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10/31/13

Boho Blogtober : recap

Wow, this has been quite the month!

I'm not sure if I'm sad or relieved that today is the last day of Boho Blogtober...
I have really enjoyed and loved it, but blogging every single day has definitely been stretching for me!
Sometimes throughout this month I have thought, 
"Why in the world am I doing this now--this is my craziest month of the entire year 
and yet I committed to blogging every day..what was I thinking?!"

In October I have had something going on every single day except once,
 and if I wasn't gone traveling I was running around like crazy person trying to keep up with everything at home it felt like..
only for the last week or so things have slowed down a little.
Doing this really made me respect people like Katelyn James, etc., who blog every day the whole year.
It was a challenge for me--and this was only one month!
There were times where I would be wracking my brain late at night thinking
"oh boy, WHAT am I going to post about tomorrow?? ..I have no idea."
I am so grateful for the Lord's grace and inspiration from Him and others throughout October. :)

I could never have done this had it not been for:

1. Chelsy doing it with me.
There is something powerful in setting a goal with another person and holding each other accountable.
I am forever indebted to you, Chels, for bearing with all my texts this month, making me laugh with all your hashtags/comments, 
the encouragement and prayers, and for just plain keeping me sane whenever I was freaking out. ;)
love you, friend.
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2. All of YOU blog followers.
Seriously, all the sweet comments you guys have left on my blog throughout the month 
have been so encouraging and I have been blessed over and over by each of you. 
It never ceases to make my day when I get blog comments or new followers--thank you all so much!

Also, a huge shout-out again to my guest bloggers for posting on 2 of the days for me--
Loved having you both on here.

Now, let's review my goals for the month and see what got accomplished.
[gulp--how humbling and intimidating is this?!]
I'm trying to remind myself that these were just goals, and not set in stone and absolutely had to be done. :)

personal:

+exercise 3-4x a week.
Except for 1 week that was especially crazy, I exercised at least 3x for all the other weeks of October..yay!
+finish reading 'the count of monte cristo.'
well, I didn't finish this by any means...but I did make some progress..
as in about 50 pages of progress..being completely honest here.
The times I have sat down to read, though, I have soaked up this book...the descriptions are so vivid and it is just incredible. 
Definitely going on my mental 'top favorite books' list when I finish it.
+memorize I Thessalonians 2. 
I made it up to verse 8..going to keep plugging away on this, though! 

I've really been blessed and challenged throughout the memorizing.
+get caught up on letter writing. 
umm, I wrote 2 letters. :/ 

November should be much slower than the October madness, so, dear friends--your letters WILL come!
+get up early consistently. 
I was not perfect on this throughout the month, but made progress in that I was getting to bed sooner more often, 
and up earlier many days...there were some night owl evenings, and other days where I was catching up on sleep from roadtrips, etc. 
so I still have work to do..but I'm getting better!!
+enjoy and make the most of 2 road trips with friends.
HUGE highlights of my month were helping with the MN BL conferences and this roadtrip.
+journal more. 
I got back into writing in my short daily journal, and also my 'real' one, and it has been so good.
+make a 'morning' and 'evening' routine to be 'bookends' for my day. 
This has definitely become an almost-regular habit now...and if I didn't do a 'bookends' list, 
I at least have been writing out on paper my list for the day which has really helped keep me productive and focused.

business:

+make a plan and stay organized with my editing this month.
umm, I didn't get to make a plan for editing, because I didn't really get to edit much at all in October.
so...today I made myself an editing calendar for November and taped it up on the wall.
time to turn into a cavewoman and edit my heart out over the next month. :P
+blog everyday for Boho Blogtober. :)
DONE.
+get my inbox down to zero. 
I was so determined that, if nothing else, I would complete this goal in October.
I have slowly replied/deleted/sorted through 140+ e-mails, and last night my empty inbox looked me in the face.
best.feeling.ever.
I seriously just sat there staring at this and relishing the moment:
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+second-shoot 2 weddings and the rest of my portrait sessions for the year. 
I had some awesome sessions this month--I feel so blessed.
Only a couple shoots this weekend and then I'm done for the year..looking forward to a break!
#noshootnovember

One other thing that got done was figuring out Christmas piano solos for my 20 piano students...
it is always a huge project and so I am quite thrilled about that.

