So Shay

Beau Golfs A Lot Turns TWO! Master's Tournament Toddler Birthday Party!

2018-10-17T14:18:00.002-07:00

All party sources will be linked at the bottom of this post.

Wow...2018 has flown by, and I'll be honest...it's been a really hard year for us. There has been a lot of heartache, challenges, setbacks, swallowing of pride, and plain ol' crappy luck, BUT! and the biggest BUT of all...there's always a bright side to these kind of seasons. It has pushed us outside of our comfort zones, and has forced us to lean on God in all areas of our lives. The most positive and best part of this year has been raising Beau and watching him grow into his own little person. He is seriously the coolest kid. I can't believe I get the honor of being his mama. He's a mess, he's stubborn, he's smart, he's BUSY, he's so so sweet, and the boy is really good at golf. Haha. No, but really. OKAY, so I sound like one of those Mom's that are like, "My kid is the best at this and that, and Oh my baby is this and that." Okay, sue me, but don't be surprised if you see him on the PGA Tour someday okay? :) ;)

In all seriousness, Drew is really good at golf, and he loves the sport. My brother got a golf scholarship in college to play, and my Dad was also really good at it. I can hit a ball pretty hard, but it doesn't go straight most of the time. I'll take it. All of that said, it was only natural that Drew introduced our little Beau man to the sport this year because it's in HIS BLOOD haha. I remember watching him buy his first set of plastic clubs, and he LOVED them. He wouldn't put them down. He was constantly playing with them, and watching Drew so carefully and attentively when he would show him how to hit the ball. Fast forward to trying to figure out what theme to do for his party this year, and this just seemed like the easiest option. We had a completely different idea for his party for the first part of the year, but after seeing him take such a liking to golf, we couldn't resist. After last year's party, I promised myself that we would end up at Chuck-E-Cheez or Gattiland... Well, my creative heart just couldn't do it. Maybe next year? :) We will see.

My main goal for this party was that I wanted to spend a lot less moola and make it much easier than last. The good news is we didn't have to completely redo our backyard like we did last year. We wanted a smaller, more intimate and casual party, and because of the challenges we were facing during and around his birthday, I had no choice but to go a little (a little, I said) less crazy. We big time budgeted and made most of the things for his birthday party out of the wood and supplies we already had from past projects around our house. This helped us a bunch, especially because I always go overboard (always have!) and that naturally forced us to get creative. I'm really thankful for my friend Tori who was generous and let me borrow her Cricut. I had never used one before, so let's just say that was the biggest pain in the bootay of the whole party. BUT, without it, I wouldn't have been able to pull off this party the way I envisioned.

The theme we chose for this year was the Master's Tournament. Beau watched the tournament alongside Drew this past April and we kept cracking up at how much he actually appeared to be paying attention it. I am weird, I realize this, but I tried to make his party as close to the actual tournament as possible. Meaning, I googled all of the Master's Invitations, logos, badges, images and signage from 2018 and tried to replicate them.

Here is where my inspiration came from:

The flags, the logos, the invitations, the badges/tickets, etc.

The food and signage:

The green jacket, the scoreboard, the clubhouse, the clubhouse entrance...

Our Outfits and the Hanger:

Here's a little behind the scenes: It rained on us a lot when trying to build things and Drew's work schedule really made it hard to squeeze in these projects, but we made it happen! The first photo is spray painting all the signage. We had all the wood already, so we just bought the dark green spray paint from Home Depot. The white paint we also had from our kitchen remodel. The second photo is just of Drew's set up haha. The third photo is us trying to size up the small club house. The fourth photo are the badges we sent out with the invitations. The 5th photo is Drew building the mini golf hole. And the 6th photo is just the collection of things we were making along the way.

Our invite: I ordered the paper off of Amazon, found font that matched as close as I could to the original Master's Tournament font, made the invites in photoshop, and printed them off. I got the plastic badge covers from Office Max. We obviously had to put a spin on words and use BEAUgusta instead of Augusta. How could we not?

The day of his party was a rainy, overcast day, so we had to move most of his party inside. That wasn't a part of the plan, because you know I LOVE ME SOME OUTDOOR PARTIES but it is what it is! :)

The Entrance: Drew built the signage because he's freakin' hot like that. I made all the font and signage in photoshop and printed it out on the Cricut. The balloons are from Party City, and the flags are off of Amazon. The yellow flowers are from Home Depot. We tried to place them in the shape of the United States, like they plant them in front of the clubhouse in Augusta. The flags are off of Amazon as well, and again, I made those logos in Photoshop and printed them off the Cricut. At the front door there was a stand that had a basket of the badges to put on as you entered our house. We sent them in every invite as well. I QUICKLY painted the clubhouse the morning of the party by hand. I had about 20 minutes to do it, hence the messy look, but it ended up kind of looking like the clubhouse on the badges so I wasn't mad about it.

When you entered the house, you saw this: Happy Gilmore was on the TV, I was probably eating, and the gift station. Drew made the Leader's sign out of wood, I painted it, and then stuck letters on it from a light up marquee sign (these were from Michaels) with hot glue. Finished it up by putting balloons from Party City around it.

The Cake & Cookies: We got the cake and cupcakes from HEB. We ordered the cookies from the WONDERFUL and talented Mindy from Mindy's Bake Shop. Seriously, she made THE most perfect cookies. They tasted just as good and amazing as they looked, too! I could not recommend her baking services enough. She's also super sweet! Fitting right!? :)

The Golf balls and Golf Carts are from Amazon. The table cloths were rented from Marquee Events. The cupcake holders are from last years DIY where we hot glued a plate and bowl from Target together. The plates and cake stand are from things we have had around our house. The clear little stands are also from Amazon.

Drew made the Donut Stand with Materials from Home Depot. The sign is spray painted wood and the font was made on the circuit. I had the hardest time finding a green jacket for Beau. I looked and looked and searched and searched. I found one toddler's masters green jacket from Etsy that someone had made but it was $99.00 and I just couldn't spend that on a jacket...especially one that he would never wear again. I was getting desperate though and I was running out of time the week OF his party, and still had not found a green jacket. I spent so much time on Amazon looking for one, and NOTHING. Then on Wednesday, I decided to search again on Amazon, and a toddler 2T green jacket popped up. It was the weirdest thing. HOW!? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN GREEN JACKET!?!?!? I ordered it immediately, and found a guy out of Houston on Ebay that sold replica Master's badges. Got it rushed to my house, and ironed that baby on. Bada bing, bada boom. We had a jacket. By the hair of our chinny chin chins!

The donuts are from the one and only, Round Rock Donuts.

We had Beau's photo blown up at Walgreens, I put it in my bridal portrait frame that I already had, and borrowed the frame stand from my Mamaw. The number 2 balloon and green and yellow balloons are all from Party City.

The high chair (we have had this forever now) is from IKEA. We got the flags on it from Party City, and I printed out the BEAU letters on the Cricut. Balloons, again, from Party City.

The Food: We wanted to put a fun spin on the food and make it golf related. This isn't all the food that is served at Augusta, and there's also food here that isn't served at Augusta, period. Just thought it was fun and appropriate and EASY. AKA we didn't make the food. We ordered the chicken and club sandwiches from Chick FIL A, the Pimento Cheese sandwiches from Jason's Deli, the salad from Olive Garden, and my beautiful sister in law put together the Fruit "Par"-Faits with yogurt and fruit from H-E-B. The sign is a mini replica we made from the sign at Augusta with a few changes. The mini golf flags in the sandwiches were toothpicks from Amazon. The little cups/forks/spoons for the Par-faits and Wedge Salads were from Party City. The plates were also from Party City.

The drink station was pretty simple. We got the tea and lemonade from Chick-Fil-A. We got the big clear plastic drink dispensers from Amazon. I made the signs with wood, paint and the cricut. The yellow straws and the green cups are from Amazon. I made all the little logos on the cricut to put on the green cups. Y'ALL. THAT WAS SO DUMB OF ME. NEVER AGAIN. That took HOURS upon HOURS to do. It was wayyyy too tedious. I might have said a few curse words when making them. You would have too, trust me. Haha. Do yourself a favor and have them ordered like this instead.

Outside we had the "Watering Hole" and the "19th Hole" for everyone. AKA beer for the adults and water for everyone who well, wanted water haha. I'm getting tired doing this blog post can you tell? :) I printed Beau's logo on the water labels that I got off of Amazon.

Also, the best part of the day was seeing Drew try to get into the white caddy suit I ordered for us. The website said "34" and I thought that meant GUY PANT SIZE. Well... it didn't. It was SO small. Poor guy got a front and back wedgie when he tried to put it on. HAHAHAHAHA I almost peed my pants trying to see him make it work, but there was no way he could wear it in front of anyone. Just no way. LOL. So, my friend Jenni wore it instead with me. We DID get a photo of us wearing it together though. Notice how short his pants are hahahahahahahaha! Such a good sport that Drew Drew Hot Pants! :) We used the Cricut to make the NELSON and the logo on the front of the suits, too, BTW! And I quickly photoshopped (aka a poor editing job) his wedgie a bit so it wouldn't be all up in your faces.

Beau won his Green Jacket and trophy (from Party City) so we celebrated with cake YOU KNOW! We made the Leader sign for the backyard with wood, paint and printed the letters/numbers off of the Cricut.

Then we opened gifts!

After we opened presents, the kiddos played outside some more. We had a toddler sized bouncy house we ordered on Amazon, they chipped shots out of the sand trap aka, they just played with sand haha, and they hit a few balls on the golf course...aka hit balls off the golf hole Drew built - which is short for the adults dodged millions of golf balls that were coming directly at everyone's faces.

The guests and kids all went home with a new set of plastic golf clubs and a goody box. We got the golf clubs from a party website online and I made the little tags off my computer printer. The yellow boxes and the Golf rings are from Amazon. I printed Beau's logo on some pre-made circle stickers to put on the boxes. I also got those off of Amazon. The crinkle cut green paper (aka grass), the mini trophies, and white chocolate balls are from Party City. The Moon Pies were found at Cracker Barrel in a last minute hunt.

After the party, we gave Beau his Golf Cart from my Mom and us. He loved it so much. And I continued to obnoxiously take a million photos of him having fun. MAJOR photo overload that I won't be sorry about in 3...2...1...

Happy Happy Birthday Baby Boy! We love you so so much and can't wait to watch you from the Master's Tournament stands one day, God willing. You make us so proud already by just being perfectly, and uniquely YOU.

We started a silly instagram account for Beau's golfing adventures. Feel free to follow along at @beaugolfsalot!

Party Sources

1. Invitation Paper

2. Clear Badge Inserts/Covers

3. Cricut

4. Cricut Paper

5. Yellow and Green Flags

6. American/Country Flags

7. Marquee Sign Letters

8. Plastic Golf Balls

9. Red Flag Toothpicks

10. Cookies!

11. Green Jacket

12. Master's Patch

13. Plastic Golf Clubs (cheapest I could find!)

14. Table Cloths

15. Yellow Straws

16. Green Cups

17. Clear Plastic Drink Dispensers

18. White Inflatable Plastic Drink Cooler

19. Yellow Flags for High Chair

20. Golf Rings/Cupcake Toppers

21. Moon Pies

22. Yellow boxes

23. White Chocolate Balls

24. Bubbles

25. Golf Cart Car (we got ours for cheaper at Walmart but they are currently unavailable. For some reason they don't look to be carrying a ton anymore!)

26. Fake Green Golf Grass for Golf Hole

27. Toddler Sized Bouncy House

28. Caddy Outfits

29. Acrylic Display Risers

30. Mini Golf Carts

31. Golf Tee Sandwich Toothpicks for Club Sandwiches

32. Round White Sticker Labels

33. Water Labels

34. Donut Bags

35. mini Plastic Trophies

If you would like any of my photoshop files for your own party, please e-mail me at hello@lovethenelsons.com and put "Golf Party Files" in the subject line!

YOLO! (YOU ONLY LIVE "ONE"CE) : Beau Turns One

2017-11-30T09:17:00.000-08:00

When your little boy enters the world to the Hip Hop Station on Spotify in the background (specifically the song, Gas Pedal by Sage the Gemini), you are destined to have a rapper themed first birthday party.

This birthday party was a complete little labor of love. I knew I wanted to do something playful and fun, and of course, punny! The idea started when I was chatting with a group of my girlfriends about Beau’s Birthday, when one of my rap loving friends mentioned that I had to tie in Lil’ Wayne somehow (she’s a huge fan). Immediately, I thought, “OKAY! What aboutttt Lil’ Beau!?” Once that was decided, the ideas just started flowing.

Step One: Invitations! I wanted the experience to be something straight up ridiculous, because and I wanted my friends and family to have a good laugh when they opened their invite. After a few hours on Pinterest, and scoping the web, I didn’t really see anything that caught my eye or that would fit the theme that I was envisioning. So! I decided to make my own invitations. I googled, “Lil’ Wayne” and one of his album’s popped up that had a photo of him on the front as a baby. That was it! I played around in photoshop and bada bing, bada boom, Beau would be dropping his CD and having an album launch party (cough*birthday party*cough). Don’t worry, I made sure that I put that the artwork was tampered with, and that it was just for fun, and that it was NOT for resale. I don’t need Lil’ Wayne coming to sue me ya know what I mean!? :) Hahaha!

The back of the CD was my favorite. We listed all of the information and details as if they were songs.

It said:

“1. Yolo! It’s My Birthday Feat. BBHP (Beau Beau Hot Pants, our nick name for Beau)
2.Makin’ First Birthdays Cool Since 2017
3. Our Hood: (Listed Address)
4. Hit up my mama if you can come plz (aka RSVP)
5. Her Digits: (Digits go here)
6. Or Her E-mail: (E-mail goes here)
7.Bring yo swim suit if ya wanna play in my poolcuzzi.
8. DDHP (My husband, Drew Drew Hot Pants, & Beau’s Dad), says all Pimps, Homies, and Big Papa’s are Welcome too! (AKA bring your dudes)
9. Fo Real though, plz let my mama know if you comin’
10. Hope to see you there homies!
11. Peace and Cool Grease!
12. Mommy on My Mind Feat. DDHP
13. Milk and Juice
14. Wake Up Drank Up Spit Up
15. 9 Months soon the inside and 12 on the outside
BONUS TRACKS
16. I shizzled my dizzle fo rizzle
17. Trouble Maker in Da Making
18. Droolacito (Feat. Justin Bieber)

“This Party is gonna be off the heezy FO weezy!”
Executive Producers: My Mama, Shalyn Freaking Nelson and Big Papa, Drew Drew Hot Pants (DDHP)

In case you missed it:
Just a reminder to please rsvp.
Please text or e-mail by August 25th.
(Phone Number)
(E-mail)"

And I also made sure to include this at the bottom: “This invite is not for professional use whatsoever. The artwork is taken from the Lil’ Wayne CD and we are not using the graphics for resale. Only for fun. Ya Feel?"

And because I’m super into detail, you will notice that there are all “1’s” in the barcode on the back and the party started at 11:11 and ended at 1:11. Also, all 1’s.

I printed the album cover and back on photo paper from Office Max and then I decided to put labels on an actual blank CD so when it was opened, it looked like a legit album. :) I was going to burn songs on the CD’s but I ran out of patience and time. I love how they turned out.

We thought about hosting Beau’s party at a cool Airbnb in Austin, and we looked into a few rental spaces, but after looking at the budget a little closer, we just decided to host it at our home (a fixer upper)...which is always a work in progress. Our backyard was in bad shape so we ended up landscaping our backyard like crazies (which lasted until 4 am the night before his party lol…but hey! We needed to do it anyway :)) We laid grass, we brought in some rocks, we put a wood panel around our AC unit outside (much easier on the eyes) and even painted our concrete porch to be black and white checkered. My husband, Drew, deserves this biggest shout out for being the world’s greatest husband and Dad!

