Last week, I had the privilege of traveling up to West Paris, Maine to take part in The Working Retreat: a workaction for creative small business owners.

Annmarie approached me with her idea in the spring, and I LOVE that she was able to bring it to life! She asked myself, Jess, and Alexandra to join her in Maine to love on, speak to and get to know the sweet attendees. I taught a session on Styling for Instagram and loved getting to chat about my favorite and most beneficial social media tool! Jess taught an incredible session on graphic design for dummies:) It was SO helpful for all of us with NO graphic design skills!! (Plus I LOVED rooming with her and Michelle!!) Annmarie taught an interactive session on Client Experience & I loved taking an even deeper look at what I’m currently doing and what I can do better! Last but not least, Alexandra shared her blogging workflow and some amazing tips for utilizing pinterest on your blog!

The whole experience was wonderful, friends. It filled up my heart, and I can’t WAIT for the second one!!:)

I’ll be honest with you, I was a little skeptical and wondered if I would actually get any work done!! When you put 12 women in a house together, it can be very easy to get distracted and not get ANYTHING done!! Let me tell you – I was thrilled with the balance of work and play!! It was WONDERFUL to be able to sit around the home in our yoga pants, and get a few hours of solid work done; and then stay up to late enjoying a glass of wine and some solid girl talk!:)

The house was SO big, and had so many sitting areas. There’d be a group of us in the entertainment room lounging around, a group in the living room spread out on the most comfortable couch, a group in the kitchen nook utilizing the tables … it truly was a “workaction”!

See, when you work from home (or you work your day-job and have to work crazy schedules for your business), it can be so lonely. Everyone doesn’t understand, and our lives revolve around our friends on social media and blogs. While those virtual relationships are VITAL, it’s nice to have REAL LIFE RELATIONSHIPS, too!! For those 3.5 days, I was surrounding by other boss ladies who GET IT and we were able to spend time working together, eating together and encouraging each other… all while wearing yoga pants. It was perfection:)

Here are a few more iPhone pics I capturing of the trip!! Maine stole my heart and I MUST go back soon!!:)

I LOVED being able to style flats with the ladies!!! This one is a favorite:) 

xo!! kat