YOU are beautiful and YOU are enough!

Today’s post is going to be a little different. It’s about a topic that might make some cringe or feel unworthy. This issue has really been bothering me a lot lately and has had quite a bit of media attention over a few years. So I want to just take a moment and share my thoughts.

The issue that has been bothering me is women and girls feeling like they aren’t beautiful or good enough. Well, I’m here to tell you that YOU are!!! There are so many articles out there in the media “fat shaming” or “skinny shaming” this woman or that woman. There are girls in schools calling other girls ugly (starting in elementary school), there are women in the work place talking poorly behind each other’s back about another woman and her appearance. There are woman and even men, who constantly are talking about their appearance and what they don’t like about it, what they wish they could change. And this HAS TO STOP! NOW! I don’t understand why women can’t be supportive of each other. Why do we have to bring others down to feel better about ourselves? Or why do we have to bring others down in general? What ever happened to “girl power”? I think it’s time for a come back!

One thing happened recently that really stood out to me. I was teaching a dance class of high schoolers. We were working on spotting (all you dancers out there know what I’m talking about) and I told the girls to look at themselves in the mirrors and don’t look away until they can’t see themselves anymore. One of the girls said something along the lines of she didn’t want to look at herself because she wasn’t pretty. And I was just dumbfounded for a second and couldn’t believe she had said that. She didn’t have any makeup on and I thought she looked really pretty. I told her to stop because she’s beautiful. Her reaction to that was a little taken aback, like she hadn’t really heard that before and it made me sad. Did her parents not tell her she was beautiful? Why did she think she wasn’t pretty?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I have my issues too, there are some days where I feel like I’m the ugliest person ever and then some days I’m feeling pretty beautiful and confident in myself. I’m only human, we all are. But I want the way we view ourselves to change, for the better. I watched this awesome video about an interactive mirror talking to women and building them up. If you have a few minutes, check it out! There are also the Dove commercials which I really like as well, here’s a cute 48 second one you should watch.

I have a little challenge for you, if you feel like you’re not pretty or that you’re not enough, take a minute and do this:

• Write down 5 things you like about your outward self
• Write down 5 things you like about your inner self
• Write down 5 things that you are thankful for
• Now look in a mirror and tell yourself 5 times that you are beautiful and that you are enough! And if you feel the urge, shout it out! (because you are, you have to believe it now)

** If you’re feeling creative, write down all your 5 things on cute paper and put it in a picture frame to display where you can see it daily and be reminded.

I hope that every woman feels beautiful and feels like she’s enough. We were created in God’s image, He knows every hair on our heads, He created us perfectly. We have to believe that ourselves.

Signing off in the words of Meghan Trainor, “every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top.”

#girlpower

THE Best Hair Tool…EVER!

A little backstory / back info: I have the most sensitive head ever! Always have. I don’t know how many tears I’ve cried or fits I’ve thrown because my head is so stinkin’ sensitive. Even the brush with the bristles that feel like cotton going over your hair hurt, not sure why.

A couple of years ago I used my niece’s brush and thought, hey! This one I can handle. It didn’t hurt as bad to get the tangles out. And let me tell you, my hair gets suuuuper tangly! I have naturally wavy hair, so it’s a daily annoyance and occurrence with the tangles. My niece had the Knot Genie and after I tried it out, I went and got myself one. It still hurt quite a bit to get the tangles out, but not as bad as my normal brush. I would go back to that one just to try it out and had to switch back to the Knot Genie. I do like the design of the Knot Genie, it’s fun!

I don’t really know how this happened, but I was surfing the web one day and came across the Wet Brush. I started doing some research on it and was reading tons of reviews and watching videos on it. A lot of the reviewers were saying that they had the Knot Genie and that this one was so much better. So I thought, hey why not give it a shot? If it promises to hurt my head less, I’m up to give it a shot.

I was going to put the brush on my Christmas list, but then discovered they sold them at Target. I found a really cute chevron print one online that is always out of stock everytime I check. At Target I thought I’d browse through the brushes and what do ya know? I found the chevron one!!!!! You betcha I picked that puppy up and stuck it in my cart. (All I need to do now is a monogram sticker to put on it and it’s perfect!)

