MARSHMALLOW FIRESIDE. SERIOUSLY.

What? What?!

Two blogs in one week? I'm on a roll.

As everyone knows, it's fall. The leaves are changing, the air is getting cooler, it is acceptable to wear boots, Halloween is just around the corner, and girls everywhere have invaded Starbucks to get their hands on the pumpkin spice latte, (which I have not had enough of). Fall is my second favorite season, summer being the first, and I am welcoming it with open arms!

The season makes me feel good. It might just be because the start of fall is actually a reminder that Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are going to grace us with their appearance soon. Seriously, I can not WAIT to get my hands on some candied yams and pumpkin pie. My stomach will be eternally grateFULL. BAH! Get it? No. Okay, moving on.

With the holidays getting closer, it's also a reminder that midterms and finals are coming up as well. I mean can we all just take a second to pray for me and all the other students who are coming out to have a good time but are feeling attacked by what feels like mountains and mountains of endless paperwork? Most of the time I don't even know what I'm writing about. It's as if my brain goes into overdrive and types out what my subconscious is holding.

 If you're not like me though and are having a little trouble getting into the end of the year spirit, I have some ideas that should help get you in the mood!

1. Go to Bath and Body Works and buy all their stock of Marshmallow Fireside candles, sprays, lotions. JUST BUY IT ALL.
2. Go get a Pumpkin Spice Latte. I mean you know you want to.
3. Visit a pumpkin patch and crunch some dead leaves in your hands. I'm sure the feeling of death will definitely get you in the spirit of being grateful. Grateful that you're alive unlike those leaves!
4. Eat a pumpkin pie...or 5.
5. Eat more pie.
6. Get an ugly Christmas sweater and rock it. Seriously, wear that same sweater every day of December.
7. If you're single, buy some mistletoe and stand around people you find attractive. They're obligated to kiss you. It's a law.....somewhere.
8. Bake cookies and then eat them all. Don't share.
9. Pretend you're dying and see if your dog tries to save you. If they don't, tell Santa that they need to be on the Naughty List so that they don't get any presents this year.
10. Put on the scariest costume you can find, sit outside on your porch, pass out full bars of candy, and scare every single child under the age of 10 BUT not under the age of 2. I mean, you wanna scare the living daylights out of them, not have them commit to therapy for the rest of their lives.

And that's it! I hope my little list helps get you as excited as I am for the holidays!


- Lis

Let's Not And Say We Did.

It's been awhile! 

I think it's really funny when people ask "oh, so when are you and your boyfriend going to get married?" Or "when are you and him going to have kids??" Stop. Let me stop you right there. 

Although I applaud those of you who have gotten married young and now have children, because come on, that takes some serious courage; I, for one, am not ready for that. I think it's great that you have found your one and only at a young age and are now caring for cute kids with chubby cheeks! However, that is not the life for me. 

Although, he and I have been together for quite some time, we have no intentions of being married to one another at the moment. Nor do we want kids. I know there's this "baby fever" going around but he and I both got the vaccine for that and are completely immune. 

It is very important to both of us that our 20's are focused primarily on our goals, dreams, and our kind of excitement. I'm not saying that your child's first steps aren't exciting, I'm saying that exciting to me right now is road trips with great friends, trying new food, rock climbing, living in an apartment where I can freely walk around half clothed with a fridge stocked with Angry Orchard, and hopefully in the near future, sky diving out of a plane. 

I can honestly say that I enjoy my guy's company, support, and friendship. I can even say that I feel a love for him that exceeds a love I have for any other person. I know my friends see it, I know my family sees it, but that doesn't mean we are going to get married soon. We make faces everytime someone mentions it. It's not because we don't love each other, we just don't want to! 

We joke around often about marriage and babies, and it usually ends with a lot of laughter and both of us rolling our eyes and telling the other to "shut up." Children are scary anyways. They jump off of things, put unidentified objects in their mouth, and literally just this afternoon, we talked about babies who have SIDS. SIDS! That's some scary stuff that I am NOT prepared for! Not to mention carrying around another human who is basically a parasite in my uterus for 9 months just isn't that appealing right now. Or at any time. Seriously, congrats to those of you who have already had kids. You're the real MVP. 

So our families (and friends) can relax, I am not going to be making anyone a grandma or grandpa anytime soon. Unless you include my dogs because in that case, then you're already a grandparent. 

Lastly, to my wonderful boyfriend, let's not get married. I'd rather have you by my side jumping out of airplanes. 

