It’s finally happening.

Next week, in fact.

To make a long story short. I was born in Romania, moved to Chicago when I was two, moved to Arizona 3 days after graduating high school, moved to Charlotte 8 years later, and now back to Chicago. My parents gave us a few days’ notice that we would be picking up our life in Chicago and moving to Phoenix. At the time, I was upset, torn, and resentful because I felt we weren’t given enough time to say goodbye to our friends. Sure I was eighteen, and legally-speaking I didn’t have to follow my parents. But I was eighteen. In Chicago. With the short notice we got, I didn’t have enough time to figure out how I would make it on my own in such an expensive city. So we moved. I met my now-husband the very first day we moved to Phoenix. So at least I got something out of it, teehee. But other than that, I hated everything about Phoenix every single day that I lived there. I hated that there were only two seasons; Spring & Summer. I hated that I spent most of my days indoors (because it was so hot). I hated that it was sunny. All. The. Time. I hated that everywhere I looked, I saw beige. Aside from the family & friends that I adore & love, Phoenix just wasn’t somewhere I wanted to live for the rest of my life.

During the eight years that I lived there, I obsessed and fantasized about moving back to Chicago. But Alin was not on board. I did everything I could to convince him. Made promises I knew I couldn’t keep. But he just wasn’t interested. We then moved to Charlotte, after my mom & dad moved there to start a church. It’s not that Charlotte was our first choice as a city to live in, but we prayed about it and felt that it was where God wanted to us to be for the time-being. After living in Charlotte for three years, my parents moved back to Phoenix, hoping that we would follow. But we didn’t. We spent another year and a half in Charlotte on our own. No family around. And we learned to work and raise our kids without the help of other family members around. And we did good. We road-tripped with our kids to the NC mountains & Charleston often, and found that we loved doing things together as a family. That even though we weren’t near our extended family in Phoenix, we were family enough.

The most amazing thing that happened to me in Charlotte, was that I learned to love the Carolinas and forgot about Chicago. Don’t get me wrong. Every movie I watched that took place in Chicago (i.e. Home Alone), I would cry. It was still home to me. But I came to the realization, that I may never get to call it “home” again.

Fast forward to a month ago. I had finally come to terms that we might be in the Carolinas for the long haul. I began making friends; opening myself up to a few. I made plans to become more involved at Central.

Then God threw us a curveball.

Alin got a phone call, and without going into too much detail, received a job offer that was an answer to my prayers.

In Chicago.

I was in shock. In fact, I am still quite in shock about everything. How fast everything is happening. It was as if in the past twelve years, since we picked up and left the Windy City, God was trying to show me patience. That what I wanted was not going to happen in my time, but His. And His timing sure is impeccable. With Alin’s new job, I am able to tone it down on the number of weddings I do every year. This is something I have wanted to do for a very long time.

I LOVE shooting weddings, and I dearly love my brides & grooms. With having four little ones, though, I want to be there for them more. And I also want to be there for my clients too. The answer to that for me, is shooting fewer weddings per year so that I can have more time for myself. Since I started doing wedding photography, I rarely sleep, my diet is all over the place, and there’s no time for exercise. This has all caught up with me and has been negatively affecting my physical, mental, and emotional health. The best thing I can do for my kids is to give them a healthy & happy mother, and that is what I intend to do this year. Get healthy. And be happy.

And thank God, with this job Alin has been given, I may finally be able to work towards that goal. And the best part of all of this is that I didn’t have to convince Alin of anything. He wants this just as much as I do. We both know we are in God’s will with this decision, which is why he and I are at peace with it. Had we moved years ago when I wanted it more badly, and when I was trying to convince him, I don’t think we’ would have been in such a great place.

I’m going to miss saying “y’all”, and my Chicago accent will most likely return to me within a month (Alin is so against that, haha). Anyway, I’ll be updating here with pictures of our new home (before and after “renovating”), and keeping y’all posted with our move. We’ll also be having our family photos done next month by the amazing Nirav, so you REALLY don’t want to miss that. For now, I leave you with the following song.

I will still be booking select Carolina weddings with no additional travel fees, but am officially announcing that I am now booking 2012 weddings and beyond in Chicago. My home town.

Without further ado, the Best of 2011 || Weddings edition.

Fun times.

(Best of 2011 || Engagements coming up on the blog, soon)