Be soft.

Getting hurt in life is inevitable. It will happen once, and then happen again. After being hurt so many times, I often hear people say "I'm used to it." 

To be honest, I'll never be used to being hurt. And I truly think it is sad that some people do get to the point where they're so used to being constantly hurt that they no longer feel emotion. So many people have described me as being a strong girl. While that may be true on the outside, they can't see or understand what I'm feeling on the inside, or even see me when things become too much to handle. While feeling helpless and upset isn't the best experience to go through, I never want to become used to it. 

Life is full of emotions. Some good, and some bad. But life is a test and our emotions are a lesson. Don't ever apologize for how you feel. Don't build a wall around your heart just so you don't shed a tear. Crying shouldn't be seen as a sign of weakness. Tears simply mean you're alive. Tears show that you've been too strong, for too long. 

It is truly a shame that people no longer make it a priority to treat people the best that we can. Life is rough, we all know that. So why try to hurt others when we know how hard living day by day is? We are confined by the walls we build around ourselves. I say, stop building. Be open. Don't become jaded and bitter about life. 

Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let the pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place. 

Respecting yourself

Respect. Next to love, it is what everyone wants. No one wants to be treated badly. But did you ever stop to think that a fraction of how you are treated depends on how you treat yourself. Don't get me wrong, I know I've talked previously how if people treat us badly, it does not mean we are bad people. While that is true, how we treat ourselves sets the standard for how others treat us. If you don't respect yourself, you can't expect anyone else to respect you.
 So what exactly does that mean to respect yourself? Remember in Mean Girls when Ms. Norbury says "you've got to stop calling each other sluts and whores. It just makes it alright for guys to call you sluts and whores" ? She's exactly right! I know you think it's funny to call your BFF a whore but would you really like it if a guy called you that? Uhm, no! But just by calling yourself that or allowing a friend to call you that makes it seem like a casual word instead of something I'd never want to be called. 

Another way you can respect yourself is to control your emotions. I know this is a hard one, especially if you're angry! Don't let your mood dictate your manners. This is something I've recently learned but I'm so glad I did! If someone is mad at you and is slandering your name and reputation, let them. They're making a fool of themselves anyway! A true lady wouldn't do that, only a child would. Handle your defeats, failures and short comings with the grace of a lady instead of the grief of a child. And frankly, if you feel the need to badmouth someone after they've hurt you, you've felt that way about them all along. Always remember, what Susie says of Sally says more of Susie than Sally.
In addition, a woman that respects herself would not lower herself to talk negatively of others personal problems. If you know about someones personal problems, they trusted you enough to tell you. By exposing someone else's problems, you're displaying that you don't respect your friend and that you also don't respect yourself. You should feel honored that your friend told you, and you really shouldn't betray her trust. However, maybe she did not want to tell you in the first place but your constant nagging made it impossible. Respect her and yourself to leave the issue alone if she wishes not to talk about it. 

Be modest! But don't confuse modest with dressing like this: 

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I'm not saying you shouldn't show skin at all, but keep it classy. Wearing super short shorts and a revealing top just screams: HEY, LOOK AT MY BODY, ONLY TALK TO ME BECAUSE OF MY BODY AND ONLY "LIKE" ME BECAUSE OF MY BODY. OH AND I LOVE ATTENTION. 

Just no. 

Gentlemen are few and far between these days. But that's because we don't make them rise to that level! Girls are so easy to give away so much, so easily, that guys don't have to work for it. Leave a little to the imagination! Focus on one body part to show off and downplay the rest. I don't know about you but the thought of a guy liking me for such a shallow reason just disgusts me! There is so much more to me than my body and I want someone to like me for my heart, not my appearance! 

Another tip, ladies, control your liquor. There's no issue with going out and having a good time, just make sure you're aware of yourself and who you're with. Sadly, guys prey on drunk girls hoping to hook up with them. Letting this happen just shows you don't respect that you deserve better than that. It is sad that guys take advantage of girls in this manner but its our job to put an end to that! 

