on writing.

Sometimes it's just really refreshing to inspire yourself about your dreams. 

My dream is to be a writer.  I don't know what yours is, but I figure if you like reading blogs, there's probably a little bit of a writer inside of you, and you might like some inspiration of your own. 

 

{via}

happy writing, friends. 

Friday Favorites!

Happy Friday, beautiful people!

I always love Fridays, but this week I welcome Friday with open arms and tell it that I missed it greatly.

Oh Friday, you were gone so long this week.

I have a few fantastic favorites this week, so prepare yourself.

1. AMBER.

I tried to pick which thing from her blog to put in my favorites this week, but I couldn't.  So I just put her in here.

I have loved reading her blog, which I always find incredibly encouraging.  She has such a sweet spirit that truly shines through every blog post of hers that I read.  She also makes really beautiful printables, like this one and this one, which she always offers for free--do you love her as much as I do yet?  I love reading a blog that encourages me and makes me feel happier than I did before I started reading it, and hers always does!

2. Megan wrote an amazing post on what no one ever talks about in the Christian community--having sex before you're married.  Virgin or not, it's worth the read.

3. Messy hair.

Yes, you read that correctly.

I am the queen of messy hair.  Messy braids, messy buns.  All summer year long.

So today I made some hair favorites that make it look like you actually tried to make your hair look cute.

Even though we both know you didn't.

But that's okay, your secret is safe with me.

You can see them on my etsy or storenvy shop.

Maybe one day I will get around to taking pictures with something other than my iphone.
But today is my day off.
So today is not that day.

I would also say "sorry for my messy hair."  But then I would be a hypocrite.  So, I'm not sorry.

4.  My most recent pinterest laugh.  You're welcome.

Happy weekending to you!

you are enough.

"Sometimes I really do hate myself"

"I wish I had a thigh gap"

"One day, I will look like _______"

"Why can't I just be better?"

These are all things I have seen on my twitter feed in the past two hours. 

It breaks my heart to see anyone, especially young women, be so insecure.

We live in a world constantly bombarding us with subtle {and not so subtle} messages on a daily basis.

Even if they are not verbally vocalized.

be skinnier. 
be stronger.  
speak up more. 
be quieter. 
be softer. 
be more tough. 
work harder. 
be smarter. 
buy this so you can be more ____.
be more like her. 
be more like him. 
you are not enough. 
you are not enough. 
you are not enough. 

Little whispers that constantly surround, mock, and overwhelm.
You hear them while watching TV, driving down the road, getting on instagram.
They are everywhere.
And they are lies.
I will say that again:
They are nothing more than lies. 

Stop buying into the lies that say you are not enough. 

You were fearfully and wonderfully made.
You were created uniquely, and with a purpose.
You aren't meant to be more like ____, you are meant to be you. 
There is no reason to chase anything else other than the best version of yourself.
Why?
Because you are enough. 

And when you don't believe that, you do the one who created you a major disservice.

Love yourself.
Sometimes it's hard.
And that's sad, because it shouldn't be.
But you have to love yourself.
Because there is one who loves you far more than you could ever imagine, and I think that it must absolutely break His heart to see that you don't believe you are enough.
To see that your time is taken up wishing you were someone else, striving to be different than you are.

Embrace who you are, for you were made that way for a reason. For a purpose.  For a destiny that only you can fulfill.

You are not merely okay. 
You will not do. 
You are not simply average. 

You are enough.
You are more than enough.
Live your life believing that, because you are worth it.
Because you are enough.

lies.

"Our culture has accepted two huge lies. 

The first is that if you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. 

The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. 

Both are nonsense. 

You don't have to compromise convictions to be compassionate."

-Rick Warren

That will be my life.

I love decorating. 

I love pink.

I love cupcakes and polka dots and lip gloss.

I love sparkles.

I love pretty.

I love getting on pinterest or looking at house magazines and finding new ways to make things pretty around my house.

This probably comes from growing up in a house with my mom (who, as I have told you before, is Martha Stewart 2.0) who decorated for any little holiday, party, sports event, you name it.  I love decorating my house because I love for things to be beautiful.

I saw this quote last week:

I love it.

And it made me think of how I want to make everything around me beautiful.

Not just in my home, but in every area of my life.

How would I do that?

How do you do that?

Is it possible to bring beauty to the grocery store or the gas station?

Or working, can that be beautiful?

Is it possible to make the mundane beautiful?

Can washing dishes be beautiful?

I say yes.

There are things in your everyday life that are just going to happen.

You will do laundry and grocery shopping.

You will do the dishes.

You will go to work.

You will run into happy people, and you will run into rude people.

You have responsibilities to take care of every single day, because this is life and that is what you do.

Why not make it beautiful?

Make it beautiful with your favorite song.

With a smile to the person who cut you off.

Make it beautiful by letting go of the things you cannot change.

Make it beautiful by loving yourself,

And loving those who don’t deserve it.

Make your home beautiful, by all means.

I recommend pink and sparkles and happy looking decorations for anything.

But let that go beyond your home décor.

Let that feeling of pretty seep into you.

Let the sensation of beauty carry over into every area of your life.

Where you not only make your life beautiful, but other’s as well.

Where you make everything around you beautiful.

This is life.

You are living it right now as you read this.

When you finish reading this, you will still be living life.

I hope that you choose to make the life you have been given beautiful.

It is much more enjoyable that way.

