Just Another Day in the Life of "Shells": On the Seventh Day of Christmas...I give you my daughter

Hello fellow blog readers...I am Shelley Giard's oldest daughter, Cierra. She talks about me a lot on here so if you are a frequent reader I am sure you know a lot about me already or have at least seen pictures of me on here. Tonight, I get the honor of writing on her blog page. This is my first time ever blogging so the best thing I can think to write about is my side of everything you know about my mom and how much she has inspired me to become the best I can be. So here goes nothing...

Growing up a lot of my memories are fuzzy because of the constant moving around that I did. But one thing that I will never forget is how much my mom has always been there for me compared to how little my dad has been. Now please don't get me wrong, I am not in the least bit trying to throw myself a pity party. I constantly used to ask myself how I turned out so normal without a male figure in my life growing up. But just recently, I found the answer and it had been in front of me my whole life, my mom. If it weren't for her, there is no way I would be where I am today; 20 years old, living on my own across the country from all of my family and supporting myself one hundred percent. My mom and I laugh now remembering my rebellious summer that I thought moving to South Carolina to live with my dad was the best idea. Needless to say, words cannot say how glad I am that I have a mom who cares about me enough to not let me put myself in that situation. I find that with every day that comes I become more and more like my mother and after seeing all the things she has accomplished in her life so far I cannot wait to see what I do.

I moved away from everything that I knew two years ago to go to school in Colorado with one of my best friends from high school. Growing up around an all-around artistic family I wanted to try and stray away from that and get a degree in Social Sciences, more specifically Sociology. After testing the waters in beautiful Colorado I realized my true passion lied in Photography and Graphic Design after all. However the University of Colorado did not offer any kind of degree catering to that. After searching for art schools in Denver I found one that sounded like the right fit for someone like me...School is not for everyone though and after taking some classes, I recently realized I am one of those people. Usually someone of my age would be scared that they could not make it in the real world and get a "big girl job" without a degree. But seeing my mom and all of the amazing things she has done without a degree takes that fear away from me. She has instilled in me a fearlessness and an undeniable strength that I know will lead me to success.

So tonight instead of hearing about how well I am doing from the words of my mother, I decided to share with you WHY I am doing so well...Thank you mom for everything you have done for me and all I can ask is that you will continue supporting me in everything I choose to do. I think I am pretty much done with my silly, rebellious and irrational decisions :)

Now some pictures I found that reminded me of someone I'm proud to call my mom...