Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow, January and half of February have come and gone and I feel like, until today, I haven't really had a chance to do much of anything extra with crafting. After I finish this blog post, I will be finishing sewing my map of our honeymoon trip. I think I started it back in September or maybe even August, but it got pushed aside for other, more pressing projects. Meanwhile, the frame I want to put it in has been hanging in our kitchen, still with the random sailboat picture that came with it, haha.
I have been steadily going to the gym with a pool 4 days a week (twice for aquatic aerobics and twice for strength training, followed up with walking/swimming in the pool to help lessen the inflammation I just increased in my back) and doing yoga at my original gym 1-3 times a week. According to my rechecks with my rheumatologist and trainer, I have lost 4 lbs and 2 inches, though! I do feel better than I did 2 months ago, when I began increasing my medication, going to the gym, and going to the chiropractor. Who knows what's doing the most to help, but I don't foresee stopping any, except maybe so many chiropractor visits, in the near future. I still have to be careful, though, not to overdo it on the best days - I cleaned all the floors in our house last Wednesday, when a snowstorm kept me inside, and felt it that night and the whole next day. Even 6 months ago, I was consistently able to clean the floors once a week, so I know I'm nowhere near where I want to be. Patience is tough, haha.
Outside of making my health my full-time job, I have been ramping up plans for my photography business. The facebook page is really the only extensive website I've spent time on, so far, but I hope to get an official website up and running at some point, too! I said, last post, that I would include pictures from the maternity shoot, so here goes:
 

 

The funniest thing about this shoot is that my preggo friend actually did it with our mutual friend, not her husband. She knew her husband wouldn't be a fan of doing it, so she scheduled it when he was away for work and got our friend, who looks similar to her husband and is a great sport, to stand in for him. The result? A lot of laughs, but also an official maternity shoot, in the spring, with her husband, haha. I loved capturing her with her mama glow and can't wait to compare these pictures to her much bigger belly, later!

I also got to catch my brother-in-law and future sister-in-law for an engagement shoot, right after the second big snowstorm of the season. It was so cooooold, but an interesting shoot, with all the ice freezing things in time and white everywhere. It really made them the focus of the shoot.

This was actually the second engagement shoot I did, technically. The other one was for our friends, who asked me to come to a beach at sunrise in August, to get a picture they could use for their save the date.

That was also a lot of fun and the first time Jon and I experienced a sunrise together. (I am in no way a morning person, haha.) But it was also before any of my online classes or any sort of prep or training! And also before I got my Canon T3i, so it was done with my Powershot. I never used to think there was much difference between my point-and-shoot and a DSLR, but now I definitely notice the difference!

I did end up crafting one thing in the last month - a baby hanger gift for a couple in our church. It had been too long since I made one and, when their baby was born, I really wanted to make it for them!

That's about all I had to share, for now. Until next time, keep on crafting!