2024

another year, another blog post recap

2024 was such a big year for so many things, but I almost didn’t even write this year’s recap… I’m so much less nostalgic, so much more present, so much more excited for the future, I don’t find myself reflecting longingly on what was. 
Regardless, there’s so much value in celebration and a downloading of memories, so here we are.

I spent New Year’s Eve in Amsterdam with my girlfriend, and some friends, partying more than I ever have (or have since), playing up the jet lag, and exploring an adorable new city. I was chilly and rainy and dark, but we had such a wonderful time walking the streets, exploring shops, eating snacks, going to one of the oldest bathhouses, taking a bus trip to Antwerp, and visiting all sorts of bars and clubs and restaurants. Something about European cities makes them feel like quaint little towns, and there was something so cozy about amsterdam.

When we got back to the city I had a nice transition back into city life: jumping back into runs with Andrea, snowy days doing puzzles, outings for glasses of wine in cozy wine bars, and shopping for craft supplies. By the end of the month, Sharon and I were back on the road to celebrate the anniversary of the day we met upstate. Setting the tone for the year of running all over, after one day back in the city on set, I was on a plane to Miami for a shoot with Naghedi. 

February started out in the sunshine, on the beach, reflecting on the last time I was in Miami for a job, and how much has changed since then. Going on travel jobs to shoot always felt like such a far away dream, but in 2024 it became a reality that felt so so satisfying. 
After Miami, I had a couple weeks in the city again, enough time to work a few jobs, get a haircut, go to the gym a few times, meet up with Sabrina & Jeff on one of their last visits before moving to the city (!!) to take photos that would announce their big move — then it was back on a plane, this time to Puerto Rico for Abby & Alvin’s wedding. The whole crew managed to get our SUV rental up the side of a mountain to our little airbnb in the dark, and the next few days were full of beautiful little moments of love and the magic of PR. It is such a special feeling to watch your friends get married, I don’t think it will ever get old…  Speaking of which, we weren’t back in new york for long, before heading to another dear friends’ wedding. Back to Miami for a quick little trip to watch Luisa & Fran commemorate something our little friend group has watched blossom over the past several years. Through speeches from their parents (in spanish that Vada and I couldn’t really understand) we all held back tears and danced the night away.

Back in the city, I held my first headshot day in the new studio — having friends in front of my lens is always the highlight of my job and we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day filled with natural light. A few more days on set, a few more chilly city runs with Andrea, and an equally chilly trip out to the beach with Talia, Rina, Isabel, and Sharon, and then it was back on the plane!!

Portland trips to visit Megan and Cass are a new yearly highlight, this time upgraded with the addition of Sharon. We ate and hiked and giggled our way all over town, and I never wanted the trip to end. Rain or shine, time with my sister is the literal best.

baaaaack to the city to photograph Bena & Ethan’s sweet vow reading and small backyard ceremony, and then it was off to Connecticut with Sharon for her friend Mari’s baby shower and some pregnancy photos. 

Less than a week later we were off to Scotland to photograph engagement photos for Jill & Rip in the mountains of Isle of Skye. They were celebrating 15 years together and on their anniversary trip they wanted to specially commemorate with photographs I was more than honored to take. We maneuvered some gnarly food poisoning (and the subsequent plan rescheduling), rain (naturally), and even a wardrobe snafu (beware of the red leather chair) to capture some stunning photos of their love.  It was my first time visiting the UK and I can confidently say I would love to go back to Scotland (and beyond) despite the mostly mediocre food …. (sorry UK people).

the following return home was much less of an easing in as I was met with family members and friends who had flown in for the women’s half marathon we were all running together 2 days later… luckily jet lag was on my side ! We all successfully completely the race, and Andrea finished her debut half with a sub-2 hour time !!

Not 3 days later, BACK ON THE PLANE … when I tell you I overdid it for the first half of this year… so back to Puerto Rico for another Naghedi shoot where we almost got swept away in the flood of spring rain, and I sweated through every layer of clothing, but had wonderful team bonding moments and captured the summer collection in all it’s glory.

Came back to the city for an overnight onsite retouching job for the met gala, that was followed by a portrait session at a women’s event the next day, where the exhaustion of the past three nonstop months and lack of sleep from the night before hit hard. While setting up I dropped and broke a brand new flash, proceeded to have a full meltdown mere minutes before the client and almost 200 people came filing into the space to be photographed. I managed to pull myself together, photographed some really cool ladies, and I don’t think I could have done it if Sharon hadn’t been there with me. I never intended for her to do anything besides make small talk with the women waiting to have their photo taken and maybe make some connections of her own, but in my moment of need she became the hero that citi biked down to the rental house before it closed to pick up replacement equipment for me and kept my spirits up through the nonstop shoot… bless that girl.

The rest of May was busy with jobs and I didn’t have a ton of time to recover — but I had a trip to my parents’ lake house to look forward to at the end of the month. Unfortunately, I ended up pushing the trip back for a job that was the most chaotic in a way that my tapped out brain could not handle. With timelines on other jobs pushed up, the time I should have spent on other projects was spent on set for that job, which led me to spend the entire vacation at the lake working on retouching — not exactly the break I had in mind. This is when I decided I really need to start saying no. The bright side is this means that I have enough work to say no to things, and I have a very clear understanding that I am not the energizer bunny and true rest will only make everything else better and easier.

