Hectic weekend

Just finished up the most hectic weekends ever. And yes, I know today is Monday but I just finished my 6-in-a-row work week. Remind me this time next year to take a vacation the first week of January. Seriously. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm very pleased that Target has been meeting or exceeding every one of their sales goals for the week. Um. It just hurts when we're on such a tight staffing budget AND THEN everybody and their brother, niece, Uncle Joe and Grandma Darleen call in sick for their shifts.

One call-in just this morning was my fabulous lead baker and I felt very sorry for her because she was up all night with her mom and the paramedics and she had a very real, serious emergency. . .  and that meant that I got to handle my first solo bake this morning. And do two breakfast trays. And decorate my very first solo for-real-guest-ordered 24-ct pull-a-part cupcake with a Scooby Doo edible image pasted on top. Not to mention that today was a "walk" day with some very important people.

But God is good and with His help and a lot of grace, I managed to bake some edible product and ice a great pull-a-part and make a couple bfast trays and leave the place in not too much of a mess for the closer.

Whew. And today is just an example of how hectic the past six days have been. The icing on the cake of the weekend was getting to photograph a beautiful January reception for this incredibly friendly couple who's engagement photos I had the privilege of taking.

I love photographing weddings. The thing about love, though, is that it is a choice. And sometimes it's difficult to love weddings. Sometimes I get really frustrated and tired and burnt-out of dealing with people in such a high-expectation and high-stress way.  But then, even in the midst of that, there's a pure beauty and sense of gratitude that comes with working with people on their wedding day. I love listening to the vows and I love being reminded of how lucky I am to have the husband I do and I am grateful to be paid to hear the best marriage sermons told by very different people but they all focus on one central thing: love. Saturday, I stood there in the ballroom of the DoubleTree hotel and once again, I was just amazed that I get paid to eat great food and see fabulous places and to capture the love story between two people and immortalize it for their families and future children and grand children.

It's a very nice feeling. All sorts of warm and fuzzies.

Having said that, I am thrilled to death that tomorrow is my day off and I get to spend it with Jered. We have a wedding consultation at 7p, but other than that, the itinerary of the day is to chill out.

And to begin, I am going to leave this off and go make some dinner. Peace out.