I saw a post today about how when photographers go on vacation, they say they’re only going to take a few photos. (Which everyone knows is a lie!) But what really stuck out to me is that this post also mentioned it’ll take you 7 years to edit them. Welllll…. that really hit me hard because I’ve been meaning to post my photos from our trip to Arizona *last November* and yet here we are in March and the photos were still sitting waiting to be edited.

A little back story: I was given the opportunity to speak to creatives about self-care and to teach them yoga during the Showit United Conference in Tempe, Arizona. When I applied for the conference to be a speaker, I didn’t tell a sole. Not even Jason. This may seem strange, but I figured I wouldn’t get accepted so I figured if I got a “no” then I would be the only one who even knew about it. So you can imagine just how excited I was when I got the email saying that I was invited to speak!

This trip to Arizona was the furthest west I’ve ever been, and holy moly, I’m obsessed with the desert! The landscape was incredible and I couldn’t get over all the cacti and succulents everywhere! The conference itself was from Sunday to Wednesday, but Jason and I stayed through the weekend so we could experience even more of Arizona. And I’m so glad we did because we got to meet up with our friends that live 20 minutes away from the conference hotel and stay with them for a few days! We also went to Sedona– which was one of the most breathtaking places ever. I’ll do a separate blog post on that next!

I can’t say enough good things about the Showit United Conference. It was an amazing 3 days learning from incredible photographers, doing styled shoots, meeting new friends and catching up with old friends! We also got to attend the speaker’s luncheon where I was surrounded by photographers in the industry that I have looked up to for YEARS! I kept telling Jason to pinch me because it didn’t seem real. Other notable things from the conference included going to the Phoenix Zoo to have dinner and see the zoo lights. We were the only ones there and it was so much fun! And on the last night we attended the Showit Gala. Getting dressed up and celebrating with everyone was definitely a highlight of the trip! It was the perfect getaway after a very busy wedding season!

But I would be lying if I didn’t say that my favorite part was speaking about self-care and teaching yoga both mornings of the conference. Allowing other photographers to have an hour to focus on themselves and their mental health was amazing. Plus it was fun to teach somewhere outside of Ohio!

The following photos are a mixture of iPhone photos and some photos I took with my camera. I also want to note that the photos of Jason and I dressed up in the desert were taken by two of my friends that I met back in 2015 at a conference in Maryland. We kept in touch on social media, but it was honestly amazing to hang out with them in person and catch up throughout the conference! Plus they came to my yoga class both morning and having their support meant the world to me. So a huge shout out and thank you goes to the incredible Jennifer Larsen and Lisa Hornak for taking our photos! We love them so much!