We always have a great time together. He makes me laugh so hard my cheeks hurt and I can’t breathe. I miss him even when I know he’ll only be gone for 8-10 hours while he’s at work.

I cherish the times we do have together. Times absorbing sights like these, especially.

Photo taken in Heraklion, Greece

I am going to be out of town this weekend at a conference. While I’m away, check in on him. Make sure he’s alive, please.

[And in case you're curious to see more of Greece, I put up two photos on Urban Grey today. Check them out here.]

She’s my next door neighbor.

She’s due to have little man in two or three weeks.

She’s always wanted to be a mom.

Charity is one of the sweetest, kindest people I know. She’s selfless and always thinks about everyone around her. She and Chauncey’s baby boy is going to be one of the happiest little guys around. I made this photograph yesterday, and it’s the only one I’ve edited so far. It’s definitely a favorite though. Dad-to-be Chauncey will make his appearance in the whole post, but I’m definitely wanting to celebrate this gorgeous mama for a minute or two…

In September, I photographed their beautiful mom’s wedding. We had been planning a session with the two girls for a while. When they said they were interested in doing a session at the beach, I jumped at the chance. Being with these two girls was fun, inspiring, freeing, and perfect. I can’t even explain how much I’m loving working through these photos.

To me, this is the epitome of sisterly love.

I wanted to write you a little hello to update you on something that I’ve been pondering lately.

After much thought, I have decided to take a little break from booking family, children, and newborn portrait sessions. I am in a transition stage here at Magan’s Lens. If you’re interested in weddings, engagements, couple’s, or anniversary sessions, please head over to Urban Grey Photography and take a look around. I will continue blogging here about personal life things and DIY projects.

I’m not sure if I’ll re-introduce portrait sessions, but for now I’m on a little hiatus from them. I need some time to brainstorm.

Thank you for  understanding and for being so supportive.

xo,
Magan

Last night we didn’t do anything special – as in no fancy new dress, high heels and make-up. We spent the entire day with my family and I never changed out of my pajamas.  My brother drove back to my parents house from Lubbock and spent the whole day with us, too. We laughed and played games.

It was the perfect, relaxing ending to 2011. Yet, somehow I’m extremely emotional about the past year.

What a good year it was! I think I’m nervous that maybe this year might be harder or won’t live up to 2011. It was an awesome year of growth for me and I experienced so many things.

Here’s just a little recap of our awesome 2011:

• We closed on our house on December 30, 2010. We moved in almost immediately after. We left a neighborhood that I loved dearly and moved into a new one where I had to GPS practically every trip that I was going to take because I didn’t know where I was. (I’m geographically challenged.)  Our neighbors in our apartment complex had been two of our closest friends and while that was also extremely difficult, our new neighbors became two of our other close friends. This year we learned a lot about how to maintain the close friendships we had with our friends (who also moved into a new house!). We have had tons of fun letting our dogs run rampant in a back yard instead of trudging up and down three flights of stairs any time they needed to go out. Since our neighbors are our close friends, we put in a gate between our yards so our dogs can run and play together. I’d say they have enjoyed every hole-digging, blue-skied minute of this new-found freedom.
• We saw the streets around us fill up with incredible new neighbors. I have spent so much time in the past praying for friends to share life with. This year, we were so abundantly blessed with new friends. I have spent countless hours trying to be a good friend to all the new neighbors. It’s been eye-opening for me to see how busy D and I like to be. Our closest friends understand our crazy schedules, the fact that I have little time available on the weekends, and frankly, that I’m a workaholic. In order to build these new friendships, there have been times when I needed to get over my tiredness so I could show them I cared.  Times where I needed to say no to adding another work thing to my calendar so I could spend time with neighbors and friends. We’ve had coffees, lunches, shopping dates, and many a twitter or g-chat conversation that has left me feeling so loved and cared for this year.
• I learned a lot about my sanity and how it is okay for me to block days off on my calendar for my life, too. The last few years have been such an experience building my businesses; if someone needed me, I was ready to jump and ask them how high. I have not spent as much time thinking about myself and this year learned that down time for me, D, our friends, and our families is okay, too.  I had more established “work” hours this year and rarely worked extremely late nights. Long gone were the days of editing until 3AM. I made the wise choice to ask for help with my editing, which allowed me more time to spend with my clients, thinking up ideas, or simply reading a book in the evening.
• Speaking of books, this year was quite the book-nerd journey for me.  I met a bridesmaid, Estelle, at my February 2011 wedding.  She and I kept in touch via Facebook and twitter. Eventually that turned into keeping each other company throughout the day via google chat. We learned we both loved to read and she encouraged me to set a book challenge for myself on Goodreads. All of this led to the establishment of our joint project, Rather be Reading, where we read and blog about books. It’s really allowed me to take a hobby of mine (reading) and do something productive with it. I considered becoming an English major in college and have said numerous times over the years that I wish I were an editor or publisher. I don’t see that dream coming to life, but sharing my favorite books with my closest friends and absolute strangers has been so much fun.
• In 2011, I became a regular Betty Homemaker. In the past, when we moved into a house or apartment, I immediately wanted to fill the walls and make it the perfect living space. No box could go unopened, and I was okay with buying some mediocre thing to hang.  This year, I realized how much my style has changed in the 7 years D and I have been married.  My neutral, warm palette evolved into a clean, bright, vintage-y style. Instead of rushing to fill every wall I’ve slowly taken my time to collect things I definitely want, to make things that I cannot buy or afford, and learned to be okay with having a blank wall. My addiction to Pinterest has fueled a few projects that have made our home uniquely ours. I made this lamp and have a love for making wreaths that reflect my style.  I’ve created custom curtains, pillows, and shower curtains for our house throughout the year. I still have several more curtains to make and a sewing room to set up, but I’m looking forward to plenty of craft time in 2012.
• We took a few trips and got away. Shortly after closing on our house, I took my first solo flight to Florida to meet up with some of my favorite photographers from around the US for a long girl’s weekend. We threw Alice a baby shower, talked business, and made goals for 2011. D and I took a  trip to Colorado with my family in July. We introduced them to one of our favorite quaint cities there, Telluride.  Our last trip, in September, was completely unexpected.  D was given the opportunity to go to Greece for a work conference and I tagged along. I still haven’t gone through any of those pictures, though one of my January goals is to edit the batch of 1400 photographs and have a wall in our house dedicated to the journey by February 1st. Of course I’ll share some of them with you guys.
• D and I became an Aunt and Uncle this year to a 2 year old little boy and a (currently) almost 9 month old little girl. We have witnessed D’s brother and sister-in-law go through the journey of fostering to adopt and while these two kiddos are not officially, officially theirs (court system, government, and paper work wise), we hope they will be. Just typing about them brings tears to my eyes as I think about what an awesome year it’s been as we went from being called “Aunt May” and “Uncle Duck” when we first met little A. As we saw tiny little H at only 4.5 lbs when she was a month old. It is my prayer that in 2012 we will see their names officially change.
• I learned to document my life with iPhone photographs.  Your head might be cocked to the side as you re-read that last sentence, but it’s true. As a photographer, my camera is often by my side. During the times that it is not, I am thankful for my iPhone and the nifty Instagram app. I began 2011 with a 365 challenge, and while I’m not sure I took a picture every single day, I know I took well over that amount cumulatively. Here’s a little post I did with only Instagram photographs.
• The biggest switch business-wise was that I predominantly became a wedding photographer. I have poured my heart and soul into Urban Grey over the last year and have met some of the most amazing people as a result. I didn’t photograph as many families or children in 2011, and decided to make Magan’s Lens more of a personal blog with maybe an occasional client post. 2011 was the year I quit fretting about what to do to get more business and just let that worry completely subside. I felt so taken care of this year and had such a peace about work. In years past, I’ve asked for countless prayers from my friends. This was the year that I just trusted. I feel the same way going into 2012 – just very secure and happy. [Please don't misunderstand and think that I'm completely booked and making the big bucks. That's not it at all. My calendar is not completely booked and I don't have everything all figured out.] I have decided that it’s much easier to be happy and thankful when I’m not constantly focused on when I’ll book my next wedding or schedule my next XYZ. In the past, it was almost … addictive … to focus on work so much. Trusting and letting go has just been freeing.
• This Christmas marked the tenth year that D and I have been together. Ten years ago, I went on a double date with my husband, his brother, and my lifelong best friend. I thought he was cute. Since it was Christmas, I didn’t know if I was supposed to buy him a gift – it was only our first date, after all. We saw the Lord of the Rings (the first one) and I couldn’t remember a thing about the movie after it was over because I was so nervous. We went to his cousin’s church the next day and then two days after our first date he said that he loved me. (YEP, you read that right!)  Shortly after, we rang in our frist new year together, celebrating with his family in Giddings, TX.

