Unlike most peo­ple, I nev­er con­sid­ered the new year begin­ning Jan­u­ary 1st. Through my school years, my new year began in late August and I count­ed the years by my grade. Now I no longer count my years that way, but it’s still not the first of the year. Now my new year starts on Easter.

Any­one who knows me well, knows how much I HATE Lent. Between the unpre­dictable and depress­ing weath­er, great­ly miss­ing my sis­ter over­seas, and mak­ing restric­tions on my favorite dai­ly indul­gences, this is by far the hard­est time of year for me. It’s the time of year I’m forced to dig deep, make changes, and chal­lenge myself.

So, when East­er arrives, it feels like a new year and I feel like a new per­son. And I have grown. I have a lit­tle more self-aware­ness and self-con­trol than I had before.
And there’s no meal that tastes bet­ter than East­er brunch after a near­ly three hour East­er service.

Last year at this time, I decid­ed to make changes in my life. I didn’t know if I could do it, but I kept faith­ful and made the changes. If it weren’t for my fam­i­ly, my friends, and the amaz­ing brides/mothers/customers I worked with this past year, I prob­a­bly could not have made the changes. So I want to say thank you to every­one who had faith in me this year!

This year, Lent is hold­ing more chal­lenges. I have grow­ing pains and sleep­less nights (because of my workload…and from the stress of my images/designs/name being knocked off/stolen by oth­er com­pa­nies and “design­ers”), but I think the work over these past few months will all be worth it when East­er & spring come. 

Thank you to all the cus­tomers patient­ly wait­ing on their hand­made dress­es & friends/family for all your support/flowers/cards/love!

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Here is Part 1 of a very much over­due flower girl dress blog post.

Thank you & have a won­der­ful East­er & spring!

Thor­son Pho­tog­ra­phy (Above and Below) Can­ber­ra, Australia