What I’ve Been Up To
Oh hey, friend! It has been far too long and I felt like you all deserved an update on what I’ve been to, plus I’ll take any excuse to talk about our wedding day 😉
The Very Best Day
If you follow me on Instagram, then you know I checked out about a month before our wedding and had big, big plans to come back swinging a week or so after our honeymoon. Well, that didn’t quite happen, but more on that later. What I’m trying to say is – WE’RE MARRIED! It’s been a little over eight months of wedded bliss and I still can’t believe this man is my husband. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the big day:
Our Honeymoon
I’ve been on relaxing vacations, but nothing compared to the relaxing feeling post-wedding just hanging out with my husband. We went to the Florida Keys, fished, acted like tourists even though it was our 5th time there, and had the best time. Coming home was NOT easy. We also came home to the crazy freeze Texas had in February and we are just not built for that. The 70-degree weather we were experiencing in Florida sounded much better. We played in the snow for about an hour one day and then we were ready for it to go away, #NativeTexans. But, Jordan did get to stay home an extra week and it was like an extension to our trip!
P.S If you are going to Key West, you MUST key the chocolate-covered key lime pie 😋
We woke up to this the day after we got home and had no idea what to do with ourselves, haha!
I Started a New Job + It Involved Starting a New Company
Yup, I have started another business. And officially became my own boss! This opportunity slowly fell into my lap just when I needed it. I had been on the hunt for a new job that was more ‘me’, but with all the wedding things happening, I hadn’t been putting a lot of effort into it. Once we were back from our honeymoon and settled into life as husband and wife, I knew I needed a change. I also had no idea what I wanted to do.
It all started with helping out the coordinator from our wedding with some day-to-day tasks and marketing. Then I realized, this was it! The wedding industry is amazing (I had way too much fun planning our wedding) and I have skills that many people can benefit from. We took a chance and I left my full-time job to see if I could make it work and it all fell into place! It’s been the most freeing 5 months and I get to work with some of the best wedding professionals each day.
Come see what I’m up to – rayehines.com
Summer
We spent lots of time in Rockport (shocker, I know), took a trip with our friends to Concan, watched the same friends get engaged & helped with the proposal, and my best friend found out she is having a baby boy this November!!
It was so good to spend time with my favorite people & in my favorite places!!
Why The Rest Was Good
Rest – something I am actually not very good at. While I did a lot of it the last few months, at least from this space and sewing, I was still going in lots of other aspects of life. However, the rest and time away from sewing and all the things that go with pattern writing was so good! Once I *really* jumped back in, I felt so refreshed and ready to go! I also felt like I had a much better understanding of what I could truly take on and how I need to divide my time to be successful (and actually finish projects).
So this is just a little note if you are feeling a bit overwhelmed, take a break and give your brain some time to rest.
Getting Back to Things
I thought I was getting back to things about 8 months ago, but it just wasn’t my time. I felt pressure to sew and write which is never fun. I was figuring out what my work life looked like. So I kind of just disappeared without much notice for a very long time, whoops!
When I was really ready to get back to things, I took things slow at first and hadn’t yet announced that I was getting back into the swing of things when I started sewing and working on my patterns again. I also started with something that I knew would bring me joy every time I picked it up – my new quilt pattern, Holiday Hills! For now, the release of that and the changes to my shop are a big, big priority for me so that I can move forward in the best way possible.
Plans For Moving Forward
For now, as I’m sure you have seen, my main focus is Holiday Hills.
Next, I will actually be reworking all of my past patterns and adding them to the paper pattern shop! I have found an amazing tech editor who has transformed my patterns and made me feel so much more confident in what I am putting out for all of you.
After that, I will be chatting more about a new brand partnership that just got started. SO excited to bring that to all of you and all that comes with it!!
I’m also excited for this extra little corner of the internet to update y’all on life happenings. I don’t have many plans of what that will be, but we’ll just have to see what happens!