Drew, his Dad, and his buddy Nathan worked their bums off to make a little Tattoo stand (because what rapper doesn’t have a tattoo!?), a stage, and a backdrop for the cake smash. I know. We went a little -OKAY- A LOT overboard here, but the backdrop was the one thing I really didn’t want to compromise on, and trust me, there was a lot of compromising. I tend to get a littleeeee carried away (all the time) and had to have a few reality check in’s (Hey, Shay? It’s a one year old’s birthday party. He won’t remember it.I KNOW Y’ALL. I KNOW!) I go big or go home always, and if you know me, this is all very normal behavior for my creative blood -thanks to my Mom. (Hi Mom!)

For the tattoo bar, I ordered temporary tattoos from Amazon, and Beau’s babysitter blew up a few animal balloons for the older kiddos at the tattoo station. “Lil Tats - It’s not wut you ink!” is just a spin on “It’s not what you think” meaning, Don’t worry, it’s a fake tattoo, Mom! CHILL! :)

For the cake smash (aka, the main attraction), Drew and his buddy Nathan built the stage and backdrop with wood, and painted it white. My friend Rissy and I went to about four different Party Cities looking for O’s, N’s, and E’s. It took forever, but we found them!!! I spray painted the letters, which were originally silver, with a black spray paint that we got from Home Depot. It was the perfect look for the party and I LOVE how it turned out. We stuck the letters on the backdrop with black duct tape and it ended up holding really well! I also ended up painting some speakers to put on the side of the stage.

When Beau ate his cake, Drew and I ended up “Making it Rain” for him. Poor kid has NO idea what kind of parents he signed up for lol.

Ball So Hard (a pun from a rap song) was our sign for the ball pit area. One year old parties are a little hard to find things that entertain, but this was definitely a hit. We got a swan pool and some white balls and beach balls from Amazon.

We had a little sitting area next to the table. Sit Down. Be Humble. (A pun off of a Drake rap song.) We also strung black music notes from the tree branch above the table.

We had the main tables draped with white table cloths and rental chairs from Marquee Event Rentals. There were supposed to be ginormous black and white balloons down the middle of the table, but that morning there was a major balloon fiasco, (seriously, pure chaos lol), and let’s just say, I’m happy we even had a balloon at the party lol. Also, just a word for the wise…host your party later in the afternoon/early evening. Because hosting it at 11 am was extremely stressful. ;)

We had black and white bandanas, chains, and grillz for everyone to wear. We also had fake kids play money that was spread all over the table as well.

A last minute addition to the party was a sandbox that Drew, his Dad, and buddy Nathan built the night before the party with supplies all from Home Depot. I wanted to put a Palm Tree, a “sun” and a few other cute touches so it would be “Gangster’s Paradise” but we ran out of time that morning putting that all together, and Amazon didn't get the Palm Tree to me in time. It was still super cute though and the kids loved it!

Next to that was our picnic table which served as the piggy bank decorating station, hence the sign, “Money in the Bank…Show em’ what ya make!” I loved the idea of everyone having a piggy bank to take home with them. We got most of the art supplies from my box of art things I’ve collected over the years, but we also grabbed a few safe and washable Crayola paints and stickers/jewels from Target.

In the other corner of our yard, we had a pool (aka “Jacuzzi tub” because there are always jacuzzi’s in rap music videos), because we live in Texas and the temperatures don’t cool off down here for a veryyyy long time around. We had the sign, “All I do is Swim, Swim, Swim, No Matter WUT!” which is also another pun from a rap song.

The dessert table was supposed to have a cool backdrop behind it, but we bit off more than we could chew (cough*redo our backyard*cough), so although it isn’t the vision I had in mind, we still had some super awesome treats for everyone. The letters Beau are from hobby lobby, and were going to have lights put in them, but we never got around to it. So, we just spray painted them with black spray paint and cut off the top to give it a hollow look.

I decided to make my own cupcake stands because the ones in the store were a little too pricey for the budget. I took two plastic plates and two plastic bowls from Target and glued them together. Easy peasy and worked like a charm. Nobody knew the difference. :)

Also, Champagne is in about every rap song known to man these days, so of course we had to have some mimosas. We got our smash cake and cupcakes from HEB. (Store bought cake for da winnnn!) Of course they were chocolate and vanilla ("black and white" to match the color scheme). The cupcake and the cake toppers are from my high school friend, Jenn, who owns her company Jenn & Jules Designs on Etsy and makes THE COOLEST THINGS EVER! You should seriously remember her for your next party! Her customer service is freakin’ KILLER too!

The cookies were made by Paige’s Bakehouse, and it’s safe to say she knocked these out of the park! She really brought my ideas to life!

We got these styrofoam cups for drinks that said, “I like Big Cups and I cannot Lie” and then when you turn it around, the “song” finishes with, “You other brothers can’t deny.” We also got water bottle labels that said, “Parental Advisory Exceptional - Beau is One Yo!” which also tied in with the welcome sign that we painted on a big piece of wood. We decided to tie a number one balloon to the welcome sign to get our guests attention when they walked up to our home.

For food, we kept it simple and had a fruit tray, a veggie tray, chips and dips, and pizza. The best advice I got from friends who have had kid parties was to keep the food easy, so that we did! I’m so glad we did too! For the chips and dip, we had the sign, “When I dip, you dip, we dip!” and for the pizza (thanks Dominos!), we had the sign, “Slice, Slice Baby!”

My favorite part of the party was the “PANDA PANDA PANDA” party favor station. We got the pandas from IKEA and the kids and even adults loved being able to take one of these home! They were softer than a babies bottom! FO REAL!

For Beau’s outfit, we ended up getting a tattoo onsie I found on Amazon. It was SO cute, and it really tied in the theme. We got his black hat from Marshall’s, and his black jeans from Target. We put a little teardrop like Lil’ Wayne has on Beau's face (tying in the CD cover here) with some replica Lil’ Wayne Tattoos off of Amazon. He had a grill pacifier and he wore a “Gangsta” chain from Amazon and he sported some baby converse, naturally. I wanted to get some MJ’s but Drew said no. Haha. #compromise

This party was SO much fun to plan, and I love how a lot of my friends and family got in the rapper theme spirit and dressed up! Especially my Mamaw…who wore a "Flava Flav clock” we found on Amazon to go around her neck. You might remember my Mamaw from this session here :)

AND, last but not least, I ran across dollar bill toilet paper, and it cracked me up. You know I had to order it, and you KNOW I had to put it in the guest bathroom for everyone to use.

Well, that’s about it for the party. It was a lot of work, but so so worth it.

White Table Cloths and White Chairs: Marquee Events

Chocolate and Vanilla Cake: HEB Bakery

Hip Hop Cookies: Paige's Bakehouse

"Beau is One Yo" Customized Cake & Cupcake Toppers: Jenn and Jules Designs

Lil' Wayne Temp Tattoos: AMAZON.COM: THUG INK TEMPORARY TATTOOS - 10 TEMPORARY TATTOOS ~ TEARDROP, CROSS, PRAYING HANDS, ETC.: TOYS & GAMES

I Like Big Cups & I Cannot Lie Styrofoam Cups: Discount Mugs 16 oz. Tall Styrofoam Coffee

Water Bottle Labels: Hip Hop Parental Advisory 20 Oz Water Bottle Labels

Black Spray Paint: 12 oz. Semi-Gloss Black General Purpose Spray Paint

Party City Balloon Letters: Air-Filled Silver Letter O Balloon

White Plastic Crates for Pandas: MILK CRATE STORAGE BIN - ROOM ESSENTIALS™

Pandas: Ikea Kramig Soft Toy

Gangster Chain: Party City Gangster Necklace

Craft Kit for Piggy Banks: KID MADE MODERN® ART KIT - SMARTS AND CRAFTS CASE

Wiggly Eyes for Piggy Banks: BETHANY MOTA ADHESIVE WIGGLY EYES

Jewels for Piggy Banks: CHENILLE KRAFT® GEMSTONES CLASSROOM PACK), ACRYLIC, 1 LBS - MULTI-COLORED

"BEAU" Letters: Paper Mache Letters

White Plastic Bowl for Cupcake Stand: ROUNDED SQUARE MELAMINE POLKA DOT 45OZ BOWL WASHED INDIGO - ROOM ESSENTIALS™

White Plastic Plate For Cupcake Stand: ROUNDED SQUARE MELAMINE SALAD PLATE 8.5 " WHITE - SET OF 1 - ROOM ESSENTIALS™

Black Letters for Signs: REPOSITIONABLE ADHESIVE-BACKED LETTERS BLACK 7.47IN 1.06IN ELMER'S

Crayola Kids Washable Paint: CRAYOLA® KIDS' PAINT WASHABLE 10CT 2OZ CLASSIC COLORS

Swan Swimming Pool: AMAZON.COM : KANGAROO'S SWAN INFLATABLE KIDDIE POOL : SPORTS & OUTDOORS

White Balloons: AMAZON.COM: MOWO 36’’ WHITE GIANT LATEX BALLOON WITH TASSEL (2 SET, METALLIC GOLD, PINK, WHITE TASSELS): TOYS & GAMES

Piggy Banks : AMAZON.COM: COLORATIONS DECORATE A PIGGY BANK - SET OF 12 (ITEM # PIGGY)

Clear CD Cases: AMAZON.COM: MAXTEK 10.4 MM STANDARD SINGLE CLEAR CD JEWEL CASE WITH ASSEMBLED BLACK TRAY, 50 PACK: ELECTRONICS

Black Bandanas: AMAZON.COM: NJ NOVELTY - BLACK PAISLEY BANDANAS ONE DOZEN - HEAD WRAP SCARF WITH ONE PRE-TIED PAISLEY BANDANA BIKER DU RAG SKULL

White Bandanas: AMAZON.COM: NJ NOVELTY - WHITE PAISLEY BANDANAS ONE DOZEN - HEAD WRAP SCARF WITH ONE PRE-TIED PAISLEY BANDANA BIKER DU RAG SKULL

Tattoo Onsie: AMAZON.COM: INFANT TODDLER BABY BOY GIRL TATTOO PRINTED SLEEVE ROMPER BODYSUIT JUMPSUIT: CLOTHING

White CD Labels: AMAZON.COM : AVERY CD LABELS, MATTE WHITE, 40 DISC LABELS AND 80 SPINE LABELS (8692) : PRINTER LABELS : OFFICE PRODUCTS

Fake Money: AMAZON.COM: $9300 IN PLAY MONEY - PRETEND DOLLAR BILLS - REALISTIC MONEY STACK - THAT LOOK REAL - SMALL BILLS (5 X 2.5 INCHES) -

Grillz: AMAZON.COM: FUN BLING BLING GRILLZ - SET OF 10 GOLD AND SILVER INSERT GRILLZ * FUN FAKE TEETH: TOYS & GAMES

White Beach Balls: AMAZON.COM: 16" SOLID WHITE P7 BEACH BALLS: TOYS & GAMES

Money Toilet Paper: AMAZON.COM: MONEY TOILET PAPER ROLLS BATHROOM TISSUE NOVELTY 100 DOLLAR BILLS - PACK OF 4: HOME & KITCHEN

Gold Chains: AMAZON.COM: BIG GOLD CHAIN: TOYS & GAMES

Poolcuzzi : AMAZON.COM: INTEX ROUND 7.5 FOOT INFLATABLE FAMILY FUN SWIMMING CENTER POOL, WHITE | 57192EP: PATIO, LAWN & GARDEN

Number One Balloon: AMAZON.COM: 34" NUMBER 1 BLACK: KITCHEN & DINING

Flava Flav Clock Necklace: AMAZON.COM: WHITE RABBIT CLOCK / HIP HOP RAPPER CLOCK - OVERSIZED (NON-FUNCTIONING): HOME & KITCHEN

Black and White Tassels: AMAZON.COM: TISSUE PAPER TASSEL PARTY GARLAND (20 TASSELS PER PACKAGE) - 14 INCH LONG TASSELS (BLACK, GRAY, IVORY, WHITE, GOLD):

Chains: Dollar Sign Necklace,1 Dozen

Grill Pacifier: AMAZON.COM : BILLY BOB GRILLZ PACIFIER : BABY PACIFIERS : BABY

Black Music Notes: Beistle 54735-BK Mini Musical Notes Silhouettes (10 Pack), 5.5"-10.25", Black

Temporary Tattoos: Inked by Dani Tattoo Temporary Tattoos

White Ball Pit Balls: Lightaling 5.5cm Ocean Balls Soft Plastic Pit Balls White 100pcs

My Birth Story & Why I will never elect for an epidural EVER again.

2017-05-18T18:26:00.003-07:00

*I haven't posted this because I wanted to add photos to make this an easier read, but after seeing yesterday that a friend of mine also had this happen to them, I had to just hit publish. I'll come back and add photos later. Done is better than perfect they say.*

This is a (long) message to all my pregnant friends and all the ladies who will be pregnant one day. Also, before people want to object and tell me I'm crazy, please know that I KNOW everyone is different and has had great experiences with an epidural... and honestly, I am super freakin' jealous of y'all right now you have no idea...

When I gave birth to Beau, I chose to get an epidural. I gave myself no other option. I even joked to friends that they could put it in my forehead because I didn’t want to feel anything. Me and pain don’t mix. Never have and never will. Call me weak, call me lame, I don’t even care. I’m mad at myself and wish I could go back in time and elect for any other option than putting that catheter and needle into my back.

Beau will be 9 months on June 2nd, and sadly, I have been dealing with a 24/7 excruciating/bloody murder type of lower back pain, as well as other annoying and awful symptoms…all due to that epidural since. Basically, I regret this decision every. damn. day.

My story, and my experience…the good, the bad, the ugly…it’s all here. It’s a long one. BUT I’m hoping that I can help someone…anyone. I recently just saw that a fellow instagram friend in Paris is going through this exact same thing, so I wanted to get this out there NOW. I hope to encourage women to do more research before they did what I did…NOT RESEARCH AT ALL and not give myself the option of anything else.

The other day I looked at Drew, while laying on a heating pad in the living room after a long day, and said, “Babe. Why do you think this happened to me? I didn’t ask from an “Please feel sorry for me, Why Me?” place. I asked from more of a “Why do you think God chose me to have this happen? He thought I was strong enough to go through this, but what purpose do you think this is serving?” When I restructured my thinking and that question, it became more apparent to me that I needed to share my story. Granted, what happened to me is very rare. Let me repeat that…VERY. RARE. But! It happens. It’s happened. It’s happening. Did I think I would be one of the unfortunate ones? No. I didn’t. What I do know is that I am not here to scare anyone. I’m here to simply “educate” about my experience and just state that this does happen. Nobody talks about it. The more I have googled, “Back pain from epidural” the more forums I have found of women desperately looking for answers.. And Drew seems to think that if I tell my story, and I’m able to help one person not feel alone in this experience, or if someone can help me figure out how to fix this, then this season has a purpose.

Back in November, I wrote a Facebook status about my situation. I was defeated, sad, and couldn’t help but think, “MAN! I wish someone would have warned me about the potential side effects, and long-term/life altering effects that an EPIDURAL could give you.” You always hear that it’s the miracle drug of childbirth. And rightfully so. It numbs you and makes labor much more tolerable. I get it. I was signed up, I was on board, and never second guessed my decision. To me, it felt like the decision was like if you had a headache…do you take the excedrin or do you just deal with it? Ya know? I have experienced kidney stones 4 times in my life, and I wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone. I wanted to be present in labor but not in pain. I also know that me and pain do NOT go together. I wanted my husband to be in a peaceful atmosphere. The poor guy was scared to death. Excited, but nervous, just like any eager Dad waiting to hold their baby. I wanted to be in a peaceful atmosphere. And every friend of mine that has had an epidural, spoke about how wonderful they were. I was SOLD. I had NEVER heard of a bad experience with an epidural.

I’ve done so much research, I’ve been in physical therapy for months, I’ve literally tried everything. Medical bills are ruling my life, and I’m 9 months into this living nightmare. The more I look for answers online, the more Mom’s I have found that who have gone through this with NO answer. “Tough luck” and “sucks for you” is basically what kind of treatment you get. NOBODY KNOWS and NOBODY will admit that it was the catheter/epidural. I've probably cried every day since giving birth because of this intense and EXTREME lower back pain. I just can’t even describe it. I can’t move certain ways. Everything I do is hard. I feel it at all times. Even laying down. There hasn’t been a minute of relief. Some days are better than others, but there are no days of relief. My feet feel numb sometimes and tingle often and my rear end even feels numb most of the time. I have weird electric feelings in my head, mostly behind my eyes. It’s kind of like lightening strikes going through my head, and that makes me feel like my eyes are burning out of my head. This has triggered a deep depression, crazy anxiety (even more so than I have ever had), and now, PTSD. Thinking of having another baby makes me so uncomfortable. It terrifies me, and that is HEARTBREAKING for me. It shouldn’t be this way. It just shouldn’t.

