"One day I had to sit down with myself and decide that I loved myself no matter what my body looked like and what other people thought about my body." - Gabourey Sidibe

This is going to be a more difficult post to write because I do still struggle with this every single day. But, I have the most supporting and loving boyfriend, who is constantly sending me sweet messages, encouraging me to love myself. And shoutout to him because it is our 4 months today, small milestone but it's been so wonderful.

1. Change your inner voice

Replace negative thoughts with positive ones. Shift your focus from what your body looks like to what it does, and what it can do. Tell yourself how proud you are of what your body can do, positive thoughts will outshine the negative ones. 

2. Surround yourself with positive people

Positivity spreads like wildfire. Having negative people in your life will reflect within you, someone else's body hate will influence you, and how you think about your body without even really realizing it. Also, stop "fat talk" among friends, support each other on not-so-confident days. 

3. Look good, feel good

Feeling good internally can boost your self esteem and confidence. Take care of yourself in ways hat make you feel good, if you don't like going to the gym alone, try taking a zumba class and it gives you a new chance to make new friends. Identify parts of your body that you love, and focus on those parts on days that you don't feel confident. 

4. Dress to impress

Wearing your favorite clothing pieces, and dressing true to your own personal style and this will give you confidence. Personally, heels are something that definitely give me confidence, they help me to be more conscious of my posture, and hold my head high. Another tip that works for me is to wear matching bra and pantie sets. I'm not sure why,  but knowing that they match brings me confidence.

5. Accepting compliments

This is something that I find really hard. Especially on days where I don't feel pretty and I get a compliment my first thought is "yeah, right" but I need to remember that someone is complimenting me and that they do think I'm pretty and I should accept it gracefully. And they can definitely boost your confidence. 

Image found here

XOXO, 

Kelsey

{Fashion} Small Haul

HELLO BEAUTIES- I've been sick for the past week so apologies for not posting anything. Today I have a small haul from last weekend for you. If some of you have been following me for a while you might remember a post I did about a Boutique in Carlise, PA. Link to post HERE. We once again went to the same boutique and then ended up at another one as well and so I wanted to show you my purchases.

These two items are from The Clothes Vine. Super gorgeous and I can't wait to wear them. I've been wearing the ring when I am not working, but the headband I haven't worn yet. I actually want to wear it with the scarf that I bought at a different store. The headband was $5 and the ring was $9

This is the scarf I want to wear the headband with. It is a circle scarf and it seems like high quality. It was originally $22 but it was on sale for $5. I got it at the Time Bomb, it is a boutique that sells vintage clothing, accessories, and some home decor items. It was my first time being in there and it was really pretty cool! I can't wait till I can go back. 

The other Item I purchased was this blazer also from The Time Bomb, it was on sale for $2 so that was a steal. And when I tried it on my sister really liked it on me so I thought that I would get it. I think that this would be perfect to wear for a client presentation with black dress pants. 

So that is all I purchased. Small haul, but I am looking forward to putting these items in my closet, and I love each piece. Hope you all are having a fabulous day! 

XOXO

Kelsey 

{Fashion} 4th of July Weekend Haul

HELLO LOVELY READERS- Today I have a haul for you from this past weekend. I flew, with my Sister and her boyfriend, to visit my boyfriend. And of course, we did LOTS of shopping so here we go.... 

I LOVE statement necklaces, seriously they are my favorite staple. And So the first two necklaces (left to right) are part of the 2 for $10 deal from Charlotte Russe, and the necklace on the far right is from Forever 21 and ended up being like $0.83

Silver necklaces are what looks best with my skin tone, but I have a ton of gold ones anyway and all three sets are layered ones so I'm guessing that will be a huge trend for fall. So the two necklaces on the outside were part of Charlotte Russe's 2 for $10 and the middle necklace was from Forever 21 for $5.50 I believe. 

Can you tell I love Charlotte Russe? I found these shoes on sale for $5.00 Such a steal. I wore them on the plane ride home and they are SO comfortable. And super cute.

So what is a haul without Target Dollar spot stuff? Everything was a dollar except I believe the stamp set was $3

A Forever 21 find for $6.50. I thought this was SUPER ADORABLE and I had to get it. It reminds me of Kate Spade. 

A couple hair accessories from Hot Topic, part of the buy one get one half off. The headband was $8.50 and the bows, $6.50 half off. 

Back to Charlotte Russe again, they had a ton of scarves on sale for $1.99 a piece. Who can beat that?! The pink, white and red scarves were all this price. 

