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Friday Fun – The First of 2018!!

January 4, 2018

View More: http://jontellvanessaphotography.pass.us/manali
I’m Manali
Coach, editor & brand photographer based out of Cincinnati, Ohio. When I'm not behind a camera or teaching about systems, you'll find me at a vineyard or cuddled with my cat Keegan on our cozy couch!
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It was Tuesday morning….you sat staring at your inbox and finally mustered the courage to move your cursor over to an email and click it. Then began the long process of trying to get your brain’s cogs going, trying to fight against that blinking cursor to respond. The first five minutes felt like an hour, the first hour felt like a day, and after you somehow got through your first day of work back in the office after a long holiday break, relaxing with friends and family, you were exhausted and had wished to go back to that week about 100 times throughout the day.

Dramatic, I know. But did anyone else feel like Tuesday was just the longest day of their life? I’m all about jumping in and starting in on 2018 goals, but let me be completely honest, that first day back was ROUGH! I guess doing work is kind of like exercising a muscle, the more you do it, the easier it is but coming back after a break burns quite a bit. That being said, come Wednesday I was hitting the ground running. Feeling ready and renewed to tackle on ALL the things in 2018! I wanted to accomplish anything and everything that I could think of! Usually it’s hard for me to TAKE that break in the first place but it most definitely helps for when I come back after a long time, it renews my spirit and drive to accomplish everything that I was dreaming of during my break…. although let’s be real, cookies and warmer days were also in that mix of dreaming! After picking up my motivation to start tackling some big things in 2018, quite a bit happened this week!! So here go the highs and lows of the week:

– I booked my first wedding for 2018!! It’s for a friend’s older sister who I met last week and I couldn’t be happier πŸ™‚ The wedding will most likely at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in October! I’m so so excited for it, they were such a cute couple and I just know their wedding is going to be perfect with those fall colors! And I have another inquiry for a June wedding, so keeping fingers crossed with that one! I have a goal to photograph 5 weddings this year and I’m hoping to get a good start to booking more brides and crossing that goal within the next couple of months!

View More: http://jontellvanessaphotography.pass.us/manali

– Talk about a literal low. This week’s temperatures have been CRAZY!!! I don’t think I remember it ever being so cold in Virginia. This bomb cyclone has got me wishing for when I thought 40 degrees felt cold at the start of winter. Luckily enough, it DID come with a dusting of snow out here in Arlington so at least it was pretty, but stepping out for even 10 minutes to go to a coffee shop is not. fun. Plus, I learned that my stick shift car and this powdery snow do not exactly get along……

– With everyone back from college for winter break I’ve gotten the chance to hang out with everyone onΒ  my old dance team and it has felt so good πŸ™‚ I miss everyone so much and love when I get to spend time with them because I don’t think I stop laughing while I’m with them! A bunch of us went to watchΒ  the Top Naach bhangra performance at the Wizards halftime show which was a lot of fun!! Plus the game was super intense and the Wizards ended up with the W on New Years Eve! Here’s a link to the performance if you haven’t seen it, I promise you won’t be disappointed! They had so many people come up to them to congratulate them in the arena after the game! I’m also very excited to go to watch the UVA v. UNC game this weekend with all of these people!! If you hear someone shouting at the TV really loudly and getting very hyped at Blackfinn, I apologize hahahha

– Loving coffee is all fun and games until you SPILL IT. all over the bed!!! That was quite the sad moment this week but hey, it smelled like coffee for a while which isn’t bad and I had to wash the sheets anyway!

– I scored an interview for a role that I think I would be a great fit for and is exactly what I’m looking for!!! I had the interview today which seemed to go really well but I knew there’s 11 other candidates so I wasn’t trying to get tooo excited for it. But I just found out that I GOT THE ROLE!!!!!!!

– And if that is great news, well I actually saved the best for last………… YOUR GIRL IS AN OFFICIAL BUSINESS OWNER!!!!!!!!!!! Wooo!!!! I know this was such a long time in the making but I’m super psyched about this and am so glad it finally happened!!!!! I wish I had an official picture to mark this monumental moment but really it would just look like me sitting on my bed with my laptop in hand grinning ear-to-ear πŸ˜€

View More: http://jontellvanessaphotography.pass.us/manali

What a CRAZY week!!! I’m hoping to celebrate this weekend (with more champagne possibly!) and if this is a good indication of what the rest of 2018 is going to hold I will be so ecstatic!

Pictures by the wonderful Jontell Vanessa Photography!

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