One of the BEST things about the end of the year is being able to pause, stop and reflect on all of the wonderful things you imagined would happen throughout the year, reflecting on those wonderful things, and/OR in some cases EVEN better things and dreaming about the next.
2013 has been one of the GREATEST years of my life, of our life, and of my professional career. There were so many bucket list items that seemed seemingly impossible for us to achieve that God busted right open! I could use this post to list them all out and reflect on how TRULY AMAZING God was to me, us, our business this year (because the things that happen WERE ONLY GOD, let’s be clear about that) but my guess, is that if you made this long journey of Facebook or Instagram here – you walked every step with us this year and not only celebrated with us, but supported us thru it all! One thing however, that didn’t get check off my personal bucketlist was a ‘themed stylized shoot.’ It’s so rare that I get a chance to be creative, and one of my deepest desires for the year was to have enough time and energy to pull something like this off.
About a week ago, while on Etsy, shopping for my sweet new niece, I saw these amazing Push Pop Confetti Poppers from Thimble Press being featured for New Year’s Eve… and a idea was born!!!
I immediately ORDERED them and called my sister, and best friend, and ran the idea by her. Once she approved (because everyone needs a friend who thinks their ideas are great and will push them in that direction) I text a few friends, Tonie Sexauer of Tonie Christine Photography and Cynthia Oberttubbesing, an amazing local hair and make up artist and asked if they would collaborate with me on this idea and help me to carry it out! Once they agreed – I ran to Pinterest to put my vision board together and started really preparing and planning for this shoot.
Naturally with such a busy schedule and so many close out activities – it got tough wanting to carry out something as BIG as this, but I really wanted it to be special. One of the most amazing things that happen to my life and our business this year was meeting 9 really amazing, talented and kind young woman. These woman have not only served our brand well, but have buried themselves into my heart. They are our street team or what many people refer to as their “senior reps or senior models’ – but also some of the most dedicated and committed and sincere young people I have had the pleasure of knowing and with the craziness of the year we have had – I wanted to create a experience that would bring us together and allow us to just celebrate all we had accomplished together. What better way to close out a year with your favorite Class of 2014 seniors then with dresses, makeup, hair spray, pretty accessories, glitter, food, a new Beyonce album, dancing and laughter?! These girls have taught me so much about being a dedicated business person, about influence and impact and about being a service business that stands for more than just pictures. They represent a dream realized and any chance that I can celebrate them – I will jump at the opportunity – in many ways, THEY made 2013 possible!
So instead of a long winded close out post about all of the places we visited, all of the cool people we met, and all of the sessions we did, I give you our very own New Year’s Eve party, in images!
None of this would have been possible without Tonie & Jalisa, our intern, newly returned from a 16 country world tour overseas, who both jumped in and helped and ran, and gave and gave and gave some more! Their easy going nature and willingness to see my vision come to life at any cost is what allows me to post this today – the last goal on my bucketlist for 2013.
Application for the Class of 2015 Ike and Tash Street Team will be available NEXT Monday January 7th- send a email to info@ikeandtash.com
Make sure to head over to Tonie’s blog to check out the shoot from her perspective, you can do that by clicking here.
Special thanks to the following people and vendors:
Tonie Sexauer of Tonie Christine Photography
Photography Intern and Set Assistant: Jalisa Harris
Hair & Makeup: Cynthia Oberttubbesing
Gold Party Hats & Push Pop Confetti Poppers: Thimble Press by Kristen Ley
Party Decor and accessories: Bash Box Studio
Cupcakes: Hello Cupcake
Studio Rental: UrbanXchange Tacoma
Video: Isaiah Haynes
Very special thanks to Taylor Wall for providing a variety of beautiful dresses for us to pull and style with for this very special shoot!
