4 Comments

I’ve recently been playing around with my schedule during the day – when I wake up, what I do to start out my day, how I get going on the tasks I need to accomplish. I work from home and tend to lead a very unstructured life. I’m an INFP if you know anything about Myers Briggs – and Tim is nearly the complete opposite being an ESFJ. If that means anything to you, great! I could talk all day about it! And if it doesn’t mean anything to you, then you need to go take a Myers Briggs test right now.

Some people don’t like to be put in a box (I tend to be one of them), but this test helped make sense of SO many things in my life. It put words to how I think about conflict, how I go about organizing (or not organizing) my life, my communication styles and comfort levels in various situations, amongst other things.

All that being said, I know that I tend to get uncomfortable in super structured environments with lots of rules and regulations. Working from home suits me SO well because I can set my own schedule, goals, breaks, and such. The downfall of this is that it can easily lead to procrastination and I often get distracted since no one is watching over my shoulder to make sure I stay on task. I’ve thought about setting up our GoPro camera to record myself and see how I work on a given day. It probably looks something like – check email, check Facebook, sort receipts, start an email reply, fulfill a print order, drink some coffee, pet the dogs, check Pinterest, finish email, start a load of laundry, check Facebook, eat a snack… You get the idea. The end of the day rolls around and I often realize I avoided the biggest task I needed to accomplish for the day. I did a whole lot, but often it wasn’t truly what needed to get done.

While I tend to buck routine and having any sort of structure, lately I’ve found that adding the smallest bit of structure to my morning will often help me throughout the rest of the day. Here are a few things I’m learning – I’d love for you to join me in trying some (or all) of these!

– Get sufficient sleep. This is a hard one for a lot of people, but it’s SO very important. When I’m running low on sleep I get grumpy and moody, I want to eat all the things all the time, and my brain feels fuzzy and unfocused the whole day.

– Start out the day in a way that refreshes you. The past several weeks I’ve been waking up and doing a short yoga video each morning. I’m loving Erin Motz‘s free yoga videos – they’re nothing too intense, just enough to wake me up and get the blood flowing. Some mornings I think I’m too busy for a little 15 minute video, but those tend to be the days I get tired and lethargic around lunch time.

– Don’t check your email first thing in the morning. I JUST started this one. For a long time I’d check my email every moment of the day hoping for new wedding inquiries to be waiting in my Inbox. I finally got to the point a year or two ago where I had to protect my weekends from that – now it’s very rare that I even open my email on a weekend. That has been so good for me and it’s helped me to be more present with my friends and family.

Now I’m trying to put off emails till later in the morning. If I read them first thing when I wake up, I’m not mentally prepared to respond, so I spend the next couple hours thinking and worrying about what I should say and how I should answer questions. Not healthy. By avoiding my email all morning till I’m properly awake and ready to respond, I avoid stressing and over-thinking about something that will be simple once I’m fully awake.

– Eat something that will give you energy throughout your morning. Lately I’ve been on an Everything Bagel kick. I toast half of it up and spread hummus on it, maybe add some sliced bell peppers or red onions, add a fried egg or a couple slices of turkey, and top it with feta or a slice or two of cheddar cheese. That’s been my go-to morning meal the past couple weeks and so far has proven to keep me going till lunch. This breakfast quinoa dish is another great option for a breakfast that’ll keep you going throughout your day.

Do you have any morning routines that you stick to? Anything that helps keep you focused and productive throughout the day?

The recipe below is very much a guideline for you to take and make your own! I’d love to hear if you have any of your own great breakfast ideas that keep you energized throughout your morning!

Breakfast Bagel

Asharae Kroll

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Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 5 mins

Total Time 10 mins

Servings 1

Ingredients

1/2 - 1 bagel depending on how hungry you are
1-2 eggs or a few slices of turkey or both!
Bell pepper or red onion sliced thinly
Feta or cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Toast your bagel
Fry up your egg - read my new favorite method on Top With Cinnamon. It's seriously genius and I can't believe I didn't think of it before.
Spread hummus on the bagel and add whatever toppings you like!