10 years: Happy & Successful.

2004 was a pretty big year for me.  I met my husband, graduated high school & started college.  I can't even count the number of times I was asked where I wanted to be in 10 years, what I wanted to do with my life, or something of that sort.

I made up answers.  Every time I was asked I would give a slightly different answer.  Truthfully, I had no idea.  I highly admire the high schoolers that know what they want in life.  All I knew was that I wanted to be happy & successful, but I was too afraid to admit it.  I mean, c'mon, what successful person doesn't know what they want to do?  Part of being successful is beginning with the end in mind-- knowing where you want to go!

Looking back, I've met my goals.  I'm happy, and I like to think that I've had a successful 10 years.  Successful by my standards, anyway, and that's what counts here.

I've come much further than I thought.  I never planned to leave my hometown.  Move 30 minutes away?  No way!  So to live 8 hours away is quite comical to me.  Leaving there certainly didn't make me successful, but it became an important part of my story.

Never, ever in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I'd still have the same car!  8 years ago I started saving up to replace it when it broke down.  If that savings hadn't been robbed so much over the years then I'd be buying a pretty sweet car right now!

I also never thought that being debt free would be a big part of my story.  10 years ago I didn't have any debt.  It hadn't even crossed my mind.

I thought I would use math more.  I wish I used math more.

I hoped to be married & have a family by now.  I didn't have a plan for number of kids at this point in the game, but to have at least started having kids.  I always saw myself as a family person.  Check.

I assumed I'd have bought a house at this point.  What a silly assumption!  Houses are expensive!  But sure enough, I did end up buying a house mortgage before those 10 years were up.

I kind of thought I'd be working in an office setting, dressing professionally, and not owning my own business.  In fact, I decided at a young age that I never wanted to own a business.  I saw how hard my dad worked & just didn't want to go through all that.  I'm a lot more like my dad than I ever imagined I'd be.  And my husband is a lot more like my dad than I ever imagined he'd be.

If someone walked up to me in 2004 and told me I'd be a wedding photographer in 2014 I would have had a good laugh.  I would have thought it was awesome, but also something completely unattainable.  Seriously-- that is a ton of expensive equipment to buy, and a lot of skill to invest in.  Then again, I probably would have laughed at that even 5 years ago as I tried to figure out what PSAM meant on my camera.  ;)

Happy & successful.  So what if I'm not a lawyer or a figure skater... I'm right where I want to be.

What did you want to be?  How has life adjusted your dreams?

Us lately.

I haven't written about us lately.  2013 was a pretty stellar year.  I had high hopes for it, to be honest.  13 is, after all, my favorite number.  It's my number.  I mean, it pretty much has a responsibility to me.  :)

And it didn't disappoint.  I finally got out of the new mom fog that lasted for, oh, 18 months.  I don't mean to lessen anyone else's postpartum experience, but it was really rough.  I spent most of 2012 trying to breastfeed and well, it wasn't one bit easy for my body.  I was on medication to make it easier & that just left me in a huge mess of nerves & emotions non-stop.  After getting off that medicine, it took about 9 months to get my body back to feeling normal.  Normal is good in this situation!

But that was 2012.  2013 was the year I came out of that fog & really started to enjoy life again.  Our photography business continued to grow, and the cinematography side just blossomed!  Josh had 3 or 4 weddings that were 3+ hours away!  Not an intentional direction for us, but a fun one to navigate.  Haven't seen his films?  Check them out here!

No plans for more kids anytime soon.  Yes, we plan to have more, but no, not right now.  Maybe 2014.  Maybe 2018.  We started thinking a little more seriously this past year about adopting as well.  It is something we have always said we wanted to do, but didn't have an exact plan for it.  Some of our friends are going through the adoption process right now & it's such a beautiful thing.  We love hearing their updates & following their journey.  It's also probably not something we're going to do in 2014, but the bud is starting to blossom.

