Thursday, October 2, 2014
Welcome to 31 Days to an Organized Life & Business! For the month of October I will be a participant in The Nester’s 31 days Writing Challenge. Taking some of my own advice and taking you along on my journey to a life reset. I’ll be sharing (and practicing) some tips on everything from bookkeeping, shopping, managing kids, intentional parenting, work from home mom syndrome, work/life balance, spiritual reset and more. Not because I am the expert in these fields, but because they have worked for me in the past, and I so badly need them to work again for me now.
When I say I need this reset I’m not even kidding. When I say I’ll be writing about it, I don’t mean, I’m going to talk about past advice or something that worked once for me 3 years ago. I mean I’m going to hit publish on this blog post, and then go and do what I am writing about today. That is all I can commit to for today. Which means, if you can relate to any of this, I invite you along on this 31 day journey. Watch me triumph or fail, but I’ll be here daily to give you updates. I’d love if you joined me, and keep me posted on your progress as well. There’s hope and support in community here.
If you missed Day 1, or would like to catch up on any other day, click the link on the right hand side or right here.
Be sure to also follow along on Instagram as I post updates throughout the day. #31daystoreset @Angelsea Urban
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Thanks for visiting!
WELCOME TO DAY 2: Making a Family Mission Statement
But first, an update on yesterday…
Friends, I’m not gonna lie. Today was hard. I came home from the 5th grade class trip with my sweet girl and I was tiiiiiiired. I hit publish at 7 am and then I was out the door and on a bus and walking around Philadelphia the rest of the day. On the bus ride home I contemplated… “hmmm… I wonder if anyone would notice if I just didn’t follow through on Day 1.” And just as quickly as the thoughts came on, I knew that even if no one was watching, **I** still had to do this for ME even if it was inconvienient. Organized by grace, yes, and if I need to I can always throw in the towel, but I don’t want to. Like I said, I need this reset. Even if it hurts.
 So we got home at 4:25 and I power cleaned with the last bit of energy I had. And if you saw the before picture from yesterday’s post you would totally be hearing the angels singing praises of hallelujah right now. Maybe that was just the Domino’s guy bringing us pizza, because HEY…. I JUST walked in the door, and in about an hour we would be off to AWANA for the kids and our Life Group at church for Steve & I, and won’t be home until 8:30 pm. So… yeah…pizza. (With bacon, because that totally makes it protein… and way awesome.)
But while I waited for pizza, I reset my workspace. And I am thrilled about it. Now I can be at peace with my eyes, so my brain can get to work.
So… Writing a Family Mission Statement
We have one that we wrote sometime last year. It was a good one. The whole family took a long time crafting every word and adjective to make it our mantra for life. We even wrote it on the wall so we can all see it every time we leave. We had the kids memorize it before we could go to Disney. Ya know, so that they could “appreciate” the whole thing properly. lol It worked for a long time, but ya know what happened?
They killed it.
Actually WE killed it. By making them learn it upside down and backwards, it no longer had meaning to them. You could stop them both in the street and they could recite it to you. But they have we all have, forgotten the true meaning behind it, and so we are going back to square one to revise it, or at least, revisit the words and take them to heart once again. We were recently trying to make some big decisions for our family, and the mission statement should be a tool to help filter those decisions. If it’s stale and unhelpful, it’s time to revisit it.
This is the format I used the first time (that I found on google when searching “How to write a family mission statement”), and we will use it again today:
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So, does your family have a mission statement?
If not, I have included some questions to help you create your own family mission statement. At the end of the process, you will be able to combine the answers to these questions to create a concise statement for what you (And more importantly, God) want your family to be. Note: if your kids are old enough, I would encourage you to include them in this process so that they have ownership over your mission statement.
Step One: Mission Questions.
What is the primary goal for your family?
What family practices do you think would please God?
What family attitudes do you think would please God?
What are some things in your family that might displease God?
What are some of the core values you have?
What goals do we have for our children? For our family?
What would we like people to say about our family in 30 years?
Name some adjectives we would like to be able to use to describe our home environment.
Step Two: Summarize.
To write a mission statement, you simply need to take the answers to the above questions, and place them in a simple statement. You want this statement to be something you can remember. If it is too long, you will never refer to it. If it is unclear, it will be useless. It must be both concise and clearly practical. Here is an example of a mission statement:
To raise kids who love Jesus by practicing the gospel in loving service to one another, seeking to remove unloving language and actions, honoring and respecting one another as Christ has done in our lives.
The main goal: to raise kids who love Jesus.
