Last week I packed up my camera and my notebook and travelled across the country to a place that before this point I never had any desire to visit. This is my first blog post since I returned and I am ready to open up and be honest. I want this to mark a new chapter in my life and my business. While I was in Las Vegas at WPPI (the largest "gathering" and tradeshow of professional photographers in, I think, the world) I had the chance to not just hear successful professionals photographers talk in their platform classes but to also take a closer look at myself and my vision for my life and my business. I had so badly wanted to attend last year to see what all of the buzz was about but couldn't.So I made it my goal for 2010 to get out there. I was fortunate enough to have been able to make the trip with three wonderful women photographers from Maryland.

The kids saw me off very early in the morning and the trip was in my mind a wonderful, worthwhile success. I honestly didn't know what to expect not just with the convention but also with the traveling itself. Away from the kids for an ENTIRE week. I brought my notebook with me intending to take notes of all of the speakers that I heard and as soon as we got above the clouds (where the sun always shines), it was like a switch had been turned on. It all came rushing back to me. The memories. The feelings. Of my first ariplane trip out west when I was thirteen. I used to write a lot more back then-before the busyness of life, adulthood, parenthood caught up to me. I still have all of those black and white composition books of my youth-scribbled with everything and anything that was on my mind at the moment. It seemed like the older I got the less amount of "free" time I had to just be in my thoughts. This was so enlightening to me and I thought that if this was already hitting me then I was really in for some amazing insight during my work-cation.

With all of that said, I'll just summarize the rest of the trip in Vegas. Not to sound cliche, but this trip WAS life-changing in so many ways that are just unspeakable. It consisted of getting up very early every morning, going to bed very late and using up every bit of mental and physical energy I had in me.

I went out there with my goals and questions and ideas and I came back so inspired to just BE ME.

Yes, you heard it right.

It is officially my new years resolution/life-goal/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, to whole-heartedly just be MYSELF. It sounds silly, but I will elaborate more in future blog posts.

Needless to say, I am very excited for 2011 and this trip was a great kick-start for me and for what is to come this year in the business and my personal life and Vegas was not to shabby afterall, if I have to say so myself! Enough writing already, here are the few pictures that I took on my work-cation that documented my experience and marked the beginning a great new year!