Also, you shouldn't take any timelines I say into account.  In true Fowler fashion, we do what we want when we want to do it.  If you'd asked me a year ago, I would have said we would definitely not be buying a house in 2013.  And yet, here we are... we bought a house.  We think about things for a long time with no timeline in mind and then one day we just up & do it.

Our plans for 2014?  Enjoy life.  We are at such a fun stage in life, and we just want to soak up every second of it.  We hear that pitter patter of little feet that all the songs talk about, so we're just going to enjoy it.  We are making a house into our home.  We have a backyard.  Heck, our kid even has a tricycle.  This is the life. 

And yes, I tend to say that about life no matter whether we own a house or live in a tiny apartment behind Roses, 8 hour away from our family.  Why?  Because our blessings are just huge, y'all.  If we're constantly looking at the next big thing then we miss what we have.  And what we have is rich.  It's the good stuff.

Sucking all the fun out of Black Friday.

High school was my first experience with Black Friday.  I'm not sure I even knew it existed before that.  A bunch of friends & I stayed at one person's house & went shopping early in the morning.  I went two other times after Josh & I got married.  It was so much fun trying to go to sleep early & hoping to wake up in time to get there for the store opening.

6am standing out in the cold for Kohl's to open!  How exciting!  I got there at 5:50am & was one of the first 50 in the store.  I didn't end up buying anything because I didn't see anything I wanted to get for anyone for Christmas, but it was a ton of fun.

One year we went with two other couples to the outlets in Gatlinburg, TN. We all drove a friends parents huge SUV and left it unlocked while we filled the back with presents throughout the night.  The outlets opened at midnight so we stayed all night & got breakfast before driving back.  We were so tired, but it was so much fun.

When I was seven months pregnant I worked at a mall Chick-fil-A on Black Friday.  Let me tell you, it was a ton of fun!  I worked my butt off but being super busy like that-- it's my happy place.  We opened up at midnight (although they didn't make the pregnant lady take the midnight shift).  Yes, opening at midnight meant a few people had to come in at 10pm on Thanksgiving, but all the festivities were over by that point.

And to be honest, opening at midnight does mean that the workers have to get a nap on Thanksgiving instead of spending the whole day with their family, but it still wasn't the worst thing in the world.

But there are certain things that just suck all the fun out of it for me.  When the time creeps up by hours every year, it's alarming.  6am, 4am, midnight, 10pm, 6pm on Thanksgiving.

Black Friday?  I think it's fun.  It's more fun when people aren't complete crazies like we see more of every year.

Thanksgiving?  That's a different story.  If a store opens at 6pm on Thanksgiving, guess what time their employees have to be there to open the store?  4pm? 5pm?  And what happens next year?  Does the store open at 4pm?  And the next year?

And what about the stores that choose to open on Friday instead of Thanksgiving?  Will everyone be at home & in bed by the time they open?  Will they have to send their employees home because of lack of sales?

At what point does 'Black Friday' happen before Thanksgiving dinner?  Will it eventually lap over into Wednesday?  Honestly, I think I'd be more okay with that.  It's not that the time moves, it's when it encroaches on a time that we as a nation have always set aside to be with family.

Courtesy of Facebook.  Is this you?

I've heard two arguments that are compelling at first.  What about the people who don't have family & Thanksgiving is a depressing holiday?  Unfortunately, that's part of life.  And as terrible as that is, I don't think all the stores are opening earlier to help these people out.

The other argument a friend brought up is the people that want to work.  The ones that can't afford a day off.  I have two thoughts on that.  One, I've been there.  I've been in a place where we're spending $30 per week on food for two adults & getting 2 gallons of gas at a time because that's how much you can afford.  When banana & peanut butter sandwiches are a luxury that you only get on a good week.  But I feel like spending time with family is important.  God honoring.  And working extra jobs was sometimes the only way to make that happen, but it was worth it.

My other thought on that is that there are plenty of places that are open on holidays.  A lot of grocery stores, pretty much every restaurant, gas stations, fast food, nursing homes, hospitals, and other various places around town.  Every store doesn't need to open on Thanksgiving to make sure families can pay their bills.  And again, I'm fairly certain that stores aren't opening on Thanksgiving so their employees can make ends meet.  If they are that concerned about their employees, they would get paid time off for Thanksgiving.

