I blinked, and 15 years passed since I started this blog. On Aug. 1, 2007, I was slogging away at my day job at Conde Nast—a job I very much loved, for the record—and started tinkering on a free Blogspot account while I was waiting for pages. A year later, my cousin built my own custom design and I moved to WordPress. This week, I celebrated 15 years of showing up to this space weekly.

Fifteen years of maintaining an ad-free website with some semblance of regularity. Other than my 17 years with SVV, this blog is probably the one thing I have been most devoted to in my life! Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading.

In July, we were away 14 nights; on the flip side, in August, I’ll be in Tennessee all month, which is a rare treat and well-needed as I tackle the 15(!) story assignments I have this month, get caught up on client photo galleries and work on grant applications for our nonprofit.

Here’s how July shook out for us….

The Highs

We took my niece to New York and Europe. This goes down as not just a month highlight or a year highlight, but a life highlight. It was such a complete joy to spend two full weeks with our 18-year-old niece Kiva, and I’ll never get over being grateful enough that we have the flexibility to take trips like this. I’ll be recapping the trip from NYC to Lake Como to Switzerland in great detail, as the three of us took so many photos and just had the best time ever.

I recorded an episode of Amateur Traveler. You know I love the Natchez Trace Parkway, and when Chris told me he’d never covered it on his 17-year-old podcast, obviously we had to change that! For a good hour, we went through every stop along the parkway from the northern terminus in Nashville to the southern terminus in Natchez, Miss.

You can download the episode in your podcast store or listen to it here.

Driving the Natchez Trace Parkway – Amateur TravelerEpisode 810

My cousins McKayla, 14, and Margaret, 12 made their annual pilgrimage to our house for “Camp Jeje”. In addition to Charlotte and Mac and my California nieces and nephews, my cousin Rebecca’s kids have also always had their own spot in my heart as honorary nieces and nephew (by the time they came in July, we’d already seen them five times this year, including a family vacation in Florida and a family reunion in the Smokies!).

Every summer they come visit for one to two weeks, and this year we had late-night Stranger Things slumber parties, pizza trips, art camps and lake days. It was so much fun!

I upgraded to mirrorless! My fellow photographers and gear junkies will appreciate the switch. After years and trying out so many different cameras, my friend Erica persuaded me to give the Canon R5 Mirrorless Camera a go, and I’m obsessed. As someone who takes so many photos, it’s often necessary to change up your routine to re-spark creativity, and this upgrade is exactly what I needed. If you are someone who shoots solely with your phone, though, you might find my recent iPhone photography tips post helpful.

There’s a new mural in Tullahoma! This one was a fight to the finish after both Jackson and Manchester canceled their contracts on us, but we wound up finding Huntsville artist Daria’ Hammond a wall in my hometown, Tullahoma, and I absolutely love that I get to see this beauty in our DMA Alley regularly.

She also painted this while seven months pregnant, so that in itself is a feat!

SVV also painted a mural in the alley. On his birthday, July 4, he said the only thing he wanted to do was paint, so paint we did!

We had so many all-day photo assignments in July. For all those of you who bring us in to photograph your business or do your corporate headshots or your family portraits, know that we appreciate you and LOVE doing this work!

The Lows

Other than our Airbnb host canceling our New York stay less than 24 hours before our arrival—which is super stressful if you’ve ever a) tried to find a group lodging option less than a day before arrival and b) traveled to Manhattan at all—I don’t have a lot to complain about for July, though August has already proven to be a doozy, so stay tuned next month for that…

How was July for you? And if you need some late summer travel inspiration, start here:

• Meet Our Favorite U.S. City—Here’s Why You Should Visit Savannah Right Now
• Summer Travel for Less: How to Travel on a Budget
• 13 Tips to Help You Survive Travel This Summer
• Should I Fly Allegiant? An Honest Look at One of the US’s Biggest Budget Airlines
• Into Fern Canyon: Where Dinosaurs Roam in California