work hard, play hard.

Just popping in to catch up. This week has been insane! One of those weeks when I get up around 7:30, leave my house by 8:30 to drop Cade off and get to store a little early at 9:30. Work until 6 or 6:30 then come home, cook dinner, do laundry, give Cade a bath, clean up toys, then PASS OUT! Seriously last night I didn't even kick my shoes off until 9pm. I was full blast for 13 hours and counting...(and yes, I know there may be others who work longer days than this, so consider this post not complaining at all... but rather venting :)

My motto in life has always been work hard, play hard. I've worked since I was 16 and had my driving permit. My first job was waitressing at a small local cafe. I continued to waitress throughout high school, then in college for all four years I juggled two jobs - as a page at the Statehouse and retail jobs (and a sorority, leadership positions, PR chair for other organizations, etc...). When I came home in the Summer...yep, you guessed it. I worked. Waitressing until 11pm at night and working at law firms. Then from the time I graduated, I've been blessed with a job. Whew that's a lot of workin', but I will say this - I've also had a LOT of fun. I've never been the type to ask my parents for money or wanted anything handed to me. It was to be earned. I've always been extremely independent and believe in hard work...and also having a good time and "treating" yourself! 

So good news: I have hired new full time help at Sugar!!! Yes, this has all happened so fast and I'm grateful I am able to do that.

Bad news: She can't start until September 9th!

So I'm suckin' it up and working hard as can be, but when I get the time to relax and "play", you better believe I savor every. single. moment. Like this last Sunday for instance. It was only my second day off in like 16 consecutive days and the other Sunday I had off I cleaned house all day. So this past Sunday I was ready to do something FUN and that's exactly what we did. 

Chad had an early morning fishing tournament, so Cade and I went to church and had lunch at Grami's! Cade is going to be a hard worker too, I can already tell, because he had to water Grami's flowers for her before he left...

and blow bubbles of course! 

Once Chad got home that afternoon, we headed to the lake to test out Papa's new boat! 

I am so shocked that Cade sat still long enough for this picture because he was WIDE OPEN.

We stopped somewhere and there were ducks everywhere. Of course the boys loved it.

We also pulled up on a bank to swim. I swear it looks like an alligator is in the background of this pic, but I swear it's not. Maybe if we were at Fripp?

But check out this crazy boy. He had to wear these goggles and he proceeded to just swim in his swim diapers. A mess!

Again, always entertained with juice boxes...

more duck watching...

his baby mullet is in full force and I know he needs a haircut but honestly, when have I had time to take him???

and duck feeding. Cade isn't scared of a single thing, I swear.

We had a "picnic dinner" on the boat and enjoyed the most perfect sunset. It was nice to soak in the last few days of Summer!

I only wish that I could snuggle with this sweet boy every day!

There's pros and cons to owning your own business (well, any job) and while I definitely am exhausted and miss Cade terribly while working 40+ work weeks, I know that in a few months, after the busy Christmas bustle I can *hopefully* (with my new awesome help) take as much time off as I want and work just a few days a week. Even if just for a little while. One thing for sure, I am BLESSED to be busy with amazing customers and tons of new merchandise. It's a dream!! Again, pros and cons with any job. I just don't want to miss too much of this super fun age and time is flying by too fast for me not to savor every little moment. I begin feeling really bad about working so much but then I think about Rachel Zoe flying all over the world with her crazy, hectic job and yet she still seems to be a great mom, so maybe you can really do it all? She's my role model. 

But back to work I go to finish out the week and I'm looking forward to rewarding myself with an incredible jam packed weekend, starting with Carolina football tomorrow night!!! Woohoo!

It's also my bestie's 30th this weekend AND Labor Day (which I have off. Hooray!!) AND we have some other exciting things going on which I hope to share later. 

I'm so looking forward to it. Work hard, play hard. Can't wait!!