A Day in the Life...Chris Nease of Celebrations at Home!

I am so excited to be featuring Chris Nease of Celebrations at Home today! Chris was one of my first blogging friends and we still continue to e-mail back and forth about this and that. She is such a sweetheart and an inspiration to me! I'm sure you wonder, like I do, how she balances it all!

A Day in the Life of Chris Nease of Celebrations at Home...

I’m very flattered that Christi asked me to share a day in the life with you, however my first response to her was, “but I’m so boring!” Not that my job is boring, in fact quite the opposite. But to look at it hour by hour on any given day can be deceiving since every day is literally something different. I decided to take a “compilation” approach to give you a better idea of what my job entails.

First of all I’d like to explain that I began my blog (way back when) as a supporting role to my party styling business. Since then it has grown so much that I’ve shifted my main focus onto the site while I still do a limited number of client parties. My real passion is growing Celebrations At Home into a go-to site for inspiration for stylish entertaining!

7:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

My mornings begin with coffee and The Today Show, and getting my 2 young kids ready and off to school - typical mom stuff.

9:00 a.m. - Noon

The mornings fly by as I’m on the computer checking emails, reviewing submissions, working on blog posts, and networking on Twitter and Facebook.

A lot of my time in the morning is devoted to email correspondence. Currently I‘m working on my new site design with my designer and can‘t wait for the relaunch!

In addition to emails, I'm reviewing contracts, writing articles for freelance jobs, brainstorming ideas for upcoming photo shoots, talking with a client about her party, and conversing with vendors that I‘m working with. Now that I’m a leader at the Savvy Living community on Blog Frog, I spend a fair amount of time checking in with the forum and spreading the word about the conversations we’re having there.

In between all of this, I’m prop shopping online & researching ideas for projects.

By the time 11:00 or 12:00 rolls around I’m hungry. I don’t really eat breakfast (unless you consider creamer in my coffee, breakfast) so I’m usually hungry for a lean cuisine.

12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Afternoons are good for me to run errands, do some prop shopping or craft supply shopping, editing photos, and writing. If I have something to craft for a design project, this is when I’ll do it. This week I’ve been consumed with a client’s bar mitzvah that is this Saturday. I’ve been painting, gluing, making banners & bunting, cupcakes in a jar, and more!

At 4:00 it’s time to get the kids from the bus stop and take a short break. By now there’s a whole new batch of emails to sift through and respond to and maybe another blog post to edit. This is no 9-5 job that’s for sure - there are things to do all day every day and I love it! Somehow I manage to sneak in dinner and time with the family before going to bed.

Aside from some of the basic every day activities listed above, there are also things like photo shoots, occasional meetings, doing regular site maintenance, and creating a tutorial, recipe, or editorial party design for my site. Some days I may be out all day shopping for a project, and some days I may not even get dressed since I work at home. But I’m so thankful and fortunate to be able to do this with a supportive husband and encouraging readers!

Thank you Chris for giving us a peek into your day!

A Day in the Life...Courtney Dial of Pizzazzerie!

Courtney Dial of Pizzazzerie is just the cutest! She seems to have an endless amount of energy and is always so encouraging towards others. Courtney is one busy Southern lady and I hope you enjoy a glimpse into her daily life to see how she balances it all!

A Day in the Life of Courtney Dial of Pizzazzerie...

Hi all! Ready to see what my day is like? Well, no two days are alike which keeps things interesting. Some days are “prop shop + errand” days, some are “style + photograph” days, and some are “office” days. Today is an office day. Those are more common.

Between 8 and 9:30am – wake up! Yep, that’s my bed above. I’m a night owl, so a good portion of my morning is spent right there. I think I like to pretend I’m on Pacific Time. People always like to ask me if I ever sleep. Yes, a lot. I will slowly rise and check out emails on my blackberry to see if there are any that require immediate response.

9:00am-12:00pm

After a quick cereal breakfast, I hop over to my spare bedroom turned office. Here is where the action happens. I’m usually answering emails on the larger computer and looking through photos on the laptop. Today, I’m training up my fabulous editorial assistant Kelly! She’s been a huge help already. We get a lot of submissions so she helps me get them all taken care of. Today, we heard from a sweet reader who found some fabulous party supplies from our sponsor (Shop Sweet Lulu) so we are going to share those pictures on Facebook.

Then I head over to be sure today’s post is up on Pizzazzerie. I spread the news on Facebook & Twitter. I start to get sucked in to the twitter stream before closing the window so I can get back to work.

To be honest, I don’t move out of that chair for several hours. I’m also finishing up several St. Patrick’s Day articles for a freelance job. I had plans to shoot some corresponding photos for the article, but Nashville got some snow and ice this week and my car is covered.

Around 11:00am, I get a little antsy and realize I never turned on Pandora.com so I crank up the tunes, grab a diet mountain dew (not a coffee drinker) and keep focusing on a few articles I have to get done. I’m a new contributor Hostess With The Mostess and Jenn just sent me an AMAZING feature to write up. My “at home” days are 90% filled with writing.

