We're still here.....

we're just busy! I've been in the middle of a busy wedding season and now senior portrait sessions are starting to kick in so busy is certainly an understatement. It's a lot of work for sure owning your own business, but the pluses certainly outweigh the negatives! I just need to do a better job with capturing Lillian. She's in Syracuse right now (which is probably why I have a moment to post!) with Grandpa and Grandpa (she can't say grandma!) Dan has the next three days off and we're busy working on the house while she's gone so we don't have to worry about the mess. I was planning on doing more and had a large list, but with me being so busy, my list has grown a lot smaller and I think that some of the things will just end up being cold weather projects when business starts to slow down. I've been thinking about the possibility of renting some studio space within the next two years. I'd love to be able to add a second floor and bathroom above the garage, but I have a feeling we're not zoned for it, but since I'm in no rush I'll wait to find out! Anyways, it's just a thought since it's kinda hard to shoot outdoors (which I love the most) with 2 feet of snow on the ground.....it's a ways down the road at this point, but I think it's good to have goals and I've already surpassed my goals with where I thought I'd be with this business so I'm content at this point. It's just still so strange for me that I own my own business......nothing I ever thought I'd end up doing but I love it!

I've decided to limit the amount of weddings I shoot each year, not only for my sanity, but also from a creativity standpoint. Wedding season is starting to slow down for me for the year and I already have 6 weddings booked for next year which still surprises me (I guess I'm somewhat good at what I do!)

So onto the house and some updates on that! Dan is sanding the front today. He had to rip out a bunch of woodwork since it rotted out. Tonight he'll be ripping out the kitchen sink cabinet and replacing it with our beautiful new cherry cabinets.......they're a really dark stain, almost black and I just love them! We'll also have our new dishwasher installed which will be like heaven since I haven't had one in over a year. Then there's the black granite tile and the granite sink that he'll be doing as well. We decided to invest in the cabinets this year then in a few years we'll do solid surface counters......not sure on the granite or soapstone but we'll see. I'm just so excited for the ball to get rolling on this again and get the darn room done....though we still have a wall to rip out, new plumbing for the upstairs bathroom to replace and sand the wood floors but I'd like to hope maybe we'll be done by the end of the year!

Lillian is doing well! She'll be starting pre-school in a few weeks......so hard for me to believe still! I bought her some new dresses and still need to get her a few more and some new shoes and a backpack but other than that she'll be all set. She'll be going to Cambridge this year and then next year she'll be going to the program at the school so that she'll be with her classmates. She's been doing really well with potty training and is probably 90% there and even sleeps through the night in her underwear. She's been sleeping in the spare room since Dan has to go in and out of her room with the sanding and stuff but once that's done we'll be buying her a full size mattress and she'll officially be a big girl. I'm just really looking forward to her having new buddies and hopefully watching her speech blossom. She's such an amazing little girl and I love her to pieces!

Anyways, that post was way too long and I need to get back to work. Here's a pic of Dan sanding the house....
the only thing left to be replaced on the front of the house is the front door/screen door and the windows and then the house itself will officially be done besides a few repairs to the slate roof!!