For the longest time, I have wanted to share my actual passion with you all.  I know I have mentioned it a time or two, but I don’t think that my followers really know what it is that I do half the time when I am away from Lessons from a Southern Belle…

I am a photographer.  Legitimately!  In real life!  Above is one of my shots from a wedding I shot over Memorial Day weekend.  I do have my own business, accompanied with one of my best friends as my business partner. 

I love art…I always have.  I dreamed of finding a creative path and career my entire life.  I dabbled in music, writing, drawing, but when it came to photography, it caught my heart.  I never thought I could make it my lifelong career; in fact, I was told by a lot of people when I left my state university to go to art school that I would fail.

Belles (and beaus!), if I had to tell you all something that I learned along the way, I would tell you to follow your heart.  Never let anyone, not even those closest to you, dishearten you.  Never let anyone crush your dreams because they are attainable.  Nothing is too big, too far away, or impossible.

Never give up, stay to true to yourself, and remember that you only get out of life what you put into it.**

—-

**A quote from my dear, old dad.

Davis & Varney Wedding by Snaperture Art is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

It is just as much work to stay at home and raise your children as it is to work a full time job.

There are going to be people in your life that take advantage of you.  Your job is to recognize who those people are and cut them off before they can hurt you.  If not, you are the fool who let someone walk all over you.

Sometimes, your girlfriends just need to vent.  Don’t give your opinion, don’t be judgmental.  Just listen…that’s the number one job for a friend.

Parenting doesn’t stop at a child’s 18th birthday.  Parenting is a life-long job, even after children have grown and gone out into the world.

Southern Belles do a job right the first time.