My sweet designer, Sarah Kate, is working on a few business card edits for me so I review those, give her my feedback and continue through the new emails that have come in. I’m working on two other websites (one for a friend and one for a family member) so I review a few wordpress set-up issues with those and send over information to those helping me. Lots in the works!

1:00pm – I realize I’m starving and was too busy to notice, but now I do! My boyfriend, Chris, is often over hanging out as his job has irregular hours. So if he is home, I love to yell “Chrisssss!!” and hear back “Yes, I’m hungry too”. So we either go grab lunch at a fun Nashville spot or eat something quick. Today it’s a granola bar and a peanut butter sandwich at my desk. Too busy to leave (plus that snow/ice mess).

After lunch, I haul up some boxes that I shipped to myself from Chapel Hill after a recent Alice in Wonderland Party I designed. I hang linens back up on the organizer I made. I stand there for a second and think about the fact that Pizzazzerie’s first birthday is a little over a month away. I need to get stuff together for a mini shoot! That’s too much to think about right now, so on to the next project.

I look up to see this really large mess piling up on those shelves that Chris built for me. I decide it must be organized but not today. Six more emails have come in that all need my attention.

Twitter is calling my name so I hop over and play on that for about 10 or 15 minutes. I do the same with Facebook, congratulate my sweet friends on lots of fun achievements I’m noticing in the news feed.

My mother calls in the afternoon and asks for an update on a top secret project we’re working on. I let her know I’m on top of it and we chit-chat for a bit.

(As you can see, my day is not glamorous, just consistently jumping from one thing to the next).

2:30pm I am falling into my “sleepy afternoon” time. Most days this doesn’t happen, but today I’m laying down for about 30 minutes. Ah, the joys of working for myself and from home. I start the laundry and hit the bed. My friend Jill and I text while I lay down because our dinner must be rescheduled due to the weather. I’m feeling a bit “cooped up” and very ready for warmer weather!

3:00pm Up and at’em. I send off a few articles, feel very happy to get those projects complete! I send a few emails to my two writers, Crista and Katie. They keep me sane. And then I start working on the next day’s post for Pizzazzerie + snacktime.

5:00pm My eyes are getting that “been at the computer too long” glazed over feeling. So I take a break and make some dinner with Chris. We watch a bit of Lost (I have him hooked) or some other TV show.

7:00pm I’m getting antsy on the couch as I see my blackberry lighting up with emails, so I head back up to the office.

I usually work from 7:00pm to late night (stopping for breaks and TV time throughout). Tonight, the emails have quieted allowing me to play around with some new photoshop actions I bought. I take care of finishing Pizzazzerie’s post for the next day, bounce off a few more emails, and zone out for about 30 minutes while surfing some of my favorite sites. Once I realize that I’m getting nothing else productive accomplished, I head downstairs to zone out while cleaning the kitchen, finishing laundry, and cuddling with Chris.

Tonight’s bedtime is midnight, but it usually varies between 11:00pm and 1:00am. Off to bed I go, ready to wake up, rinse, and repeat

I hope you enjoyed a peek into Courtney's day! I am really enjoying reading how my favorite bloggers manage their day!

A Day in the Life...Kelly Lyden of WH Hostess & The Party Dress

I am so excited to announce the new series that will be appearing on P is for Party! Have you ever wondered how so many of the talented and influential party bloggers manage to maintain a popular site, run a business, manage a household, juggle daily responsibilities and take time for themselves?? I sure do! So many times I have found myself thinking about how a blogger I admire fits everything in, stays sane and what their daily life is like. It can't always be easy, right?! Surely I am not the only person who has wondered these things?!

One of my dearest blogging friends, Kelly Lyden, of The Party Dress and WH Hostess fame, is our first guest of the series. She is here to show us what a typical working day looks like for her...and she has even given us a peek into her darling home office! Kelly graciously chronicled a busy working day for us as she was preparing to leave for the Martha Stewart Dreamers Into Doers event in New York. Without further ado, here is a Day in the Life of Kelly Lyden, The Well Heeled Hostess...

Monday, January 10, 2011

8:00 am

Rise and Shine! The first thing I do in the morning is reach over and grab my iphone. I spend about 10 minutes in bed quickly reviewing e-mails, orders that came in overnight, and a quick glance at facebook and twitter to see if there is anything new and exciting. This gives me an idea of what my morning is going to look like! And then it’s time to start moving….I let the dog out and get myself ready for the day. (PS – some days, that pretty much means throwing on my favorite yoga pants and pulling my hair back into a ponytail!)

9:00am

I add our daily post on The Party Dress to both our facebook and twitter pages, and then I spend about an hour replying to e-mails and printing up our orders confirmations from the weekend.

I separate out the orders into piles – to be designed, custom designs, and custom inspiration boards.

10:00am – 12:00pm

Design work! I spend a couple of hours catching up on designing the orders that came in over the weekend, and preparing the print sheets for our print run later in the afternoon. Every single item purchased is literally designed and touched by me….so I make sure to really focus on the design step in the process to make sure every customer is happy!