Okay, so, my story…Here we go!

I was 40 weeks pregnant, 1 cm dilated, and miserable. (Said every pregnant woman, ever.) That was on the Friday of my due date (August 26th). I really wanted to go into labor naturally, and so I decided to basically burn my tongue off by eating all the pineapple on the planet, I walked and walked and walked (walked=waddled*), and tried everything but castor oil to get this baby out. But Mr. BBHP was nice and cozy. On Tuesday, I went in to get looked at, confident that I had progressed, and I was still at 1cm. I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to cry (Okay, I probably cried) and was just ready to meet my little man. I sound like every overdue pregnant woman on the planet, I know. They scheduled me to get induced on Friday, but I would go in on Thursday night. I didn’t want to get induced but I was assured I was in good hands and all was okay. Plus my Mom was freaking out because she took all of her vacation days off to help me with the baby, and this extra week cut into her days helping me postpartum. Ha! Anyway.

On Thursday, everything felt surreal. I continued to walk that day in hopes I would go into labor naturally, and even hopped on a mechanical elephant at the outlet mall that 5 pound kids play on hoping that would kick start something. But nope.That wasn’t my proudest moment, I will say, lol but hey, I WAS DESPERATE! All we got out of that was a good laugh! I am still surprised I didn’t break the thing.

I showered, and remember choking up because of the nerves, butterflies and just knowing that I was about to finally meet my son. It didn’t feel real. (It still doesn’t!) Life was about to be so different, in all the best ways. My Mom, Drew and I went to Jason’s Deli, said a prayer in the parking lot, and headed into the hospital. I got all checked in, and they administered the pill that would soften my cervix over night.

When I woke up in the morning, around 7 am, they checked me and I was at a 2. I remember saying, “WHAT THE HECK YAYA! LOOSEN UP WILL YA!?” That will be the first and last time I will ever say that. :) At around 7:30, the nurse told me I could shower, and order breakfast. I started to feel a little bit of cramping, but it kind of felt like the first day of PMS. I was told that was a contraction, and I remember thinking, “Hey, that isn’t SO bad.” Little did I know what was to come. I ordered breakfast and was about to take a shower when the nurse told me that I couldn’t do either because the anesthesiologist was going to come in shortly to give me my epidural. I wasn’t even in a lot of pain yet, so I thought it was strange that I was getting it so early. But I guess he was a busy man, and they said there was a chance that he would be too busy later to give it to me. My Mom left the room to get a sandwich, and next thing I know, the needle man was rushing in the room, with an assistant/helper of some sort. The assistant raised my bed, and had me sit on the edge, with my back curved into a C. They never told me to be still. Thankfully I knew I needed to me still, but they never even told me when they were putting it in my back. All of the sudden, I heard the girl say, “Okay, here…and that’s when I felt my life change. And not in a good way. She placed a catheter into my back, and I could feel my nerves scream in agony. I wanted to jump through the roof. She asked me if I could feel it, and when I told her yes, that it hurt really badly, she was surprised. She said, “Hmmm” and removed it. She then placed this catheter back in, and said, how is that? I said it still hurt. I basically wanted to scream all the curse words under the sun. Dummy ol’ me, didn’t even know that a catheter was supposed to be used during an epidural. I just thought it was a shot. But nope! The shot came SECOND. A few seconds later, they put the needle in, I felt a substantial sting (this wasn’t even the worst part) and I just remember my back being on freaking fire. I could tell that something was hurting badly, but at the time, I thought that was “normal” and that it would go away later, after birthing Beau. I asked them how often to administer the drug, and they said whenever I wanted.

That was that. Until about 30 seconds later…the room was spinning, people sounded faint in the background, and I was about to pass out. I told the nurse I didn’t feel well at all, and that I was going to fall over and pass out. She ran over and held me, called for another nurse, who then ran over with a drug, shot it into my IV and I felt much better. My blood pressure PLUMMETED like crazy. The nurse adjusted me back in the bed, and then about 30 seconds later, it happened again. My blood pressure went down so fast. It royally sucked. The nurse ran over, injected another IV of fenagrin or whatever it’s called, and my blood pressure rose back to a normal state.

Five minutes later…it happened, AGAIN. Three freaking times. The nurse injected me again, and told me that she had only seen this happen twice, but never three times. I’m sure it’s happened this many times to other’s before, but I guess I was her only patient that it had happened to. I know I never, ever want to feel that again. It was sucktastic.

Little did I know, that epidural changed my well-being forever. I remember slouching over in my bed and realizing I couldn’t move myself up very well. In my head, I blamed the epidural, and figured it was also normal. I couldn’t stretch my back or move myself up in the bed. My spine kind of felt like it went from a flimsy noodle to a thick, leather strap that had a wooden stick in it. And it wasn’t because of the medicine. The nurses would every now and then ask me to move up, and I would have to have them all move me.

I know this sounds crazy…but my back hurt worse than my contractions. How sad is that? My left side felt more of the drug than my right, and I remember my cheek being so numb that I almost didn’t want to feel that way. I was swelling like crazy from the water retention. At around noon, they checked me again, and I was at a 2 1/2.

At about that time, I rolled over to my right side. And my blood pressure dropped, and Beau’s heart rate dropped to an alarming rate. The nurse came running in, had me lay on my left side, and Beau’s heart rate went back to normal. I was told to NOT lay on my right side. So I basically laid on my left side the whole day.

The rest of the day though was really, really slow. I hung out in the room watching TV with Drew and my Mom. I took a small nap. I chewed on some ice chips. At around 3ish, my nurse came in and checked me. They decided to scrape my cervix in hopes to get me to progress. This also really SUCKED. I didn’t ever think I would relate to a cantaloupe being gutted, but for that short moment, I did. (Gross, I know.) Just telling you like it is.

At 5, she checked and I was at a 4. YAY! I was progressing. But slower than a snail. I’m pretty sure my friends and family waiting were getting annoyed at my progression, because I was ready to get the show on the road. The nurse said that when she came back for my next check, she would break my water.

She wasn’t out of the room for 3 minutes, when I felt my water break. At first I wasn’t sure, but I looked over at Drew and said, “I either just peed myself realllll bad, or that was my water that broke!” I got super excited, because I knew it was getting to be go time. FINALLY!

I called the nurse, she came in, confirmed the water breaking. Yada yada yada. Praise JESUS! Whoop whoop! I texted all my friends and family with the update and you could tell we all pepped up from our sleepy let’s get this show on the road state.

At 7 PM, I was at an 8, and at 8PM I was at a 9. I for sure thought Beau would be out any moment. I could feel pressure, and I could feel the contractions a little, but my body was so numb on the left side that I could have put a knife in my leg and not felt anything.

At this time, my female nurse left the room, and a tall dude nurse came in. I was kind of confused at first and thought I would be super uncomfortable with a guy delivering me, but I was at the point where I just didn’t care. I will say it was REALLY awkward having my husband staring at a guy looking at my hoo-ha! I remember looking at him and saying, “So, my name is Shalyn, it’s nice to meet you. This is my husband, Drew, and well, I might as well introduce my yaya too! I’m sorry you have to do this! LOL!” He started laughing and said, “Yeeeep. Pretty sure we would get along in real life.”

I was at a 10 before I knew it, andddd my Dr. was delivering another baby. She had came in earlier before that and did a test push with me. She told to push like I was going under water? Well, I did what she said, and yeah, let’s just say she thought it was going to be a long long night. But, little did she know that I had already been given advice from a ton of friends so let’s just say I knew what mentality and method I needed to get the baby out. :) I’ll spare ya the details.

At 9:12 I started pushing. At about 9:50ish, my nurse said, HOLD on. Don’t push. The baby will be out if you do. Let me go get the Dr. So, I tried not to push. I looked at Drew, who was literally the most precious husband, ever, wearing his “I love my wife” shirt, and said, “Babe. I know I said I wanted soothing Christian music playing, but I just can’t push to this. I need something to amp me up!”

…

“I NEED GANGSTA RAP!”

So Gangsta Rap it was my friends. I believe he put it on the Lil’ Wayne Spotify station, and next thing I know, my Dr. is running in, putting gloves on, nurses swarmed in, the big light came in (hated this lol) and Beau made his debut at 10:00 PM to the song, “Gas Pedal by Sage the Gemini…”

I know. I know. The kid is destined for greatness.

They handed Beau to me, and he wasn’t crying. I was of course, crying, looking down at my baby, looking up at Drew, so happy. So full of bliss, and Beau still hadn’t made a peep. I asked the Dr. why he wasn’t making any noise, and she wiped his head a little. Still, nothing. He was moving, but not a whole lot. I looked at the Dr. again and concerned, said, “Why isn’t he crying?” She started to try to slap his bum a little, and so they suctioned out his mouth a few times, and finally, he cried. It was the longest 30ish seconds of my life. Dramatic, but I knew this was the beginning of what was to come. Non-stop worrying, nice to meet you!

His lungs were 2% where they needed to be, so they took Beau from me, and I didn’t get to have my skin to skin like I wanted for the first hour after delivery. At this time, Beau was gone, and the room cleared, and it was just me and the Dr. She stitched me up, that wasn’t really all that fun, and then the next thing I knew…I was in the room alone.

I don’t know where anyone went. I was a little confused but just used that time to text friends and family that Beau was finally here.

My Mom came in, and she and I had some time to just talk about what happened, and how we couldn’t believe he was here. Now, don’t judge me. I will be judged and honestly, I still can’t believe I did this myself. We actually didn’t make this decision until we were HEADED to the hospital. No lie.

Back in the beginning of my pregnancy, my sister-in-law, who was also pregnant (with her second baby) asked me to come with her to a baby class. I found out that it was a Placenta Encapsulation class and thought “Hell to the no. That is literally disgusting.” I went with her, but literally just as moral support. The class was super interesting, and there were a lot of second time Mom’s in there who had really, really bad post partum depression and who were willing to try ANYTHING to not have that happen again. Or atleast as bad. I went home and told Drew about it, and was more open to the idea, but still couldn’t really wrap my head around it. I was going to wait to see what happened with my sister-in-law and if it worked for her, or if it was a joke, or if it was a place-bo effect. My sister-in-law swore by it. She said it worked. Her entire post partum recovery was world’s different, and she never had any depression. Well, depression runs deep in my family, so I secretly was a little scared I was going to have it. I had probably a tiny case of it before getting pregnant with Drew being gone so much, and working at home alone…and then when I was pregnant, I could tell I wasn’t 100% feeling myself for a million reasons (no energy, body changes, never felt good, a ton of weight gain, etc) and well, on the way to the hospital, I decided to have my placenta encapsulated as much as it grossed me out. The benefits outweighed not doing it, and worst case, I didn’t take the pills if I didn’t want to. But I had the option.

The nurses, the Dr.’s and the entire staff knew I was doing this. It was written in big bold letters on the white board, and we had the ice chest where they told us to put it…right next the white board where it said, “KEEP THE PLACENTA!” (So gross, I know! I know.) But it had to go straight into the ice chest, because it wouldn’t be any good if that didn’t happen.

I called the lady to come pick it up, and she said her husband would be there at about 11pm. He texted, my Mom picked up the ice-chest, ran it down to him, and that was that.

Every hour, my nurse would come in and tell me they would have a room for me soon. But to hang tight. I got to hold Beau during this time, so time flew by for the most part. I was so freaking tired, and so I had Drew go get me a fat turkey sandwich. That turkey sandwich tasted like a 100 dollar steak y’all. I literally wanted ten turkey sandwiches. At about 2 am, my nurse came in to document something or another, and she lifted this sheet up off the table of medical tools. She looked over at me and said, “So did you decide not to keep your placenta? Or are you going to have them pick it up for you?”

I looked up from gazing at Beau, and I said, “Oh, he came around 11 pm and got it!”

“Ummm, well…your placenta is still here. It’s right here.”

They never put my placenta in the ice chest. They had it covered up under the sheet. Guys… I wanted to cry. I texted my lady at 2:30 in the morning, telling her what happened, she apologized like crazy for her husband not opening the cooler. I wasn’t upset with her AT ALL. Yes, that might have been a good idea, BUT I’m sorry, I wouldn’t want to open the ice chest either ya know? The hospital completely screwed that up. I remained calm though, and her husband came to the hospital at 3:30 AM to get it. I told her not to worry about it, but she sent him anyway. Customer service like whoa. I was blown away. But there was still a chance that it wouldn’t be any good…but we were going to take a chance and see.

At 4:00 a.m., I’m still in my delivery room. I had not moved since giving birth to Beau, mostly because I couldn’t feel my legs or my feet, and I had nobody in there with me for the longest time to help. When my nurse came in to move me, she came to my side and had me sit up to get out of the bed. The wheelchair was waiting for me, and she said, “Okay, get up slowly.” I started to get up, and quickly realized and was reminded of the pain in my back. Only to also discover that the catheter was STILL in my back. Nobody had removed it. I asked a friend of mine who is a labor and delivery nurse and she told me that it should have been removed within the first two hours after giving birth. Well, 6 hours later, the stupid thing was still in my back. She removed it, I wanted to die, and I got in the wheelchair. I cuddled Beau, and went to sleep at around 5 a.m.

That morning, I woke up, had Drew help me shower, and his parents came to visit. I’m telling you this because this is where I started to worry, but was told not to worry. I had just taken a Tramadol about 2 hours prior to this happening, and I had a stomach full of food. The blinds were open, the sun was shining in super bright, and I was watching the Texas A&M football game. Drew’s parents were talking, and holding Beau, when all of the sudden, I felt really dizzy, really light headed, and I couldn’t hold my head up. It felt like it was 30 pounds, and I looked at Drew and said, “Something is wrong babe. Very wrong.” He was standing by the light, so when I turned towards him, I couldn’t bare seeing the light. It hurt so bad. My eyes burned. My head hurt. I wanted to go into a deep sleep immediately. It was like I took 3 sleeping pills, sleepy. (I’ve never done that, but it’s what I would imagine it would feel like.)

Drew called in the nurse, I told her what happened and she said it was probably a reaction to the Tramadol.

Overtime a nurse would ask me what my pain was like on a scale of 1 to 10, I would say about a 5 to 6, but would remind them that my back hurt really bad. They assured me that it was from giving labor, it was normal, and would bring in hot packs and ice packs for me. I probably went through one an hour my entire stay.

When I left the hospital, I still couldn’t walk well. My legs were so swollen. In fact, my whole entire body was swollen. I had seen a lot of Mom’s leave the hospital looking a lot smaller, but me? I was a BLIMP. I was more swollen leaving than I had ever been pregnant. It was hilarious and sad all at the same time. I couldn’t feel my feet, even 2 days later.

To sum the next 6 weeks up: I cried every day. Between my hormones, the highs and lows, the joy of having a newborn, to the lack of sleep, to the pain down there in my lady parts, to my back radiating fire and feeling like someone stabbed me with a hot wooden stick… let me just say, my husband is a good, good, GOOD, man. Bless him. Let’s just say, more women should talk about postpartum recovery. Because we don’t and it isn’t all that great. Atleast for most of us. It really is a painful, awkward and just, raw time.

