Sweet Home Alabama

Today is a day of big announcements. Jamie and I decided to hold off on “going public” with all of this until now because there have been a lot of things that have been rapidly changing in our lives over the past month or so, and we’ve finally come to a place where a plan is in motion…. and so are we!

As you know, about a month ago, my dad had a stroke. This was definitely a wake-up call for us. When we moved out here to Salt Lake City from Knoxville, the possibility of a family emergency never even crossed our minds. We just wanted to go on an adventure, see something different for awhile, live life on the western half of the US. But when we got that phone call, we felt an enormous shift in our priorities. As much fun as it’s been to live out here, and as much as we love the friends we’ve made, the apartment we live in, and, of course, the SNOW, we came to the realization that, for us anyway, family is Number One, and we needed to be closer to them. Living a 30-hour drive away is just not practical, not when it comes to visiting family and splitting up holidays, and definitely not when it comes to having to fly home at the drop of a hat when a family member is hospitalized.

It’s definitely no secret that the South is very close to my heart, and there are many things we have missed about it. However, we knew we didn’t want to move back to Knoxville…. just somewhere in the South. We’ve always known that we ultimately wouldn’t plant roots here in Utah, with it being so far away (no way do I want to have any babies with my mamas all the way across the country!). And while we’ve always planned to end up back in the South to eventually be able to buy a house, raise kids, etc., we just didn’t think it would be so soon. But sometimes life has different plans for you, as we’ve been quickly learning. We also were keeping in mind that my family lives in Knoxville and Jamie’s lives in Houston, so ideally we wanted to find somewhere that was somewhat convenient to both cities.

Here’s where it gets interesting. For a few months now, I’ve had Birmingham, AL on my mind as the kind of city I could see us living in on a more permanent basis. I love that it is less than four hours from Knoxville, and about ten from Houston (which for us, is a very doable drive…. we’ve been used to a lot worse!). I love that it is right smack in the middle of the South, but still is a big-ish city, with plenty of things to do. It’s also pretty convenient to several other major cities…. Atlanta, Nashville, Savannah, Charleston, and New Orleans are all within a decent drive (a far cry from living here in Utah, where the next major cities are a solid 6 to 8 hour drive away). There’s Southern culture, there’s diversity, there’s amazing food, there’s cheap real estate, and there’s a HUGE market for wedding and portrait photography- big plus for me! Oh, and there’s this thing called Alabama football…. yeah, it’s a beast in and of itself. :)

So after all this happened with my dad, we decided to try to expedite the moving process so that we could be close enough to help out my mom with my dad’s whole rehab and recovery process, which will probably last for another 4-6 months or more. Jamie began submitting his resume to different places all over the south, just to see what would happen. We honestly weren’t expecting anything to happen, especially with the job market being in shambles right now. But lo and behold, within just a few days, he had a phone interview for a job in Charleston, and two in-person interviews for jobs in Atlanta and… dun dun dun…. Birmingham. Secretly, in my mind, I was hoping the job in Birmingham would be The One, because I’ve already lived in Charleston and really don’t want to go back and live somewhere where I already have very significant memories, and because I just don’t ever want to live in Atlanta. Period. It’s basically the LA of the south… sprawling metropolis, horrible traffic… yuck. And sure enough, within a day after his interview in Birmingham, Jamie was offered and accepted the job. Hooray! He is now working for a recruiting firm for the NCAA, designing and managing the recruiters’ websites. And yes, you heard me right: work-ing. As in, he is already in Birmingham. He had to start right away, so he spent last weekend driving by himself from Salt Lake to Knoxville to see my dad to Birmingham on Sunday to be able to start his job yesterday. Which means I am still here, by myself, finishing up all my weddings and sessions before he flies back out next weekend to help me load the truck and drive back out to Birmingham. Which also means that I am solely in charge of packing the entire apartment and tying up all the loose ends that come with a cross-country move. Our second cross-country move in a little over a year.

If, by now, you’re thinking we are clinically insane…. well, you’re probably right.

But despite the utter and total chaos that is our lives right now, I assure you that my business is still my first priority, so I am working through processing these three weddings I will have shot in the span of one week in between all the packing. And I’m keeping on top of emails, so you shouldn’t have any issues getting in touch with me. I’ve rearranged all my travel plans to shoot my destination weddings for the remainder of the year, so everything should be golden. Fortunately, here in Utah, couples generally only have 4-6 month-long engagements (which I’m sure freaks out many brides across the rest of the country!), so I didn’t have any weddings booked too far in advance. All in all, working out the logistics has been relatively painless, especially because I have super awesome amazing clients who have been 100% understanding throughout all this. I’m a very lucky girl. Also, Jamie’s employer here in Utah was very understanding and flexible, and he had a fairly easy time finishing his work here so he could be able to start in Alabama.

Also, I should tell you that my official last day as a Starbucks barista was last Wednesday. After more than five years, I finally hung up my green apron, hopefully for good. Don’t get me wrong… it’s been a fantastic job. Starbucks is how I met Jamie and most of my best friends. It’s been a lot of stress and tears, and it’s been a lot of fun. Mostly, it’s been one of the best communities I’ve ever been apart of. Starbucks gave me affordable health insurance and a flexible schedule throughout college, wedding planning, and then starting and running my own business. Starbucks is where I learned how to be a leader, and for that I couldn’t be more thankful. It also created a nasty beast of an addiction in me, which could prove to be quite the problem now that I no longer have free drinks, coffee markouts, or a partner discount. :) Oh boo! But you know, this is definitely a very freeing feeling for me. I will now be able to give 100% to this business. I won’t have to schedule sessions around my shifts, worry about whether or not I will be able to ask off for holidays to visit family, work every single weekend, wake up at 4 am for opening shifts, or be drained of all my energy by having to deal with especially difficult customers or difficult situations at work. I will have more time to devote to marketing, perfecting my branding and new website (I promise it’s coming soon! I promise!), creating a better client experience, etc. etc. etc. And I will have the time and ability to travel back and forth to Knoxville whenever I can to be able to help out with my Dad. So yeah, Wednesday was definitely a bittersweet day for me. The end of another major chapter of my life, but hopefully also the beginning of something very good.

All in all, I feel that our future in Birmingham is looking very bright. Sure, I wish I could go ahead and fast forward through the madness of the next few weeks. For those of you who have ever moved across the country…. alone…. you can probably understand. But ultimately, all of this will be worth it. I’m really looking forward to having roots, to finally feeling settled. I can’t wait to really take the business to the next level with a whole new market. I dream of one day being able to buy a piece-of-crap but really cute and charming old house that we can renovate from top to bottom. I’m excited about having my own studio and office space to meet with clients. I love the idea of a fresh start. Always. And although I will so miss the friends we have made here (even though there will still be WPPI in Vegas every year, what what!), I will always have very fond memories of our time here in Utah. This has been a really big year for us. We moved across the country. I officially became a license-holding, tax-paying business. I grew a lot as a photographer thanks to my fellow photographer friends here, who have really encouraged and challenged and supported me, and thanks to the absolutely fantastic clients I have had here. Jamie and I definitely grew as individuals, and also as a married couple, thanks to the distance from the life we have always known. We learned what it really means to be independent, which has been an invaluable experience. I’ve also gotten to know the airport scene on a very intimate level. :) But I’ve loved it!

So I guess that pretty much covers what’s going on for now. As always, stay tuned for updates in our ever-changing, every-crazy lives. We love you all, and appreciate your support during yet another major life change for us.