I’ve done a few live shoots in my private Facebook group in the last few years.  As much as they exhaust me, I love getting to share the experience with the ladies in my group.  If you want to join the group, the button to join is below.

This gorgeous woman has been a part of my group for a long time and I knew she’s wanted to have the boudoir experience.  She wanted to do the live shoot and emailed me about her struggles being a single parent.  At that moment I began to reflect on my mother.

My parents divorced when I was 13 years old.  We moved out of the only house I’d known and went first to a hotel, then stayed with my aunt until my mom found a house to rent for my sisters and me.  I watched her try to work things out with my dad but was always disappointed.  It was a strange time for me.  But, looking back now, it was an even stranger time for her.

She worked hard for us.  She worked so hard that she was able to purchase a house on her own.  She provided for us in ways I didn’t even realize while I was a teenager, but as an adult I see what she did for us.  This is a woman who was brave enough to leave a situation that was no longer good for her (there’s so much more behind the curtain than you know), take her 3 girls with her, and face life’s challenges alone.  It sounds strange, but each day during high school, I would go into her purse to get money for lunch.  There was always money there for my lunch.  Always.  I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for her to pull it together for us.

I love my mom, she’s an amazing woman.  She was a strict parent, and we make fun of the way she parented us now….but, she’s raised some amazing women and my success is her success.  She has always been there, knows what I’m struggling with before I even speak, and will be at my side at a minutes notice.

She deserved to be loved and treated as a queen, because she is worthy of it.  It pains me to think about the challenges she went through, the way I treated her as a teenager, and a wish that I could change the past.  I do realize that she was a parent, not a friend – it was her job to mold us and shape us.  I can happily say now that my mom is one of my best friends.

She’s been by my side with everything.  She talked with me on the phone for hours after I went away to college, she helped heal my broken heart, she moved me to NJ after college and almost crossed the George Washington Bridge into NYC (yikes for her), she spoiled me by sending me packages from home, she welcomed me back with open arms when I decided to come back to Pittsburgh,  she knows my needs before I know, she knows my heart better than I do, she feels my pain and agonizes that she can’t take it away.  She also says the craziest and funniest things you’ve ever heard – so much so that I keep a note of all the things she says so that we can remember those times forever!  And, when she has a glass of wine, GET READY!

I cherish my mother.  She gives her love so freely.  She sensitive.  She wants to be included.  She wants to feel accepted.  She gives everything she can.  This woman is someone who inspires me.  Who’s been through some things in life that I can’t even imagine, who showed me love in the way I needed it at any moment, who wants only the best for her girls, who worries about us, who supports us in all our endeavors, and will hold our hand or give us a hug when we need comfort.  I can’t tell her enough how much I love her, how much I wish I could change what she went through in her life, but knowing that those experiences have created her into this amazingly wonderful woman who I look up to and inspire to be.

So back to when this client emailed me, I decided that I needed to do something for her as a tribute to my mom.  I so wish that when my mom was struggling to take care of 3 kids, run a house, and work a full time job that someone would have given her a day that was just about her.  No distractions, no worrying, no caring about what’s going on in the world, no responsibility – all her, all day!  Because as women, we deserve a day that’s just for us, we deserve to FEEL beautiful, we deserve to treat ourselves.  We need to recognize the amazing women that we are, we need to see ourselves through someone else’s eyes, we need to see what we didn’t know was in us or even forgot was there, we need to know that we are more than just how we look.  There is so much depth and wonder to be found in your soul when you release all that’s been holding you back and embrace the woman you are!

And, the session was nothing short of amazing.  Kelli is a wonderful woman who helps anyone she can.  She’s got a smile like no other, and she said she wanted feature her smile in her images.  Her wish is my command.  She also did just cut her hair and I was excited to showcase yet another beauty with short hair.

Enjoy some photos from her session.

And, thanks mom for all you’ve done and continue to do for me! <3

That booty though…..I’m obsessed!

Well, I love this new light I’m using.  I love all the lines of light that are created on the wall.  It gives this a very moody vibe – kind of like the movie 9 1/2 weeks!