As you know, I had a photo shoot for Where Women Cook at my house this morning. I thought the session was going to be short and sweet– you know, put on make-up, wear a brightly-colored top, stand still, and smile a lot. Well, when the photographer and her assistant arrived at my house, they expected a much more involved shootāĀ¦ like, with me cookingāā sort of like the name of the magazine they were shooting for. (Umm, duh. Sometimes, folks, I’m a total space cadet.)
This major oversight (as my husband would say) is a ātypical Tina move.āĀ I’m actually not a flighty person at all. In fact, IĀ consider myself a Type A personality, and I (mostly) have my life together, but when it comes to details, I don’t always pay attention to them, especially with regard to emails withĀ a lot of text.
On an average day, I get about 300 new emails in my inbox. Usually, I quickly scan each email and then decide to label it (for future reference) or delete it immediately to be never thought of again. If an email is important, it stays in my inbox until it is replied to or dealt with. The email about the photo shoot from Where Women Cook was labeled and sitting in my inbox, but I never thoroughly read itāĀ¦ until the photographer wasĀ already in my house ready to snap photos of me cooking. Crap.
Obviously, I was totally unprepared for the photo shoot. I didn’t even know what I wanted to cook! Thankfully, the photographer and her assistant were understanding andĀ really nice about the whole mix up. While they set up their equipment, I sped to the grocery store to buy the ingredients needed to make my Oatmeal Raisin Bars. Thankfully, I live really close to a grocery store!
Once I returned, the photographer got to work snapping photos of each of the (newly purchased) ingredients.
Once she got the shots she needed, I started baking my Oatmeal Raisin Bars. It’s a quick and easy recipe, but the photographer got beautiful, detailed photos of every step. She showed me a few shots on her camera, and they looked really great. I’m excited to see the final product in August!
Meanwhile, Murphy kept a close eye on what was happening in the kitchen.
Pugs are so nosy sometimes.
The pug actually ended up being in a number of the photos taken today. I hope he ends up in the article with me. How fun would that be!?!
Are you a details person? Have you ever flaked out on something important? What happened? Please tell me that I’m not the only one!
99 Comments
Oh. That would TOTALLY happen to me!!! I feel like it’s going to happen with some of my wedding details for next week!! I want to see the article. I’m sure it will turn out super cute! Way to think on your feet!!!!!
Oh how fun! I need one of those screens for my windows š
I do “flighty” things all the time because I desperately lack attention of detail when I’m in a hurry or super busy. One time, I booked a race and a flight on the exact same day and it took me a week before the trip to realize it. Here I had been training for the race the whole time (and fretting over it).
It all depends. On some things I can be SO meticulous. On others it’s kinda like ehhhh whatever.
Story of my life… I’m pretty together but sometimes I really miss the boat. Like in undergrad, halfway through the semester when my friend asked me if I was working on the lab report that night. “What lab report?” I found out that there was a lab portion of my physics class that I had never even signed up for! I had to make up up all the labs and receive embarrassing looks from my lab partners when I explained. It happens! š
I’m definitely a detail person, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t drop the ball from time to time! That usually happens when I’ve over-booked myself so I don’t have time to be prepared for everything I need to do!
I had never heard of Where Women Cook before, so cool! Trust me, you aren’t the only one. Even some of the best Type A’s are a little flighty sometimes š It’s just harder for us to deal with! Enjoy the beautiful day!!
Very cool! Happy Thursday Tina!
I’m normally type A too so those rare occurrences where I drop the ball, I end up being very hard on myself! It’s inevitable that some things slip through the cracks if we’re juggling too many balls!
I’m sure those picture will turn out great š I love the recipe you decided to make!
This is like the story of my life recently! I’m super type A and organized but recently, I’ve found myself making really dumb oversights and feeling like a complete space cadet. I just started working with a new person in our company and I find myself constantly saying “I’m really not like this usually, I don’t know what’s going on!” It’s bizarre!
Glad you were able to quickly grab those ingredients and the shoot turned out well!