June was the month that I’d been waiting for since February.
We had the inaugural roof party complete with burgers and hot dogs, my dad sent Vada and I to a yankees game to get him the commemorative free jersey he couldn’t be there to get for himself, the crew went to jersey for a women’s soccer game, a few low key jobs, and then it was my ~birthday~ !
This year I had a big plan that I put in motion months before to have my friends come with me upstate and luckily everyone was on board. We made our way up to the precious town of narrowsburg and spent the weekend soaking up the sun, floating down the river, cooking and eating together, and generally unplugging from the madness of the city. It was everything I’d hoped it would be :)

July was hot (as it unfortunately always is) but we blew up our kiddy pool on vada’s little terrace (a huge level up from hauling buckets of water to the roof, we could attach a hose from her sink) and we spent the afternoon in the water playing rummikub and drinking limoncello (with the special addition of Yve all the way from hong kong !!). 
Marathon training had officially commenced, and Andrea and I were braving the heat to start really racking up miles. I was so absurdly excited for this training cycle with her, seeing her grow as a runner was such a cool experience and I knew there would be a lot of joy in the companionship of training together.
Vada and I had a little taste of The Wind as we put together a jewelry test shoot featuring our sweet friends Abby and Brittany. It was big preview to what I believe is to come in 2025 …
Luisa came down from Boston to see Yve and have a sweet little “bachelorette party”. We went to the Met, got pedicures, went to a drag show, and then to classy cocktails at monkey bar, very quintessential nyc :)

Another rooftop party was had before Sharon and I flew down to visit my parents and meet up with Megan for a little week away. This time much more of the relaxing time at the lake that I was looking for a couple months prior … and nothing is better than summertime at the lake with my sister
Back in the city Jourdon and Miguel tied the not at city hall and I was there to photograph it !! 

August was the first month I spent entirely in new york (besides a little road trip to the hamptons for a shoot, but I don’t think that really counts). I needed a bit of stability because at the end of the month Sharon and I packed up and moved into an apartment together !! We found a sweet little apartment that met all of our needs and the past four months of living together have been so so sweet. It was so bittersweet knowing that I was leaving the lovely home I’d built with Andrea and Vada but knowing they’d be just down the street and they wouldn’t be getting rid of me entirely any time soon helped :)
We spent the following few weeks walking around our new neighborhood, taking trips to the farmers market, exploring new restaurants, shopping for a new couch, and sitting on our new roof watching the sunset and swimming in the pool (!!)

Toward the end of September I made my third trip to the lake for Megan’s 30th birthday party — we ate, we skied, we floated, and boated, and swam, and soaked up the last bits of summer.
Back in the city Andrea and I racked up big miles in our marathon training, running 18mi up to Tarrytown the day before her birthday, and just about a month and a half out from the big day !! The following day we wandered the city in the rain having coffee, shopping, and eventually heading into brooklyn for bowling and more friends :)

October was chill, jobs, settling into the new apartment, watching the leaves start to change, my dad came to visit for a yankee’s playoff game, and Sharon and I took a dreamy trip upstate to really soak in the fall foliage (complete with apple picking and bonfires). I pulled the trigger on a big equipment purchase and despite the large bill and subsequent anxiety, felt so grateful for the business this year that allowed me to be able to afford it. Sharon and I dressed up as christopher and adriana from the sopranos for a halloween party, Andrea and I finished up our training taper, she bought us cool new runner girly oakley sunglasses, and we prepped for the race with lots of carbs. 

November began with the marathon expo, and the last days of prep before the big day. We set out to Staten Island on the 3rd and took off on our 26.2 mile journey. The first half of the race was a blast and we saw so many friends along the route. The second half was a little less and enjoyable, as my stomach wasn’t in the best place, and Andrea became my cheerleader, helping me to push through. People always make jokes about runners shitting their pants, but this was definitely the closest I’d ever felt … (yikes)
We finished strong, holding hands across the finish line as we did for every race before, but not 2 minutes later I was puking in the grass. My body was very unhappy with me, and the excited finish line celebration I was planning quickly fell apart as I had to stop in a medical tent and then have sharon take me home to take care of my sad body.
Regardless, Andrea finished the entire training cycle and race without a single injury and her recovery afterwards was easy which speaks to a successful training. She’s since told me that she could see completing all of the World Marathons as a goal for herself and we’ve already discussed signing up for the London 2026 lottery this spring … stay tuned ;)

The following weekend we went to see Thee Sacred Souls, and then took a trip up to Beacon to go to Dia: and explore a little. Our travels then took us to Boston for “Fransgiving” with Luisa and Fran and we had a precious weekend with them. We celebrated Vada’s birthday with charm necklaces, and a Carter Vail concert. Sharon and I met up with Sabrina, Jeff, Jacee, and Luke at Bena and Ethan’s for a sweet little friendsgiving, and the following day I made my first big black friday purchase of a fancy dyson vacuum (much needed). 

December began with Sharon’s birthday which was lowkey, until her party the weekend after, where all of her friends came out to celebrate and I stayed out later than I have in months. I finally held my first test shoot with a proper model and make up artist (something I’ve been talking about doing for forever), and met up with all the friends I possible could before everyone went out of town for the holidays.
Sharon and I flew down to Atlanta to meet megan and cass and my dad on christmas eve, and we drove back to meet the rest of the family for a late christmas eve dinner. The rest of the rainy week was spent puzzling, cooking, eating, playing games, going on walks, and winding down from a very long but somehow extremely fast year.
We flew back to the city for one last time on the 30th, spent New Year’s eve day at the bathhouse, and new years eve night on the couch in sweatpants (my favorite). 

The first week of 2025 is already almost over and I feel so light and calm and excited. There is so much to come for this year I can’t wait to experience it all. I’ve learned so much in the past 12 months, and I am full of gratitude for the people around me, the places I find myself in, and the opportunities that find me. 

Here we go again.