As I sit down to write this year in review post – I’m honestly not even sure where to start. So many things happened this year – it almost feels like it has been five years, not one. And I think if it weren’t for my blogging every day – I wouldn’t even be able to keep track of all that occurred.
The one thing I do know off the top of my head is that this has been a year of CHANGE. Lots of changes. BIG changes. Personal, professional, good, sad, exciting… all kinds of changes.
It has been a truly, truly AMAZING year that I’m having trouble even wrapping my head around. At the start of this year, if you had told me any of the things that happened this year were going to happen, I would absolutely not have believed you.
So, what did happen this year? Here’s a little trip down memory lane – – between working a full-time day job through mid-September, and shooting 17 weddings and 63 family/newborn/children/engagement sessions – – here’s what went down! (And of course it’s in chronological order, because I’m a Virgo, duh.)
- I upgraded to a Mac Pro! Not a big deal for any of you – but it was a HUGE deal for my business, turn-around time, & work flow.
- We waited and waited to get word that my sister and her husband could bring their new baby girl home.
- We had a craaaaaazy blizzard in Chicago.
- My Packers won the Super Bowl! 🙂
- I shot my first ever destination wedding in Zihuatanejo Mexico… it was amazing!! (Wedding pictures here.)
- I switched from a Blogspot blog to WordPress and never looked back! 🙂
- We welcomed our beautiful niece home and into our family!
- I celebrated 1 year of blogging.
- I worked with the amazing Promise Tangeman to do an entire re-branding of my business, complete with a shiny new website and print materials!
- I freaked out over my 30 seconds of fame on a piece I was featured in for CBS Evening News.
- James and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary.
- James and I acted/modeled as the bride and groom in Justin & Mary’s Chicago Walk Through A Wedding workshop.
- We said goodbye to our sweet old girl, Phoenix. (Looking at this post still makes my heart heavy… whew.) And I struggled with losing her… and struggled… and struggled… and struggled…
- I took a leap of faith and quit my day job at the law firm and went full time with my photography business!!!
- I turned 30. Whoa.
- Then the very next day was my last day working at the law firm after almost 6 years there. (Strange, crazy, sad, exciting…) And then – we celebrated.
- I experienced my first day of working for myself!
- Then 3 days later, we adopted our crazy new pup, Chloe! (Because James and I can’t be dog-less for long, and there are so many puppies that need homes! Go adopt one!)
- Then a week later, as if we hadn’t had enough huge life changes in a short amount of time – we moved to a new apartment in the middle of busy season! (Before pics, after pics & after pics.)
- I navigated my way through my first 3 months of self employment.
- I’m thankful for all the blessings God sent my way this year. I’m sooo thankful for all of my lovely clients that welcomed me into their homes, let me play with their children, hold their newborn, and allowed me to be a part of one of the most important days of their lives – their wedding! I would not be where I am today if it hadn’t been for all of you trusting me to document your lives! Please know that does not go unnoticed!! xoxo!
- But most of all – I’m especially thankful for these two for being my support and sanity behind the scenes day in and day out!
And now here we are – closing out the year with one last wedding on Friday, and a quaint New Years Eve dinner party Saturday – where we will celebrate what a truly amazing year 2011 was in so many ways!!!
And while I absolutely appreciate all that happened this year – the good with the bad… I’m ready for 2012 to be the year of stability and growth. Can we do that? Because I think James and I have had enough changes this year to last us quite a while! 😉 haha
Stay tuned for a photos to come in the next few days where I focus on the picture taking side of things! Yay!! Best of Families/Children tomorrow; Best of Engagements/Anytime on Friday; and after wrapping the last wedding of the year this week – I can do a Best of Weddings post on Monday! 🙂
