Christmas 2016

Wow, I could really get used to a two-day work week! Caleb and I had a few extra vacation days to burn off before the end of the year, so we took Tuesday/Wednesday off! I can't tell you how much we needed it. Having that much uninterrupted free time was just amazing! We stayed up late, slept in, watched a whole lot of Netflix and just soaked in as much of the holidays as possible. Dating him is so fun!

Friday evening we grabbed dinner with some friends that were in town. It was a great time, and made me so thankful that our friendships haven't wavered even though distance may separate us!

Saturday we woke up and went to the early Christmas Eve service, then Caleb talked me into exchanging one present earlier in the day. It's always a little silly tradition we do, but we normally exchange right before bed, so this was fun...but I knew he had something up his sleeve. He wanted me to be able to wear this all day (since we do PJ's at my Dad's)! It's definitely a new favorite hoodie, it's SO incredibly soft (and for those of you asking...it was from WALMART of all places)!!)

We loaded up the car and enjoyed a full day over at my Dad's house! It was different than our normal, since my Great Aunt and Uncle couldn't make it out, but we still had such a great time! FYI, my Dad and his wife seriously go ALL OUT with the Christmas decorations...it's insane but also really freaking cool.

Sunday was something special; Christmas always is! I truly love that morning with Caleb! We always have so much fun exchanging gifts!

Then we loaded the car back up, and headed to my Grandparents! We always have brunch at their home with my Aunt and Uncle, cousins and my brother! We love being able to spend the day with them; eating delicious food, exchanging gifts, and watching movies/games on TV!

My bro is getting into photography as a hobby! You KNOW I'm excited!

Caleb got me these sweatpants, and I'm basically living in them now!

The rest of our days off were spent preparing for the rest of the week. We dated our faces off and sheesh, it was amazing! I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and I CANNOT believe the New Year is just right around the corner!

2016: a look back, and a little peek forward.

Every year I think I say the same thing; this was the fastest year of my life! But truly, I think this was. 2016 was pretty incredible all in all. Some parts were difficult, others were rewarding, but all in all? I'm extremely happy with 2016. 

This is always one of my favorite posts to write because I get to reflect on the last year and really take at the things we went through, our memories, the things we learned (both good and bad) and to make some loose goals for the new year ahead. I always love doing that!

Here's a look back at the past year:

-We rang in the New Year with our best friends doing what we do best; playing board games!

-Took Emily Ley's Simplified Challenge and cleared up some serious house/mental clutter!

-Found out Erin and Jared were having a BOY! We love that little man to death.

-Becky came to visit me again!! I love that blogging brought us together!

-Angie and I went to visit Lyndsie in Nashville and ate WAY too much food!

-I got into my first car accident (not my fault, luckily) but ended up driving my DREAM CAR for a week, so it wasn't all terrible.

-Celebrated Easter weekend with family and brought treats to share!

-Wrote my first "things I'm loving" post which quickly turned into a favorite prompt of mine!

-Helped throw Erin her first baby shower!! That was such a blessing for me! Being Aunt Kayla is seriously one of the coolest things in the world.

-I found an old letter my Grandpa, who had passed away two years prior, wrote me.

-Ran and finished my 3rd half marathon with my husband by my side!!

-Wrote a heartfelt letter to my younger self that really opened my eyes.

-Watched my brother graduate High School in May! *cue the tears*

-Caleb and I celebrated 3 YEARS of marriage with Mexican food!

-Met our first INCREDIBLE baby nephew and snuck in as many cuddles as we could!
-Successfully photographed another week of our church's annual Sports Camp!

-Enjoyed a couple of obligation free weekends with friends/family over the Summer!

 -Got a little frustrated that we're still in debt but realized we're still making serious progress and to be proud of wherever we are in life!
-Turned 25; Caleb threw me the most quaint little surprise party ever! He's the best!

-Spent an amazing week with the teens in Cleveland, TN for CIY! Hearts were changed!
-Stepped outside of my comfort zone BIG TIME and visited my first Tuesdays Together meeting (where I knew no one) and WOW, it's made a huge impact on my life! So thankful!

-Hung out with the Bengals on field, NBD!

-Photographed one of my favorite weddings to date and made some new friends!
-Had a ladies night with two of my favorite ladies!

-FINALLY GOT A NEW CAMERA! Haven't put it down since ;)
-Celebrated Caleb's 28th with a week off of work and lots of tasty food and good movies!

-Spent Halloween handing out candy with family! No fun costumes this year, sadly!
-Enjoyed a fun paint night with the ladies!