During these 6 weeks, I assumed the pain in my back was normal. I kept thinking it would get better every day. But it didn’t. It got worse, and worse, and worse. I couldn’t do anything. I say that and you might be thinking, “YEAH OK SHAY” but I legit felt like a useless, broken and horrible mother. Holding Beau was a task. Changing his diaper was so hard. Picking him up, putting him down, sitting on the couch, getting off of the couch, walking, throwing away a piece of trash…basically anything that required your back…which is EVERYTHING, could not be done. I had never in my life felt more low than I did. Pain, in any form will drive a person mad, and sad, and into a downward spiral mentally, physically, and emotionally faster than you could possibly imagine. Especially when your 6 week check up comes, and you’re still not healed, and everyone around you that just had babies are already starting to exercise. I on the other hand felt like a carrot. I took my healthy and perfectly working back, and gave it all away. Just because I didn’t want to feel the pain of labor. I know I shouldn’t blame myself or be mad at myself, because this is just unfortunate…but I am. I struggled bad y’all…and I still do, even today. Everything I do movement wise, is restricted. I don’t ever not feel my back hurt. Chronic Pain is NO joke. It’s the devil.

At around 7 weeks, I woke up one morning, and knew I needed to go to the ER. And fast. My back burned like fire, it cramped up so tight that I felt like if I did anything, my spine would break. Being a new Mom, dealing with the recovery in itself and dealing with this excruciating back pain…guys, it felt like I was in a horror movie. This sounds so dramatic, blame the hormones, but I was sad and pathetic. I literally couldn't move without screaming bloody murder and had to have my sister in law (my saving grace) come watch Beau so I could go to the ER because Drew had been working out of town during the week the past 7 weeks. I had no choice but to drive myself, and let’s just say, the entire way to the hospital, I was screaming in pain. Tears flowing, non-stop.

I've had more Dr. Appointments than I can count, I've been to a neurologist and I've had three MRI's. No answers... Just referral after referral. Losing weight has been a JOKE. Mostly because I couldn’t move well for months, and sat on my couch and laid in my bed 24/7. I ended up having to take steroids and I swear it’s still in my system. I am still puffy, and bloated from those suckers. They helped with the inflammation a little but the pain still continues. Physical Therapy has helped some, but I still feel a lot of pain. I have a little more range of movement, and I’m super thankful for even the smallest improvement. But even my PT guy seems to not really understand why my back is still mad. He has worked on it with all these methods guys… He works out kinks and tightness in my back, but it all comes right back…angrier, which leads me to believe there is an injury in my tendons and ligaments and nerves around where my epidural went in. It isn’t healing, so basically it’s aggravating everything around it. That in turn then sends the anger up and down my spine.

When I walk, I have to hold my back a lot for support. Back braces don’t provide the support I need as they fit really awkward on my body. Defeat comes to mind a lot, and my quality of life is at a constant state of battle. I can’t exercise to increase endorphins, and the pain makes me want to never leave my house. The thought of just lifting Beau into my car brings me to tears. My heart feels broken in so many ways and I feel robbed of this precious time with my son. I’ll never get this time back. And the more I think about this, the more sad and angry I get.

I pray every day. I feel guilt in every way known to man. Guilt for not being a better more active Mom. Guilt for being in too much pain to do fun things with Beau. Guilt for my moods. Guilt for getting angry with God and asking him why this happened. Guilt for questioning my faith when I’m at my lowest. Guilt for being negative. Guilt for not taking better care of my health pre-baby. Guilt for not being able to clean my house or doing the laundry like I used to because bending down is the hardest thing in the world. I could go on and on and on. I write this sobbing now, because I’m so sad. I want my old back back. I want to feel strong and healthy and happy.

I’m eating better, to help with inflammation but I’m not losing weight. The back and forth that my heart and head and the pain that fogs any happiness from entering has been the biggest battle of my life. I want to get through this, and I have been hanging onto the small gimmer of hope that it will…because it has to. But then the devil stands on my shoulder and says, “It WON’T! Because you have read stories on the internet of women who are 20 years post part and still have lower back issues. Anxiety attacks you and you give up all hope. And Dr.’s won’t ever admit that the epidural caused this. And you signed on that dotted line without reading the fine print because EPIDURALS are administered to 2094204820 women a day and you never hear the bad stories, so you my friend, are STUCK LIKE THIS FOREVER!!!!”

Dramatic. It seems. But this pain has been trying to rule my life. I can’t let it. I won’t let it. It might be winning most days, but I can say that I am proud of myself for all the progress I have made and for doing my best, even when I feel like I am not able to. Sharing this gives me therapy and hope that someone out there is reading this and has found relief, or hey, now has someone to relate, cry with and pray with.

While I know many many many women will never have a problem with the epidural, and I do realize sometimes you HAVE to get one. I think just knowing that makes me so fearful for my next baby. I strongly feel that if more people knew that this could happen, they would MAYBE atleast research other ways to manage pain during labor. Because I would not wish this pain even on anyone. I might be the 5% of women who have problems after an epidural... But I’ll tell you something. This is the hardest obstacle. I can’t even imagine what people feel like when they have a broken back, or who have lived with this longer than 9 months. Because it makes living life really challenging. Never, ever take a healthy back for granted guys. Ever. If you ever have any back problem that feels like it can’t be fixed…you will know what I am talking about. I PRAY that you will never deal with this. I mean it.

All I can do is hope, continue to pray, continue to treat my symptoms, and fight, even when I’m exhausted and at the end of my rope, to find happiness and feel better. IF this pain is forever, I pray that I can find a more graceful way to live life with a smile on my face. My Lord, my son and my husband deserve it.

This was longgggg. Thank you for reading if you made it to this point. After seeing an instagram friend have this happen to her recently, I knew I had to just sit down and write this. NOW. And in case anyone has had this experience and can share their story with me and give me a glimmer of hope that this pain will go away or just to simply educate someone else on those crappy side effects nobody talks about.

Thank the good Lord for Beau's smiles and my husband’s hugs, non-stop encouragement and patience. Those are the things right now that takes my mind off the pain. I LOVE being a Mom. It is my greatest JOY and honor. But I needed to share this darker side with y’all. Keep it real. Social media hides so much of our pain, and we are all guilty of it. Don't let the idea of being a perfect human, wife, mom on Instagram make you feel less than. We are all in this together in some shape, way or form.

Six Years.

2015-03-30T20:36:00.002-07:00

Just hold tight to my hand, there's no need for any big plans…we'll just go until the road ends.

Six years down of marriage... forever to go.

six years. from shalyn nelson on Vimeo.

Deep in the Heart of ... Love, The Nelsons Project

2015-02-24T20:47:00.006-08:00

Growing up, I didn't live in the perfect home, with the perfect parents who had the most perfect marriage, with the perfect cars, the perfect jobs, the perfect suppers around the dinner table, or the perfect...well, life. In fact, I grew up in a broken household with a (wonderful, loving, hard-working) mother who wanted her marriage to work, so badly, and did everything it took. Trust me...I was there, even when I was that 8 year old crying, screaming and closing my eyes praying that the fighting would all just stop. My Mother tried so hard to show my brother and I what a marriage should look like, and little did she know...I took note of it all. Every time she cried, fought for it, and dropped to her knees calling His name for help...I was there, watching. She thought she was disappointing us, but what she didn't realize is that she was teaching me everything that my heart beats for today. I witnessed things that no child should ever see, and events that will always echo somewhere deep in my heart. However, they will not be echoes of hurt, fear, or disappointment. That's not how this girl rolls! :) Thankfully, God worked wonders in my heart at the youngest of ages to show me that even though my parents didn't have the perfect marriage...He showed me how important marriage is, and the value of what marriage should be.

My Mom is one of my biggest heroes. She doesn't think that, even today. She thinks she's failed me because she's divorced, but truth is...Her heart is bigger than this earth, and I guess, somewhere in her pregnant belly 29 years ago, she was also gifting and growing another heart...mine. Even though the heart she grew for me is sensitive, stubborn in anxieties, and can get me hurt more often than not...it is probably my most favorite thing she could have given me. I treasure it, every single day and will until the last day it beats.

My Mother's parents, my Mamaw and Papaw, stepped up to play the father role after my Dad left. They loved me, supported me, and helped my Mother and I in more ways that I can ever express. When my Mom couldn't put food on the table, my Papaw would hand her a twenty dollar bill. When I couldn't meet that last $100 of sponsorship for those scholarship pageants I desperately wanted to be in, they would step up, and play that role of my father. When I had exciting news to share, I would run down to their house and tell them. They would smile and celebrate the straight A's, the blue ribbons, the trophies, and even praise me when I would get excited about the 30 doodle bugs I would dig up to show them. They wanted the best for their children, and their children's children. They helped in the smallest, most memorable ways. I don't know if they will ever truly know how much I noticed, or how much I'll truly be grateful for their unwavering love in my life. I was one of the lucky ones, I truly realize this. It's crazy how God works in your life when you're too young to truly know what's happening, but when it hits you, all you can do is look up, say Thank you, and try to live life by His example and doing the best you can with the cards that your dealt.

My mother is loving, sensitive, creative and wants everyone to be happy. Just like me. My Papaw loves photography, he's really goofy, has good handwriting, and he always loves to make people smile. Just like me. My Mamaw is also loving, and sensitive, however, so stubborn and particular...and has a hard time letting go of mementoes and things that remind her of the people in her life...just like me. The one thing we all have in common, besides genes? We all value marriage. Through and through. I can't think of three better, more influential people to have raised me by simply showing me the importance of having purpose at the roots of your heart.

All my life I have been a hopeless romantic, and dreamed of the day I'd meet the love of my life. I had high hopes for marriage, and even though that's hard to do in this world today...I never let that get to me. I prayed for it, from the age of 14 (weird, I know), and the Lord listened. He heard my heart and gifted me with the most incredible man to love for the rest of my life at the age of 20. I'll never be able to thank Him enough for giving me the only thing I've ever wanted the most in my life...and that's having a beautiful marriage. It's not perfect, and I would never expect it to be. I know I'm only 9 years of living life with him, and only 6 years into this crazy, beautiful marriage, but it's by far been my favorite years of this life I'm living. We have had our moments, and our fights just like every normal human being...Pshhh! I'm not here to sugarcoat anything but what's different for us, is that our hearts beat together as one, even on those bad days where we want to pull each other's hair out. The value we put into being husband and wife is the only thing that I can credit, and that's the Lord being at the center of it, no matter what.

Ask anyone who knows me...if I see an old couple...I will stop whatever I'm doing and I will just stare. Most likely, there will be a clasp of hands in the middle of my chest, and a smile beaming on my face. If they are grouchy, it makes me smile even more...because that's real life and it's just plain awesome. :) One time, I was at the grocery store and an old man checking out had milk, Goobers, and a bouquet of flowers. I instantly wanted to cry and run over to him to ask him who he was buying them for... ;) I can't tell you how many times I will spot an old couple and just admire them...wishing that I could stop them, talk to them and ask them questions...ask them how far they have come, and hear their love story.

Graduating college, I was engaged, obsessed like many new brides planning the perfect day, and had every wedding magazine on my kitchen counter. I worked for a bridal magazine for a short time, then after my wedding, I thought, "Well that was fun! I should be a wedding planner!" And then that "dream" was quickly put away when I realized how many personality traits I lacked for that job (organized being one of them!) :) I have always been a picture taker, and passionate about sharing my life, my journey, and well, everything that came into my life. Then one day it hit me after photographing a senior session for my niece that was just for fun...that is where I found myself. Behind the lens...documenting happy moments for people in the most exciting times of their lives... And well, I guess it's self explanatory that weddings quickly became my concentration in my career. :)

All in all, marriage has always been at the root of my heart, and my life. It's more apparent to me as each day comes and goes. So how did #lovethenelsonsproject come about? (Besides this long winded back story I just gave you? ;)) I attended Making Things Happen in Chicago of 2012, and at the end of the conference, we were all asked to lay on the ground, on our backs with our eyes closed. Lara asked us this question, and went around the room.

"Where do you see yourself in 50 years? What does your most ideal picture of your life look like? If you could choose the end result in your life, reflecting everything that you've worked for and towards your whole life...what would that be? Picture it, describe it, what is it? "

People went around the room and shared their dreams and it was beautiful. However, my heart was pounding and I was getting anxious about having my answer. I didn't know how many babies I would have...I mean, I knew I wanted a family...and I didn't know how many grand babies I would be snuggling, or what kind of house I would have at the end of my life that everyone works their whole lives for...all I saw was this...and answered,

"All I know is that I want to be gray, old, wrinkled, in love, and hand in hand with Drew...walking down the sidewalk...That's all I want."

My heart answered, and from that day forward, everything I've worked for has been for that. I'll continue to work towards that goal. Fast forward to April of 2014...

I was photographing a dream wedding in Charleston, South Carolina with the sweetest clients in the world, and it was Drew and my first time ever visiting. We fell head over heels with that city from the moment we landed. We decided to stay one more day after the wedding to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary and spent the day at the beach and exploring. We splurged for the first time since we got married and got ourselves a red sports car to explore the town in. We headed down to the beach with the windows down (you might remember our trip from this video) :) and on our way back from the beach...I saw an old man and an old woman, walking hand in hand, down the sidewalk. He had on a red bow tie with crabs on it, and I felt a lump in my throat as my thoughts quickly took me back to that place on the floor in that conference room telling Lara and the room of ladies what I wanted at the end of my life. And as I came back to the present in that moment, my mouth started moving before I could even process what was happening and blurted, "STOP THE CAR! STOP THE CAR!" Drew looked at me like I was crazy, as I begged him to turn around so I could talk to that "precious old couple!" "What Shay? Really?" "YES, REALLY! Please!" He pulled the car around but we couldn't find a parking spot near the way they were walking, so I jumped out, and ran towards them waving my hands. The old man was opening the car door for his bride as I approached them, and I startled the living mess out of them.

I introduced myself and said, "I'm so sorry if this is weird, I just couldn't help but admire how precious you both were walking down the sidewalk just now...and I want that, with my husband. He's in the car down there, but he doesn't want to get towed off, so he stayed." We talked for 10-15 minutes and they told me their names, where they were from, how many grandchildren they had, and I took a photo on my iPhone. I got their e-mail address and told them I would send them their photo and left that conversation with the biggest smile, and tears in my eyes.

I posted their photo and a quick version of the story to my instagram...you might remember this? :)

I got home, and wedding season started. I was busier last year than ever, and could barely keep my head above water. However, I had their photo saved to my phone (and still do) and for some reason didn't send the photo. I don't know why, or what excuse of "busy" or "I'll do it soon" I told myself, but I held back.

In November, I was coming down from wedding season and was coming back from the deer lease by myself. I love music, and very rarely (if ever) will you find me in my car without my music on. But after a quiet few days in the peace and quiet of the woods, my body rested, my mind rested, and my heart had a chance to wind down from the past year for the first time since Charleston. I turned off my radio for the three hour drive back, and had a three hour talk with the Lord. In that three hour conversation, my heart was revealed to me...in the weirdest moment, not one I would expect to have my 'A-HA' moment where your heart beats so fast and you cry because you finally feel like you are finding your path without your blinders on. He took my mask off, and asked me to be brave...so I listened.

I got home, called my friend Nycia, and she sat there and listened to me pour this crazy idea and mission out to her. She listened. She LISTENED for TWO hours. She supported me, she lended her ears, encouraged my doubts, and before I knew it, I was planning a shoot with my Mamaw and Papaw...the biggest inspiration of marriage I've ever had in my life. I couldn't think of a better marriage to start this project out with. I was the happiest I had been all year when I stopped that old couple walking down the road that day...I was the happiest when I saw that old man buying milk, goobers and a bouquet of flowers for his wife who could have been at home waiting for him, or at her gravesite. I'll never know their story now, but what I do know is that I'm ready to change that.

I e-mailed a group of my closet industry friends who I knew "got me" even before I could explain what I was doing fully. They believed in me, and they trusted me. I will never be able to thank them enough for taking the time to answer my e-mails, to donate their time by driving two hours to my grandparents house, and gifting their talents into the best thing I ever will try to accomplish. I was trying on dresses for my Mamaw, stuffing the top with pillows (to make sure there was room lol), I ran around town trying to find a yellow tie for my Papaw, and coordinated this thing with the most awesome disorganized skills in the world, but hey...guess what. It turned out. And it turned out beautifully.

