Flagstaff Wedding Photographer | Michelle Koechle

This past year of my life can be best described as pedal to the metal, moving at the speed of light, cheeks flapping, hair blowing, eyes watering and suddenly I’ve woken up and I’m 28-years-old. I’m not one to complain about time moving so quickly as I get older. After all, people have warned me about this every year. But I will say, my breath has been short and I’m back to finding some extra air within my body somewhere. It has to be there, right? I will re-evaluate that next year.

This year has taught me a lot of things. It has willed me to be brave, stand up for myself and test my confidence in the unknown. It has presented many ideas and has made me realize anything can happen, anything is possible. I have learned so much about myself and proudly, I can attest that my new-found knowledge was not obtained from others. (Something else I learned: 9 times out of 10, other people’s assessments of yourself are wrong.) It came from within and shed a blinding light on me. Imagine me in a pitch black room and suddenly the brightest white light flicks on and shines itself right in my face. That was me, a scrunched up face and squinting eyes with my hands trying to block the light, many times. But the more I embraced, the more I learned. And here I am now a whole year older.

A few things I am thankful to have learned from my 27-year-old self:

-I’ve got to pay attention to the random ideas that come to me at humble times. Those are the ones that seem to contain brilliance even if I’m not entirely convinced of that at first.

-I don’t need a lot of friends- just a few real, trustworthy ones.

-Hard work pays off

-I can do anything I damn well want to.

-If I log into Pinterest, I will lose 3 hours of my life coveting things I don’t have. What I do have is already awesome and pin-worthy.

-Don’t listen to the negativity spreaders. Their interpretations of you, your work, your lifestyle, etc. are backed by bad emotions which ultimately makes them full of sh*t.

-My vision is good enough without the extra noise and unnecessary comments.

-It’s OK to start over.

-I like a certain few martinis.

-Keep moving, walking, running, dancing, working or whatever you have to do to get through it.

-I have to be intentional about creating space in my life for travel, exercise, quality time with family and good cooking. If I don’t, these things won’t happen, and I will regret it.

-A fluffy, warm dog (or dogs) and a bearded husband does wonders for stress overload.

I used random.org to generate a random number for me between one and twenty-seven and the winner was number 18! That means, Nicole Coombs, you’re the winner of a new pair of Converse! Email me at michelle@michellekoechle.com with your address and size by Monday, May 7th at midnight. Also, let me know of a color you might like and hopefully it will be available. I don’t want to get you a color you already have. Congratulations, Nicole!

I’m jealous!

There’s not a day that goes by without me briefly thinking about how lucky I am to be married to someone I truly love, admire and enjoy being around. It makes me feel so bad for those people out there that marry for convenience, money, temporary happiness or settle. It makes me feel sad for them because I can’t imagine living life that way ever since I met Matt. I’ve found my guy- the one I’m meant to be with forever. I remember when I realized that Matt was the guy for me two weeks after I met him. He was dating someone else, and I cried myself to sleep at night thinking about how I would just have to sit back and watch my soulmate be with someone else. I figured, I guess being friends is better than nothing because then at least I get to be in his presence. Lovely that it turned out in my favor.

When you’re married to the best husband in the world, it’s easy to write off all your other problems as small inconveniences. It’s easy because Matt makes me the happiest girl. With him, I feel on top of the world. And really, I am. Because he fills in all my weak gaps; he helps me to be a better person every day. He’s fearless, endlessly supportive and makes me laugh ’till I cry.

It’s my man’s birthday today. He’s a whole 24-years-old. He deserves the biggest birthday ever- one with fireworks, streamers, confetti, face painting and rainbows. But he eats humble pie and would barely let us set up a small dinner with friends for him.

Happy Birthday, Matteo face! You’re not just the best. You’re the bestest-est-est-est-est-est…!

When I asked you all, on Twitter and Facebook, what sort of things you’d love to see me giveaway on the blog, the majority of you responded and said that you’d like to receive a print of one of Matt’s photos. While he is extremely flattered, he’s a little bit shy still and is not sure how he feels about that. I’ve been really wanting to do a few giveaways on the blog, but I have been having a hard time thinking of things that you all would be interested in receiving. I knew I could do some beauty product giveaways because I love beauty so much, and of course I will once I find a product worthy of giving away. But I wanted to take it a step further than that since obviously not all of you are interested in beauty products in the same way I am.

After I blogged about my love of Converse last week, it occurred to me. Why don’t I give away a pair of Chucks? I mean everyone loves a good pair of Converse, right? And if not, I’m sure you know someone who does. So it has been decided I shall give away a pair of Converse although, it will be difficult to not just buy myself a pair when I’m purchasing the winner’s.

To enter the giveaway, answer the following question in the comments section (comment box or Facebook comment plugin):

What brand do you think defines part of your personality or that you personally relate to and why?

It can be anything! Some may relate to Moet & Chandon. Others may love Pottery Barn. Whatever it is, tell me about it and why you connect with that particular brand. I connect to Converse because they’re classic, simple and they feed my love of color with each new pair I get.

I can’t wait to hear about your favorite brand!

The rules:

Only one entry per person, please.

Giveaway entry ends Friday, May 4th at noon Arizona time.

Winner will be selected randomly and announced on Friday evening.

The winner must contact me via email within 24 hours with an address I can send the shoes to.

Please be aware that not all colors may be available.

Good luck!