Part of the reason that I feel so moved to photograph people's lives is that I truly believe photos speak to our souls, and the way they resonate with us constantly changes.Today is the day five years ago that Andrew proposed to me. I'm not one to celebrate the anniversaries of our first date, first kiss, first whatever....but the day he proposed to me is still one of my favorite days in the history of my life thus far.So each year I like to flip through about a collection of 100 pictures a friend took while Andrew was proposing and the little celebration afterwards. These are the 5 that spoke to me the most this year. There are some that I passed over in years passed, and some that I keep coming back to. My heart is so happy for my sweet friend Mabrie who helped Andrew mastermind this engagement plan, and had the foresight to take pictures of the whole thing - without her none of this would even exist.In the shadow of the skyline of the city we both love.His words.The diamond of my engagement ring belonged to my mother in law, and all Sturdy women have 6-prong rings. I love being a part of that history.My ring just looks so new and fresh on my hand as we hugged.This is my favorite picture afterwards when we went downstairs to the office where all my friends were waiting. What photos speak to you in your life? What do they say and why are they special?

October 11th, 2008.At the end of the long, blue stone aisle lined with perfectly bunched candles and 125 of our friends and family was the man I have had the honor of calling my husband for the past four years. He is tall, kind, loving, protective and I would not want any other person sharing the blankets with me every night from here until the end.I have been thinking a lot about what we were doing in preparation for the big day - picking up the flowers, table clothes, deep dish pizza (for the rehearsal dinner...come on - we're Chicagoians!), and even squeezing in a "Last Single Girl" sushi dinner with 15 of my closest friends two nights before the wedding. But nothing can prepare you for what's on the other side of "I Do" - grad school, late nights of washing dishes, the well timed (ha!) argument before bed, days of loving your job, days of hating your job, car trouble, a (half) cross country move, making new friends together - and most importantly finding that your best friend is indeed the one next to you every night.I was just texting with a girlfriend from highschool who's about to get married in a few weeks (congrats Brittany and Joel!) - and it made think back to the beginning of all this. Through all the messy, ugly, beautiful, and raw moments of the past four years, I am cherishing the past 365 the most. In moving from the midwest, and feeling I was losing so much love from friends and family, I found that I gained all that back and more in my marriage.So here's to our wedding day - for each bite of that delicious cake, each silly dance with my sisters and mom, for my last dance with my dad and my first with my husband. To loosing the confirmation papers for our hotel on the way to the honeymoon. To eating a room service midnight snack of chicken fingers and burgers at the end of the long day.To year one - the experiments in the kitchen, making new friends, starting new journeys in grad school, and to learning how each other grieves, celebrates, rests.To year two - to feeling like "we've got this down"...and finding out we had it all wrong, to finding our Chicago sweet spots, for friends babies that became nieces and nephews, to our last summer in the midwest.To year three - the hardest of them all. To moving, to exploring, to lots of tears, to learning even more about each other.To year four - to discovering, to settling in, to excelling in jobs, to friends who move away, to renewed joy in our home.In honor of our anniversary - I'm giving away two couple portrait sessions - one in Connecticut and one in the New York City/Rhode Island/Massachusetts/southern New Hampshire area! We have been so blessed by having amazing photographers document our engagement, wedding and life-after-wedding - I want to give back!How to enter:1. Like "Alicia Sturdy" on Facebook (*if you share the link to my blog you'll get an extra entry!*)2. Go to the "Say Hello" page on my website (www.aliciasturdy.com) and send me a note - Tell me about a special place you have with your significant other. A favorite restaurant? The shoreline? Central Park? Under the boardwalk (yea yea!)?3. Please be sure to include your location (there's a box for that!)All entries must be submitted by October 21st, 2012 at noon (eastern time). One entry will be selected from Connecticut, one entry will be selected from the other area's listed above.Winners announced on October 22nd!Session must be redeemed by January 31, 2013.*First photo- our wedding by Mallory Nelson - October 2008.*Second photo- our Goodbye Photoshoot with Erica Rose - June 2011.

What does it mean to really be fearless?Taylor Swift sings about it, Alton Brown declared Marti Duncan (season 8 FNS...yes, we're obsessed) - FEARLESS. But what happens after the jump? After we ARE fearless...does the fear go away?I have this need deep down to be fearless.About what, you might ask?Fearless about being myself.If you're a regular reader (all 10 of you), you can see a vein running through my previous blog posts, Who am I? What do I want to be? Who am I made me to become right now?I have been doing freelance graphic design here and there for the past 5 years - that's what my goal in college was to do. Don't ask me why I chose Graphic Design as a major (sorry mom!)...after a lot of thinking I have rested in the fact that God totally took control of my life and decisions and some how I decided I was going to study Art, not music (which had been my goal my whole life). So fast forward 9 years after that decision and I'm here, working in full time ministry doing a little design here and there at work and some freelance work.And I'm just done trying to do art "for the money".I want to do it for the love of art.I want to be fearless about who I am.About my art.Fearless about what others might think.Fearless about failure.Fearless about success.So after many quiet hours of thinking, discerning, talking it out with the Mr. and a few trusted sources I have decided to embark on something new.www.aliciasturdy.comThese are the gifts I was made to bring to the table right now in my creative expression. Please hear me, I'm not quitting my job or dropping everything to grab onto this dream. My life with remain normal (I am liking my life! There is nothing wrong with it!) except for the fact that I will be doing life with a camera in my hand. A rainy Saturday morning in your kitchen with your family will tell a story - so will a wedding, a baptism, a love story, a new baby - it will tell your story.If you feel you're jiving with me - spread the word. My friend has decided to live fearlessly. She wants to capture your life - all the nooks and crannies of it. She wants to start a fearless movement - be who you are in front of my camera, fearlessly.

Then there was silence.Silence to sit. Reflect. Hear God. Absorb the moment.To ask God, what do you want me to do.And He said, "Just be."Sit still. Listen. Rest. Reset. Realign. Stretch. Breathe.What if we just rested, absorbed the moment we are in and drink deep. It might be painful, it might be full of joy, it might be rejuvenating like the first drink of water after a long, exhausting run.And in the silence, peace. Whatever shape that comes in. Even if it doesn't look, feel, or sound like peace you're familiar with - rest.The more I seek you, the more I find youThe more I find you, the more I love you. What if peace is seeking you? What if you're running? What if when you stopped, just to be - you stopped long enough for peace to find you. Engulf you. Overcome you.We want to always be going, be doing,To the next thing, place, destination, job, thought, person. Stop seeking, and just Be. Just be who you are, what your are. You.Rest. Be.Stop. Listen.