Pittsburgh Fashion Boudoir Photographer-1

That's a slogan we've heard pretty much all of our lives. Live your life with no regrets. At the end of your life you don't want any regrets. Regret nothing. But we do. I'm pretty sure most, if not all, of us can think of a few regrets sprinkled throughout our lives. Interestingly, two of the most cited regrets people talk about is (1). missed opportunities in the realm of love (I should've asked her out. I should've said yes when he asked me out. I wonder what would've happened if I had said yes...or no) and (2). purchases. That's right: purchasing stuff is an ongoing and consistent occurrence, yet it results in the most amount of regret.

Wanna know what has been cited as the one thing that brings the least amount of regret? Experiences. Yep...you can't buy your way to happiness with piles of crap, but you can hop, skip and jump your way to happiness with loads of experiences.

Does this come as a surprise? For some, yes. For others, nope. I learned this lesson pretty early on and I'm so much the better for it. I don't have a fancy car, a giant home, a closet full of designer stuff...but I do have an absolute treasure trove of memories, photographs, nights reminiscing, and even a time capsule I've worked on since our daughter's birth, of the most meaningful experiences in our lives as a family, and my life as an individual.

I mean, think about it: when you consider what's important to you, what will go down in history inside your heart, I'm betting it's not the $12,000 couch you just had to have because it complimented the $8,000 vase (that eventually got knocked over and shattered into a million pieces, which led to tears, screaming and the ensuing battle with your home owner's insurance). It's the moments, the milestones, the celebrations. It's those acts of living you invested your soul into that you laugh about, talk about with misty eyes and think about when the going gets tough. It's life my friends.

So what am I getting at?? I think you know, but let me spell it out. Women are starting to realize the value in investing in themselves, and this is really exciting. Time and time again I have had the pleasure of opening emails from my wonderful and brilliant clients thanking me to the high heavens for the experience the I created for them, and enjoyed with them.

And that, my lovely ladies, is where my heart rests. It rests in a place where one woman understands the need for other women to express, celebrate, love, embrace and have a reckoning with their true Self. That understanding leads to the building of a dream and then setting the stage to watch that dream to come to life in the form of an experience that is for, and only for, You.

And here's the best part, my gorgeous gals. That experience gets to live on, and on, and on, and....you get it. And here's why. Because you have the physical history of that experience that will live on forever. Not only will you be able to revisit, reminisce and relive that experience over and over ever single time you look at those photographs, but you will have created a true legacy that will live on for, hopefully, endless generations. AND you will have started the foundation to teach any young girl being raised in your sphere that she is important. She is worthy. She is magnificent, and celebrating that magnificence is imperative and should be a regular part of her life.

Because here's the thing: if we don't celebrate ourselves, why should anyone else?

"Dead people receive more flowers than the living because regret is stronger than gratitude" --Anne Frank