I'm on the verge of realizing a dream and it feels exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time. I've been told "you'll never make money" and "the market is so saturated" and "why would you do that when you have a great career already?" all in the last week! (Nothing like a vote of confidence to get me started right?!)

Before I tell you what this big dream is, if you haven't guessed, I have to preface it first. See, I've always been slightly jealous of my husband who knew at such a young age what he wanted to do. His vision and focus drove him to pursue his career, even when things got hard. I, on the other hand, have switched majors, made coffee, waited tables, started an online business, graduated with an accounting degree, worked in marketing,  title insurance, retail, more retail (seriously, I am NOT folding those jeans again!) more customer service (no, I will NOT give you another corn muffin for free, and NO YOU DON'T NEED MORE RANCH!!) and finally I decided to just be my own boss. I like that. I am so nice to me!

Anyway, when I was about 9, my mom gave me this olllld 110 mm film camera. I thought it was the coolest thing EVER. I took way more pictures that I think she ever wanted to develop. One of my favorite ways to set up my "studio" was to clear off a little open set of shelves my mom used to store toys on and hang a table cloth behind it. I loved dressing up my little sisters, curling their hair and taking "glamour shots". As I got older, I took pictures when I could - for yearbook in high school, for fun as an adult, and I even took some college photography classes. I guess I just always felt like pursuing photography wasn't "academically worthy enough". I figured I should do something with my left brain, because it seemed more important. I thought working at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in a big skyscraper would be way more impressive than snapping pics...

Turns out I was wrong. Feeling important is overrated ;-)

I decided a couple things in this long process: 1) God made me unique - with a unique combination of talents and abilities. This could be a whole separate blog post, because I enjoy doing lots of things, and could never really completely devote myself to just ONE! 2) Success - for me - isn't defined as being rich, or gaining lots of recognition. Success is doing what God calls me to do, and making sure my priorities as a wife and mom are in order first. 3) I care too much about what people think! I would have pursued my dream a long time ago if I wasn't so worried about people's opinions. I am shifting my focus to please one: God.

With all that in mind, I am happy to unveil my newest business venture: Shannan Painter Photography!