In time I hope to continue on this topic in a separate post! 

Do you think self-respect is declining? 

4th of July!

Happy July, everyone! I woke up this morning and I was amazed that it is July already. I feel like this summer has gone by so fast! Thankfully, I have 2 more months left before fall semester starts. Although July has just started, it looks like it is going to be an amazing month! I have a few concerts to go to and I'm also seeing The Little Mermaid musical downtown! Of course, I'll do other things as well the rest of the month. :)

One of my favorite things about July is the 4th of July. I love watching and photographing fireworks, having cookouts, and going to our local arts festival. This year will be no exception! Here are some pictures I found that celebrate all things red, white, & blue!

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Patriotic funfetti cupcakes, just like I'll be making for my girls at work!

(mine)

Fireworks I photographed a few years ago on the 4th!

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Love love love sparklers!

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Love this festive mani! It celebrates the holiday without being tacky ;)

Hatred.

Hate. You always hear people say hate is a strong word. Yet, it is thrown around so easily. Talk to any distressed girl and she'll give you a list of things she hates. But does hating something really solve anything? Nope. 

Listen, I'm a girl, I know what its like. It's okay to dislike certain people. Even if its people that once meant a lot to you. But, you have a choice to hate them. If you don't like someone, just ignore them. Quit creeping on them, quit trying to ruin their life, and quit trying to be better than them. Seriously. Not only is that an immature way to deal with the situation, hating them is only hurting you. Hating and resenting someone is like drinking poison and expecting them to die. No matter how maturely you handle the situations life throws at you, things won't always work out. People will be cruel, irrational, and disrespectful. But don't even devote energy to trying to "get even" with them. Karma will take care of it much better than you ever could. Trying to hurt them just like they hurt you is just negative energy that will consume you. Besides, no girl has ever made herself great by showing how small someone is. <3 

Learning.

Personally, I think we should never stop learning. Learning helps us all to grow. And I don't mean learning from academics, I mean learning from life. I firmly believe everything has a lesson and everything happens for a reason. While the lesson isn't always clear when something happens, I think time has a way of revealing the lessons that we have learned. The past few months have taught me so much, and I've made a serious effort to learn from every situation I've encountered. 

1. You never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. Cherish and don't take those moments for granted. 

2. Always leave those who are important to you with loving words, because you never know if  you'll see them again. 

Short post today but those two mantras have been weighing on my mind lately. 

What have you learned recently?

Currently Loving

When I woke up this morning, I knew I just wanted to write. Having this blog has become my release, my way of talking about whatever I want. Sometimes, my post are almost like informal letters to someone or even myself. As of recently, there are a ton of things on my mind that I could write about but I'm going to hold off on that for a little bit longer. Instead, I'm writing about what I'm currently loving. Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate. 

This simple reminder. 

I've always been in the mindset that if I'm a good person to someone, they should reciprocate. However, that hardly happens. Instead of getting angry about the way they're treating me, I just need to remember a few things. 1. They way they treat me doesn't change my worth because they cant see my value. 

2. Let the pain make me better, and not bitter that there are few good people out there.

3. Remove people from your life that make you miserable more than they make you happy. 

This hair color. 

Okay, this needs to be my hair. Like ASAP, like now. My hair is naturally a medium brown with natural highlights. I feel like this "bronde" color would look awesomeeeee on me. The girl in the picture is glowing and the blonde highlights just brighten up her whole face. 

This saying. 

Simple, yet so true. Surround yourself with quality people and everything becomes magical. 

OOTD

Morning, all! Today I wanted to share a past outfit of the day. I wore this outfit while I was in Massachusetts .  On this day, we traveled to the North Shore and stopped at a few coastal towns along the way. All of our stops were so charming and really encompassed what New England is all about. Every time I look at the pictures, my heart aches to go back. 

Tank: Loft

Shorts: Lilly Pulitzer 

Sandals: Sam Endelman for American Eagle (n/a). Similar