I try to ignore e-mails during this time….but that doesn’t always happen! I have two distractions today: 1) I am preparing to head to NYC next week to attend the Martha Stewart Doers into Dreamers conference, so there are plenty of e-mails going back and forth between the “party girls” attending and 2) My sister is getting married in September, so I am tossing around ideas with her and also making plans for a pre-wedding weekend for the bridesmaids in Napa this summer!

12:00pm

It’s time to pack up the orders that were crafted the last couple of days.

We package each item in a cellophane bag, and then it is packaged up and ready to ship out. Today is a big shipping day – we not only have a ton of normal orders to ship out, but I also have 5 BIG, custom parties going out today. A couple of these customers you might now….Christi’s son’s Mod Safari Party, A Chinese New Year/Year of the Rabbit party for Project Nursery’s Melisa, and a Shabby Chic First Birthday Party for cupcake MAG, and a 40^th Birthday Party for Paz of Swanky Chic Fete.

My dog, Penny Lane, is a little under the weather this week, so I am taking a quick break in my day to take her to the vet. I take the 15 minute car ride to return a couple of phone calls – 1) to my printer who has questions about our new company brochures that are being printed today and 2) to my husband who is handling some website maintenance for me.

Okay! A 10 minute vet appointment, a prescription and $150 later, Penny Lane is good to go and we are headed home. Again, I return some phone calls on my way home (this time it’s to my best friend and my mother!). And once I get back home, I remember that it might be a good idea to eat lunch. (I often forget until it’s way too close to dinner time!)

1:00pm

I sit down at my desk in my cute, grass green office,

to eat a quick yogurt (with honey), some fruit and chocolate – and reply to e-mails, check out the orders that rolled in this morning, and take a quick spin around social media while I eat. I received a very exciting e-mail today – Jenn from Hostess with the Mostess has decided to feature a “Monkey Love” party that I worked on with Christi! Yay! I love getting those e-mails!

At 1:30pm, I have my weekly conference call with my media/public relations firm Launch Her. We discuss a few upcoming opportunities, and I fill them in on the improvements we have made to the shop recently (have you seen our new “shop by collection”? It was a labor of love and I’m so happy with how it looks!)

2:00pm

I’m off to ship out today’s packages. I ship out anywhere from 25-50 packages a week – some small, some big. I quickly stop at both the post office and UPS, and then I run into the dry cleaners to drop off my husband’s shirts, swing thru the bank to deposit some checks, and then I am off to the printer.

We do 2-3 print runs a week, depending on how busy we are. Every single item is printed professionally on a thick, luxurious paper, and is either machine-cut or hand-cut by yours truly! I spend about 2 hours at a time there, picking things up, approving new color samples, discussing new ideas with my printer so they can source/price them for me. Today I am very excited that our new company brochures are done! (just in time to take to NYC for the Martha conference!)

4:00pm

I head home and lay out the items I just picked up at the printer on the floor. I group them by order (each order is filed together until ready to be packaged), and package up any orders that may be complete and ready to ship tomorrow. The rest of the orders need to be constructed (banners, cupcake toppers, centerpiece sticks), so those print sheets all go into a pile together to be worked on tomorrow morning.

I spend a little bit of time following up with two new sources that are creating samples for new products we have in the works. (PS – I am SUPER excited about these, and hope they will launch soon!)

5:00pm

I run around my house picking it up a bit, give the dog a little attention, and prep whatever I can for dinner. My husband normally gets home around 6pm, so if I am lucky, I can still get some work done before he gets home!

Oh, wait….one of my best friends just called. She’s grocery shopping at the Whole Foods around the corner from me and thought she would stop by for a quick Starbucks break. Okay – twist my arm! I spend about 30 minutes catching up with her, which is not only nice but also makes me put down the laptop/iphone for a few minutes!

6:00pm

My husband gets home from work and we cook dinner together. Chicken/mushroom risotto is on the menu tonight, and it’s been such a busy day – I have now traded my Starbucks in for a glass of wine!

8:00pm

I open up the laptop again to work for a couple more hours. I do some blog posts for The Party Dress (not only for this week, but also trying to get some extras done to schedule while I am in NYC next week), reply to more e-mails (yes – I get a LOT every day!) and then start working on the designs for a couple of custom parties that I have in the works for next month.

I work until my husband and dog beg me to stop and then we have what I like to refer to as “family cuddle time” on the couch until it’s time to go to bed.

I hope this gives you a glimpse into what a day in my life is like. As you can see, I work A LOT these days….but I love what I do, so it doesn’t feel like work. Because I work for myself, and from home, I do have an amazing amount of flexibility – so some days I work 10 hours a day, and some days I take the day off to go bake with my best friend and her kids. I’m a pretty lucky girl!

Thank you Kelly for giving us a glimpse into your daily routine! I hope you enjoyed reading about her day as much as I did!