And then. I brushed my hair with the Wet Brush…and let me tell you, things will never be the same! That brush is like magic! For real! I sent my mom 10 texts about it, I was so excited! It seriously didn’t hurt my head, at all. (I’m not affiliated with the Wet Brush or the Knot Genie, this is me just sharing my thoughts.) It doesn’t yank at your head while getting the tangles out. It’s kind of weird because you can hear the brush running through the tangles, but it for real doesn’t hurt. At all.

I will never, ever, ever go back to a regular hair brush. The Wet Brush is seriously where it’s at! It’s made for all types of hair, wet or dry, men or women, adults and kids. It’s absolutely ridiculous how well this brush works. The brushes range from $7 to $12. It’s pretty affordable. Especially when you compare it to salon brand brushes.

I want everyone to have a Wet Brush! It will seriously change your life and make brushing your hair way more pleasant. If you or if you know of a child or even an adult who has a super sensitive head, get them or yourself this brush!!! You won’t regret it! I promise!

Workout Gear

So, I went shopping and got new workout gear!! So exciting! I went in with a 20% off coupon to Sports Authority. But when I got there, they were having a ton of sales! It seemed like every rack had a sale sign on it (which I’m not complaining about). So instead of getting something with my 20% off coupon, I took advantage of the store wide sale and got BOGO 50% off. Can’t beat that deal, or pass it up! 😉

WHITE TANK

CAPRI LEGGINGS- I couldn’t find them on the site, but they are Soffee brand.

For the past month or so, I’ve been taking a beginners bicycle class at the Y. I absolutely love it! It’s such a wonderful workout. I’m literally dripping in sweat about half way through (…or a little before then).

After one of the classes I attended, an elderly gentleman came up to me and said I should be in a more advanced class and I was like, oh no! This one is perfect for me! It’s tough! I can’t imagine how much more intense an upper level class would be.

I love biking! It’s so much fun and such a great workout. I think I get my [newfound] love for biking from my Dad, he’s all about biking! Thanks Dad! 🙂

The hubs and I bought new bikes and we’ve been riding them everyday that we can. The other day we went 11.8 miles and were pretty impressed with ourselves!

Is there a fitness activity that you and your spouse or gf/bf or bff do together? Leave your answers in the comment section!

My Top 3 Favorites!

I love seeing different beauty products that people love and maybe giving some of those a try. I absolutely loooove my top 3 and if you decide to try them out, I hope you do  too!

#1: Light Pink / White nails

I love love love light pink / white nails! Can’t you tell from the pic? Lol I love OPI and Essie nail polishes.

I think it’s so classy and elegant! And it makes my wedding ring shine even brighter than it already does! I think that light pink / nude / white nail polish can be worn all year long. I love white in summer, it pops out in the sun. I just painted my nails red yesterday to give that a try, I’m just not a red nails kind of gal, so I’ll be painting them white after I write this post.

#2 Face Wash and Scrub

My face is unfortunately super sensitive and I have only been able to find a few different brands that I can use without my face drying out like crazy. I read in The Skinny Confidential book that she recommends just using a good ol’ fashioned organic / natural bar of soap. I did my research and found one online that had tons of reviews and I couldn’t find a single bad one. So I bought the bar of soap from Target and used it for a month and it dried my face out, like every other cleanser. It was disappointing since it was all natural…

I came across this Garnier Smoothing Cream Cleanser and I LOOOVE it! My skin and complexion are so much better and my skin looks awesome! I also was wanting to try their Blackhead Eliminating Scrub that has charcoal in it. I always read how charcoal is somehow a great beauty product. I also really love this scrub! It smells good too! Actually, they both smell good! For cleansers and scrubs, I think I’ll just be sticking with Garnier. I haven’t been disappointed, yet.

#3 Chloe + Isabel Stud Earrings

I’m the type of girl who usually wears the same jewelry everyday. And these earrings, I wear almost everyday. This picture is a little blurry, but these earrings are so cute! They’re different than your typical stud without a halo. I love the halo around the center stone in these earrings. They capture the light nicely as well. These earrings are a classic that can be paired with any outfit!

What are your top 3 favorites?

Super Simple Easy Peasy DIY

I love anything DIY and crafty! I made this extremely easy DIY to keep my makeup brushes in and I love it!

