I know. I know!! It sounds ridiculously pretentious, but lately I keep telling my husband that he’s married to a world traveler. Mostly I say this because it’s super funny but also I say it because the last few months have been a whirlwind of, as Max would say, epic proportions.
Here’s a run down of the last few months!!
In September, we went on a cruise and it was amazing. In October, I shot a million family sessions which was a totally new experience for me – it had been years since I photographed so many wonderful families so close together! – and, on top of my wedding work, I second shot weddings for both Erin Wilson and Erika Dotson and it was so fun but also slightly bizarre after not second shooting any weddings for five years. On top of that, I traveled to Kansas City and New York City for shoots. The day after I came home from New York, I photographed Carolyne and Adam’s wedding, Andrew’s amazing mom flew in to be stay with our super funny children and, four days after that, Andrew and I were on the road to a beautiful wedding in St. Louis, Missouri!
When we left for St. Louis, I was a little stressed because Henry had the craziest kid illness (it’s always Henry, y’all!) but the entire trip was magic. In St. Louis, we were able to photograph the sweetest wedding of one of my college besties and it was the most amazing day. I’ll post more about that later but photographing a friend is a totally different ballgame than someone you’ve known primarily through photography. It’s almost like you know their face better but also you’re seeing it in a whole new way and there’s something so beautiful and fun and creative about that. It’s awesome!
We planned to spend more time in St. Louis after the wedding but, since Henry was still sick, we hightailed it home pretty fast the day after the wedding after photographing the most amazing day after session (Kelli and Andy got tattoos!!) and stopping into the art museum for, like, three minutes. Andrew and I went to this art museum – the St. Louis Art Museum – on our honeymoon so it was super fun to stop by so many years later! And yes! Just like back then, I still tear up at at all of the artwork and gush over everything and Andrew still makes jokes about, like, every piece and then gets stopped speechless at least twice in every museum so I’d say we’re (still!) a perfect match. Love him.
Naturally, Henry’s illness had basically cleared up when we got home. Hahaha. #momlife
^^ The water lilies painting makes me cry every time! ^^
After St. Louis, I spent a day at home and then hopped on a plane to Canada!
I went to Canada for the Real Life Conference and it was really fun! This was my first time at a conference where I didn’t teach or work in any capacity – I was just a student! – and it was weirdly freeing to sit in classes and not have to worry about what I was going to teach next. Also, Canada is insanely beautiful and I can’t even believe how much snow I saw. It was beautiful!!
After attending the Real Life Conference, I was super excited to come home and be with my fam! I had a slew of sessions – and a wedding! – that first week back and we did this crazy thing where I came home and, two days later, we had a brand new puppy named Albert Einstein.
He is the CUTEST and we love him so much!!
Also! Here’s a photo of Henry as a turkey. I need it on this website somewhere (that face!!) and I’m not sure where else to put it! Could this kid be any cuter or more mischievous?! I think no!
A few days after Einstein joined our family (sidenote: I am seriously obsessed with him and cannot get over how well he’s blended into our family. The dog’s a freaking dream!!), we loaded our car up to the very brim with people and puppies and luggage and drove out to see my mom and dad’s new home in Chicago! I did that super lame thing where I didn’t take a single photograph of the entire trip (honestly, I brought my desktop with me and edited most of the time we were there) but, while we were visiting, my parents gave Andrew and me an early Christmas present! They got us a hotel stay in Chicago and it was so much to get away with Andrew and to see the city and just kind of bum around for twenty-four hours. The Chicago Art Institute is to die for and I have so many ideas of what we should do when we go visit my family again next summer!!
P.S. Andrew found his spitting image in a nineteenth century painting and it made my life.
Holy smokes! This blog post is at least three times the size I thought it would be so I’m going to wrap this up! HUGE shoutout to my amazing, incredible and all around wonderful mother-in-law for staying at our house for so long this fall! The boys loved having her here while I was traveling everywhere and it’s one of those things where I can’t say “Thank you!!” enough. We are so grateful for you and I seriously couldn’t have done it without you! This fall was insane and so perfect, too!
And next year? So far, I will be in Florida and Denver and Chicago and Salt Lake and Dallas and New York and (fingers crossed!) Washington DC. I’m also really excited for some super high powered wedding months next year – there’s already a May date in 2018 where every single LCP photographer is booked (yeah Kristen and Jamie!) – and I’m excited to share so much with y’all over the next while. It’s going to be amazing and I am looking forward to the new year like a shiny-eyed kindergartner looking through a telescope for the very first time. It’s going to be THE BEST!
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Lissa Chandler’s husband often refers to her (lovingly!) as a hot mess and this blog post is an example of why he may be totally right. But! More importantly! Lissa Chandler (who, let’s be clear, is currently writing about herself in third person because it’s fun + it helps with search terms like fantastic wedding photographer in Fayetteville and colorful wedding photographs in Northwest Arkansas) might need to sleep for the next month to catch up on life. But first!! Holidays!!