Kerri and I share a lot in common.  We are both young mothers of young children who began our own businesses with our babies in our laps.  We’re hard workers and we both know very well the everyday struggle of balancing husbands, children, friendships, family, clients, and running a thriving business that must always keep a creative edge.  One thing neither of us have balanced very well in the past year is time for ourselves.  What mother out there truly does?  There are never enough hours in the day and if there are, we want that little bit of extra time to give one more hug to the children we never feel we see enough.  And no matter how hard we try, there will always be unanswered emails, unattended events, and unfinished business.  When I decided last month that I was going to take better care of myself and make some time for the gym, I knew the only person busy enough (and crazy enough!) to agree to get up at 4:30am 4:45am with me was Kerri.  And she did.  So we’ve been meeting almost every morning on the elliptical trainer for a spin and a business chat.  I used to loath going to the gym, and now, it is one of my favorite parts of the day.  I must say, we do our best thinking on that elliptical!

Kerri owns Sweet Indulgence in Warwick RI, right down the road from our studio.  She is amazingly talented and creative and I’ve never met someone with a stronger work ethic.  We had a fire at the studio in October and guess who showed up on my doorstep at 1:00am to crawl into our guestbed and stay with G while we went to clean up the mess?  Kerri.  I wanted to do something special for her son’s Christmas portraits this year to give a little something back to her.  While we were riding our ellipticals the ideas for the shoot came pouring out.  We wanted to create something fun and adorable and age appropriate for her 5 year old son.  We came up with the whole concept, Kerri shopped furiously, and her mom painstakingly glued up the entire christmas light background!  I must say, it was worth all of the hard work.  Even G, who is obsessed with Sweet Indulgence cupcakes (that’s actually all she wants from Santa this year) had to gobble up one of A’s creations.  Looks like he’s following right in his parents footsteps!  I just adore how these photos look, but most importantly, I love seeing how much Kerri enjoys them.  Enjoy your preview Kerri, I know your cards will be a hit!  ;0)