Another Forever 21 Purchase, this is going to be the purse I take along to Ireland in 2016. It was $22.50

Forever 21 was having a buy one get one free sale and I took advantage of it getting this black vest and the next 3 items. 

Ed Sheeran tee was a total splurge at Hot Topic, but I LOVE Ed Sheeran and I hope to see him in concert in September so I had to have this. 

So that is about everything, I forgot to add what I got from Bath & Body works, and a book I bought but I'm sure you will see them in a post soon. 

Hope you have a wonderful day! 

XOXO, 

Kelsey 

{Lifestyle} Goals V. Realistic Goals

HELLO LOVELIE PEOPLE OF THE INTERNET- I have not disappeared, no no. I have been busy with working, and the past holiday weekend I flew to see my boyfriend, and it was amazing and was crazy busy and I bought lots of clothes and do-dads (post on what I bought within the next 2-3 days), and I had such a lovely time.

Today's post is about setting goals. I read a quote from Shape Magazine when they interviewed Hilary Duff for the May cover, and she talked about "Keeping it {workout goals, etc} simple, and realistic". And that got to me. I'm sure all of us do this, we set goals on December 31, ready to be a new person the following day on that fresh start of a new year... and how many of us fail those goals? Our fitness, financial, romantic, etc etc etc goals. Or we do it for a month, but don't see results and we quit. I do that with various fitness routines. I often find myself quitting after only a couple weeks because "i didn't see the results I wanted." And when I read that quote it hit me that maybe I am going about setting my goals the wrong way. For example; I want to loose weight, and I would like to loose around 30 pounds. But if I say in 6 months I will have lost those thirty pounds, but in reality at the six month mark I only lost 20, I would be disappointed. So instead of saying 6 months, 30 lbs down, If I go. I will try to loose 5 lbs a month for 6 months. Saying it like that is more motivating, realistic, and you reach the goal date, probably more successful. Breaking a big goal, into smaller more achievable goals is what will help you be successful, and not just in fitness. (* The idea of breaking down larger goals into smaller goals was from Lara Casey's "Make it happen" book, but I didn't really put two and two together, and have it really click until I read the article on Hilary Duff.)

1. Write down CRAZY dreams/ goals- ones that you think are super unattainable, irrational, totally "out of this world" I wrote down a bunch of goals that I thought were crazy and totally out of my league. Ideas that I could almost only dream of doing.

2. Take those crazy goals and come up with similar more realistic goals For example say a dream goal for someone might be having a super fancy big house. And then realistic goal might be to have a comfortable decent sized home. Or to have lots of money, but a realistic goal would be to have  a comfortable amount in the bank to feel secure.

3. Make steps toward realistic goals Write down the goal and list a few steps you can take to reach that goal. So you can use the example from above of setting smaller month to month goals for loosing weight before hitting a 6 month mark, or if you want to start a blog you would break down steps like 1)research what type of blog to create 2) research content ideas for said blog 3) research platforms 4) choose name for blog 5) decide on how to design, pay for it vs. DIY vs. pre-done free etc 6) choose platform, pay for domain name if desired 7) register and create blog ... Etc  Breaking the goal down into easier steps helps get "the ball rolling" so to speak, and you will feel great checking off each step as you do them!

I hope this post was interesting to you all, and I HIGHLY recommend Lara Casey's book, link HERE for it on Amazon. Please let me know what you thought! I appreciate the comments!

XOXO

Kelsey 

{Fashion} Top 10 Summer Pieces in My Wardrobe

HELLO GORGEOUS READERS-

I am very excited to bring you a post inspired by minimizing my closet, and only really wearing what I love. When I got home from school in may, I went on a cleaning rampage. I have gotten rid of 6 garbage bags full of clothes and 3 garbage bags of just stuff... it has all been donated to a local charity and it feels so good! I've been scouring Pinterest for ways of maximizing my wardrobe without breaking the bank, my closet space or hangers lol and I ended up pairing down my closet based around the idea of a Capsule Wardrobe. I don't really have a specific set of clothes for summer as it is because I wore a uniform during the summer in high school, and I have to wear jeans and basic tee shirts to work now. And I also haven't had the confidence to rock cute summer clothes, but that is for another day. Now, these pieces are just for the top half of my body. So this does not include jewelry, scarfs, jeans, skirts, pants, etc. Just tops.
You might notice that there is kind of a similar color scheme going on, and that is because I have based my wardrobe around my coloring, and discovered most of the pieces I gravitated towards most, were ones that are perfect for my coloring, in case you want to know, I am a Winter. So I look better in blues, blacks, grey, purple, and honestly a lot of my wardrobe is that with the occasional pop of color. So here we go:

Black sheer blouse, I got this thrifting so I don't know where it is originally came from but I wear it endlessly and it is so chic. I do have to wear a tank top because it is very sheer.

