Meet Shannon (Santos) Mastroianni, Mark Mastroianni, and their 3 adorable children. Shannon and Mark are old classmates of mine from Westfield High. This is what I remember about Shannon. She was very involved in our school, on the soccer team, a member of honor society, and was voted best looking female student by the class of 1995! I remember her being a nice girl, but also reserved. She was social, but somewhat shy at the same time. We hung out in different groups and aside from her impressive resume, I didn’t know her very well. That all changed when she decided to start a blog about what she calls “Her deliciously crazy family life”. Click here for a taste! She is an incredible writer and has hilarious stories, but let me tell you what I love most about her blog. She took a chance by really putting herself out there, she wants so badly to be a wonderful mother and wife, but admits to things that don’t always make her look so good, things that the rest of us might do, but that we’d never admit. But at the end of the day, her family means the world to her. Shannon is the wonderful mother and wife she strives to be!
Shannon and I did a trade. I photographed her family and in exchange she is helping me with some of the writing for my business, including the bio section on my site, check it out here! I gave her my own honest words about who I am and asked her to re-write it keeping it sincere, without making me look like the fat loser I can feel like on some days!
When she sent it back to me it literally gave me chills, she did an absolutely incredible job! If you are ever looking for help with writing, I would highly recommend her! I found that she is not only good at writing from her own perspective, but had been able to capture mine as well.
So being the writer she is, I asked Shannon to be my very first guest blogger and to describe herself, her family, her writing, etc. in her own words. And here it is, along with pic of her so you can invision her saying it. Enjoy!
I love being a mom, I love being a wife. Before I was married with kids, I used to think I’d be the best mom and best wife in the world.
Most days, I feel like I am neither. But I wouldn’t change anything about this crazy, chaotic life we’re living.
I married my best friend from elementary school, and we’re building a lifetime of memories together..we make tons of mistakes, but we’re learning along the way, and we’re laughing like crazy. And my favorite thing about us, is that we almost never forget to remember to laugh.
I believe in family, with all my heart.
I have a great job. I feel fortunate to have a job and I feel incredibly fortunate to only have to work two days a week. But if I didn’t have to work at all, I wouldn’t… I know people want me to say that I need that time away, for my sanity, or to keep my foot in the door, but I don’t feel that way at all. If I could stay home with my little ones seven days a week, I would do it tomorrow. Even if it meant that I drank a little more wine and talked to myself a little bit more.
I love to write. I have always loved to write. I have all these grand illusions about writing novels, writing children’s books and writing for a living, but up until recently, I couldn’t even find the time to write stats down in a baby book. I like to write exactly the way I speak…with inappropriate punctuation and far too many swears. I planned on printing out my blog one day, so that my kids will have a detailed account of our lives together, but I think I may have to completely rewrite it so they won’t judge me for the things I have said about them.
I have a compulsive habit of oversharing. I will tell anyone who is willing to listen to me anything they want to hear…Since my kids and my husband have completely tuned me out, I’ve taken quite a liking to blogging.
I have found that the secret to happiness is to continuously lower your standards. Over the last six years, dinners have become simpler, the house has become messier, and yet, I couldn’t be any happier.
I believe the beach is a teeny tiny sample of Heaven on Earth.
I really hate exercising. I get dressed in my gym clothes in the morning to motivate myself to work out, but I feel so comfy that I just want to loaf around the house with my babies. The fact that others see me running around town, looking exhausted and flushed, and assume that I just left the gym, is a total bonus. But more often than not, it’s not true.
I have an obsession with photos. I am so terribly terrified of forgetting any bit of this little life that we have together, that I walk around with a camera in my back pocket whenever possible. I stalk my children and my family members trying to capture every moment we have together on film. And yet, I almost never print any photos out. My sweet, little girl believes that the baby in her favorite pink frame in her room is her…she carries it around and shows everyone how cute she was when she was a tiny baby. But it’s not her. It’s still the same strange baby that came with it when it was given to us as a gift. And since I hate to disappoint her, we all smile and agree with her.
I recently got a new camera (I went with the Nikon ds 3100….just bought it today) and I am so excited to teach myself how to use it.
Little Miss Mastroianni, a born leader and future mafia queen, I mean CEO.
I found you through your post on Valisa’s page, and was struck by your incredibly kind words. Then, I click on your site to find that your photos are as awesome as your heart. This session is incredible! I found myself scrolling through, thinking each photo was my new favorite from the session. Needless to say, I still can’t decide which is my *true* favorite! This really is lifestyle photography at its best. So, hello from your newest fan…can’t wait to be inspired! 
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