I am a big fan of Audrey Hepburn. I admire her movies, beauty, grace, poise , and most of all her wisdom. I want to share with you today one of my favorite Audrey Hepburn quotes that I have on the wall in my bedroom:
"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone."
I look at this quote everyday and I'm grateful to Audrey for sharing her positive outlook on life with us. A positive outlook is one of the only things we can choose in life. We cant choose the hand God deals us in life, but we can always choose how we play it. I volunteer my time, during prom season, at A Touch Of Grace, a local boutique store where I live, along side the owner Kathy Lettiere, who is like a mother to me. Everyday that I work I have a new opportunity to speak to young woman with low self esteem and help them to realize that size is but a number, and it's what's in your heart that counts. The other day I spoke to a young girl, size 22, who began to break down and cry in the dressing room because she was frustrated about her size. I explained to her that I was bullied for years. Size does not matter in life, the only size that matters is the size of your heart and the good you can do for others. That is the reason I was eventually able to talk her into being a part of A Touch Of Grace's Annual Children's Miracle Network Fashion show, on March 8th, as a stunning size 22. We as young woman have to know ourselves, and have confidence in our hearts, from a size 00 to a size 32, that we are beautiful, and we must walk down the catwalk of life with poise, and as Audrey Hepburn may say, "the knowledge that you are never alone".
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Friday, February 6, 2015
"Plus size"
As a 17 year old young woman, I am constantly growing. It's safe to say my weight is always fluctuating up and down, one month I am one size, the other I am the next. I think that we are all a little too consciencious of the extra 5 pounds that snuck up on us, or the cookie we had for lunch, but we shouldn't have to be. We all have different body shapes and sizes, I believe that is something to embrace and celebrate about ourselves, it's what makes us unique. In the media especially, we are taught that the 110 pound, 6 foot 2 model is perfect. That is the concept of the "perfect woman" that society wants us to buy into, but that all changed this past Thursday. Sports Illustrated, a magazine well known for their slimmer bikini models has announced that their latest swimsuit edition will be dominated by Robyn Lawley, the first "Plus size" model to ever be in Sports Illustrated. Lawley looks stunning in a orange, printed bikini from her own line (Photo shown below), and is completely working it as a U.S. size 12. Although, the average woman in America is a size 12, this is step in the right direction for the media. Lawley even said in her interview with Time Magazine “I don’t know if I consider myself as a plus-size model or not, I just consider myself a model because I’m trying to help women in general accept their bodies. ” I don't believe there is any speculation in the fact that Robyn Lawley is stunning, but there is a question as to whether or not a normal sized, confident, beautiful woman is considered "Plus sized". Either way, this spread is one big leap forward for Sports illustrated and for curvy, beautiful, women everywhere. You are all Beautiful, no matter what shape or size.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Three words from my mystery person
Hello my friends, old and new, thank you for joining me on my first post!
To those of you who don't know who I am, I am, blessed to be Miss Watertown's Outstanding Teen, I am a lover of pizza, coffee and the right pair of shoes. Although geometry may not be my strong suit I make up for it in a strong sense of fashion and my hope to be a beauty editor. I am a loyal friend, a loving daughter and younger sister who always looks to my older siblings for advice. I am a lot of things and I am beautiful, and so are you. Those three words, although they sound easy to wakeup and say to yourself in the mirror, while dancing to your favorite song, they are not, they are very, very hard. "I am beautiful" was the opposite of something that was easy for me to say or accept about myself, especially with the amount of toxic friendships in my life that aimed to make me feel otherwise. I battled with bullying and low self esteem constantly as I found my way through Freshman and Sophomore years of high school, as many people unfortunately do. To spare you the agonizing details of lunches spent in teachers classrooms to avoid glares, and the remarks about my outfits or hair in the hallways, or untrue rumors specifically aimed to embarrass me, I will cut directly to the chase. I was more concerned with the quantity of friends instead of the quality and that had to change. I finally realized, I had to let go of toxic people, even if that meant being alone for awhile, and that was exactly what I did. One day, I got tired of staying quiet and allowing people to make me feel small, and walked away from all the people who I had been around since I was a child. Even though it was one of the scariest decisions I have ever made, also one of the best. The empty space they no longer took up was soon filled with some of the most, loyal, trusting and beautiful friendships I could have ever imagined. I found people, who to my surprise, wanted to see me succeed, people who found it important to make sure I was okay and who, above all else, made me feel beautiful. That is where I finally fell upon "You are Beautiful" as my motto. And when I say "fell" I mean it. I fell in love with these new people quite unexpectedly, but it was one person in particular that brought this motto to life. This person, who shall not be named (mysterious, I know), was one of the coolest things that's ever happened to me. I used the poor adjective of "coolest" because there is really no other way to describe them, they were just awesome. For the first time. in a long time, I got to be around someone who thought I was pretty "cool" too and worked to help me see that. Even though they are no longer a part of my life and my journey, they were instrumental in it's start. On a Saturday night I spent with this person, as I had done many times before, I was taken a bit by surprise. I arrived to their house upset about something someone had said to me, that seems so far away now, and instead of the usual "Everything will be okay! Head up and smile!" they said something that I will never forget. They pushed my mane of hair out of my face, looked me straight in the eye and said a string of words that changed the way I saw myself till this very day. They said "You are Beautiful, and if anybody ever tries to tell you differently you look them in the eye and you remember what I told you, that you are the most beautiful girl in the world, and I'll always think that." The reason this changed me was because they, full heartedly believed, that I was beautiful, even when I didn't. The way I talked was fine, the way I walked was fine, the way I thought about things was finally fine, and I was beautiful. All it took for me to believe it, was someone believing it enough for the both of us. So that's what I want to do. I want to believe that "You are Beautiful" enough for everyone, and help people realize that sometimes all it takes is just one moment of extreme honesty to make some believe that they are worth it, and if that's what it takes, then that is what I will do. I truly believe that what I have battled, and been through, is a blessing in disguise. It has built me into the kind of person who knows what it feels like to be told you aren't worth it, and also knows what it feels like to be told you are, and that every young woman deserves to be told, and shown with intense honesty, that they are important. So I guess I will be the designated stranger to people, who feels it's her job to make them realize they are beautiful, in case they don't have the mysterious person I had to do that for them. And if that's all I'll ever be "the mysterious girl who told me I was worth it and made me believe it" then I'm okay with that. I'll do it every chance I get, so that someone, finally, has the chance to wake up, look in the mirror and think to themselves "I am beautiful" and be taken by surprise when they finally believe it.
