A peak into a working mom's life

Hello to all the loyal readers out there!
I know a lot of you may be wondering what I’ve been up to lately, I’m truly sorry for the lack of blog posts. It’s been so hectic and crazy with the back to back weddings that we have lined up from this week to the end of March and my in-laws have also been here from Korea to celebrate Grant’s 1^st birthday party. I’ll put a blog post up this week dedicated to Grant’s birthday- I can’t wait to share the pictures with you all because everything turned out so cute!
To make up for my lack of blog posts lately, I thought it would be fun to share with you and give you a peek at what goes on in a planner’s daily life. I also want to write this post to let all the readers know that being a business owner, mom, wife, and everything in between is do-able. First, a major shout out to all the hard working moms out there!! Honestly I still don’t have it all figured out yet but I think that I’m getting better at it. Things I learned over this year: Motherhood requires a lot of structure and scheduling. No messing around or wasting time.

Here’s my weekly schedule. During the weekdays, I send Grant to daycare on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8am-5pm. So I usually take 2 days out of the week for appoints I meet with clients, vendors, visit venues, attend prototype meetings and food tasting. I literally try to jam all my appointments, so when I’m out I make sure to try to book 3-4 appointments in one day. It sounds crazy, but this is the part I enjoy the most, meeting with people- well, minus the driving.
Other days, I respond/check e-mails, take care of logistical matters, create timelines, floor plans, make phone calls, update my blog and etc. It’s not the best part of the job but I get about 70% of the ‘real’ work done. Grant is up by 6am so I make sure to give him plenty of attention by playing with him in the morning until he takes his 1^st nap. (Thanks Courtney for the advice! It's going great!) Oh how I wish my son can sleep until 9am… I’ve tried everything but I think his internal clock is 6am. My husband comes home from work around 5:30pm so I get dinner ready in between, but we do go out occasionally. :) Grant is in bed by 8pm which leaves the rest of the evening for me and my hubby.
I could use my evening times effectively like read a book (sure), spend quality time with my hubby, go out for a jugging or SLEEP EARLY but I end up browsing through twitter, facebook and other wedding blogs. It's so hard to shut down the computer! I definitely need help in this area. To think that I'm constantly busy for an exercise is a total excuse.

On the weekends, I either have weddings or have family time on Sundays. I purposely don’t take wedding on Sundays because I promised my husband to make Sundays family day. Occasionally I’ll meet with clients (2 hours max) who aren’t available during the weekdays. On weekends, I try to clean up the house, do laundry, cook some home cooked meals and hang out with friends/families OR recharge by taking naps while my hubby watches the baby! :)
As a mom working from home, I realized I need more discipline, training, and need to make sure that I make the most of the time that I have. Trust me, I'm not as disciplined as you think I may sound. In college, I couldn't wake up on time for my 11am class and I could definitely sleep in for 12 hours straight without feeling guilty! My friends who are reading this post will crack up because you know it's true!!!
Balancing family & career isn't easy but I always tell myself that life won't get any easier with baby #2 or #3! Better get used to it or else I'm gonna be one complaining mother who whines all the time.
Anyways, here are some photos to show you what I’ve been up to for the past month.

Here are some venues I visited during the last month or two. I swear, I feel like a site inspector.

Adamson House in Malibu, this is one of my FAVORITE locations!! It's a pain in the butt following all their policies and restrictions, but it's definitely worth the work.

The Langham Pasadena, a beautiful venue and I am so lucky that I have two weddings there this year.

St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Lomita. This place is a hidden gem. The sanctuary has the prettiest stone aisle with stain glass art work.

Greystone Mansion- LOVE LOVE this venue too! Greystone is definitely a hidden treasure in Beverly Hills a quite place with great views of the city. Again, a lot of work because they don't provide anything but space but so worth the pain!


Rancho Del Cielo in Malibu has a spectacular ocean view, an acre of gardens, oak trees, rustic trails and an old California cottage. LOVE! LOVE this place too! I'm SO SO excited to be working here this August!


Last but not least, the Montage at Laguna Beach. Just simply breathtaking!


I've been also attending LOTS mock up meetings too.

Mille Fiore's prototype session back in January.

Flower Allie, love collaborating ideas with Allison! She's such a sweetheart!

I went to downtown LA with one of my clients to do some fabric shopping. I normally rent linens but for this wedding coming up in March, we had to custom made our runners.

Design meeting with Kristine for upcoming weddings. She works HARD to find these fabulous items that we can't reveal just yet but my crafty assistant, Christine made these paper ornaments and dyed each page to give it the vintage look. Isn't this awesome?! I give her a project and she gets it on TIME to me. Thank you Christine!


My favorite part- meeting with clients and hearing the stories of how they met! It's like a breath of fresh air.

Hope this post will make up for my absence because it took me a while to write it all up. I honestly don't know how I make it through the each day but seeing Grant's smile definitely brightens up any bad days.
Announcements: I am completely booked until July 2010 but feel free to send me inquires about your weddings. I would love to refer you to some fabulous coordinators and associates that will best suite your wedding. I do have openings from August to December, so hurry and reserve your date! Grant's birthday photos come up real soon. So stay tuned!