-Photographed our first out of state wedding, in Nashville, TN!
-Caleb and I followed God's quiet whisper to start a young adult group in our church and it's been a HUGE success!

-Enjoyed an incredible Thanksgiving with all our family and then decorated for Christmas. YAY!
-Got spontaneous dinner with my bestie because she was in town and I miss her way too much!

-Successfully photographed 31 whole weddings this year. WOW! We're exhausted, but feeling SO proud!
-Tried to soak in as much of the Christmas decor as we could. Feeling so thankful for our tiny town home, even through the days of annoying maintenance, noise complaints, etc.! We're grateful, especially this time of year, to have a roof over our heads and warm feet before bed.

STARTED OUR BUSINESS!!!! Omg. Still amazed at this one!
Celebrated Christmas together!

Caleb and I have quite a few big goals and big wishes for 2017, which (hopefully) include...

getting out of debt (finally)...
beginning the process of finding/buying a home...
spending a LOT more time in prayer...
saving more money...
...truly enjoying every bit of free time that comes our way.

Next year isn't near as booked up as the last few have been, and I have to say that was pretty intentional. Caleb and I are so excited about our new business, and can't wait to book up like crazy in the next few years, but next year we're REALLY trying to enjoy the time we have together more intentionally. More unplugged date nights, more cuddles on the couch, more time with friends. I am excited to have a better workflow system in place to cut time down behind my computer screen. After all, I didn't pick up a camera in the first place to be stuck behind my computer half my life.

I hope 2017 is amazing for ALL of us! Any big moments from 2016 you want to relive? Any fun goals for the New Year you have? Tell me about them!

Life lately.

I can't thank you all enough for your encouraging comments, texts, emails, tweets, and all the love on yesterday's post! It truly means the world that Caleb and I have so many people "on our team" to cheer us on through this new and exciting journey!

I never did blog about my weekend, mainly because I haven't had time to sit down and upload all the pictures from my memory card, but I realized I just didn't care. I don't want to forget all the awesomeness that took place!

Last Friday we headed out to Athens, OH (it was actually Nelsonville, but almost no one knows where that is) to photograph our LAST WEDDING OF THE YEAR! I can hardly believe it when I say that out loud; 31 weddings this year?! I get a little exhausted just thinking about it, but it's something I'm really proud that we accomplished!

copy of a photo, not high res.

We photographed inside an old Opera House from the 1800's and it was AWESOME! Caleb and I love shooting in non traditional venues!!

We drove home early Sunday morning in time for our first Christmas celebration with Caleb's side of the family and it was a great time. I got so many wonderful gifts (like I wish I had the photo ready of my face when I opened my brand new 12 cup food processor - eek!!) and Caleb and I left with an entire laundry basket full of new gifts. We're so thankful!

Right after that, we rushed to meet up with our high schoolers to go Christmas caroling that evening! Like I said, I really wish I had the photos uploaded already so I could share the emotion, but with every home we stopped at, we all got more and more emotional. Every elderly member of the church we sang to had tears in their eyes. It was honestly such a moving experience! I hope we can make this an annual tradition!

I'm excited to report Caleb and I HAVE been a lot more festive since I created my December to do list earlier in the month. It feels great to really be celebrating Christmas every day leading up! We basically celebrate it until the new year!

I hope everyone has a fun day! I unfortunately have to work all week, but I took a couple extra days off next week to enjoy with Caleb. Can't wait to unplug and just BE! 

ITS LAUNCH DAY! Our business is here!

Today is the day, friends. The day our business and website officially launch. Our website is complete, images are finalized, prices are set, and we are SO excited to be business owners. We've prayed for this for SO long and I can't even explain to you how much love has been put into this (by so many people, not just Caleb and I), and I can't thank everyone enough. The support, encouragement and love sent our way has been so amazing! So thankful for one of our best friends (who doubles as our SIL), Erin, for making our incredible logo! We're just so grateful to get to do what we love!

So friends, HERE IT IS! ENJOY!

I also wanted to share the blog post below that I posted on our website, for those of you who are interested in our back story, or if you just need a distraction from work. We hope you'll tune in and give us all the virtual high fives from wherever you are today. We are so thankful for you!
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Welcome to Kayla & Caleb! We're Cincinnati based wedding & portrait photographers! We're so incredibly thankful to be starting this business together. This dream has been a long time in the making and we're so grateful it's finally here! If you've got some time, kick back with some hot tea, get your favorite box of cookies out, and read on!

