Here we are again. Another year's gone by. It happens faster and faster now. If you really want to become hyper aware of how quickly life goes by, have a child. That'll do it.

I thought maybe, this being a photography website and all, you may enjoy pictures of some of my clients instead of my daughter. You know, just to shake things up.

We are chugging along through this dreary winter season. I always think of winter as my time to hibernate and feed my introverted soul with cozy days in, low business pressure, and maximum rest. But this winter hasn't really been like that. Sure, there's a toddler now. So yeah, nuff said. 

You know it's been a while since you've blogged when you log into Squarespace and they've rearranged everything! But I make no apologies this time. I've been living life!

It occurred to me recently that in my eagerness to share some personal blog posts that I wanted to be timely (holiday-related things, etc.) I breezed past a few of my favorite sessions from this Fall. I've been wrestling lately with whether or not I need to share as many sessions on the blog as I used to. I've never blogged absolutely everything I photograph, for various reasons... sometimes, my clients express needs to keep their images private. Sometimes I photograph special things that aren't really what I'm trying to grow in my business, so they don't get shared. And all of these are fine reasons to not share images. But. To be honest, blogging is a very time consuming process and ever since Willow's been born, my life has become an exercise in maximizing my time. So I'm always thrilled to have new clients and I want people who are booking to be able to check the blog and see recent work. But at the same time, after this many years and a portfolio as large as mine has become, I don't think it's ALWAYS necessary.

Hey! It's January 2! That means new year, new beginnings, new start, yayyyyyyy...

I'm kidding. I actually do like the idea of hitting the refresh button in January. Even just putting away my Christmas decorations, while it's sad, when I'm done I always look around and feel a relief to see some of the clutter fade away. Note to self, do more decluttering this year. I'm always happier when I do. Another note, stop accumulating clutter.

Technically, not really. She experienced the snow last year, but she was too little to enjoy it. This time around was so much more fun. Willow has become quite the little talker lately, so she actually stepped out into the snow saying "wow" "whoa" "wow." In other words, she was suitably impressed. A+ mother nature.

This year's Halloween was so much fun. I love that Willow is now at the age where she can enjoy fun activities like visiting the pumpkin patch, running through a corn maze, or trick or treating! Halloween is Erik's favorite holiday, so we get pretty into it.

I was photographing a senior session last week and my clients noticed a family nearby who were struggling through their own portrait session. They watched the kids, who were wailing and screaming, and said "oh goodness, it must take a lot of patience to photograph babies and kids!" Sometimes, yes. But in TODAY'S session, not at all! I mean, it's obvious from the pictures, but this little boy was a complete and total champ for his one year old pictures! I've seriously never worked with a sweeter little thing than him.

I've been meaning to write this post for quite a while, but it tends to get backburner-ed. For the past year or so, I've been learning a lot about Montessori and wanted to share a little bit about that and how it's affecting our daily lives.

I wanted to share this summer engagement session I photographed for my best friend, Kristen's little sister and her fiance! Gosh, I don't even know where to start on this one. My first memories of Nicole, I don't think she was even school age yet. I would arrive at her house every morning to meet her sister and walk to the bus stop together every morning. I remember Nicole bursting with energy when I entered and me being a zombie because mornings have never been my jam.

Yikes! I have a bit of a back log of photo shoots that I haven't shared in the past month. Whoops! Time flies like you would not believe when you have your first child. I remember the days when I updated my blog 3x a week. Now, I'm pretty satisfied if I get a weekly post in! And you know me, if it comes down to a portrait session or the latest happenings of Willow, I'll probably blog about Willow haha.

If you've been keeping up with our summer happenings, you know we took a trip to Myrtle Beach in July. Unfortunately, that trip was cut short when we realized that Erik's grandfather was too sick and we needed to go say goodbye to him in northern Virginia. We're thankful we made it to see him in time and everything worked out like it was supposed to, but with the grief and stress of that and all the additional travel involved in going there for visits and then to Pennsylvania for the memorial, the cut shortedness of our original beach trip... it felt like there was no rest this summer. And while it's true, with a baby you don't get a lot of rest on vacation anyway!, we wanted to do something fun.

