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This year has proven to be full of mini vacations for me! From three days in Vegas with my hubby, to a spontaneous trip to North Carolina with my mama, brother and L and then, we are going somewhere again in December! (I’ll spill more details on this later!) This is not the norm for me! It’s usually one long vacation somewhere in the summer and then that’s that! But I like these mini vacations scattered throughout the year!! I might start making this a priority!!
A little less than a month ago, my mama and I were texting back and forth about how much we love Maghon Taylor and her handwriting and how we cannot wait for her book to arrive to our homes in August!! We talked about how we wished so much she had classes near us and quickly I got a phone from my mom saying, “Want to attend a class in NC?!” and obviously I couldn’t turn that down!!
He certainly gave us a run for our money this trip!
A 7.5 hour drive didn’t sound so bad and we are pro road trippers after our 18+ hour drive to Waco, TX two years ago!! 🙂 Now I must say, road trips with a toddler and a 9 month old are very different, both good and bad! LOL! But L is a pro by now and thank goodness my brother also went with us! Between the three of us, L stayed mostly entertained and just a few meltdowns took place, from all of us! 😉
Living in northern Ohio – it is as flat as can be! So it’s nice to see something out of the norm during our drive!
These two are so alike in so many ways! LOL!
After our hand lettering class, we grabbed a quick bite at Chick Fil A, which is everywhere down south (not so much for us! The nearest one to me is 35 minutes away!) so we filled up, went to sleep and then hit the road to head home! People have called us crazy for driving down for just a few hours and then to head back home but the class was worth the long drive!!
We made it! Finally! And yes, that is chocolate brownie leftover on his face!
If you are not familiar with Maghon Taylor (and if so, you are totally missing out!!), she is the “she” behind All She Wrote Notes!! And y’all, we had an absolute blast learning from her!! She was so genuine, kind, funny and just full of happiness!! We loved her to pieces!! If you are in the area of one of her classes or are up for an adventure to get to her – do it!! You will NOT regret it!! I could have listened to her all day!! We are hoping she comes up with an all day workshop!! She is just so inspiring!! ❤️
The hand lettering class took place at the WinMock in Winston-Salem! Oh my – it was Soo beautiful and I could only imagine what it would be like to photograph a wedding here!
Maghon was so amazing! We loved learning from her in person!! I know we will be back for another class in the future!! And I also didn’t get the memo on wearing white pants! 😉
Framing this! 😉 I love how happy her hand lettering is!!
Once we got some rest, we woke up and turned right back home and headed to Amish Country!! Amish country is like a second home to us! We filled our bellies with comfort food & swam and all slept like babies!! Once we got up, we headed out to shop until we couldn’t stand the heat anymore! (It’s been realllll hot here lately!)
I brought my camera with me and between the heat, pure exhaustion and a two year old ready to jump out of the car : didn’t leave me much time to pull it out! But I hope to come back in the future to advantage of all these beautiful trees in NC!! I could photograph in front of these all day long!!
Back on the road and surprised at how much I love mountain views especially being a pure beach view lover!!
Wished we weren’t all just so ready to get out of the car so I could have photographed these mountains with my camera!! Such a sight!!
It was a short and sweet trip! Perfect for a road trip with a toddler! 😉 My bubba said he doesn’t want to travel farther than a twenty minute drive to my grandma’s with us anywhere in the near future! LOL! 😉
I didn’t take any pictures in Amish Country aside from this here and it doesn’t even depict the beauty of Amish Country!! I’ll have to do another post one day of all my favorite things about Amish Country!!
I joked with my mama before we left, I bet we will come up with another business idea on our way back home and sure enough, it happened! This happens every time we are together! We just have a lot of ideas and not enough time! 🙂 Such a great trip but now it’s time to enjoy the last few weeks of summer before it comes to an end!
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This past October, Nick and I had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas for a few days away! My hubby is pretty awesome at sales (I need to learn his tips & tricks!) and with those great skills, he won a trip to Vegas!! How awesome is that?! And how lucky am I that I got to tag along?! ☺️
Nick and I are not experienced or professional travelers by any means! This was both our second time flying! I am not going to lie – I am a tad nervous when it comes to flying! I’d much rather drive! But since Las Vegas is quite some distance away, that wasn’t going to be an option! So I thought at least I could hold Nick’s hand if I needed too (yes, go ahead and laugh at that 😄)! However, because of our inexperience with flying, we end up in class C and one of the last passengers to board, resulting in not sitting next to each other! I think everyone we passed to get to a seat seen my deer in headlights look! Hehe! 😳
We landed in Vegas (and I was seated next to the sweetest woman! Hallelujah!) and I was completely blown away by the beautiful scenery beyond the strip! We stayed at the MGM Grand and I have never seen a bigger hotel in all my life! After check in, we grabbed lunch for us, breakfast to them and started to explore Las Vegas!
