I’ve been feeling it lately — this disconnection of sorts with the blog. I’ve hunkered down a bit, trying to think more about what this place should be. Yes, it’s a site that allows me to showcase my latest clients—and that’s going to continue. But as I scale back on the number of shoots I accept each year, I realize that can’t be all it is if I want to keep any semblance of readership around. I’ve got big dreams for this blog (more on that in a minute), but most of all, I want this site to be a reflection of my self. Who I am, what I love, more of the day-to-day doings of this so-called beautiful life. Yes, yesssss….of course there are a multitude of “lifestyle” blogs out there. But, in my opinion, that’s no excuse not to keep up with one’s own, especially if that’s what you like to do. If, on multiple levels, it is your creative outlet (as much as it’s proven to be mine). There is always room for more voices on the Internet. As for their success? Well, it’s up to the originator of that material to make his/her presence on the Internet a good one. To let what is being said—and how often (which is what I need to work on)—bring people back and keep them reading. And so that, my friends, is my No. 1 goal for this blog of mine.

On that front, I’ve been thinking of ways to introduce more snippets of the day-to-day to you. Recently, one of my besties, Ellen, sent me a link to this gal’s blog. In particular, given that I’m pregnant and Ellen and I share the same sarcastic sense of humor, she sent me directly to this post …. upon which, having read, I about peed my pants in laughter (easy to do when nearly 6 months pregnant). I then spent an hour getting lost in her witty entries, providing answers to a few questions I’ve pondered as of late. Chiefly, “ARE blogs dead?” and “DO people really want to read about one another’s lives?” The answer, of course, is yes. You just need to give them something—a voice, a nitch, a reason—to remember you.

I’m digressing a bit here, but my secondary point is I fell in love with L’s standing feature of recapping bits and pieces of her week through her iPhone (also proving that, in more cases than not, we DO care about the mundane, right?). I am horrible at remembering to Instagram snaps from my phone (much as I love the site—look me up on there at “gailwerner” if you’d like to follow me), and believe I have the opposite problem of so many of my friends (as in, I forget my phone most places. At least half the time.) So I’m hopeful popping up the occasional new “Life Lately” feature here can hold me accountable to doing a better job of this “documenting my day to day” business.

And so, here goes—a look at life lately during the month of June:

I was kind of embarrassed to blog this month’s self-portrait (I mean, nothing more red-necked than two adults lounging in a kiddie pool, right?) but you guys all left such encouraging comments, that, in the end, I felt silly for even caring! Turns out, it’s been such a great investment as Nick and I soak up some R&R and sunshine together in the backyard during these hot weekends. This year is the first year I haven’t had back-to-back June weddings (though I do have one on Saturday — yeah!) so it’s been nice to relax a bit with my man.

I’ve been doing SUCH a good job of saving money this year on my book-buying habits and paying visits to the library instead. I recently indulged in my first Amazon book splurge of the year, snapping up 7 or 8 titles (most used) that I’d been having a hard time getting ahold of otherwise. Can’t wait to dig into The Chaperone (after hearing nothing but great things!) The other two books pictured (among a few more I ordered) include a new daily devotional,  Streams in the Desert (I read about this one in a wonderful profile piece on GMA morning anchor Robin Roberts – I love her and how open she is about her faith!) and another book (one of a few I’m indulging on the parenting front), called Great with Child that I first read about on  Jo’s blog (she’s my FAVE blogger!). My mom has sent us two care packages now for the baby—boxes stuffed to the brim with THE most adorable onesies. Baby socks? KILL ME. It’s so fun to get our first pieces of clothing, to imagine that we are going to have a little guy who’s going to FIT in this stuff! She’s so wonderful…and, as she relayed to me as I was thanking her on the phone, “Well, once you start, you know, you just can’t stop!” haha Last week I had an AWESOME lunch date with my creative partner in crime, Ryan, of Second Street Creative. I first met Ryan through my amazing friend, Bobbi, and I’ve come to adore both him and his wife, Andrea. He’s got so many amazing design/Web ideas and I knew there was no one else I wanted to work with this year on what’s become a passion project of retuning this blog (along with my web site). To say that he “gets” me is an understatement and I cannot WAIT to reveal later this year what we’ve been cooking up! It’s so fresh, I know you guys are gonna love it! Hands down, my pick for song of the summer. (My apologies for the hipster-laden video..just listen instead!) I’ve been jamming to this so much lately, so you can expect to hear it on my next music playlist I put out (I always share when I’m ready to give these playlists away on both Facebook and Twitter — will have one soon for you guys to snatch up!) Nick and I are committed to getting gussied up and making a date night at least once a month until the babe arrives (and we’re in that fog of newborn haze). So we got ready last Saturday to go out to a great place…….. only to call and find out on the way that there were no more reservations for the night :( …… )Soooo….we improvised and had a GREAT time eating at the counter of a 1950s-style drive-in instead :) . A fun, out-of-the-box night for us that we capped with our nightly walk together. We sat for awhile on a bench in the Quad at Ball State (where we met in school and where I work for my day job) and as we watched fireflies light up the sky, Nick leaned in and said, “I think we’re going to remember this night.” Quiet and simple though it was, I couldn’t agree more.

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