I know, I know... there are a thousand different thoughts in everyone's head as they're reading it.  We can argue about it, or you can make your own choice & go with it.  If you support Black Thursday, then go shopping at every store you can & buy all you can.  If you don't support it, then please, don't shop on that day.  In fact, it's not hard to find stores that aren't opening on Thursday.  Support those!  Even if you choose to shop at Wal-Mart, though, they know what times people are shopping & they'll analyze that for next year.  Shop your conscience.  Or don't shop at all-- there's an idea, too!

And finally, please consider buying local this season!  Yes, it can be a bit more expensive, but when it truly supports your town, then it's a wonderful feeling!  Or... support a town that you love.  I may do some shopping in my hometown.  I don't live there anymore, but I do love & support it.

Dear iPhone 5

Dear iPhone 5,

I need you to be straight with me.  Do I really have 26% or are you going to turn off the next time I take a picture or use GPS?

Sincerely,
Susan

Feeling old.

This past weekend someone asked me what school I went to.  I wanted to dance across the room & kiss her, but instead I played it cool.

"Me? Oh, I've already graduated, but thank you!!"

Seriously.  High school was 9 years ago, college was 6 years ago.  These days I'm starting to hit that "I'm not a teenager anymore" feeling.

Motherhood will make you feel that way.

Also, not being a teenager will make you feel that way.

Taylor Swift's song '22' will definitely make you feel that way.

I know, I know, I'm not even 30 yet, but I can still feel old if I want to!

2013... the year of no change? Resolutions & thoughts

Now, 2013 is exciting for me.  13 is my lucky number.  I've written about it many times on here-- it's the day I was born, the day I met my husband, the day he proposed, and the day we got married.  I was sad when Hazelnut wasn't born on Friday the 13th.  I was shocked, actually.

Also?  I always thought I would have my first child in 2013.  But I got that blessing a full year early, in 2012!

So what exactly does this new year hold for me?  I'm not much for making resolutions for a new year.  But then again, I'm not the girl who starts a diet on a Monday.  I start it on the first possible day.  If I make a decision, I'm going to go ahead and do it, rather than waiting for a special day.

So that's what we've done with the overhaul in our eating.  We needed an overhaul a few months ago, so now going into the new year, we are well on our way, and it feels great!

But still, I'm a people pleaser, so when the new year rolls around, I like to have something to tell people when they ask if I have any resolutions.

Yep.  Of course.

I'm going to be more organized & do more.  Work, home, cooking, etc.  Organized.  My schedule is constantly full.  Too full.  So the more organized I am, the quicker things can get done, and the more time I will have.

This is also the first year since 2008 that we haven't moved.  Our house is getting cluttered & my minimalist spirit can't handle it!

Also, I feel like this is the first year I have a chance to breathe a little.  Here's the timeline of our marriage so far:

2006: First year of marriage-- talk about change!
2007: My brother & his daughter moved in with us.  It was a very mutual decision & we loved having them there-- but boy, another big change!
2008: We moved to Atlanta... more change.
2009: Moved to South Carolina... oh yes, even more change.
2010: We thought that was the year... we signed a new lease & were excited to be settled in to our cheap apartment with fun jobs... when this church in Virginia called and... we moved to Virginia!
2011: Ahh... life in Virginia.  Making tons of new friends and... we're pregnant!  So that means packing up again & moving to a bigger apartment.
2012: Hello baby Hazelnut!  Need I say more?  That was a change.

2013:  Nothing new on the horizon.  We are very excited for a year of doing relatively little compared to years past.  We are happy & satisfied (in a good way) with where we are.  We are content.

So I'm a little excited, and a little scared, of where 2013 will take us.  Will it finally be a year to take a breath?  Or is there something crazy awaiting us?

Will we buy a house?

I have to admit, that one is rolling around in my head.  Boy oh boy do I hope so!  But we'll see.

Where have I been??

