Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Steppin' Out

I am so bored of all of my skirts and dresses and I don't have very many to begin with.  I've never been very comfortable in them so I never like to spend money on them only to have them hang in my closet unworn.  This past Memorial weekend however; I wanted to dress it up a little for fun and now on a single family income I have to get creative!  I took my favorite green skirt (my favorite color!) and wore it as a high waist skirt instead of the hipster that it is intended to be.  I wore it with my old old old black and white polka dot shirt.  The heels are kind of old school with the round toe and short heel and the whole outfit together felt almost vintage which I loved!  I actually remind myself a little bit of Rachel from Glee here...not in my physical appearance (clearly!), just the short skirt with the high waist.  lol Do you see it??

(now bear with me as I go off on a rambling tangent)
There are things about my body that I don't love.  I know, I know...think what you will but, I know we all have those things.  I won't bore you with mine, well, really I don't want to tell you and then have you look at the picture below and agree or disagree with me! hahaha.  But, the one thing that constantly gives me confidence to step out is the knowledge that I am only young once.  The body that I have now, that I constantly critique is only getting older by the day.  I am finally at a place in my life where I realize I have to embrace all of me.  I need to embrace my youth and my body.  There is a certain peace that comes with age and I like it.  Contentment.  I would like to add that I try to avoid scales, mirrors and magazines and certain TV shows.  Not all the time of course as that would be impossible but, I keep those things to a minimum.  The way I see it...if those things are not helping my confidence then they are hurting me and ultimately they are toxic influences in my life.  I want to keep things around that build me up not that tear my esteem down.  I totally realize each person is different and perhaps some people have no insecurities whatsoever....could you please leave me a comment if this is you and tell me what your secret is???  But...for the rest of us both men and women it is important to embrace who we are.  Discover your gifts and use them.  Highlight your features that you love.  Look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself that you are perfect just the way you are because God makes no mistakes.  For every lie you hear in your head about who you are, speak 5 truths to counteract them.  Sorry, this is the psychologist in me!  Just wanted to encourage all my beautiful friends out there.  You are ALL beautiful, just the way you are! xoxo

And lastly...I just watched Toddlers and Tiaras on my Netflix account simply out of curiosity.  I wanted to cry more than once while watching this show.  Please don't think I am judging and if any of you have entered your child in a pageant I do not think less of you as some of the moms are really sweet and down to earth but, some of them are just downright sad.  How could a mom force her two year old, who is dying to take a nap to power through a full day of performing.  She is screaming and miserable and being dragged on stage.  All she wanted to do was crawl into her stroller and sleep. I wanted to go hold her and tell her it was okay and that she didn't have to do any silly competitions.  Just be a little girl little one.  No make up, no fake hair or tans; just soak up your childhood and innocence...but, alas it isn't my call to make.  What are your thoughts on subjecting a child to pageants when they are clearly not in to it?

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skirt: Old Navy two years ago
Shirt: Don't even remember it has been like 6 years but, I think Ross
Shoes: Target several years ago
Bracelet: Um, sorry too long to remember
Necklace...ummm, shoot I have no idea. ARG. sorry.

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26 comments:

  1. That outfit is adorable!! And currently being 32.5 weeks pregnant, I would love to have your body right now. Seriously! You are too cute for words. :)

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  2. casey! you look adorable & so happy! i love it!

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  3. First of all, beautiful post about embracing yourself and realizing that we're children of God and we're perfect. I love it!
    Second... Toddlers and Tiara's. I almost can't even talk about it because that show makes me so angry. I agree with you 100%.

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  4. i love this outfit!!!! and your post regarding embracing your body and god's gift! after pregnancy, i gained like 60 lbs. and i just never believed the scales. i always felt good about my body. after losing "some" weight and looking at the old photos. that's when i believed i was heavier. (does that makes sense) haha. my thing is though my hubby is same height as me so i gave up my heels (on my own) when i got married. that was so hard for me!!! just so happy that flats never go out of style!

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  5. Cute outfit!!! I love those shoes, too!

    I have a skirt from Old Navy that looks almost just like that in army green - I think the waist is a little different, though.

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  6. I would definitely wear that outfit! I love it. Gosh I really need to go shopping soon it's been a couple of months for myself :( :( :(!

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  7. I love your outfit, LOVE IT!!! And on the subject of embracing what that body looks like today? Yes, yes, yes!!! The past few months I have noticed change in me and it does take that brain to a new place....and then those baby pageants, don't even get me started....baby's need to be cuddled and pure with all things. Play, makeup, and hair. It shouldn't be allowed in my book.

