F o u r    y e a r s. I love doing one of these posts every single year. It's the perfect diary entry... only everyone can read it. Hmmm. Regardless, I love leaving a little piece of us within the blog. It's a great record of memories, and something I enjoy looking back on. We are celebrating four years of marriage. I don't want to say I can't believe it, because we took vows that said we'd be together forever, so this anniversary was bound to happen. But what I can't believe is all that we've done from year three, to now. It's just a single year, but so much has changed. We've moved, we've grown our business, the big boy job has been acquired. The list goes on and on. We are such different people than who we were at year three, and I absolutely love it.  I think the best part about this year, and every year, is that we get the opportunity to grow together. We are at the stage where we aren't so much learning, but understanding each other. It's a whole new level of excitement because it's so different, and we are going through it together.  Tears starting in 3, 2, 1... While this year has been great, I know that 2018 marks 10 years since I've lost my dad. A man you never got meet that meant so much to me. The immense amount of love and support that you...

Happy New Year! Not gonna lie, I've been battling with what exactly to put into this blog post. On the one hand, I want to be positive and joyful, but on the other, I'm kind of not feeling it. I remember being so excited last year when I was writing a similar post to this one. Even in January, our 2017 felt special. We were looking forward to 15 gorgeous days lined up, shooting a wedding in Jamaica, and branching out into the community more. This year, though, already feels a little less balanced. There's more of a shift in my 2018 goals toward personal areas rather than professional. Where as last year I was amped for all BCP was going to be doing, this year I'm more excited for what Britney and Shawn will be up to.  What's coming To start, we're moving! In about 2 weeks we will be upgrading from our very small apartment to a larger space. This has been an "every year" goal, but since it's finally happening, it's real 2018 goals, haha! We'll still be renting, which a lot of people don't understand, but we are really looking forward to it! We don't want to settle on a place we don't see ourselves being in forever. We don't want to be in a starter home for only a couple years, and we don't want townhouse living. Our dream is to get the house that will see future generations playing, growing, and thriving...

Shawn has been sick the past few days, and I've been feeling a little meh myself. I'm not sure if I'm getting sick or just in a funk, but I'm loading up on Vitamin C, just in case. Either way, by Tuesday, I was pretty sure that this week was a bust. Truthfully, the whole month has been a little strange. I've been feeling a smidgen at odds with my camera, and I wasn't sure how to fix it. I never thought that a fun day of shooting was what I needed until after Marlayna asked if I wanted to go to Centennial Park (which you may remember from Alexa and Eddie's engagement session or Lisa and Michael's snowy shoot). Turns out, even as a photographer, you need to have non-serious shoot days! Who would have thought?! I know that I most recently went out for the snow day, but this week's adventure was different. It was fun and exciting to be shooting portraits, but also posing for them. Now, I'm not the most confident model, but I was feelin' it on Tuesday. I finally got to unleash my years of ANTM knowledge all over Centennial Park. I'm not entirely sure if I would have made it past the pre-prelimary cycle of any modeling competitions, but I made my attempts! Sometimes it's necessary to step out of your comfort zone and just be a goofball. At the end of the evening, I think both of us were feeling a lot...

Last week, we had the best experience ever! Before I dive into all of the excitement, I want to give a little background. For Christmas this year, Shawn and I decided to gift new experiences to people instead of good ol' presents. We thought it would be fun to spend time together, rather than just give something that may be forgotten about and left in a closet. For Shawn's family, we wanted to do something that would bring us together and bond us in a new way. It wasn't easy finding something that we thought everyone would love, but when I discovered the Baltimore Chef Shop and all of the classes they offer, it just kind of clicked. The Baltimore Chef Shop The owner of the shop, Scott, actually created this space for the every day person. He wanted to give people the chance to learn how to create meals that were sustainable and they could be proud of. There is a class for everyone at the Baltimore Chef Shop. From artisan chocolate to Thai street food, there are no limits to what you can learn. Bonus points for also needing no experience. Shawn has never had the chance to flex his cooking chops at home. I'm too much of a food control freak, so he has about 5 xp in that skill. However, he did an amazing job, and I don't think there was a single point where he felt he couldn't do what was asked. It was awesome...

Is it seriously time to start writing a new number on everything? I feel like 2016 flew by, and I'm not really sure I'm ready for the new year. I mean, I guess it doesn't really matter if I'm ready, because it's here. The time cannot go backwards, so it's time for me to think about my 2017 goals. I'm not really a fan of making resolutions. They terrify me and I feel they are counterproductive. You set a resolution once for the entire year. When the countdown hits zero, you either succeed or you don't. Even if you came close, you still feel the crushing defeat which is very demoralizing. Any deviations are just "excuses" for not accomplishing your predefined resolution. Basically, a resolution motivates by guilt and the negative feelings associated with anything short of success. That's not a healthy mindset when trying to grow and improve, since it's harder to take big risks when you have the fear of failure. Instead, I prefer to set goals for myself, which are similar but different than resolutions. Goals aren't all or nothing. You can come close to completing your goals, and still feel accomplished. They can adapt to any changes in lifestyle or priorities without having to feel like you failed and started over. Also, I feel like it's much easier to exceed your goals but keep going without putting your work down and feeling like you're done. Goals are just a nicer concept that - given the...