Kansas City Wedding Photography | Allison Marie Photography

It’s hard to believe a whole year has passed since I began my year of self-portraits! What a wonderful, challenging, humorous, fulfilling, growth-producing,  joy-filled, change-at-every-turn sort of year! It is truly amazing how much change can happen in one year. That first photo in December last year seems like forever ago! When I began this project in December of 2010, I wrote, “The purpose of the photo is to capture a general mood or theme or event of the month”. It’s incredible looking back, because in so many ways, these 13 photos really do capture the essence of 2011 for me.

Before the project recap, here is my December photo! Grant and I just returned home from a great trip to Minneapolis for a friend’s wedding, and I had the great joy of spending an afternoon with the three amazing women who I lived with my senior year of college. It definitely makes it on my list of “favorite memories of 2011″! I will dedicate a different post to this fun afternoon, but for now, here is my December self-portrait, taken at the Bachman floral house:

And now for the recap! Remember each of these months?! (December 2010: training our new puppy in the freezing cold) (January: the epic hand-painted wall) (February: reflecting through old journals on my birthday) (March: we’re moving!!) (April: the month of driving) (May: shoots galore) (June: getting back in the running habit) (July: last time at my parent’s lake house) (August: an afternoon of relaxing and a new haircut) (September: a crazy b&b experience) (October: leaves, leaves, leaves) (November: home really is where the heart is) (December: an afternoon in MN with three college friends)

So, will I be continuing this project? I guess you will have to wait until January to find out!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, November has been the month of searching for the perfect home for Grant and I. After touring a handful of less than appealing houses, we found one that seemed like THE perfect house for us. Long story short, it was simply bad timing. We would have had to close mid-December, and there simply wouldn’t be time to move in the midst of our crazy holiday travel schedule. So, rather than continuing to pursue our house hunt when we came back from Thanksgiving, we decided to put our search on pause until the new year and do something that would make us more content to stay in our rental home for a few more months: buy new furniture! We had purchased a couch and loveseat when we moved to KC in April…and after only a few months, they performed like they were 10+ years old! Uncomfortable and saggy! Our little living room is now so much more cozy and appealing, with this leather sofa and two accent chairs (not pictured because the wrong chairs were delivered!).

Throughout this house search, I (re)learned that home truly is where the heart is. Cheesy, I know!! But it really is true. As eager as we are to find a house of our own and have more space, I’ve had to keep reminding myself that moving into a more spacious house will not satisfy me. Joy is not found in stuff, plain and simple. I believe true joy is found in Jesus Christ and authentic relationships with people. I could lose everything I own, yet still feel abudant joy because my satisfaction is not rooted in earthly belongings.

A truth I must continually remind myself.