HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! I cannot believe this year is over, it FLASHED by. Every year I love to sit down at the end of the year, and wrap up with a look back on the year. It gives such nice closure to something as large and intangible as a ‘year in time’ and I also love to look back year to year on my final thoughts. You can read back on past years here (2018, 2017, 2016)
We started out this year in Florida with all of our best friends. We cooked an incredible dinner together, and each remarked how lucky we are to have found eachother – 6 of us who went to college together who all ended up marrying our college boyfriends. Our kids were asleep, we had a bonfire going, and it was eerily poetic. We felt grateful, and I think that feeling is my general theme for the year. It was a year where so many things came together for me, and I started it feeling the same way I feel at the end of it – in disbelief I could be so lucky in this life. Let’s jump back to the start.
JANUARY
Matt and I kicked off the year on a solo mom + dad trip to Peru. It was the longest we’d been away from Hudson, and it felt amazing to get that bonding time together. We hiked in Machu Picchu, and explored Peru. When we got back to New York in mid-January, we were both slow with work, and began to plan our upcoming renovation on our home.
FEBRUARY
We spent February packing up our home, and making arrangements for moving out in order to renovate. It was definitely a hectic time, but we got lucky enough to be able to move into our friends home that they bought before their lease was up. It was wild saying goodbye to our house as-is, but we were also so excited to see the job begin!
MARCH
March was a very slow month for me, which was NICE. I was able to get us settled in the new rental, and focus on picking out things for our renovation. My assistant at the time, Danielle, was off all month for medical reasons, so I went back to being scrappy, and using my trusty tripod a lot of the time, or having Matt snap photos when we were out and about. My best friend Sara also visited NY for a week, so we spent time reconnecting with our kids in tow! We also took a family trip to Costa Rica, and spent the week, little did we know it would be our last family trip of the year!
APRIL
Because my assistant was out of work in April as well, I decided to travel as much as I could! First I went to Florida with Hudson to visit my parents, and spent a week. My mom helped me with a lot of projects that I had due during the time that I had no photographer. Then I headed to Coachella for the first time ever in California with Noelle and Rachel with Cupcake Vineyards! It felt great to get away, and have a girls trip that also doubled as a work trip!
MAY
By the end of May, our home renovation was almost complete. It was SO exciting! Danielle was back working with me, and we were sharing a home with our friends Kyle and Erin until we could move back in. Having to move back in, and pack everything up all over again was definitely trying, but we were so so happy to be at the finish line, and to move back home!!!
JUNE
In June, I got the sad news that Danielle was moving to Texas and leaving me. I also got the happiest news that I was pregnant with baby #2!!! My amazing current assistant Sea walked into my life at the most perfect time. I’ll never forget the day I interviewed her at Gentle Brew Coffee, and instantly knew she’d be perfect for the job. I also had the honor of being a part of a BHLDN campaign shoot in New Jersey with Rachel and Noelle which was so fun. I had never been on set for so many hours like that, and it was a really cool experience! It’s funny because I was actually pregnant at the shoot, but didn’t know it yet! It’s also wild that I’ve been pregnant since Sea began working with me – we both think thats sooo crazy. The night I found out, Matt and I went on a celebratory date night because our renovation was done at the TWA hotel. I kept feeling symptoms, and took a test when we got home. By the end of June we were all settled back in our home, and SO SO HAPPY!!
JULY
July was a roughhhh month. The first trimester is tough. It felt so so nice that we were back in our home, because I was exhausted, and then I was hit with Veritgo. I landed in the hospital on my 32nd birthday, and was down for the count for a few days after that. Then Sea and I headed to Chicago for a work trip, which was sooo fun. It was a quick two-day trip, but we were able to knock everything off our list of must-sees! We ended the month with a family camper trip, which was so nice and relaxing.
AUGUST
In August we roadtripped to Boston to meet Matt’s family for the weekend. It was really fun spending time with them and wandering around the city, but it was also tough because I was pregnant, but we hadn’t told anybody yet. I was feeling all of the gross first trimester feels, but trying to hide them the best I could. hudson also kept saying “there’s a baby in your belly?” to my mother-in-law which I thought was a dead giveaway! But she said it wasn’t! haha! Then we headed to Marthas Vineyard to spend a few days with my family, which is our summer tradition. We told my parents about baby 2, which was so exciting!
SEPTEMBER
September feels like it was just yesterday, because usually when September hits, I get really busy with work. I was headed into my second trimester, and feeling ready for the task! Sea and I decorated my house, and shot some incredible partnerships that had me really excited! It was also the month we found out the gender of our baby boy! We had our family over for a gender reveal party, which I never had done with Hudson. In some ways it was tough, because I felt like I was starting to show a bit, but didn’t want to share it with instagram yet, so we had to photograph everything a certain way to hide the pregnancy! Growth wise on instagram, September was just the most insane month for me, maybe ever. I woke up on the day before I had planned to share my pregnancy to a story share from Zoella, and my following grew by thousands and thousands. Then, two of my styling videos went viral (in the same few days!!) and I found myself about 50K followers higher than where I started. It all happened within the week that I announced my pregnancy, so it felt really surreal. By the end of the month, the world knew about our pregnancy, and I was nearing the halfway point!