If you're late to the game, you can see the live feature on Style Me Pretty here. But if you don't want to jump over, here's what I said:

"This is simply a reminder to the world from the lens of a granddaughter who adores her grandparents and the love they share. I want to put hope and the true meaning of marriage back into the beating hearts around the globe. We are living, breathing and experiencing a world of instant gratification and noncommittal tendencies. We are so wrapped up in seeing the “instant-polariod pictures”, and not the huge hand-painted masterpiece of marriage that takes time, patience, passion, attention to detail, and hard work. What happened to being together forever? Why does our world look down on marriage so much now? It breaks my heart and even though I am ONE person…I have felt called to somehow, someway make a change. Nobody is perfect, but LOVE…LOVE is why we are here. Love is real, it’s unique for everyone and it has the power to change our world if we let it.

Marriage should be forever. It’s finding that person you pick to love and yet, drive you crazy, day in and day out. It’s more than color schemes, gorgeous gowns, perfectly crafted tables capes, and the perfect shoes. It’s growing old, hand in hand, wrinkle after wrinkle. It’s taking two heartbeats and working together to make one. It’s letting love win, always, no matter what.

Whomever is reading this…This right here is my heart. This right here is the most important thing I have ever been a part of and put together. As you read this, I am over here behind the scenes pouring out blood, sweat and tears into this passion project. I’m calling it Love, The Nelsons Project. I’m ready to show lovers around the world that true love still exists. There are so many love stories that we don’t know of out there waiting to be shared. The hard ones, big ones, small ones, beautiful ones, and stories that can change our lives and the way we view marriage. This is my pledge and my mission to find these stories and to document them over the course of the next year.

I want to put together something truly special…so here it goes! My goal is to compile a book of old love stories and that’s where I am asking for your help. I will travel to these couples, sit down and listen to their stories, interview them, and will photograph them together. Do you know of someone who has a love story that is worth knowing about? One that is worth sharing with the world to inspire, and that will help instill the true value and purpose of marriage back into our lives? The sky is the limit here! If I can impact one…just ONE marriage, ONE woman or man who are seeking their forever…my mission in life will be fulfilled. Help me tell these stories. Please e-mail me at hello@lovethenelsons.com and put “LTN Project- Old Love” in the subject line. I look forward to hearing from you!

There is so much more that I want to share here in this space, but please follow along my journey on instagram at @shalynnelson. Our hashtag will be #lovethenelsonsproject #oldlovebook

My grandparents have been married for 63 years. My Papaw planted a rose bush outside of their bedroom window when they built their house. He has always said, “Billie Wanda is the rose of my life…But it does have a few thorns here and there…”, which is the reason he’s holding a bushel of roses in some of the photos… :)

And to end this post, I’ll quote my Papaw…

“Walking through life together, but the trail’s getting short.”

The response has been nothing short of incredible, mind blowing, inspiring, and has left me speechless more times that I can count. Reading the comments on that blog post made me ugly cry (lol, I KNOW, I told you I am sensitive) but it was the best feeling knowing that people were accepting of my idea. That feeling of someone saying, "I'm proud of you" when you give everything you have into something. It was like that feeling but times 29829031092. :) I feel like it's been God's way of saying, "Keep going Shalyn, even though you're scared and don't know what the heck you're doing, or how crazy this experience is going to be...Keep going. Don't let money, or those things that hold people back keep you from doing this. People care. People need this. Marriages need this. The generations coming up need this. KEEP GOING. Don't. Give. Up."

So I am. I'm going to keep going. If you have texted me, messaged me, e-mailed me, liked anything related to this project, told someone about this project, commented, shared my mission on social media...I mean, ANYTHING...I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Each one of those things have meant more to me than I can possibly express...and in every way, big or small, has pushed me when I start to get scared and anxious that this project is bigger than what I'm capable of doing. I've followed God my entire life, but like anybody, I've failed him so many times. However, he's been building my core, my strength, and has pumped so much courage into my heart over the course of my life. It's time I stop climbing and sliding down the rocks. It's time I keep climbing, and not let go. This time it feels different...it feels right, and most of all, it feels like home.

If you have a love story to share, please e-mail me at hello@lovethenelsons.com. I'll be in touch as soon as I can.

Dress: The Ivy Retreat
Hair and Make-Up: Makenzi Laine
Florals: Bristol Lane Florals
Developing: Photovision Prints

2015 Yearly and February Goals

2015-02-03T14:08:00.001-08:00

Before you read this post, I request that you watch this video first.

Did you watch it?

Good. Because there are a lot of GOALS in this post and you're gonna need that song to get you through this! HAHA. I'm kidding. Kinda.

Alright, now that you're going up, on a Tuesday with me, let's get to it!

In case you missed my post yesterday, you can read how I spent my January here or scroll down to the next post.

These were Drew and My 2014 Goals

1. Stress less = less busy. Simplify our lives, commitments and schedules.
2. Mentally prepare and get comfortable with the idea of Baby Nelson's in 2015 or 2016.
3. Vacation - Just the two of us.
4. More fun. More spontaneity. More adventure. More dates.
5. Meet Steph and Neal.
6. Figure out our housing situation. To build or buy? Save. Save. Save.
7. Count Our Blessings, Daily.

We were able to complete all but number 3. BUT we did travel a bunch and made some really awesome memories! :)

Personal Goals from 2014

~~Learn Film~~
Host The Glow Workshop again
~~Cook and Prepare more meals for Drew ( Betty Crocker hates me )~~ Still need to work on this, though.
~~Gain more confidence/Stop apologizing for who I am~~ Some months were better than others.
Guest speak at a conference/Inspire/Teach/Help the growth of others
~~Limit the amount of weddings I photograph/More selective~~ Will be doing this again and applying what I learned this year.
~~Travel to a place I've never been -~~ We went to NYC and Charleston (both places we had never been before!)
Take more photos of MY life - FAILED. BIG TIME. Does my iPhone count?
~~Own a bike with a basket~~ - BEST DAY EVER
~~Try something new~~ I tried calligraphy, and other fun things throughout the year!
~~Be BRAVE.~~
~~See my work published in a magazine (DREAM BIG! WHY NOT!?) -~~ I had a photo of mine featured in Southern Weddings! :)
~~Less complaining & Less Wanting~~ - I am blessed! I have all I need.
~~Trust my gut instinct. It hasn't failed me yet but I've failed to listen to it, way too many times~~
~~Stop holding back in fear of wha~~t other's will think/ BE FREE - I was up and down with this.
~~Finally make the Vegas trip happen with my blog girls we've been talking about for two years~~

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2014, you weren't too shabby my friend! There were ups and downs, just like any year…but you were different. A good different and a pivotal year for me. I felt you change doubts in my heart, in big, big ways…and you helped me get outside of my comfort zone. I learned A LOT about friendships and this business, you helped me test new waters, gifted me with a bible study with amazing women and budding friendships…you opened my eyes and helped me see the value of my work, my time, and my profession more than ever before. God was bold in my life and lead me to have deep conversations with Him that I won't ever forget. He helped me navigate through those deep dark woods and swim through troubled waters which helped reveal the core of my heart. He showed me how you want me to use my gifts and how I should serve others well. The unknown place of "success?"at the end of the road that I've been thinking I've been traveling towards like every person in life…was the wrong path. I didn't realize it until that day in November when you and I had that hard three hour conversation full of tears, worry, anxiety and frustration that turned into an understanding of meaning, love, faith, hope and purpose. I'm jumping in to this new year using everything He has taught me and letting him guide EVERYTHING I do, rather than letting Him guide most of my steps…It's all Him now. I'm all in, with more understanding of why He choses our paths and steps…so with one foot in front of the other, here we go, with all the faith, hope and trust you've instilled in me.

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2015 Yearly Goals with Drew

1. Take a trip, just the two of us to Lake Louise.
2. Establish and Build Savings Account by 30%
3. Plan our forever home
4. Finish remaining renovations left in our home (Master Bath, Yard/Landscaping, Countertops in kitchen)
5. Start a "Nelson" book club between the two of us.

My Personal Yearly Goals

1. Go all in with #lovethenelsonsproject and not look back.
2. Photograph a wedding in Europe
3. Have a full shoot of mine in PRINT
4. Finally get a business website up
5. Floss Every Day

It's now officially LOVE MONTH!!! Bring on all the puffy hearts, chocolates, teddy bears, and cheesy cards! This month has shaped up to be extremely exciting and FULL of fun!

February Goals

1. Announce My Passion Project…I have butterflies in my stomach just typing that.

2. Get published in a magazine … My very first film session is going in Magnolia Rouge and I can't breathe. Basically.

3. Travel to Memphis for a girls weekend.

4. Share some fun features with you guys that I will get to be a part of this month

5. Photograph The School of Styling Workshop

6. Photograph Three Engagement Sessions

7. Photograph One Bridal Session

8. Visit my friend LEAH in Houston when she comes visit from Michigan

9. Host Steph and Neal here in Austin (Can't wait!!!)

10. Attend the She Inspires Experience that my dear friend Nycia is hosting! YOU SHOULD COME!

11. Go on a fun Valentine's Day adventure with my sexy husband

12. HOLD MY BABY HEDGEHOGS FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!

13. Buckle my seatbelt and proceed with the #lovethenelsonsproject adventure

14. Limit myself to one diet Dr. Pepper a day

15. Drink MORE water

16. Start Pilates Classes, again to get myself in shape so I can have energy again!

17. Start THIS program with my friend Brittany

18. Take a hip hop dance class and shake my tail feather like a boss!

19. Finish Season 2 of New Girl with Drew

20. Pay it Forward, every single week.

A January Well Spent.

2015-02-02T13:00:00.004-08:00

Photo of Me by Jen Dillender

Let's pretend I'm letting out a huge breath of air right where this sentence starts and ends.

I have started to write about ten new posts over the past month here. I'll begin writing, erase, and close out. Then I'll repeat this process over and over again. I don't know if it's because I've been away from this space for so long that it leaves me feeling itchy and awkward when trying to figure out where or how I'm going to pick up my slack. It's like there is this massive black hole lingering over this blog that I have failed to close up because there is too much that's gone on for so long that I feel overwhelmed to even go back and address the places I've grown and moved on from already. I'll be the first to admit that I've been hard on myself. With anything and everything I do. This whole "inconsistent" thing I've been rockin' hasn't been on purpose, and to be honest, it's driving me balls to the wall crazy.

I got back from a trip to NYC with Drew on January 2nd, and when we got home, we kept true to our new year resolution meeting tradition where we huddle together at our kitchen table and write out our personal yearly goals, as well as our yearly goals we will work on together as a couple. However, I never posted them here that next day. I mean, I could have. I planned on it. I had no reason not to do it. But I didn't. The pressure to join in along with the rest of this community like I do every year was knocking at my door…but I never answered. I just stared at that door and let it knock. It then occurred to me after a lot of thinking and seeing others post their resolutions and goals that I wasn't ready for 2015. But why?

It's because I was still coming down from an incredible, yet extremely exhausting 2014. I felt pressure to feel like I should be joining in on all the "This is my year! Let's rock this 2015! I'm making things happen TODAY!" attitudes that come in a huge tsunami wave every January 1st. But instead, I sat on my couch staring at the ceiling fan to see how many blades I could count with my eye balls one by one before they couldn't keep up anymore and the fan became a blur again. I was tired. Just hands down, exhausted from head to toe. The productive switch in my brain was off. I sat in the center of a house that needed to be addressed, clutter hidden in every closet, and an unorganized mind. I know it was the Lord reminding me that I was feeling "off" for a reason and that it was time that I listened. I decided to stop being stubborn, and CHOSE to slow down so I could maybe, really, really listen to my thoughts without anxiety feeding them for once.

Around that time, something I've always wanted and something I've worked towards happened. In the three years of wedding photography I have been blessed with...I sat there for the first time, EVER, not having a single wedding to edit, or a single client waiting for their photos. I had been riding on that anxiety every single day for THREE YEARS straight, and when I got to that day where I marked the big "X" in the box that said "POST OFFICE DELIVERED" for my last client of 2014…I simply didn't know what to do with myself. It was a foreign feeling…freedom from the never-ending guilt and pressure I put on shoulders day after day. I finally, for the FIRST TIME, could relax a little, and sleep a little tighter…and it was freaking WEIRD let me tell ya! It took me a week to really realize THIS was the time that I could finally work on all those behind the scenes things in my business that I needed to address, BADLY. I imagined this massive dance party where confetti would come from my ceiling and Beyonce' would pop out to give me a high five and dance with me all over my house when that day came. Sadly, my imagination gets the best of me (always) lol but it was a huge weight that lifted off of me. It oddly enough left me feeling restless, fidgety, confused and even more anxious about addressing all the "behind the scenes" to dos that have been on the back burner for so long. You know...Those IMPORTANT things that help run a successful, SMOOTH business…yes. THAT! The time was finally heeeeeah! It was time to get an improved system in place.

Instead of focusing on goals, I took the month of January to NOT add to my list. I simply wanted to focus on simplifying my list…for once in my life. My weekends were booked with birthday celebrations, family trips, friends came to visit, personal things, and some quality time with my husband that I see less than 1/3 a year. I used this time to paint my office walls from gray to white. I reorganized my office…twice. I cleaned out my inbox, sorted client folders, tied up loose ends, I breathed more, I sat in silence more than ever, I answered e-mails, I updated my pricing and updated my PDF, I started researching new e-mail servers to help with the junk mail problem I have had all year, I traveled home to visit my family just because I finally could, I was able to be there for a family member in need, I worked on my website, I selected a new album company, I cleaned out my boxes in my closet full of receipts, I went to the eye Dr. that I've been needing to do for a long time, and I made an appointment to get my cameras cleaned. I got SO MUCH DONE that had been weighing on my shoulders for SO long. And because I'll keep it real, I STILL haven't got it all done. However, I am sitting here today feeling rested, motivated, and refocused more so than EVER…and in a much better place than I was on January 1st. My business from the inside out looks brighter and happier than ever, and so is my heart! This month may have flown by and felt like two weeks instead of four... but I'm so very thankful for every minute of it.

2015 has already shaped up to be an exciting, scary, and wild adventure. God knew what He was doing when He told me to slow my roll this month and I am so thankful I listened. He's been moving mountains in my life lately and can't thank Him enough for the grace he has shown me. Now that February is here…I'll be the first to admit that I have sweaty palms. This month will put the big mark on a HUGE personal goal/passion that I'm so freaking nervous to share with all of you. But I'm letting Him lead the way every single day!

February is going to be FUN y'all! I'll be back here tomorrow to share my goals. I'm excited!!! :)

December Goals

2014-12-04T09:48:00.000-08:00

I am really proud of myself. Don't laugh. To most, this is not a big accomplishment, much less, any accomplishment. But I am one chapter away from finishing a book and that is the BEST feeling ever for this gal. Eye rolling is allowed. I know. But, it's either a hobby or it's not. I've never been much of a leisurely reader. I mean, not to bragggg, but I WAS in accelerated reading back in the first grade (bahahaha, so lame) ;) and I can read really fast. Drew doesn't understand it, but we will both be reading an article on my phone, and I'll scroll down to the next paragraph and he is always like, "WAIT! HOLD UP! I'm not done! HOW DID YOU ALREADY READ ALL THAT!?" It's either that or he's a slow reader, and I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt. :) But, for some reason I've never really made the time to read, at least for fun anyway. A friend recommended "Not That Kind of Girl" by Lena Dunham to me when I told her I was wanting to read more for a million reasons I won't list out and bore you with here. I was hesitant at first, but I started to see it pop up in my instagram feed more and more, so I thought, "WHY NOT!?"

It's been a fun read, and a pleasant way to end my busy days. Even though I'm so different than this woman, her honesty, her wit and her thought process cracks me up. But I can still relate to her in a lot of ways. For one, I appreciate how random yet sweet, and deep her thoughts are, which is really similar to the way my brain works. Underneath her wit, her heart is somehow effortlessly hidden but also pouring out of these pages. Her book is blunt, and a ~~little~~ LOT-ttle on the vulgar side, but it is real as real gets and I found myself laughing out loud a few times. We'd be friends. I know it. And I'd be cool with that... because well, everyone needs this friend in their life...the kind that's "Not That Kind of Girl." Book title is on point chy'all.

