Falling in love.

I came across a blog post yesterday that I loved.

The world is a confused place, if people are honestly criticizing her body immediately after having a baby. 

Society is out of check with reality. Tina Fey said it best:

"...every girl is expected to have: Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, and the arms of Michelle Obama."

With a standard like that being placed on every girl, it's nearly impossible to not compare yourself to others. 

I wish my hair was as pretty as her's, I wish I could pull off her outfit, I wish my eyes were her color of blue, I wish my legs were as long as hers...

The list goes on and on. 

We're so worried about what other girls think about us, and so concerned with making the boys fall in love with us that we forget to love ourselves first. 

One of my best friends would always tell me, "I love you, but I loved your confidence first." 

Don't get me wrong, I have just as many insecurities as the next girl. 

I refuse to leave the house without mascara on. 

My hair is naturally curly...and no one ever sees it. 

Pink washes me out like no other color on the planet. 

I can't wear some dresses because I just don't fill them out. 

Hats have never looked good on me. 

But, I've learned to be OK with all that. 

I'm perfectly comfortable with the person that I am, regardless of what the world says. 

One of my favorite quotes says, "You are not your bra size, nor are you the width of your waist, nor are you the slenderness of your calves. You are not your hair color, your skin color, nor are you a shade of lipstick. Your shoe-size is of no consequence. You are not defined by the amount of attention you get from males, females, or any combination thereof. You are not the number of sit-ups you can do, nor are you the number of calories in a day. You are not your mustache. You are not the hair on your legs. You are not a little red dress. You are no amalgam of these things. You are the content of your character. You are the ambitions that drive you. You are the goals that you set. You are the things that you laugh at and the words that you say. You are the thoughts you think and the things you wonder. You are beautiful and desirable not for the clique you attend, but for the spark of life within you that compels you to make your a full and meaningful one. You are beautiful not for the shape of the vessel, but for the volume of the soul it carries." 

In a world where celebrities create our own self image, it's tough to be a girl. 

If we live by the world's standards, we will never be skinny enough, tall enough, blonde enough, or curvy enough. We'll never wear exactly the right clothes, or do our make up exactly like we're supposed to. 

Learn to love yourself, rather than the person you think you need to be. 

Enjoy your smile.

Be content with your dress size.

Learn to accept the reality of your eye color.

Fall in love with yourself, your body, and the person you're becoming.  

I think the most important thing a girl can do for herself is to care more about how she thinks of herself than she cares about how others think about her. 

Other people criticize us enough--we have to be our own biggest fans. 

"There is nothing more rare, nor more beautiful than a woman being unapologetically herself; comfortable in her perfect imperfection. To me, that is the true essence of beauty."

 -Steve Maraboli

Weekend Wonders: Three.

SOAR is over. No more small groups, sub sandwiches, or shuttle duty...at least until next summer. Up next? Connections. But first: bridal showers, hair appointments, weddings, job interviews, and vacations. Summer is winding down...but I'm so ready for school to start I can barely handle it. 

A few other things I'm excited about? This weekend's wonders. 

 I want every single one of these pillows.  My bedroom this fall is going to be grey and white...and blasts of color like this. 

I'm making this salad soon. Avocados are easily my favorite food on the planet, and this just looks divine. 

 You'd think having a mom that owns a cake business would make me hate cake...but you'd be surprised how much I absolutely love frosting. Combine cookie dough and frosting, and you have the ultimate girl comfort food. 

 This wall art craft looks like a blast and a half.  I love quotes, and I could easily make a thousand of these for my new room. 

Anyone who knows me even remotely well, knows that I love hairdye. That said, I haven't dyed my hair for almost three months. I have a hair appointment on Tuesday, and I'm STOKED. My cousins have raved about this girl for forever, and I finally caved and scheduled an appointment. I'm loving this hair color; perfectly faded, blonde enough for summer, but keeps the dark I love. Does anybody have any other suggestions for this girl's crazy mane? 

With SOAR over, I only have one job to worry about this week..and maybe even a Bear Lake trip this weekend to plan. Also, a job interview on Tuesday! We'll see how that goes...and then I get to recover from that with hours of pampering my hair. Life is looking real good this week. 

We're in the class A-Team.

When I saw my name on the list of members of the 2013 A-Team, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Of the 42 people, I knew a grand total of one person. I was one of three freshmen, and was so intimidated by some of the people I didn't even know what to do with myself. 

As a freshman, I was sure I was in over my head and was going to suck at advising and helping all the incoming students. I had no idea 

what I was doing....or how awesome this job would be. A-Team isn't a normal summer job. It takes a special kind of passion--or insanity--to work with stressed and frustrated parents for 10 hours a day, eat the same sub sandwiches for a portion of your summer, and let a bunch of incoming students know your most embarrassing moments of college so far. Very few jobs require you to prepare a two hour presentation on dating for 200 students, wear a Walmart-esque uniform day in and day out, or scoop gallons of ice cream every afternoon. Nowhere else could you get some of these people to dance to Sara Bareilles on stage, find so many professional Candy Crush players, or hear the variety of ice breakers we've come up with. No one else understands the true meaning of stub rub, how good it feels to come back to a residence hall where all the students are asleep hours before you thought they would be, or realize how serious we are when we say we never want to eat a chicken caesar salad wrap again. While the early mornings, long days, and angry parents made me question my sanity at points...the  ridiculously late nights, burrito runs, and dance parties made up for the craziness. We're all very different people; we have different likes and dislikes, different passions and fears. We're from different backgrounds, cities, and states. We all want to do different things with our lives, and go in different directions. Despite our differences, we work. We love Logan, we love that we can call ourselves Aggies, and we love Utah State. I don't know how many of you can honestly say you love your job, but I can. It's as rewarding as it is exhausting, and as tiring as it is exciting. We've finished our semester of training, and SOAR wrapped up today. In the last seven months, these 42 coworkers of mine have changed how I feel about school, broken me out of my comfort zone more times than I can count, made me love USU more than I already did, and become some of my very best friends--and I'm so glad I get to work with this bunch of crazies every day.