We started January by ringing in the new year with some of our friends in Stamford like we’ve done for the past couple of years. Surprisingly the rest of January was pretty busy: I got to attend a baby shower for our friend Rebecca and her little girl Emily Rose. A bunch of the Spark girls got together at Jacob’s Pickles in the upper west for a little going away sendoff for Leandra. I also got to second shoot for Leandra before she left for Virginia. (The bride and groom had Michael Arenella preform at their reception. You might remember hearing about him from my NYC Jazz Age Lawn Party post this summer. Needless to say I could have listened to him all night.) We also purchased our second car now that we’re back in the suburbs, it’s a 2015 Mazda 3… I still need to come up with a name for him. And at the end of the month I got to go and visit Jess, Lucy and Ted. I snuggled Lucy a bunch and read her lots of books, which she loved. Ted was a wonderful husband and watched Lucy while Jess and I went out for a girl’s night.

It looks like this month is shaping up to be a pretty busy month as well with traveling, birthdays and catching up during the offseason. Here are February’s goals:

• Business Goals:
  • I began editing the weddings that I assisted other photographers with in 2016. It feels good to get some of the editing done. I’m hoping to share a blog post or two of some of the weddings in the upcoming months. I’m also planning on editing a couple more of the weddings this month.
  • This coming Saturday we’re going to have our taxes done. It’s been pretty easy the past couple of years thanks to Ben’s preparation and Becky at Egan Tax in the city. I hope it goes just as easily this year.
  • I’m preparing for my 2017 weddings and lining up my 2nd shooters. I’m hoping to have all of the dates loosely scheduled.
  • I actually was able to submit a couple of weddings in January and two of them were published! Yay! So thank you to Kara’s Party Ideas for featuring Christine’s 30th Birthday party!

And thank you to Borrowed & Blue for featuring Jenny + Adam’s wedding!

• Personal Goals:
  • I haven’t read much of Brandon McMillan’s Lucky Dog Lessons like I wanted to in January. It’s so much easier to pick up your phone and play a game rather than reading. I’d like to get through most of it in February because I want to know how I’m going to train my puppy before actually getting it.
  • I’ve been editing my personal images at night and it’s been going really well! I’m hoping to pretty much finish editing my personal 2016 images this month. Then I’m thinking of printing a little book of 2016 eventually… I take so many pictures and it would be nice to have them printed.
  • February will be busy with Valentine’s Day and Benny’s 30th Birthday! And I’m also going to Pittsburgh for a couple of days while Ben is at a conference in California. It’ll be nice to be with my family : ) Plus I don’t really like staying in our apartment by myself when Ben is out of town.

Here’s to a productive February!