Last night, while reading her hilarity before bed like a BOSS, I came across this paragraph and it really stuck with me. I re-read it and immediately bent the corner at the top of the page:

"And I decided then that I will never be jealous. I will never be vengeful. I won't be threatened by the old or by the new. I'll open wide like a daisy every morning. I will make my work."

November has been a productive month. Almost a blur really. I'm working away over here like a monkey with really bad hair and I've been little more quiet on social media than usual (friends keep pointing this out to me so I thought I'd address it). It's not because I don't want to post, but I have been trying to get ISH DONE SON! I'm tired. My inbox is messy and full, by the beautiful Grace of our Lord. My flame is flickering and burning fast as it always does at the end of the year, but I will say my heart is so full and oddly, really, really content right now. It's all good yaknowwhatimeanvern. I have a sticky note near my computer that says: "Clear List = Clear head & heart!" I'm so ready to be in this place. It's so close I can feel it. That light at the end of the tunnel I was looking for last month is finally peeking it's sexy self in. *Whistle noise goes here* :) However, this whole drinking caffeine like it's water, eating the scraps in my pantry because going to the grocery store takes too much time right now, which then ends with me staring at an empty fridge that's decorated with an empty pickle jar and leftovers from two weeks ago, and then I get those thoughts on a daily basis such as, "Did I brush my teeth today?" which is quickly then followed up with hand to mouth, exhaling, and then heading downstairs to find the toothpaste. I DID take the trash out this week, but I'd be lying if I told you I've brought the trashcan back to the side of the house. Yep. Still on the street. (Sorry neighbors, I'll make sure I do that today mk!) I know I'm not the only photographer in this boat. It's real a pretty scene over here I tell ya! ;)

We finished out our wedding season and had a really great Thanksgiving with our families. I'm excited to mark things off the list and to see it get smaller and smaller, rather than mark one off, add three. Repeat. December is being devoted to knocking things out one at a time, tying up the loose ends and then will come up for some air so I can enjoy the holidays! :) THAT AND MAKE A CRAP TON OF COOKIES AND EAT THEM ALL WITH NO REGRETS! That's what I'm talkin' bout Willis!

Drew has been traveling and working A LOT this month, so I'm missing him like crazy. Add that scenario with deer season and yeah... it's safe to say, it's been stressfully quiet around here. But the bright side is that he's a baller shot caller and the hardest worker I know. I'm so proud of him. I am trying to think of something sweet to do for him to thank him for all he does for his little family of 4! He's just my hero. I am so ready for him to come home. I'm gonna snuggle that boy so hard!

Alrighty then.

Let's do this.

November Goals

~~Finish Editing EVERY~~THING in my editing que... Fingers crossed! - Getting closer!

~~Photograph 5 sessions~~

~~Photograph our last 2 weddings of 2014~~

~~Go on a HOT date with Drew~~ - It was a small date, but it was great!

Declutter Home - Clean out CLOSET

~~Celebrate Thanksgiving with Family / WORK FREE~~

~~New Pricing Guide~~ - It's done and ready to werk it!

Blog More Sessions/Work/Weddings - Ehhh. I blogged one session. That's pretty good for me these days. Haha.

~~Make First Step Toward a HUGE Passion Project of Mine~~ - Y'ALL. My heart.

~~Tidy Up My Home/Office~~

~~Decorate fo~~r Christmas - Sadly, we haven't finished. So I'm crossing half of it off.

December Goals

Completely finish all my editing - and send all sessions off to my amazing clients - The end is near! Whoohoo!

Get a couples massage with Drew because I'm the best boss ever, duh.

Treat myself to a manicure and pedicure because I deserve it. :) #treatyoself

Get inbox to zero - have a clean slate before Christmas

Complete all watercolor orders

Take a two week vacation to relax, rejuvenate, rest, and prep for 2015 ... Y'all. I need this so bad. I can't even begin to tell ya!

Send out Prep Packets I made to 2015 clients

Take a dream day with Drew to go over 2015 goals

Finalize album company for 2015

Bake cookies because...cookies.

Christmas date with my hot pants

Christmas Party with my photographer love bugs who have become the best of friends

Do something random... :)

Celebrate New Years Eve in New YORK CITYYYYYYY! I CAN'T WAIT!

Blog my 2015 favorites since I only have blogged ONE wedding this past year...WOW. I need to really work on this.

Order personal prints for my home

Finish all Christmas shopping before December 15th

Go look at Christmas lights

Continue working on my passion project - Step 2!

Pay it forward in a big way

Eat more cookies.

Watch the VS Fashion Show and NOT FEEL BAD ABOUT MY THIGHS or BUM DIMPLES. I've worked hard for those. ;)

Playlist?

Right heahhhh.

Merry Christmas Muffin Heads! I love you, a lot, a lot.

Southern Weddings Magazine | Featured

2014-11-13T08:27:00.001-08:00

You guyssss. I am so excited.

Have you checked out the new Southern Weddings Magazine on newsstands all around the nation???

One of my photos from Kelsey and Zane's wedding is hanging out on Page 22 (bottom photo) and it's just surreal to see something you captured IN A WEDDING MAGAZINE. And your favorite wedding magazine at that!?

It's a pretty cool feeling I will tell you that.

That groomsmen's bum pat will be forever imprinted in a magazine bahahaha. Just, awesome. :)

And if that wasn't cool enough...Drew and I were also asked awhile back to be a bridesmaid and groomsmen in a photo shoot and guess what?

You can check out the Southern Soiree on pages 138-142! Do you see us? :) Don't worry, we won't quit our day jobs hahaha! :) But, it's still really cool to be a part of such an amazing shoot photographed by incredible photographers, Anna and Graham, and styled perfectly by Rian. I will be sharing this shoot here once we get the green light! :)

The entire magazine is beautifully executed and full of GORGEOUS inspiration. Head to your local Barnes and Noble, Wal-Mart, and Target and getchooo self one STAT! :)

November Goals

2014-11-12T08:01:00.001-08:00

Hey! Remember me!? I'm coming up from a sea of wedding editing real quick to say hello! :) Hi! What's up y'all!? :) I've had my goals ready to go since November 1st, but I have failed to post. Mostly because I have a to do list the size of the grand canyon and well, I'm just plain overwhelmed right now. It's a great thing, no doubt, but I'm just trying to keep my head down until I can get caught up! It's been a whirlwind of a wedding season, let me tell ya!

That photo above? That's a photo I took in Bend, Oregon where I got to spend 4 amazing days learning at the Erich McVey Workshop. If you check out the hashtag #erichmcveyworkshop on Instagram, you can see all the incredible work that the attendees got from the workshop as well. I'm amazed at all the talent that I was surrounded by - True, TRUE artists! I'll be recapping this here on the blog very, very soon.

Okay - October. Duuuuude! You win man. It was a close race, and I didn't go down without a fight, but I bow my head to you. You were brutal. Simple as that. Yet so eye opening at the same time. All I know is that I am ready to make the necessary changes both personally and professionally so I can live a life with more meaning, a clear head and heart, and that will allow myself a lot more Grace. God has been moving mountains in my life this month and I'm already feeling things making a dramatic change. :)

I need to get back to editing (light at the end of the tunnel, where you at yo!?) so let's get to it!

How did I do on my October Goals?

October Goals

~~Attend Erich McVey Workshop (!!!)~~

~~Launch THE SHOP~~

~~Photograph Three Weddings~~

~~Photograph Six Sessions~~

~~Pay It Forward~~

Go on a HOT date with Drew

~~Celebrate my Brother's Birthday~~

~~Meet my love muffin from South Africa Caley! :)~~

~~Go to the Pumpkin Patch~~

~~Organize File Cabinet~~ and DVD backup drives

~~Continue attending Pilates Class -~~ Add a Cycling Class during the week too...baby steps!

Declutter Home - Clean out CLOSET

November Goals

Finish Editing EVERYTHING in my editing que... Fingers crossed!

Photograph 5 sessions

Photograph our last 2 weddings of 2014

Go on a HOT date with Drew

Declutter Home - Clean out CLOSET

Celebrate Thanksgiving with Family / WORK FREE

New Pricing Guide

Blog More Sessions/Work/Weddings

Make First Step Toward a HUGE Passion Project of Mine

Tidy Up My Home/Office

Decorate for Christmas

For November, I simply just want to get all my editing done (this is going to be my whole month - let's be real), celebrate our last weddings of the season, spend whatever left over time I have with family and hot husband, tidy up things around here, tie up the lose ends, and start working on/implementing the big changes we are going to be making in our business for 2015.

Annnnnd go! :)

Oh, DUH! Here's a playlist I've been working away to these days. Hope you like it! :)

LTN Shop Instagram Giveaway Winners

2014-10-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

AHHHH! You guys. I was going to be so excited if even 10 people entered this watercolor giveaway on instagram...but y'all blew me out of the water. Seriously, thank you SO STINKIN' MUCH! Thank ALL of you for entering and taking the time to share your favorite water color. I wish I could send all of you a print! I wrote down all of your instagram handles on tiny white pieces of paper and put them in a box. I drew them out in order and got the following:

(Please excuse the sloppy handwriting; I was in a hurry mk!?)

1. @loveeashlyn (I accidentally left out your extra "e" in the photo above lol - sorry about that!)

2. @allthingspandp

3. @littlesquirrelbakery

4. @makenzilaine

5. @elisabeth_carol

6. @borrowednblueoccasions

7. @morgannalexandra

8. @caslee

9. @meltonbritt

10. @cherithompson

If you have won the giveaway, please e-mail me at hello@lovethenelsons.com with "Watercolor Winner" in the subject line no later than Thursday, October 23rd. After that date, the giveaway will no longer be valid. Please be sure to leave your full name and your mailing address! :) Your print will be mailed to you in 1-2 weeks.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for entering and supporting this shop! I wish I could just squeeze all of you in half right now. I mean that in the sweetest way... I promise. :)

The Shop is LIVE Y'all!

2014-10-16T13:28:00.002-07:00

Welp!

The shop is live. (FI-FI-FINALLY!)

I can't believe I just typed that. I never in a million years thought I would have an Etsy shop. I still can't believe so many sweet people love these things. However, I am really, really, over the moon thankful. It means the world to this heart of mine.

Real talk though ... I'm super nervous and a little anxious annnnnnd a little scared right now... but it's UP y'all! :)

Fist pumps, booty dances, and high fives!

Please know that we are still getting familiar with the entire process of having a shop. We are extremely excited and can only hope that you will find a fun watercolor print to add to your home! :)

We will be adding more prints to the shop very soon. If there is a print you might have seen me post on Instagram (@shalynnelson #ltnshop) that isn't available to order, PLEASE do not worry. There is a really, really good chance we just haven't received our inventory for those orders just yet. Once we have those in, they will be on the site for you to purchase. As my Mom always said...Baby steps! :)

CUSTOM ORDER INQUIRIES...

Unfortunately, at this time, we will not be offering custom orders. I KNOW. I'm bummed about it too. However, please check back in the coming months because this might change. Due to being a full-time photographer and smack dab in the middle of our busy season, it will not allow the extra time to whip up these orders. Once things slow down over here, we can hopefully, fingers crossed, start taking them on again. We super appreciate your understanding. We are human, not robots! :)

SIZES OF PRINTS...

For the time being, we are only offering 8x10 prints. This will eventually change, but we want to see what our best sellers are first before we start taking on different sizes of our prints.

All orders will be sent to you between 7 and 14 days.

If you have any questions about our shop, please don't hesitate to e-mail us at hello@lovethenelsons.com or leave a comment below and we will do our best to get back to you as soon as possible.

Thank y'all so much for all your love and support as we enter this side journey of AWESOMENESS. We can't even put into words how overwhelmed we are with gratitude.

Please be sure to head on over to instagram to see how you can win a free print too. Holla FO A DOLLA!

Peace and Hair Grease!

Oh, and HAPPY SHOPPING! :P

October Goals

2014-10-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

Hey love monkeys!!! :)

It's about that time of year when my friends and family stop asking me what I'm doing and what my plans are on the weekends. WEDDING SEASON is here and I'm officially in game mode. October is about to ra-ra-rock me to the core and I'm over here putting black ink on my cheeks saying, "BRING IT!"

I'm actually going to keep things simple, straight and to the point today...I know, you're like yeahhhh right Shay, since when have you done that!? OH, since...NOW! :)

I'm currently about to finish editing a wedding and a bridal session, headed to a Pilates class, which will shortly be followed up by prepping for a wedding this weekend, which will then be followed up by an airplane ride straight to Portland, Oregon! I need coffee, coffee, coffee and energy drinks in mass amounts starting nooooow.

OH! Real quick! :) For inquiring minds...just thought I'd let y'all know that the watercolor print shop thing I've been doing for, oh...FOREVER now...yeah. We finally have a launch date.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16th LADIES AND GENTS! Mark them calendars!!!! :) I'll be writing a post here later this month about how the shop will run, what will be available, etc. etc. I'm really nervous/excited y'all! I hope you are too! :)

Alright, let's get on with it shall we? :)

SEPTEMBER GOALS

Launch THE SHOP

~~Photograph Three Bridal Sessions~~

~~Photograph Two Weddings~~

~~Pay It Forward~~

~~Finish ALL Summer Weddings to prepare for a busy Fall season~~

~~Repaint Kitchen~~

~~Finish Kitchen Floors~~/Countertops

~~Go on a date with Drew~~

~~Get Hair Done~~

~~Clean off Computer Desktops and Organize Hard drives (again)~~

Organize File Cabinet and DVD backup drives

~~Join Cycling or Pilates Class on a regular basis~~

Declutter Home

Clean out CLOSET

~~Re-Organize Office (I need a little refresh right about now) :)~~

~~Get Cameras and Lenses Serviced/Cleaned~~

~~Practice on my CONTAX more (Waiting on my first two rolls as we speak! SO excited and nervous!)~~

October Goals

Attend Erich McVey Workshop (!!!)

Launch THE SHOP

Photograph Three Weddings

Photograph Six Sessions

Pay It Forward

Go on a HOT date with Drew

Celebrate my Brother's Birthday

Meet my love muffin from South Africa Caley! :)

Go to the Pumpkin Patch

Organize File Cabinet and DVD backup drives

Continue attending Pilates Class - Add a Cycling Class during the week too...baby steps!

Declutter Home - Clean out CLOSET

:)

Whooty whootyyyyy shakeeee yoooo booootayyyy! :)

Oh, and here's a playlist for you guys! ENJOY!!! :)

Shaytastic Mix October by Shalyn Nelson on Grooveshark

Summer & September Goals - What It Do

2014-08-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

You can purchase the print above here.

Happy Tuesday Y'all! Thank you SO much for your incredibly kind comments on my last post and for being excited for me. It really does mean so much to this big fat emotional heart of mine. Y'all make my day all day erry day and I MEAN IT. I'm scared to start typing right now y'all because it's been over THREE MONTHS since I last posted my goals. I've been still keeping up with them over here, but I've failed to post them. I'm so awesome sometimes.

The reality is that this summer has been a whirlwind. I have barely been home, my head has been spinning between balancing my full plate of clients, weddings, the watercolor shop, family and friend obligations, and some behind the scenes happenings that I'll be sharing soon with you guys. I would say that "B" word that ends with "USY"... However, I'm really trying to take that word out of my vocabulary. ;)

Before I go into my goals, a lot of people have been asking about the Watercolor Shop! :) I still can't even believe that this fun hobby has even had the response it's had...But THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU GUYS FOR YOUR LOVE AND SUPPORT! I actually started to open up the shop in May, but my husband reminded me of how crazy this summer was going to be, and how little time I would have to do them. And he was right. I couldn't balance my photography clients and the watercolor shop at that time, whatsoever, because my photography business comes first and foremost. SO, please bare with me while I get my ducks lined in a row. I still have some deadlines and photography related things to take care of, and as soon as I have some time to come up for air to launch this shop, you guys will be the first to know. I just haven't been home enough to even take orders or get my prints ready to send out. The good news is that we are close and it will be happening in the next few weeks. I have had to keep pushing it back due to orders, my schedule, traveling, and waiting on packing and packaging supplies to come in. It's more work than it looks, I'll tell ya that! :) I just want to wait until I am fully organized and have a moment to breathe before I say, "LET'S DO THIS!" :) Thank you for your patience and understanding as this little side journey has been a blessing for me in a thousand and one ways.

Let's see how I did with those May goals that were forever ago.

Introduce Hattie for the zillionth time (It's really going to happen this month or y'all can come and shave me bald. For reals.) Maybe being bald isn't a bad option at this point. See next goal.
~~Get my hair did {screwed up}! :)~~ Happened in June
~~Finish Blog Design~~ Done in July/August
Make Website Final Touches
~~Order Watercolor Print examples from local printers~~
~~Photograph Two Weddings~~
~~Photograph Four Sessions~~
~~Attend my friend Amy's Bachelorette Party~~
~~Attend and celebrate my sister-in-law graduating and getting her MASTERS from Texas A&M~~ ~~Photograph my first official editorial session for a fashion line - REALLY excited about this!~~
Go to bed before 11 PM - Wake Up before 8 AM - Establish healthier sleeping schedule because I am all sorts of messed up right now. Yep. Still all sorts of messed up.
Work out twice a week - No Shay, the stairs in your house don't count.
~~Take more work breaks to stretch and de-stress.~~
Go wake boarding!
~~Drink MORE water. I'm getting bad about this lately and my kidneys are starting to kick me.~~ I TOLD YOU THEY WERE KICKING ME! HAHAHAHA.
Continue Home Tour IF I am caught up on my editing…which leads me to my next goal…
Find a better system and schedule to balance work, editing, and my fun side of blogging to where it doesn't stress me out or spread me out too thin. I want to get back in a better blogging routine. It's going to happen. I just need to clear my list- baby steps. Didn't happen in May, but it's happening now.
~~Pay It Forward.~~
~~Go on a picnic with DDHP and make out with him under a tree or something. ;) YOLO! (I hate this term lol but it just seems appropriate right now.)~~

What went down in June?

- Photographed a dear friends wedding in Galveston...with kidney stones, but I didn't know it until the next day. I was just in pain and thought it was a kidney infection. An urgent care, an ER visit, a Dr. appointment, a urology appointment, an x-ray, many pain pills, a surgery, a load of medical bills, and a ton of water and lemonade later... I am good as new y'all! :)

~~- Photographed a calligraphy class with LH Calligraphy. I also photographed this with kidney stones. CHAMP STATUS WHAT WHAT! I still don't know how I did it, but I did and that's all that matters.~~

~~-Photographed a precious wedding in Longview, Texas~~

~~-Went on a picnic date with DDHP and celebrated 8 wonderful years of dating~~

~~-Drew broke up the tile floors in the kitchen (AKA, BEST DAY EVER)~~

~~- Got a haircut and a terrible ombre' job. I'm still needing to get it fixed. You won't be seeing this head on any hair commercials...like, ever. Haha.~~

And July?

~~-We helped my sister-in-law move out of her apartment here in Austin.~~

~~-Visited with family back at home in Jewett / Family Obligations~~

~~-Watched a movie with my grandparents (loved this)~~

~~-Photographed a wedding in Conroe, Texas~~

~~-Attended my sister-in-law's bridal shower in Lufkin~~

-Photographed an engagement session (had an awesome time), but then realized I locked my keys in my car out in the middle of nowhere, had to call Pop-A-Lock, wait in a booth with a stranger guy for an hour (who was actually really nice lol) and then got a speeding ticket. ALL in a span of 4 hours. Good stuff. I didn't have my brain turned on apparently.

~~- Photographed a wedding in Dallas, Texas~~

~~- BOUGHT A CONTAX 645 FINALLY AFTER FOREVERRRRR (sandlot style) OF SAVING. I cried. I danced. I sang. I made out with it.~~

~~- Had dinner with some of my lovely photographer friends~~

~~-Got a new washer because our washer broke andddd four days later...~~

- Had to get our home AC fixed because it leaked water into our hallway and ruined our flooring. We JUST replaced these y'all. Poor DDHP. I am beginning to think this house is cursed. Seriously. Lol. #houseownerprobs

~~-Got new shoes tires for my car~~

~~- Attended my sister-in-law's couples shower/BBQ in Huntsville~~

~~-Photographed a wedding in San Antonio~~

~~-EDITING GALORE. Literally, hibernation EDIT went down over here. My social life was non-existent. Still kinda is but...wedding season.~~

So, I guess you haven't missed anything too exciting. Especially if you follow me on Instagram. June and July were FULL of fun days, bad days, stressful days, and very, very expensive days. Life, you're funny like that. But I still love you more than ever.

Alright- I'm gonna ease back into this. Mostly because this post is already longer than the Nile River andddd if you're still reading, I want you to come over here so I can hug you.

And August?

August was looking to be a simple month about 3 months ago, but all of the sudden it got wham bam crazy-town . I'm okay with it though. There are some awesome things happening this month.

~~- Launch Blog (DONE SON!)~~

~~-Attend my awesome friend Brittany's Baby Shower in La Grange~~

~~-Attend my super cool nephew's 2nd Birthday Party~~

~~-Dinner with my friend Callie because SHE JUST GOT ENGAGED and I'm SO excited for her!~~

-I was supposed to speak yesterday on instagram 101 at a workshop, but something BIG came up for the girl who was putting it on and so that is postponed until further notice. It will happen eventually.

~~-Stand by my sister-in-law at her WEDDING and as her MOH~~

~~-Photograph the brunch at the 100 Event in Dallas~~

~~The Glow Workshop Prep / Set Date~~

-Attend my friend Emily's Gender Reveal in Dallas because I literally have 26 pregnant friends right now and it's all kinds of crazy and awesome. I AM NOT EXAGGERATING Y'ALL. Drew and I must have not got the memo for baby making this year lol. I am going to be one awesome Aunt Shay Shay. I may be broke (HAVE YOU SEEN BABY CLOTHES!?), but at least I'll be well-trained in baby snuggles. BABIES! ERRYWHERE! And I love it. But I must ask...where is this water everyone seems to be drinkin? ;)

~~-Fly to Charleston, SC for 24 hours to photograph an engagement session~~

~~-Surprise Stephanie in Toronto, Canada and hug her face off~~

~~-Photograph two bridal sessions~~

~~-Photograph a wedding in Bawwwwston and see my love muffin Erica~~

~~-Pay it forward.~~

~~-Smile even on the bad days~~

~~-Play with Connie (my Contax, you KNOW I had to give her a name) and get acquainted. I'm hoping to send in my first roll of film...Even if it's of a pillow, a stick, dead grass or my pets. It's FILM!~~

~~-Shake what my Mama Gave Me!~~

~~-Keep up my coconut oil routine... (Y'all....Two Words: COCONUT OIL!)~~

-Get kitchen floors done (LONG STORY. Can't wait to tell you about it...Sigh...) (They are in my house as I type this redoing the floors.

~~-Pick the best Fantasy League Football Team EVER (haha) I AM SO READY FOR FOOTBALL! Sundays just aren't the same!~~

~~-Order Prints and Ordering Supplies for THE SHOP~~

~~And and and...Boom. (This reference is dedicated to my childhood friend, Hilary)~~

Y'ALL! It's September 2nd. This year is flying by Buzz Lightyear style. Yo clock...chillax.

Here are my September Goals. I'll be surprised if you made it this far! :)

Launch THE SHOP

Photograph Three Bridal Sessions

Photograph Two Weddings

Pay It Forward

Finish ALL Summer Weddings to prepare for a busy Fall season

Repaint Kitchen

Finish Kitchen Floors/Countertops

Go on a date with Drew

Get Hair Done

Clean off Computer Desktops and Organize Hard drives (again)

Organize File Cabinet and DVD backup drives

Join Cycling or Pilates Class on a regular basis

Declutter Home

Clean out CLOSET & Garage

Re-Organize Office (I need a little refresh right about now) :)

Get Cameras and Lenses Serviced/Cleaned

Practice on my CONTAX more (Waiting on my first two rolls as we speak! SO excited and nervous!)

AND BECAUSE THIS POST ISN'T LONG ENOUGH ALREADY! Here's a playlist to get you through your work week! :)

So Shay Mix September by Shalyn Nelson on Grooveshark

As always, what are your monthly goals??? :) I love reading y'alls!

Peace and Hair Grease Y'all! Thanks for reading how much I've slackalacked. It happens.

*Knuckle Bumps*

Refreshed.

2014-08-06T08:08:00.000-07:00

[source]

SoooOooooOoooOOOooOoo whatdya think? :) It was time for a little refresher on this neglected space of mine. It's been a little over two years since I had this blog redone and truthfully, it was SO hard for me to let the old design go. However, I feel like I'm in this "middle" place in my life where I'm growing, I'm maturing (ha) and slowly but surely getting to my sweet spot. I really wanted something clean to hold my photography work while I figure out where I want to take this blog and my photography path. You know what I am talking about? That teeter totter place you get to right before you go "BAM. I'm here man!" That's where I'm at. I'm in the "I think I know what I want, but I still doubt it and I'm unsure and I'm not quite THERE yet because I'm just a silly hormonal, indecisive female, and change is sometimes scary yaknowwhatimean?" kind of place. Change is good. I think this new refreshed, much more simple space will allow me more room to grow and will eventually get me closer to the place I want to be.

I hope y'all love it as much as I do. The theme was "quirky editorial" and I'm just over-the-moon in love with it. I can't help but owe it all to the FREAKIN BOMB.COM Kelly Ann. She designed my old blog and I just couldn't imagine having someone else design this space. She is SO awesome to work with and she is insanely talented. I pretty much adore this woman with all my heart. If you're looking for a new design, check her out. I promise you won't regret it.

I'm super happy to be back. I'm sorry for going MIA. A few of y'all e-mailed to make sure I would be blogging again (very sweet) but I just got extremely overwhelmed with life these past two months. I had too much on my plate and I was sitting there with my pants unbuttoned, big belly and all, burping and just plain miserable. You like that mental picture? :) I took an unplanned break, and instead of writing a novel about it (I'll touch on it here soon) but just know that I needed it more than ever and I don't regret it one bit. Sometimes real life gets busy, and it forces you to take a few steps back. It allowed me to breathe a little more, re-evaluate what I wanted and most of all, what I absolutely needed. What I NEEDED was a chill pill. I think we all knew that though because this blog hasn't been too awesome to read for awhile now. I am hoping to change that soon.

I'll be back here tomorrow with my June-July (JUNLY?)...Well crap... My SUMMER GOALS I guess you can call it. And for all of you who have e-mailed me about watercolor orders...well...stay tuned. The shop is about to open. As you can see by the link "THE SHOP" at the top of the blog. WhoohooooOOOoooOOooo!

Thanks so much for being here, for caring even a little, and most of all, for reading this. There are some pretty cool things about to go down in this space.

Get excited.

Morgan James Launch Part Two

2014-07-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

Shop Morgan James HERE.
Designer - Morgan Hunt
Model - Kate (Running on Happiness)
Styling - Katherine Grandy

Morgan James Launch

2014-07-28T12:49:00.000-07:00

I have SO SO SO much to fill this blog in on, and in all honesty, this feels so weird sitting here in this little window typing in this big white space. It's been awhile hasn't it? :) I MISS THIS PLACE! I could type for days on what's been brewing over here, but that will happen soon enough. ;)

I really wanted to come here today to share something that I'm really excited about. I recently had the opportunity to step outside of my comfort zone and photograph a clothing line called Morgan James that the beautiful and talented Morgan Hunt created. I not only got to meet her for the first time, but I got to spend a whole weekend hanging out with some incredible women, doing what I love, and igniting a fiery passion of mine that I didn't know existed for editorial photography. I'm SO thankful I got to do this for Morgan. Her line is THE BOMB y'all and all the hard, HARD work she put into this new venture of hers can clearly be shown in her clothing. I also got to work with the stunning, and sweet as pie, Kate, who modeled all of the looks (effortlessly) and who blogs over at Running on Happiness. I've been blog friends with her for a few years, and meeting her was just icing on the cake. It was a whirlwind weekend of just plain awesomeness, creativity, and fun!

Here's a video I created for Morgan on a whim. I wish I would have taken more time and put more thought into this but it was one of those conversations that go, "Hey, Want me to take some video here and there just to play around and see what happens?" "Sure!" :)

Morgan James Promo from shalyn nelson on Vimeo.

BECAUSE I took a million photos and have a million favorites, I'm going to break up the line into different posts. I hope you love the line as much as I do. If you see anything you like, please head on over to Morgan James and do some shopping. I'm not kidding y'all...I want everything.

Clothing/Designer: Morgan James
Model: Kate
Styling: Katherine Grandy

Hump Day Music Mix

2014-05-14T07:42:00.004-07:00

Hey y'all!

Happy Wednesday! I thought I'd share some tunes I'm currently shakin' my ~~booty~~ head to that will help YOUR productivity and take your hump day to the next level! :) HAHA! But seriously. Lovin' these jams!

Enjoy!

So Shay Productive Playlist by Shalyn Nelson on Grooveshark

May Goals & A Video From Charleston, SC! :)

2014-05-06T14:53:00.001-07:00

Hey guys! Hey there! Hey! What it do!? I am currently coming to you LIVE from a messy desk and red, sleepy eyeballs. I'm treading water with my head barely above the waves so if I starting gargling in this post, that means I'm drowning and I need some hot pink floaties sent my way STAT! That or a surf board. ...Surf-booAUrd. (I hope you read that in the Beyonce' voice!)

AHH! This blog. I miss it. I miss it so much.

April was a whirlwind of awesome and just pure insanity. Wedding season is kinda kicking my booty but in the best way. I'm about to hibernate for the rest of the month just so I can get caught up and get a hold of my ~~schedule~~ LIFE. I was lucky enough to photograph three incredible weddings (Austin, Houston, and Charleston, SC) and six separate sessions during those weeks. I'm a little more behind than I PERSONALLY wanted to be at this point (atleast in my unrealistic brain), but I seem to always think I can get more done in a day than is humanly possible. Drew had to knock some sense into me the other day and I'm so thankful he did. It's like I KNOW these things but it always helps when someone just tells it to you straight. He put his hands on my shoulders and said, "Shalyn. You're doing an amazing job. You are. The reason you don't think you are is because you put TEN things on your to-do list a day. You're only getting TWO of those tasks done a day (and that's PERFECT and A LOT of work you're getting done!) BUT at the end of the day, all you're seeing is eight things that didn't get done. You need to be nicer to yourself. Be realistic. Put one thing on your list a day and mark it off. You will go to bed feeling better and will wake up not feeling so overwhelmed." The ~~sexy~~ man had a point. I knew I married him for a reason. I really do need to get better about my daily expectations and just being nicer to myself. I'm SO hard on this body of mine and I'm finding myself not taking care of it. May will be hands down, hibernation and survival month. I'm going to keep my head down, crank it out one thing at a time, reward myself with a sno-cone maybe and then get back to it. Can I get a boom jackalacka AMEN!?

I may not have accomplished all my goals this month, but I DID however get to mark off one of my YEARLY goals at the beginning of the month and that was going to VEGAS with some of the best ladies in the world. Taking a mini-vacation in the middle of my busiest wedding season probably wasn't the smartest idea, but then again, it was and when I booked the trip, I didn't know I was going to be so busy. Regardless, I needed that more than I knew. I haven't recapped my trip due to work deadlines but you can check out that weekend HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. Erica made a video of our trip too that you can see right HERE.

Also, can I just say… I AM IN LOVE WITH CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA!? HOW IN THE WORLD DID I NOT LET MYSELF VISIT BEFORE NOW!? I want to move there. When we left, Drew and I decided that we are going to make it our summer vacation spot in the future with our family. No doubt. Thankfully, we had the chance to not only photograph the most beautiful wedding day, but we also got the chance to spend ONE full day in Charleston to play (WORK HARD, PLAY HARD) and WE HAD THE TIME OF OUR LIVES. I really pray we get to travel for weddings more and experience cities that we have never visited before. I think I looked at Drew almost every five minutes and just said, "I'm so happy right now." AH. Take me back. The best feeling. Charleston, you really helped this stressed out heart and mind of mine. Thank you.

Alrighty then. Let's get to it! I already am dreading this because I know I did SO bad. But I did the best I could. You win some, you lose some.

April Goals

~~Vacation in Vegas with my blog best friends (DONE SON! AND it was a blast!!)~~
Introduce Hattie for the zillionth time
Anniversary Shoot (Had to reschedule)
Get my hair did! :)
~~Start reading The Law of Divine Compensation~~ Two chapters counts right? :)
FINISH my website. Boom.
~~Finish Editing All March Sessions and Weddings~~ (Wrapping up my last March wedding as we speak! Close enough! ;))
Photograph 6 Sessions
Photograph 3 Weddings
~~Finish my Bl~~og with Kelly (Almost!)
Go on a date with Drew
Go to Charleston, SC to photograph a wedding (SO excited!)
Have another "Pretend you have a co-worker" Day!
~~Pay it Forward~~
Continue Tour of our Home

May Goals

Introduce Hattie for the zillionth time (It's really going to happen this month or y'all can come and shave me bald. For reals.)

Anniversary Shoot (Had to reschedule) (Not sure when this is going to happen but it will. We had to put it on hold due to scheduling conflicts! Taking off until further notice.)

Get my hair did! :) My hair is straight up NASTY. I just don't know if I want highlights or a touch up on my ombre (again). What should I do!? I want a change.

Finish Blog Design (We are close!)

Make Website Final Touches

Order Watercolor Print examples from local printers

Photograph Two Weddings (Photographed one already on May 3rd…guess that's what happens when you post your goals on May 6th…SLACKER ALERT! Not really, just swamped y'all.)

Photograph Four Sessions

Attend my friend Amy's Bachelorette Party

Attend and celebrate my sister-in-law graduating and getting her MASTERS from Texas A&M

Photograph my first official editorial session for a fashion line - REALLY excited about this!

Go to bed before 11 PM - Wake Up before 8 AM - Establish healthier sleeping schedule because I am all sorts of messed up right now.

Work out twice a week - No Shay, the stairs in your house don't count.

Take more work breaks to stretch and de-stress.

Go wakeboarding!

Drink MORE water. I'm getting bad about this lately and my kidneys are starting to kick me.

Continue Home Tour IF I am caught up on my editing…which leads me to my next goal…

Find a better system and schedule to balance work, editing, and my fun side of blogging to where it doesn't stress me out or spread me out too thin. I want to get back in a better blogging routine. It's going to happen. I just need to clear my list- baby steps.

Pay It Forward.

Go on a picnic with DDHP and make out with him under a tree or something. ;) YOLO! (I hate this term lol but it just seems appropriate right now.)

Well! Happy MAY! Goodness… I can't believe it's MAY. WHAT IN THE WORLD, WORLD!? I hope your month is full of amazing things y'all. Love you guys!!!

AND because I know how BAD I've been at blogging lately…I guess I'll go ahead and close this post out with a little video from our trip to Charleston or I'll probably forget to post it. It's super cheesy. You're welcome.

Dear Charleston, We Love You! Love, The Nelsons from shalyn nelson on Vimeo.

Sarah + Donnie | Engagements

2014-04-10T10:23:00.000-07:00

Meet the most precious muffins on the planet: Donnie and Sarah. Y'ALL! I mean, SERIOUSLY!? I can't even begin to describe how stinkin' ADORABLE these two are together. They exude the gift of love of from Lord, and are just THE SWEETEST couple in the world. I don't know how I'm getting blessed with the sweetest and most beautiful couples, but I know one thing, and that is I LOVE MY JOB and I love when I get to work with love muffins like these two. This engagement session was at McKinney Falls State Park and it was THE perfect setting. I'll let the rest of the photos speak for themselves! :)

April Goals

2014-04-08T11:00:00.001-07:00

Gooooooodness Gracious. I have been absolutely awesome at posting my goals a little late in the month haven't I? I just got around to my e-mails after my mini vacation to Vegas with my friends, and in the subject line it said, "SHAY! WHERE ARE YOUR MONTHLY GOALS!?" Haha! :) I thought it was absolutely crazy (and cute) that one of my friends thought I forgot about my goals for the month. That and the fact that SOMEONE (insert cricket noises here!) actually reads them and cares to follow along to see if I succeeded or failed makes me smile. Who would have thought? Anyway, I didn't forget. I just had a busy beginning to the month and had a few priorities that ranked a little higher on the list. It's cool y'all. It's cool.

March was a whirlwind. It started my wedding season and boy is it in FULL swing. I am barely in the office these days it feels like because of meetings, photo shoots out of town, and when I am in the office, I am editing away and answering e-mails like a crazy lady. I realized last month that I am in need of some help around here. I've been weighing HEAVILY on the pros-and-cons of getting an intern (even for just one day a week) to help me with small errands and things that take up so much of my time. The fact that I'm even in a place where I can say, " I NEED HELP" or "I CAN'T DO IT ALL" is a really big blessing in itself. I never thought I would be here, but I am and it's exciting but scary. Do you have an intern? Do you have a good experience with it? My heart is really praying on it right now.

Watercolor orders have filled any and all free time I had. I am loving it and can't believe people actually want one from me. When I get e-mails about them, I just smile and think "NO WAY!" It has been the best creative outlet for me and is a great break from editing when my eyes start to go cross eyed and it also helps fill my evening time. Now that Drew travels so much, it's been nice to have this to help pass the time after hours. If you would like a watercolor print, please e-mail me at hello@lovethenelsons.com. I'll have shop up in the next few months! My sister-in-law (DDHP's twin) also got engaged (YAYAYAY!) and she asked me to be the MOH! I've never been an MOH before so any advice is accepted around these parts! :) I'm so stinking excited! :)

Anyway- It's been a good kinda crazy over here, but I'm smiling and happy and trying to focus on all the good. I'm dealing with a few hardships at the moment that are private, but I'm trying to stay positive. Prayer Warriors...I need you reallllly bad right now! :) If you could say a big prayer for my family, I would be forever, EVER grateful. It would mean the world to us.

I'm actually yawning this as I type because I just got back from my Vegas vacation with my beautiful blogging babes that I met 3 years ago here (Erica, Rissy, Ashley, and Sabrina). We had so much fun and Vegas was so good to us! My body is craving sleep but it was well worth it. I'll hopefully have a recap up soon! :) Erica ended up taking a Go Pro too so be looking for a silly video in the near future! :) Those girls have my heart y'all! April is hands down going to be the busiest month in the world. I just keep repeating to myself...YOU CAN DO THIS! YOU CAN DO THIS! :)

OKAY- Let's see how I did with my March Goals.

~~Finish Editing ALL February Sessions~~
~~Post Ryan Ray Photos~~
Introduce Hattie (I am embarrassed. I know. But it's staying until I freakin' do it y'all!)
Celebrate 5 Year Wedding Anniversary with my HOT PANTS!!!
Photograph 3 Weddings
Photograph 7 Sessions
~~Get out in the sun more. My Vitamin D level is so low according to my recent blood work.~~
Anniversary Photo Shoot
~~Go to the Kite Festival with Drew~~ (It got cancelled due to rain. BOO!)
Go to SXSW!!! (Freakin' pumped y'all!)
Explore those new branches I spoke about above
~~Start the process of changing my BLOG DESIGN with Kelly~~
Finish my website. Boom.
~~Pay it Forward~~
Get my hair did! :)
FINISH TAXES. Gross. Barf. Blah.
Re-evaluate my passion, the things that fire me up, and figure out how to find time to blog more
Start reading The Law of Divine Compensation
~~Go on more bike rides with my new BIKE with DDHP and friends~~
Take my dogs on more walks
Enjoy my down time because I set boundaries, office hours, and hope it's respected (So hard for me if I were to be honest. I am human. I need to rest more. I just hope I can train my brain to let me do it with Grace.)
~~Love the heck out of my man and squeeze his bum all day erry day.~~
~~Take a yoga class, and a cycling class because I NEED to get my rear in gear y'all.~~ (I took a Pilates Plus class instead and I am HOOKED!)

APRIL GOALS!

Vacation in Vegas with my blog best friends (DONE SON! AND it was a blast!!)
Introduce Hattie for the zillionth time
Anniversary Shoot (Had to reschedule)
Get my hair did! :)
Start reading The Law of Divine Compensation
FINISH my website. Boom.
Finish Editing All March Sessions and Weddings
Photograph 6 Sessions
Photograph 3 Weddings
Finish my Blog with Kelly
Go on a date with Drew
Go to Charleston, SC to photograph a wedding (SO excited!)
Have another "Pretend you have a co-worker" Day!
Pay it Forward
Continue Tour of our Home

The end. :) Hibernation aka SEE YA ON THE OTHER SIDE WHEN I CAN COME UP FOR SOME AIR in my office begins nowwwww. :)

Playlist. Shake it.

Shaytastic Music Mix 13 by Shalyn Nelson on Grooveshark

RYAN RAY PHOTO SHOOT aka The Best Day Ever.

2014-03-31T10:00:00.001-07:00

About two years ago, I was browsing the interwebs and somehow landed on an amazing photography site...also known as the mega talented, RYAN RAY. I remember looking at his work and just being infatuated with in his jaw-dropping-out-of-this-world-stunning images. I couldn't help but admire how beautifully crafted each photo was. I was determined to have this awesome guy take our photos.

In July of 2012, I sat down with Drew and pretty much begged him to let me inquire with Ryan because I had to make it happen. SO...I did it. I finally found the courage to e-mail him and pretty much professed my admiration for his talent. Thankfully he didn't think I was crazy, laughed at my silly over-the-top e-mail, and wrote me back the kindest response in the world. I started saving my pennies (I couldn't even afford a carton of twinkies at the time, seriously) and so I labeled a mason jar in my closet with "RYAN RAY FUND!". I took a picture of it and e-mailed it to Ryan to show him that ONE DAY we would all get to hang out! We were excited, he was excited and the saving began!

When that Mason Jar was full...I e-mailed Ryan and screamed it from the rooftops!!! :) Our photo session was BOOKED and I was the happiest girl in the world! Ryan booty danced (okay, probably not, but we want to think he did haha) and that date on our calendar couldn't get here fast enough!

Needless to say, our photo session was everything I had hoped it would be. Of course being self critical, my hair and make-up didn't cooperate with me as I had planned in my head (this always happens doesn't it when you TRY to look your best?) but I didn't let that ruin my day. Being a photographer myself and never being behind the lens, made for one uncomfortable Shay, BUT Ryan being the most insane talent there is, made Drew and I feel right at home. Y'all! We had the best time! We even got to spend some time with his sweet as pie wife, Cary and we even got to meet his HUGE Mastiff, Jax who I wanted to just snuggle up with and take home with me...but that couldn't happen because Piper and Furlee would be gobbled up in a heartbeat. ~~That~~ a~~nddd Ryan and Cary wouldn't have allowed that obviously~~ haha! I had never seen a dog that BIG in my entire life. It was awesome!

OKAY OKAY OKAY, enough of my story. Let's get on with the photos that Drew and I will cherish for a lifetime. Believe it or not, we have had these photos for FOREVER and I wanted to hold off on posting them for our website launch, but I'm tired of holding onto them because they are pretty much out favorite photos ever! I am mad at myself for holding out for so long! They've been plastered all around our house for months though! :) Anddd I guess we can say we waited to post them in light of celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary this past weekend yeah? :)

There is no question that we will have another session with Ryan in the future. He pretty much is my photography role model. There is no question about that! :)

Ryan,

There are not enough words in the dictionary to truly describe how thankful we are for you. We had the best time getting to know you and letting you work your magic on little ol' us. We couldn't be happier and will cherish this day forever. We can't wait to hang out again and are so happy we can call you a friend.

Love,

The Nelsons

Drew's Outfits:

J.Crew

Aldo

Shay's Outfits:

Anthropologie (Pink Dress)

Altar'd State (Beige Dress)

Blue Heels (J.Crew)

Flats (Aldo)

Leah | Editorial

2014-03-27T15:34:00.003-07:00

Last fall, I had the opportunity to photograph and meet this beautiful singer/songwriter, Leah Nobel. Her shoot was featured HERE, just in case you missed it! :) That was the best day ever, and thankfully, a couple of months later, I got a message asking if I'd be interested in taking a few head-shots for her. "Ummm. HECK. YES. DUH!" were my thoughts! :) She was inspired by Free People so bada bing, bada boom, we made it happen. Not only am I in love with these portraits, and Leah, but I also found out that I really love photographing shoots like this. It was SO much fun and it fired me up! :)

You can check out Leah's website HERE, and be sure to listen to her music. It's pretty stinkin' outstanding. This girl is a true talent, and just a gem to be around! She recently won the Indie International Songwriting Contest for her song, "Ride the Butterfly" too! See? stay tuned! Her new music video is being released next week! You don't want to miss it! :)

Leah, You are a real, true and drop dead beautiful talent. I'm so thankful we met, and I'm truly honored I got to take some photos of you. You ROCK my socks off gorgeous girl! :)

Until next time... :)

Jessica | Maternity

2014-03-25T09:30:00.004-07:00

As you might know, when I started photography a few years ago, I took on every single job that came my way. Naturally. We all do it. Whether that was newborn, maternity, families, weddings, couples, etc. Any job we could get was nothing short of a blessing. Over time, and after I had a handful of sessions under my sparkly gold belt (of course) - AKA "experience" - I quickly discovered that I was overly passionate about LOVE and documenting everything that had to do with it. It goes without saying that "Love, The Nelsons" specializes in love, couples, and weddings. However, once in a blue moon, and when time allows, I'll get asked my dear friends to photograph maternity photos. I'll be the first to admit that newborns are so not my thing and I completely and royally don't think I'm good at them BUT maternity is always okay in my book. Probably because the baby is still tucked away inside lol, and I'm sure my views could change when I become a Mom one day, but y'all...all these silly thoughts aside..Give me a beautiful, kind, and loving Mom (and Dad) to be, water, rocks, nature, a perfect little baby bump, a floral crown, and a drop dead GORGEOUS sparkly gown...then I'll be that crazy photographer you see with hearts in her eyes, jumping up and down after every single shot. Yes. It happened. And you're gonna see why right now.

Picture overload but I can't help it. I'm obsessed.

Jessica, you're the most beautiful pregnant muffin I've ever seen. Your little baby boy who is on his way (and SOON!) is the luckiest little guy in the world. He has no idea the amount of love that is about to surround him but I know he will agree with us all and say, Motherhood looks absolutely stunning on you.

(Floral Crown by the sweet Meredith at Bristol Lane Florals )

Brittany + Federico | Engagements

2014-03-24T10:41:00.001-07:00

Oh y'all. Meet my ~~clients~~ friends Brittany and Federico. Also known as THE most GORGEOUS precious muffins on planet EARTH! THEY ARE PURE MAGIC behind this camera of mine. I don't know, maybe it's because they are both MODELS and they don't even know it, or maybe it's because Brittany looks so much like Sandra Bullock, and Federico is from Italy, but all I know is that the INSANE love these two have...it's evident and present every single moment I have ever been around them. It's a real, intense, crazy beautiful kind of love. Witnessing it, capturing it, and being around these two is just the best. I think I squealed a million times at this engagement shoot but can you blame me? :) Brittany and Federico, it's been the utmost honor being a part of this time in your lives. Your friendship and your trust has meant the world to me. I can't say it enough. Drew and I are already counting down the days to your April wedding.

Brittany and Federico also brought along their PRECIOUS and HILARIOUS Bulldog, Pig. Y'all...this dog had more personality than you can imagine. I don't think Pig is excited that he's no longer about to be man of the house...

P.s.) Did you happen to see Pig peeking under the blanket above? :)

The beautiful floral crown can be found here: http://www.flowergypsies.com CHECK IT OUT!

Hair and Make-up by: Erica Gray Beauty

Sidenote: I also am using this new program to put my blog posts together and for some reason, they come out darker here on the blog than the original photos which is a litttttle frustrating. I am not sure how to fix it just yet, so for now, this post stays because HELLO!? I BLOGGED A SESSION. This never happens anymore, but you're in luck, I have posts planned ALL week long. HOLLA FO A DOLLA! :)

Happy Monday Y'all! :)