OCTOBER
October is obviously my favorite month every year. Work-wise, I was pretty busy, but in my personal life I was just soaking the Fall in. Matt’s best friend Romero came all the way from hawaii to visit us, and we road tripped to Upstate NY for a Fall weekend. We hiked around, and ate in one of our favorite towns, Woodstock. I always love how we make an effort to do so many festive Fall things with friends, and each other in October. We took Hudson to sooo many pumpkin patches, on hikes, we baked and we spent a lot of time with close friends. At the end of October Sea, Matt, Hudson and I took a very special 7 hour roadtrip to Letchworth State Park at the peak leaf season. Matt was working most of the time (he was booked on a job, and invited us to join) but to see the peak Fall up there was just … dare I say life changing? It was one of the most beautiful things in nature that I’ve ever seen. By the end of the drive we were very sick of being in the car, but it was an incredible adventure. My best friend Sara came for actual Halloween, and we spent another night upstate at the Tiny Homes that I always visit!
NOVEMBER
On November 2nd, I watched one of my favorite people get married. Noelle’s wedding was so stunning, and it was also so nice having that weekend alone with Matt. Then on November 7th, my baby turned 3. It came sooo quickly!! We had a birthday party for him and all of his friends and family, which was very special since it was his last birthday with us as a family of three. The rest of November is basically a blur, because Matt and I worked non-stop up until Thanksgiving, and then finnalllllyy got a break when my entire family came up for the Thanksgiving weekend. It was so nice having that day where we all cooked, and shared a meal together, but let me tell you, I was burnt out. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I even worked over that weekend, because my mom helped us take photos for some campaigns that had deadlines quickly approaching. The holiday season is always bittersweet, because it sets us up to be less stressed out throughout the next half of the year, but during the season, it’s tough to avoid the burnout. I’m not going to lie, I was (sort of) counting down the days until Christmas in the lead up to it, just so I can be closer to the end of my pregnancy, and take some time to relax more.
DECEMBER
I have to say, for as stressful and busy with work as November was, December did not seem bad at all. Sea and I mulled over why we think that is, and we think it’s because we have our shooting schedule down to a well-oiled machine. We just stopped letting being busy get to us, and we got through it! We had some incredible holiday partnerships, and at the end of another successful holiday season, we talked about how we felt such a sense of pride in the work we produced, the opportunities that were sent our way, and the ability to do what we do for work! It’s SO nice feeling like I have a team, between Sea and my amazing manager Kyle.
By the time Christmas came, both Matt and I had wrapped up all of our jobs that had loose ends, and it’s been so great to reconnect. We’re following our tradition of heading to Florida for a bit to spend the New Years Eve with old friends, and spend time with our families. I’ll be flying back to NY at 33 weeks pregnant, and then that’s it for me until baby comes!!
When I wrapped up 2018, I had shared that my goals were to spend more time with Matt and Hudson, and to get back to my blogging roots. I viewed 2018 as my year of regaining my independence. I think 2019 was a continuation of that, and also a big year where I tried to put self-care first. My theme of the year was to ASK FOR HELP and to take time if I needed it. There were many days that I took off work, just to lay in bed all day, because that’s what I felt needed to happen (especially being pregnant). I’ve been trying to be much kinder to myself, and to not over-commit. I ended the holiday season feeling like I put myself, my core values and my time with my family on the backburner for work, and I can confidently say I do not feel that way this year. I continued to exercise, be conscious of what I ate, take time for myself and to spend time with Hudson and Matt, even on my busiest weeks.
I think the biggest change for me was to accept that instagram cannot be ON all of the time. There’s days where I do not post, and THAT IS OKAY. I also made a much bigger effort to make weekends be weekends. I rarely shoot photos on the weekend, and I try my best to finish all of my work from Monday – Friday, so I can live in sweats on the weekends and hangout with the family. I am definitely not perfect yet, but I do think I made some strides.
For 2019, I have two wishes. First, I want to continue to make Matt and I’s relationship a priority. It’s tough as parents sometimes to remember that we’re on the same team here, but we’ve been getting better at it as the years go on. This past year we finally found a great sitter that we trust, and we ask for date nights if family happens to be in town. I definitely want to continue to do that, even after we have two kids. When we had Hudson, we never took a single night off, probably for the entire first year or more. I don’t want that to happen this time around. I also really want to continue to focus on updating this space and my Youtube, and make channels outside of instagram a priority. I never ever regret the time spent to sit down and compose a meaningful blog post, and I hope to continue to write personal posts like this!
What are some of your resolutions? HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
