Tim and I love to entertain.
I kind of want to make it my job, but I feel like my habit of procrastinating would really be working against me. For instance, when people showed up to our Fourth of July backyard bash I was in my swimsuit…still cooking and panicked that I had not set up the food table or taken pictures for the blog. Tisk, tisk.
Then it hit me. As much as I would love to be the blogger that had her Fourth of July tutorials up two weeks before the holiday, giving you all inspiration and praying for pins….it is just not me. I tip my hat to you ladies, and inside my guts are jealous. I unfortunately embrace chaos, and work best under pressure.
In the midst of yelling at Tim to take as many photos as possible while cutting out watermelon stars, and screaming at everyone not to touch any of the food, I had an epiphany. I had to stop trying to be something I am not.
I started this blog as a creative outlet for my analytical mind. I wanted to document our lives together and be inspired to live more beautifully. I wanted to enjoy life more, and make new friends.
Let me tell you something, telling people not to touch the food until you get “the shot” is not going to make you friends.
Hi my name is Christina, and I fell victim to blog pressure.
Trying to keep up with the newest social medium, joining every creative network, and spending hours criticizing our projects. That has been life for the last couple weeks. Tim doesn’t approve, and in that moment of hangry girl madness….I changed my ‘tude.
I decided to kick back. Enjoy the day, and not guilt myself for taking the next two days off. Hope you all can understand and please forgive me, I know not what I do.
Are these pictures the greatest Fourth of July party photos ever, nope.
But that’s not what is important….whats important is the fun that was had and the margaritas that were consumed. Which was a lot.
Without any further rambling, this is a bit of our backyard BBQ.
What did you do for the Fourth?
Have you ever been overcome with pressure to do things you don’t want to?
Ever tried to make Rice Krispie treats blue….yea about that.
What a wonderful day it was indeed.
Awwwww a mom comment….those are my favorite!
Christina… you’re not alone! I’ve had to take a step back on several occasions. It can start to take over without you even knowing it. Your pictures are AMAZING btw… what filter did you use?
Isn’t it funny how quickly you get caught up! And in the midst of trying to promote, then you are comparing and then it’s a slippery slope into the ice cream bucket 🙂
Thank you! For these I actually used Pioneer Womans “seventies” action….I love the feel it gave to the photos. It just screams backyard BBQ to me haha.
I have to tell you how much I appreciate the “realness” of your photos. I still think it looks like a magazine-ready BBQ, but nothing looks better to me than friends and family having a great time and making memories! Happy Summer Blogging!
Awwwww thank you! Tim laughed last night because he thought I was saying his photo taking skills were bad. I just looked at him and said, “do you KNOW how beautiful that table would have been if I would have had an hour for styling” then I realized how crazy I sounded!
I agree, it was a great time and I am glad I relaxed 🙂
It looked great! Don’t be so hard on yourself.
Awwwww THANK YOU!!!! Hope all is well with your little family 🙂
Don’t worry Christina, I am the same way. No matter how much I organize and plan to have something done (baby room for example), I am such a procrastinator and always wait until the last minute. I am like you, I embrace chaos…and I seem to work much better under those conditions too. It is so weird how that works. Lol!
Your pictures still turned out good and your decorations and food looked awesome. Oh and I LOVE your turquoise/blue pots next to the pool – so pretty!!
Ohhhh thank you! I always think my best projects come when I have a dealine of…tomorrow 🙂
When is that baby coming by the way?
The baby will be here in 99 days!! I already have my C-Section scheduled for October 17 and it cannot come fast enough, lol! I started cleaning out the spare bedroom this weekend. And when I say clean out, I mean go thru a bazillion clothes and shoes that are scattered all over the room that I haven’t worn in years, and then boxed them all up while I sank deeper into depression because I can’t fit into any of it. Lol!! I managed to organize all of my clothes that fit me right now into TWO drawers!! I don’t think I have ever lived out of two drawers my entire life. Now all I have to do is order the crib I want and paint the walls…and convince my Mother-In-Law to make the bedding. I’m probably going to paint the room gray since it goes with EVERYTHING and who doesn’t love the color GRAY – LOL! Nevertheless, since I have gotten this far with getting the room together, and knowing how I am, I probably won’t touch it again for another few weeks – straight procrastinator right here!!
