I'm so excited to show you these photos and give you a little tour of our new place...and even more excited to show you it as we begin to get our hands on some paint, brushes and I did just buy a new ceiling rosette for the living room (this apartment bought to you by Pinterest...seriously).

Welcome! Front door into the entry way.

Opens up into the living room - those double doors lead to my office/studio.

My office/studio - going to be perfect with my desk overlooking the street and enough room for a chair, some equipment, even my one light setup for home shoots.

The office/studio is right off the living room and has double doors that lead into the guestroom/den (or Andrew's mancave).

This room is enormous...and in the shape of the state of Utah, except backwards. It'll be perfect for entertaining, maxing and relaxing, or a place for you to come visit for the weekend!

When you come out of the top of the Utah shaped bedroom, you're back at the beginning by the front door.

And the door on the right is going to (hopefully!) be our bedroom (if our bed fits).

It gets lots and lots of sunshine and looks over the Harriet Beatrice Stowe & Mark Twain Historical Homes across the street!

View from the bedroom back into the hallway, second doorway on the right is this nice bathroom. Definitely needs some sprucing (thinking about Martha Stewart's Bakery Box White, little hints of blue and white, to liven the place up!), but I am loving the floor tile pattern...just needs a good scrubbing.

Further down the hall is our dining room, which is much much larger than our dining room now, and includes a beautiful built in. And we got a new dining room table from Craigslist that has a leaf that can seat 10 people...can't wait to see faces of people I love around it for dinner! Also, check out those ceilings!

Walk in pantry off the dining room - say no more. Sold. A little creepy looking, but it's a walk in pantry.Big kitchen (well bigger than the two galley kitchen's I've had in Chicago and our current place).Window opens up to the large sunroom off the backdoor...perfect for early morning reading, a cup of coffee, cozy blanket, and Andrew is putting up bike racks for our new wheels to scoot around town on!

I think this is going to be a good place.

I have been reading the Young House Love & Alaina Kaczmarski's "Live Creating Yourself" blogs to gain home improvement/beautifying tips  - I love that they each show a before and after, and that they also are kind enough to give specific paint colors, tools, and furniture links that I have been using as inspiration. Do you have a favorite home improvement blog?

I wrote this post on January 27th and 10 days later I had sat with it long enough to publish. And feel good about it. I finally have sat down to make goals. GOALS! I'm a month late (if you consider January 1st to be the gold standard for goal setting), but it seems like it's taken me a month to really figure out what I want. How many times a week I want to work out, what our budgets will be, how much time I want to spend doing X & Z...even down to things I need to give myself permission to not think about in 2013 (ahem...kids).The funny thing about goals is that I imagine myself failing at all of them. Isn't that sad? Why make them in the first place if you're going to start out with that thought in mind.I began thinking about what I want out of my business this year. How many weddings I want to shoot, who's weddings I want to shoot, what I want to design, dream clients and so on. But most of all I want my goals to make sense for me. To not be superfluous - to count. To push me. To be a constant reminder of what I can become. Trusting I can become.So here are my goals. Scary to put them "out there" - on the internet. For all you folks who read my blog but don't comment (I see you, just tell me you're here!)Photography1. Shoot at least 6 weddings as the primary shooter - and gain as many second shooter opportunities as I can get. (need a second shooter? Email me!)2. Figure out what my ideal client profile is. (Thank you Justin & Mary in advance for "The Guide"...it's rocking my world)3. Make more photography friends in my area. (Live in Connecticut? Let's get together and talk apertures!)4. Photograph my everyday life more. (And get another external hard drive to house it all) Design1. Design 1-2 Showit Style Groups...possibly kickstarting a new portion of my business.2. Only take projects I'm excited about.3. Redesign/Update my current website & blog. (almost there if you're reading this on hellohelloaliciasturdy.com!)4. Collaborate with other designers. Personal1. Pray daily. (not while multitasking like while I'm brushing my teeth)2. Start journaling again...pen and paper style.3. One full day a week for just me and Andrew. (Let's keep each other accountable, dear reader. I want to be in the business of successful relationships & marriages!)4. Work out 3-5 days per week to loose ALL my Chicago weight. (weight gained from arriving and leaving Chicago. We'll just leave it at that.) Ready....set....GO! What goals are you making for your 2013? Share them - we can work together!

