I know this is a business blog, about photography, but I just really want to post about something else today. More sneak peeks to come later this week, but for today, it’s personal.

I watched the movie ‘The Vow’ this weekend and it inspired me to do this post. If you haven’t seen that movie, I’ll just say that she basically has an accident and forgets the last 5 years of her life. Her life became so different in those years that her 5 year ago self didn’t even recognize her life. It’s a really good movie and you should go watch it if you haven’t yet!

I think 5 years goes by soooo fast that we don’t even realize how much our lives change, how much we accomplish, or how far we’ve come. My life is certainly a prime example of this.

Five years ago was the year 2007. We had only just moved to charleston from columbia, sc. We were in a new place, I was in between desk jobs, and trying to figure out just what I was going to do with myself in this new town.

In those 5 years, I worked a few desk jobs I hated, opened a pet sitting business that I still do, started sewing dog collars and making dog t-shirts, had a beautiful baby boy, and then started this business, Tickled Blue Photography. I would certainly not recognize my life now if I woke up and only remembered just moving to charleston. It’s just so crazy to me to think about that. I would probably walk into my house and think, where did all these baby toys come from? Why do I have a home office, a sewing machine with all of this ribbon and dog collar hardware, I can’t sew!! What’s this fancy camera sitting out and how on earth do I use that??  I would look at all of my photos on the wall(mostly of Easton now) and wonder how we made such a beautiful child and wonder when we traveled so much? I would remember this townhome we live in, but it looks so different from when we moved in it. It has become our home, we have filled it up with stuff and things along the way and all of our photos on the walls tell our story.  It truly is amazing what happens in just 5 years of your life.

I dont know if the next 5 will bring about as many changes for me, but looking back at what I’ve done since 07′ makes me smile a little this morning and happy with where my life is at. 

Is your life where you thought it would be in 5 years? Probably not, but that’s the fun of it. I think it’s great to set goals for yourself and think about where you’d like to be. The fun ones though are the ones you didn’t even know you had in you!

So five years from now, I see myself, hopefully with one more child, a 6 year old silly little boy, living in a house with a yard and a front porch, a booming photography business and getting to do what I love to do everyday. I hope to still be making dog collars and doing pet sits, going to the beach more often, and maybe even adding another dog to the family. I don’t see myself opening any new businesses(lol), but just perfecting the ones I have now.

We’ll see if I’m spot on in 2017!

Now, go watch that movie and think about your life 5 years ago and where you are now.  Like it? Good! Don’t like it, do something about it!

Have a great week! It’s the last one of June!!