2017 was a fantastic year. Challenging, heartbreaking, amazing, and FULL of growth in pretty much every way possible. I started out last year with a super detailed, and well though out plan for the year, both personally and professionally, and theeeeen almost none of that happened. 2017 was the year that can down in my personal history as the year that will be looked back on as did not go as planned.
And even though NOTHING went the way I had thought it would, it was still a very, very good year.
The things that happen when you’re that far outside of your comfort zone, they’re phenomenal. (You can find more of my thoughts about that HERE.) This entire year has been filled with balance, in every way, and I hope to not only carry that forward into 2018 as my word of the year, but continue to develop my skills surrounding it. (Read :: not working 24/7, how well I do at that, well, remains to be seen.)
2017 was a year filled with travel, friends, and a whole lot of photos, and I can’t wait to see what 2018 holds.
JANUARY
The year started itself off under Colorado’s sunny skies visiting one of my all time favorite people on the earth, Heather, and her family in Denver, before heading to Vail to spend time with family and enjoy soaking in all of the mountain air that I could before heading back to Ohio and gearing up to head to WPPI for the first time. (which, lemme tell ya, mind-blowing-ly amazing experience in itself.)
I started the year off with a month by month plan of what I was going to accomplish for my business, and January was off with a bang. I was on track, and it felt SO good to have everything lined out in front of me.
At the very last second possible I decided to enter the Shoot&Share contest, and held my breath.
FEBRUARY
February started out with WPPI, just over a week in a hotel room with three other female photographers, in Las Vegas, and was WONDERFUL. Being surrounded by so much talent and passion while down in the desert? dream. come. true.
I can home with all kinds of inspiration for my business, and dove into the execution of the proposal that I was hired to style and photograph, annnnnnnnnnnd then I got wholloped with pneumonia and pretty much lost the next couple of months.
MARCH
In March, I was able to come welcome Eliza home with Missy and her ADORABLE family, but other than that, I spent a whole lot of quality time with the couch.
APRIL
April again, was slow, due to allowing my lungs the time to heal that they needed, being a quieter month, I was able to get out for the Rock & Roll Wedding Styled Shoot, which, let’s just take a moment and appreciate how much fun those photos were to take.
MAY
Fast forward to May. May rolled us into the summer months with a bang, starting out though, with the wonderful blooms of Red Twig Farm’s Peony’s filling vases all through out the house. May also brought the amazing women of the Wine & Shine Podcast into my life, getting the women behind the Wine & Shine into my studio was a total kick in the pants.
JUNE
In early June, the ladies of the Wine & Shine team and I took their portraits on the road, and explored back alleys and fun buildings throughout the Short North, along with the their live pod cast event at the Wonder Jam. (We’re going to take a moment so that I can tell you this. If you haven’t yet, or don’t listen to the Wine & Shine, you absolutely need to start. They’re fantastic, and the guests that they’ve got on thier show, really inspiring people.)
A week was spent poolside, cocktails in hand, with two of my best fellas, Randall & Sugar in Arizona, which while we had all intended to explore the desert ended up being exactly what we all needed.
Annnnnnnd then, just like that, it was time for Alicia and I to take off on the Southern Summer Road Trip. We left Columbus on a Sunday morning, drove to Asheville NC, then to Charleston, onto Savannah GA, down to Panama City Beach FL for one all to brief night, to New Orleans for four days (Insert all kinds of happy dance here), Alicia flew back to Portland, Jeff flew to NoLA, and then he and I drove back north through the Mississippi Delta, to Memphis, then Nashville, then finally back. (Make sure to head over to Cook.Eat.Explore and join the subscription list there, as the Southern Summer Road Trip series is about to kick off, and it’s going to be a ball.)
JULY
We spent the 4th in Nashville, and then came home, where I slept for a solid week, assisted other photographers on shoots that they had, and summarily enjoyed the summer. July, and again in August, Jesi was here (check her out work out HERE, she’s absolutely fantastic.)
AUGUST
August we got to put our toes back in the Pacific Ocean for a while with friends at Cannon Beach, and spent time with friends in Portland, the end of August was blissfully quiet as Jeff traveled, and I settled back into the routine of daily life here in Ohio.
SEPTEMBER
September rolled through with Cook.Eat.Explore starting to take off more and more, trips down to Butler County, and Athens to explore, the annual Night of Chocolate was at the Casino again, and the 10th Annual Shake the Hand that Feeds You dinner for Slow Food Columbus was hosted at the Produce Terminal on what was one of the best nights of the fall.
OCTOBER
October exploded with a bang, The Grain Bag Ball kicked off the month, PRIZM magazine launched, Cook.Eat.Explore was keeping me far busier than I ever could have imagined, and it was all of a sudden HighBall Halloween time, throw in a couple of weddings, photographing events for the American Cancer Society (Making Strides, and the Cattle Baron’s Ball, respectively), and being interviewed myself as a guest on the Wine & Shine Podcast. My mom and her husband decided take a road trip out from Oregon, and hang out with Jeff and I before heading onto the rest of their vacation.
Things were starting to slow down (slightly) and I was feeling like I was able to finally get myself back on some sort of track schedule wise, back to regular posting, I had my to-do list written out, and I was ready to tackle everything, KNOWING, that I was going to get it all done by the end of the year, and go into 2018 with great new organizational systems in place, ready for a fresh start.
That didn’t go as planned.
