Too bad a photographer’s blog isn’t showing any images?!? We’ll be back to regularly scheduled programming hopefully by tomorrow. In the meantime, go checkout the Kristen Steele Photography facebook page for some pretty photos I just uploaded from the Wedding 101 Expo! Enjoy & happy Tuesday!

He’s so oober-adorable, so super-cudly that I can’t help but be obsessed with him. Winston is definitely a ladies man, he is the friendliest dog I have ever seen. His sweet little paws love to chase after ice or his blue squeaky ball. Currently his newest obsession is biting us, which I don’t really mind because he’s so dang cute.

His newest trick: he {kinda} knows how to sit. Sometimes he feels like sitting, other times he just looks up at me with his dark chocolate eyes and ignores me. Whatever, he’s adorable & here’s the proof:

I hope you’ve enjoyed meeting Winston & if you’re in the Nashville area let us know and we’ll have to have a puppy playdate!

::woof woof:: love, Winston

Six months ago on February 10th I had the amazing opportunity to go to Making Things Happen hosted by Lara Casey, Jeff Holt and Jeremy Cowart. And in honor of our amazing experience 6 months ago tonight we’re having a reunion to celebrate and share with each other our accomplishments.

So what exactly is Making Things Happen?
The Making Things Happen™ workshop is an intensive designed to fire you up for 2010. Spend an afternoon with me making a clear, active, successful plan for 2010. From branding to bold moves and everything in between, I’m inviting you to join me for an intensive like no other. I’m fired up and intend to make sure you leave feeling the same way about your future. I’ll be asking attendees vital (ie- hard) questions and require that participants be ready to lay it all out on the table. This workshop is not for the faint of heart, but for all creative professionals who really want to change, grow, and harness their full potential in the new year. Making Things Happen is about personal branding. Making Things Happen was founded on the idea that you have the choice to change your life. The Making Things Happen Intensive is about personal evolution. (Taken straight from the Making Things Happen website.)

So I’ve answered some brief questions regarding where I’ve come in the last 6 months & how Making Things Happen helped me get there. So here we go….

What were your goals when you started? What have you accomplished since MTH?
My one main goal when I arrived at MTH Nashville was to become a full-time photographer. At that point it seemed like it would never happen, because there was so much standing in my way. But after making the time that day to really sit down and think about that goal and the actual steps that I needed to take, I felt equipped to know what I needed to do.

6 months ago, I never thought I’d ____.
6 months ago, I never thought I would be a full-time photographer and have photographed a destination wedding in Volterra, Italy.

What were your biggest fears and how have you overcome them?
My biggest fear was that I would make the decision to quit my job and then not get booked for any weddings or lifestyle portraits. I have overcome this huge fear by stepping away from my fear. I recently read this quote and it perfectly reflects my Making Things Happen experience:

“Each time we decide to take a step away from fear, we begin to move forward into a life completely energized and rich in the freedom God has for us.” —Anne Jackson

What has been the most valuable asset to you in your journey?
My most valuable asset(s) to me in my journey most assuredly would be my faith, my husband who has been so supportive and my fellow MTH community!

What is your best advice to others who want to MTH?
If you’re thinking about attending Making Things Happen, I would say… don’t pass Go, don’t collect $200 until you sign up and make plans to attend MTH. It will not only richly bless your life and your business but it will kickstart your thinking differently to dream more for your life and your business.

Fill in the blank: Making Things Happen means ____.
Making Things Happen means realizing your goals and accomplishing them.

What are you most looking forward to for the rest of 2010? What’s next?
For the rest of 2010, I am most looking forward to growing my business: announcing new projects, new products and most importantly touching new clients with their photos.

So there you have it! It’s been quite an incredible past 6 months. There has been so much change in my life that sometimes I don’t feel like I’m really living my life, my dream but in fact it’s true. I’m so thankful for how supportive and encouraging David, my family, all my friends and fellow photographers have been. SO THANK YOU!!!

If you want to take a stroll down memory lane, here’s my really really rambling video that I recorded as soon as I got home from Making Things Happen.

