hi, i'm Ali
Photographer, boy mom, dog mom, chocolate-lover, reader, and wife to a busy maker. I'm the voice you hear and read at Life Outside the Shop. From new project how-to's and DIY home updates to the ins-and-outs of building a family & multiple businesses, Life Outside the Shop shares what is really looks like to figure it out as you go.
November 13, 2020
I would say “sorry it has been a few weeks” but I’m not really that sorry;) We’ve been spending every second with our brand new pup, Blue (or, Blue Boy), since bringing him home just about a week ago. It has been quite the transition back into puppy-parenting (the last time we did this was […]
October 21, 2020
“Do you feel so different!?”“Do you have a bit of post-wedding letdown?!” One week and three days after “I do” I can give the same answer to both questions: “No!” A glorious, abundantly happy, extremely grateful, “no!”. Okay – maybe that is a little bit of a lie. I definitely feel more adult saying things […]
October 9, 2020
The Sunday before our wedding, we dusted off the old (and Sam’s brand new!) pew pews and went skeet shooting with his parents, family friends, and our friend, Chuck! Is there a better way to let off some steam and stress the weekend before your wedding? The only rules we had while skeet shooting were […]
September 28, 2020
We’re actually calling this wrap-up 4.5 because we had to do two takes. One on Friday which was the HOTTEST of messes and then a redo on Monday morning. Thank goodness we both took the week off from work before the wedding and had the time and space to get after it this morning. On […]
September 21, 2020
Welcome back to our weekly wrap-up where we share what is going on both inside and outside of the shop! Hmm… what were we up to this week? Sam is movin’ through some pallet wood wedding signs for our big less-than-2-weeks-away day and I’ve been chipping away at my second video editing experience. We’ve also […]
September 14, 2020
Welcome back to our weekly wrap-up where we share what is going on both inside and outside of the shop. We had some BIG things going on this week. Sam finished up two Shadow Boxes, we filmed and published his CNC Enclosure Tour, and MOST excitingly (to me, at least), I edited my very first […]
September 12, 2020
GUYS I DID IT!! I officially opened up Premiere Pro and gave video editing a shot. Sam has a million things on his plate, and I decided it was finally time for me to step up, put on my big girl pants, (start to) learn how to use Premiere Pro, and get after some video […]
September 6, 2020
Welcome to our first-ever Sam Macy Designs/Life Outside the Shop (LOTS) Weekly Wrap-Up! We decided to shoot a quick video each week to keep you in the loop about what is going on in Sam’s shop and on the blog. Although, if I’m being honest it didn’t feel quick while we were getting all set […]
September 5, 2020
We’re getting married in t-minus 30 days!!! Let the countdown to our COVID wedding begin! Shelburne Farms Engagement Shoot, 2019Ellen Sargent Gosh – I wish I had started Life Outside the Shop three years ago when Sam and I bought our house. What a cool way to have documented a renovation and beginning to build […]
August 28, 2020
Ever try paddling without a fin? We gave it a shot last weekend and here is what happened… After we created our DIY pallet puppy decal a few weekends ago, we got a lot of requests from friends and family members for cut-outs of their pups. So, we spent the following sunny Saturday cutting pallets […]