The practices: serving one another
The attitudes: Love
The unwanted practices: unloving language and actions
The adjectives: honor and respect
Step Three: Display and Remind
Now that you have a mission statement, you can use this to help encourage growth in you and your kids. First, share it with your children. Have them agree to what you have written; perhaps even have them sign a sheet of paper with this statement on it. Second, write this statement on a piece of paper and put it somewhere where you and your family will see it consistently. Third, when someone does something out of line with the mission statement you can refer back to it at any time.
And one more thing: share it with us! We would love to hear how God is leading your family!
Maybe you can discuss this with your family during dinner and at least come up with an outline. Or maybe you merely discuss the idea. Or maybe you can just explain what a family mission statement is. You are planting the seed that will cultivate a deep root for this later. And that’s plenty to do for today.
Thanks for visiting today! AND… Happy Birthday to my sweet husband today!!! God bless this man who has been married to me for almost 17 years! If no one else reads this, I know he will, because he is crazy supportive in that way. He’s would be the 1 “like” at the bottom of this page if it were a slow blogging day. For that, and eleventy billion other reasons, I love him to pieces and he has my heart forever. Happy Birthday babe! XOXO
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Be sure to check the blog every day during the Month of October for new content. Or sign up for the VIP Newsletter for important updates.
East Coast Fine Art Lifestyle Family Portrait Photographer Angelsea Urban
Angelsea Urban is a photographer and entrepreneur helping women use their creative gifts to nourish their homes and cultivate their businesses through practical stewardship. Her unique photography work focuses on Redefining the Family Portrait Experience by telling the story of family through personalized foundations while creating a space to strengthen family bonds throughout the experience. As a certified tax professional and seasoned business consultant, Angelsea has helped the careers of photographers, restaurateurs, musicians and general small business owners through teaching, workshops, coaching, and hands on consulting. Her ministry work focuses on fostering creative gifts in women entrepreneurs to prioritize family and discipleship. She has photographed for families, brides, Bravo TV, NFL Films, and more and has been featured on multiple blogs and magazine print for her work in photography and in business. Angelsea teaches and photographs throughout the United States, and resides with her husband of 17 years, their two children, and their barely 3 pound Yorkie near Long Beach Island, New Jersey.
To book your session with Angelsea Urban, please visit www.angelseaurban.com
Follow Angelsea Urban on Facebook
Follow Angelsea Urban on Instagram
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Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Welcome to 31 Days to an Organized Life & Business! For the next 31 days I will be a participant in The Nester’s 31 days Writing Challenge. Taking some of my own advice and taking you along on my journey to a life reset. I’ll be sharing (and practicing) some tips on everything from bookkeeping, shopping, managing kids, intentional parenting, work from home mom syndrome, work/life balance, spiritual reset and more. Not because I am the expert in these fields, but because they have worked for me in the past, and I so badly need them to work again for me now.
As a full time Photographer and Business Consultant, September is hard. Getting 2 kids settled into new routines, new teachers, new schedules, soccer practice, singing lessons, dinner plans, birthday activities, grocery shopping and running a couple of businesses. It’s easy to so quickly feel like life it pulling you in every direction and suddenly drowning in homework folders, bank statements, and dinner menus seem to be the norm. Throw in the unexpected things, like illnesses, death and other things, and it’s just a big hot mess.
When I say I need this reset I’m not even kidding. When I say I’ll be writing about it, I don’t mean, I’m going to talk about past advice or something that worked once for me 3 years ago.
I am saying that today is Day 1. And today I’m going to Reset my Workspace. And when I say that, I mean I’m going to hit publish on this blog post, and then I’m going to clean my desk, and put away the heaping pile of stuff that is on the chair in my office. And then work from there. That is all I can commit to today.
I feel like I can’t begin to tackle the world, or even write out a to do list if I can’t even find a pen under this mess.
So for today, I’m starting small and keeping it simple.
RESET MY WORKSPACE. Boom. I can totally do THAT.
And I’m guessing if you are reading this, and relating to any of it, you can totally to THAT too.
Did I also mention I will be in Philadelphia all day today on a 5th grade class trip leaving at 7 am? Hmm… not sure HOW I’m going to do THAT yet, but I read that Beyonce has the same amount of hours in a day as I do, so I can totally RESET MY WORKSPACE by the time I go to bed today.
Be sure to also follow along on Instagram as I post updates throughout the day. #31daystoreset @Angelsea Urban
Thanks for visiting today!
