Q&A

Happy Monday, friends! Thought I’d do a Q&A today 🥰 I asked some questions on my Instagram story… here’s a round up of some:

Picture from last year! Here’s my sweater though!

WEDDING UPDATES?

So I’d say a solid 60% of the questions were wedding related. I don’t want to share too much about the wedding itself until we’re married. Trying to keep things personal and private for now. But some general thoughts:

1) The biggest thing right now has been how flexible we’ve had to be and will continue to need to be regarding the pandemic. Even though I’m a major control freak, it has actually been nice in a way. Like it is giving me an excuse to kind of “let go” in a way I don’t think I’d be able to under normal circumstances.

2) I enjoy planning 1,000% more than I expected to. Not that it’s not overwhelming, but I’ve never planned an event of any kind before (not even a birthday party ha) so there was a huge cloud of “unknown” hanging over it. Turns out planning a wedding is basically just making a LOT OF LISTS and I really excel at list-making and checking things off. I made a Google Doc excel sheet and have different tabs for everything related to the wedding and then within those sheets, links/notes/to-do lists/ideas, etc.

WHAT YOUR “ENGAGEMENT SEASON” BEEN LIKE?

I really love this question. Honestly, it’s been very exciting. Definitely a “bright spot” in an otherwise not-so-great year. Mike and I are both very, very excited to be ~married~ and in a lot of ways life feels the same as before. We’re both in our 30s and bought a house together… but there is something special about making it ~official~. It just feels like a very exciting start to a new season. I love it.

ANY TIPS FOR CALMING ANXIETY DURING THE PANDEMIC?

Everyone is going to respond differently, but the major things helping me the most right now are working out frequently, meditating every day, not watching the news (I find reading articles to be less mentally taxing than watching), getting outside every day, and reading before bed! It’s not a perfect solution, but doing all these things really help.

WHAT’S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST POSITIVES FOR THE YEAR?

Getting engaged, really leaning hard into crafting (like learning how to sew!), connecting with friends on a deeper level, making our house even more of a home, pushing myself with “pandemic pivots” as related to my job (taking my own photos, doing more videos, etc.), Invisalign!

THOUGHTS ON THE NEW TAYLOR SWIFT ALBUM?

I love “Exile.” And I think the vibe of the album is fantastic. I also love that Taylor is unafraid to challenge herself, grow, and experiment with different vibes. That said, I think a lot of the songs sound very similar to me, which I like as good background music but it’s also a bit redundant? And I am kind of over the idea that every single song has to have these easter eggs and hidden meanings, etc. Probably an unpopular opinion and I still like the album a lot and really appreciate Taylor as a person and artist.

HOW DID YOU LEARN PHOTOSHOP?

This is a question I get frequently. I was first introduced to the Adobe suite in middle school as part of our yearbook club. And then in high school got even more experience on the yearbook staff/journalism classes. After that it was a lot of practice and trial and error. I really enjoy learning new things so it’s fun to have an idea in my head and try to figure out how to do it with Photoshop. I youtube a lot, I experiment. Now it feels second nature…. I don’t even know if I could walk someone through the steps my fingers just do the shortcuts habitually.

HOW HAS YOUR BUSINESS BEEN DOING/CHANGED DUE TO COVID?

It hasn’t actually changed that much. I’ve definitely had to do “pandemic pivots” and losing J. Crew as an affiliate retailer for ~six weeks was the hardest part honestly, but I feel more connected with you guys and like that I’ve been able to cut out some of the “excess” that comes with the industry if that makes sense. I really enjoy not going into the city for events and being able to shoot content whenever I want versus having to schedule it. One difficult challenge has been trying to find ways to disconnect from my phone. I don’t have usual “life” events to distract me and I can get easily sucked into scrolling & answering DMs for hours if I’m not mindful.

ARE YOU STILL LEARNING FRENCH?

Oui ! I still do French with DuoLingo every morning for about fifteen minutes a day. I’m coming up on 600 days in a row in a couple of weeks. As much as I love it, I do wish I had committed to Spanish and not French… Spanish is just way more practical and I don’t see myself going off to France any time soon. I’m actually tempted to switch because I volunteer at a food bank where being able to converse more fluently would be helpful. (I speak some Spanish, but conversationally I’m slow and my vocabulary is pretty rudimentary.)

HOW DO YOU STICK TO A STRUCTURED DAY DURING QUARANTINE?

My days are all pretty much the same and honestly I have a normal workload right now, so the hardest part for me is stepping away from my computer and putting up work/life boundaries so I don’t burn myself out. I haven’t been setting alarms, but I’m up around 7am naturally every day and get right into emails. I try to write a list of what I need to do the next week on Fridays and then Monday I revisit the list and amend as necessary, and every day I make a game plan.

The most important part of my day is my pre-bedtime routine. Mike and I have dinner together every night and then usually watch an episode of a show. I try to needlepoint for an hour during which I watch my own tv pick, then I read for at least an hour.

HOW DID YOU KNOW IT WAS THE RIGHT TIME TO BUY A HOUSE?

Mike and I discussed a timeline about ten months into dating. We were not living in the same state so it really came down to figuring out what the next steps were. So in 2017, we dated while he was in NJ and I was in Connecticut. We spent probably three weekends of each month together– one of us would drive to each other on Fridays and either leave Sunday night (if he was at my apartment) or Monday morning (if I was in NJ) because of traffic/work. It was pretty clear we were in it for the long haul and living together and not doing “long distance” was important to both of us to be completely sure. In 2018, I moved to NJ and we lived together for a year in Hoboken. Honestly I wasn’t super thrilled about moving back in city living situation so we made a deal that it would be a one year lease and then we’d house hunt. So at the beginning of 2019 we started house hunting, found our house in March, and moved in in June!

It doesn’t sound that romantic when I write it all out, but… I don’t know. It just felt like every year we were ready for the “next step.”

FAVORITE TV SHOW RECENTLY?

So the year is really blending together in my head, but I’m pretty sure I watched Sex Education during quarantine back in March and it is SO GOOD. On Netflix and there are only two seasons, but really hope they do more. I’m also watching Lenox Hill right now and, wow, it’s incredible.

WHAT GETS YOU EXCITED PROFESSIONALLY?

Right now… I’m really excited because I’m going to be doing a brand update/mini overhaul. (Is mini overhaul an oxymoron?) Nothing too dramatic but also kind of a big deal? I have been working on it for a while and finally negotiated a new domain purchase so it’s starting to feel pretty real. 🙊

DO YOU DRINK ALCOHOL? WHAT’S YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH IT?

I do but not a ton. This summer I’ve been having a beer or two every weekend which is a lot for me. If Mike and I are doing a special date night at home, I’ll have a cocktail. Oh and the week we got engaged, we had a lot of champagne. I don’t enjoy being drunk and I don’t even like feeling buzzed. It’s definitely a control thing for me. I know some people drink to feel more relaxed, but if I’m not completely comfortable (setting and/or company), it just makes me more nervous.