Falling for...Fall

Every morning when I wake up I look most forward to picking out my outfit for the day...

Top: Burberry Brit (new)
Skirt: Talbots Petite (new)
Shoes: Cole Haan
Watch: Marc Jacobs

Look good, feel good  is my personal mantra. It's wonderful to have a reason to dress up! (even if the reason is simply because "I wanna!") Fortunately, my work life allows me to be comfortable, yet requires the business casual look. With that I can mix & match and experiment if I'd like. For someone that has a secret guilty pleasure of preppy fashion blogs, this is the perfect season to try out a new style and mix it with what I know & like. Autumn is all about change - why not experiment with personal fashion?

Florals, reds, and greens galore

My inspiration for this outfit of the day? The University of Pittsburgh's undeniably beautiful campus. Check out the colors of the leaves, green grass sprinkled with light snow & blue skies!

Happy Autumn :)

The Big Picture

I suppose I've made it my mission not only to inspire others but to acheive every goal I've set for myself - one of which had me thinking after 6a hot yoga class with my favorite yogi teacher (he gave me a free class this morning weeee, extra smiles!)

My goal is to be happy, maintain positivity, and just be appreciative of what I've got. The more I think about that goal, the more I realize life can be made up of a million little happy things and a few sad, tragic, stupid big moments. I had a little happy moment this morning as I was walking to my car this am - I experienced a death by happiness when I realized how phenomenal the weather was being lately especially at the 5:45 darkness of morning. If only that could last longer than the 2 minutes that I did get, but it was those 2 minutes that really pumped me up for my 16 hour Tuesday. I was in 110% mode of happiness. 

I know everyone says "it's the little things in life" but truly, it is! Appreciate the little bouts of happiness, string them together and all of the bad moments will be overpowered. Get your favorite latte, listen to an upbeat song, do some work that you must do, talk to someone you like...putting all three of those happy experiences into one day will feel like the best day ever! (even though you still had to do work) Take things in life on a micro level, then step back to really feel it on a macro level. Try it out and let me know how it works out for you. 

Peace, love, & happiness everyone. Happy Tuesday!

Sunday Inspiration on Change

As fall approaches, it’s inevitable to have things stay the same. Someone told me that it’s the springtime – winds of change – that he sees when life alters. For me, I find the fall to be that time. It’s the beginning of a new academic year, and although I am no longer in school, I still feel like I am on that schedule. I suppose having my birthday in September also marks the change, another year completed, another year to look forward to. After graduating, the amount of change that has occurred in the last 5 months is amazing. New address, new job, new opportunity to be a better me, finding myself, creating myself. Other things have changed; my parents don’t need such a big house anymore. The kids aren’t living at home, everyone is growing up and life throws curve balls. It’s going to be weird, no doubt, but I truly know it’s for the best, and I have a feeling it’s going to be better this way. It’s uncomfortable to adjust a lifestyle, even tougher when you aren’t so mentally prepared for it. I’ve also realized it’s incredibly silly to be attached to such material things.

Life stops when change does. I’ve learned to trust the world and accept what comes my way because I truly believe that “everything happens for a reason.”

I woke up in the middle of the night the other day and, in the dark, aimlessly grabbed my notepad and pen and wrote down what was on my mind. It was about change. Today, I attended a yoga class I was not planning on going to until my originally planned yoga class elsewhere was cancelled. I had to get my yoga in for the day, and I tried someplace new and a new technique really. At the end of the class, the teacher read an excerpt that was about life and change. At this point, I knew the theme in my life must be about transformation, adjustments, change. I couldn’t just be thinking about it randomly. (Absolutely nothing in life is ever random in my humble opinion, including spontaneity). There was a reason I thought about it a few days ago, so after this reading, I was insanely inspired to go to the park to write this blog post about it. I simply wanted to share with you all how change is taking place in my life. 

The excerpt was from the book “Journey to the Heart” by Melody Beattie (which I just purchased on Amazon) and I hope it inspires you as much as it has inspired me on this beautiful, late September Sunday. When I find that quote, I will be sure to share it.

**Be open to change - it's usually for the best. And if it's not for the best, then it won't happen. Trust your intuition, & if it's something you can't change then remember, everything happens for a reason.** That is basically what I wrote in the middle of the night...

Your Typical Life Insights Post

Let's be real, how many of us have been reading and sharing all of these articles that provide some pretty powerful and equally "no duh" insights into our lives? Many of these articles and viral blog posts are written by twenty-somethings, because I suppose 30-somethings+ aren't into writing blogs and articles about "looking back" or "giving advice to yourself 5 or 10 years ago". Although reading parent forums and posts get pretty comical & make me never want a child. I also hope no one is 40 yrs old and writing a post about how lonely they are and looking back at their life. That would just be depressing.

So I called this post something bland, it won't stick out, and yet, could trigger some readership. Why? Everyone loves a relatable post. Don't lie, you do. In your head, while reading that "thoughts of a 20-something" post, you are all like "heyyy, that happens to me! Yea, yea, totally agree. Ugh, why is this writer talking about my life. Seriously." But really. I know, been there. Now I will attempt to evoke those same thoughts with this post.

