July 13, 2017
I have been looking forward to this moment since I was an awkward 16 year old girl. Oh the days of crazy teenage girl emotions and crying all the time and obsessing over teenage boys who were mean to me….
I always knew 30 would be my time! My prime! The best year of my life! The point where I’d be happy and have my shit together and have an amazing career. 30 was going to be IT!
I got a shirt from a thrift store when I was a junior in high school. It read, “I survived the Paul Sprunk dirty thirty party.” I vowed that like Paul Sprunk, I too would have a dirty 30 party that people would survive and live to tell about and have t-shirts to prove it!
This year is that year!
It’s been a crazy few years. I dropped out of medical school (yikes!), got a divorce and started my very own company. And despite the soul destroying, sad parts of the past couple of years, I have decided to start choosing happiness for my life. It has changed everything for me!
The coolest part is, now with boudoir, I get to encourage other women to do the same. I hope I can make an impact on anyone who needs a nudge towards self-confidence. I want my clients to love their bodies. I have so many women tell me they aren’t sexy or say they need to lose weight before booking a session. I’ve even had clients tell me they wish they were skinny like me so the pictures would look better. Well let me tell you…I am only now becoming comfortable with my body. Now at 30! I used to worry and obsess over my cellulite and stretch marks. I used to stay covered up and wish I could look like other women who didn’t have imperfections like me. And guess what?! I’m the same size now as I’ve been since college. That hasn’t changed. The difference is I stopped comparing myself to other women and wishing I looked differently. Instead I started focusing on my personal goals, running half marathons, fitting well in my favorite clothes, and loving what I see when I look in the mirror. THAT’S ALL THAT CHANGED!
It’s hard to really wrap my mind around what it means to have lived 30 years and thinking about the next 30 is equally as difficult to conceptualize. But I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished in this time so far. I’m proud of my life and my body and my career. I’m thankful and I appreciate every day (well most days…we all have bad days.) It has taken me almost the entire 30 years to get to this point but that’s ok. Better late than never.
Thank you to David Shockey for helping me with this project. He is incredibly talented and the only other person I’d trust with photographing my 30th birthday session. He puts up with my very high maintenance demands for posing and lighting. Not many people can deal with that!
“The longest relationship you’ll ever have is the one with yourself. Cherish it.”