Celebrate Your Beauty Conference

Last weekend I was at the Celebrate Your Beauty conference and it was AMAZING!  I got to hang out with so many beautiful women who all appreciate you for your own unique beauty both inside and out!

It was amazing because I felt absolutely no judgement or criticism from any of them!  This is true feminine power my friends!!!  I once was jaded and cynical towards women ~ we can be so catty and critical towards each other sometimes and I had been hurt and wounded before.  But beauty is not a competition!  I believe we are all beautiful!  And I believe in the sisterhood of women! 

See?  Look at these beautiful ladies!!!

We had lots of different classes 

from understanding our own 

gifts and talents through the 

Energy Profiling system, 

to how to accessorize and build an outfit, 

to hair styling,

 a parade of beauty runway show 

and even health and fitness specific to our types.

And the food???

oh.my.goodness!!!

To~die~for~YUMMINESS!!!

I came away with so many ideas!  First ~ that I want to play with colors and patterns more.  Second ~ that there are many layers of self acceptance:

1~ It's OK to be me!

2~ It's FUN to be me!

3~ It is actually a GIFT to be me!

4~ That there is actually a PURPOSE 

for me to be ME!

But my absolute favorite part of the conference was this:

The beauty mantras!  

Remember when I told you mine?  Well, we all brought ours and wrote them on a banner and let me tell you, reading all those declarations of inner and outward beauty in their own handwriting nearly brought me to tears!  It was so remarkably moving!

I was on a high all weekend long!  Let me tell you, this woman can really put on an event!

This is a conference I want to take my daughter to next year!  There was such an amazing atmosphere of love and acceptance! I left feeling truly affirmed, safe and accepted for just being myself. It is such a gift to feel that and I wish every woman could feel that way about themselves. Imagine how different the world would be if everyone truly knew that!

 ~ ~ ~

If you have ever doubted your worth or your own unique beauty, then you owe it to yourself to learn more about the Dressing Your Truth system and how amazing you already are!  It is so much more than just fashion advice!  Then we could hang out together at next years event! 

{images via Thinkfirst and DYT}

Teenage Self Perceptions

Monday was the start of a brand new school year in my neck of the woods!  While eating breakfast that day, my daughter commented about a friend of hers who feels like an ugly duckling.  :(  It's sad because she is a dynamic, energetic and beautiful girl!  But the thing about junior high, is that I totally remember exactly how it felt to be an awkward, insecure little teen just trying to figure myself out.  I didn't feel pretty either. 

It's funny though because last week I began to do some catch up on my scrapbooks and worked on finishing up my junior high through high school pictures.  Looking back now I realized how cute I really was and I didn't even know it!

These days I always get lots of compliments on my smile and guess what!  I had that same great smile even back then!

 Teenage ~B!

Instead of all that insecurity and time spent measuring myself against others, I wish I had realized that I was ok all along!  And not just on the outside!  On the inside too!  I think sometimes we are way too hard on ourselves and we need to learn to practice more kindness.  If you were to talk to your friends the way you talk to yourself, would you have any friends?  The words and thoughts we use are very powerful!

We each have specific gifts and talents we were born with, our core essence if you will, that we were destined to live!  I wish all women and girls everywhere could feel the gift of feeling safe and accepted just for who they are! 

Looking back, 

what do you wish your 

teenage self would have known?  

~ ~ ~

Want some more support?  Watch this:  It's not too late to feel beautiful as a teenager!

Exciting News!

I have been dying to talk about this!  And I think I actually can now!  My husband just took a new job that might help take us back to Brazil in about a year or so!  I am so excited!

~B. in Brazil, circa 1993

We feel really good about this career move.  Moving back to Brazil has been a goal of ours ever since we first got married.  We absolutely love that country!  The rhythms, the people and the scenery really get into your soul!  And I feel like we just took a huge step closer to that goal!!!

So we are getting our passports updated {and getting the kids their first passports!}, getting our house ready to sell or rent {probably rent since the market isn't that great, plus it will give us something to come home to someday} and just getting things in order so that when the time comes we will be ready to go!

And thanks to the movie Rio, the kids are actually getting excited to go too!   I am in love with this movie because it is actually very close to what I remember of Brazil.  The portuguese sprinkled throughout, sounds of samba, the crazy soccer obssession, the scenery, even the monkeys are the same type that used to hang out in the trees outside my bedroom window!

Though my monkeys were on the smaller side and didn't do that funky capoeira dancing like they do in the movie! ~wink~wink~  That would have been cool though!  :D

So for your listening pleasure, I bring you one of our favorite  Brazillian rhythms and songs from the movie!

From Bla to ... Voila!

I played around in my closet a lot last month!

Take a bla, boring, plain ol' tshirt ...

add a little floral clip and ...

Voila!!!

I clipped it to my bra strap to pull the neckline down into a different shape.  I like the little gathers it created around the flower.  So much more interesting, no?

Sure it was a simple change but I love how accessories can totally change a look!  And maybe next time I will switch the look up even more by showing you a less wrinkly shirt!  ~wink~wink~  Hey, just keeping it real for you peeps!!!  :D  Mwah!

Summertime Fun!

What???  It's August already??? 

The countdown to school is already starting.
We still have a lot of playing, swimming,
camping and trips left to fit in!

What have you been doing for summertime fun?

Sorry if I haven't been posting much, or getting around to commenting on your blogs as often.  I hope you all are having fabulous summers!

A New Perspective

My daughter thinks I sure have been blogging a lot about clothes lately so this post will be about something different. Sort of. 

Since yesterday was the last day of my spending freeze on clothing, I thought I'd let you in on some of the insights, realizations and changes I have seen.  It first started months ago when I got rid of my black clothing...

 I forget where I got this image from!

It was a freeing experience to part with something I previously felt so attached to but was able to let go of and in the end realize it's ok. In fact, it was more than ok.  It was painful at first, but I honestly haven't missed it.  Releasing myself from the expectation or beliefs that every woman needs to own a little black dress, or that black is slimming, or that black looks great on everyone was truly liberating to me and the personal style I feel like I am creating!

Well this has been spilling over into other parts of my life as well. What else do I think is necessary that really isn't???  Just like my major wardrobe editing and overhaul I'm ready to overhaul the rest of my life too.   

Now I'm looking at things from a new perspective.  There really is something to be said about clearing out the remnants of former dreams, beliefs and items that make up your life in order to make room for the new direction your current dreams will take you. 

There was a story about a woman who originally had wanted to be an actress.  With some minor successes, she decided to put this dream away in order to follow her true dream of becoming a professional organizer.  Things in her new business went slowly at first until one day she realized that she was hanging onto her former dreams and hanging onto her old acting materials ~ scripts, costumes etc. ~ these items were keeping her from moving forward.  So she got rid of them and then her new business finally started to take off!

I've read numerous stories like this!  I truly believe that when you have a major decluttering that you will see a huge leap in the direction of your dreams.  

I struggled with creating a personal style of my own {rather than trying to copy what others told me I should or shouldn't have in my wardrobe that really wasn't working for me!} for I don't know how many years!  It wasn't until I finally let go of the black that I saw a huge leap in terms of my personal style!

So this month I have been working on clearing things out.  Not just in my closet, but throughout the rest of my house and my life.  I am now poised to carefully make more room for what I do want ~ I am so excited because I feel that incredible things are on the horizon!!!

Huh!  All that from a spending freeze and decluttering, eh?