Its Official...

Wanted to share in the excitement with all of you. My business is official. The forms are filled out, the business have come in, the website is done Kathryn Hastings Photography my Facebook fan page has been created, check me out and "like" me:) and i have a new blog address specifically for the business, http://kathrynhastingsphotography.blogspot.com/.

I. AM. So. EXCITED! I wanted to share all of this with my wonderful blogger world of friends! If your in the Chicagoland area and like what you see, give me a call and we set up a date:) I can't wait for this business to just take off.

I wanted to thank my awesome husband for pushing me to start this with the amazing confidence, love, motivation and determination he instils in me. I love you, your my rock!

“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

The BIG 30

Yesterday was my birthday and i turned 30! YEAH! What a great day it was. I woke up at 4:45am to go for a run with my friend Kelley, remember we are in Chicago and its a sweaty 103 degrees here. So at 5am it was probably only 85 degrees with 100 percent humidity, you can guess we didn't run the whole time. When i got back i walked my dogs and went to breakfast with Brad and the girls. Olivia gave me two cards, one from her and Whit and the other from Brad. The girls card was hand made and was as sweet as could be. Brad's card was so exciting. It had a trip for two to CO in October! I was so excited i could hardly stand it! 4 night away from everything. I can't wait!

When we got home i had a sitter come and watch the girls so i could get my licensees renewed, seriously they make you renew it at 30 and charge you $30 to do it. Oh the state of Illinois how i do love your scandalous money sucking ways. I got home fed the girls lunch and then we all napped for 2.5 hours, heavenly! I got up and Brad got home early, so a girlfriend and i went to get pedicures. They were amazing. We got home and set up for a small BBQ we were having with a couple friends. It was so nice to be able to hang out with everyone and spend some quality time with the people i love.

I was exhausted by 930 and we hit the sack!

It was a great 30th birthday. My hubby and i are hitting the town Saturday night for dinner, i can't wait!

Whitney's 1st Birthday

My Darling Whitney turned 1 on July 3rd. I can't believe that she is already a toddler. This year has just flown by. She has brought so much fun, joy, laughter and a ton of LOVE into our lives. She again in my heart walking outside my body. It was so great going from a family of 3 to a family of 4. The transition felt pretty natural to us. It's still shocking to me when i look at both of my girls. They are the loves of my life. They are little mini mes and i just adore them every single day! We had a great party with great family and friends. We are so grateful and thankful for our family and friends. Miss Whintey just had a blast and so did we! Happy Birthday Whitney we love you with all our hearts!

      

      

Camera Happy

I just received my new lens in the mail two days ago. The Canon 24-70 2.8! AMAZING! Since the last wedding i did, i have stepped it up a notch, thanks to my amazing mentor Kelley over at better bitty bite. Not only is she an amazing photographer, but she also a nutritionist and an awesome friend! She let me borrow her amazing lens and once i shot that wedding i had to have it. She has given me the best advice and has shown me techniques i could never have learned in a class room. In fact tomorrow i am doing a photo shoot in the morning for a family in Libertyville and then she has invited me down to a wedding she is doing in our beautiful city of Chicago to shoot with her! I mean could she be any more amazing!

Of course i am camera happy. I just can't stop shooting:) Check out some of my favorites in the last two days:)

Estate Sales

This past weekend was another busy one. Lots going on in our town and i did another 5k run. Brad, the girls and i were walking home from the run and stumbled across a Gigantic Estate Sale. It was amazing. The women who lived in the house collected antiques. When i say she collected them i meant she hoarded them. Some very cool things.

When Brad saw my eyes light up at the chance of finding a small treasure he told me to go in and find something great. And find something great, i did! I ended up finding this early 1900's washing station. Just another term for chest of drawers, but apparently they would use it to wash there hands and face. They would put a pitcher and a water bowl on top and a "Potty Can" would go in the inside door.

I LOVE ANTIQUES. I love to think about who's house it was in and what it's seen, who it was made for and what they did with it. We have been looking for a piece to go in our living room and didn't want to run out to a store to buy something. We wanted something with history and character. We never seem to get any luck in furniture stores. Its all over priced and the quality is defiantly not up to par. No one seems to be able to make furniture the way they use to. Thats why estate sales are our favorite. You get REAL wood and pieces that are very unique. I would highly recommend checking one out if you have never been.