 "I am going to make everything around me beautiful--that will be my life."

-Elsie De Wolfe

Today.

Today is a reminder that nothing in life is certain.

That life is short.

So hold the ones you love close, and tell them you love them often.

For there are families tonight that will never get that chance again.

And while you are living the life that you are still blessed enough to have, make sure that it means something.

Here's to you, Boston.  We stand with you.

Legacy.

"What kind of life to you want to be able to reflect on when you are facing death?"

This {sort of morbid} question was posed by the pastor at the church we visited tonight.

And while it's uncomfortable to think about, it's also amazingly inspiring.

I'm turning twenty-one this weekend, and there's nothing like starting a new year to make you reflect.

On what I want to do.
On what I want to be.
On who I want to be.
And, after tonight, what sort of life I want to be able to reflect on when I am facing death.

So.  What sort of life do you want to be able to reflect on when you are facing death?

Uncomfortable, yes.  But also extremely freeing.

Why?

Because you are the one who gets to decide the answer to that question.  You are the one who determines what your legacy will be.  You are the one who decides what people will remember your life for.  What type of mark you will leave on the world.

So what will it be, then?

There are so many choices to make and things to do and so many experiences to have.  I hope you make wonderful choices that lead you great places, that you do amazing things, and that you have incredible experiences.

But at the end of the day, if it isn't ultimately all for God . . . then man, you guys.  It wasn't worth anything.

"I am the master of my fate.  I am the captain of my soul." -W. E. Henley

These words have been replaying over in my mind today.

Yes, I believe that God has an amazing plan for my life.  For your life.
But He has placed the pen that will write the legacy we have in our hands.
What a huge responsibility.
What an incredible gift.

I hope that today you will reflect on what type of life you want to be able to one day look back on.  I hope that you will then decide to start living that life, right this very second.

"For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be who you want to be.  There's no time limit, stop whenever you want.  You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing.  We can make the best or the worst of it.  I hope you make the best of it.  And I hope you see things that startle you.  I hope you feel things you never felt before.  I hope you meet people with a different point of view.  I hope you live a life you're proud of.  If you find that you are not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again."

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

encouraging words and insta-news.

Happy Monday, beautiful people!

It's the start of a week, and you have a choice.

You can choose to view it as a drag.  As the cruel end to your fantastic weekend.  As a hassle.  As a life-sucker.  {I try not to think about Monday's negatively, but when I do, I like to call them life suckers. You're welcome for that.}

OR. 

You can choose to view it for what it is:  a blessing.

A fresh start.  A beautifully blank page.

It's the beginning of a week that is just overflowing with possibility.

What will you choose to do with it?


Also, I have exciting news!  I always find quotes and encouraging words on pinterest that I want to share with all of you, but 1) if I blogged every time I saw something like this, I would never get anything other than blogging done, and 2) I don't want to blow up my personal instagram with these things, because we all know that one person who does that, and we also all know that one person is annoying, and we skip anything they post.

SO.

I created an instagram for my blog!

instagram.com/thegirlwholovedtowrite.

Feel free to follow along if you want to add a little sparkle to your daily news feed.

Have an exceptionally wonderful Monday.

Don't be like the rest of them, darling.

Sometimes, I get super discouraged about blogging.
I read these other blogs that seem so beautiful and polished, always the right amount of funny and serious, with thousands of followers.
I think, "I'll never get to that point."
Which is usually followed by, "How can I be more like them?"

And then, my little blog, which I loved a few days ago, seems sad and not good enough.

Ah, the curse of comparison.

I was thinking on this today, and how it transfers to every area of life.  I joke with my mom that when we go shopping, I usually start the day feeling great about my outfit.  But by the time we've hit a few stores {especially Dillard's, with their perfectly manicured employees working the perfume counters}, I feel like I might as well just have worn sweatpants to the mall because clearly I will never be as fashionable as the rest of them.

The same goes for eating habits.  I've been trying to have a more healthy lifestyle, and part of it is using my juicer every morning.  Lately, I've been feeling pretty fantastic about it.  Well, I just read an article about how you should only juice organic fruit, because all other fruit is horrible.  I can't afford to buy everything organic, so if even my fruit isn't healthy,  I might as well eat McDonald's for every meal for the rest of my life.

This train of thought can go on and on and on.

and on and on and on. 

Let me just put a stop to that right here.

This way of thinking is wrong. 

This way of thinking is a lie. 

You were made to be you.  
You were made fearfully and wonderfully and uniquely.
You were made with a plan and a purpose.
You were made with dreams and desires and passions specifically crafted for your character.
And you are amazing.

Do not try to change that.  Do not lessen the masterpiece that you are by holding it up to other paintings and comparing your flaws to their successes.  Do not weaken the amazing creation that you are by trying to conform into someone else. Don't cheapen the incredible character that God created for you by wishing you could be more like someone else and less like yourself.

Just don't.

Because yourself is one truly amazing self.

And you know what?  Once you stop comparing yourself and your lifestyle to other people and their lifestyles, it is much easier to see just how amazing you are.

So let's all agree to stop the vicious cycle of comparison.
To stop lying to ourselves.
To start enjoying our own amazing, unique, personalities.

No one else is ever going to be able to accomplish the things that you were created to accomplish.  So why would you want to be anyone else?  Why would you want to miss out on that?

"Don't be like the rest of them, darling." 

{via}