Howdy, friends! About two years ago, we ran a “Day in the Life” series on the blog, and it was quite popular! My, how times can change in a short amount of time – we have three new faces around the office, and lots of different arms of our business that didn’t exist in 2012! We figured it was time for an update, and what better gal to start with than Morgan, our newest addition. We adore her and are all in awe of her skills, as you’ll see below. Please help me give her a warm welcome this morning! — Emily
My role, like most of the SW gals’ roles, is very multi-faceted. I’m officially the Shop Manager for the Lara Casey Shop and the Southern Weddings Shop but I also spend about half of my time as Assistant Art Director/Designer. When people ask what my title is, I usually say Shop Manager and Designer. So, there you go. :)
I love that my role allows me to dabble in many different realms of Southern Weddings because there is always a variety of projects to do! However, this also means I have to be very organized with my time during the day. I try to break my day up into time slots to set little deadlines for myself. My day usually looks something like this:
9:00am My commute to work is about 45 minutes, but I actually love it as a great time to get ready for the day and listen to audiobooks! I’d love to hear y’all’s audiobook recommendations in the comments! When I get to work, I usually hop onto my email and print the packing slips for the orders that came in over night.
9:15am After printing out packing slips, I get to packing orders! My favorite part of this rhythmic but relaxing task is writing notes to go with the magazines. Seeing the stack of orders complete at the end of the day is a nice physical representation of productivity, which makes me feel good!
10:30am I’m usually finished with orders around 10:30, just in time for our staff meeting on Tuesdays. We gather around the desktop computer on my desk and all squeeze in to see Marissa and Kristin via Google Hangout. We each share updates and then talk through some key things we’re working on. Staff meetings are always great motivators, and I’m continually thankful to be a part of such a great team.
11:30am Nicole asked me to make some new sliders for the Southern Weddings Shop homepage. I gather up some gold foil prints and beautiful little props to set up a quick styled shoot. I take the photos downstairs because Lara’s white dining room table makes a perfect backdrop. Gracie is napping so I try to be quiet as I set up my shoot and click away!
Another mini shoot I worked on this week – colorful journals!
12:00pm I upload the photos to my laptop so I can edit them in Photoshop and add graphics in Illustrator. I’ll make a couple of iterations to explore different options, then run the finals by Nicole before uploading them to the Shop.
1:30pm Lunch time! I like to make a big batch of some sort of meat and vegetable variety like grilled pesto chicken with squash and zucchini on Sundays, then divide the meal into containers for the week’s lunches. Today, however, my sweet mom made me the cutest miniature chicken pot pie! What a treat! I eat lunch at my desk while working on some graphics for the blog.
2:00pm The SW ladies and I have an exciting project in the works that I get to watercolor a little something for. I brought my watercolor set to work and spread them out across my desk so I can get started. Painting is one of my favorite things, so of course I love when I’m able to paint at work!
3:00pm I’ve brainstormed a fun idea for a little film like this one that will feature the SW gals and a cute shop product! I begin to story board the video out and email everyone to make sure they set aside about fifteen minutes for filming next week.
4:00pm A few key packaging items are running low, so I make a list of things to restock. I also schedule post office pickups for all of the lovely shop packages! I respond to any emails I haven’t gotten to yet and tidy up my space for the next day. Lastly, I review my list of things to get done and start making a list for tomorrow.
5:00pm It’s time to go! I say good bye to the SW gals and then head downstairs to say bye to Rhiannon and Gracie before hopping into my car, plugging up my audiobook and starting home!
Next up in our series: Kristin!
Love this series and Morgan! She is so very talented and is the sweetest :)
I love these posts! It’s so fun to see into other creative’s workdays! :)
Yay Morgan!! Love seeing all of the fun stuff on her desk every day, especially on watercolor days!
Oh what fun! That sounds like a dream job to me! Keep up the GREAT work SW :)
I really enjoyed getting to see a day in the life of your job, Morgan! What are some of your favorite watercolor supplies? It is a goal of mine to build that skill over the next few months and I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Hi Kyla! Thank you! I use Lukas watercolors and basic watercolor paper. You can find both at any craft store. Have fun experimenting with watercolors, I’m excited for you!
Thank you Morgan, I will definitely look into investing in some Lukas watercolors. I’m excited to practice and create some pieces!
It’s so fun to get a peek into the behind the scenes of SW magazine. I’m always in awe of such creative people!
Such a fun series!!!
I love this series! Its really fun to get to see what goes on in the making of Southern Weddings.
I’m so glad I got to see what your day is like at SW!