Feeling Overwhelmed? What I do when I'm feeling stressed

Photo by Lindsey Hinkley

I don’t think I’m alone when I say that balancing life and business is overwhelming.  Part of owning your own business means there are constantly things adding up to get done, appointments to attend, laundry to get done, meals to be prepped, guides to be created, emails to be sent… I think you get my point- there’s a lot of things!

When I have a week that just feels so overwhelming I’ve found that sitting down for a few minutes and doing one, two, or all of these things can help! This, and a glass of wine! or two!  ;) 

1- Learn to say no.  Ugh. this is the hardest thing ever. But, I have learned the hard way with this, saying yes to everything will so quickly burn you out.  You’ll be shooting or doing things that you aren’t passionate about, and that is the quickest way to kill your creativity.  Get rid of the stuff you don’t want to do- it’s holding you back! 

2- This is one of my favorites.  Get yourself a good planner.  There are some AMAZING ones out there- I have a erincondren.com planner, yes, it’s pricey but oh my goodness, it’s SO WORTH IT.  I write down EVERYTHING in my planner- from my appointments to what the plan for dinner is that night.  

Photo from ErinCondren.Com

3- If you are seriously feeling like there is no time, this is the tip for you.  Print off a blank week page and start by writing out ALL of your current obligations.  I mean everything.  Write down appointments, preschool drop off time, weddings, ballet lessons, workouts. Every.single.thing. Don’t forget sleep, meals. I’m serious here.  If you’re OCD like me, you can highlight based on what the activity is. (don’t judge.) this is the best way to see exactly how much time you have to get things done that week.  It may only be 12 hours, but now you know that you have exactly 12 hours to get everything done that you need to! 

4- Next, I write out a list of all of the things I need to do.  I then pull out my highlighters again, and will highlight the things that are URGENT and must get done today, and then the ones that must get done this week.  If it’s a super busy week, there are going to be a lot of things that aren’t going to get done.  

5- If you can’t tell, I love lists and anything that helps me be organized.  I am so excited to share this free tool with you! It’s called TRELLO and it’s seriously amazing!! Trello is a program that allows you to create boards, lists, checklists, and best of all you can add your images to it to make it pretty!! 

Ashley Eiban is a Wedding Photographer based in Central Virginia- serving Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Richmond, Roanoke, and surrounding areas.  We are currently booking weddings for 2016 and 2017.  Contact us today for additional information! 

Our Snow Weekend- A personal post || Central VA Photographer

I had some seriously excited people in my house this weekend.  Michael & Emmie have been watching & praying for snow so they were THRILLED to see a storm on the radar last week. Meanwhile, I was stressing about the wedding planned for the weekend, but that all turned out okay! ;) 

Emmie COULD NOT wait to get outside, and as soon as we bundled her up (in every single shade of hot pink that exists!! haha!) she ran outside and plopped down into the snow to make snow angels! Her and Manning chased each other around and laughed a little too hard. No, seriously, too hard- it sucks to take all those layers for a potty break! hhahahaha! 

Ashley Eiban Photography is a Wedding & Portrait Photographer based in Central Virginia- serving Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Richmond, and surrounding areas.  Contact Us today for more information! 

Emerson's 4th Birthday Party || Lynchburg, VA Wedding and Portrait Photographer

Yeaaaaahhhh, this is embarrassing... Yes, Emmie's birthday was in November, but you know how my story goes! ha! Let's just say it's a resolution to keep more up to date with our own photos! ;) 

Emerson was so excited to turn 4- another year closer to kindergarten and her best friends. ha.  Fall was so busy for me, I totally dropped the ball on planning something! Much to my relief, Amazement Square came through big time and did all the hard work for me! 

First up, she choose breakfast at Pok-e-joes, where they always make her a gigantic plate of chocolate chip pancakes, no matter what time it is! 

Then we headed downtown for some play time at Amazement Square. It's been a few months since she got to explore there, so she had a blast at all the different exhibits! 

Then the birthday room with all her friends! Our amazing friend Miranda made the coolest birthday cake, and the staff at Amazement Square were so awesome and entertained the kids and helped with everything! Yay for low-key and easy birthday parties! (and not having to clean the house!! haha) 

Cannot believe my little baby is FOUR! Goodness gracious I don't even want to think about it- even a few months later! haha! She's growing up to be the sweetest little thing! It's so exciting to see the person she is becoming!! 

Finding Balance in my small business... & Emmie's Tea Party!

One of the most challenging things about being a small business owner is BALANCE! It's super easy to get caught up with all the work I have to get done- not to mention all the ideas I have to make my business better- those things always get pushed to the back burner until I have some down time! Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE what I do. I am so passionate about photography and forming these genuine relationships with my couples, but I am also quickly learning that I have got to take breaks. My family is always my number one priority.  I'm excited to be sharing more about how we find that balance with owning a business! 

A few weeks ago to celebrate Emmie's birthday, we took her out to the Ploughcroft Tea Room for her first 'grown up tea party.'  She dressed up in an Anna dress and loved drinking out of the China tea cups and putting in sugar cubes! 

Ashley Eiban is a Wedding & Portrait Photographer based in Lynchburg, Virginia- serving Central Virginia and surrounding areas, and we also LOVE traveling! Contact us today for more informations! 

We went to get a Christmas Tree, and Brought Home...

I was totally expecting to be posting about our trip to the Christmas Tree lot, where we pick out a tree and bring it home to decorate. And, I'm sure that blog post will be coming soon, but not today.  Because we left for a Christmas Tree and ended up bringing home... a puppy instead! Ha! 

Meet... MANNING! (#manningthemutt) 

On our way to the Christmas Tree Lot, we decided to stop in at the Lynchburg Humane Society to love on the cats & dogs there.  That's where we met our sweetest new little guy and couldn't leave him there overnight! So, we brought him home that night! 

He's a mutt and a giant mix... mostly a lot of guesses on our side of things, but nothing is really known! Manning has been a great pup so far- crate trained, so good with Emmie, and full of snuggles!! 

And because Em was so excited about her Christmas outfit she talked Michael into... here are a few photos before we got Manning! 

We are so excited about our new puppy.. .and hopefully one of these days we will actually get our Christmas Tree... and I'll be sharing some photos from that too! ;)