Yellow Leaves

Last week Shay and I started off the week moving the gym equipment from his mom's garage into our second bedroom and creating our own little at home gym. A lot of our lives revolve around working out and fitness and it was the most realistic thing to do with our spare bedroom. My office is now sitting in our bedroom and I'm finally working more since I'm constantly around my work and with the gym being housed in our small quarters we honestly have a lot more free time. Driving to his moms and working out used to consume most of our afternoon so now we have two or three extra hours to explore and have fun outside of our routine. 

For Christmas this year Shay booked us a trip to Idyllwild in an airbnb cabin.We stayed in so many beautiful airbnbs this past year and I feel like I didn't document them enough on here. With our extra time we're spending hours talking about places to explore next year and I'm so excited that both of us are willing to go away for a few days to see some place new together. Idyllwild has been on my bucket list for years now. I even booked a random airbnb there four years ago when Shay and I first met and convinced myself I'd go up there alone. Obviously I didn't end up doing that and therefore the idea of going together for the holiday is truly so exciting. I drive around every day now for work and find myself smiling and giddy to go. We've booked the cabin for the seventeenth and eighteenth. 

Another thing we started doing with our spare time is reversing our normal roles and having Shay behind the camera and... me in front of it? Yesterday was the first day since I was probably eight years old that I let someone take a photo of me. It was kind of a huge step for me to let Shay shoot me for a change and to not absolutely hate what I saw in post production. Photography is so vulnerable and it's tough letting someone take your photo. It especially kills me when I envision something and don't have control of the camera. I'm awkward and don't really like it when people look at me for too long. I wasn't able to make eye contact or let him take too many photos at once but he made me feel so beautiful. He genuinely asked to take photos of me so that I could be more comfortable with myself. I'm so lucky to have a man that is so utterly kind to me. 

We went to the botanical gardens by our house and found our favorite fall trees and I don't think I'll ever forget these yellow leaves or the day Shay took photos of me.