When I started my blog back up last summer, I wanted to dedicate a post a month to a “monthly recap” of sorts. With my photography sessions to blog, I kept putting personal posts on the back-burner. Eight months later, I’m finally sitting down to do an all-encompassing post on our move to San Antonio, Stewart’s transition into medical school, our marriage, my photography business, and so on!
Last year Stewart got accepted into the University of Incarnate Word’s School of Osteopathic Medicine, so in July we moved to San Antonio. Turns out there are some friends who either don’t know we’ve moved (or don’t believe me when I say I don’t live in Fort Worth anymore because I’m there so often), so there ya go! haha.
A few pics from Stewart’s White Coat ceremony!! Such a cool day to be a part of!
One of the most commonly asked questions people ask me is “How is Stewart liking med school?” so I’ll just let him answer that one and other questions about med school!
- “How long does he have left?”
- I have three years left of school, and then 3-6 years of residency after that.
- “Is med school hard?”
- Simply put, yes. It’s like trying to drink from a water fountain, but that water fountain is a fire truck hose.
- “Does he like it?”
- Yup.
- “What is he specializing in?”
- Still unsure but considering emergency medicine, anesthesiology, and family med. I still have 2 years of rotations to make that decision, so I still have years to go before I have to decide.
- “How many hours a day does he study?”
- On a normal day, probably 10. When it’s close to exams, probably 16-18.
To be honest, anytime anyone asks me how long he has left until he’s a doctor I just say “I don’t know” because I honestly don’t haha. I just know it’s a long time, so I try not to get too wrapped up in the amount of time, and I just take it day by day.
Since we moved to San Antonio, Leia has made a zillion bffs at the dog park (both humans and dogs lol) so I figured I’d share a few pics I have of her! She loves playing with her friends Cassius, Mimosa, Chuy, Winston and a lot of others! Stewart takes her on skateboard rides often and she’s a big fan of those!
Navigating life as 22 and 23 year old newlyweds who just moved to a new city, have a puppy, and are balancing medical school and a small business hasn’t been the easiest. Marriage takes work on its own, and then adding in all of these things to the mix just makes it that much more trying at times. I never want people to look at my blog or social media and think I have it all together. My intention is to always be honest with where I’m at. I know everyone always says “communication is key” and it can feel a bit overused at times, but after a year and a half of marriage, I can definitely agree 100% with that statement!
Sometimes it’s easy to feel like there’s bigger things to worry about, but I’ve learned that it’s easiest to just talk out any awkwardness or anger while it’s still relevant instead of letting it sit and creating bitterness. Since Stewart and I don’t get to spend a ton of free time together, it’s even more important now that anytime anything is bothering us, we talk about it immediately instead of wasting our limited time together being upset.
Our marriage has definitely strengthened in the last few months, and I know a large part of that has to do with us deciding that we needed to refocus our lives around Christ and our relationship with Him. Since moving to San Antonio, we’ve found a Church here that we love, and I’ve enjoyed getting to spend our Sundays worshipping together. Now more than ever, it’s extremely important that we remember not only our vows to love one another, but our vows to love the Lord and put Him first. If we keep Christ first, everything else will fall into place. I absolutely love being married to Stewart, and I’m glad I get to be there for him during these trying years of med school, and I’m glad he’s here for me during the foundational years of my photography career.
When it comes to photography, I get a lot of questions about what the move to SA means for my business, so I wanted to answer a few commonly asked questions here!
- “Are you still booking in Fort Worth?”
- YUP. My business is still based out of the DFW area since it’s only a four hour drive and I have family there, so it’s no biggy to drive back and forth as needed.
- “Are you wanting to move your business to San Antonio?”
- Since we’re only in San Antonio for a few more years, I’ve decided that it’s best to keep my business based in DFW and just drive back on the weekends. I just booked my first San Antonio wedding though, and I’m super excited about that! Even though I’m not fully moving my business to SA, I’m totally down for booking portrait sessions and a handful of weddings in SA each year to help balance out all of the driving!
Okay, I feel like I highlighted allll of the big things I get asked a lot! Like I mentioned earlier, a lot of people ask me about Stewart’s schooling and I never have the answers for them, so I’ll try to do these updates more frequently so that everyone can stay posted! Thanks so much for reading!
Top Photo: Credit goes to the amazing Elizabeth Lauren! If you’re ever in CA, hit her up!
