Yes, I’d like the business woman’s special

When I was a little girl all I ever wanted to be when I grew up was Joan Lunden, the iconic 80-90s broadcast journalist, mostly known for her career on Good Morning America.  Lisa, my sister, also wanted to be a “news commentator.”  She can tell you now that she didn’t even know what that was, but since that’s what her super-cool sister with buck teeth and tall ratty bangs who drove a pimped-out ’89 Nissan Sentra wanted to be, it was good enough for her.

Since I have my dad’s large dose of realism mixed with a dash of skepticism, I knew my being Joan Lunden probably wasn’t going to happen.  But, I still pursued my love of journalism in college, majoring in it at A&M.  While my desire to be a broadcast journalist waned, my love for writing, photography, graphic design, etc. only grew stronger.   But I think my lack of confidence in the competitive, hard-nosed journalism world overshadowed that, and I ended up going to graduate school in a different major, then getting a job in the business world – unrelated to journalism.  Then I got married, taught a few years, had Big A and Little A and decided to be a stay-at-home mom.

But this past weekend I turned in the Huggies and Polly Pockets, put my business panties on and played “photojournalist” for three whole days.  All that “journalism stuff” came back to me.  The picture-taking, the nosy questions, the story-telling, the people-meeting…It was in me.

My good friend, Sean Chaffin, is a teacher but also free-lance writes for several magazines.  A local PR agency found him and asked him to write on the Plano Balloon Festival this past weekend.  They also needed a photographer, so he recommended me.  They contacted me, viewed my work, and extended an invitation.  Though a little hesitant and nervous – but excited and flattered, I agreed.   And off I went to Plano, while my mom held down my fort.  This was also the first weekend Baby C had a fever.  So I am so thankful to her and Christopher for helping me out!  :)

It was such a great weekend.  The events were great – touring different hotels, SouthFork and the Balloon Festival – but the best part was the people.  I love meeting new people.   Sharon, a charming travel writer from South Carolina who I felt like I’ve met in another life, Steven, a true New York hippie living in downtown Manhattan off a trust fund (I know that because I asked!), Bobbie, a nice woman passionate about food and travel writing and mentoring young writers were a couple of the journalists with whom I connected.  I really enjoyed getting to know them.  While we are all probably at opposite ends of the religious and political spectrums, they were friendly and encouraging and refreshing.  They had great stories from all their travels and life experiences and they had “normal” stories too, and believe it or not – SO DID I.   They were amused and interested in my stories as much as I was in theirs.

Now don’t worry.  I’m not trading in my aquadoodle for a notebook and pen.  I feel SO fortunate that I get to stay at home and work part-time.  The photography and graphic design gigs are my creative outlets – along with writing on my blog – and this weekend validated the fact that I need that.

I need it to help me feel like my part-time work is good enough.

I also need it to remind me that my full-time job is worth it.  My true love is staying home with my three sweet girls, even when the monotony of housework – or in my case just thinking about it, homework, soccer practices, and whiny kids is overwhelming.

This past weekend, I probably took about 500 photos, mingled with people who have traveled all over the world, got to be in the VIP press tent at the balloon festival.  Thankfully, though, I got to come home to a messy house, booger noses and huge piles of dirty laundry.    I love this, and I enjoyed that “business woman” opportunity.

Did I mention that I got to go to a spa too and get a massage?!  Yea, I could do this again.  :)

And without further ado, here are a few of my favorite shots from the weekend…

And here are the press trip folks…

Sharon is the lady on the very left, Bobbie is wearing the white shirt holding the green and blue bag, Steven is the guy in the back with the crazy hair (so funny – I had to teach him how to make a fajita!), Pam is the young girl in the white shirt who represents the PR agency (super sweet and cute and SINGLE???), and Sean is standing behind me.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I did not get to go up in the balloons on Friday morning because Baby C got sick with a high fever, and I couldn’t leave her at four in the morning.  Maybe next time!