The Post You are Supposed to Do on Dec. 31

So 2012, yeah, it was a year. It was memorable, frustrating, wonderful, exhausting, chaotic, and so many other things. It is hard to sum up an entire year in one blog post, which totally negates one of the reasons I have this blog. This blog is supposed to serve as a catalog of my year's highlights, however, I haven't been so great at filling up this space with those everyday moments.

As my photography business grew, it kind of took over this blog and became the space I used to showcase the photos I was taking. I love sharing those photos here because I am immensely proud of my photography. Putting my photography on my blog serves as a reminder to myself and my readers that I do this, and I've even gotten kind of good at it. I need that reminder, but I've decided this is not the place for it.

The past couple of months I've slowly been building up posts on a different blog, one that is linked directly to my Amy Sayre Photography website. It makes more sense there, and it's actually easier to post photos there than here. It was such a logical move, so I've moved. You can find my new blog here. I even posted a new blog post there today just to entice you to check it out.

I am not giving up on this space though. I really still want to use this blog as a way to document my personal, not business, life. I want it to be a reminder of my day-to-day activities, how I spend time with my husband, my dog, my friends and my family, not how I spend it building my business. That will be for my other blog. If I do that, hopefully writing this year end review blog post won't be such a daunting task.

So back to 2012. How about some highlights? Yes. Let's do highlights via this very popular internet survey:

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
Get married.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

For the most part, a big fat no, I did not keep my resolutions. And yes, I always make 5 resolutions/goals with my friend Jenny.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes, my friend Kristin gave birth to her daughter Autumn in March. I took photos of her in May. She is adorable.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Mike and I lost our two cats Leroy and Itchy. They were 18 and 19-years-old respectively, and we miss them every day.

5. What countries did you visit?
Panama, and I know NYC does not count as a different country, but I took a very memorable trip there in January to see my friend Sean sing at The Met.

6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
More free time. The fact that I'm not planning a wedding this year should help with that.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Oct. 6, 2012 - the day I got married, because, duh, I got married.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Losing 15 lbs and sticking to a diet with Mike. (He lost 40!) We did it simply by making smart choices and being committed to feeling better about ourselves and our health.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Letting the stress of planning a wedding, holding a full time job and running a part time business get the best of me and taking out my frustrations on Mike. Sorry Mike. You put up with a lot in 2012, and I promise I'll be nicer to you in 2013.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No injuries, but I suffered a couple of colds I could have done without. 

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A king sized memory foam mattress with wedding money. I have never slept so good.

12. Where did most of your money go?
My wedding. I hate that that is my answer.

13. What did you get really excited about?
Going on my honeymoon, and with good reason. It was awesome.

14. What song will always remind you of 2012?
Into the Mystic by Van Morrison. It was my and Mike's first dance.

 15. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder? Happier
– thinner or fatter? Thinner
– richer or poorer? Probably poorer since my wedding savings is gone. But I still have no debt, so I'm doing pretty good.

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Travel, but that wasn't really possible in the year that I took off two weeks to get married and go on a honeymoon. But I still did go to NYC and Panama, so really, I should just shut up.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Worry about my wedding. Everything turned out fine. All of that lost sleep was totally worthless.

18. How did you spend Christmas?
At home. Mike and I welcomed 12 of his family members into our home on the Eve of Christmas Eve, and it was a complete success. 

19. What was your favorite TV program?
Parks and Rec, with Modern Family being a close second.

20. What were your favorite books of the year?
I plowed through A Visit From the Good Squad. I also loved The Poisonwood Bible, and Loving Frank had me staying up way too late to finish it. To that, I will add A Year in Provence, which made me want to live in and eat everything in France. Oh and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me by Mindy Kailing. I read it on my honeymoon and it made me want to be Mindy's best friend.

21. What was your favorite music from this year?

I know it's totally lame to admit this, but I have to say Pink Floyd. Yes, they have been around longer than I have, but I never really listened to their music until Mike and I attended "The Wall" tour at Wrigley Field this summer. Then I became obsessed.

22. What were your favorite films of the year?
Um, I could probably give an answer to this if I thought about it for a while, but I don't really want to. I don't see a lot of movies and usually when I do I'm a year behind. So I'll save myself the embarrassment and not answer this question.


23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 31 and held a small gathering at my house. It also served as a psudeo housewarming party because Mike and I never had one when we moved into our house in 2011.

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Getting a king sized bed sooner.

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?
Layers and accessories, tall boots and scarfs. Basically, I want to wear this every day.

