It’s halfway through the year and I started this post in January. #threekids.

The photo above is from the Christmas card we sent out this year. You’ll notice a few things… the most obvious being that there’s an extra child in it. Maybe the next being that not a single soul is looking at the camera. Because that’s my life now. When you have 3 children, 2 things will happen. Never again will all the people in your home be healthy at the same time, and you will never.ever.ever get a photo of your whole family looking at the camera at the same time… until all of them are old enough to understand what a bribe is, and that it should be taken.

So, what’s been going on with Pretty Little Plates this year? If I remembered anything of the last year I would tell you, but it’s been a total blur. Just over a year ago we welcomed Madeline Elise into our home, officially making us a family of 5. I heard my husband say often during the last year, “3 is a game changer,” or “3 is wayyyyyy harder than 2.” I honestly didn’t know what he was talking about. It seemed the same to me. Young kids are hard. 2 is hard, 3 is hard, 1 being extremely hyperactive is hard, it’s all just hard. So I kept my head down and just got through it. Fast forward to this year when our oldest son started full time pre-kindergarten, and our youngest two started 2 days a week at day school. Um…HOLY CRAP. I had NO idea what type of stress I had been under the last year until it was lifted from me. Having 2 kids at home during the day rather than 3, and then getting those 2 short work days back….changing my life over here. I think about the last year and I know I worked. I had weddings, I did some styled shoots, got a few things published. But I couldn’t tell you what any of those things were. I made exactly ZERO blog posts, I did nothing to my website, attended NO networking events. I basically kept the business on life support.

A few things did have to change based on our new family situation. Sadly, I moved out of my space on Camp Bowie with Grit & Gold. I loved my time there, I really loved the ladies who worked there, and enjoyed the sharing of creative minds. It became too complicated to pack for events when I had to visit 2 different locations to get what I needed. Finding childcare for 3, or lugging them all with me, it didn’t make sense anymore. So, we made the decision to move all of the rentals close by the house and now I meet clients at my home or up at We Works Fort Worth. I miss the studio but I must admit… We Works is an exciting and creative space to work as well, when I actually make it up there.

I also cleaned out my inventory this year. I was hoarding some plates that just weren’t up to my expectations in case I had a large wedding pop up, but I Marie Kondoed everything and I’m left with only what I love, and a commitment to myself to just say no to giant weddings.

Other than that, not much has changed. I’m still here, still doing weddings and other events and still loving every minute of it…there are just fewer minutes of it. A few years ago I would have sworn to you that my kids were going to need less of my time pretty soon and I’d be back taking on more and more weddings, but that’s just not what God had planned for us and that’s ok.

I'm taking the blog in a bit of a different direction today and doing a little reflecting. If you prefer to keep it pretty tabletops and etiquette... stay tuned for next week and I'll get back to business.

2016 was a busy year for the little PLP family. You may have seen this:

Working with the wonderful Hilary Rose Walker and the Magnolia team was definitely a fun highlight, and working with them repeatedly was even better! (Yes the Gaines' are just like they are on TV: goofy, funny, kind, and genuine.) We were able to provide china, glassware and serving pieces for the feature article in the debut issue of the Magnolia Journal as well as a few other projects.

We also finally debuted an online catalog for our current clients and vendors. The catalog features all of our current rentals (minus brand new buys) so clients and planners are able to exactly what they are renting, and style head tables and parties down to the smallest detail. I feel very strongly about transparency and am proud to be able to show clients each and every rental we have, we aren't hiding ugly plates at the bottom of the pile! ;)

In addition to the online catalog, we built up our clear and colored glassware collections to match our plate inventory... and began offering flatware rentals for head tables and photo shoots. I almost forgot... probably my favorite change of 2016, we updated the logo and redid the website!

So along with lots of other little things... published styled shoots, our great new office space with the Grit and Gold Collective, working with fun new vendors, and having the sweetest clients around, 2016 was a great year. In fact, even writing about some of our growth I'm feeling more positive about that statement so let me say it again...it was a great year and I'm so thankful for that. But you know what it wasn't? It wasn't a year full of tremendous profit gains, my book of business didn't bust wide open, I didn't have my rentals maxed out every weekend.

So why is that? It begins with the fact that Pretty Little Plates is a small creative business, emphasis on small. I'll let you in on a dirty little secret... I'm not paying for private school educations, a big mortgage, and some Louboutins on my salary. ;) When I started 5 years ago, I'm not even sure I was paying the electricity bill on my salary. I don't have a giant warehouse and fifteen employees, I notice exactly what pattern of plate doesn't get returned because I am the main person that goes through the stacks day in and day out. Growth is hard and growth can be slow. And the reason why (for me at least) is this:

Yup. Those are tiny people. I'm a mom. I work from home most days, and what that really means is I work during nap time, after 7pm, and on the weekends. I'm lucky to have an incredibly hard-working husband, so when he gets home from the office he's somehow magically ready to jump right back into parenting mode, and then seamlessly transition into supportive husband mode when I have events, but it's not easy. In our family, the littles take priority over my business right now and my husband's company takes priority over my business as well. Don't misunderstand, if you work with Pretty Little Plates, you absolutely get our best work. But I find myself having to turn down projects, and say no a lot, and honestly, it kind of sucks. My job is not at the top of the family totem pole. Ouch. I'm a highly competitive person, focused and driven to a fault so this is hard for me. This phase of my professional life has been hard. Personally, I am doing what I know is God's plan for our kids and our family and that feels overwhelmingly right, and I feel overwhelmingly blessed to even have options when so many parents don't, but that doesn't mean it hasn't come without a sense of loss professionally. What gets me is... I chose this!! Why do I feel so... weird about it sometimes? I can't be the only one that feels that way right? Transitioning from #girlboss to #momboss? I would LOVE to be so busy in 2017 that I hire more help, or I'm able to book every single weekend solid, but the truth is that's not likely. The reality is that I will need to continue saying "no" pretty often. I want to cherish this time and not spend my days wishing I was somewhere else, and most days I do a good job of that. The emails wait until the evening, the calls go to voicemail unless you happen to get me during a nap time or on a Wednesday. But there are those days were I crave the pressure of a deadline, or wish I was out hunting for that perfect glass. Did you know rambunctious three year olds and crying babies aren't super welcome at auction houses? Who knew?? They won't always be little bitty so for now I strive to be content and soak up the snuggles... but when these kids get to elementary school, it's on y'all. ;)