I recently hosted a beauty and headshots event to 1. thank my lovely clients with some free makeup and headshots 2. help a lovely young lady launch her own small business and 3. celebrate the beautiful women I know and love.

Although I’ve struggled with being a good business owner and making the right decisions from time to time, the first time I remember really thinking “I don’t think this job is for me anymore” was last summer. I had finished probably my most favorite family session I had ever done, and I was so proud and so thrilled with how gorgeous they were that I finished culling and editing them in only two days. They were that beautiful. When I proudly showed them to the gorgeous momma, the first words out of her mouth were, “I hate all of the ones of me.”

Crushing.

Then, a couple of months ago, I had a client say “hate” to me 10 times while I was showing her pictures to her.

I hate the way I look. I hate my smile. I hate my hair. I hate how I’m standing….

On the way home, I called my husband and told him my business might be about to close.

I want to help women feel beautiful, special, self-confident, empowered, happy, and relaxed; I want them to have fun at our sessions. I am really failing at that right now. This past holiday season, I had several sessions where the kids were crying, the moms were stressed, and the dads were irritated.

Not my goal.

It’s time to reevaluate all of it.

This year, I want to focus more on celebrating my lovely clients and having more fun at sessions. I’m missing the mark somewhere along the way. I’m still trying to figure out where it is I’m messing up, but I’m working on it. In the meantime, mommas who are so hard on yourselves, please go easy. When I’m editing your pictures, all I see is beauty. I would never show you a picture that I don’t think is fantastic of you. And when I look at your beautiful babies, I usually see your faces. If you don’t think you’re beautiful, then try looking at yourself through your kiddo’s eyes. You are.

So, in my quest to celebrate my beautiful friends/clients, I hosted this little party. Ladies, I can’t thank you enough for supporting me, and I hope you had a little fun and felt pretty, because you are.

I need to give a crazy-giant-huge shout-out to my kick booty hubby for always, always supporting all my dreams. To show his support for me, he brewed coffee (a must-have for me), baked scones, bought Texas wine (a must-have for every other mom I know), and ordered special flowers for me and the event. THE BEST.

Here are some fun pictures of the details and some before/afters. Here’s one of my lovely makeup artist and friend, Jasmine. I need to ask if it’s okay to post her info here, so I’ll update it once I talk with her. Ladies, thank you again for your support. I’m not sure what changes I’ll need to make this year. I think it’s time for an old fashioned MY GOALS FOR THIS YEAR list with pencil and paper. I’m thinking I need to scale back on my sessions and focus more on what I love to do most: helping others, teaching, and travelling. I am mentoring more and more owners of small businesses, and I plan on teaching more Shot by Momma classes this year, and I’m only marketing for travel photography (more to come on that). We’ll see how it goes. What are your goals for this year? We’re halfway through January…how is it going for you? I’m just now getting to the blog post about my changes for my business, so you’re probably doing better than I am!

Love, Andrea