I don’t normally post personal stuff here, but this is so very important to me, and I wanted to share it with you.
I started reading Lesley’s blog a while ago, and recently we met up for dinner to meet and chat. I got to hear about all the cool things she’s working on and her business ideas and her passions. There are so many things that she’s going to do in life, and so much I doubt she has even dreamt of yet.

Just now I opened my rss reader to check out whose blogs have been updated, and was so so humbled to read this on hers:

I keep on hearing Miranda’s voice in my head “You just have to do it”. It keeps me striving to make my dreams happen. I don’t want to let her down, myself down, or anyone else who has echoed those same words into my ear. So I’m making them happen, once again, a little at a time.

Hearing people say that something I’ve said has helped them or encouraged them or inspired them is… I can’t even describe how much it means to me. It makes me feel small in a wonderful way…. like a tiny little part of things so incredible and so much bigger than myself.

So many people have said these things to me recently, so many times I’ve felt this way. I am in awe each time that someone tells me something that I’ve said has stuck with them, like Lesley has, and I’m left speechless when I’m told that people’s lives have been set on a completely new and wonderful path because of me. Because of me.

I don’t believe them. Or, I didn’t. I used to shake it off, it was all them – and really, it’s always always always all them. But the more times it happens and the more people who give me even little tiny bits of credit, the more I realize that the smallest encouragement can go so very, very far.

On the other side, it makes me question how we treat eachother. How we communicate with one another, with our friends, with our family. I don’t consider encouraging people to do or find what they love and what they’re passionate about to be anything out of the ordinary. It seems to me that everyone, everywhere, should be putting their energy into encouraging and supporting and inspiring their friends and family and the strangers whose lives they cross.

And yet, people keep telling me that in some way, I’ve had an impact.

If the people I’ve met randomly and the people whose lives I’ve already crossed are inspired or encouraged by things I say, it makes me realize that there are so so many people out there who are on the verge of great things, and are just waiting for someone to tell them that they can.

It simply comes down to this – life is too short. It’s TOO SHORT. You can’t bank on tomorrow, so you have to live your life today. Find what makes you happy. Do what makes you happy. Stop letting the fear of failure stop you. Stop saying that you can’t.

And please please please – regardless of where you’re at yourself, take the time to encourage someone else. My experience over and over and over again is that we all need to hear it, and the simplest of conversations can have such an impact on the happiness and joy of someone else.

xoxoxo

We love it when we get press – it’s so much fun to hear when other people get excited about our work!

Only – this time – we don’t know who to give thanks to for the mention! This week our direct hits shot up 3 times what they normally are, and we have a whole pile of new RSS subscribers. So first – welcome! – thanks for checking us out. But second – who talked us up? I see you’re mostly from Vancouver, and as it was all direct traffic rather than links I know that you likely heard about us either on TV, on the radio, or maybe someone mentioned us to a large crowd.

We’re dying of curiousity over here – leave a comment or drop an email to fill us in!

Until now, Portrait sessions have been available only to an exclusive few. For the first time, we are opening our calendar to general portrait bookings. You asked, and we’re delivering.

$295 session fee (regular $495) for sessions booked by March 15th and scheduled up to April 30th.

Engagements, boudoir, headshots, maternity, families, trash the dress – anything goes. This is your chance to be shot by us! Ladies – boudoir parties start at 3 people, so get your gilfriends or bridesmaids together and get in touch.

Limited dates available – contact us for full details and to reserve your spot.

Reilly and I were excited to be a part of Veil this weekend – a small, invite only, cocktail reception at a private gallery for brides and grooms in the planning stages of their upcoming weddings. We joined a handful of great vendors for an afternoon of visiting with couples over glasses of wine and served canapes. Thanks to everyone who came out, it was great to see so many familiar faces!

Based on the success of the show and wonderful feedback, we are planning to make this a twice yearly event with the next date scheduled likely in September or October. Watch our site for full details on the next event later this year!

Be sure to check out the sites of all the great vendors who participated –

Marliss Productions Videography, WED Bridal, Uniquity Design, Bloom Room, April Cakes, Hot Wax DJs, Milestone Events, Erin Gilmore Photography, Hayley Miller Makeup Artist, Travel by Design, Lolo Jewellry, and us of course – Blue Olive Photography!