It seems as though lately I am always doing work of some sort.  Whether I am working in the classroom, working on lesson plans to get ready for the classroom, working on classwork for my professors, working on a web project, or just working on photos, there is always something to be done.  I did not even mention the other important administrative tasks, like taxes, billing, etc.  (If you were wondering, I am not complaining, just observing)…  Anyway, last weekend, I had an opportunity to take a day off and hang with the ladies (those people with the XX combination).  Anyway, our posse included a fellow photographer – Syreena B – an up-and-coming physician, my mom, and the other ladies’ mom, as well Syreena’s baby boy.  This gathering had all of the makings of a good time:  great food, stimulating conversation, the swapping of ideas and tricks, chocolate, and window shopping.

We started at the National Harbor in Fort Washington, MD.  Though it was not optimal shooting weather (it was extremely sunny), we managed to get some good photos in!  Kudos to Syreena, who worked her magic using my Nikon (even though she is a Canon lady).  She took all of the photos of me that I have included in this post!  She even told me about a few new tools that I used to edit/stylize these images.

So I came to some  conclusions after our outing.  #1 – We really need to prioritize spending time with people in our lives.  It is easy to be “busy” all of the time, but ultimately, you will make time to do what you want to do.  Make sure that in all your doing, you make time for people because there is something special that happens when people connect.  #2 – I also learned a thing about being a professional.  In the classroom, I regularly see collaboration sans competition.  But as I look back over my work history from the law firm to the accounting firm, it was all about competition.  You competed with so-and-so to get the job.  Then you compete for the promotion or the recognition.  As a competitive person, I know that competition has its place, but just because two people work in the same field does not make them enemies.  Syreena and I spoke for hours about our businesses and our business models and the lessons we learned over the past year, and I gleaned so much from that conversation.  By the time we parted, I had a new found respect for her as the great mother/entrepreneur/designer/wife/daughter/friend that she is.  So I encourage you all to prioritize people and save the competition for a good game of Monopoly (I need to do a future post about that topic).  I wish I would have done this more my early years, but it’s better to learn late than to never learn at all.