I flaked out on my ultrasound this morning (not pregnant, just looking for a solution to a problem). I didn’t read carefully and realize that (A) I had to be there 15 minutes early to register at the hospital or (B) that I really did need to have a FULL bladder. I had to drink a bunch more water and wait 45 minutes before they could do it. ARGH!
Sounds like a fun photoshoot! Looks like it went well despite the misunderstanding š
This would totally happy to me! At least you were able to fix it and move on. I can’t wait to see the final product!
Oh you’re SO not the only one! I have a habit of skimming emails sometimes too. I keep meaning to create some labels and organize everything in my inbox – and you’ve motivated me to do it sooner rather than later. Sounds like it worked out ok in the end nevertheless. Can’t wait to see the results!
You are definitely not the only one! I left for work not long ago and got off the exit only to realize I left my work laptop at home. I can’t do anything at work without it, and you’d think I’d notice a bag missing as I walked out to the car.
I am an aerobics instructor and all of the instructors teach on certain days of the week except on weekends when we just sign up if we want to teach one of the mornings. I signed up one Saturday and that morning the woman that owns our center called me to tell me that she had little gifts to raffle off to the students during my class. She called me at 7:15. Class was at 8. I live 40 minutes from our center. I calmly thanked her for reminding me to give the gifts away without letting on that I was in a total panic because I was still in bed! I hung up and raced out the door. I got there at 8:01 and taught the class! Thank goodness she called me!
Sometimes I get so caught up in every single thing I have to cross of my to-do list that I inevitably flake out on something. I try to dot all my Is and cross all my Ts, but we all make mistakes and oversights!
Haha that is tooo funny and totally something I would do too! I am such a perfectionist all the time but when it comes to details like that every once in a while I totally flake!
that’s so cool that your cooking was professionally shot! I’m glad that everything ended up working out. I’m impressed that you were able to think of a recipe to make on a whim! I would have def. had a hard time deciding!
I live for the details… it’s the big, overarching picture that escapes me. Sounds like together, we are perfectly detail-oriented š
AH that is totally something I would do! I make those **small mistakes ALLLLLL the time. I get tons of slack for it. But hey, we make up for it in other ways š
Awww I hope Murphy makes it in there too! His little pug face makes my day!
That sort of thing happens to me all the time — I am usually so organized and ready for events/situations, but every once in a while I kind of space out — when that happens I usually am able to pull myself together and get it done (like how you drove to the store and had a plan, etc) — but every once in a while I just want to cry from being so frustrated with myself for forgetting something important.
I’ve totally flaked out before, I wouldn’t worry about it. Man you get a lot of emails, I can only imagine! š
I obsess over details but still seem to miss them a lot. Weird, huh?
Murphy is the CUTEST!
I actually have a problem with listening sometimes. That sounds awful but if I have a lot on my mind, my brain decides what to retain and what not to retain. Even if I am staring at the person who is talking to me! So sometimes I miss important details. I try really hard to just log everything in my phone in case I miss something but alas, I am only human. So are you!
I consider myself to be very detail oriented {I worked in business and real estate… I had to be!}… but sometimes the details can be very stressful š But I say… if the shoot went well… who the heck cares about the details?!
I used to be very thorough when reading emails, and then I started getting at least 50 at work. Some important, some forwarded with see message attached, and some pointless. Since I teach elementary school, I don’t have lots of time to check my email during the day, and have found reading and responding to emails to my least favorite job related duty, because it’s something I do at the end of the day when I really want to do is go home!
I totally am NOT a details person and I’ll admit it right now–I’ve definitely been known to be flaky (I’m working on it, though!) Although there are certain things I can be anal about, in general I’ve a very type B personality–to the point that it can actually be kind of annoying to my type A roommate! Heh
Very fun to see the photo shoot! I am not very detailed oriented and when things get too busy and stressful – I tend to totally forget things – so I completely relate.