When we end up finding a bigger house i want to decorate it with tons of unique old antiques. I like the east coast/cottage look a lot better then modern. Blues and whites are my favorites. Buying antique pieces of furniture make me so happy:) I love my new piece!

Oh My Gosh, I'm Turning 30!

On July 20th! I am actually not freaked out about it as all. I am so excited. Your 30's, i here are suppose to be the best years of your life. I'm excited and can't wait to celebrate the next decade of my life with my beautiful family and all the lessons i learned in the past 30 years.

 

I am not the kind of person that worries much about numbers. To be honest if i wasn't married with two kids i would still think i was 16. Then when i try to stay out past 11pm, i remember i'm defiantly not 16 anymore, haha. 

In the last 10 years alone so much has changed in my life. It has flown by so fast. I feel like i blinked and i had graduated high school, gone to college, met my sweetheart, graduated college, got my first job, lived with my girlfriends in the city, got engaged, got married, started a non profit call "Strike Out Juvenile Diabetes" that raised over $5,000 that was all donated to JDFR, got pregnant, delivered a baby (still blows my mind that Brad and i created a human), got pregnant again 9 months later, delivered another baby, figured out how to balance my two babies, my husband, my house, work, starting a photography company. I ran my first 10 mile race and will run the Chicago half marathon in August. I have educated myself in natural childbirth, organic food and they way they treat the animals that nourish us, i have dug deeper into my religion then i ever have before and thirst for more knowledge everyday, i have become vulnerable and feel secure about it. I have become so much more open minded and i except everyone for who they are. I believe that none of us has a place to judge anyone. I am the happiest i have ever been!  

Everyone keeps telling me i'm crazy for being excited about turning 30. I feel stronger, smarter and more confident then i ever have before, so why wouldn't i be? Wrinkles don't bother me, just means i have laughed a lot and smiled often. I've never really needed to be at a certain point to feel significant about myself or hit a goal to feel like i have accomplished something. Don't get me wrong, making goals and meeting them is something that excites me, but it's never related to age. I am happy that i am where i am right now. I don't feel like i need to be more or less then i am. I feel like i have become happier with each age of my life. So 30 doesn't seem scary to me at all. It feels right, right where i am suppose to be. So let the party begin! 

A Weekend Away!

This last weekend our little family had so much fun together! We went away. Friday night we went up to my husbands parents house on Lake Geneva. We got up there around 3:30 and played outside until dinner. I cooked a delicious dinner for the kids, my mother in law and Brad. It was a hit! We put the kids to bed and then just all hung out. It was beautiful out. My nerves were a little on edge because i was doing my first BIG wedding the next morning. I was so excited! In fact I was so excited that i got up at 3am thinking it was 6am and started getting ready to go for a run, when i finally realized it was still VERY dark out. I got back into bed and once the sun did come out, a running i went. Lake Geneva is very hilly. It was kind of hard, actually it was VERY hard. When i got back we all went for a walk on the Lake front. The girls had so much fun. 

Beautiful Lake Geneva
Then i was off to shoot the Hoffman wedding! What a BLAST! That couple knows how to have a good time:) I got the job through my friend Katie. Katie and Meagan are in our play group. This was Katie's moms wedding. I had so much fun and can not wait to do my next one in September. I have attached some of my favorite pictures below. Let me know what you think and if your from the Chicagoland area, give me a call:) 

The wedding ended for me at 3:00pm. I booked it back to the house and picked up the crew and we headed back south to Park Ridge to drop off Brads mom and then we headed into the city. My aunt was gone so we stayed at her condo at Lake Shore Drive and Delaware. We had a great Lake View and so much fun. My sister came in for one of her girlfriends wedding and we went to it together. It was awesome! The wedding was at the Hotel Palomar, it was an amazing venue. Great for pictures:) Needless to say we danced the night away:) 

Sunday morning Brad woke up and took the girls for a walk on the waterfront and stopped at Starbucks. He let me sleep, which i soo needed! We jumped back in the car at 10am and we headed back home. It was such a fun weekend. I loved seeing my sister, shooting the wedding and spending time with my mother in law and family at the lake.