A look back to 2009

Wow – 2010 is here already?!  Its hard to remember where the time has gone – but its always fun to look back and see what happened.  =)

I’m sure I’ll miss a ton, but here is look back through 2009!

Work:

While 09 started out a little slow it turned out to be a great year filled with art shows, babies, portraits, parties, weddings and even a bit of travel!!  I joined the illustrious ladies of Lulu Weddings & have LOVED being a part of the group! We moved the office, (into the remodeled garage, and yes, I just said we) I am now officially allowed to say “we” when referring to Barbie Hull Photography LLC as WE have grown to a team.  (yay!) 2009 was a great year for the arts – this was the first year to sell some of my travel work to a non-acquaintances!!  (that’s right, those art shows are starting to pay off!!)

Networking:

If I get to be a queen in any part of life – I hope its this one!  As you know – I love parties!  I love meeting new people, 2009 was a good one for this!!  I spent many days & happy hours out and about meeting new friends and laughing with old ones.  =)  The great ones that come to mind are:

BNI, Girl Power Hour, The Shooting Skirts Collective, WBO, WBE, Media Bistro, (and many others I’m sure)

Oh, and I’ve started profiles on all the fun sites:   Twitter, Facebook, WeddingWire, Yelp, (and if you aren’t already – you should be my friend!)

Life:

2009 was an exciting year personally!!  I was sad to see a few great friends move away (miss you!), Ryan, Penelope and I bought the home we were renting in Fremont (eeeek!), we remodeled the garage and even attempted gardening!  It marked 10 years away from High School (HOW did that much time fly by!?) There was PLENTY of travel starting the year off in Anchorage, visiting New Orleans & Baton Rouge, Ketchikan for the reunion, then in the fall heading up to Homer for a late year fishing adventure and ending the year in Colorado for a super fab snowboarding trip.  (Oh, I also learned to snowboard this year!) The family is all doing really well and continues to grow!  (I should do a whole post on those cool people – there sure are a lot of them!!)

Charity:

Oh, the non-profit world… where do I even begin??  This was such an amazing part of my life this year.  I was able to donate portraits and volunteer my time to MANY charities, fundraisers, auctions & parties BUT the one that sticks out most in my mind, I’m sure you know it as well as me.  Get Hitched Give Hope!! Year to date, we have raised nearly $70,000 to help grant the wishes of women battling breast cancer – and sadly the cure won’t come soon enough for them.  =(   In this difficult time of their lives we were able to give them something to smile about – to help them create memories with their loved ones that they won’t ever forget.  We have been able to send them on vacation, get them all together and even have a vow renewal for a couple on their 20th anniversary.  It takes a lot of work and I’m happy to do it, but even more – it takes a LOT of support from my friends (that’s you!) and I am really proud.   Thank you for everything this year!!   XOXOXOXO

(collage by www.mcconnellphoto.com photos by www.jefflaplante.com)

Thanks again to everyone for your support not only in 2009, but always!!  =)  I’ll continue to post images from 2009 in hopes of catching up.  (new year resolution #7 – blog more often!)

Hope you’ve had a fabulous new year & that we get to hang out soon!!

XOXO

Barbie