26. What kept you sane?
Sleep and my dog.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012.

To stop waiting on perfection. I realized while wedding planning that I was having a really hard time committing to a venue because nothing seemed perfect. And then I realized I do this a lot. I stall decisions. I hold off on doing things, on calling people, on sending birthday cards, on buying a pair of shoes, on talking to Mike, on speaking my mind because the moment that presents itself isn't "perfect." I use this idea of perfection as a crutch and an excuse to say no to a lot. So I've committed to stop waiting for perfection in 2013.

So that is it. My 2012 in a nutshell. I am sure I left out or forgot some things, but in a nod to my last answer, I am going to publish this now and not wait for the perfect answers to come to me.

Full House

When Mike and I moved into our new home, it was full of possibilities. The square footage alone allowed us to dream big. We could have a sizable barbecue on the deck, an office that was just an office, a garden full of fresh veggies, a second bedroom with a queen size bed - our options seemed limitless in the face of our old, cramped condo.

The thing that excited me most though was the possibility of having guests. We could have had guests at our old place, and we did. In fact, there was one weekend that we had 5 adults and 6 kids in the condo. That was a stretch.  At the new place however, it is not as much of a stretch.

This past weekend we hosted Mike's sister, brother-in-law and their family, which includes these four kids:

And these two dogs:

Meet Mario (right) and Luigi (left)

Mike and I didn't really plan a lot of activities for their visit, aside from on Sunday attending church and brunch afterward. Our lack of plans were probably a good thing. We all had plenty of fun running around in the sun in our very own backyard.

Taylor totally enjoyed all having company as well. He had dogs to play with and kids to rub his belly. He was so exhausted when they left that he collapsed on the couch for hours. That was an added bonus for Mike and I.

It was really fun to have the house so full and to do the typical Easter things like church, brunch and egg dying. We even had a egg hunt on Sunday night.

Mike busted out his guitar and taught the kids a few tunes.

Mike's oldest niece lost a tooth!

Mike also perfected the sport of niece and nephew tossing. He's quite good.

By far my favorite part of the weekend though was planting our hamburger tree. On Saturday, Mike barbecued a ton of hot dogs and hamburgers. As we were sitting down to eat, one of the boys (Gabe, 4-years-old) handed me some sesame seeds from his hamburger bun. He told me that we should plant them and grow a hamburger tree. I thought that was a fine idea, so after dinner we went out to the garage and grabbed a shovel. The kids helped me find the best spot in the garden and even dig the hole.

As they were leaving on Monday morning, Gabe reminded me that I needed to let him know as soon as the hamburger tree started growing. In about a week, I am going to send this photo to Gabe and the rest of the kids. I really, really wish I could be there to see the look on their faces.

 

It's not my best Photoshop job, but I think it's good enough to impress a 4-year-old. You think?

My View of St. Patty's Day

St. Patty's Day is always a big day here in the city of Chicago. I mean we dye our river green for Pete's sake. But when St. Patty's Day falls on a Saturday and that Saturday is 80 degrees, everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE) is out celebrating.

Here are a few pictures of my day of celebrating (beginning with a ridiculously delicious brunch).

To sum up breakfast, beer, food, friends and festivities. 

On Birthdays and Fame

One of the 2011 goals I set for myself fizzled out around August. It was my photo a day challenge. I actually did take a photo pretty much every day, but getting the photos off my camera(s) and posted on a regular basis was far too much work once we moved and my photo biz picked up.

Even though I still haven't posted many of my 365 photos, one of the great things about that goal was that it got me into a practice of taking photos on a daily basis. 2011 may be over, but I've found that I've continued taking a photo every day in the New Year. Thank goodness because this past week was worth remembering

My birthday was January 4 (as it is every year), so Mike and I made sure our Christmas decorations were down by then. We spent Jan. 2 de-Christmasing our house.

My mom made a habit of doing this every year to make sure that my birthday actually felt like my birthday instead of an extension of Christmas. And since it was my birthday this week, I got a couple nice surprises.

It doesn't get much better for a girl than cupcakes and flowers. (Flowers were courtesy of Mike, the cupcake was courtesy of my friend/co-worker Nicole.)

I bought myself a most excellent birthday present this year on my actual birthday. I have a very dear and very talented friend who has spent the past several years studying vocal performance and performing in Toronto. This winter, he's performing in an opera stateside, and I bought a ticket to visit him in New York City and see him for his opening night performance - at The Met no less. I am over the moon excited for this trip.

