Starting 2024
It’s been a few months since I updated ya’ll on the happenings of my life. Last I checked in, I had just moved to South Carolina into our new home, shared about our infertility journey, was still mourning the loss of our sweet dog, Boris, and celebrated 12 years of marriage. It’s been a good 5 months since moving and starting fresh with a new house, new job (for my husband), and new routines. So starting 2024, I thought it would be fun to give a life update and do a Q&A!
How have you been adjusting to the move?
Pretty good! Of course there was a period where nothing felt comfortable or familiar. It was definitely weird adjusting to life without having Boris. But overall, we’ve been able to settle in. We both joined a gym that we really like. I go 5 times a week and I find myself really liking the daily routine. We decided to go on a couple spontaneous trips this fall/winter. A two week trip to Europe, and a one week trip to Orlando. And when I say they were spontaneous, I mean we booked each of those trips about 5 weeks before the departure dates… We’ve been wanting to go on both of these trips for years and it just worked out that opportunities came up to make them happen. So we took advantage :)
Have you found a new book club?
Kinda! I joined a book club that some members of my church attend. It’s definitely more of a social outing than a book club (the actual book discussions are only 10ish minutes and many don’t read the book), but I’m ok with that. Since I’m new to the area, I’m trying to take advantage of opportunities to meet people. If you know me, I’m what some would call an extroverted introvert. I recharge my energy by being introverted (alone at home reading or cleaning), but when I am out in public, I really try to push myself to chat and get to know people.
I still go up to Winston Salem at least 1-2 times per month to meet with my book club there and to shoot sessions/get my hair done/ etc.
In 2023 I was able to read 88 books! You can follow all my books I’m reading or have recently read on Goodreads or on my IG bookstagram. I think I’m going to keep the same goal of 90 books this year and hopefully I’ll be able to hit it!
How is your infertility journey going?
Well.. we were working with a fertility clinic up in Winston Salem when we were living up there. We did 2 rounds of IVF and only got two embryos from those. Both of those transfers didn’t yield pregnancies, so we’ve started working with a different clinic in Charlotte to hopefully get more successful results. I’ll start my third round of IVF this month and we’ll see what happens.
How is your photography business since moving?
It’s been slow, but in a good way. I purposely wanted to slow things down after our move. I wanted to give myself time to unpack, settle in, enjoy the change. With the new year, I’m excited to dive into my work again! I recently launched a new website, I’ll still be shooting sessions/weddings in both NC and SC, as well as offering educational opportunities. I want to focus on growth this year.
Do you think you’ll get another dog soon?
I feel like everyone asks me this, and it’s hard to answer. The short answer is no we probably won’t get a dog soon, but the long answer is we don’t know what this upcoming year will bring. While we had a dog, we put all big trips on the back burner because we didn’t want to be away from him too long. So at the end of 2023 and into 2024, we have a lot of trips on the calendar and don’t want to get a dog while we are busy with those. We also don’t know what the future holds as far as starting a family, so we’ll see what happens with that. I do really miss having a dog. When the time comes, I think we definitely want to get a Dogue de Bordeaux again. But while we wait for that time, I’m enjoying spamming Jason with all the dogue de bordeaux accounts on IG :)
Do you have any ongoing house projects?
You know me… I love house projects and making our house a HOME! Since moving, I’ve repainted most of the interior of the house (minus the bathrooms and guest bedrooms). I’ve been working on finishing my office, so I need to post an update when I’m done. We also got a new leather sectional from West Elm and I LOVE IT! Jason built a bunch of shelving in the garage to more easily store all the large totes. As soon as it starts getting warm out, I want to work on our yard. Planting the flower beds, growing grass, adding lighting, etc. So I guess that’s next on my list.
I love doing these life updates. It’s therapeutic, and I enjoy writing about what’s happened, what’s currently happening, and what is to come. Makes me grateful for trials, and excited for the future. Here’s to starting 2024 with a bang!
