Last year feels like an absolute whirlwind – one of blessing more than anything else. In one year we started attending a new church (which we love), photographed weddings from Virginia Beach to Charlottesville to Pennsylvania and everywhere in between, brought home a baby, took a trip to Slovenia, bought a car, bought a house...the list goes on! I knew some of what was coming up in 2017 last January, but I had NO idea that a year later I would be in a brand new (to us) house with a 7-month old baby sleeping upstairs. It’s been a good year.
So, with that in mind, I want to create a marker I can look back on next year. I want to write down all the things I know are coming so that when the unexpected happens I can laugh at what I thought 2018 would look like. Plus, I get excited sharing all that’s going to go on this year! Without further ado, here are some exciting highlights (in no particular order) that I can’t wait to experience.
1) More weddings! This one is obvious :) A majority of my weddings so far are in Hampton Roads, but I’m excited to make my way back to Charlottesville and Richmond as well.
2) A trip to Charleston. So far this is my biggest destination wedding booked for the year, and I am SO excited! We get to travel to Charleston, South Carolina, in early March to photograph a wedding for Heath and Kate. GAH!
3) Willow turns one. I can’t even. This is happening in a few months. WHAT.
4) My sister gets married! Yes, I am photographing her wedding and yes, I am also a bridesmaid! I pulled double duty before for my older sister, but seeing my younger one walk down the aisle in June will be SO surreal and SO exciting.
5) My other sister is having a baby! So far I have 5 nieces and nephews, and we will add #6 just a few weeks before my younger sister is getting married. What a blessing it is to have new little life on the verge of entering the world!
6) Housework, housework, housework. Read that again with a big smile on your face, because that’s how I feel. I am NOT one to ever want to settle down and buy a home. That’s totally Nathan’s territory. But as a kid who moved around a lot during childhood, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to raise a child in one place for years. Now I’m going to find out – all while we work to make our house our own!
7) I am planning to attend my first NFL game. Tickets are not yet bought, but my little sister and I are GOING to make it happen this year. And if I’m lucky, I’ll get to see the Denver Broncos play. Eeek!
8) Willow’s adoption is finalized. I truly do not care that I cannot post pictures of her face online, but OH how excited I am to see her finally, officially, legally have our last name…
I could continue on, but I will stop here in anticipation of that fact that I know SO much more is going to happen over these next 11 months. What an exciting, beautiful, and hopeful time in our lives...I can’t wait to look back on this next year and see how life has changed!