As a child I remember the first time I saw a 'tragedy' on TV - it was 1989 and the Bay Bridge had collapsed. The pictures on TV and the stories I heard was the first time I cognitively remember being disturbed by the news. I was obsessed with watching more and more about it at the young age of 4. Clearly, the images made an impression on me - my entire life and even as an adult, I have a reoccurring dream of falling off a bridge that always resembles the Bay Bridge. On Friday - many children experienced the incoming news of the events in Newtown, Connecticut. My heart is heavy as I think of every child in America this morning going back to school, my mom, mother in-law and brother in-law who work in schools, my sister who is a future teacher, my friends who work in schools and especially those children in my state. The amount of information that has been presented this past weekend and the idea of having to walk into a school this Monday morning surely is terrifying. I'm sure we all pray for protection over their little minds and their dreams after Friday.

I can't help but think how this changes Christmas this year. As of Friday, I truly - for maybe the first time - am able to tune out the Holly Jolly, Deck the Halls, Jingle Bell rock version of Christmas. My Spotify Christmas list of songs I typically listen to has been whittled down to songs about a child - born to save us. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2).

There are so many thoughts, fears, questions unanswered. With you, I share those fears. Those thoughts. Those questions unanswered. This song came on my playlist a while ago, and my heart understood the words in a way that made sense. I hope you find these words in your own way, that your heart understands this plea, and finds hope.

Star of Bethlehem shining bright

bathing the world in heav'nly light,

Let the glow of your distant glory

fill us with hope this Christmas night.

Star of innocence, star of goodness

gazing out since time began,

You who've lived through endless ages

view with love the age of man.

Star of beauty hear our plea,

whisper your wisdom tenderly.

Star of Bethlehem set us free

make us a world we long to see.

Star of Bethlehem, star up high,

miracle of the midnight sky,

Let your luminous life of heaven

better our hearts and make us fly.

Star of happiness, star of wonder

you see everything from afar,

Cast your eye upon the future

make us wiser than we are.

Star of gentleness, hear our plea,

whisper your wisdom tenderly.

Star of Bethlehem set us free

make us a world we long to see.

If you need some music for today to rest on, please feel free to subscribe to my list on Spotify.

[spotify id="spotify:user:124186198:playlist:0qeCcfUHt5hUky2MlEeMRJ" width="300" height="380" /]

{To kick off the weekend – mosey on over here to enter my giveaway - one photoshoot in Connecticut, one shoot in the NY/MA/RI area}OK! The weekend is here! Here is what we're up to.EatLast weekend I made the most divine pot of glorious stew, Beef Bourguignon. Recipe here, courtesy of Ina of course.WearIt has been chilly here this week, and my fall clothes have been resurrected. This is a jacket that was literally in the back of my closet. I got it from a friend in a clothing exchange - and I've never worn it before! It's the perfect coat for walking through big piles of leaves on the perfect fall day. See what else I've been pinning for fall clothing inspiration.GoWe're in the city soaking up autumn in New York (why not?). Oh, and one other little thing, I'm running 20 miles today. 15 days until the New York City marathon!Don't forget - I'm giving away two photoshoots, click here for more details and enter today! Just think of those Christmas cards coming up...! Entries will be accepted until Sunday the 21st at noon EST.

So - my friends are moving. Erikka was my college roommate for two years, and is one of my best friends. Her husband Eric has been the director at a camp in New Hampshire for the past 5 summers. She moved there after they got married 4 years ago, and luckily last year when we moved to the East Coast this put us a mere 2 hours away from them.

They're moving in to a new season of life, and with that, moving out of New England. So, we wanted to do a little photo shoot to capture life in their little corner of New Hampshire. There was a lot of romping through fields, pulling over for "the perfect light" and of course a NH covered bridge. The best part? We ended the evening over a giant pizza at the best place in town.

We are here at their house again this weekend - the last weekend! We packed the kitchen, ate pringles & teddy grahams. We watched REV (our new favorite excuse for talking in British accents & testing Erikka's Kate Middleton IQ) and now we're sitting on the couch together watching Friends. So, bye bye my friends - we love you, we will miss you, and we will see you real soon.

So - my friends are moving.Erikka was my college roommate for two years, and is one of my best friends. Her husband Eric has been the director at a camp in New Hampshire for the past 5 summers. She moved there after they got married 4 years ago, and luckily last year when we moved to the East Coast this put us a mere 2 hours away from them.They're moving in to a new season of life, and with that, moving out of New England. So, we wanted to do a little photo shoot to capture life in their little corner of New Hampshire. There was a lot of romping through fields, pulling over for "the perfect light" and of course a NH covered bridge. The best part? We ended the evening over a giant pizza at the best place in town.We are here at their house again this weekend - the last weekend! We packed the kitchen, ate pringles & teddy grahams. We watched REV (our new favorite excuse for talking in British accents & testing Erikka's Kate Middleton IQ) and now we're sitting on the couch together watching Friends. So, bye bye my friends - we love you, we will miss you, and we will see you real soon.