Whew, life is busy!  Wedding season is here & Josh helped me out photographing the first wedding of the season!  And may I just say that he did an awesome job!

We've also been enjoying lots of outdoor concerts & time with friends!

This just in: we have toes!!  Hazel discovered her toes & loves playing with them.  :)

Decorating the house... (this is just a mock-up for our living room)

And of course someone is now 4 months old!  And daddy took the month picture this time!  Look at those chubby thighs.  :)  13 lbs 13 oz at her 4 month check-up.

Who is HOW old?

Saw this the other day on Failbook.

I have to say... forget the bigger issue... that dude is 34?!?!

To be fair, he was probably only in his late twenties when the picture below was taken:

Yup... I'm not over it yet.

A message we can all support.

You've seen it, I've seen it... Girl Scout Cookie season is upon us!  I love genius marketing stuff... and this shirt just really made me smile!

Now that's a message I bet all my reader can get behind!

Also?  I have a question.  You know those people who buy a bunch of boxes & then freeze them so they'll have GS cookies all year long?  How do they actually last all year?  I get so jealous when I'm at someone's house and I see some Thin Mints in their freezer around Christmas time.  Really?  I'd need to buy an extra freezer to even attempt that because, let's face it... if I bought 10 boxes, it would last a good 2 weeks.

Reindeer... Male or Female?

Obviously there are some of both, but here's a little insight into Santa's reindeer!

Laugh & Cry-- I promise this clip is worth a few seconds!

Y'all, this is the funniest, saddest, cutest, thing I've seen in awhile.  If you don't laugh, you're not human.  If you don't get a little sad, you're also not human.  Enjoy!

Priceless.

Yesterday I decided to put on a little Pandora while getting ready for the day.  Looks like the last time I listened to it was Halloween so I went to look for a different channel.  This is what Pandora suggested:

Hmmm... we'll mark that under "things you never think you'd see."

At least I've got some variety?  Flo Rida confuses me, though... don't know any of his (his?) songs!

What would Pandora throw out for your musical taste?

Missing Dog? Not quite.

Sometimes I question our ability to raise a child.

Last night I locked my dog in the bathroom, then wandered the neighborhood in the dark looking for him because I thought he was lost.  We'd left the door open for a few minutes to air out the apartment & then couldn't find him.  I notified all my neighbors & the apartment complex & even went so far as to put a Missing Dog post on Facebook before I found him.

I'm still not sure how long he was in the bathroom for... maybe an hour?  He never barked or whined... even when I was calling his name.

Then Josh & I were both doing work on our laptops for about an hour.  When I finally looked up, the house looked kind of smoky.  Sure enough... there was a candle on the bar in our kitchen & it was burning the piece of wall overhang that was about 18 inches above it!  It wasn't an actual fire, just a smoke stain on my white wall...  I think the magic eraser will take care of it.

But really?  We're both functioning adults... yet we can't manage simple tasks...  a baby may just do us in!

I dream like a psychopath.

I've always had crazy & wildly vivid dreams.  Pregnancy has slightly stepped up their game, but overall, they were pretty psychotic to begin with.

Usually it involves ridiculous, unimaginable things being commonplace.  Like when one of my college classes was on the 42nd floor of a building that I had to use a glass elevator (on the outside of the building) to get to.  And then there were no floors below it-- it was just a classroom up in the air at the top of the elevator shaft.  I could take the stairs, but let's face it, 42 floors is a lot.  So I sucked it up, and on the first day of class, I stepped out during a 5 minute pop quiz to talk my friends into not dropping the class.  It didn't work, and I failed my pop quiz because I ran out of time.

Or the night before that when I was in the [happy] graveyard where my headstone was.  It said, "Susan K_______" and had an H below it.  The K was actually a Russian last name I can't remember.  The 'H' below it was so that people who saw the gravestone knew I spoke English & wasn't Russian.  My dad was there, combing his hair, and my pastor walked up and told him, "You know, you're a lucky son of a gun."  There was also a small ditch between my dad & pastor that, for some reason, really sticks out in my mind even though any of us could have easily walked over it.

