I love to share my photography adventures with all of you, check back often!
Self Care is not Selfish
Self care is not selfish. I read this in an article recently and it struck me. It's not selfish to take great care of yourself. Life is about balance.
I am all about self care, I believe it helps you in many different ways.
- If you aren't healthy, both mentally and physically, you can't fully be there for your loved ones - children, spouse, extended family, friends, colleagues, pets.. I'm sure you've heard the expression "You can't pour from an empty glass."
- Having a healthy body and mind helps you stay focused on your goals
- It gives you energy to accomplish your tasks for the day
- You will have more confidence
- Your overall happiness depends on it
I practice self care and sometimes it's in a small way and sometimes it's in a big way.
- Getaways with my husband
- Working out at Fit Body Boot Camp as many days as possible per week
- Clean eating
- Going for a massage or pedicure
- Reading at night before I go to sleep
- Wine nights with my husband and our friends
- Girls' nights out
What have you done for YOU lately? If the answer is nothing, let's change that. Choose one small thing to do for yourself this week.
I'd love to hear what you routinely do to take care of you!
Hello 2019!
Happy New Year everyone! January 1st not only marks the first day of the year, it is also my birthday. So I have double reason to reflect on the past year and look forward to the upcoming one.
This year, while I have many goals and ambitions, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on my accomplishments and successes of 2018. It was an exciting year, both personally and professionally.
Some reasons to celebrate:
- Vacations with my husband
- Strengthening and growth of friendships
- Collaborating with some awesome fellow creatives
- New family photography clients
- Mini session event with my local elementary school
- Photographed some local businesses for their websites
- Visitors who came to see us in NC
- Boot camp, races, eating clean
- Working on new business ideas and ventures with creative peers
- Learning about photography through practice, webinars, podcasts, articles.....and on and on!
- Photographed out in the community, including a 5K and a military homecoming
- The opportunity to add to my landscape portfolio taking photographs on vacation and in new places
- Met lots of wonderful people
- Photographing newborns at the hospital
Now it's time to get all my little birdies in a row and look forward to all that 2019 has to offer! It's off to a pretty great start!
Holiday Mini Sessions
Now that the holidays are over and all the gifts and cards have been sent, I wanted to share some photos from my 2018 Holiday Mini Sessions. I had so much fun doing them this year! I met some great people and had fun with the most adorable kids. Most families used their photos for holiday cards and print gifts for grandparents and family. It was also a great opportunity to update family portraits. Some even included pets, which I loved! I'm sure the cards and gifts were thoroughly enjoyed. I love that I am able to help families capture their memories for all kinds of occasions. Looking forward to many more in 2019!
Let Me Thank YOU
2018 has been such a wonderful year for me and my photography adventures. I'll reflect more on the year in an upcoming post, but for now I'd like to take the time to thank everyone who has given me their support. The compliments, session and event bookings, referrals, and comments and likes on social media mean so much to me. I'm thankful for people taking the time to read my blogs and posts, fellow creatives who support me and each other, and collaborating with the community to give back. You all make me feel so happy and proud. I love doing what I do and I love that I can share that with all of you. You really don't know how much it means to me. Don't forget to follow my social media pages and keep up with my latest photography projects. THANK YOU!
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Thanksgiving Recipe Traditions
Does your family have a dish they cannot live without for Thanksgiving? For me there are two dishes I look forward to most every Thanksgiving. Clean eating is out the window and I'm indulging in these all time faves.
It is a tradition in my family to do the food prep the Wednesday before Thanksgiving day. I LOVE this day. I always had the day off from school as a student and as a teacher and over the last few years I've been lucky enough to carry on the tradition. This has taken place at a few different places. For years, as long as I can remember, my parents hosted Thanksgiving. So helping them with preparations was something we always did and my extended family would come over and join in, we made a whole day and evening out of it. Later on my aunt and uncle hosted so we just moved the prep party over to their house! And now my husband and I have hosted in our new home in North Carolina for the last few years. We have carried on the tradition of doing all the preparations together on Wednesday. This year will be our 4th. I am so beyond fortunate that some of my family makes the trip down to celebrate this holiday with us.
The first must-have is my family's apple pie. We use the recipe from Better Homes & Gardens, no super secret recipe here! But it comes out amazing every year! One year I accidentally peeled way too many apples. My aunt and I said "What the heck?", and threw them all in. Well, now we put too many apples every year! It is piled so high and just comes out beautiful and delicious. Another little twist is that we put a teeny, tiny bit of almond extract in the apple mixture. Just a touch goes a long way to add a little something extra special.
My second must-have is my Grandmother's Portuguese stuffing. She passed away and her handwritten stuffing recipe is something I treasure.
Over the years she always made it, then my brother took over the task, and now that I've been hosting I make it. I have my Grandmother's recipe and you really have to follow it to a tee. Over the years we have made some minor mistakes, like too much bread, not enough water, and so on. And trust me when I tell you that you can taste the difference! I think I have perfected my version over the last couple of years and I'm totally looking forward to a huge heap of it on my plate this year!
What MUST be on your Thanksgiving table? I need to know!
