Side Pony Tails and Puff Painted T-Shirts

I was at my cousin Cherie's house the other night (see her engagement pics here), and we started going through boxes of old pictures that she had. We reminisced about the great times we had during the summer we spent in Spain and traveling through Europe and how we can't believe our mothers dressed us in those hideous dresses when we were younger.

Then we came across this picture:

It was taken in 1988 - I was 7 years old, side pony tail and puff painted t-shirt(that I made myself thank you very much!) and a camera in my face. I had never seen this picture and don't remember it being taken but it almost made me want to cry. It just validated my love for photography that started..dare I say...21 years ago. This is what I've wanted to do for a long time and I'm so lucky to have a chance to do what I love doing. Even though I'm not able to do this full time yet, I have faith that I will get there. Thanks to all of you who have helped me on my journey - including my family who let me dress them up and take tons of pictures of them...i'll have to dig some of those up and post them too!