The typical "End of the Year" post

Well, well, well... 2013 is hours from being history. How crazy is that? I know everyone keeps saying this, but this year really has flown by so quickly. I figured since I haven't posted in a number of weeks - and since it is the last day of the year - I would highlight some of the .... well highlights of 2013.

The Coach's Wife's official "Best of 2013" list....

-Starting "The Coach's Wife" Blog
-Successfully completing the first Texas Reload sale with the coach
-Establishing myself as an on farm photographer
-Italy

-Getting on Instagram 

-Taking the coach to his first Texas A&M football game
-Limiting myself to only ONE new tattoo for the ENTIRE year. That's just cray
-Spending time with my brother's family in Wyoming
-Reading the Divergent trilogy and thus changing my life forever
-Watching my husband judge numerous shows across the US
-Being able to call him my husband
-Videoing for some absolutely fantastic breeders/ranchers/clients for Ideal Video Production
-Picturing three wedding proposals for some wonderful friends
-Being nominated for the category of Best On Farm Photog for the Best of the Barns awards. My mind is still blown
-This is annoying.... but getting the D4.... like seriously
-Not getting into a public social media battle with anyone. all. year. long.
-Taking a stand to say I decide who my friends are no matter what ANYONE thinks of their sexual orientation, appearance, or popularity.
-With that, being proud to say I support the gay community
-Making it through our first year of marriage without getting preggers.... or making the coach divorce me (double score)
-The 50,000 I've put on my brand new car since she was "born" in November 2012
-Driving home for the Christmas Holiday with Jessie.... seriously so fun

And my top three "Best ofs" for the year are.....

3. Establishing so many wonderful new clients that I more importantly call friends
2. Picturing cattle backdrop for the most amazing company, ShowChampions Inc., thus truly fulfilling my life long dream.
1. Continuing to put a smile on almost every exhibitors face when they come to my backdrop or when they see the image we just captured. This job has never been about the money for me. It has always been about making every single exhibitor feel like I treated them better than anyone else in the barn.

And that's all there is to it.

I'm sure I missed quite a few awesome moments/memories.... Tomorrow I might actually post again... possibly.

But for now, I'm going to go work ewes with my parents and the coach... and just smile at how incredible this past year truly has been.

Thank you to all my readers, followers, and friends for making "The Coach's Wife" such a success.

Friday the 13th

I have a confession. When I was younger, my "lucky" number was 13. Is that weird? It's true though. With that said, I guess today should have been extra lucky for me. Or at least that's what inner-Jo is telling me. I suppose my inner-Jo wasn't too far off, because it wasn't an unlucky day... which for me is saying something. I mean, nothing that extraordinary happened per say... but it was a decent little day. I mean, I played with Jessie, packed for home (now leaving on Sunday morning - thanks to the nasty weather expected to hit the east coast), cooked for the coach,  and watched Courtney Loves Dallas.

On that note, can I just tell you how much I love that show? Holy crap. It is amazing. Courtney Kerr is my idol. For those of you who have not checked out her blog, do it now. I mean, she is seriously brilliant. And adorable. And a texan.

Anyway, on the note of packing... you know how hard it is to pack for a 40 plus day trip? Really froggin' hard. Hate it.




That's really all I've got for this blog. I realize this post isn't very long and contains little to no substance... but at least I froggin' posted... right?


Stay tuned for stories/ posts/ rants from my road trip.

Another #MCM

I can't even remember the last time I did a #MCM... and seeing as the coach once again proved to be the most amazing husband in the entire world over turkey break, he deserves a My Coach's Moment post.

This one - however - is not of his ... uh ... picking. It's one from my archives. Turkey break marks three years since the coach asked me to come to Bastrop to "picture his cattle" .... or, in all honesty, to meet his family (which scared the poop out of me, considering we had only been talking for about a month... and only publicly dating for about a week and a half.). I guess he really did want me to take pictures, too - but y'all get my point. Anyway, at the time I had owned a DSLR for only about three or four months. And I had only been taking livestock photos "professionally" (for ShowChamps) for about two months. So I was pretty terrible. Well, I thought I was awesome... but looking back, I was terrible.

Which brings me to this version of #MCM. The coach and I bonded - years before we started dating - over our mutual love of cattle. So when he asked if I would come to Bastrop and take pasture shots at his family's ranch, I jumped at the opportunity. He loved the shots and used them as Christmas presents for his parents that year. He still has some of those 'original' pictures hanging in his office. It drives me nuts, because I think they suck. So every time I stop by while he's working, my skin crawls.

Well, anyway, this past turkey break we had a bit of an emergency involving our dear Jessie. She's fine. Crisis over. She'll heal in no time. But back to the point of my story. I planned on taking pictures of the cattle this year like I did three years ago... Well, that wasn't exactly possible. So, after picking Jessie up from the vet on Friday, we went to the pasture about an hour before the sun went down.... Not exactly enough time to see all the babies AND shoot more than two or three groups. But I still got a few... check out one of the shots from three years ago compared to a very similar pose taken this year. No, the 2013 picture isn't my favorite from that night, but I think it's cool from a comparative standpoint. PS- the recent image has not been run through photoshop, lightroom or even bridge. I shoot on jpeg, not raw... because honestly, I'm too lazy to do any kind of editing. I don't remember editing the image from 2010, but I really can't remember.

Thanksgiving 2010 shot

Thanksgiving 2013 shot

Things certainly have changed over the past three years. I mean, we honestly knew back then that we would be married at this point... but I'm not sure we could have guessed that we would be almost exactly where we always hoped we would be, professionally speaking. Don't get me wrong, I still have an insane amount to learn. But, I look at the image taken in 2010 and just have to smile. So much has changed, and I really think I'm headed in the right direction. But, I don't think that would have been possible without the coach.

This holiday season I'm most thankful for having such a wonderful, handsome and supportive cattleman/husband that pushes me to be a better person on a daily basis and is behind me 100%, no matter what I do. He loves my career as much as I do... and I love his as much as he does. That's really something wonderful.

Thanksgiving 2013 shot

It's a beautiful life. Take the time to notice how breathtakingly unique your every day truly is.