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Channel: creative at heart – Amanda Hedgepeth | Outer Banks Wedding Photographer
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Leaving + Taking from 2015 | Welcome 2016!

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I know a lot of people write out resolutions for a new year, and I know it gets a lot of “well you should be doing this stuff all year, not just waiting and planning for the new year to start!” — but some of us are “fresh start” people and if you feel like you’re one of those without me having to explain, you’re my kind of people :) We like to buy brand new fresh journals and planners, we like to purge material items and start from scratch, we like new mindsets and have hopeful hearts for new life adventures both big and small.

I have hopes for 2016 of feeling content, consistent and refreshed. I want to serve my clients well, I want to love on them, I want to be there for my family and I want to spend REAL unplugged quality time with my girls as they grow together as a little three pack now! I want to continue to take too many pictures with my phone and capture all the memories to look back on. But 2015 was a ROLLERCOASTER…let’s look at this hot mess of a year!

2015 went like this for us:

*Creative at Heart Conference #1 — total inspiration and life changer and I went there to serve as a panelist! It changed MY life more than I could ever imagine!
*At that conference, sitting down with my sweet and dear friend Katelyn James and telling her my heart was in a deep, deep hole. I knew something was missing and it wasn’t my family, or business, nothing to do with friends or my kids or marriage, something else was missing. She brought me to Jesus like I had been longing for and it changed-my-LIFE. I felt literally like someone found that piece of the puzzle that I had accepted would always be missing and the biggest weight was lifted off my shoulders!
*I posted the biggest blog post of my life called Reuniting with God, it was very open and made my more vulnerable than ever. I haven’t even read it since I posted it because it was so hard to write and share those details of my life with others…but it put 100+ emails from supporters and empathizers who had been through the same within three days of posting it.
*That same day, one of my best friends emailed me and said they never want to speak to me again, so that happened
*Days after the post, my older brother was found dead of a heroin overdose at 38 years old
*I cut off all my hair and went back blonde! See what I mean about “fresh starts” — sometimes you need them!
*Ellie girl turned ONE!!! Look at those biscuits and dough on her AHHH I love her chubby baby self! :)
*Instagram name changed from CammyEllieSeastars to AmandaHedgepethOBX because we knew we wanted to try for one more baby :) We weren’t pregnant yet but we wanted to get a head start hahaha! :)
*Big big BEAUTIFUL and PERFECT branding refresher!!!! I LOVE Katie Durski, she’s amazing! We incorporated all things coastal, Outer Banks and color loving me — it’s a beautiful and authentic brand that speaks to my heart and bright style!
*Starting using 17 Hats software and LOVE IT!!! What a huge game changer for my business, I 100% recommend it if you need something super user friendly and organized! :)
*We announced that our weekend weddings in 2016 will be shot as a husband and wife team!!!!!!! We are SO excited for this change, we have the best time shooting together and Mike is SO amazing with people, he represents my brand and mission so well and we are really excited for these “dates” and exclusive time together serving couples tying the knot! :)
*We announced our PREGNANCY!!!!!!!! :):)
*And then I got hit SEVERELY with morning (all day) sickness, like, to the extreme! It ended up shaking up the rest of my year so unexpectedly and put me so behind in my workflow because I physically couldn’t even handle being on the computer for too long. It was terrible but worth the pain obviously, and ultimately led us to the decision to outsource our wedding editing in 2016 so it was a really mean and weird blessing in disguise hahaha!
*I went to see Taylor Swift LIVE in Charlotte NC!!! AHHH!!! With my sweet friends Amanda and Erika, we had the best time and we definitely cried hahahaha!! :)
*We found out we were having a THIRD BABY GIRL!! :)
*Our vow renewal in Cape Hatteras happened 4th of July week, it was soooo incredible. We ended up on Style Me Pretty, thanks to the talent of Michael and Carina!!! :)
*I joined the gym for the first time in SIX YEARS! Yes, in the middle of my pregnancy! It was an amazing idea and made me feel SO much better! It kept my weight from creeping up too high, too– I didn’t even reach the same weight I did with my other daughters this time and it was my third pregnancy, not bad! Helped with round ligament pain, too!
*Mike turned 29 and I turned 31 :)
*Cammy started PRESCHOOL!!
*We hosted the Salt Air Workshop here in the Outer Banks with this STELLAR lineup of attendees, I felt so connected to all of them and so honored to have them here in the Outer Banks!!!! We even got AMAZING weather to shoot in with perfect cloud cover — I can’t wait to blog them after feature!!! :)
*We ended the year with 18 amazing weddings and the most loving and beautiful couples around, and we bittersweetly ended our pregnant shooting era :(
*Spent two nights in the ER with SEVERE sickness, like uncontrollable sickness. We learned I had severe reflux causing me to go into serious and scary spells and we blogged about it to hopefully help others who may find themselves in this situation!
*Got to visit GORGEOUS Charleston SC to be a part of our THIRD Creative at Heart Conference! This experience, watching these creatives light up and have a game changer light bulb turn on right in front of you, it’s priceless. Lots of tears, lots of information, LOTS of HEART!
*WE HAD OUR THIRD DAUGHTER!!!!!!!! :) Wonderful way to end the year!!!!! :)

What I want to leave: This year was the hardest for my business because of my pregnancy, it was a HUGE challenge and learning experience. I was so fortunate to be given grace and love from all of my clients as we figured out how to deal with the sickness and ER visits on top of family and business! I want to LEAVE BEHIND THE SICKNESS, hahah! I want to leave behind the ER visits and the nausea. I want to leave behind losing my brother and how that felt to know he died in such a sad and lonely way. I want to move on and keep looking for reasons to remember the good in him and honor the parts of him that we can remember as positive. I want to leave behind negativity, experiences and people. I want to leave behind long turn around times for final wedding galleries which WILL be done because we’re outsourcing that editing for next year! Thank gosh to an angel coming to help us!! :) I want to leave behind sore boobs from nursing and pray it gets better ASAP, too hahaha! :)

What I want to TAKE with us!!!: This NEW LITTLE GIRL and this new experience of having three amazing little daughters!!! I want to take the Lord’s peace and promises I accepted this year with me as they have been probably the most unexpected life changing experiences for me. I never knew how easy it would be to understand what all of it meant, thanks to starting with a devotional book and the book Start Here from my friend Katelyn — I have journaled PAGES and PAGES of my heart  in the name of Jesus and His word this year. It’s been SUCH a relief!!!! We love our church and we hope to go more as we figure out how to tame these insane little ladies to sit for more than 20 minutes through a service, haha! I want to take this bright and happy brand with me to continue to reach the right kind of bride for me, the sweet, excited-to-marry-her-man and kind bride and enjoy incorporating Mike into the business! I want to take LOVE, PEACE, GRACE and HAPPINESS with me. I want to take the words of an amazing, wise, well-loved and brilliant friend who reminded me that I am not perfect and I have messed up BUT I have a purpose and platform to help others and share my love, knowledge and experiences with my audience. I am business owner, I am a wife, I am a mother..and it’s not all easy but it can be beautiful if we work it all together just right and keep our hearts and eyes on what’s truly important, what matters most. It was a hard year in so many ways but we are looking forward to a happy and healthy 2016!!!! :)

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Filed under: Life By The Sea Tagged: creative at heart, daughter, gym, husband and wife team, loss of a brother, morning sickness, pregnancy, reflux, reuniting with god, third baby, wedding photographer, YMCA

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