Hello 2017! | Personal

Balance. 

Every year I come up with a word for the next year. Something to remind me of my goals. Something that will focus me. An intention.

2016 was a big year. A busy year. A stressful year. 

With each passing year, I try to become more introspective. To pay attention to my heart. 

My word for 2017 is balance. Work-life balance. Family balance. Self balance. 

We moved in October, following a busy wedding season, engagements and a few family sessions thrown in. We reached the business goals we had set for ourselves, and personal ones. Somewhere in all of it though, I lost track of the moment, and became anxious to get each item done. Checked off my list. 

I don't have a New Year's Resolution, but rather an intention in my heart to be more balanced. For my heart to be calmer, my mind to be at peace. To just be. 

Do you have a word for 2017? 

It's Been Far Too Long...| Update

Wow I haven't blogged in over 2 months. That is very unusual for me. If you've been keeping up with my Instagram, then you'll realize we have been so busy! 

After our last post, we closed on our first home (yay!) and began making preparations for our move. We moved the end of October, just in time for our first wedding anniversary. We didn't have internet from October 21-November 23rd. This meant I was only going to Starbucks to send client galleries and nothing else. Plus my frazzled brain really couldn't handle anything else. 

Then I got sick, because I was running myself ragged between running a business (with no internet), being a full time physical therapist, and putting together our first home. And then add in holiday stress and you have the makings of a meltdown. 

We had 2 fantastic engagement sessions and a surprise wedding we picked up as associates for an amazing photog who broke her arm in that time frame. 

I think I can finally say, things are settling down, and I've taken a bit of time off this month to breathe. My word for 2017 is balance. Learning to say no, and yes, and take care of me. 

One of the first things we did was put pumpkins on our stoop! 

For whatever reason, Ryan doesn't seal their grout. So we had 3 bathrooms worth that we needed to seal on that first day. Loads of fun. It was important to me that we ate our first dinner on the floor of our house, take out Indian from the best place in town! And then we moved. All our stuff. Hiring a moving company was the best money we spent. We were tired, but no where near what we would have been had we moved everything ourselves. 

We met M+S for a sunrise session at a favorite place of theirs (and ours!) to hike! It was one of the first really cold days we've had, and I loved it! I promise a full blog post of their session will be coming soon! 
 

A+J had their session in her family's neighborhood (which is where they got engaged too!). It was the windiest (and therefore, insanely cold) day, but you can't tell it from their pictures! Right as the sun was about to dip down, it lit up the whole sky and we got the most gorgeous colors. I kept shooting until my finger wouldn't click any more. Hands down one of my favorite parts of the session! Also more to come on that shoot! 

And just like that, it's almost Christmas time. We have so enjoyed decorating our house for the holidays. It's so peaceful to sit on the couch by the tree, and listen to Christmas music or watch a Christmas movie (Hello Hallmark station). 

Happy Holidays! May you get to spend lots of time with family and friends. Remember to also take care of yourselves! (And stay tuned for those engagement sessions! I promise they are coming soon!)

xoxo
E

#TheSelbyStories | DC Edition

Ever since our honeymoon to Italy, we have talked about going on more weekend trips to just explore. One of my favorite parts of our honeymoon was all the walking and talking and seeing we did. Bryce's birthday is tomorrow but we celebrated it over the weekend with a trip to DC! (PS all photos are from my iphone- we traveled super light this weekend)

We already had plans to see Houndmouth at The 930 Club, so I built everything around that! 

We headed down to DC Saturday afternoon and checked into our hotel, The Dupont Circle Hotel (who immediately upgraded us when they found out it was Bryce's birthday!). Is my family the only ones that take pictures of the bathroom where they are staying? Just mine? Okay. Well the bathroom at our hotel was beautiful (white marble is my love language) and I couldn't not send it to my family! They had heated floors and the prettiest bath products you ever did see! 

Next we walked to the Spy Museum (and there was a bridge that reminded me so much of one in Rome that ends with the Colosseum) , grabbed drinks at our hotel and then went to dinner at Ezme. A fantastic Turkish, tapas restaurant. 

The next morning we took it easy with coffee and an easy walk around Dupont Circle (which we adore and if we ever move to DC we are moving there or Logan Circle). 

We did brunch at the most fantastic place called, Firefly Cafe. I had buiscuits and gravy, while Bryce had the french toast. The food was divine, and the atmosphere even cooler. There is a giant tree in the middle of the room. They give you your check in a mason jar with holes punched out at the top and a flameless candle to mimic fireflies in a jar. SO CUTE. Then we headed to (walked more) the Botanical Gardens, The Hirshorn and the National Archives.

Are you tired yet? I know I am after recounting all the fun things we did! We made it to dinner (decided to take the metro this time) at a place called The Commissary. They had a fantastic happy hour deal and we got truffle fries (because duh), a quesadilla and grilled artichoke hearts with an aioli dipping sauce. Oh yes, we were quite refreshed and ready to stand for a couple hours at the concert! We had a blast at the concert. Houndmouth recently added 3 new bandmates after someone left, which included 2 saxophone players. They sound so freaking cool. By midnight we had finally made it back home. Phew. And I sit here with lots of coffee. Hope you all had an awesome weekend too!

The Selby Stories | 2nd Edition

Daylight savings got you down? This morning I was NOT happy to be getting up while it was dark outside. However, I'm thrilled it will still be light out tonight at 6:30! 

Last week (I don't remember which day) was international women's day. I love nothing more to empower my ladies! I found this quote and it spoke to me: 

"She was free in her wildness. She was a wanderess, a drop of free water. She belonged to no man and to no city." 

Go and get Monday. Make it yours. 

P.S. How gorgeous is this ring from Saturday?! I just couldn't not share!

The Selby Stories | 1st Edition

Just like Friday's post, today is another new blog series! It's called The Selby Stories. In an effort to better document our moments, I wanted to start a new, reoccurring post on Mondays. Monday's are a hard day for me. Its getting back into routine after having the flexibility of the week. I want this series to help make Mondays easier. I want to reflect on the silly, mundane, love, and adventures of the last week. 

This post dates back a little bit, but thats okay! 

Last weekend we met friends in DC for an amazing brunch at Old Ebbitt Grill. Bryce and I don't make it to DC very often but really enjoy being tourists in our own city. Unfortunately, try as we might, the metro schedules were not in our favor. I'm sure most of you who commute into/out of DC have this happen to you routinely so I really can't complain. But man, those 24min wait times between trains was not fun. 

After brunch, Bryce and I had a course on flash photography. Bryce gave this to me as a Christmas gift. We had hoped it would be more about cool off-camera flash set ups but it was more of a beginners class. Still, it was fun to hang out together and see our friends for brunch! 

In typical Selby luck, Bryce had a terrible fall on ice, Sunday. He's recovering from a bruised sacrum, so activities this week didn't happen. 

BUT SPRING IS COMING! How many of you are doing a little happy dance at the 60 degree days we are supposed to have this week?? Yay for open windows and longer days! 

This weekend was low key, which is our favorite kind of weekend. A stroll through downtown,  a long walk and an amazing engagement session for a June bride and groom! We were driving home last night with our bellies and hearts full, and started singing Goo Goo Dolls songs together. If you've ever seen Elizabethtown, you might remember Kirsten Dunst's character miming a camera and taking a picture of different moments. Last night driving home with Bryce, singing to my favorite band, I took a picture of that moment. It was beautiful.


Hope your Monday goes well!