- This is my story and the reasons I am so passionate about spreading the "You Are Beautiful" campaign to as many people as possible. My goal is for EVERY woman to hear these three words everyday and believe in her heart, that it is true. Thank You. You Are Beautiful.
To those of you who don't know who I am, I am, blessed to be Miss Watertown's Outstanding Teen, I am a lover of pizza, coffee and the right pair of shoes. Although geometry may not be my strong suit I make up for it in a strong sense of fashion and my hope to be a beauty editor. I am a loyal friend, a loving daughter and younger sister who always looks to my older siblings for advice. I am a lot of things and I am beautiful, and so are you. Those three words, although they sound easy to wakeup and say to yourself in the mirror, while dancing to your favorite song, they are not, they are very, very hard. "I am beautiful" was the opposite of something that was easy for me to say or accept about myself, especially with the amount of toxic friendships in my life that aimed to make me feel otherwise. I battled with bullying and low self esteem constantly as I found my way through Freshman and Sophomore years of high school, as many people unfortunately do. To spare you the agonizing details of lunches spent in teachers classrooms to avoid glares, and the remarks about my outfits or hair in the hallways, or untrue rumors specifically aimed to embarrass me, I will cut directly to the chase. I was more concerned with the quantity of friends instead of the quality and that had to change. I finally realized, I had to let go of toxic people, even if that meant being alone for awhile, and that was exactly what I did. One day, I got tired of staying quiet and allowing people to make me feel small, and walked away from all the people who I had been around since I was a child. Even though it was one of the scariest decisions I have ever made, also one of the best. The empty space they no longer took up was soon filled with some of the most, loyal, trusting and beautiful friendships I could have ever imagined. I found people, who to my surprise, wanted to see me succeed, people who found it important to make sure I was okay and who, above all else, made me feel beautiful. That is where I finally fell upon "You are Beautiful" as my motto. And when I say "fell" I mean it. I fell in love with these new people quite unexpectedly, but it was one person in particular that brought this motto to life. This person, who shall not be named (mysterious, I know), was one of the coolest things that's ever happened to me. I used the poor adjective of "coolest" because there is really no other way to describe them, they were just awesome. For the first time. in a long time, I got to be around someone who thought I was pretty "cool" too and worked to help me see that. Even though they are no longer a part of my life and my journey, they were instrumental in it's start. On a Saturday night I spent with this person, as I had done many times before, I was taken a bit by surprise. I arrived to their house upset about something someone had said to me, that seems so far away now, and instead of the usual "Everything will be okay! Head up and smile!" they said something that I will never forget. They pushed my mane of hair out of my face, looked me straight in the eye and said a string of words that changed the way I saw myself till this very day. They said "You are Beautiful, and if anybody ever tries to tell you differently you look them in the eye and you remember what I told you, that you are the most beautiful girl in the world, and I'll always think that." The reason this changed me was because they, full heartedly believed, that I was beautiful, even when I didn't. The way I talked was fine, the way I walked was fine, the way I thought about things was finally fine, and I was beautiful. All it took for me to believe it, was someone believing it enough for the both of us. So that's what I want to do. I want to believe that "You are Beautiful" enough for everyone, and help people realize that sometimes all it takes is just one moment of extreme honesty to make some believe that they are worth it, and if that's what it takes, then that is what I will do. I truly believe that what I have battled, and been through, is a blessing in disguise. It has built me into the kind of person who knows what it feels like to be told you aren't worth it, and also knows what it feels like to be told you are, and that every young woman deserves to be told, and shown with intense honesty, that they are important. So I guess I will be the designated stranger to people, who feels it's her job to make them realize they are beautiful, in case they don't have the mysterious person I had to do that for them. And if that's all I'll ever be "the mysterious girl who told me I was worth it and made me believe it" then I'm okay with that. I'll do it every chance I get, so that someone, finally, has the chance to wake up, look in the mirror and think to themselves "I am beautiful" and be taken by surprise when they finally believe it.
- This is my story and the reasons I am so passionate about spreading the "You Are Beautiful" campaign to as many people as possible. My goal is for EVERY woman to hear these three words everyday and believe in her heart, that it is true. Thank You. You Are Beautiful.
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