You can easily make this too and I think it looks great in the bathroom and adds a little bit of a spa feel, who wouldn’t want that?

You will need:

• Small round glass jar (or square) – I bought mine from Michael’s
• Bag of rocks – Also from Michael’s. I know Hobby Lobby has these same items too
• That’s it!

Clean the glass jar before you start, I hate seeing fingerprints on glass. Then, you just dump the rocks in the jar, do this part gently, you don’t want to accidentally break the jar…

Then, add your brushes and voila! New makeup brush display!

Let me know in the comments what you think of this super simple easy peasy DIY!

Wedding Etiquette 101

From Wikipedia: “Etiquette (/ˈɛtɨkɛt/ or /ˈɛtɨkɪt/, French: [e.ti.kɛt]) is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group.”

I’ve been to a lot of weddings throughout my life and have worked quite a few weddings to see enough guests without proper wedding etiquette to drive me crazy! It’s really simple and easy to be an amazing guest! Below I’ve posted a few wedding etiquette rules to remember this wedding season and many, many wedding seasons to come.

• Cellphones: Just put them on silent. It’s not that difficult. I cringe everytime I hear one go off during the ceremony. I’m just like really?! It’s extremely rude to have your cellphone go off during the ceremony and literally takes 2 seconds to put it on silent.

 

• Children: If children are invited to the wedding, keep them on their best behavior. If they start crying or causing a scene during the ceremony, TAKE THEM OUTSIDE!!! It’s extremely rude (again) and very distracting to hear a baby screaming or crying during the ceremony. I’m surprised the bride doesn’t glare at the audience to take that child out!

 

• Invitation: If your invitation says “+ 1” or “plus 1” or “and guest” that means you get to bring 1 person with you, should you choose. 1 person, not 3 not 5. ONE. Having gotten married myself last summer, it’s expensive to feed your guests and if someone says their bringing 4 extra people or just happen show up with 4 extra people, that’s extra money that the couple or the parent’s of the bride are paying for. I had someone show up to my wedding with 4 extra people that were not invited. I was like, uhm…who are you? Cuz I definitely don’t remember inviting you… I also saw other people that were not invited, nor did the person they come with mention that they were bringing these people. It’s very disappointing. Don’t be that person who brings the whole entourage along. There are wedding invitations for a reason, check to see who it’s addressed to and stick to that.

 

• Attire: I went to a wedding this past weekend and it took just about everything I had to not say something to a girl who wore an IVORY dress! That is a HUUUUGE no-no! I was like, how did your mom let you leave the house with a long lacey, ivory dress on?! The bride was wearing a gorrrgeous lacey, ivory dress and looked absolutely beautiful. But that girl who wore that ivory dress on was a little distracting. Also, this girl was like late teens, early twenties, she should have known better. Attention ladies: DO NOT wear white, ivory or cream to a wedding. The bride should be the ONLY one in that color. And besides, there are so many cute summer dresses in amazing colors, wear one of those! I think a girl / woman wearing white, ivory or cream to a wedding is probably the biggest no-no there is. If you don’t know where to go for a cute dress, check out Charlotte Russe, ModCloth, Forever21, Apricot Lane (one of my favorite stores), or Francesca’s (another favorite store of mine).

 

• Photo Taking: The couple has hired a photographer to capture their special day (and I can guarantee you, it wasn’t cheap). Let the photographer capture the special moments. Don’t be in the aisle trying to snap some shots and most certainly, DON’T USE FLASH! It ruins the photographer’s pictures. I heard a photographer horror story where the guests were taking flash photos and the photos that the photographer took, didn’t turn out because of all the flashes that kept going off. So unfortunately, the couple didn’t really get any good wedding photos or any ceremony photos at that. That would have broken my heart if I was that bride. It’s not something that you can re-do. If you want to sneak a photo in, just turn the flash off and be discreet about it, don’t cause a scene and certainly don’t get in the photographer’s way.

 

• Alcohol: Lots of couple’s choose to have an open bar at their wedding. Or at least a cash bar. If they have an open bar, this doesn’t mean drink until you can’t stand up. Open bars are extremely, extremely expensive and yea, it may seem like it’s a free for all, but when guests take advantage of that and get belligerent, it can easily ruin an otherwise perfect evening. If you can’t handle your alcohol, either make sure someone is cutting you off or just don’t even drink. It’s not fun for anyone to have a ridiculously drunk guest in attendance.

