Happiness

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." -Albert Schweitzer

Right now I'm sitting at a small round table at the Starbucks on Main Street in Santa Monica, CA. My nonfat white mocha was served to me this morning in a red Christmas cup, and there are red decorations everywhere I look. (Since Starbucks is displaying Christmas decorations, this justifies my listening to Christmas music, yes?)I'm so overwhelmed with this amazing feeling of contentment & happiness, and I think it has to do with the fact that I absolutely LOVE what I do! I'm so thankful that I'm finally starting to pursue photography as my full-time career. Sitting here this morning, I'm so excited that I'm really almost borderline giddy (I'm talking the "butterflies in your stomach, can't wipe the smile off your face" kind of giddy!). Why? Because today I get to assist shooting a wedding with two of my favorite photographers... and I'm SO excited! So excited, in fact, that I left my house at 6am- and now I'm here about 2 hours early. So yeah, I have a little time to kill. :)

Ooh, and guess what just arrived last night? My new 85mm/1.8 lens! I'm used to shooting with zoom lenses (the 24-70 and 70-200), but I've been itching to get some prime lenses- so this is my first one! I can't wait to play with it! (And now I get to use my shootsac to actually hold lenses, rather than just extra batteries and chapstick!)... hee hee. My friend Lisa sent this lens to me in exchange for designing a wedding album for her (I really love the design aspect of this job- almost as much as shooting. Almost). Thanks, Leese! I can't wait to try it out today. I'll be posting some shots from the wedding later this week- so check back if you're interested to see who I'm shooting with!