Making Things Happen 2010 | Nashville from Kristen Steele on Vimeo.

I’m so thankful for my Making Things Happen experience and I’m hoping that my MTH reunion experience doesn’t stop tonight with my Nashville friends, but that I get to go to the Watercolor Reunion too! Are you going?

I was inspired by several photographers who have made their own 101 in 1001 lists, like Amelia Strauss and Kate Whitmore, so here I am making my own list of goals and things that I want to accomplish!

My start date: Sunday, August 1, 2010
End date: Sunday, April 28, 2013

1. Decorate my office (with my giant wishlist from IKEA) to be completely me & organized.
2. Go snow skiing with my hubby.
3. Get a set of real pearl earrings, a necklace and a bracelet to be truly Southern.
4. Start a photography mentor program.
5. Invest in good wedding shoes.
6. Be published in a wedding magazine.
7. Design, finish & print all the marketing collateral that I dream about having.
8. Take Winston to obedience school & teach him not to bite.
9. Get another “L” series lens.
10. Figure out exactly the right words to describe “my photography style.”
11. Start sending out really fun, unique referral presents to past clients.
12. Design & purchase an album from our wedding.
13. Finish a personal journal through the very last page.
14. Read through the Bible in a year.
15. Make business goals for a calendar year and surpass them.
16. Take a Maples Cakes class & learn how to decorate great cakes.
17. Get an iPhone.
18. Pay off our house & be completely debt free. (This is a crazy lofty goal.)
19. Photograph a birth story.
20. Have a promo video made that fully expresses my personality & photography style.
21. Get leterpress business materials.
22. Learn how to play golf with my hubby.
23. Plant flowers in pots & keep them alive for an entire season.
24. Go to WPPI.
25. Win a photography award.
26. Have an above-the-garage or in-house studio and client meeting space, complete with kickin’ canvas collections to show off.
27. Migrate to a completely paperless office & personal filing system. (Thank you, Sean McLellan, for at least showing me how, now I actually need to do it!)
28. Attend a Zack Arias OneLight workshop.
29. Get personalized stationary with Kristen Steele instead of my maiden name.
30. Create a studio manual.
31. Take formal portraits of my parents.
32. Get my Roth IRA set up.
33. Photograph a boudoir session.
34. Get silkscreen printed DVDs.
35. Have a weekend with just my little sissy.
36. Hire an office assistant/manager.
37. Lose weight & wear a bikini in the Caribbean with my hubby.
38. Buy a full frame camera.
39. Start thinking about having a little Baby Steele.
40. Have my quiet time every day for 6 weeks.
41. Shoot another wedding in Europe.
42. Start outsourcing my editing, at least some of it.
43. Actually post photos from session on my Flickr account.
44. Write at least 5 chapters of my book.
45. Buy all the equipment I would need for a camera booth.
46. Go to the flea market & buy fun props for photo sessions.
47. Be featured on the Southern Weddings blog or in the magazine.
48. Go to the beach at least for the weekend with the girls, because I love feeling sand beneath my toes.
49. Finish decorating our master bedroom, including re-upholstering the chair.
50. Blog on my writing blog every day for a whole month.
51. Have my fine art photography displayed at an art gallery.
52. Shoot a beach destination wedding.
53. Buy an old camera at an antique store & do a session with it.
54. Get a canvas collection with photos from our Italian Adventure trip for our living room.
55. Surprise Dave with an iPad.
56. Finally finish editing photos from our Italian Adventure.
57. Make a wreath for our front door.
58. Get Winston a Christmas stocking.
59. Finish compiling my Photo Greeting Card collection to offer my fabulous clients.
60. Be featured on Style Me Pretty.
61. Learn more about lighting.
62. Take dance classes with my hubby & then dance @ a wedding.
63. Finish reading The Photographer’s Workshop.
64. Actually write letters to our two Compassion International sponsor children.
65. Find an album company that I’m 110% in love with.
66. Completely redesign my website to be custom, absolutely fabulous & fully represent my brand.
67. Learn how to quilt, or at least how to sew & make some pillows.
68. Sell my Senior prom dress & buy more camera equipment.
69. Go to a Catalyst conference.
70. Take a trip to Boston with Dave.
71. Shoot a proposal.
72. Take a family trip with Dave & Winston somewhere fun!
73. Start an awesome group of fellow photographers who want to encourage & spur one another to excellence in our business.
74. Join a local business chamber.
75. Hire an intern.
76. Donate photographic services to an organization that I’m passionate about.
77. Do a “Top Five” blog post.
78. Photograph the important places from my personal history.
79. Sit down with my Dad & write out his life history.
80. Send out anniversary cards to past clients.
81. Implement the ridiculously fun ideas I have for branding…
82. Send someone a gift just because.
83. Go visit Springfield, KY with David & show him where my Memaw & Papa lived.
84. Spend a whole night in a bubble bath relaxing and reading.
85. Go on a road trip with David.
86. Host a Christmas party.
87. Cut down a fresh Christmas tree at a Christmas tree farm.
88. Finally clean out all my stuff in my parents’ basement.
89. Take a trip to Chicago with Dave.
90. Meet Andy Stanley.
91. Get a publisher for my book.
92. Make my own candles with a fun scent.
93. Go vote in a local election.
94. Finish reading a political book that Dave wanted me to read.
95. Start & complete all 90 days of P90X.
96. Host a Social Media workshop on how to use Twitter + facebook for business.
97. Babysit for friends to give them a free date night.
98. Go to ImagingUSA again.
99. Start something new that stretches me out of my comfort zone.
100. Encourage a friend just because.
101. Actually complete all 101 things on this list.

