a little recap, shall we?

©miranda reger photography / @thehousethatmercybuilt

well my goodness, it has been quite a minute since i've blogged.

how about we get brought up to speed real quick?

i'm a charlotte native & have been a photographer for the last 10 years.

i have a long list of favorite things, and somewhere at the top are

watching the office, singing harmony, & drinking a hot cup of really good coffee

(but i have just the one cup each day, otherwise i get chatty & sweaty and annoying).

i'm married to the kindest, most tenderhearted man i've ever known

& we have a 13 year old daughter, an 11 year old son,

& a 3 year old pup named Dave.

when i think about the plans i’d loosely made this time last year for the upcoming new year, 

i can’t help but chuckle. 

i was going to celebrate this very small business of mine in its 10th year 

& launch a new website & branding & start blogging again & really breathe new life into 

miranda reger photography / thehousethatmercybuilt. 

but i fretted over not having the perfect website & content 

& worried about what people would think & about the time suck that is social media 

& how not to take it too personally, & how to manage it 

when there are middle schoolers in the house watching what i do. 

then covid happened & i peaced out on worrying over the business 

& pulled my husband & kids & the dog in tight, 

got some sourdough starter from my neighbor & hung on for dear life. 

i’m sure i’m not alone when i say there were days when i stayed in bed & wept & Netflixed. 

& then there were days when i made bread like i’d been doing it for ages, 

& the kids were outside all day doing who knows what until it was dark. 

& it was hard & sweet & sad & good & scary & meaningful all at the same time. 

& man, what a gift it is to be celebrating the Christmas season now. 

i’m especially grateful for the professional relationships that have blossomed over the last decade & proud of the photographs i took this year. 

i treasure the rich conversations i’ve had with dear friends as we all tried to figure out how to live during a pandemic.  

no, there hasn’t been much breathing of new life into the business, 

but it feels like new life has been breathed into me & into our family 

& that feels infinitely more important.  

the website can wait for now - besides, there’s always next year.