Hellllo!! I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted to my channel, but I’m feeling refreshed, a little tanner, and excited for the rest of this year.

When I started this channel, I knew it would be a commitment and one that I would have to work to keep up with. I was anticipating this summer to be a slower one, and thankfully it hasn’t been! Which has been awesome for me but not so much for my content creation.

If you didn’t know I quit my job and took my business full time in January of this year so I spent months continuing and increasing the amount of time and work I poured into photography and my online content. It’s been so awesome to pour myself into this thing that I love so much, figure out how to be self sustainable, and also find the work life balance that I really really needed after leaving the marketing agency world.

This time last year (and honestly for the last 3 years or so) I was “hustling” aka driving myself into the ground by working constantly and not really knowing how to shut off. It got to be really harmful to my mental health and sanity and affected all of my close relationships because I was having a hard time dealing with it. 

When I took my business full time, a huge reason was so I could make my own schedule and be able to be as busy or not busy as I wanted to be –– obviously money comes with that too, so I definitely can’t be lazy. Just working smarter not harder! 

So I say all of that to explain where I’ve been for the past month and a half. I’ve still been working, a lot!

I kicked off my year with my senior spokesmodels, who I’m SO excited to spend this year with. You can see the vlog from their annual summer shoot here! There was a LOT of planning that went into making that 12 hour day the best it could be and I’m pumped to take you along with the team this year. They’re excited to share things with you too! Mostly tik toks lol.

I’ve photographed 3 weddings in the past month that were beautiful and so much fun. I always love weddings because they feel like reunions since I get to meet and work with my couples at their engagement session.

I’ve also had a few senior sessions, couple sessions, and even some families. I know that I made a whole video about why I only photograph seniors and weddings BUT 1) I’ve had space in my schedule to allow for a few families this year and 2) girl’s gotta pay rent. My heart and vision for my business is still with weddings and seniors but I’ve really enjoyed trying something different every once in awhile! Families vacationing at the beach seems to be a big market so I’ll take it for now!

Then outside of work…because you know, my goal was to make my life more than just sitting at a computer and mark off to do lists…I’ve had a really good summer. I’ve been able to spend time with friends, go to the beach during the week, watch more Netflix than I want to admit, get back involved with Alpha Chi Omega at UNCW, and actually have a tan!!!

I obviously felt really guilty about not pouring into my business and content with the same motivation that I had earlier in the year but as my dad put it, I just needed to “recharge.” So I’ve definitely done that. I’ve been doing a lot of work on myself, which I think everyone needs…especially 20-somethings that are trying to figure out life. I’ve taken this slower time of year to focus on myself, try to answer the question “what do you like to do for fun” and even started seeing a therapist –– HIGHLY recommend and when I’m ready will likely share more about my journey there because I think it’s SO important!

Anyways, I spent a few hours this week planning out my content for the rest of the year, starting with YouTube and the blog so you should be hearing from me on the regular now.

I’m excited to share things I know will be super helpful to my seniors and couples planning their weddings, and eventually share some things I know will be helpful to photographers! If you have questions or ideas for things you want to know or see from me, pleeeease let a girl know!

Thank you for being with me for this wild ride and I can’t wait to see you around here more!! Love ya!