Gratituesday: The anticipation is behind me

This week, I am grateful that the anticipation of my sister and her family moving halfway across the country is finally behind me. They have made the move. The ugly grey cloud that hovered over me has now moved on and things aren't so bad. I'm going to be honest. Their impending move felt like preparing for a deployment. Only it was worse because they won't be moving back in a year. Nor will it be the highlight of their days to Skype with me. Instead they will start a new life in a new area with new important people. They are happy and excited. And in true Liz (middle child) fashion, I was totally pouting.

When I think of life here without them I feel anxious and depressed. Those kids... their whole family... they are a light in my world. A big one. My sister's home... with acres of land surrounding it, no internet access and the living room view of solitude... It was a vacation home for me. Peace lives with them. And it goes where they go.

I guess it's time I work on creating my own peace to carry with me, eh?

In trying to think about the positives of the whole situation, I am reminded that there's always skype. And how amazing will it be to visit Colorado?! Plus, my sister will still be home to shoot every wedding with me. And since she will be living so far away, I expect our time together to be of higher quality since we will make the most of our time together versus our quick chit chat now between the busyness of our lives.

I used to love change. But the older I get and the more settled I become, change is proving to be challenging. Maybe it's the mama in me. Sunday needs routine and familiarity and maybe her needs are growing on me. I'm afraid of how things will be different with my sister's family, but maybe, somehow, this will be better for us, too.

In any case - I am so glad the anticipation and anxiety is behind me and we have stepped into this new chapter. The grey cloud is gone and so far, everything is just fine.

On January 1st, our last day together as a family before they moved, we all stuck out the frigid temperatures and took some family portraits. I will cherish these pictures for years to come. I love all the pink noses that depict how chilly it was…!

Equipment used for this session:  canon 5d mark ii // canon 50mm f/1.2 lens // vivitar universal wireless remote // vista explorer lightweight tripod

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Liz Cook is the owner and photographer of sincerely, liz: photography. She is a virginia wedding photographer and virginia portrait photographer who loves virginia weddings, family portrait sessions and couple photography.

To see more of Liz’s work, check out her latest work as well as some of her favorite weddings. To hire Liz, simply fill out this form.

My first blog post of 2013 | New Orleans Wedding Photographer

Whew! What a whirlwind the past few weeks have been! You're going to have to forgive the delay in my posts, but I'm totally gonna be talking about Christmas later this week. I feel like it was so long ago, but I have pictures to share and I want to tell you about Sunday's first Christmas as a toddler! :) First up… I am home and settled in after one of the busiest two weeks of my life. I am not sure if it was actually the busiest, or if it just felt that way because I was running on no sleep almost the entire time. It's a long story, but sharing a room with a toddler who knows she's not in her own bed and an anonymous snorer made for literally nights of 3hrs of sleep or less the entire time we were in New Orleans. I was running on God's grace the whole time and the trip was awesome despite my grouchiness.

The wedding in New Orleans was amazing and beautiful and so much fun. It was truly an honor to have been invited to fly out to capture Annie and Ben's beautiful day. I had three and a half sessions (the half session was my own family portrait session) before the trip and I loved every single one of them. I keep waiting to burn out, but I think finally reaching a place of having a manageable workload has so many underlying blessings one of which is NO burnout! (Imagine that!)

Anyway, here's a little peak into what's coming up:

I'm off to catch up on emails and process some images for blog posts later this week!

The day after Christmas

Sunday is sound asleep...cuddling with her sock monkey under her fluffy blanket in her crib. Tommy is currently watching Seven Years in Tibet. The Christmas tree still sparkles and I am browsing the internet. Tomorrow we go back to the real world.

Tomorrow I have a session followed by packing for the most complicated trip of my life. In the next 10 days I will shoot three sessions and two weddings. I will celebrate Christmas with my family and say goodbye to my sister's family as they pack up and move to Colorado. I will fly to New Orleans and back again (with a toddler - on her first flight!). And I will hit up Trader Joe's on the way home.

I am feeling a weird sense of calm before the storm. I'm enjoying the last few minutes of our quiet Christmas at home. And when I wake up tomorrow I will dive into responsibility, creativity, and preparation.

I love this life!