Here is my list of 23 things I have insights about in my 23 years plus 8 days of living...

1) Love yourself. You cannot love anything else until you love yourself.
2) CHOOSE happiness. Yes, it is a choice. No one can make that choice for you. I cannot imagine I used to be a miserable teenager that hated life & just everything during my whole "punk-goth" phase. I feel like I wasted a period of time in my life choosing unhappiness. 
3) Appreciate your parents. Acknowledge their love and guidance and most importantly, their support. I am truly biased towards my family. Family is everything. I wouldn't be anywhere near my dreams without them & they truly want what's best.
4) Prioritize your priorities. Need I say more?
5) Lose the sense of entitlement. You are absolutely entitled to nothing, nada, 0. 
6) Be willing to apologize even if you know you did nothing wrong. It just proves that you are willing to stand down in order to keep a relationship. [and by relationship I mean a friendship, closeness with a family member, a significant other, etc.]
7) College is the best four years of your life. Savor every drunk, hungover, tired, hungry, poor, busy, happy moment. #yolo right?
8) Lose the jealousy. It doesn't help & it doesn't motivate. If you want something make it a goal that you will get it, but don't get jealous because someone else has it.
9) Be Spontaneous. Or as spontaneous as your bank account allows you to be.
10) Save money.
11) Don't think because you finished school, you can't still learn. Keep an open mind and keep learning. Why not pick up a new hobby? Read a random college textbook?
12) Indulge. Once in a while, you'll need it.
13) Don't nit pick. You honestly limit yourself when you are too focused on alllll of the little things that irk you. 
14) Travel.
15) Experiment. This goes for anything. Wanna get something pierced, do itttt. Wanna know what happens if you mix redbull & tequila all night, do itttt. I mean, it could turn out badly, but you also wouldn't know and it could turn out fantastically unless you try!
16) Have no regr@ts. But really, try to have as little regrets in life as possible. It significantly helps to make you happier and you learn from mistakes. Cliche, I know.
17) Keep in touch. The networking and connections you make in life will definitely help you get to where you want to be. I have absolutely no doubt about this insight.
18) Fall in and out of love. This is so you know what it feels like to be obsessively in love with someone and then having your heart ripped out and stepped on. You grow and learn from experiences like these. Everyone should understand these two emotions. Also, it's so you know not to hurt someone the way that someone has hurt you. It suxxx.
19) Have a credit card. I don't care what you do with it. Have one. It teaches you things..like debt and monthly payments.
20) Be Inspired and Inspire Others. A day without inspiration is a day wasted in my opinion.
21) Rule #1: Never get sloppy.
22) Be Thankful!!!! Whether or not you believe in a God or higher being just thank life once in a while. It forces you to notice the good things in life.
23) Have a life motto: (mines changed a few times, and it should!)
- everything happens for a reason. ;) 

Peace, love, and happiness. 

Work hard, play harder

As I begin this journey into the post-grad life, I realize more and more how thankful I am to have a full-time job where I make just enough to pay my own bills and still keep some dough on the side for my entertainment, particularly for weekend brunch & shopping. Yes, I am working those 40 hours a week plus I have two part time gigs on weekends, but that only reinforces the fact that when I can work this hard, I can play harder when I decide it's time to let loose. I've still got a phenomenal work-life balance & still have this fantastic feeling inside of me. I'm excited to go to work because it means I worked hard to get to this next level in life. 

A lot of people want it easy, but that's no fun. When I dropped $100 on a pair of jeans 2 weeks ago, did I feel guilty? Not at all. I felt proud because it was all my money. Not from Ma & Dad and out of their weekly budget for me. Have I worn those jeans yet? Not even close. Still folded in the pretty little bag they were wrapped in. 

Happy Thursday!!

Inspired

Be inspired. But most importantly, inspire others. Give your life a meaning. Don't be selfish, it's not all about you. It could be worse. There are people that can't help others. They are too consumed with themselves. 

I'm not saying don't give a dollar, or donate your clothes, but if you feel like you should be rewarded because you did, then that doesn't count. If you inspire someone to do something, to change, to think differently, then you didn't intentionally mean to. Inspiration comes up in the most unlikely places at the most unexpected times. 

When you just gotta lay back & breath it out

After feeling stressed, it's nice to have the few luxuries of spending time with the people that mean the most to you, relaxing outdoors, and some free time to breath in the fresh air and blow it out with all the insecurities of the recent times. It's hard not getting into a rut where you lose motivation & feel unsatisfied with recent events, but the key is to breathe through it. You're still living and gotta do what ya gotta do. I can't stress enough that each experience is a learning one. (Although, I feel like my hangovers never seem to get any less tougher to get over.) There's a reason for everything!! I truly believe it.

Personally, I'm so lucky to have so much and to have the greatest people surround me. They're my motivators & supporters. So when I'm feeling down, I know they're there to help. So my quotes of motivation are "with no expectations, there are no disappointments" and the following picture...

Enjoy the rest of the weekend! 

Peace, love, & happiness