A new commitment

Okay, this is really getting ridiculous.  It's been almost 3 months since my last entry?! COME ON!
I really can't seem to wrap my head around this whole thing -- why can't I commit to updating this thing?  Am I just making excuses when I say that "I have no time"?  
There are thousands of busy women (and moms) out there that find time to blog between their jobs and their home life - so why is this such a struggle for me?


*inhale*exhale*  Alright, I'm good.


So over the past few months, I've been extremely pleased with the increase of Terlie business.  Since the Wonderful Wedding Show, I've secured numerous clients.  I've also had a fair number of miscellaneous projects (i.e. birthday invites, wedding social signage / tickets, save the dates, labels, etc.)  It's these little jobs that add up and help me get by, while waiting for the bigger projects to get going.


Recent News:
I went to Chicago to visit Brian's family - we were gone for a little over a week and had an amazing time, as expected.

At the end of February, I had an awesome opportunity to work with Events by Emma on a High Style photo shoot, which will be featured in the Wedding in Winnipeg magazine, as well as on Stylemepretty.com
Other vendors included Fache Forward Designs, Floral Elements, Chocolate Zen Bakery, Elite Lighting, Hair by Karen, Makeup Expressions & Chair-ish Your Moments.  Photography was by Curtis Moore and Rebecca Croft and videography was done by A Moving Picture Studios. 

Some teaser photos:

Can't wait to see the final photos and video :)

In other news, I finally came around to opening up an Etsy shop -- I've only put 5 of my cards online, just to test it out.  So far, not a single bite :(  When I have more time to dedicate to it, I'll beef it up a bit and do a bit of advertising through Facebook and Twitter.  For now, it's just there... waiting for someone to stumble upon it: Terlie Etsy shop

Well that's as good as this update is gonna get!  Have a great week, and stay tuned for more posts, by yours truly.

Falling short...

My past few days have been spent off work (day job) and completely involved in work (business).
With the Wonderful Wedding Show coming up, I've been busy -- real busy. I won't get into details of what I've been working on, as that will come in a later post, but I will say that I've spent numerous occasions wondering what the HELL I was thinking by committing to such a huge project. All week I've been pushing through it and have found myself pleasantly surprised by my own productivity, my ability to persevere and eat up any doubt that I had with my abilities to follow through.  I've overcome obstacles that I never thought I could and have been loving the journey.
So I should be happy with that, right?  Sure.  Except that with the rise of my business and all of the glam that comes with it, I've been falling short in every other aspect of my life.  I've been so focused on getting good at being a 'business woman' and am realizing now, that I didn't even see my baby off this morning when he left with his dad for daycare.  It's past noon and I haven't checked in with my husband to see how his work day is going.  I haven't spoken to my daughter on the phone since she went home with her dad 4 days ago.


I realize that this is just a week of my life that is an exceptional situation, but I'm disappointed in myself for allowing myself to become so involved in work, and so disconnected with my family.


Let this be a life lesson to myself.  Without my husband and kids, I'd be nothing.  Regardless of what they look like when they first wake up on a lazy Sunday morning:

I'm pretty sure Xierra KNOWS what a comb is... she just chooses not to use one

...they are the reason why I wake up in the morning.

Crunch time.

At the risk of getting completely distracted from my (ever growing) pile of work, I've decided to take a break from designing, to write a short post.


My past few weeks have been hectic -- it's the final week before the Wonderful Wedding Show, and I still have much to do.
This year comes with loads of excitement, as I'm working collaboratively with Events by Emma, on a special 'Inspiration Gallery' on the main floor of the Convention Centre.  What does this mean? Well, it means that Emma (top 5 wedding designer in THE COUNTRY) has been given an entire banquet room, to create a visual gallery for Brides and Grooms.  The banquet room will be filled with 25 different tables, each with a different COLOR and ADJECTIVE associated to it.  The table will be designed around a theme, and will showcase ways to incorporate color into your event.  And guess who will be providing the stationery for the entire project?....
Me.
*big smiley face*
Yeah, I'm stoked.


So as much as I'd love to go into detail about it all, I really don't have time to.  I am SWAMPED with design work, and have been working around the clock to complete everything on time.


In the meantime, here's a Save the Date card that my friends Franco and Leyanna asked me to design:

Take you a sec to figure it out?

hehe

More to come about the Wedding Show!  I promise!

A dabble in vintage

I've been playing around with some vintage card designing lately, and have to admit, it's pretty fun.  I'm so used to 90 degree angle placement -- it's been a struggle to try new things with collaging embellishments, but I'm doing my best to step outside of my comfort zone and try new things. I'm hoping to eventually design some Etsy-worthy cards and actually try selling some of them:

Visual stimulation OVERLOAD.

I'm slowly, but definitely SURELY getting sucked into this huge world of visual inspiration -- it's making me nervous.


Pinterest, Colourlovers, Etsy -- the main culprits.

pinterest.com

colourlovers.com

etsy.com

Being as passionate as I am about my creative side, these types of websites are just what I need to work up the inspiration for some of my projects.  On the flip side, these websites are also very dangerous and can quickly turn a 'browse' into 'half a day wasted, looking at STUFF'.

I need to learn to control my time surfing these sites and know when enough is simply enough.  Otherwise, I find myself overwhelmed with ideas and end up doing absolutely nothing productive with them.

Happy to share that I had an awesome client consultation this afternoon, with a couple that is theming their wedding around "A starry starry night" :)  Should be fun and exciting!  Can't wait to get started..

My October

I just spent a good 30 minutes on Pinterest, and realized that if I have the time to 'repin' stuff on there, I have the time to post something on my blog.


Hello blog world!  You have recently become such an unfamiliar place.  I'm glad to be back on here and sharing some of my recent life adventures...(okay, 'adventures' might not be the best description...it makes me sound adventurOUS, which I'm not).


Well this'll be short and sweet, but I'll just do a quick photo recap of my family-focused October:

at 'A Maze In Corn' cornmaze 

Yes, the Winnipeg Jets are back, and we went to the HOME OPENER! #partofhistory

birthday parties were attended

pumpkins were carved

and costumes were worn

In business news, I met with Emma from Events by Emma.  Exciting to say the least.  She was in search of an invitation vendor to partner with, and refer her clients to.  A girlfriend of mine worked for her and mentioned my business, and VOILA!  A meeting was set up!
I'm excited for the opportunity to work with such a high profile event design company :)


So that's pretty much it.  I mean, obviously there are a (more than a) few things that I've left out, but there's no sense boring you with the details.


Maybe I'll be back in a few weeks from now?  Haha.. I can only hope.


Happy November!

What I miss..

In the wake of my unhappiness, there are a couple of things that I've come to realize...
1) the life of a working mom sucks
2) it's so important to cherish your 'me' time

I had about 30 minutes to chill out today, by myself, while Xanderman napped. I got caught up on the blogs that I have (so poorly) been following, and I even found myself reading my OLD blog (http://web.me.com/roxyschmid/www.terlie.com/_blog/_blog.html) that I started through iWeb. I didn't have the patience to completely transfer all of the posts into Blogger, which I kind of regret. Re-reading the posts from my pre-working days, made me sad. I really miss having the time to cook, and craft, and blog about my daily adventures. I miss having the time and energy to go to the gym. I miss waking up with enthusiasm every morning. In as little as 4 short months, everything has changed so much.
The stress of work has taken a toll on my family life, and I can't seem to turn things around.

I keep waiting for a break, but I'm losing hope. Is this what the rest of our lives are going to be like? As long as Bri and I are working full time, will we just have to face this disconnect in our family life? I sure hope not.