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Be sure to check the blog every day during the Month of October for new content. Or sign up for the VIP Newsletter for important updates.
East Coast Fine Art Lifestyle Family Portrait Photographer Angelsea Urban
Angelsea Urban is a photographer and entrepreneur helping women use their creative gifts to nourish their homes and cultivate their businesses through practical stewardship. Her unique photography work focuses on Redefining the Family Portrait Experience(R) by telling the story of family through personalized foundations while creating a space to strengthen family bonds throughout the experience. As a certified tax professional and seasoned business consultant, Angelsea has helped the careers of photographers, restaurateurs, musicians and general small business owners through teaching, workshops, coaching, and hands on consulting. Her ministry work focuses on fostering creative gifts in women entrepreneurs to prioritize family and discipleship. She has photographed for families, brides, Bravo TV, NFL Films, and more and has been featured on multiple blogs and magazine print for her work in photography and in business. Angelsea teaches and photographs throughout the United States, and resides with her husband of 17 years, their two children, and their barely 3 pound Yorkie near Long Beach Island, New Jersey.
To book your session with Angelsea Urban, please visit www.angelseaurban.com
Follow Angelsea Urban on Facebook
Follow Angelsea Urban on Instagram
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Monday, September 29, 2014
I know. You don’t even have to say it outloud. I can’t believe it either. This picture represents what life around me has looked like this week. This month. This season.
I’ve also been super sick this past week, and dealing with other sad things, I am finding a need to be a new stock holder in Kleenex, hence the massive amount of tissues. That, mind you, I didn’t even bother to put in the garbage that was a mere – 12 inches from the desk.
I know.
So why do I subject you to this crime scene on my desk?
I blame my friend Kacey. Actually, I thank her. Our breakfast dates always turn into lunch dates after we spend hours chatting away and sharpening each other. Her words stuck in my head all night….
“We have created a new idol in our quests for simplicity.” Boom.
We discussed our gnawing awareness between the lines of jealousy and spiritual unrest. And what. the. heck. is happening to that tiny, but ever growing space in-between? A bigger topic to explore another day.
We shared our fears, comparisons, and the pressures that every woman feels to keep up with the Joneses, or Mrs. Jones or Mommy Jones, or Blogger Jones, or Business owner Jones or….. fill in your own blank.
The space between “being authentic and transparent” and “building one another up” are often too far apart. It’s easy to fall into one space or the other, and it’s hard to bridge the gap with an online presence that fairly represents a person’s true personality… or motivation.
I’ve let my recent life’s busyness and circumstances suck out my current motivation and today… it’s time for a reset.
So… this is my current view (above).
Recovering from illness. Dealing with death, divorces, back to school, soccer practice, singing lessons, dinner plans, birthday activities, grocery shopping and running a couple of businesses. This is my life. And I’m guessing yours might be similar?
Starting October 1st, I’ll be a participant in The Nester’s 31 days Writing Challenge. My topic: 31 days to an Organized Life & Business. Taking some of my own advice and taking you along on my journey to a life reset. I’ll be sharing (and practicing) some tips on everything from bookkeeping, shopping, managing kids, intentional parenting, work from home mom syndrome, work/life balance, spiritual reset and more. Not because I am the expert in these fields, but because they have worked for me in the past, and I so badly need them to work again for me now. You can follow along on their website, or directly on my blog here with this permalink. Sometimes even on Instagram as well, so be sure to follow that here.
Step one: That desk.
Hope to see you following along. And don’t be shy if you are. I’d love to hear from you!!
Thanks for visiting today!
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Be sure to check the blog every Monday & Thursday for new content. Or sign up for the VIP Newsletter
East Coast Fine Art Lifestyle Family Portrait Photographer Angelsea Urban
Angelsea Urban is a photographer and entrepreneur helping women use their creative gifts to nourish their homes and cultivate their businesses through practical stewardship. Her unique photography work focuses on Redefining the Family Portrait Experience by telling the story of family through personalized foundations while creating a space to strengthen family bonds throughout the experience. As a certified tax professional and seasoned business consultant, Angelsea has helped the careers of photographers, restaurateurs, musicians and general small business owners through teaching, workshops, coaching, and hands on consulting. Her ministry work focuses on fostering creative gifts in women entrepreneurs to prioritize family and discipleship. She has photographed for families, brides, Bravo TV, NFL Films, and more and has been featured on multiple blogs and magazine print for her work in photography and in business. Angelsea teaches and photographs throughout the United States, and resides with her husband of 17 years, their two children, and their barely 3 pound Yorkie near Long Beach Island, New Jersey.