I'm Kayla. When I was just a young teenager, I had dreams of becoming a photographer. I thought I wanted to work for National Geographic and photograph animals and see the world (those things still do sound a bit appealing). All I had to work with at the time was an original Wide Polaroid and my Motorola Razr flip phone, but I made it work. I would photograph anything I could see and anyone that would let me. I grew to love photography even more, and the passion only got stronger as I grew up. Fast forward a few years to post-high school life, when I reconnected with Caleb. We were young, and we fell in love FAST. We spent our evenings watching bad TV, and eating way too much ice cream. When we came home from school, I turned 20 and he gifted me my first DSLR (cue the tears and ridiculous happy dancing), and that's when everything clicked.

Just kidding. I really wasn't very good; I'll be honest! I had no idea what I was doing, but people didn't care because I had a passion for it. I slowly taught myself what I needed to know about my camera and did free sessions for years. I always had dreams of owning my own business, but always thought that dream was too big and that self employment was truly not in the cards for me.

After Caleb and I got married in 2013, he started to pick up my camera here and there to document our lives. He was a true natural and he really had an eye for it! He started to love it and joined me on one of my first weddings for fun, almost just to pass the time. Turns out he was pretty stinkin' good! A few months after our OWN wedding, our amazing photographers took us to dinner and they asked us to join their business as "Associate Photographers" (cue more tears and ridiculous happy dancing). What?! I couldn't believe it. My dreams finally felt within reach.

We happily accepted their offer and worked under their company for over 3 years, photographing 100+ weddings and meeting lots of new people. The experience and knowledge they gave us was invaluable. We learned a lot, and really honed in on our natural style of photography (raw, emotional, timeless and FUN) within the last year. We've grown so much over the last 3+ years, but neither of us could shake the feeling it was time to for a new adventure. We prayed about it, thought of so many reasons it could potentially fail, and then decided to just punch fear in the face and GO FOR IT. Our pastor once told us "you can what-if your dreams to death, but you'll never know until you try", and that was such a light bulb moment for us. We knew it was time to start our own business! So here we are, as "Kayla & Caleb".

We get such a unique opportunity as photographers; to witness and be part of some of the most intimate moments of our clients lives! It's truly an experience we don't take for granted. We can't wait to meet all of you, and start this adventure together. We want to give our clients an experience they'll never forget.

Caleb and I love what we do, and we can't wait to show you just how much!
Stay tuned for more fun!

December {to do}

I'm going to be 100% honest, this December hasn't felt quite like December for me. Other than last weekend, we haven't done much of anything very festive. We're having to, for the first time in years, skip out on our annual tradition of the free Christmas play we always go see, we haven't wrapped any presents for each other, and haven't watched a single Christmas movie. What is going on!?!

2015 Christmas season

I was kind of bummed out about it this morning, sulking in my own sadness, texting Caleb "why aren't we more festive people this year?!!"...then I realized, there are still ELEVEN DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS! Then seeing how we don't even take our tree down until after the New Year, we still have plenty of time. So I decided to make myself a little mini December bucket list of festiveness (that's a thing, right!?);

Watch Elf. I've asked Caleb to watch this 3 times already, and he kept saying "but its not snowing"... SO!? But now that we've had a fair share of snow this week, I think its time to pop it in!

Buy Christmas pajamas. I've seriously never owned a legit pair of Christmas PJ's in my life. I always just open presents wearing whatever I wore to bed that night before, so I'd like to have on a cute pair of PJ's this year!

Make something for Christmas brunch. Every year we go to my Grandparents for brunch after we're all done doing our own Christmas morning, and she slaves away for HOURS making stuff, so I'd like to contribute something this year.

Go caroling. Because ITS FUN!

Give an anonymous gift to someone in need. Enough said.

Do one Christmas-y thing outside of the house. Like I said above, unfortunately we're missing the free Christmas play this year we always go to, so I still want to get out and date my man. I'll be honest, we haven't "dated" much lately. Although this is our slow season from weddings, we have been catching up on edits and working tirelessly on our website. So I'd like to do something local, either the Christmas Light Show that you drive through, the Festival of Lights at the Zoo, or another local play, I just want to do something fun!

Make this cocoa in the crock pot. I mean, because why not?

What's on your December list of things to do? I'd love to add something else! Have a great day, friends!

Our festive weekend, a few days late!

It's totally normal to blog about your weekend by the middle of the work week, right? Okay good. Because that's absolutely what's happening here today. Caleb and I have been staying up too late tweaking our website and its so so so close to being complete, I can hardly stand it!

Last weekend was amazing. So much fun with friends and family! Friday evening was Caleb's company party.  The first half of it was a little bit of a hot mess (we're talking loud emcees annoyingly screaming over a mic for 2 and a half hours trying to be funny while simultaneously performing a "murder mystery dinner" for 500+ people...yikes!), but once dinner ended a few hours later, we had a really great time!