On Friday night, Mike took me out to a delicious Italian birthday dinner, since my actual birthday was on a Wednesday. We went to a place in our new neighborhood that we hadn't tried yet, and I think it is safe to say we might become regulars. It was that good. I am still thinking about the pork tenderloin I ate.

Mike and I spent most of Saturday getting ready for company and then entertaining said company. I decided it was high time for us to have a get together at our new place. We had about a dozen people over and as always, I made way too much food. Thankfully a lot of it was veggies and fruit based so I can justify gorging myself on the leftovers.

All the activity of yesterday means we've laid kind of low today. Taylor is especially tired. It's hard being cute for that many people.

Speaking of my dog, he's been featured on this blog enough for you to know he's quiet photogenic. Case-in-point, I took the photo below this morning in our backyard.

 

 

Well last weekend, I got an email from the director of the rescue that saved Taylor. She asked if I had any photos of Taylor on a white background. She mentioned they were redoing the website and needed photos. I told her I could get her one thanks to the wonders of Photoshop. So I send her a photo, she sent me the mockup of the new site and lo and behold, Taylor is front and center. Check it out:

 

He's famous! But don't you worry, we are not letting fame go to his head. We still only feed him steak every other night.

So that was my week. A pretty good way to start out 2012 if I do say so myself.

Merry Christmas To You

There is nothing like instant nostalgia, so let me show you photos of my Christmas day, AKA today.

The day started with some present opening by Mike and I. This is the first year we put up a full size tree, so I think we both felt the need to fill up its undersides.

Santa Came!

And this was our place Christmas morning.

That scerene setting however, quickly turned into this.

Taylor enjoyed it though.

After presents, I set out on my main mission of the day: to make our dessert. It was a rather ambitious mission. I decided to make a red velvet cake, the most Christmas-y dessert I could think of. This was the recipe I chose. I was somewhat apprehensive about making it though as the recipe said it was an "intermediate" skill level. I am more of a seasoned novice.

In case you haven't made red velvet cake before, this is how you make a red velvet cake.

 

Got it? Good. And here was the finished product. 

I made Mike try it first and give me his honest opinion. 

Success!

Of course, the rest of our meal deserves some applause as well. We had ham, rolls, cranberry sauce from a can (my favorite), green bean casserole and mashed potatoes.

It was all delish, and most of it, was actually made by my man. I should also note that I drank a particularly tasty beverage (or three) this afternoon: cranberry juice, vodka and a club soda. 

So that was our Christmas day in a nutshell. In summary: presents, baking, eating, drinking and now football. I hope your day has been just as lovely. 

From me and my entire crew, we'd like to say Merry Christmas to you.

Because when your pets outnumber you two to one, you need to dress them in holiday clothes to show you are still the alpha.

Sleepy Santa

I have been meaning to upload photos of my Christmas decorations ever since Mike and I put them up last weekend. I have taken photos, I just haven't done anything with them besides let them sit on my camera. So no, this post does not include photos of my Christmas tree. It has some thing even better - a sleeping, 3 month old Santa.


Taken earlier today. I am hoping to post more from this shoot and also, obviously, photos of my Christmas decorations at some point too. Hopefully, that point will be some time before 2012.

Catching Up

From the end of September to the start of November, I had 11 photo shoots. It was by far the busiest my little business has ever been. My October was why you didn't really hear from me on this blog in November.

Every year the month of November feels like the month that got away. It is swallowed up by the end of fall and the start of Christmas. And this year was no exception. Except this year, my November was a blur of photo editing.

I am just starting to dig myself out of a Photoshop coma, but what I am emerging with is a selection of photos I'm really proud of.

Photos of an adorable baby.

Photos of my best friend strolling in Chicago with her hubby. 


Photos of a high-fiving family, taken at the end of a very successful shoot.


Even photos of dogs in costume. (Sorry Lexi, I know how much you dislike that.)


But what I am most excited about is the return of the my friend Carly and her family. They have appeared on this blog many a time, however as of this spring, shoots with them became a challenge. You see, they used to live a cab ride away in Chicago, and they are now a five-hour drive away in Michigan. Luckily for me though, they relocated very close to my parents' house. So when I went home for Thanksgiving, I stopped by Carly's house to see her and meet her daughter Amaya.

This is Amaya.


The last time I saw Carly she was pregnant with Amaya. She is now six-months-old, and these are her six-month-old pics.

Of course, Amaya's big sister Shayla got into the action too. And Shalya is as cute as ever. (For reference, here are Shayla's 6-month-old pics.)

 

I am not sure when I'll get to see them again, but I sure do hope it's soon. They certainly are fun to be around.