I'm catching an early flight to Utah this morning and will be in Salt Lake City for Alt Summit all week. This year I scheduled some extra time to hang out with my cousin and her family, so I'm really looking forward to that later today and then again on Sunday!

I have another blog post (maybe two) scheduled for the week, but you can definitely find me on Instagram, where I'll be posting several times a day. I'm already missing Rob and Ender, but I'm always so grateful for this time to recharge and get inspired for the year ahead.

Talk to you soon!

Someone responded to my reader survey and asked me to do a "day in the life" post, so I'm here today to do just that! My life lately has felt really strange, and while I've been finding my bearings more and more each week, I've found myself over the past few months thinking that it may be time for a change. I might start doing some contract work, or I could once again see myself in a full-time position here in Charlotte--I'm still not sure.

These past two-plus years of blogging for a living have been really amazing, and the flexibility it has provided me in moving from Virginia to Minnesota to North Carolina has been incredible. I was able to plan our wedding with very little stress, I made really long trips back to Virginia whenever I wanted, when Rob traveled for work I could go with him. All of these things seemed like great perks, but it wasn't until my mom had surgery this September that I felt truly grateful to have an unconventional and flexible job--I was able to pick up and leave for two weeks and not really do any blogging while I was taking care of her. I can't say all of that was without consequences--I've seen a drop in my traffic and I haven't been working with sponsors as regularly as I was before this fall, but I would do it all again, exactly the same way.

So things may or may not be changing in the not-so-distant future, but for now, here's what an average day in my life looks like:

7-8 AM My alarm goes off. I try not to check my email or scroll through Instagram before my feet have hit the ground, but I always immediately do both anyway. I let Ender out of his crate and he jumps in bed with us for a few minutes before I take him outside. I make coffee and sometimes Rob and I will either take Ender for a walk or leave him home and go for a run before work, but sometimes we just take it slow and eat breakfast (almost always scrambled eggs) instead.

9-11 AM Hopefully we're out the door. We have one car, so I take Rob to work on my way to barre. After I work out, I usually head home (especially if I have a deadline or haven't published a new post that day yet), but sometimes I'll run errands while I'm out. Every now and then I'll meet a friend for coffee or lunch, or I'll go work at a coffee shop, but in general I get more done when I'm home (also, embarrassingly enough, I miss Ender whenever I'm gone too long).

12-3 PM My afternoon consists of writing posts, responding to emails, eating, hanging out with Ender, and dog-sitting a pup that lives down the hall from us (I usually just take him out a couple times, but a few times a week I bring him over and he and Ender play in the living room for a few hours). Every week I try to post a new recipe, so some afternoons I'll cook and take photos for the blog. I used to plan out my posts well in advance but lately I've been kind of winging it and just going day by day, which is probably why I've been feeling a little overwhelmed lately--I do so much better when I plan ahead.

4-5 PM I try to finish up whatever I'm working on and clean up the dishes I've most certainly left in the sink all day. If there's laundry hanging around I'll try to fold that, and if I'm already starving I'll start working on dinner so we can eat as soon as Rob gets home. About once a month I meet up with a photographer to shoot a few What I Wore posts, so I'll gather clothes for those shoots and meet her somewhere in my neighborhood.

6-7 PM Rob and I eat dinner, catch up, watch some TV, and try to go for a run if we didn't already go in the morning. Sometimes we'll take Ender for a walk if I didn't take him after barre, which I usually do. We clean the kitchen and do laundry and watch more shows on Netflix. A few times a week there's a workout class in our building, so sometimes on Mondays I'll go with a friend.

8-11 PM If I haven't finished my blog stuff, I'll head to the computer to work a bit. Usually I just finish up whatever post I'm sharing the next day, or I'll spend some time editing photos or sorting out my editorial calendar. I'm always ready for bed around 9:30 but I never actually go to bed until at least 11. Time can really fly when you're sitting in front of your computer!

And that's that! It's not always a super exciting life, but it's mine and I'm pretty fond of it. I think my laid-back schedule has gotten the best of me over the past six months or so, and I'm looking forward to finding the time to do more things with my day. I know that not everyone loves sponsored content, but I'm always happiest when I'm either busy and working on creative projects for brands, or sharing personal posts; so I'm hoping to get into more of both very soon. Speaking of the latter, I wanted to thank you all for your kind and thoughtful comments and emails on my most recent post about being BRCA2-positive. I keep doing what I'm doing because of this community. So thank you for being there.

If any of you have more questions you'd like me to respond to with a blog post, let me know! I love hearing from you guys.

Photo by Sarah Gatrell for Freckled Italian.

It is absolutely bizarre to me that it has been two years since I quit my 9-5 to pursue blogging as a career. I thought it might be fun if I shared a few things I've learned these past twenty-four months, because like most things in life, I think they apply to more than just one kind of person:

Goal setting is powerful. Last year I sat down at the beginning of every month and made a list of ten goals--it was amazing. Just make sure they're SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

You don't have to be working all the time. Give yourself some time to take a breather. This has been my biggest struggle--I always feel like I need to prove myself in some way, which means that I'm often working even when I'm not really working, which is such an annoying thing to say (and do). Everyone's schedules are different, though, and just because a person takes time to really relax one day doesn't mean they don't work hard the other days.

You can do so much more with a little help from others. Just ask. I don't even want to talk about how many things I've probably missed out on because I was afraid to hear "no." 

Your life--your family, relationships, health, and happiness--matter so much more than anything else. When I finished grad school I was in a panic to find a job, and when I got one that I liked, I felt so incredibly lucky. After a while that job didn't feel like such a great fit anymore, and when Rob got the Minneapolis offer I spent so much time worrying about what would happen if I left this company, even though I didn't really love it. 

I wanted so badly for everything to work out in a way that just wasn't possible--in my head, Rob and I could live in Minnesota and I would somehow keep my job (even though they weren't willing to let me work remotely). I felt like I was letting the company down by leaving after just a year, but looking back now I realize that no one was judging me for anything, and that you should never feel bad about living according to your priorities. Blogging for work has given me a lot of freedom in my personal life, and sometimes that makes me feel guilty. It's something I'm still working on.

Just go for it. I think the best things in life tend to be really scary at first. Stretch your comfort zone. Learn to use that camera, pitch that idea at work, go out of your way to make something good happen for yourself.

The other day someone was talking to me about applying for a job they weren't sure they'd get, which was causing them to spend too much time stressing over their resume and it just reminded me that we all have to start somewhere. The majority of what I've learned these past two years happened after I decided to go for it, not before. Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith and then work your butt off. Don't be afraid to start small--big things can come from anywhere.

And finally, your life doesn't have to look like anyone else's. Simple, but true.

Photo by Sarah Gatrell for Freckled Italian.