To book your session with Angelsea Urban, please visit www.angelseaurban.com
Follow Angelsea Urban on Facebook
Follow Angelsea Urban on Instagram
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Thursday, September 11, 2014
Life. is. precious.
And if we don’t stop to look around enough we may miss a lot of it.
I just dropped my 5th Grade daughter off at school, where she now proudly wears a Safety Patrol belt and is posted to watch over one of the kindergarten classrooms. Only, it was her kindergarten classroom not that long ago. It seemed like just 5 minutes ago, I was dropping her off in that classroom to actually go to kindergarten. My heart skipped at beat at this realization. When did my baby girl grow up so fast? I join the legions of other parents scratching their heads and wondering the same thing. The graduates (the grandparents) are laughing at us, saying “I told you so” and suddenly the words, “they grow up so fast” don’t seem so cliche.
They weren’t kidding.
I don’t know what it is about time speeding up while you are raising children. But it is totally true. It’s hard enough to keep one foot in front of the other while managing the day to day tasks of a household, and then one day, your kindergartener is on the 5th Grade Safety Patrol.
Having been in the wedding industry for many years, I saw such a contrast on how people treated their wedding photography verses their family portraits. Wedding photography was a BIG deal. Always has been. Planning for months and months in advance, and holding onto those precious portraits preparing them for generations to see.
But on the other side Family Portraits were just a thing they had to get done. Sometimes not even printing a single image.
I felt so strongly that Family, and Family Portraits were even more precious than wedding photography. This is life. Ongoing. And it’s so, SO precious. And it’s moving super fast! I set out this year to dedicate my business and refine my brand to Redefining the Family Portrait Experience. To give families the intentional space pause for a minute, and nourish the bonds of the family, and cultivate the relationships. To stop and look around and this moment in life, to grab a hold of it, to reflect on it.
Your daughter will forever remember the day on the beach that Daddy danced around with her.
Your son will think back on the day that his mother whispered all of those sweet words into his ear.
The day that your husband looked at you, really looked at you, and saw his bride again. How you will never forget what that moment felt like.
It’s has been an amazing privilege to work with these families in this way, and The Buckley Family was no exception. This mother’s love for her family is inspiring, and it was my absolute pleasure to create these portraits for them.
I hope you enjoy some of my personal favorites from this family portrait collection.
Thanks for visiting today!
There are only a few beach sessions left for this year! If you want portraits like these, be sure to reach out ASAP!
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Be sure to check the blog every Monday & Thursday for new content. Or sign up for the VIP Newsletter
East Coast Fine Art Lifestyle Family Portrait Photographer Angelsea Urban
Angelsea Urban is a photographer and entrepreneur helping women use their creative gifts to nourish their homes and cultivate their businesses through practical stewardship. Her unique photography work focuses on Redefining the Family Portrait Experience by telling the story of family through personalized foundations while creating a space to strengthen family bonds throughout the experience. As a certified tax professional and seasoned business consultant, Angelsea has helped the careers of photographers, restaurateurs, musicians and general small business owners through teaching, workshops, coaching, and hands on consulting. Her ministry work focuses on fostering creative gifts in women entrepreneurs to prioritize family and discipleship. She has photographed for families, brides, Bravo TV, NFL Films, and more and has been featured on multiple blogs and magazine print for her work in photography and in business. Angelsea teaches and photographs throughout the United States, and resides with her husband of 17 years, their two children, and their barely 3 pound Yorkie near Long Beach Island, New Jersey.
To book your session with Angelsea Urban, please visit www.angelseaurban.com
Follow Angelsea Urban on Facebook
Follow Angelsea Urban on Instagram
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Monday, September 8, 2014
To my in laws… who probably don’t understand this whole personal blogging thing, I apologize in advance. Some stories just have to be told, and sometimes, they aren’t able to be told in words, until there are pictures, representing grace, to fill in the grooves.
My mother in law died several years ago. Years before my children were born. She had a massive heart attack, and by the grace of God, it was inside the emergency waiting room where she was able to be revived. Temporarily. Until another one came just about a week later.
Steve was at work and called me frantically trying to explain the situation. The only words he remembered was the nurse telling him, “you might not make it here in time”. We agreed to meet at the hospital, about 45 minutes from each other, in opposite directions. We had no cell phones to talk during the drive. It was a very silent drive.
My husband adores his mother. He’s the guy that calls his mom at least once or twice a week just to say hello. To hear about her shopping events and what his parents have been up to in their retirement adventures. Not out of obligation, but because he genuinely wants to chat with them.