Tagging onto my previous post where I told everyone about how I needed to limit the scope of my business now, I've recently learned that I also need to stop giving my business all my free time. Before Willow, I used to spend hours of my day when even if I wasn't taking care of obvious business needs like emails, editing, orders, etc, I was still reading things that would help my business or spending way too much time in Facebook photography groups or chatting online with fellow business owners. It was just a natural part of every day.

Well you guys... I honestly could not decide if I wanted to write this blog post or not. I have such a mixture of feelings about it, but ultimately I decided that I wanted to be clear for my prospective clients and maybe this would help.

I keep thinking and saying, where did the summer go? I know it's not over, but all the back to school messages and the cooler weather we've had recently just make me say it. July was absolutely crazy for us, and this past weekend we finally had some time to just be. It was so nice. We took Willow to the park, and to her little friend Adah's first birthday party (which she absolutely loved... little social butterfly she is). Erik and I spent some time just being together. And it was just what we needed.

Family wedding, you say? Yes, this is a FAMILY wedding. You don't see those too often and it was a beautiful thing to witness. You've seen Chris and Michelle's family portraits already, but their WEDDING was something else entirely!

It's been a tough week around here. A tough month really. You probably read in my last blog post that Erik's grandfather, who everyone calls Pap, had been sick. Unfortunately, just a few days after arriving at Myrtle Beach last week, Erik, Willow, and I learned that we needed to head back to northern Virginia to say goodbye.

Yikes! It's been two weeks since I've blogged! What in the world. There are a lot of excuses for that, but you know, it is what it is. No apologies! Life has been hectic and then just hasn't been a priority unfortunately.

Today's portrait session has such a great story. I first talked with Michelle over the phone. She had a wedding coming up and asked me how I felt about photographing a small wedding with around 20 guests for a couple, previously divorced, getting re-married, with two children. I told her I couldn't imagine something more meaningful and intimate and that I would love to be a part of it. We spoke some more about the wedding and then when we were deciding which of my wedding packages she should book, I realized all of my packages include engagement sessions and that would be a little silly for this particular couple! So instead I asked if she wanted to switch out an engagement session with a family portrait session to celebrate their family coming back together. She loved the idea and here we are!

She lays in bed, wrapped in blankets and
the quiet of deep night. 
Tired, but awake, because her little one hasn't called yet.
And she knows it will be soon.
So she waits while her husband sleeps beside her,
until she hears the cry.
And even then,
she waits.

I wanted to share this family portrait session because the idea of it is just SO sweet. First off, I love "at home" sessions. I always tell my clients that the best locations aren't necessarily the most beautiful, scenic ones... but the special ones that have personal meaning to you. Well, this session is the perfect example of that.

Ah, typing that title is crazy! It's officially happened. My girl is a whole year old. I gushed about how much that means to me in my last post, so refer to that if you are feeling emotional today. This post is about Willow's birthday party and what has changed since month 11.

Erik and I were eating dinner last night when he said "It's crazy to think how quickly this year went by, and that that's only going to happen seventeen more times before she's grown and gone."

It's so true. Time has never felt faster. They grow and change in a flash, and it's a heartbreakingly joyful thing. 

Six years. That's a long time. We're almost 30! I think it's safe to say, we're really doing this adult-ing thing, and slaying it at that.

Our annual anniversary photo is not my favorite haha or maybe it is, I mean, it's kind of Willow's first one so that makes it pretty great in itself. It's tough getting a baby and puppy to cooperate for something like this. Especially when there's no one behind the camera to look at. And ESPECIALLY when your crazy old lady neighbor won't leave you alone to take the one dang picture you try to take every year! Go away, please, we need to take this picture and get to dinner before baby has a "it's bedtime!!!" meltdown! Kthxbye! :)