This has been one of my favorite pieces since I bought it. This was a $5 find at Target while I was at school and I wear this all the time. I've worn it for presentations for my fashion classes and for Client Presentations in Graphic Design.

This is another thrifted piece that I love dearly, the color looks great and the gold accents hit the spot.

Gotta have that pop of color, this goes great under my cardigans or I have a couple of blazers it looks great under as well

denim shirts + leggings = perfection

This i actually got in Boise, Idaho in 2013 from Ann Taylor Loft. I have another one in dark blue, that is currently put away in a box with my winter sweaters. But this white one I think is definitely all year round. with the short sleeves it works well into the spring and summer months. 

Got this at a store near my hometown that sells name brand clothing at discounted prices and i have to say that i wear this ALOT

I know that this looks odd hanging up but this cardigan, (sorry another thrifted piece) is SO flattering and I wear it with everything

Vintage tee from Old Navy, soft, comfortable and classic. plus this color and the one below look good on me. I have this style of tee in probably 5 other colors but these two and a grey one are the ones that I wear the most. 

All of these items are basic. Easily mixed and matched and that is something that I truly love about the whole idea of a capsule wardrobe. 

More on this capsule wardrobe experience soon.

XOXO, 

Kelsey 

{Beauty} My Favorite Summer Nail Polishes

HELLO WONDERFUL PEOPLE- Today I have a peek into my nail polishes, with a few of my favorite colors that I return to weekly during the summer. Recently my nails have just been white, but today I painted them a blue-green color, "Go overboard" by Essie. Hope you enjoy this quick peek!

Apologies for the messy bottles, but they are well loved so that is alright<3

XOXO, 

Kelsey 

{LIfestyle: Book Review} Make it happen by Lara Casey

HELLO BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE- Happy Friday! I am sure you all are just as excited as I am to have the well deserved weekend here. Today I have something a little different for you but awesome all the same and that is actually a book review. It is not a fashion or art book, but a book on Christian Life for Women.  Now, if that turns you away, that is not a big deal, but at least read what I have to say about the book, because it DOES have helpful ways of taking control of your life and living the life you have dreamed of and really desire. {BTW, my nail polish, if you are wondering, is "Go Overboard" by Essie}

Let me tell you, this book has changed my life. If you are a Christian, you know your walk with Christ is SO SO SO important, and sometimes it is hard to feel connected to Him, and there are occasions you might feel like going "where are you"? By praying, reading, and working through this book with lots of my notes and prayers and personal comments, I feel closer to Him. I am one who really feels connected to God through really good books, and this was definitely one of those books. I am going to let my best friend, Kate, read the book and once she is done I am going to re-read it because it just has really changed my life. {And can you like pause for a moment with me on how GORGEOUS this cover is!? I'm in love}

Lara tells her story throughout the book, through trials and errors and lots of experience she is working to figure out what God wants her to do with her life, and getting to read her story is really quite inspiring to me. The last paragraph on the back cover says "Your time has come to take a leap of faith. Join me as we surrender our fears, end the chase for perfection, and say yes to cultivating the meaningful lives God desires for us." 

End the chase for perfection. That line ended up being part of the reason that I choose this book. I'm sure all of us, I know I do this, compares ourselves to others... a lot. So much more than we should, and it is sad that we do that. Because we shouldn't. Each of us live a little differently, and we end up jealous of other peoples "perfect" lives we see on Instagram and Facebook and all those social media sites. Social media is good for some purposes, but there is a darker side, that leads to insecurities, jealousy and unhappiness. I admit to trying to take the "perfect" photos for Instagram (I prefer Instagram over Facebook anyday), and it is so unhealthy for me. I need to be thankful for my own life  body, family, job, choice of career, physical state, etc. And if I don't like something, then I need to work on making what I want happen. And that is what this book helps me to do. There are sections to answer questions in the book, and at the end of each chapter there are "Take Action" boxes where she gives helpful, I would say "prompts" to get to on your way. 

This book is phenomenal. I've never done a book review before, so I hope I covered it okay. 

Was it a good book?

YES
Would you recommend it?

YES

What did you like about it?

I would say my favorite thing was Lara's story, and how real she is and so personable. She struggled too, so to see someone elses struggles turned into a success is amazing. 

What did you dislike?

I loved everything, there was not one page I didn't like. 

XOXO, 

Kelsey