And all I could think of as I was racing up the parkway on the way to the hospital was, “please God, don’t take his mother from him, not now. Not yet.”
Growing up, Steve and his father were like oil & vinegar (sometimes, not all the time, but I heard stories from BOTH sides). His mother was the buffer of sorts. The loving hand that comforted the children when Dad had to be THE Dad growing up. No one enjoys the refinement process but it’s often necessary.
Thankfully, his mother eventually recovered from those heart attacks. And we often think about what life would be like today if the nurse was right. What if there never was a “Grandma B”?
Our kids adore their grandparents. They are their only grandchildren. Grandma B is even our dog’s favorite person on the planet.
Grandma “B” was there for them as babies, driving in once a week to help care for them while I went to work to help us save on daycare costs. She has special cookies that only a grandma has, and even the yogurt she buys is somehow special to our children. Always a surprise in her Mary Poppins type bag, she could pull out a grape and they would be overjoyed. Everything seems sweeter, and more special coming from her bag, or at her house.
Grandpa “BeBop” has a magic basement full of wondrous things. Each time they get to explore something new. He ties the shoes and shares his special airplane magazines. He teaches the lessons that only a grandpa can teach.
As we raise our kids, they are constant reminders of how we were raised. Suddenly a bad memory we may have had as kids seems like it makes perfect sense when you are a parent raising your own kids. Perfect. Sense. You look at your parents differently. Things you may have disagreed with as a teenager become a blueprint to what you will do with yours. With greater respect and with compassion for the past that you didn’t even know you lacked. Forgiveness isn’t even necessary because grace has already paved the way.
It was Grandma B’s birthday recently. Steve and I realized that we don’t have nearly enough pictures of them and the kids together. For our household, this summer has been spent being very intentional about the things we do as a family, and how we want to be raising our children. Focusing on our Family Mission Statement, and being very purposeful in our relationships with each other. And they had no pictures! Shame. On. Me. So on our way to her birthday celebration, we stopped for a short portrait session.
We often forget to look back and see how far we have come. We ask and we hope and we pray, but then we often forget to reflect back on what has been given to us. My husband has enormous respect and love for his father today, and the same for his mother. The opportunity for these relationships to be given this opportunity is an amazing blessing. As Steve and I were going through these portraits, it was a wonderful reminder of all that we have been given. That God has answered so many, many, many prayers and so many things that once seemed impossible were staring us right in the face. With authentic joy.
I don’t often like to think, “What could have been” but it’s hard not to looking at these portraits.
I’d rather think about “How far we’ve come” and “How lucky we are”. And how thankful we are that our children have these amazing people in their lives.
This is more than a “don’t forget to take pictures with your grandparent’s” post. I’d rather think of it as taking inventory of things you might be taking for granted and intentionally pursuing them. Giving thanks for answered prayers and second chances. For grace and humility, and the joy to embrace it all.
Thanks for visiting today!
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Be sure to check the blog every Monday & Thursday for new content. Or sign up for the VIP Newsletter
East Coast Fine Art Lifestyle Family Portrait Photographer Angelsea Urban
Angelsea Urban is a photographer and entrepreneur helping women use their creative gifts to nourish their homes and cultivate their businesses through practical stewardship. Her unique photography work focuses on Redefining the Family Portrait Experience by telling the story of family through personalized foundations while creating a space to strengthen family bonds throughout the experience. As a certified tax professional and seasoned business consultant, Angelsea has helped the careers of photographers, restaurateurs, musicians and general small business owners through teaching, workshops, coaching, and hands on consulting. Her ministry work focuses on fostering creative gifts in women entrepreneurs to prioritize family and discipleship. She has photographed for families, brides, Bravo TV, NFL Films, and more and has been featured on multiple blogs and magazine print for her work in photography and in business. Angelsea teaches and photographs throughout the United States, and resides with her husband of 17 years, their two children, and their barely 3 pound Yorkie near Long Beach Island, New Jersey.
To book your session with Angelsea Urban, please visit www.angelseaurban.com
Follow Angelsea Urban on Facebook
Follow Angelsea Urban on Instagram
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Mommy Monday ~ Making a family mission statement | - […] Be sure to go and follow her blog here. […]
Angelsea Urban - Thanks Dottie! Miss you!
Dottie Johnson Foley - Beautiful! Love it…we have one somewhere around here lol. I should have started with you on day 1…I’m so behind now 🙂
Steve Urban - Awesome!!
Love you XOXOXOXO