So there it is! That’s my list of 101 things I want to do in the next 1001 days! As I complete each item, I’ll write a blog post telling you about it! Enjoy & if you have a 101 in 1001 list too, list it below in the comments and if you tweet use the hashtag #101in1001 & we’ll follow along with each other. Hugs!!

Gracie is definitely no exception! She is a girl after my own heart with fabulous shoes and a very sassy personality. She strutted around in her gorgeous, hot pink cowboy boots.

This beautiful flower child was so fun to photograph & I hope you enjoy the photos!

You might remember me telling you a little bit of our story here, but that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of David + Kristen.

I’ve been meaning to post these amazing photos by Kate Crafton for sometime now, so now’s a great time!

Just Enjoying Life

We’re in a really fun stage of life: just enjoying each other. The past two years has been about getting to know each other better, doing life with friends we love, working really hard, traveling and starting a family with a puppy (more on this in a bit…).

I love all of David’s quirks with every fiber of my being… You know what I mean, those funny things that you don’t know about your sweet Hubby until you’re living with eachother 24/7 and you just say, “whoah! why do you do that that way?” or “I have NEVER heard you tell that story before!” Those moments are what has made up our last two years together sweet. Oh, and we’re also kind of obsessed with our favorite TV shows (LOST, White Collar, NCIS, Burn Notice… just to name a few!).

I love these photos and I’m SO thankful for Kate that she captured this time of our life: young married without kids. (Yes blog readers, we want kids and maybe even lots of them, just not yet.)

What have I learned?

Any of you who know me well know that I’m an avid reader. Especially encouraging, personal growth books. So when we decided to take the plunge & get engaged I was all hands on deck — reading every marriage book and preparation for marriage book I could find. We were engaged for a year so I read a LOT! All of that reading definitely helped, but I tell my friends that there’s nothing that can prepare you for how absolutely wonderful and fresh and exciting it is to walk down the aisle and finally look at each other and say out loud, “WE’RE MARRIED!!”

The days and weeks that followed our wedding held some dear memories: trying (and failing!) many recipes for dinner including ruining a pecan pie (Dave said he loved the gooey part of the pie so I thought I’d just add more corn syrup… don’t try, it doesn’t work!), learning how to work together on so many things and trusting God to provide jobs for both of us.