Photographing this beauty was a bit of a dream. She is strong, sensual, gorgeous and confident. I was thrilled when she said not only could I share these images but that she would write blog post. She is a mom, a successful entrepreneur and one of the hardest working and most passionate women you will meet. She inspires other women to nurture their body with her passion for fitness. She is the woman that proves with hard work, determination and self love you can achieve what your heart desires. I loved her story and I hope it inspires others as much as it inspired me.
"I've never been the skinniest girl, but I've often been the strongest. As a former nationally ranked athlete who morphed into an adult that became a gym rat, I've always pushed myself physically to achieve. However, a difficult pregnancy with my first child, a directive from the doctor not to work out and a rather generous understanding of what it meant to 'eat for two' meant that I gained a lot of weight. In addition, my husband is active duty military, and at 32 weeks pregnant, we moved to a state where I had neither family nor friends, and the below freezing temperatures nine months out of the year meant that I couldn't even go for walks with my newborn son. I was heavier than I had ever been in my life and miserable.
During my pregnancy, I had taken prenatal yoga classes and on a whim, I decided to enroll in yoga teacher training. That decision brought me back both physically and emotionally. I started to lose weight, but then became pregnant with our second child. Two children in two years is tough on a body, but I continued with my yoga teacher training, completed it, and then moved on to other fitness pursuits. I became Barre certified, prenatal yoga certified and group fitness certified. Throughout my second pregnancy, I remained healthy and strong. After my daughter was born, I fully invested in a hardcore exercise regime and made changes in my eating habits.
When my daughter was seven months old, my husband deployed, and I decided to take that time to get back to the weight that I was when we had first started dating. I decided to do the boudoir photo shoot with Angela as a 'welcome home' gift to my husband and a 'well done' gift to myself. I am the fittest, healthiest and happiest that I have ever been. I'm still not the skinniest chick out there, but dammit, I think I'm a bit of a bad ass and for the first time in my life, I'm owning that I'm perfect in all my lovely imperfections. It was an incredible, validating experience to work with Angela. If you had asked me two years ago if I would feel comfortable publicly sharing photos of myself in lingerie, I would have empathetically told you no, but today, I'm proud of this strong body that gave birth to two beautiful children. And my husband liked them too. :-) Thank you, Angela."
