A year ago I made the decision to cut back on photography but struggled to turn down weddings even after making this decision. During the summer of 2012 I was offered the opportunity to team up with another photographer here in Corpus Christi so that I could still take weddings but could also spend more time with River. We have launched full swing into that and I am loving it. I count myself so blessed to still be able to do what I love without some of the other more time consuming parts.

A year ago, I also said that I wanted to learn more about nutrition, possibly even go back to school. I wanted to educate other people on how to make healthier decisions and focus on preventative healthcare. I loved shooting weddings but I also missed social work and felt that the aspect of helping people was not as prevalent in my daily life as it use to be. Around the same time I was introduced to an essential oil company called doTERRA and through that community I have learned so much about nutrition and wellness as well as natural alternatives to medicine. I have fully launched myself into research, podcasts, webinars and wellness conferences and I love every minute of it.

Today, an opportunity has come to me to travel and teach others about things I have learned: how to be a healer in your own home. I can’t wait to talk to people not just about essential oils but nutrition, physical and emotional wellness and even through in some fun things like Kombucha and Elderberry.

In bullet point, here are the updates:

If you’d like to book me for your wedding, send an inquiry here or to bellezzaphoto@yahoo.com and we’ll get back to you. Our website is still under construction, but it may be for quite sometime… we are mamas: http://www.bellezzaphotography.com/

I have a fun little blog going about eco/green living in a modern world. I just put up a post about my latest crazy oil concoction. If you are interested, you can check that out here: http://www.burlapandwine.net/

I’ll be traveling teaching doTERRA classes very soon but sporadically. I can’t leave my baby for very long periods of time before my insides start going crazy. I’ll be in Dallas, Fort Worth, Florida, Utah and Ohio in March-if you are in those areas and would like to drink some elderberry tea with me, let me know.

My two favorite things about my mini sessions in Fort Worth were seeing all of my dear friends that I hadn’t seen in a while and how quick and easy the sessions were. I have learned a lot in the few years that I’ve been in business and my most valuable lesson that I’ve learned when it comes to shooting families with young children, the shorter the session the better the images. Maybe this isn’t true for everyone, but it’s proven true for me.

I really enjoyed all of the family sessions and 10 minute sessions seemed to work out well for everyone, especially those with young kiddos. I am considering doing quarterly family mini-sessions in Corpus Christi.

Favorite.

Oh those eyes.

What a face. Seriously, is he cute or what?!

This was (or at least I was told) one of the first times he actually sat up by himself!

I have absolutely loved getting to know Armando and Angela, from their vintage styled engagement shoot in Gruene, TX to Angela’s beautiful bridal session (which I will be posting soon!), it has been a true joy.

Rewind…. In August, I was shooting a wedding and during the reception I started to feel extremely sick to my stomach. It hit me hard and fast. The next thing I knew I found myself locked in the bathroom on the phone with my doctor husband asking for him to come and rescue me. I actually thought it was food poisoning at first, but the only food I had eaten that day was the wedding food and no one else was getting sick. Once my fever set in, we figured it was a stomach virus and I prepared myself to be camped out in the bathroom for the rest of the evening. During a break in my sickness I slipped out to tell my second shooter she would have to cover for me the rest of the reception. She generously offered me oils, but I refused saying that I was “really” sick. I would periodically call my husband and groan and he would say that the only thing he could do was hook me up to an IV which was not an option and he insisted that I use the oils. I hung up on him. I was sick for about 30 minutes before Tiffani (my second shooter) finally handed me the DigestZen blend and Oregano and I was too weak to refuse. I shook the bottle of DigestZen under my tongue (I wish I could say how many drops I used, but honestly I don’t know) and I shook the bottle of Oregano onto my foot (your largest pours are in your feet and I wanted it in my blood stream as quickly as possible). My nausea went away almost instantly and my overall sickness/achy/fever went away within 10 minutes. I grabbed my camera and started shooting again. I was so excited that the oils worked! I kept telling Tiffani, “Oh my goodness, I feel amazing! These oils actually work!” and she would look at me and say, “I know, you told me about them…” Oregano is anti-viral so I continued to use it on my feet throughout the night. If I had a capsule I would have taken it internally. I had waives of nausea every 20 minutes or so, and every time I used the DigestZen and it went away. I had a few people come close to me and look at me strangely. I know I smelled like a crazy soup, but I didn’t care! I felt great!

We have had so many amazing doTERRA stories, but this one was wedding related so I felt like I was allowed to share. More info here: EOils.DoterraPro.com