HAPPY NEW YEAR – I am so excited to update this space for another year, and to see where 2019 brings us. But before I jump into new content in a brand new year, I wanted to bid adieu to 2018 in the best way I know how – in an honest and personal blog post. So here’s some memories and feelings in saying goodbye to a fairly uneventful year in my personal life, but a year I saw beautiful growth in my business and career.
I started out 2018 stuck in Miami, with frozen pipes. But it was a nice way to spend an extra week or so together as a family, and when we arrived home I immediately enrolled Hudson into daycare, feeling like at 15 months he and I were both ready for the transition. I instantly felt REALLY INSPIRED having so much time back to myself to focus on creating content for this space, and it was a little instagram renaissance of sorts for me. I figured out ways to run my business better, like by re-selling clothing and re-investing that income back into the blog, by reaching out to more PR reps, and by just getting the time to correctly be a blogger, and not half assing anything. I really loved all of the photos Matt and I snapped during the early months of 2018.
February
The highlight of February was traveling to the Bahamas on a cruise with my mom and Hudson. It was the first time my mom came on a “work trip” and it was nice to spend the time together, and take a little getaway to the warmer weather.
March
In March we found a camper van after a few years of searching. Matt flew to pick it up and drive it back, and we began renovations on the interior. It was a really fun process, and we’ve been enjoying it ever since. I also got the sad news that my grandma was in poor health during March, which was really tough. She hung on for a few more months, but March was the month we truly said goodbye.
April
On April 1st Matt turned 30, and we traveled to Hawaii as a family to celebrate. We rented an Airbnb with our g0od friend Romero, and he was able to spend a bit more time with Hudson on the trip. During the entire trip I was shooting content for work, so for me it was sort of a work trip which came with its stresses, but it was amazing getting to see Hawaii after not traveling there ever. It was a pretty tough age to travel with Hudson, so after that trip we decided not to travel much more for the rest of the year other than short trips.
May
I took my longest trip away from Hudson in May when I traveled to Paris with Rachel and Noelle. It was incredible to see Paris, and with my girls!!! but also made me really miss traveling with Matt and Hudson – I think 5 days away is a lot! After that we took our first camper van trip to Montauk. Like with most of the year, I had a lot of work to shoot during the trip, so it was not very relaxing, but it was nice to break in the camper van. We learned how to pack for roadtrips, we stocked the van with necessities, and we figured out all of its kinks.
June – August
The summer is somewhat uninspiring to me – for some reason I am just not inspired in warmer weather, but it was nice to have a bit less work, and more time to unwind. During the summer I focused on getting a therapist for my anxiety, and finding an assistant to set myself up for success during the holidays, my busiest season. It came to the point where having to shoot work during family time was too much, and we needed more separation from my job. I think the great part of this was that it took a big burden off of Matt as my photographer, but the sad part was a huge chunk of time i was spending working and being with family (the best part of this job) was taken away. In some ways it changed the feeling of my brand, and I am still trying to find that balance. In July I turned 31, and we traveled to the Glen Wilde to celebrate my birthday! Hudson really started to walk, which made life a lot more fun and interesting. At the end of August I flew to Las Vegas to speak on my first panel, which was such an incredible experience! I love pushing myself when it comes to public speaking.
September – December
Truthfully, these four month feel like a BLUR to me. It feels like a few weeks after my assistant, Danielle, began working with me, things got REALLY busy. During the holiday season we shot almost 40 jobs! I got so busy that Hudson started attending daycare 5 days a week, and we were shooting multiple projects per day. It felt really overwhelming, and truthfully I am still trying to recover a bit from the creative burnout.
After all of my deadlines were submitted, we took a trip to upstate NY and shot a ton of content so that I could take a solid week off of work (which is now coming to an end!) and it felt really nice to be able to spend time with my friends, and not have to think about taking photos, or feeling super put together. I learned a lot of valuable lessons this year, but the largest one is to put less on my plate during the holiday season, and also that time passes by REALLY quickly if you don’t force it to slow down. In some ways while this year was very exciting for me career-wise, it left me feeling a bit sad and empty. I spent far less time with Matt and Hudson, and that’s something I really want to try to change next year. I also want to really reach back to my blogging roots, and try to remember why I started this space. When I am feeling in a creative rut, I usually look back to the beginning, and use that as my jumping off point, so i am hoping to share more in-the-moment photos, and less content that’s shot a week in advance. Less trying to “keep up with the jones'” and more time spent trying to find things to differentiate myself.
I’ll always look back at 2018 as a year full of friends and work, and the year that I found myself and my independence again after diving head-first into motherhood in 2017. I feel so thankful for everything that life placed in front of me. I also feel thankful for how much easier being a parent has become, because those first two years were rough and did a number on me mentally. Here’s to health, happiness, and to being PRESENT in 2018! Thank you always for following along.
You can read last years year in review here.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
