Love It!
1. Christmas Decorations! I am one of those that LOVES decorating for Christmas!! Hubby requires that you celebrate one holiday at a time so usually the weekend after Thanksgiving is when I’m hauling decorations out and getting everything hung up. This year we have a new house to decorate and you can bet that made me over the moon excited. Our new house has a gorgeous wrap around porch that I was dying to hang garland from and beautiful windows begging for wreaths with candles. It is like straight out of a Christmas card! Once we finally got all the kinks worked out such as making sure all the lights worked, a stray wreath that came tumbling down from the window and rescuing all the indoor battery candles from Will I finally got a photo to share!
2. Fireplaces! Our new house has a fireplace and David and I have taken advantage of it every chance we can. I had a request for Thanksgiving Day and Christmas, that we have a fire going all day long. I love the smell of the wood burning and the crackling of the flames! It reminds me of my grandparents house at Christmas when they would have a fire and I would sit on the hearth all day if I could.
3. Granny! In our house my mom is Granny to Will and I’m loving her this week for watching him so I can catch up on work before the new baby arrives. I know January is going to be a blur so getting as much done ahead of time helps!
Hate It!
1. Out of Stock items! You know when you see something online and it’s exactly what you are looking for but then you click the link and bam, out of stock! I hate that because then I get totally focused on finding it somewhere else which doesn’t always work out. What you find isn’t near as nice as what you had initially found or at least that is what you think in your head. I’m currently on the hunt for a top to wear for our newborn photos and I found the perfect one at the Loft till I hit the buy button and then the dreaded Out of Stock notice came up :(. Now I’m on the hunt for something similar all while kicking myself for going to the bathroom instead of ordering the top as soon as I saw it!!!
Melissa Arlena is an award winning lifestyle newborn photographer in Charlottesville and Richmond, Virginia who has earned her Master Photographer Certification from NAPCP in maternity, newborn and family photography. Her natural and simple work has been featured in magazines and online blogs worldwide. She has been named Best Maternity and Newborn Photographer in Richmond and Charlottesville, VA in 2023.