Maybe in the future I will blog my monthly goals again on here...
it really was good for me and helped keep me accountable! 

So, I'm curious...what was your favorite post from Boho Blogtober? 
Anything you would like to see more of on my blog?
Maybe someday I will blog again for an entire month..we'll see. ;)

I will have lots of photo session to share here in November/December, so don't go far away!
And speaking of that, this senior one is hitting the blog next week..get excited, people.
 photo missy-1.jpg
love,
~H. Elise
connect on

13 comments:

  1. I loved the q&a, things to woot about, and the po box trip!!

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  2. Congratulations Hannah on finishing the Boho blogtober challenge. I really enjoyed reading your new posts everyday. I loved the Things to Woot about, the couples after wedding portraits, the Q&A, and of course the Score Thrifty post!

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  3. Yay! Great job on ALL of your posts! Looking forward to seeing all your recent sessions and I LOVE the picture at the bottom of the post. Looking forward to seeing the rest!

    Emily

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  4. yay you, girl!! we did it! cannot believe it-seems like yesterday we would brainstorming this whole deal-was that really 6wks ago? gracious!
    can't wait for next time! =)
    {#icanhearyourgroan #yesiwillmakeyoudoitagain #youknowyoulikeditsomeofthetime =)}
    see you in a bit..I'm saving that piece of cheesecake for you. =)

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    Replies
    1. #itotallylikeditsomeofthetime #wewilldoitagain #amazingcheesecake :)

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  5. Hi Hannah!

    I loved Blogtober and am so sad to see it end. :) My favorite post was about the Minnesota Girls trip and the Q&A. I would like to know more about:
    -your views on modesty
    -music you listen to
    -books you recommend to read
    --what it takes to be a photographer

    Thanks for all you share! I love it that there are people out there like you and Chelsy who are so dedicated to their blogs and stand up for their beliefs. :)

    One of your faithful readers,
    Haley

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  6. Hey Hannah!
    Thanks for doing Blogtober with Chelsy! I loved reading your posts and I absolutely loved the pictures! :) I hope you guys do something like this again. My favorite post was definitely the Minnesota Girls Trip! :)
    xoxo

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  7. ah that last image!! :)
    I already told you this, but I've really loved reading your blog this past month (I do all the time, but even more so this month!)
    It's been really inspiring...especially since I haven't been very good at blogging basically this whole year :P
    I'm praying that November is a time of catching up and REST for you! <3

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  8. I'm sad BB is over. :/ I loved each and every one of your posts, Hannah! I can't wait to see the rest of that senior shesh -- that image is stunning!

    Love ya! Thanks for doing Boho Blogtober!

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  9. I am really surprised you stuck with it for the whole month! way to go! that would have been wayyy stressful for me. Thank you so much for doing this though, I found myself checking your blog every single day. 3 cheers for Hannah! :)

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  10. Thank you so much for doing this blogging project, Hannah - it was so encouraging to read all of your awesome posts! And pretty fun to know that two of the sweetest friends are going to be posting every. single. weekday. =) So let's see...my fav posts of yours (how am I going to be able to choose?!) were the Q+A posts (and I definitely vote on you continuing those!), MN roadtrip post, and your instagram re-cap. The second part of Liz + Adam's portraits was super inspiring and also loved your creative walk to the post office project. Okay, so basically all of them! =) Thanks again, Hannah, for brightening my October with your encouraging words + pictures!

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  11. Yay for completing a full month of blogging!! I loved reading both yours and Chelsy's posts!! You are both so encouraging and big inspirations to me, so thank you for that. :)

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please leave a comment -- I would love to hear your thoughts on this post!! :)