For months — no, closer to two years, actually — I’ve updated this blog five days a week, with rare exceptions. A couple weeks ago, I explained that that was going to change. I’ve had less of a presence on the blog and on Facebook, and I’ve been more present in living my life, chasing long-cherished dreams, and exploring opportunities. So what has that looked like, in reality?

Well, I’ve been spending time every day enjoying our new view of our pond. Danny wrote to the man who owns the house next door (he’s currently renting it out, or we would have just walked over and knocked on the door) and got permission to remove trees on his property which entirely blocked our (paid for) view of the pond behind our house. On Friday the trees came down, and since then we pretty much haven’t been able to take our eyes off this new, extremely scenic vista! It’s incredible. Oh, and our lanai is fully in bloom, with bright pink azaleas and the soft pink camellias that Danny’s grandfather brought us a few weeks ago. It is incredibly lovely. Some camellias are intricate, with petals spiraling like twisted rope, but much more delicate and ethereal.I’ve also been cooking more again! For a while there, my cookbooks just sat on the shelf and we ate out, or we ordered in (well, we still did that the other night when we worked late on our taxes . . . ), or we threw together something quick and easy. But the other night we had a full-blown Asian food feast — sauteed baby bok choi, stir fried ginger-garlic chicken and broccoli, kim and rice, carrots with soy sauce and black sesame seeds — and tonight will be a wonder of a quinoa dish (thank you, Gwyneth Paltrow, and your fantastic It’s All Good cookbook!). It’s been great to be back in the kitchen . . . and it’s been great to be keeping the kitchen, and the rest of the house, totally clean again! That was something else that had kind of been shoved by the wayside. No more. Laundry, you will get folded. Floors, you will get vacuumed every few days. House, you. will. be. tidy!

Last week I had some meetings with other wedding professionals, and I’ve been chatting with some of our 2014 brides, ironing out wedding details, and working on album designs. But I’ve stopped wasting time on business. What does that mean? I’m being much more conscientious about how I spend my work hours. I’m carefully weighing whether a task will a.) benefit my existing or future clients, b.) benefit Danny and me, or c.) benefit our fellow wedding professionals. If the answer is isn’t a resounding no to one of the above, the task gets tossed. Weeding out unnecessary tasks is keeping me much more excited about our business, and feeling far more creative. Because there’s too much else that deserves to get done, and life is too short to waste it doing work that no one cares about.

Among the most important things that I think deserve to get done: Writing. Since the days when I used crayons instead of pencils or a word processor, I knew I was born to write, and when I write I feel more alive, and unquestionably more fulfilled. I’m not talking about writing blog posts, but novels — stories that ask the questions and seek the answers I want in life. So a lot of my time recently has been dedicated to that. On Saturday, I was up writing until shortly before dawn. Danny slept soundly for hours before I went to bed, and I may or may not have totally scared him when I finally crept into the room at 4 a.m. And it was one of the most satisfying few hours I’ve had in a long, long time. I didn’t even feel slightly sleepy on Sunday. I was still flying high.

I’ll still be around the blog, sharing portrait sessions and weddings and some of my personal musings, but when I’m not around . . . you’d better believe I’m living my life much more fully these days, and loving it more fully, too!

~ Laura