So yes, my dreams are a little odd.

Oh, and then there was the one (well before I was pregnant) where I kept having to clean up the mess after Josh was stabbing people to death.  He'd started to do it in public & I had to finally sit down with him and have a tough conversation about how it was getting harder & harder to cover them up now that he kills them in broad daylight, and maybe we should reevaluate some decisions.  He agreed, and then he walked across a bridge over a small pond, and accidentally dropped the entire contents of his briefcase in the hole in the bridge.  There were electronics, so I was furiously trying to clean it up & dry everything out.

Do you remember your dreams?  Are they vivid?  Are they crazy, or are they just normal everyday life?  Do you have recurring patterns or dreams?

Best Halloween Costume Ever!

This is just totally awesome!  This guy made a Nikon camera costume, and it takes pictures & shows them on a screen on the back!  Even the flash works!  You can see more about it here, as well as a video of it in action!

On Being a Britney Fan.

What is it about Britney Spears that makes me want to pull for her no matter what?

She was the pop princess for my generation.  In 8th grade, she was the bomb y'all.  By the end of 8th grade I was cutting my hair in long layers like hers.  Unfortunately, I was a greasy 8th grader without stylists to follow me around, so I ended up cutting my losses (literally-- cutting my hair to chin length) and realizing that I was not a pop princess myself.  It was a tough break.

Then she came out with an edgier video (for the time) like 'Crazy.'  After all, her fan base was growing older-- we were at least 3 months older by this point-- and we needed something to reflect our more grown-up lives.

Then there was the time when it was no longer cool to be a Britney fan.  This was the same time it wasn't cool to be a N*Sync or Backstreet Boys fan... and don't even get me started on Hanson.  just. not. cool.


But finally, thankfully, Britney has come full circle.  She went off the deep end, and then swam back to the shallow end.  I only caught about 20 seconds of the VMA's this year, but it happened to be the 20 seconds that Britney won & started her acceptance speech for Best Pop Video.  I wanted to cry, I was so happy for her!

I mean, really, she's come a long way over the past 12 years, and has done a ton of growing up-- all while the whole US... and sometimes world... were watching.  She's certainly not perfect, but she'll always hold a special spot in my heart.

Barbie gets Tatted Up!

Barbie's got some tattoos these days & everyone has an opinion.  I figure I'm on quite a roll with the opinion posts lately, so why not go for it?

I think the tattoos are the most realistic thing about Barbie.  And I'd much rather my little girl aspire to get one of the big honkin' ugly tattoos that this Barbie has across her entire back than to try to imitate anything else on Barbie.

Why?  Because if she chooses to get a big ugly tattoo, it's a lot less dangerous than her developing an eating disorder or getting plastic surgery.

And while we're at it, I'd even rather her dye her hair pink & wear those leopard print leggings & dress her dog up as a cactus.

In reading up on this new Barbie & everyone's opinions, my thoughts were confirmed:

One blogger describes Barbie as "the pretty girl I've always wanted to aspire to be... simply because she always got her man."

 

Before it's asked, no, I don't want my daughter to get a tattoo of a tiger up the side of her neck.  I can't stand large tattoos, especially on women.

But I do maintain that if it came between that & having an eating disorder or a drug problem or getting plastic surgery, sure...

And I say that from experience... not my own, as I don't have any tattoos... but I've seen people I love go through really rough times in life & get tattoos as a way of coping with it.  Is it classy?  Not really.  But is it worlds better than turning to drugs or alcohol or something even worse?  Absolutely.

I guess my point is, there are a million things wrong with Barbie... her obnoxious new tattoos being the least of them.

The President Comes to Visit!

After moving away from my hometown 3 years ago, I've learned that:

A) It's a very small town

B) I grew up on a farm

I truly didn't know either of these until others told me, and I began comparing things.  I assumed that since my town had 10+ stop lights, then it wasn't a small town at all.  I also assumed that since my parents didn't name 'our farm' and we didn't make money off of it, then it wasn't a farm.  Turns out, when you say your parents have goats, donkeys, a pig, a garden, and 3 small barns, people say, "Yes, Susan, that's a farm."