Merry Christmas!

My dear bloggy friends,

As the end of the year draws near, I’d like to extend my gratitude for your business and support in 2012. I feel so, so blessed to work with such wonderful people doing what I love. I will continue to strive to provide nothing less than the best photography and customer service to help you cherish your memories for years to come. Plans are already unraveling for 2013 and I am beyond excited to have another year to capture wedding and family memories and share them with you right here on my blog.

We also have grand plans to connect with you more in your email inbox, too. If you'd like to stay connected and receive emails from us, subscribe to our mailing list.

From our little team here at Sincerely, Liz, Inc. to you and yours: We hope your holidays are full of love and laughter and wish you a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

Sincerely, The Cook Family & The Sincerely, Liz, Inc. team

Our Holiday Traditions

Tommy and I have been married almost 6 years, enough time to get some solid holiday traditions going on consistently. But now... here's Sunday! And it's a whole new ballgame! Here are a few of the traditions we've kept around and some new ones we started now that we have some offspring of our own. :)

1. New PJs every year at Christmas. For the first three years of this tradition, everything went pretty smoothly. But then Tommy said "Liz, I really don't need anymore pajama pants." But, I insisted! "No, this is going to be A TRADITION!" So he went with it for a while and by this year (year 5), I started to understand what he was saying. While the tradition itself is a simple, fun idea... we weren't growing. We were just collecting more pajama pants every year. Our drawers were full!

But... now there's Sunday. And I get it. The PJs we buy her this year will most definitely not fit her next year. And so, we have decided to move the tradition to buying PJs for our children and no longer for one another. I love it, though. The PJs will be something the kids can open on Christmas Eve and wear Christmas morning.

2. A new ornament for each person every year. I love, love this tradition!

Tommy has also tried to veto this tradition and it wasn't until this year that I recognized why. He is not the biggest fan of Christmas so you will probably never catch him decorating the Christmas tree. Of course, as I am hanging each and every ornament on the tree, I reminisce about the memories of years past. But he's missing this!

The VT ball ornament was the first one I ever bought for him and the Oak Island ornament represents the Christmas Day we spent at the beach (one of the best Christmas' ever!). There are so many memories wrapped up in each ornament and it's awesome to have that time of reminiscing, even if I'm doing it alone right now.

At this point, all Tommy sees is that we have started a collection of ornaments and perhaps we don't need anymore. I can understand that. Especially being someone who likes to simplify. But, I like traditions more than a minimalist lifestyle. Plus I'm a mom and I feel like it's my job to create these traditions and happy memories for my children. So this tradition is here to stay. :)

3. No Jesus in the nativity scenes. Alright, this is a new one.

Realistically Jesus does not appear in the nativity scene until Christmas Day, right? So we have him put away right now and when Christmas morning comes, Sunday will help us put baby Jesus where He belongs.

I am looking forward to this becoming the very first thing that we do together Christmas morning: setting baby Jesus out in the nativity scenes. It's one small reminder (of many I hope to incorporate) to help us remember what this holiday is all about.

4. Envelope Advent Calendar. I started this tradition a few years ago, and if I'm honest with you, it's definitely turned more into decor than an activity.

I used to hang these little envelopes along twine with mini clothespins (look at me all ahead of the trends so long ago!). They were super cute with the fun patterns on the envelopes. (I made the envelopes with Christmas scrapbook paper.)

Inside of the envelopes are little slips of papers with activities on them. They are mostly designed around date nights since I created the calendar when it was just the two of us. I kind of like that it's centered around marriage and dates... but since we barely even participate anymore, I will be changing the activities to reflect a family with a toddler. I've been looking through this pinterest board for some fun ideas.

5. Words. I don't know how much this is tradition or just personal preference. I decorate for the holidays with words. The only non-gifted ornaments on our tree are words. I love to remember the season for what it is... peace, joy, celebration. Here are a few pictures of the words around our house during this season:

So, those are our family traditions as of now. I look forward to creating more memories and traditions in the future. Especially doing things like driving around and looking at Christmas lights, hot chocolate on Christmas morning, and bringing in a Jesse Tree.

Okay - I'm off! It's Christmas Eve! I hope you have a wonderful holiday!!