- Lis

Let's Get Physical...The Exercise Kind.

Hello again internet!

Today I decided that I want to look and feel healthy. I realized that I have so much energy in the middle of the day but I don't put that energy to good use. I use it to binge watch Grey's Anatomy and New Girl, but is that really what I should be doing? (Yes, but I'm an adult now so in reality the answer is no.)

I have never been one to regularly go to the gym. I tried my freshman year of college, but I couldn't muster up enough motivation to keep up with it. I also tried running at the park and focusing on DDP Yoga. Let's just say, I wasn't into it. To me, working out is so incredibly boring. I need to find a routine that I can work at my own pace AND have fun doing it.

Why am I telling you this though!? It's because if I don't make it public that this is what I want to do, then I won't do it. There won't be anyone to call me out and say "Hey! I thought you wanted to go out and get healthy?! Get off your butt and keep going!" So, that's where you all come in. You can be my peanut gallery. *buh dum tsss* Get it? Because peanuts are good for you? Ha!

Anyway, I wanted to share that I have reached that point in my 20's where I have set a goal to get healthy. I'm not a complete failure though. I rarely drink soda and started drinking more water and tea. I started realizing that I actually do like some veggies. (Veggies and I have never been friends). And I started looking at ways to change my diet. I will not, however, give up late night pancakes or waffles. I said I wanted to get healthy, not send myself into a spiraling depression. 

Lastly, I'd like to add that there is a difference between working out to be healthy and working out because of another individual or group of people. Choose to be healthy. It's way more fun noticing the progress you made for yourself instead of nitpicking and not knowing if the progress you made is good enough for someone else.

Honestly, it's going to be a long, tough road ahead but I think I am ready. If you have any tips or tricks, feel free to let me know! Hopefully, Future Lis will be proud of my accomplishments!

Until next time, Lis.

P.S. Future Lis, I am so incredibly sorry for the soreness that is about to come...        

You Are A Stunning Art Piece, Here's Why.

Hello, can you hear me now?

How about now?

I have been away from writing for quite a bit of days and the reason for this is simply because I had absolutely no idea what to write and school work was catching up to me. I apologize for the long wait but in all honesty, you can't rush a beginner writer.

I literally got inspiration for a new blog post by reading the comments left on a recently updated profile picture of mine. Now, I'm not going to give out any names because you don't really need to know, but what's important is what was said. The comment was made in regards to that person having low self esteem from seeing my picture. No! Unacceptable! That is not a compliment for me. It does not make me feel good knowing that you don't feel good about yourself.

Here's the truth behind that picture, I was simply having a really great day! My hair turned out the way I wanted it to, my make-up was decent, and most importantly, my eyebrows were on point. I felt good about myself and snapped a picture and then decided that I needed to update all of my social media on my good face day. In all honesty, I probably felt that I looked great on the outside because of how great I was feeling on the inside. Seriously, that day, after a phenomenal day in class, I had spent the afternoon with my boyfriend and the night with my IHOP-every-week group of friends. Who wouldn't feel fantastic for all of that?

Realistically, lots and lots of girls, and lets not forget boys, have low self-esteem. It is because we are forced to look at manufactured perfection every single day. Unrealistic body images and photo-shopped faces are plastered all over the "walls" of our everyday life. Imagine you actually loving the body and face that God painted just for you. As an aspiring artist, I wouldn't want someone to hate the artwork I made for them.

It's time to break down that "wall." Tell yourself that you are beautiful or handsome, or drop dead gorgeous and then go tell someone else that. I am not saying that I don't have any doubts about myself, because I am not perfect, no one is, but I'm saying that when I see a girl who I think is stunning, I'm also telling myself that I look stunning too.

I have dry, oily skin. I have split ends. My eyebrows are either really bushy or sparse. My teeth are crooked. My face breaks out once in a while and leaves acne scars. I am not the skinniest person. I have jiggly thighs that touch. I do not have the sought after breast size and toned butt that men are looking for although I will never ever understand the appeal. My feet are longer than most and I think my nose is too big for my face. I am not perfect but I believe I am beautiful. And you are too.

So stop.
Wear make-up because you want to.
Work out because you want to.
Eat right because you want to.
Wear that outfit because you want to.


Eat an entire box of pizza because you want to. Although I am hoping that you'll share with me.

Until next time,
Lis.  

 

P.S. For the person who inspired this post, I hope this changes your mind.