2011 has certainly been a year of change for us. We hit our stride in a new location and simplified our lives considerably along the way. We watched with pride and a tinge of sadness as our son Carder shipped of for Coast Guard bootcamp. He’s in New London CT for a couple of months, then heads for CA for IT school and then we’ll see where he winds up. Wen even braved a hurricane to spend a couple of days with him last week. We’re also beginning to contemplate the reality of having only 3 kids in the house, as Bryce plans to graduate a semester early in February. But wait, that’s just the beginning… Our lease on the place we’ve been renting is up in October and our friend has decided to put it on the market (anybody looking to buy a house?) After looking around, weighing our options and spending a couple of long evenings dreaming out on the deck, we’ve decided that we’re going to do something we’ve talked about for years… funny how things work out sometimes. We know that this is the kind of thing that gets all kinds of rumors going, so let’s try to clear up the one that will probably prove to be the biggest, shall we? We are absolutely NOT “going out of business.” We will however be “out for lunch” for pretty much the entire winter. Since the primary source of business for us has been Senior Portraits, winter is our super slow season. For the past few winters, Wen and I have dreamed of going somewhere interesting and exciting while we’re still young enough (relatively) to enjoy it. This year we decided to stop dreaming and to do it. In December, we’ll be heading to Tybee Island, GA (about 16 miles from Savannah) to spend this winter at the beach. We’ll still be scheduling sessions and coming back a couple of times, we’ll just group them over a couple of days and knock them out that way. Also, if you’re looking to get away this winter, Savannah is amazing and a family portrait at the beach would make a really cool Christmas present (I’m just sayin…) We’ll be in the current location at 6 Serene Ct until October, then we’ll set up a studio at Wen’s parent’s place in Hartwood, which is where we do a lot of our outdoor sessions and most of our family sessions. Early in the morning on Dec 3, we’ll point the car south and become beach residents (at least for a couple of months…) Until then, it’s gonna be business as usual, except that you might notice a slight bounce in our step and a gleam in our eye as we get closer to December and to realizing a dream… If you’ve got one, why not do something today to get you a step closer to it? Oh yeah… almost forgot. We’re also going to be having a big ol’ yard sale next Saturday, September 17… come on over and check it out! wen and sean