It has been a LONG time since I've written a blog post. For those of you who don't know, I took the month of March off to travel the world for a bit. I took a solo trip to Ireland and met the most wonderful people and my heart is so full because of it. However, I've gone from having absolutely no work to working on catching up, and it's been a bit of a rough transition as I'm sure you can imagine. :)
To ease this transition, when I got back to The States I spent a few days visiting David. We just hit our two and a half year anniversary and I'm excited to say that at the beginning of next month we'll no longer be a long distance couple. David is an absolute gem and I thought that I would use this blog post to let everyone know that.
My birthday just happened to fall on one of the days that I was hanging out with him, so he agreed to model with me for another round of self portraits. We take these pictures together pretty often, but this was the last opportunity we would have for "lifestyle" photos in his first house.
These photos were extra special because David also agreed to let me film a behind the scenes video that answers all the questions I get whenever we take these photos. How do you do this? What camera do you use? Lighting set up? How do you get him to cooperate? (lol). I've answered them all and included a few bonus tips and tricks in a video I'll link down below. But back to appreciating David!
This man. He has my whole heart. Sometimes I forget to stop and remember how blessed I am to have him in my life. So let me share.
When David and I first started dating, I would send all of the oh-so-adorable & mushy messages, pictures, and screenshots from him straight to my sister. She would melt along with me as we realized what a blessing David was to me and how his personality matched mine so perfectly. What I did not realize was that she would send everything I sent to her straight into a group chat with her friends, and their new phrase soon became "get yourself a David."
While it's just been something funny that we would all laugh about over the years, when I think about it, it actually makes so much sense to me. Every girl out there deserves to be treated in the same way that David loves and adores me. He is constantly willing to sacrifice his time, energy, and pride to meet me halfway and make sure that I know I am special. He will completely embarrass himself just to make me laugh and will do so without me even asking.
He encourages me to chase my dreams, even when they change drastically, and supports all of the things I find passion in. Whether it be staring in my latest YouTube video, modeling for my latest photography promotion, or binge watching crazy prison shows I randomly find myself addicted to on Netflix - this man will do it all just to see me do something that makes me happy.
Over the past eight months I've watched him grow tremendously in his faith and work on his relationship with God. I've seen him fight spiritual battles and come out on top and I've watched him change into a man I am so very proud of. He's the man I've spent my whole life praying I would find and he makes me so, so happy.
One of my very favorite things to eat is a good piece of cake. David asked me to be his girlfriend on a cake and surprised me with another for our first anniversary. However, for my birthday (when we took these photos) he went above and beyond. This twenty two year old man, a working college student, took time out of his busy schedule to not only bake me a surprise birthday cake, but to decorate it all special BY HIMSELF (and without any help!). He presented it to me with so much joy and admiration I thought my heart was literally going to explode.
David encourages me to be the best person I can be. I wake up every Sunday morning to a text reminding me to go to Mass. We've started working out together over Skype (long distance, I tell you!). He encourages me to travel to fuel the free spirit in my heart. Whether it's a road trip across the country to run a half marathon or an experience across the world, he always gets so excited to help plan and prep for the next adventure.
What he doesn't always realize is that this life we have together is the greatest adventure of all. From juggling long distance and happy hearts to planning out our exciting futures together, the adventures we will have will be far greater together rather than apart. David, thank you for encouraging me to be the best person that I can be and for being a role model for what the other women in my life deserve as well. I love you SO much. And for all of you others reading this, YOU deserve a David in your life, too. Above and beyond all expectations, someone who sets your heart on fire. If you're interested in checking out the video from our little session, here it is :)
I do just want to end by saying that if I can take photos that make my own little love story look so good, imagine how great I could make yours. Let me know if you're interested in a scheduling a session with your someone special. :)