Looking Back + Forward :: Part Two

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March 3, 2014

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 I'm a wedding photographer living outskirts of St. Louis with my sweet husband! When I'm not hanging with my amazing couples, you can catch me whipping up some delicious food or perusing the local thrift store for some finds. 
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I'm Jessica Lauren

Hello March!! Goodness, can you believe another month has already flown by? February wasn’t quite as full as January, but busy none the less! I love having this opportunity to remember all that’s happened over the past four weeks and think about how good God is! It’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of everyday things and allow ourselves to forget how wonderful and faithful the Lord is.

One of the highlights of this month was traveling to Illinois for the Deeper Retreat. Wow, it was such a refreshing time to spend with the Lord and really be still before Him and listen to His voice. So grateful for that time!

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Plus, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet sweet Hannah! Good grief this girl is a joy. I was seriously so blessed to be able to spend the weekend with her and reconnect with Amelia! I love both of these ladies. It blows me away to think of all the wonderful people I’ve met through photography. And of course, we had to spend some time shooting each other! Images of both of these beauties will be coming soon!

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I also had the wonderful opportunity to help with the Middle School Girl’s Retreat at my church… I just love all these girls! We did something similar to this with the girls, and it was so incredible! Watching their reactions to what people had said about them was priceless. Seriously, that project was such a highlight for me.

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February finished off with dinner + froyo with this chica! I’m so grateful for sweet Taylor and her heart for the Lord. Plus she’s hilarious, so that’s a bonus. ;)

Let’s recap February goals and such, shall we?

-Launch my new website! Yay, it’s launched!! Such a good feeling. :)

Attend the Deeper Retreat!

-Stick to a daily consistent schedule. I was a lot better at this, but I’m definitely still not were I want to be. February was a little bit calmer and helped keep life from feeling as overwhelming. I’m going to count this one as accomplished. ;)

-Stick to my budget! Ha – okay, still working on this one too! I’m very much a free spirit when it comes to money, which is sometimes good and sometimes bad. Sometimes you just have to say no to Starbucks… :)

-Start booking spring sessions! It’s beginning to happen! Although I’m not sure that everyone has spring on the brain yet since there is still snow on the ground. Usually Missouri is a little bit more “springy” this time of year!

-Put more effort into small group + relationships with friends and family. Honestly, I feel like this is something I constantly have to be working on. I was able to have some sweet conversations with people in February though and it was such a blessing.

-Spend devoted time on my knees with Jesus everyday. I always always always need more of this. It’s difficult to take time away to be still and quiet, but so refreshing and rewarding when it happens.

And now it’s March! The month of sunshine and warmer weather – hopefully! There are so many exciting things to look forward to this month and I’m incredibly glad that it’s here. :)

In a little over two weeks I will be heading to Washington state! Not only do I get to spend a week digging into God’s word, but I get to do that surrounded by some of my most favorite people on earth. There are no words to express how much I am looking forward to this week! It is seriously coming at the perfect timing. I’m pretty sure it will even be worth getting up at 2am for my flight. :) Plus the Denver airport has Caribou, so it’s all good.

Here are some of my goals for this crazy month!

Work on shooting more video. This is my latest passion of mine! It’s such a fun, new way to challenge myself and branch out into new territory.

Accomplish one DIY project for my room. My room has been a work in progress for awhile now, but there are still a few things I would really love to get done!

Take more time to read + finish a book. This might seem a little pathetic, but I am currently in the middle of reading five different books right now, so it would be nice to at least finish one of them! I love reading, but for some reason I find it difficult to sit down, let go of distractions, and pour myself into a book.

Begin going through pictures for graduation + order invites. Oh yes. It’s that time… apparently graduation is a big deal or something? It would be nice to be semi-prepared so that May isn’t a month of utter craziness!

Exercise for 30 minutes every weekday. Okay, so I already know that this won’t happen the entire month (like when I’m gone for a week) but I’m going to do my best.

Finish my new blog! Hallelujah! We are saying peace out to Blogger and moving up in the world. I am so, so happy about this. Blogger has been a faithful, inexpensive friend, but this new blog will make blogging so much more efficient and the space is so beautiful! I’m pumped!

And there we are! I hope all of you have a lovely month of March!
What is one thing you are looking forward to + a goal for this month? I would love to hear!

Much love,
Jessica Lauren

Comments +

  1. Anna Rose says:

    Oh, the Denver Airport…. they have a little upstairs area that is nice a quiet. it has escalators up to it, and would be a wonderful place to spend a long layover….
    <3

  2. Hannah Elise says:

    YOU are a joy, Jessica. wow, loved this post!!

    – ugh, don’t bring up a budget..lol!! totally need to implement one for myself sometime here.

    – praying on my knees..I was literally just thinking about this today. Did it for awhile when I was younger and just being in that position helped me focus on a lot more. Def going to get back into that!

    – I want to play with doing more video too, and think about that from time to time! let me know if you have any revelations with it..mmk? :)

    – oh, DIY room projects…seriously! always hanging over my head. need to make those happen, too!!

    and LOL “you’d think graduation was a big deal or something..” goodness. I seriously want to see one of your invites when they get done, tho!! Undoubtedly will be fabulous.

    let’s hang out again soon, mmk??

    xo.

  3. Elizabeth. says:

    Yep, Hannah is pretty much the definition of awesomeness. :) Her joy is contagious and I’m super excited to see the rest of the portraits you did of each other. And I def know what you mean about actually finishing books – I keep adding ones to my stack and was excited to actually finish one that has been in-progress for way too long. ;) Thanks for sharing your goals with us!

  4. Olivia says:

    Oh yay! I’m excited to see what you do accomplish and I just started an exercising routine myself. ;) x

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