Personal: Liebster Award.

Hello, gorgeous people! Last week I had the honor of being nominated for a Liebster Award by the lovely Kelly of Amourtera. Today, I was finally able to take a breather and put together this post! The Liebster Award is supposed to be for blogs under 200 followers, and I applied that rule in terms of Bloglovin' followers, although those I chose may have well over that number on other social media platforms. Thank you so much to Kelly! I had a tough week and this award really brightened it a bit! Please know that if I nominated you, I truly enjoy your blog! 

Here's how the Liebster Award works:

It's an award for blogs that have under 200 followers, designed to recognize and increase exposure.

First, thank the blogger who nominated you for the award. Then, answer the 11 questions they asked you, nominate 11 new bloggers, and give them 11 new questions to answer. The last step is to let the 11 new bloggers know you nominated them!

Here are Kelly's questions and my answers:

Q: When did you start your blog?

A: I started my blog in 2012 (when I went off to college) as a creative outlet and way to deal with being out on my own for the first time. 

Q: What's your favorite band?

A: My absolute favorite band is OneRepublic. I get a lot of crap for it, because apparently they're really basic or whatever. Someone told me that they were my favorite band...along with every other semi-young girl's favorite band- to which I say... they've been my favorite since Apologize. So I get fangirl seniority. 

Q: What's your favorite makeup brand?

A: I don't wear that much makeup, but I suppose I see myself gravitating towards Maybelline whenever I purchase something new.

Q: What's one trend you are tired of seeing?

A: I'll probably never be able to get behind culottes.

Q: If you could travel back to any moment in time, and re-live it exactly the same, what would it be?

A: This is super cheesy, but my prom night was perfect and I wouldn't mind doing that all over again. 

Q: What's your favorite quote?

A: "Everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together." -Marilyn Monroe 

Q: What are you most proud of?

A: I'm going to be graduating university next fall with zero debt, so I'm pretty proud of that. 

Q: If a zombie apocalypse were to happen right now, where would you go and what would you bring?

A: I'd go to Eastern Europe and party with the vampires. And I'd bring every episode of Orange is the New Black and How to Get Away with Murder.

Q: Would you ever skydive?

A: Maybe one day. But it would have to be with someone I trust a whole lot. 

Q: What's one goal you have?

A: I want to get into a competitive graduate program and further my education. I just haven't decided if I'm going to tackle that right after college or wait a few years. I would also love to work for Buzzfeed or Cosmo. I've wanted to work for both of them for the longest time!

Q: Who is one person you look up to?

A: Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York is my absolute role model. He is a kind, generous soul and a great example of the ways in which we can use the Internet to make the world a better place.

I nominate these beauties: 
Kaitlin of 5ftave. Andrea of Andrea's Devotion Nieszka of Sparkle + Chic Hana of Sweet Chilli Adry of Adry on the Daily Tina of Just a Tina Bit Stefana of The Pretty Blossoms Katie of The Aisle of Style Ok, so I may have nominated only 8 people instead of 11. However, everyone I nominated has either been in my Bloglovin' feed for a while or within my bookmarks, giving me the perfect excuse to finally organize those and follow the lovely ladies that have impressed me with their creativity.  Here are my questions for the recipients:
1. What inspired you to start blogging? 2. If you could raid any three celebrity closets, which ones would you choose and why? 3. Who is your celebrity crush and why? 4. What is your dream job?
5. What is one place (anywhere in the world) you recommend visiting? 6. What does your favorite day-to-day outfit consist of?  7. What are your favorite stores and websites to shop at? 8. What are your favorite TV shows?  9. How do you calm yourself down when you are stressed out? 10. Where do you find inspiration? 11. What is something you've always wanted to do, but were too afraid to? I hope you all decide to take on the questions, at least for my sake! I love being inspired by fellow bloggers and discovering new brands, shows, tricks, etc. through them.

Thank you so much for stopping by, and thanks again to Kelly! 

Opinion: On "23 Things to Do Instead of Getting Engaged Before You're 23"

A few weeks ago, my Facebook news feed was bombarded with shares of “23 Things to Do Instead of Getting Engaged Before You’re 23.” In case you missed it, here is the original link: 23 Things to Do Instead of Getting Engaged before You're 23. I’ve never been angrier with anything I’ve read online, so I figured I’d get this rant out of my system.

            I’d like to preface this by saying that I don’t know where I stand on getting married young. In fact, I clicked on the link because I was genuinely open to ideas to try out before turning 23. Upon reading the article, however, I was severely disappointed.

            This article is listed as a personal opinion, but it stopped being just that the moment this ignorant girl put down her peers in order to make herself feel better. This girl likes to pretend that she sees some holy light that all of her inexperienced baby-popping friends fail to acknowledge. In reality, her immature approach and closed mind prove that she has no business telling people what to do.

            With the Millennials, I have begun to- as she put it- notice a common thread- we tend to actively look for ways to screw up and label them as “finding ourselves”. And if there comes a moment when our friends, God forbid, figure themselves out before we do, well, it’s okay. We can just judge them and criticize them for having the adult thing down. Besides, they’ll get married and spit out babies in no time. THEN WE CAN FAT-SHAME THEM!

            Don’t get me wrong, I am beyond grateful to be living in a world where screwing up is allowed and even encouraged, but some people are abusing this privilege. When did it become ok to shame those brave enough to start life alongside another human being and celebrate those who YOLO through it without a care in the world?

            This Millenials’ rights advocate lists inexperience as the reason young couples choose marriage. She seems to believe that as soon as you tie the knot, your life is over. There’s housekeeping and pregnancy written all over your forehead. She seems to believe that colleges and grad schools don’t accept married people, and travel visas are awarded based on your marital status. She seems to believe that you have to screw a lot of frogs before you come across a prince. She seems to believe that young people use marriage as a safety blanket rather than as what it is intended to be- a manifestation of love.

            But maybe, just maybe, some people decide to go through life’s steps quicker than others. Maybe they’ve experienced more in their 23 years of life than she has. Maybe they’ve found themselves, then found somebody they want to share their lives with- ya know, get passports with, adopt a pet with, eat mad amounts of Nutella with, and even hang out naked in front of a window with. Meanwhile, she can go about her life toying with people’s emotions and waiting to see when it will blow up in her face….because that’s what experienced, highly educated risk-taking people do.

            The bottom line is, there is nothing wrong with her for being single. There is nothing wrong with her married Facebook friends for being married. There is nothing wrong with anybody, as long as they’re productive members of society and they choose to live their lives in ways that work best for them.

P.S. Saying “I do” is probably a much higher risk than anything on her irrelevant list.