Mid-year check-in | 2013 Goals

First off, I can’t believe that we are halfway through the year. Second, this year has been more amazing than I could have ever imagined. Let me show you why:

Business Goals

• Photograph 25 weddings in 2013 – Done! Well, not done YET, but I have officially booked 25 weddings for 2013!
• Assist/Second shoot on even more – I love second shooting. I have second shot for three amazing photographers so far this year and will be working with them and others when possible throughout the year. Second shooting is such a great way for me to stretch my creativity and a nice way to keep me fresh and from falling into a rut of doing the same thing over and over from one wedding to the next.
• Photograph a birth story – No luck yet, hopefully I’ll get to do this! :)
• More newborns too! – I have done one this year and have at least one more already booked.
• Thanks to MD Question 6, attend and/or photograph as many same sex weddings as possible – I have two this year! The first actually took place this past Saturday. It was so beautiful and so emotional.
• Build an office/studio – DONE! Photos to come soon!
• Continue learning and improving! – This one is never-ending, but I can say I’m definitely sticking to it!
• Continue consistently blogging, even when it’s the slow season (winter) and there are fewer sessions to share – I try to blog at least 2-3x a week except when on vacation. So far so good!
• Network with more wedding vendors – Working on this actively! I love the group of wedding vendors I’ve had the chance to work with this year. All amazing people!
• Find more wedding venues that I *love* and give them prints and albums to share with prospective couples – Definitely actively working on this. There have been a few really great venues this year that I love and many more to come!

Personal goals

• Leave my full time job either late this year/early next – DONE! My last day at my day job was May 24th and I have to say, although I’m busier than I ever expected, being self employed is really the greatest.
• SAVE SAVE SAVE until then – This is irrelevant now, lol, but we did great until then… even though I quit a good 6 months earlier than planned. Whoops! ;)
• Cook more dinners at home – Thanks to the warm weather and our grill this has been happening a lot! Our house doesn’t have central air so anything that involves the oven being on for a long time won’t be happening until the weather cools.
• Make being healthy a priority again – Since I went full time with my business I have been back to 3-4 days a week at the gym and have been snacking a lot less!
• Although it will be a very busy year between working full time, teaching, my video freelance career and putting in full time hours for my business, I will make more time for quality time with my awesome and supportive husband, Steve. – This definitely needs some more work. Last weekend’s wedding is my last for several weeks so we will be able to catch up on our quality time for sure :)
• Travel as much as possible this year. – So far we’ve got Mexico under our belt, California, and OBX in just a couple of weeks! We are planning on a winter trip to either Florida or Switzerland (yes, polar opposites, I know) and we are also saving up credit card reward points and cash to do a big trip next year. Possibly/Probably Cairo, Egypt!

This year has been so amazing and I can’t wait to see what the second half of the year brings. This little business has already far surpassed my expectations and it makes me emotional just thinking how far I’ve come in such a short period of time. Next year is already shaping up to be amazing with 14 amazing couples already on the books. I feel so lucky!

And because every post is better with a picture: a sneak peek from Saturday’s wedding at the Irvine Nature Center: