2019 – What a Year!

It’s the very last day of 2019 and what a year it was! From many trips for work and pleasure to proposals, moves, big news, and everything in between. For a while I’ve been trying to some up with a single word that describes this past year and anything I think of just doesn’t do it justice. So rather than finding a single word I’m going to use many and give you a recap of what 2019 looked like in my world!

To start the year off I received a FaceTime call from my big sister. When I answered, her and her boyfriend (of 13 years) were sitting together on the couch with smiles so big they took up the whole screen! “Are you guys pregnant or something?!” I asked. “NO” my sister answered, “We Engaged!!!”. Instant tears of pure joy and excitement filled my eyes as I looked back at them through my phone screen. Remember what I said earlier? They’ve been together for 13 YEARS! I’m tearing up all over again as I type this because I was so shocked, excited and thrilled for both of them to have found their forever person! This is the first wedding on both sides of their families so you can imagine the group texts that began circulating, and still are! The big day is coming up in just 6 short months in June and what an epic day it’s going to be!

Fast forward a few months to March. For Christmas last year I planned a trip for Jake and I to drive out to the town I went to photography school then off to Boston to walk around and visit some friends. Little did I know that he had some big plans of his own during this trip. After showing him around the town I lived while I attended school, we grabbed a bite to eat then made another stop at a super cool place called Poet’s Seat Tower which overlooked the town. We walked around for a few minutes taking in the site when all the sudden I turned around to face him and he was down on one knee! You can read the full story of our engagement here! I was so shocked and couldn’t believe what just happened! Another big surprise was that the people we were going to visit already knew what his plan was so they met us for dinner with huge smiles and big hugs! The rest of the trip was filled with tours of Boston, breweries, sight seeing and more drinks with friends!

Two weeks later I drove back out to Boston and hopped on a plane with one of my good friends to spend some time together in North Carolina. I had plans for an engagement shoot in Raleigh and visited a few venues down there just to see how weddings were down in the South! My friend, Omar, and I met in photography school back in 2015. I live in Binghamton, NY and he lives out near Boston so we don’t get to see each other often so I suggested a trip to spend some time together and catch up on life! It was a blast! We walked around Raleigh, ate at some amazing restaurants, and found scooters that transported us all over the city!

In April, I boarded another plan that took my Mom, Grandma and I to Punta Gorda, Florida to watch my cousin perform in his very last play as a senior in high school! We got there a day early so the three of us did a bit of exploring, sun bathing, and sunset watching on the water with strawberry daiquiris in hand! The last time I had been to Florida was when I was ten and my parents took us to Disney World, that was fifteen years ago! Once I got a taste of that Florida sunshine I knew I was going to need more so keep an eye out for that within the next few years! The morning after his play we headed back to Albany to get in our car and drive home. In the process of doing so, my sweet grandmother fell and fractured her hip. Off to the hospital we went and my sister met us there. My mom and Grandma stayed in the Albany hospital for a few days while I went back home to get her room ready for recovery.

My next adventure took place in Vegas in May with a bunch of ladies who I barely knew and one of my friends who is also a photographer! We ate amazing food, saw a show, walked around a little bit and then I decided to head back home early. I love traveling but I was tired and just wanted to be home so I hopped on a plane back to Syracuse and my Dad drove me the rest of the way back home. Two weeks after that, Jake and I drove out to Connecticut for the other part of his Christmas list, to drive an exotic car. It sounded way more intriguing on paper than it was in person but he still thought it was neat, so that’s all that matters right?! After that we spent the night at a hotel a little closer to where his Aunt lived so we could spend the next day with her. We joined her for Church and lunch and then went off on a hike not too far from her house. Before we knew it, it was time to head back home.

A week before wedding season kicked off my family and I went camping out in New Hampshire in June. I’ve never been full on camping before this trip which kind of surprises me but I LOVED it! We had terrible service so technology was out the window for a few days. We were surrounded by trees, paths to walk and ride bikes, a lake to kayak and swim and each other! One of the days we traveled the Kancamagus Highway and frequently pulled over on trailheads to hike, scenic over looks to take in the views, and picnic areas for a quick lunch! This is actually where my parents went for their honeymoon but they had horrible weather while they were there so this was a blast for all of us! I would go back in a second because there is so much more to see and do and highly recommend it to any outdoorsy hiking people!

A week later wedding season kicked off with two weddings and didn’t stop until November! Twice I traveled to Colorado to shoot weddings over the summer and most other weekends I traveled to the Finger Lakes, Syracuse, Albany and everywhere in between to capture the weddings of so many sweet couples! I also was sent on location to New York City, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland to shoot the covers of catalogs for a company I freelance for who keeps me busy during the week shooting products for their website.

Right smack in the middle of all the craziness of wedding season, in September, I decided to move out of my parents house and rent a townhouse of my own. In case you didn’t know September and October are two of the busiest times of year for wedding photographers and silly me thought it would be smart to pack up all my belongings and move 30 minutes away into the city of Binghamton. I spent the next two months in a whirlwind of finding proper homes for all of my belongings, shooting weddings every single weekend, editing like a maniac, and trying to squeeze in some time with family, Jake and a few friends. It was tough! About two months after I lived alone I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had when I first moved in. Being alone all the time wasn’t shaping up how I thought it would and it was beginning to really bother me. After an impromptu trip to Florida in October for Jake and I, I asked him to spend a few days with me, along with his dog Sammy. After those few days together, we ended up moving all his stuff in with me and now we live together!

PHEW! To sum all this up I traveled to Massachusetts, North Carolina, Colorado, Florida, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Nevada and all over New York! I photographed roughly 16 weddings, 12 catalogue covers, thousands of products, countless portraits, and a whole bunch of cookies! My sister got engaged to her high school sweetheart, Jake and I got engaged, my best friend told me she was pregnant with baby number 3, I moved into my own apartment and then Jake moved in too! I know I’m forgetting things that happened this year but these should be all the major events that occurred in 2019! I am ecstatic to say that 2020 is already shaping up to be an incredible year and I am so excited to see all of the moments it brings!

Happy New Year to all of you and thank you so much for tagging along on this wild journey with me!

With love,
Nicole