Saturday morning was my family holiday baking day! 3 years ago we decided to start this, and I love that the tradition has carried on! My sister in law, Erin, always comes too! My grandma looks at her like another grandchild, and my aunt looks at her like a friend. I love that I have so many awesome women in my lives! We got started in the morning and stayed in her kitchen for HOURS baking up the most delicious treats.

yay for salted caramel mocha fudge and sisters!

After I fell into a sugar coma, I got ready for MY company holiday party! Caleb and I always look forward to it every year because the food is seriously incredible and the atmosphere is pretty fancy, which isn't our "normal".

Caleb always struggles with the flash ;) but he's still cute.

Sunday was fast paced; full of church, a family photo shoot, a Bengals win and then ANOTHER HOLIDAY PARTY! The photography company Caleb and I worked for (and still do somewhat, we have some weddings through next Fall still) had us and everyone else over for a quaint get together. Their house is adorable. I took some photos, but of course, haven't uploaded them yet - but that's life! All that matters is we're so incredibly blessed to call Joe and Amanda friends and are so thankful for the opportunities we've been given through them. We love you guys!

I hope everyone has had a great week, and happy hump day!

Ready for my weekend!

I've been looking forward to this weekend for a while!! Both mine and Caleb's annual company Christmas parties fell on the same weekend, which never happens, so we are in for a LOT of Christmas goodness the next couple days! I love that our parties are both so different. His is a little more low key and playful; we get a plated dinner, play poker type games all night with fake money but we get to win VERY REAL PRIZES! We seem to always walk away with something, somehow, so I'm excited to see what we may get our hands on tonight!

On the other hand, my party is a little more formal; definitely a suit & tie/dress kind of event! Which is polar opposite of how we normally dress, so its always fun to get all dressed up for a night out (free) with my man! We get the BEST food, seriously, its the highlight of my year. Steak, lobster tail, shrimp cocktail, mac and cheese. Sorry, I'm drooling now so we're going to move on ;)

I'm also going to my Aunt's tomorrow morning to do some holiday baking! It's something we started doing three years ago and we've kept it alive. I love planning what we're making, getting the kitchen covered in baking ingredients/supplies, and just spending a few hours having fun!

I've also got a family session scheduled for Sunday afternoon. I normally NEVER book work on Sundays in the Fall/Winter due to football, but lets be honest, the Bengals aren't all that exciting this year and I'd rather make a little cash for Christmas presents! This is a cute frame I snapped two weekends ago at a family session. It's always fun when you get to photograph a couple through their engagement, their wedding, and then once they grow to a family of 3.

I'm so looking forward to just spending some time with a few of my favorite people this weekend! I truly love this time of year, and everything that comes along with it! What are your fun plans this weekend?!

Currently {last of 2016}

It's crazy to think we are in December, and this is the last Currently of 2016 (linking up with the adorable Anne and her new co host Kellie today)! So much is going on in everyone's lives during the holiday season, and its fun to take a minute to look at what's going on in everyone's lives. 

So currently I'm...

Doing: some planning for a styled bridal shoot that will help build my portfolio to attract an ideal client! I'm super excited! I went to my second meeting with Tuesdays Together last night to talk details and I'm so excited about the inspiration for the shoots! We aren't having the actual shoot until the end of January but eek, I'm excited!

Enjoying: low key evenings at home with Caleb with the Christmas lights on, and popping in a movie. Seriously, the SECOND I get home I plug the lights in and keep most of the rest of the house lights off. It's dreamy. If only we had a fireplace! Another thing I'm enjoying? Reading. I've loved making time for something I love so much, and totally ignoring my to-do list some nights to make sure my soul is recharged.

Cooking: whatever we can round up. We put ourselves on a quick spending freeze for the week, and it's been kind of fun seeing whatever we have in the pantry and forcing myself to come up with something for us to have for dinner!

Wrapping: nothing. I have wrapped ONE present so far this year! We really do have most of our gifts for everyone this year, and for each other, BUT we need to get on the wrapping game asap so we don't feel overwhelmed! I'll never forget two years ago, I was wrapping like ALL of Caleb's the night before Christmas eve, ha (talk about procrastinating)! Our tiny apartment was so tight I banned him from walking in the hallway so I could finish everything in time. Ha! I love putting presents under the tree. Caleb and I always go out a couple days after Christmas to shop sales each year to stock up on gift wrap, so we have a lot of extra wrapping paper/tissue paper this year! Yay!