Anywho... in our small town we have a store called Mast General Store.  It's set up like an old General Store, and there are several of them in the mountains of North Carolina.

And well, who should visit the other day than the President of the US... Barack Obama.

No really... he's picking up some candy at the general store.  Not the one in my hometown, but not too far away.

So I'm dying to know the reactions of my friends & family back home.  President Obama has visited this area once or twice before... it's apparently one of his favorite areas.  I know why-- it's a pretty awesome area!  And what better time to visit it than in October when the leaves are falling?

And I have to admit... fan or not, if I saw the President getting some candy, I'd be gawking like all these other people!

Me? Absent? What?!

So yes, I admit, I was quite absent from this little blog last week.  After a year an a half of 5+ posts a week, I totally slacked off.  I can explain:

2 weeks ago I was on vacation.  Like a good little blogger, I had posts prepped & ready to go!

Then I got back from vacation & totally lost my mind catching up on all the work I had to do.

Oh, and that sweet little baby growing inside my tummy?  She has totally sucked me dry from what was left of my brain.  It's really a miracle I can type right now.

Truthfully, this week isn't any better.  I just sat down and wrote out my 'To Do' list for this week, broken into 3 columns: Business #1; Business #2; Personal.  Personal is by far the shortest one...  and each item in each column is a task that will take 15 minutes minimum.

What I'm trying to say is, I have a crazy week coming up!

But you know what?  I thrive off of crazy weeks.

This past weekend I did 5 photography sessions, 1 wedding, a proofing session, and a wedding consultation.

But I'm loving it.  Every single minute!  Work is busy busy busy, and personal is pretty much a whirlwind.  But I feel productive... a little bit like my old life before I moved to Virginia.  Apparently I need to work 50+ hours a week in order to feel productive.  And growing a baby doesn't count.

Okay, I'm done rambling... see you a lot more this week!

How to put 300,000 miles on a car.

Last year I made a bucket list.  I've learned though, that there are some things that you don't even realize are on your bucket list, until you've done them.  Like, driving through a bridge-tunnel.  For some, that's no big deal.  For me, that's a huge, scary deal!  But I did it!  And now I can't even count how many times I've done it... even beside a tractor trailer!

Yesterday marked another milestone that I didn't really want to admit how bad I wanted to reach it.  It's one of those that is somewhat in my control, but also somewhat out of my control.

My car hit 300,000 miles.  

No, really.

How do you do that?

1) Buy either a Nissan, Toyota, or Honda (this happens to be a 1997 Nissan Sentra).
2) Give it to a teenager who dates a guy in the next town.
3) Now have that teenager go to college 30 minutes in the opposite direction from said guy, making the trip twice as long.
4) Have that same teenager move back to her hometown, but still go to college 30 minutes away.
5) Have the now 20-something move to Atlanta & get a job in sales where she drives her car all day long.
6) Then have the husband wreck his car, sell it, and make the Nissan their 'family car.'
7) Give husband the same job.

So yes, I've had the car since I was 16.  My dad bought it for me in the fall of 2002 & it has 73,000 miles on it.  It's a straight drive, and it has only been in one wreck.  It was pouring rain, and despite going about 25mph, I still hydroplaned into a ditch.  A few years later my dad backed his truck into the side of it as well.

We've replace the basics on it, and bigger things as it hit 150K & 250K miles, but overall, we haven't replaced anything unexpected.  Biggest repair was $1200 for the clutch.  Ouch... but really... it was around 200K miles at that point, and it should have only lasted 120K.

Why do we still have the car?  Well, why not?  Honestly, if we had anything else, it'd be beyond our means.  We saved up and came across a great fabulous deal for our 2nd car.  And now we're saving for a car to replace this one when it breaks down beyond reasonable repair.  Honestly, I feel like that may be right around the corner... but I've said that before... many times... a couple hundred thousand miles ago!