Whew. Looking back on the photos from November – it was crazy hard to narrow this down because SO MUCH happened in November. Wow. It was wonderful in a lot of ways and incredibly difficult in a lot of other ways. We had a busy month of work with lots of meetings, 7 shoots, 4 weddings, and prepping for our last commercial shoot (which happened this past Saturday). On top of that we started another round of fertility treatments with a preliminary baseline appointment early in the month, then flew to Minnesota for my grandma’s services (super early morning the day after shooting a wedding), were gone for barely 36 hours, came home to another fertility appointment where I found out I was about ready to ovulate and that I needed to hurry up and get my meds so I could give myself Ovidrel (the shot that forces ovulation), and did our third IUI later that week! A couple days later I packed up and flew to NYC by myself for one whirlwind of a trip – full of sessions and walking miles upon miles all over NYC and Brooklyn with my brother, Ben! I got back to Chicago four days later and got right back to work with more shoots and a wedding before packing up and heading to Wisconsin that Wednesday for Thanksgiving (the same day we got our IUI results). Then on Thanksgiving night we drove back to Chicago to prep for Ally & Bill’s gorgeous wedding on Black Friday in Joliet (coming to the blog later this week)! After making it through all of that (along with the seemingly millions of tests & papers James had for school that month) we promptly curled up in a ball on the couch for the rest of Thanksgiving weekend – recovering from all the travel, and one emotional roller coaster of a month.
Needless to say, after we finished our commercial shoot this past Saturday (our last big thing on the calendar between now and Christmas) – James and I kind of looked at each other in awe of all we’ve been through this fall. It wasn’t pretty for a while there, but we are so thankful to have made it through all the difficult times, and so blessed for all the wonderful time spent with family and friends on some of the hardest days, and some of the best days. This is all to say that this December we plan to catch up on things behind the scenes and to veg out & enjoy the holiday season together as much as possible – and we are SO STOKED! But let’s not get ahead of ourselves… here’s a look back at November behind the scenes first. xoxo
1. Outtakes of selfies with clients on their wedding day! lol. Clearly I’m not as good at cell phone pics (notice my hand in the frame)!
2. Fertility treatments starting again are softened by the fact that I can meet my dear friend, Lauren, for a quick brunch after appointments since I’m in her neighborhood!
3. Doing our civic duty and heading out to vote!
4. We arrived in Minnesota to celebrate my grandma’s life and enjoyed some much needed family time.
5. My parents’ hotel room in Minnesota was fully stocked… as expected – with Spotted Cow and the best string cheese you’ll ever find (obviously from WI)! LOL
6. Going through old photos from my grandma’s life was so so amazing. It shed a whole new light on how important what we do truly is! Someday our clients’ grandkids may be going through photos we took on their wedding days! Wow.
1. All 5 of us siblings haven’t been in the same place in waaaay too long. The reason for the trip was not happy, but we were happy to be together!
2. We arrived back in Chicago right to another fertility appointment and instructions to put this in my stomach from the doc! Ack.
3. Enjoying the little things on a walk with Chloe. Chicago was still so colorful in November!
4. Touch down in NYC!
5. Enjoying a quiet dinner and drinks in NYC with my new boyfriend, Michael C. Hall. No big deal. 😉 He made eye contact and said hello to me, and then told me to have a great night when he left, obviously. (I nearly died. For real. I am NOT a cool person when it comes to celebrities I love, apparently. haha. I’m still kicking myself for not trying to have a conversation with him, but I was trying to act like I wasn’t freaking out inside, which in my case means just don’t open your mouth or your crazy will come out! haha)
6. Bagels, Bagels, and more Bagels in NYC! One of my favorite things – that you can get them everywhere all the time! OH YEAH.
1. A quick snap before heading out for a day in the city with my brother! I’m never normally a big selfie person, but I felt it must be documented since I was traveling solo!
2. Brooklyn Bridge with my brother on a blustery day! Brr! (Photo courtesy of him, obviously. :))
3. Home again home again, and with my favorite (crazy-eyed) dog!!
4. Celebratory welcome home dinner with my love at our new favorite place in the city, Fork! (Where they have THE BEST MAC’N’CHEESE!!! FYI)
5. She was really happy I was home and working it for the camera, obviously.
6. Post-wedding snap with my love on the rooftop at Little Goat, where the surprise wedding we shot was held!
1. This was a first!! I ran into one of my closest friends at the surprise wedding we shot!! She was a guest at what she thought was going to be an “engagement party”!! I nearly flipped out when she walked in the door! haha!
2. Chloe doesn’t appreciate James using my computer. She knows what’s up.
3. A little moral support for James’ busy month of studying! 😉
4. My brother, Josh, and his fiance, Martha, flew into Chicago for Thanksgiving so we got to hang out with them for a night before all driving up to WI together the next day! Clearly Josh was excited about his flight of beer!
5. … And the view of the other side of the table that night! haha.
6. The “rehydration station” at our family’s Thanksgiving morning Turkey Trot! Why yes, it is stocked with Bloody Mary’s, and an assortment of pick-me-ups for midway through the run! haha
1. Chloe may be the worst dog to run a race with EVER. She ran with me for the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving and insisted on SPRINTING until we caught up with everybody (in sight), and once we passed them – she pulled and pulled BACKWARDS because she wanted to go back by them! ha! Not how it works, pup! Oh my word – it was 10x more exhausting than it would have been if I had ran it alone. haha
2. Chloe meets Chloe (in a mirror).
3. My sis and I enjoying some quality time with the little cutie, Alice, on Thanksgiving!
4. The sunset on Thanksgiving. So much to be thankful for.
5. My brother, Will, had a pit stop at our place before flying back to Seattle after the holiday! Chloe was reaaaaaally working it for him. haha
6. And Chicago is all decked out and ready for Christmas!! YAY!
Here’s to a restful, relaxing, and rejuvenating month of December ahead!! (I hope!) xoxo
