It was the night before we were supposed to leave for WPPI, and I was sitting on our bedroom floor with suitcases all around me…empty suitcases. Anderson came in and looked around, obviously surprised that I hadn’t made much progress since I had been packing for over an hour. He asked what was wrong, and I burst into tears. The tears quickly turned into ugly, snotty-nosed, gasping for air crying. The worst part was that I couldn’t explain what was wrong, because I just couldn’t pin point it. In between sobs I told Anderson that I had too much going on and not enough time to do everything. I didn’t want to go to Vegas anymore, because I knew I would feel pressured to work the whole time, and all I wanted to do was relax for a few days. He listened to all the blubbering and finally said, “You’re burnt out. We’re going on this trip, but you don’t have to work at all. Let’s just have fun.” So that’s exactly what we did! I didn’t take my computer or the massive list of fab photographers I wanted to meet and network with. Instead I just took a silly book to read on the plane, and when we got to Vegas we decided to be total tourists. I dragged Anderson to see EVERYTHING. Even though we didn’t get much sleep I came home feeling refreshed and energized. Maybe next year I’ll actually take a class or two while I’m there… maybe not!
We always have really bad “staying in a hotel” etiquette. Look at that messy room!