Life Lately: A Look Back, and a Look Ahead

Ahhh, deep breath. It’s a new year! Is it just me, or were the last few months just so crazy? Crazy good, crazy busy, crazy full, crazy fun…so much crazy! Christmas was full of cookie baking and Christmas lights hunting and book-reading snuggle fests and brunches with friends and exploring this beautiful city and all it has to offer during the holidays. It was so fun, and, aside from realizing a week before Christmas that I had yet to buy any (except one) gifts because I’d been so focused on making the most of every moment and the mild panic that went with this realization, we had a really fun, smooth, beautiful season.

And now 2018 is here! But, before diving into all that 2018 will bring, I wanted to take one last (from a blogging perspective) stroll down memory lane and all that 2017 brought. It was a great year! Check out the highlight reel.

The year started out with a whole lotta cuteness, and that was pretty much a theme throughout:

Whew, cute girlie overload! But how can you blame me?! Just look at those sweet faces!! But, I did do more in 2017 than just take pictures of my beautiful children. We also traveled:

And, Amy Ledyard Photography was born in 2017! I did my first two weddings, a couple of family lifestyle shoots, a few maternity shoots, a birthday party, a birth, some headshots, a graduation, a few high school seniors, and more. Thank you to everyone who blessed me with the privilege of documenting some chapter of your lives whether it was the start of your family or the birth of your child or just your willingness to let me follow you around my neighborhood with my camera. I loved serving each one of you and hope to do so again soon!

Eek, what a beautiful year it was! I can’t believe it’s already over! I mean, look at how tiny my girlies were in those first few!! </3

But, if you know me at all, you know that I thrive off of change and movement; Husband and I are always setting goals and looking ahead and dreaming and talking about how to make all of our crazy dreams a reality, and the New Year is certainly no exception. A few of our goals for 2018 include:

Travel: we’re planning a weekend in the mountains early this year with honest-to-goodness hopes of being snowed in; we’re working out details to go visit my sister-in-love in Zambia late summer, possibly with some European exploration on the way there and back; we’ll likely take what’s becoming our annual trip to San Francisco this year, too. Of all of our goals, these may be the most exciting to me! Don’t get me wrong; I’m fully committed to and on board with all of our goals and dreams, but these travel goals are the ones that really put the wind in my sails. We want our girls to grow up knowing that there is so. much. more to the world than just the United States. It’s a big, wide, beautiful world, and there’s no describing all that you can learn about God and yourself when you travel. That’s a heritage we want to pass on to our children, so these travels really get me excited!

Ministry: we feel that we’re entering into a season of being called to really work our hospitality muscles. We very intentionally downsized because we value experiences over things, and we want to cultivate that as part of our family identity; time and memories will always win over gifts and the accumulation of stuff for us, but that absolutely does not mean that we want to open our home less. We feel like we’re supposed to have an open door to friends and even strangers, and I’m excited to see how this calling plays out. 

Family: I’ve already described how we feel that our urban move has resulted in a healthier lifestyle and family environment, so we’re excited to continue developing these changes that we’ve already been implementing. One thing that I feel has been lacking a little bit, though, is structure, and we are really feeling the effects of this. I’m not a structure person by nature, but we will be implementing a few things to help me with this. I’ll share more details about that on the As Told By Amy side of the blog soon, if you’re interested in learning more.

Business: In the busyness of moving and then the holidays, I really let both of my blogs go. I regret that and plan to get back on the train with them this year. I’ve been working hard over the last few weeks to work ahead developing some really awesome content that I can’t wait to share with you! My goal for 2018 is to never write and publish something off the cuff but to be a month ahead on all my content from gifts to social media to the blogs. I want to serve you guys well, and publishing something just for the sake of publishing something is NOT serving you well. You deserve my best work, on your wedding day and when you come to my blog. 🙂

Personal: I saved this one for last because this is really where the rubber meets the road. If I skimp on keeping these goals then all the others will crumble behind it. So, to avoid that, I am excited to wake up early each morning to take some time to relax, think, read, and just be with Jesus before jumping into the rest of the day. I have noticed that when I do this, every other aspect of the day is so. much. better. I also want to start running again with the possible goal of completing another half marathon this summer or fall. And, to continue furthering my business and my own development as a wife, mom, entrepreneur, and person, I want to read 30 books this year.

Whew, that’s a lot! So tell me. What are your goals and dreams for 2018? Don’t you just love a new year?!?

May 2018 be everything you’re hoping for and more!!

January 2, 2018

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Charlotte, NC Wedding Photographer