And if I don’t put a date on my calendar for an event from an email right away, you can forget about it…
Haha OH NO!!! At least they were understanding instead of being mad! I consider myself a detail-oriented person but this type of thing happens to the best of us! Glad it all worked out okay though š
That sounds like totally something I would have done! Glad everything worked out!
Oh no! Glad they were understanding! I’m usually pretty good with details because I’m so anal retentive, and I have the memory of…well I don’t know what, but it’s scary good. I always remind people of the tiniest details!
Oh yea, I totally understand about the email thing. If there’s a lot of words, it’s unlikely that I’ll remember everything, or read it all. But luckily, my friends know me pretty well so they always remind me MANY times about what I need to do lol. But with work related stuff, I usually pay very close attention.
I hope Murph’s in the article too!
I have totally done stuff like that before. I’m glad that they were understanding and you were able to run to the store. I’m sure the article will be great! š
haha, I too read emails a tad too quickly….but nothing yet disastrous has happened. I guess once I asked a detail about a job to my new boss and it had been explained in a previous email she later told me. Whoops!
You are not alone! My husband is the cook in our house and he routinely leaves meat on the counter to defrost with the understanding that I will eventually move the meat to the fridge. Yeah, that doesn’t happen. I even look at the meat and think to myself “maybe I should move that to the fridge” but never do. Total idiot. We end up throwing the meat out. Case and point why I don’t cook!
How unprofessional! This is your job after all. Maybe hire an assistant to help with all the emails? I had no idea bloggers got that many emails, is it mostly comments?
@Molly: Must be nice to be perfect all of the time Molly.
@Molly: Oh wow, the day that a blogger gets an assistant…
Been there, done that! I am usually a very detailed person, but when I get really busy, things definitely get by me! No worries!
You’re not the only one and it has nothing to do with how professional you. Even the most “with it” people have off days. I get them from time to time at my place of employment. No biggie, shake it off. You look like you rocked it!
I was invited to a workout event and for some reason I thought it would be all yoga and non-shoe classes, so I wore brand new toning shoes. After over two hours of bootcamps and kickboxing in toning shoes, I was worried that I might really injure myself, but I survived
I would have had an anxiety attack over that. I am usually very obsessive about stuff like that and making sure my schedule is correct. I’ve forgotten stuff or deleted it by accident on my iCal and it makes me sick to my stomach š
I am the most forgetful person ever. I tend to just ‘scan’ things also, not get the full details, and then when someone asks me about it I have no idea what I’m supposed to know. It’s terrible. š
Hi Tina!
I do the same thing sometimes, especially with emails. I tend to scan them and figure I’ve gotten all the details..when in fact I may have missed a small but important detail. I think a lot of people do this, especially when you’re getting lot’s of emails. I try and make a point to read important emails a couple times to make sure I got all the info. Glad things worked out for you though!
You are so not the only one. I do this all the time at work and I am a details person. I prefer bulleted lists of what I need to do. I think it’s more appealing visually , that’s the graphic designer in me.
I can’t really picture myself doing that, but I am not a details person either. Mostly when it comes to administrative things…which is not good for parts of running a small biz š I think I tend to not forget details when I have face to face things with people like meetings or events. It provides me some sort of accountability that I don’t always have. But it’s the behind the scenes stuff that I “forget” about. Which are sometimes WAY more important! And I totally agree that emails are hard to keep up with. I have periods of time where I get 200 – 300ish and those weeks are hard to keep up with.
How have you not mentioned the big BRUINS win yet?!?! GO BOSTON!!
I can be a total space cadet! More often than I’d like to admit š
Your whole episode would given me a heart attack and would never have happened to me in my pre-child life or my pre-blogger life. But with 200+ emails a day myself, and a child, and not enough sleep, I admit that things like that DO happen to me now. Not that exact situation, but realizing at the 11th hour that I dropped the ball or am really close to dropping it.
I just posted yesterday about how the emails and computer stuff is just never.ending.omg.
WAY TO GO for doing what you did and being so cool under the pressure. You rock š
I’m totally guilty of reading emails too quickly, especially when dealing with so many at once. Glad it well well anyway.