 

• Children again: For the love of whatever, PLEASE watch your children! This isn’t some free babysitting night you get. At my wedding in particular, I made it very well known to my wedding coordinator, my mom  and husband that were to be absolutely NO children on the dance floor during the activities going on. During the free dance, it was fine. And what do you know? Children started dancing on the floor during the activities, thank God my mom knew and grabbed a kid off the floor. And luckily my new husband knew and pulled a kid off the floor during the father daughter dance. We had some special moves going on that I didn’t want to whack a kid out. And the attention should be on us, not some distracting kid flailing about around the dance floor. And then what really got me, was during the shoe game that my husband and I played, we had 2 kids right at our feet and dancing around like little maniacs. I was looking around for someone to come take the kids off the floor and unfortunately no one did. So now I have that lovely little distraction during my wedding video. I don’t care if it is family kids or not, keep your children off the dance floor during those little activities going on. Speaking for all future brides out there, please listen to this request, WATCH YOUR CHILDREN! Don’t let them run around on the dance floor like it’s a free for all. Oh and side note, keep their clothes on! My wedding was a classy event and one of the children (as mentioned above) was running around without clothes on. Thanks…

• Bridal Party Pictures: If you are in the bridal party, please smile in all the pictures. Unless the photographer asks for goofy faces. I had one groomsman who shant be named that was basically glaring or had his eyes shut or was making funny faces in all the photos. And made awful hand gestures in a few pics. Now, first of all, my photographer should have called him out on it. And second of all, he should have smiled. This day wasn’t about him. Just go with it and smile. What also makes my blood boil, is that my husband was a groomsman in his wedding. My husband was awesome in all the pictures, he smiled and acted normal. I even set up and helped out a LOT at this wedding, where I certainly didn’t have to. And then to have that groomsman basically ruin all of the pictures that he was in, is extremely rude. So let me end this bullet point with this, if you’re in the bridal party and you’re in a bad mood, get your panties out of a bunch and put on a good face and deal with it. Again, this day isn’t about you, it’s about the couple making this beautiful commitment to each other for the rest of their lives. Don’t be the idiot who ruins the pictures, because those can’t be taken again.

Well, now that I’ve gotten a few things off my chest that really make my blood boil at weddings (if you couldn’t tell)…that’s not where I intended this post to head, but I still think it’s important for people to know.

Basically, just be considerate. Put yourself in the couple’s shoes. This is the biggest day of their life and of course they want it to be perfect! Don’t be a difficult guest. And certainly, don’t be a difficult bridal party attendant. I know that people are becoming less and less considerate and polite everyday. Just don’t be one of those people. Be one of the best guests they had! Take it as a personal challenge. And of course, have fun. The couple wouldn’t have invited you, if they didn’t want you there. As I’ve mentioned a few times before, this is the most special day of their life. (don’t ruin it).

And thank you for reading.

One of the Coolest Things That’s Happened!

I have to tell you this awesome story that happened to me a few months ago. To start off, I am a huge Royal Tailor fan! They are an awesome Christian band who plays fun, catchy, uplifting songs.

I went to Florida on a little family vacation. We of course went to Disney World 🙂

I saw some guys filming a video on one of the water rides. I grabbed my cousin’s arm and was like OMG! THAT’S ROYAL TAILOR!!!! I probably scared the crap out of her. Sorry about that!

They got off the ride and started walking away. I wanted to take a picture with them, but was way too scared to go up and ask them. Sooo, I took this picture of them walking away.

I ended up regretting not asking them for a picture for the rest of the trip. I then and there added meeting taking a picture with Royal Tailor to my bucket list. I was thinking that maybe like 10 years from now that that would come true.

However, I heard on the radio that they were coming to town for a concert! I freaked out and told my husband that we were going to this concert whether he wanted to go or not.

After the concert was over, I was able to meet Royal Tailor and FINALLY get my picture taken with them! I told them about the story in Florida and showed them my slightly stalker-ish photo of them. They didn’t seem to be too creeped out by it though luckily 🙂

Check out Royal Tailor’s music here! They are seriously an amazing band!!