Thursday morning, I hit the snooze button a few times and then lazily scrolled through Instagram with one eye open until I felt like I could function enough to coax myself out of bed.  My throat had been sore for a couple of days and now I could feel that I didn’t just have a dry throat from the A/C running or from a couple of short nights of sleep (from getting up to check blood sugars and make corrections in the middle of the night) I was getting sick.  I had slated Thursday for a fall porch freelance photoshoot, but I just didn’t think I could swing it.  The sky was threatening rain on top of my stuffed sinuses and it seemed like everything was pointing to rescheduling.  Netflix, soup, and pajama pants were beckoning.

Well, I tried my best, but I couldn’t fit it in another day to shoot before my deadline, so I had to stick to the schedule and push through it.  I gave myself a pep-talk, noting that there are worse things to have to push through whilst fighting a cold.

Kriste and I scrambled and sweat (it was really humid and gross) and by the end of the day, we had two gallery photoshoots (a gallery of “beauty shots”) and one tutorial completed.  I was whooped by the end of the day, but it was well worth it and I’m really pleased with how everything turned out.

For the gallery shoots, we “borrowed” one of my friend’s front porches and her yard.  She has great stuff, too, so we were able to use her furniture, which saved us from having to cart over more stuff from my house and the studio.  The van was already pretty maxed out.

We did have a little company while we were shooting…

Their two dogs “volunteered” to be subjects.  Sometimes, they were willing and helpful.

And other times…

Well, not so much.

It was a lot of fun, though.  Given that I was dragging, the dogs provided some energy and comic relief.

In addition to the fall porch photoshoot, we photographed a fall buffet in a pretty field.  When I was styling this table, I raided my house to use things I already had, much like someone would do if they were setting up a buffet in their own yard.  I don’t like to add a bunch of seasonal decorations, but rather rethink pieces to make a pretty display and add in some fresh seasonal produce and flowers.

And, of course, yummy things.

These photoshoots, as well as the apple orchard picnic, will be available in their entirety on HGTV.com.  I try to link to all of my articles when they are live, but I don’t always keep track of it.  If you ever want to find an article, though, you can search my name and find them under my HGTV professional profile.

You know, I was looking at some old tutorials I wrote for them when I first started and I couldn’t believe I have been freelancing for them since 2011 and have written well over 100 articles.  I lost count a couple of years ago.

And I still get a little thrill when I see my work featured on their site.

(The top row, left and right images, are both ones I did.)

I still vividly remember the day I received an e-mail from one of their editors, asking if I would be interested in writing an article for them.  I was stunned and elated all rolled into one.  It’s still such an honor and a fun thing to be a part of.

Sometimes we need to stop and look back for a minute and take in the view of the trail we’ve climbed before we press forward.  I think you appreciate things more when you celebrate how far you’ve come.  I often forget to do that.

Anyway, I hope all of you had a wonderful long weekend!  I’ll share all about mine tomorrow…