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  8. Wonderful post, Casey! I think you look amazing. :) No, my daughter will not be participating in pageants. Not a fan.

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  9. You are so beautiful and the outfit is so cute!!! Love reading your post!!!

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  10. Casey you look adorable!!! We'd never know that outfit was 'old school'. Hey sorry about being MIA lately. After several tries of the blogger fix I tried something else and alas it worked. Anyway I'm baaack.

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  11. Girl, you'd look good in a potato sack! Watching T&T is like watching a train wreck!

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  12. You look adorable. And T&T...the times I've watched is more about curiosity out of human behavior and more about the parents. I couldn't imagine doing that to such a small child. Sure if they're a ham and love it at 5-7 years old...okay but small babies and toddlers? I don't get it.

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  13. Love the GREEN....so bold and beautiful with your blonde hair. You are such a beautiful lady inside and out!

    I haven't seen the show, but TV is littered with show titles that make me ill/sad when I begin to even imagine what there about.

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  14. You are so adorable and hip. You definitely have it right about where we are in life. I constantly remind myself that I am never going to be this young again. In 10 years I'll look at photos of me at 33 and think "you were so young!" I try to embrace that.

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  15. First of all, you look so very cute! Love the entire outfit.
    Second, watching those toddler pageants makes me sick to my stomach every single time. There are so many things that are not right about it, and I really think that its borderline to child abuse. Personally, I think it should be illegal to do that to your baby.

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  16. That's such a great color for you! When I first saw this post my hubby was with me and he was wearing a similar green polo shirt with black stripes, I told him we should mail it your hubby so he can coordinate with your outfit. lol

    I saw the previews for the show you saw...I don't understand how they can put their little girls threw so much at such a young age. I think little girls are growing up way to fast now a days.

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  17. I LOVE that skirt--it's so fresh and summery!

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  18. Your outfit is so cute! Very tasteful and you're too funny with the ages of the pieces, lol. I love what you said about embracing yourself. It's true there are so many influences against our self-esteem it's good to counteract every negative lie with 5 positive truths as you said! We need all the reminders we can get. As for the T&T pageant, I haven't watched it but from what you described, it sounds sad. Poor little toddlers don't belong in a pageant! They need to run about freely and be embraced for who they are - not forced to perform like that.

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  19. Did you really want my opinion? Having watched that show and also having had a friend put their daughter in modeling (same age as Bray and who actually has a super active acting/modeling career) I just dont know. I feel like modeling can be done tastefully, but that it rarely is, and that when you have to put makeup on children, and get them fake teeth and hair, it's gone way too far. Our beauty is on the inside, not on the out, and no matter what the extreme, I feel like even if you do modeling and pagents very carefully its a super thin line to cross with children and letting them know where their true beauty lies. I think it's also really easy for parents to compromise their beliefs in that industry and take it too far. They may start out doing it just for fun, with the opinion of not allowing makeup and stuff, but if their kid is good at it, I can see (and have seen) them allow more things to fly. I don't shop at stores like Victoria's Secret, Abercrombie, or Hollister anymore for the same reasons. We're allowing and promoting a culture that sells beauty. I'd rather have my kids judged on a good science project, on memorizing their Bible verses, and mastering a sport. Just my 2 cents...time a billion ;)

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  20. total rachel berry! :) you look hot mama!!

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  21. My best friend was in baby beauty pagents, but that was before the age when they actually start doing things to them, it didn't seem to scar her for life, but her mom also took her out of it before very long because she didn't like what happened to the older aged toddlers.
    Hey, I love you Casey,
    Love your sister. :)By the way, you look beautiful. I'm so glad I look like you.

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  22. You are adorable!! I love that bright green skirt. And I am SO with you on the young body embracing phase. I may not be totally happy with my body now, but it's only going to start going downhill from here! Haha!!

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  23. Casey, you are absolutely precious. I have that skirt, but mine's brown...I like your green one way better! That second shot of you is so cute!

    As for T&T...I have some pretty strong opinions. The majority of those mothers (not all, mind you) are exploiting their children to make up for some odd void they feel in their lives. I think that sexualizing toddlers is highly immoral and dangerous. And to what end? None of the pageantry adds anything of value to their precious little lives that something like ballet, sports, or arts wouldn't. I just don't get it. Okay, I'm off my soapbox! lol!

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  24. I loved your rambling tangent ;) I've recently tried remixing/reusing different things in my closet in the same way and love it. I love that green skirt!

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  25. With all of the focus on being young and beautiful in the media, it can certainly be hard on all of us. But please let me just say that you look GREAT in these photos! That green just pops and says summer!

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