Our four days in Vegas were a lot of fun and a great little get away for just the two of us! We missed our babe so much though! I don’t think I let him go for a solid hour when we got home! ☺️
So, the reason why this blog post is called Las Vegas Part One is because you guys – we are going back!! Nick did it again and I get to soak in the rewards of his hard work! 😉 At the end of the month, we are going back for round two and we have a “Vegas Bucket List” for the next time around! And instead of boring you with a play by play of our first trip to Vegas, I’m listing the basics of everything we did, see and enjoyed while there!!
Day One:
- We stayed at the MGM Grand! The hotel was MASSIVE and had three starbucks! (That was my favorite part to the hotel! 😉)
- We visited the M&M store, the Coca Cola store and TJMaxx. #Priorities
- Well oohed and ahhed all our hotel had inside! You could spend an entire day browsing and seeing what each hotel has to offer!
- We went to Top Golf and that was surprisingly a lot of fun! Nick showed his athletic side that I NEVER knew he had!! The things you learn while on vacation!!
- We walked around the Paris hotel and caught the fountain show at the Bellagio hotel under the Eiffel Tower Restaurant! This too will probably be the closest I will ever get to the real thing!
Day Two:
- We walked the strip and got very sore feet!
We seen The Cosmopolitan Hotel (my favorite!), The Bellagio Hotel, Ceasers Palace, the mall to see the rain shower (not worth the walk in my opinion!) and so much more along the way! - We ate at The Wicked Spoon at the Cosmopolitan hotel and oh my sweetness, it was GOOD! Bottomless mimosas, anyone?
- We seen the Chris Angel show and I was blown away! Such fun!
- We gambled $40 in 5 minutes and lost it all! 😣
Day Three:
- We did a food tour and oh my goodness, it was so fun and tasty!! We got to eat food and see places we never would have gone to without this tour!! Totally recommend!
- Did some tourist shopping! Had to bring home L a special gift!
- We ate at the Ceasers Palace buffet and holy moly, I ate way too much! Good thing we had a long walk back!
There was so much that we didn’t get to during our time there that we are putting on our Vegas Bucket List for our next round and would love some suggestions! Any restaurants or shows that are a must?! Give us all the advice and enjoy a few pictures from our time there!!
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Happy New Years Eve friends! Wow! This year has gone by so quickly, yet when I was looking back at all of these sessions, some felt like they were ages ago! And I had totally forgot that I had taken them this year!
This was a really big year for me – I went full time wedding & maternity photographer (!!!!), began to no longer take on other sessions, photographed over 100 families (!!!!) and had a fabulous year with six amazing weddings! The perfect way to ease back into wedding season after taking a year off to spend that first year with my little one!
I had such a fantastic year and had invested in SO MUCH education! And it was the BEST decision I could have ever made for my business! I have found my style, my groove, my “look” and to be able to be happy with what I am creating really is amazing!
Taking on so many sessions proved to be a bit busy – leaving my little one behind all the time giving me the reason to step back from other portrait sessions and really focusing on specializing in weddings and maternity portraits. But I do miss my family sessions and do hope to find a nice balance in 2019 to find a way to do all of the things here without it being too much!
2018 was hands down my best year yet. And how great that is to say that?! Next year, my wedding season is almost completely full with only TWO (I REPEAT TWO!!) wedding dates left! Y’all – if I could only explain to you what that means to me, my family…it means everything to us!! You have allowed me to be there for the biggest day of your life and all the best days of my little guy’s life and that could just bring me to tears thinking of how lucky that makes me!
Now that I have gotten my consistent style & look down and my groove of how I work on a session and wedding day – 2019 is all about working on my clients experience! Looking for all the ways to serve everyone better & make your experience one worth talking about!! And I can not wait for you to see what I have already begun to dream for y’all!
I hope your 2018 did you well and I hope 2019 is 100X better! Cheers & see you in the New Year! Enjoy a “few” favorites from a handful of my sessions this year! XX. -Britt
This was the moment I learned what ‘shotgunning a beer’ meant! (Disclaimer: not what I thought it meant! LOL!)