Awwww…look at you….you have it down to the day 🙂
Ummmm, you know I am a big fan of all things Gray! I second that nomination haha.
Now I feel like I need to throw out all those clothes that I swear “I will get back into one day” our bedroom and office closet would be basically empty!!!!
That’s why I haven’t done much holiday craft blogging! I figure if you haven’t done the craft a week or two before the holiday, then just don’t worry about it. Your shots look nice, so no worries.
Yea, it gets intimidating and I kept thinking, “should I even post these? the Fourth is over” but then I remembered that I want this to be a journal of sorts. I absolutely want that fun and crazy day documented!
Thanks so much Denise 🙂 Will you be at the Blogger Meetup this month?
Christina,
I love this! You’re so right! This happens to me all of the time, and it sure as heck doesn’t help me to enjoy & live in the moment. What a great reminder to bloggers everywhere!
Happy belated 4th!
Thanks Casey….I was pretty sure I couldn’t be the only one overwhelmed in comparisions and falling behind on the twitter-front 🙂 I guess if blogging were easy more people would stick with it!
ANNNND I am obsessed with your “EAT vs FAT” post today…those letters are so adorable.
Hope you had a fantastic Fourth!!!
Cheers to you for taking a step back! It’s really hard watching the pro bloggers be awesome day in and day out, and somewhat intimidating to try and keep up! I know I don’t post as often as I might, but I play the comparison game and say “I’m not sure this is up to so-and-so’s standards” plus life tends to get in the way of blogging, which is probably the way it should be. 🙂
RIGHT! Sometimes I have to remind myself that the people I am comparing myself to may have a team of people working for them. Or don’t have a full time job, or only post one post a week. Sometimes you just look at the flood of amazing posts in your feed and feel like crying!
I like that saying….life should totally get in the way of blogging sometimes 🙂
Christina! I think your 4th of July table is beautiful! I know that everyone had a great time. I totally understand the pressure blogs can put on us, but you made the right choice. I have learned to relax a TON since I started blogging four years ago, and me AND my family are happier because of it. 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Awwww thank you! I think it was just a lesson I had to learn…when my family stared back at me like “who is this maniac” I knew I had to make an adjustment 🙂
Hopefully I can find the balance soon!
Thanks for the visit. Sometimes you just have to do what feels right to you! Looking forward to meeting you at Haven.
Ohhh I can’t wait…I am getting sooo excited!
…and here I thought you just really enjoyed being social media-crazy and getting your hands in everything. I guess you needed an intervention for a hot minute 🙂 I’m so glad you were actually able to enjoy the day! And everyone’s right — your stuff looked gorgeous and delicious and I bet you had an amazing time. Next time get photos of the humans too! 🙂
Since I’m a very “all in or not at all” kinda person, I’ve avoided getting into photography. I think I’d love it but I also think I’d get SO consumed in it because there’s so much to learn/edit/perfect. Instead, I just adopted the mindset that the best photo is the one you actually take and can share. 20 years from now when your kids are going through old photos and making shocked faces that you actually had a life before them, they’re not gonna look at photos and be like “um mom, you know you really could’ve styled that photo better.” But if that happens to occur, make sure you come up with a good punishment 😉
ALSO it is very clear to me now that you should hire me as your blogging/party assistant. I can cook half-decently, I can bake, I like having friends over, and I like you. Match made in heaven? Reason #93745 to move to STL, eh?! 😉
Props to your family, friends, and especially Tim for helping out and loving ALL of you! And props to you for the honesty and for being awesome!
Hahaha…I do enjoy it….I just don’t have enough time for it haha! I need a mini me just for social media haha
I did actually take lots of photos of people. And I edited a few to put on the blog, but then I thought about how I would feel if someone put a picture of me in my swimsuit with a margarita bottle tipped back and decided I better just keep those for the scrapbook! I even asked if I could put one of Tim up doing jello shots, but he gave me the look. You know…the look. Next time I will take photos BEFORE craziness ensues 🙂
Oh good point! Yeah I would not want that out on the internet of myself… ever…!
Yea, they are pretty funny photos….next time before I click that shutter I will yell, “this is for the blog…get out now if you need to haha”
Pingback: Our house got a little makeover....into the Gray family it goes
Friggin beautiful!
Pingback: Surprise! A thirtieth anniversary party for two unsuspecting parents