If you are anywhere in the North East part of the USA, you are thanking your lucky stars for heat! Yesterday it was colder in my home state of DE than it was in Anchorage, AK. What's wrong with this picture?! I will honestly take it if means a chance for a snow day with my kiddos! They are forecasting a storm tonight, but we will see if it pans out. We have been burned a bit this year on inaccurate forecasts! It's time to confess…

1. Have you ever had a dream that makes you so unsettled or upset that you wake up and feel like it might have been real?! I have been known to have a nightmare or strange dream after watching things like Zombies with my hubs on Sunday night. Last nights nightmare though was only a bad dream a mom can understand. In my dream, I had dropped Max off at preschool and only had a certain amount of time to grocery shop. I had been going through the store, aisle by aisle and filling my cart. I was almost to the end of the store and doing my final produce shopping when the unthinkable happened….someone stole my full cart!! I panicked and walked all around looking for it. I was suspiciously eyeing up everyone who I thought was a potential cart thief. I even begun to sob heavily until an employee asked me what happened. I told her of the cart theft and she said "Oh that hasn't happened to you before?! You need to be careful with your cart!" I cried harder knowing I did not have time to go back through the store and start over again with my preschool time constraints. I finally admitted defeat and left the grocery store in tears. Yes my friends, that's the stuff mom nightmares are made of! We COVET that time we can do errands alone and when something doesn't add up or throws us off, it can be devastating. (Feel free to laugh, but it was about as upsetting as being chased by a bad guy in a dream!)

2. If you don't follow Jen Hatmaker on social media, do yourself a favor and follow her. Her status updates have been a great source of humor and laughter for me today. She on occasion has some great book suggestions as well.

3. I am currently reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It took me a bit to get into with it being written in the form of letters back and forth. I am about half way through now and have been told by a few friends that it's worth sticking it out! I will let you know what I think when I am done! What's been your favorite read lately?

4. I also put in a request at the library for the first season of the show Parenthood. I have heard SO much about it lately and know it was a lot of people's favorite. I have heard it has a lot of real life situations but I am looking forward to checking it out. Did you watch it? Did you love it?

5. January and February are usually quiet in photography world and it has been no exception for me lately. It's between wedding season and the lack of nice weather puts a literal damper on things. I hope to be sharing more photography related posts as I get caught up on blogging and as we head into spring! If you are looking to do a spring session, contact me now! I am currently taking wedding inquiries for the fall of 2015. Email emily@emilytroutmanphoto.com for scheduling and availability.

6. I have been posting about getting Les Mills Pump workouts for home and getting lots of questions. If you have been to a Pump class and loved it, this is your chance to get it on sale and have the freedom to do it at home! (Head to my team beach body page and click "shop" then fitness programs") It's currently 40% off but with limited quantities left! You get A LOT for the money. I have been loving my at home Pump workouts, with the workouts ranging from 20 mins to an hour depending on what time you have.

7. Super excited to be going to hear Glennon Melton speak from Momastery this upcoming weekend! Although I don't claim to agree with all of her view points, I absolutely adore her spirit and motto "we can do hard things." I think she is a voice of acceptance in a world that's usually too quick to be harsh! Her book Carry on Warrior was laugh out loud funny and such an encouragement to my mama heart!

8. I confess that during the writing of this blog post this morning, I have helped kids in the potty, refereed fights, fixed lego creations, and had compelling conversations about why you can not run around naked, especially because it's about 4 degrees outside! Keeping it real my friends, it's Monday confessions after all!!

Carry on Warriors… It's only 9am :)

Emily Troutman Photography