2018

2018 - first glance, it seems like I didn’t do anything. It felt like it went by in 3 solid blinks. Like when I was looking through my “end of the year” snaps and photos - I was like really? Did I freaking accomplish anything aside from cuddling my damn chiweenie?

But then I sat and thought about it..

2018 was a year of work, change, & preparation.
I actually did a lot looking back. A whooole lot of learning, self educating, & late nights spooning my chiweenie. (k, some things won’t ever change)

But it did really started to narrow down my vision of what I want for my life. Which is a damn good feeling!

But first; let’s start with the best day/weekend of my life-
I married my best friend & high school sweetheart in the most majestic backyard right off the lake and we were surrounded with 30 of our best friends in the world and danced and drank under the stars and string lights and frankly i’m just not sure how much better the weekend could’ve went???? We ended the night literally scream-singing and dancing together in a line to Wagon Wheel by Old Medicine Crow, and it was just a memory i’ll never forget.

I still have yet to share all of the photos and maybe it’s cause i’m in denial that it’s over? Not sure. I planned the entire wedding basically by myself, which looking back - was pretty impressive. I impressed myself. Haha! (also - shout out to my girl Paige for helping big time, you my girl.)
We’ve now been married for almost 5 months, and now it’s time to really get to work and execute our big ass plans we have for ourselves.

Which leads me into something that I did in 2018 that super proud of -

I decided to take a huge leap of faith and quit my dental career and work for myself and towards my goals.

I’ve been in the dental field since I graduated high school. I sort of just fell into it by accident… which I feel like that’s how most of us fell into where we are now. And I stuck with it because I knew that the health field was stable, would be around for a long time, I made really good money, had alllll the benefits, and I could make a ‘career’ out of it. You know - that whole security thing that we’re told is super sexy growing up. Just didn’t really float my boat.

So, i’ve always had a Photography side hustle… and eventually I just started working extra hard for that side hustle, and after long nights of me falling asleep at the computer, coming home from my 9-5 going straight to meetings or editing, self educating, learning from others, etc. - the time had freaking come! Either I just go for it and take the chance, or I remain in this rat race of a hustle. There’s always going to be an excuse for why I should stick with the easy, secure route. But then again, I was like - what the hell do I have to lose!? I’m young, I don’t have any kids, it’s just Tanner + I, and we could totally survive a few months off of ramen if we had to. If I don’t try now, I probably never will. Tanner has always encouraged me to do this and go for it, so he was pumped for me. (thanks baby!!)

LET’S DO THIS.

...So I did it. Which if i’m being 100% honest, I was terrified to do and never really announced it because I seriously was so scared I would fall flat on my ass lol
But the day finally came & I told my boss to shove it (just kidding, I actually shed some tears w/ my HR lady)

But so far… i’m doing okay!!! we’re not living off ramen, and we haven’t been evicted from our apartment!! (yet)

It’s been liberating, terrifying, freeing, while also quite the learning curve. Self discipline is a bitch. Haha! It’s hard to work when you feel like you don’t ‘have to’… since you don’t have someone that can literally fire you. So things such as laundry or watching my dog eat seems much more intriguing than usual when I should be working. But it’s like, what do I do first? Do i edit? Do I work on marketing? Do I perfect my website? Do I blog? What is blogging? Am I blogging right? And then at the end of the month when I clearly watched my dog eat more than I should’ve… I learned my lesson and i’m left scrambling to make ends meet.
Prioritization is key and i’m really starting to learn that! Running a small business on your own is WORK and more often than not it’s you wondering what the hell is going on / what’s next. But again - it’s LIBERATING. :)

So, while this year was great & all, it really made me narrow down what I want to focus on this year.

Some things I want to work on in 2019 -

Staying in my own lane // working on me // doing + posting what I LOVE / what I want to remember years from now.
I feel like with Instagram, the expectation has gone up. We’re so… aware. Aware of what we’re posting, when we’re posting, and how we’re posting. Everybody is so quick to “cancel” people out, shut them down, or make fun of what they post. So what if someone posts a lot of motivational stuff? So what if all they post is the food they eat? It’s hard af so stick to a diet - they should be proud and show it off. So what if that girls ass is hanging out? I’m sure there’s someone out there judging your content and what you post. “Too much football” “too much political crap” “too many memes” JUST. FREAKING. UNFOLLOW. THEM. I’m 100% guilty of the judgement game. But guess what I learned? That little unfollow button is quite handy. It really, truly is that simple. No need to make fun of them, no need to comment “ok we get itttt” or anything like that. QUIT PUTTING PEOPLE DOWN FOR EXPRESSING WHAT THEY LOVE. I feel like everybody in their life has been put down at least once - why would you want to be that person to someone else!!
Didn’t Thumper teach you these wise words:
”If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
Thanks for coming to my TED talk. :) :) :)
thank u, next -
Spending more time with God // Meditating // Slowing down.
Creating a solid workflow and work habit… and morning routine.
Documenting my life more.
Whether that’s writing, videoing, taking more pictures… I want it all!! I used to document my life so much and some people think that’s stupid or a waste of time but I seriously love it. I absolutely love looking back through pictures and stupid videos of the stuff we did. I only slightly regret the embarrassing 6th grade videos we made. But we were freaking CREATIVE. Nothing stopped us. I’ve slacked off these past 2 years… all I have are videos of me loving my dog and the work that i’ve created, which is great & all, but it’s not the only thing i’m going to want to see when i’m an old lady showing my kids all the cool stuff I did in my 20’s….. Am i right?!?
I also want to be able to document my journey of basically, starting from nothing. Because that’s where most of us start, but I feel like rarely people show / document the journey in between. But mark my words people - I’m going places !! and I want to be able to show others that come from my type of background, (aka - nothing) that you don’t have to live an average life or settle for what you’re currently surrounded by just because you’re not a Kardashian or you didn’t win the sperm bank lottery.