About 365 days of marriage

I started this blog in April of 2011. At the time, Bret and I were wedding photographers and it was a way to share how marriage is more about the day to day and so much more than the wedding day itself. For about 5 years, I blogged about the joys and sorrows of the Christian walk, marriage, work, family and friends. I’ve blogged every day since a few weeks after I started. In May of 2015, we photographed our last wedding. Now, I have become passionate about simplicity, particularly in marriage, Christianity, business, travel and life. For a number of reasons, we have become minimalists. I’ve found that having simplicity makes life so much deeper, refreshing and joyful. I hope that this blog will help others see the benefits of living simply.

Day 1226 – My Workout Buddy

Posted on November 18, 2012 by 365 days of marriage

One of the benefits of living in a house full of 8 people is having a lot of options for working out. It can be really hard for me to work out alone. I had gotten really good at running alone through the neighborhoods around the apartment…it’s funny, when we first moved there, I thought I would HATE running on roads…but now I really miss it! There really aren’t many places to run alone here. I do have pretty close access to the “hike and bike” trails that run from Sparks, MD up to New Freedom, PA….I just don’t like going by myself. I don’t think there have been any issues…but still, better safe than sorry. Anyways, I started working out pretty regularly with my youngest brother, Joseph. Today we took a nice 35 minute bike ride. It was such a nice, crisp day for a bike ride! I’m a little sad it’s starting to get so cold….but at least it’s not TOO cold yet. 🙂

Thanks Joseph!

Day 1225 – Do You Want To Win A $100 Victoria’s Secret Giftcard???

Posted on November 17, 2012 by 365 days of marriage

I’m giving away a $100 Victoria’s Secret gift card!!!

If this works out, I’m going to make this a quarterly thing!!

Here’s a few of the rules:
You must be a new bride (no contract with us yet)
You must need a photographer
Contest ends at Midnight EST, December 31st, 2012.

You know you wanna!

Day 1224 – An Engagement Session I DIDN’T Share or My Life Is Flying By Way Too Fast

Posted on November 16, 2012 by 365 days of marriage

For the first time in about a month, I’m writing a post on the day it’s supposed to be written. As you’ve seen, I have a post for everyday…but my loyal followers probably notice the bulk posts…5-10 at a time. I am sorry about that! I don’t mean to fill up your mailboxes and Facebook walls so much! Here’s hoping (ha) that it will get easier.

Then again, it’s been quite a few months for me! I seriously still think it’s July or August. Maybe even September. Last night I was pinning a few of my recent weddings/shoots. Going back through my blog posts, I realized I never posted the Kristofco full session! And it was such a good one too! I’ll be posting that below in a minute….

But first, I look back over my calender and boy do I have a lot of meetings, shoots, meetups, hanging with friends. My September is completely filled in, as was October. I moved, shot 3 weddings, several engagement and portrait session. I don’t say all this for a “awww, poor Jen, so busy. Or yay! Busy is good!” I more share to say I’m sorry. Truly. I’ve let things slip. So faithful readers, loyal clients, potential clients, friends….forgive me? I know we all go through seasons like this….but I have never been in a position where I feel months behind. I am thankful that God’s grace and mercy carried me through! Whew!

I’d say things will be slowing down….but I’m going to start writing my book very soon….so look forward to more “thoughtful” posts! 🙂

Now! Here are a few of my favs from Kevin and Caitlin’s family portrait/engagement session!

One of the coolest things we found during the shoot was a K&C heart on one of the trees! Come on, what are the odds of finding this??

Such a cute family! I can’t wait for your March wedding!!!

You can see the rest here!

Day 1223 – How I Honored My Husband Through Laundry Baskets

Posted on November 15, 2012 by 365 days of marriage

I’ll start this post with a little story.

It was the day Bret and I registered for our wedding gifts, a few months before our wedding. No…we need to go further back. Bret, as you may know, was a Marine. One thing that’s important is that their rooms are kept clean. Some guys would have a laundry basket. Not Bret. To make his job of cleaning even easier, he would do a few things that most people wouldn’t. He only had 1 fork, 1 spoon, 1 knife, 1 plate, etc. He’d reuse them during the day. He didn’t use a laundry basket, he used an empty drawer in his dresser. Ok…now we’re caught up….so when we were registering, I wanted to register for a laundry basket and he figured we’d just use a drawer. I really didn’t think we could get away with that….I figured between the two of us, we’d make a lot of laundry. We spent a good while (who knows now…it could have been 15 minutes or 30 minutes…) looking at laundry baskets…and “discussing” what we wanted/needed….and finally we found these drawers, with holes AND handles. It was a perfect compromise. Drawers for Bret, handles/baskets for me.

The lesson I learned through this was that you learn a LOT about your soon to be spouse when you register. It was quite an experience since we both came from very different view points on “stuff.” So, brides, register with a humble and light heart. You’re marrying your life partner…the stuff helps you in your journey…but it’s not what makes the journey. Listen to his wisdom and compromise. Also remember you’ll look back and wonder what the big deal was back then. (As I do right now!)

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Day 1222 – Networking is AWESOME!

Posted on November 14, 2012 by 365 days of marriage

Tonight I traveled 2 hours (with traffic) to a networking event in Virgina. Why would I travel so far? Well, I think networking is super important in any field….something I didn’t realize until the last year. It was also important to me because this was a group of Christian wedding vendors. I think it’s important to surround yourself with people who have the same views about business as you do, for support and understanding.

It was hosted by Teresa Lee of Rex & Regina Events…and boy could you tell it was an event planner’s house!! Check out the spread she had for us!!