My hopes for 2012 are that we’ll continue to build relationships with the incredible people in our lives. That D and I will spend another year growing closer to one another – learning more about each other and pushing each other to grow spiritually, emotionally, and relationally. That we’ll be okay with all our non-plans – meaning that we don’t have every moment mapped out to the greatest detail and that we just go along for the ride. Wherever life takes us, we just go with it.

I hope 2012 is a fabulous year for you. Happy New Year to you and yours.

XOXO,
Magan

Things around this time of year are just… busy.

The last few weekends I’ve been out of town for one of my best friends’ engagement parties and sessions. My poor dogs probably thing I disintegrate on the weekends because I’ve practically been non-existent at home on Saturdays and Sundays since August.  My awesome hubby understands it’s all part of the business and this is without a doubt busy season for him as well. We’re really looking forward to quality family time – not just with one another, but also with our parents and siblings.

There’s something about this time of year that makes me yearn for my favorite things…

…playing games late into the night with my family.

…watching movies at D’s parents house with everyone cuddled closely on the couch.

…curling up on the sofa for a few hours with a REALLY good book and a frighteningly hot cup of hot chocolate.

I absolute love the busyness. I thrive on it.  But at the same time, I am excited for the upcoming…pause.  The exhale after a long, hard workout.

This image below was taken while I was waiting on a couple to arrive to an engagement session recently. Despite the busyness, I’m trying to remember to shoot for myself, too. I love the calm that this image evokes. What do you think?

Fast forward two and a half years later.  Aimee and Adam will be welcoming a new sweet little girl into their family, Lainie.  It was so much fun to hang out with these guys – to see how grown up Lexi has become, how funny she is, how they love to laugh together, and how gorgeous Aimee is pregnant.  Miss Lainie is going to have three awesome people who love her so incredibly much.  They’re eagerly awaiting her arrival…

I’ve been super busy doing annual photo sessions for some of my very favorite people. I wanted to post new Christmas card layouts for this year. Take a peek! Please contact me for pricing and to inquire about printing.

To see designs from last year, please click here. (You will have to click to enlarge the images once the page loads).  You are still able to choose a layout from last year if you see one that you love!

THE WORDS COLLECTION:

THE WELL-SAID COLLECTION:

She’s brave and sweet and kind. She’s funny and observative.

And she’s still a little fashionista. I’m in love with her dresses – the first was her Christmas dress and the second is a custom-made dress for her birthday party. Aren’t you in love?

Who knew that in October there would be bright yellow flowers blooming? It was a nice find right before we walked to our cars.

Because of that, I’ve had a bit more time to stop. Pause. Look around. And to see the beauty.