I've always gone against the grain. From the time I was a kindergartner writing swear words on my daily journal, to today, when I felt judged for going out on my own. I've always done my own thing. I not only go against the grain, I have a stubborn way of splintering the wood of convention. I didn't go to college till I was 27 because I wanted to climb and pursue things that were actually worth the time, not just worth the money. Then I abandoned the world of traditional employment for startups and starting my own company, to pursue a line of work that was, again, worth the time, not just the money.

2017 was kind of a whirlwind. I kicked it off with a client going MIA and finished it with working with some of my favorite clients ever. It's definitely been a year of growth for me as a business owner and as a person. If I'm completely honest, this year was hard. It was really good, but it was hard. The initial thrill of starting your own company wore off and the hard part that I knew was coming finally came. 2018 will see my second birthday as a company, and hopefully more growth in the mean time!

This is a short story about coming home. After spending 6 years beating depression, getting a degree, and starting my own company, I left myself. In a lot of ways I found myself, but over the course of those battles and pursuits, I left my free spirit behind. I fell into the trap of convention, andI found my spirit silenced. That changed on November 21st. That night my soul took a breath it had been waiting years for.

Let's just say weekends have been good lately. It's no lie, and this weekend is no different. I write this from Lincoln, NE where I'm hanging out with my best friend, her husband and son before I photograph there lovely little family tomorrow morning (Saturday).

This face is becoming familiar on my blog! The wind and cold was brutal last night, but Jake was an excellent sport! It seems that I always like the results when he's the subject. Sadly, before we could get too many shots, the sun was going down and taking the temperature with it. I'm so happy with how these turned out!

This is late, so it's going to cover two weeks, but its late for a good reason. I got to do a family shoot this past Sunday and it was too good not to include in this update. Outside of that, last week I got some hard lessons in self-care, as well as a chance to learn about being a small business owner at the Small Business Success Summit. Last week was a tough week, but good things came from it. The big takeaway from all of this is that being an entrepreneur requires being willing to work on yourself and trust the process.

It's the beginning of a new week and I'm a little bit glad. Last week was the busiest week I've had in a long time between new clients and places to go. Depression crept up this weekend so I didn't really get the chance to relax, but I'm really grateful for all I got to do last week. The highlights were, going to a fundraiser for the first time, and taking the first step towards my dream of working in the outdoor industry. It's been busy, but sooooooo good! Anyway, I know this is a few days late since I try to make this a Friday thing, but I really wanted to include my Saturday adventures, so hooray! You get two Cairns this week.

See? I'm getting better at this. This is the second week in a row! Crazy, right? This week has been really exciting for me, but it hasn't been without its share of bad news. On Tuesday I found out that a colleague and fellow Des Moines creative was involved in a serious motorcycle crash. On happier notes, I've signed two new projects, went to the library, and have been indulging more into this little crush on architecture I can't seem to shake.

Like I said. I'm bad at this, so it's been a few weeks. I've been up to some good stuff, like naming this weekly series, trying my hand at architecture photography, meeting with new people, and having some adventures in copywriting (because when you proofread for an engineer, it's usually an adventure of sorts). Let's get started, shall we?