For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to work for myself, and have my own business.  As a child I loved to block off our dining room, re-arrange chairs, and create a store.  A store where I pretended to sell tickets to my dance recitals, or brownies that I had baked.  I used lots of saran wrap, tin foil, and brown paper bags because of course a product had to be properly packaged!  Lucky for me I had 3 younger siblings willing to go through my rigorous pre-tend play for the reward of a brownie.

There were several Christmases I asked for a cash register.  Not a toy register, but the real deal!  A register I came across flipping through a Service Merchandise catalogue.  It didn’t matter that its sole purpose would be to house pretend money; a real store needed a real cash register!  Needless to say, the $300 register never made it under the tree, but the dream lived on.

Even though there have been moments of doubt.  Moments where I did not feel like I knew what direction I was heading in, my faith remained strong that I would one day discover my true path.  As a young adult I dabbled into various jobs, never really starting a full blown career.  The innermost part of me knew despite what others might expect, those jobs weren’t my calling, and my faith carried on. 

Looking back my life unfolded exactly as it should.  I met my husband at the age of 19, got married at 22, had my son when I was 25 and my daughter at 28.  Now on the verge of turning 31 I am beginning to answer my work calling.  There is something significant about every 3 years for me!

For some, starting a career at 31 may seem late, for me it is not.  It feels perfect, like divine timing.  I have been blessed with time to focus on starting a family without feeling divided or having to give up something I was passionate about in order to do that.  As Cinderella’s fairy Godmother said “Even miracles take time.”

In my early teens I felt a calling within me to teach love, in the form of a day dream.  At the time I had no idea what that meant.  My only speculation was that it possibly meant to teach love to the family and children I one day wanted to have.

My twenties centered around growing into myself, gaining wisdom, and building a foundation of love and support, my precious family.  One day while sitting in the playroom with my two kids I had an urge to start a website and name it Give Love Create Happiness.  The name popped into my head.  I didn’t feel any need to examine or question it.  I simply bought the website that day. 

One year later the Aha moment happened.  I heard Oprah for the first time say that her calling was to teach love.  Immediately the switch inside of me went off.  Those few words resonated so deeply within me, in the most profound way.  It made complete sense to my soul.  Even the name I had chosen for my website on a whim a year earlier perfectly fit the bill.

What I know is that my truth is to teach love, and my passion is to do it in an artistic way.  Creativity and art are a core part of who I am.  It creates happiness in a very meaningful way for me.  Being a writer and owning a website means photography is that perfect link to combining my truth for teaching love with my passion for art.

In my own life I love to surround myself with books, quotes, art and photography that truly inspire and provoke the best in me.  I wanted a way to be able to further share my work in the greatest hope that others would be able to surround themselves with inspiration to create the life of their dreams.  With that in mind I decided to create a Shutterfly Pro Gallery.  As a busy Mom of 2, a writer and Modern Mom Blogger, my day is FULL. 

Shutterfly Pro Gallery is the perfect solution for me to focus on what I am passionate about, creating art in the form of selling photos, while teaching love without having to allot a significant amount of time to fulfilling orders, book keeping, and shipping.  What I love about Shutterfly is that it allows me to focus on what I do best, create.  As my work continues and grows, so will my gallery.  Be on the lookout for continual new additions!

I have never been a believer in asking people to buy something they don’t want.  It creates clutter in your life.  If somehow my work has special meaning to you, stirs something in you, inspires a part of you that you want you bring out, then selling my work becomes authentic for me. 

Self promotion is not something I do easily.  It is a part of the gig called working for yourself, owning yourself.  My most inspirational reminder is a quote from Oprah in an episode of Master Class “Owning myself is the best bet I have ever made.”  For that reason I am willing to push through the uncomfortableness of self-promotion to grow. 

The opportunity arose to push that boundary when Shutterfly gave me an opportunity to write about my Shutterfly Pro Gallery experience for a $50 credit and the possibility of being featured on their site.  An opportunity that would be great for the work I am doing!  I have added photos that would make great thank you cards, or photo books for inspiration in your home or office.

Whether or not these products are something you will ever be interested in is not of significant importance.  What is truly important is that you are here with me supporting me with your thoughts, energy, love and kind words, for that I am eternally grateful!  Thank you for the opportunity to share with you my journey and the work that I am so passionate about creating!