My drawer pull installation project only took three and a half hours. Three years and three and a half hours, actually, if you count the brain power it took to look at the drawers in my closet every day since the day we moved in, pull on the top or side or bottom of the drawer, think “I should really put handles on these drawers” and then walk out of the room. That probably took 30 seconds the first few times, as I considered the steps involved, and then by the end of the third year, it was more of a ping, numbly reminding me of how much easier it would be to open each drawer with a handle. How much nicer the experience would be to open each drawer, how they wouldn’t get crooked on the track or jammed as I try to close them. Ping, ping, ping.

A cellphone picture of 12 white built-in drawers with new black drawer pulls, sitting on top of carpet.

There are a lot of things in my life pinging me right now, each a reminder of something I need to do, a project undone, a text unsent, an errand unrun. Each little “oh yeah” choosing to run through my brain approximately 20 minutes before I’m supposed to wake up each morning.

I have nearly checked off “Family Photos” as a personal project, as we await our photos from our very lovely family photographer Sarah Matozzi (I can't diy EVERYTHING). All I have left after we get those photos is to print them in a book and print the ones we want to print for the wall and to refresh our frames. I’m sure that won’t take long (she says with a sigh as she looks at the ones from last year that aren’t in a book yet).

Four books standing upright on a shelf surrounded by white and gold bookends. — *They will eventually go here.*

Adulting is just a series of projects that are in various stages of undoneness. And while I can’t do all your projects for you, I can help you with some of them:

I created a checklist for the week(s) leading up to your Richmond area at-home family photos, so you don’t have to think about what steps to take to get ready. I even put them in a countdown so you can see what needs to happen each day. Click the photo to go to the download for that.

A screenshot of a pdf entitled "The Busy Richmond Parent's Guide to Family Photos at Home" and a subtitle of "A 15-minute daily timeline for the week of your photo session"

I also include a print credit with all of my sessions, to encourage you to get the photos you want printed, printed quickly (within a month after the gallery is delivered), and I offer free album design if you need help getting that done.

Also, I offer Yearbooks, which gets your personal photos off your phone and the cloud, and gets them into a book, where all you have to do is send me your unculled photos and I’ll curate them into a story of your year, event, or baby’s first year.

A close up view of the pages of a closed photo book, sitting in sunlight

I regularly offer free printing advice and wall gallery design help (here’s some wall gallery inspiration if you need it), and you don’t have to be a client to take advantage of that. I have blog posts about print ratios (my most popular blog ever, go figure) and what photos to print, ideas about what to include in a wall gallery, and why you should print at all.

You can email me here or DM me here and ask me whatever questions you have about prints, books, wall art, galleries, the best size for whatever space, etc. I’m here for you to bounce ideas off of and I’m happy to help you move that project toward the light at the end of the tunnel.

Whatever photo-related project you’ve been putting off, let’s get rid of one ping so you can sleep all the way to your alarm.

A fabric-covered photo book sitting in sunlight.

I Can Help You with Your Photo Projects

Love Letter to a Richmond Family Photo Session