Well I guess I’ve been forced into fall whether I want to or not. Last year I had my first Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks and it’s the one thing that I love about the fall. So I have been fully embracing that, otherwise I’ve held on to so summer as much as I could this month of October.

I have to say, Ben and I haven’t done this fall thing full-heartedly this year. We went apple picking, but it was quickly before an engagement session and he just turned all the apples into applesauce (Our freezer is stocked!), we didn’t even make an apple crisp. I think part of it is because I’ve been so busy shooting. I shot my last wedding of 2018, but I’ve still been second shooting and shooting other sessions a lot. We had our last crop of vegetables from our garden in early October and our flowers lasted about two weeks longer until we got a frost. We figured we’d play the lottery since the prize was so big and we won! hahaha Well we got the powerball number so we at least got our $2 back that we paid for the ticket. Ben knows how much I like pumpkin spice so he has been buying me my favorite pumpkin spice stuff. Ben and I also went to Harlem Grown with our church to help them harvest and prep their gardens for the winter. That then prompted us coming home and rip out all our dead plants. And finally we didn’t even hand out Halloween candy this year, but instead went around trick or treating (I haven’t done that in years!) with our friends and their little skunk 🙂

As I was writing my goals for November I realized that they spilled over into December. So instead of a monthly goals post, this is going to consist of my end of the year goals. I don’t like to wish time away, but I have to say I am so excited for November to be over because then the relaxing can commence:

Business Goals:

• I’m hosting fall mini sessions on November 10th! I still have 2 spots left so contact me if you’re interested! I’d love to get those filled up 🙂
• Like I said, I’m done shooting the weddings that I booked, but I still have some other sessions left. Tomorrow is my last wedding that I second shoot for 2018! Woo hoo!
• Since I’ve been shooting so much, I have so many images coming in. I feel like I’m constantly overwhelmed, but Ben says I’m actually doing better than last year and that I’m not delivering everything last minute.
• My goal is to get all of the images that I’ve shot delivered by Thanksgiving this year! That way I can take the end of the year off and rest.
• I’ve got some Christmas surprises that I like to send out in December, but that means I need to plan and order everything in November.

Personal Goals:

• Once Thanksgiving hits I’m basically going to be gone except for a few days here and there in December: Eastern PA, Pittsburgh, Adirondacks, Punta Cana (Yay!), Philadelphia, Eastern PA and Pittsburgh again. I’m basically going to be living out of a suitcase, but it’s all going to be fun!
• Since I’m going to be gone basically all of December, Ben and I are trying to get all of our Christmas shopping done in November. Ben has been doing pretty good about ordering gifts for his family already, but I need to step up my game.
• We also recently had some pictures taken with Spark NJ so I need to design our Christmas card so I can get them out on time.
• Do we put up Christmas decorations or not? (I didn’t do anything for fall this year, except for buy 3 pumpkins which are in the first picture.) I know I’ll love having Christmas decorations up while I’m home for a day here and there in December, but I have no idea when to put them up!
• As you may or may not know, I struggle with constant neck pain. Earlier this year I had a procedure done called nerve ablation on one side of my neck that really gave me a lot of relief all this summer. (It has been amazing to shoot and work at the computer pain-free.) Unfortunately, and as expected, it’s worn off. So for the few days that I do spend in NY during December I’ll be getting that procedure done again on both sides of my neck.

Here’s to the end of the year and getting everything finished!