Playing: video games. Okay I haven't yet, but Caleb and I bought a couple video games on Black Friday and mine totally takes me back to childhood and I can't wait to play it with Caleb soon. We also have been playing a few board games; including "Scrawl" which I got as an add-on to his birthday gift. It's hilarious, look it up!

I hope everyone enjoys their Wednesday!

Free time is my favorite.

How do the weekends always go by so quickly?! It's just not fair. But I'm choosing not to look at my Monday with disgust. I've got my french vanilla coffee in hand, and an entire meal plan for the week to fill. So I'm choosing to make it a good one!

Remember this post, where I mentioned stepping outside of my comfort zone and going to Cincinnati's new "Tuesday's Together" group? Well, Friday was the year end celebration. I had only been to one meet up in August, but I've gotten to know so many of these wonderful ladies via social media the last few months, so it was fun to finally meet them! We had dinner at Tellers in Hyde Park and all day my co workers kept telling me that parking was basically impossible in that area of town so I was a little stressed. Wouldn't you know I found a spot literally RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE DOOR! Dinner was delicious and it was so great listening to everyone talk so honestly about their best/worst moments of 2016. It has me so inspired to launch this business and see where the next year takes Caleb and I!

We made sure to get enough sleep Friday evening because Saturday we were up bright and early for a surprise PROPOSAL SHOOT! Guys, my heart rate was through the roof the entire morning up until she arrived and then until said "yes", ha! It was so worth the anxiety and excitement and worry that everything would go perfectly. I'm so proud of the images we shot, and Kayla (that was the girls name, she's obviously cool based on her first name alone) was misty eyed as I showed her the back of my camera. THAT is what makes it all worth it!!

We went home, cleaned up, and just relaxed for a while. It feels so good to clean the house. I truly enjoy it, most days! Then I met up with two of my college girlfriends at my favorite Mexican place for an early dinner. Devin is from out of town, so she had to pick up her dog at the doggy daycare at 6, but we weren't done hanging out quite yet so I let her bring him back to my place! We watched Bridesmaids and just had girl talk for a bit. It was so good for my soul to spend time with some old friends! Is Lawrence not the cutest pup ever?!!

Sunday we witnessed a Bengals victory (where were those all season!?!!) and just sat on our butts the majority of the day. It was so awesome to just BE. Be home, doing nothing, but doing nothing together. That evening we did have our annual youth group Christmas party and it was a blast, as always. I love those kids.

Happy Monday friends, make it a great one!!

December {goals}

The fact that we're in the last month of 2016 is mind blowing to me! SO much has happened this year! I'm always so thankful when I write my year-end post, to be able to look back and re read memories that I've documented over the course of the last 11-12 months. I can't wait to write that one, but for today I have some goals I'd like to accomplish before next year!

I'll go ahead and skip details on my November goals recap because basically everything is 50% complete, but hey, that's life, and I'm okay with it! ;)

Run. No specific set of miles or anything, though. I want to ease back into it. I've run here and there over the last few weeks, and while its come back quite naturally, I miss being in a weekly routine. I'll be honest, too, I like running in the cooler temps! Caleb and I always have. We just both get so overheated in the summertime heat while running, so cooler temps make us happy (as long as there isn't ice on the roads).

Lose a few lbs. This will kind of go hand in hand with running/exercise, but I've really been trying to eat healthier the last few weeks overall and I've noticed its paying off, but I need to get more serious about it. I don't like being uncomfortable in my own skin.

Do my nails. My nails are seriously neglected. I keep them trimmed and clean, but never polished. I don't necessarily need to go pay for a manicure, I'd just like to spend ONE night soaking them, clipping them, painting a few pretty coats on!

Just be. Caleb and I have so much time over the next few months to just BE. Be together. I want to date

Launch our photography business!!! We legitimately only have a few minor things to tweak and we'll be ready. We don't want to rush into it, but this is also something we've wanted for a while now so we're excited to get it going!

Finish a book, finally. I am knee deep in one that I'm loving (titled The Year of Fog), and I have a few non-fiction books I'd like to pick up next, too. I feel like my "books to read" list is so long I never know which to go for next!!

Step up my digital organization. I need to continue weeding through my old photos and deleting a lot of them. Do I really need a photo of my Thanksgiving plate from 4 years ago? No. I need to pick the best ones, keep them, and put them on a new safe hard drive. I can't imagine ever losing old family photos, or photos of Caleb and I from our first year of marriage. Those are things I want/need to protect!

I hope everyone has a lot of FUN planned for the month of December! What's one thing you'd like to accomplish this month?