love

Day 5 of 5 Days of Love

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“We just need to be kinder to ourselves. If we treated ourselves the way we treated our best friend, can you imagine how much better off we would be?”

Meghan Markle

I Love Me

I think one of the biggest problems in the world today is that nobody loves themselves as much as they should. We spend hours every day worrying about other people and making sure everyone else is okay, but we seem to forget about ourselves. And I’m definitely one of those people, but I’m going to start loving myself more, taking care of myself before others because there’s only one me in this world.

I love me. I love that I’m hyper-organized and plan everything to the finest detail. I love that I can cook and bake and that I get excited about trying a new recipe. I love that I have blonde hair and blue eyes. I love that I can justify buying pretty much anything and I love that I probably budgeted for it. I love a lot of things about myself and sure, I don’t love everything, but that’s okay. Flaws aren’t permanent, they can be changed or I can find a way to love them and that’s okay too.

Self-love doesn’t come easy and if someone says differently they are trying to sell you something. In my experience the first step to loving yourself is to accept yourself exactly how you are. Now this might sound difficult, but it’s the best way to start because then you’ll have a foundation to build on. Start accepting your crooked toes, your high-pitched sneezes or the way you organize your bathroom. It’s how you operate and who you are and you should accept that. If it’s something that you can change, like the way you organize your bathroom, then change it until you like it, and then accept it. Be confident in you.

Think about your dreams and aspirations and find elements of those dreams and aspirations that you love and go with it. To love yourself you should do things that you love to do and commit to them long term. Then you have stop complaining about everything you don’t love in the world. Leave the negative out of your life, it helps a lot. Promise yourself that you’re going to do that thing and stop doing that other thing. Find a balance in your life that works.

Loving yourself starts with the way that you live your life. If you don’t like certain elements of your life, then you’re not going to be happy and being unhappy will make it harder to love yourself. You’re your first priority, make sure it stays that way.

I’m still working on all this myself, but believe me when you step back and take an objective look at your life and what makes you happy and what you love about you, it vastly improves your self-love.

“Be healthy and take care of yourself, but be happy with the beautiful things that make you, you.”

Beyoncé

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Day 4 of 5 Days of Love

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Have you ever taken the 5 Love Languages quiz?

I Love Quality Time

I took the quiz back in college when the guy I was dating at the time asked me what my ranking of the five love languages was. I had no idea what that meant so he showed me the quiz and I took it. I found the screenshot I took of the results just the other day and it still rings true today.

  1. Quality Time
  2. Acts of Service
  3. Physical Touch
  4. Words of Affirmation
  5. Receiving Gifts

Though I love to give gifts myself, I actually feel weird receiving them. I also feel super awkward when someone compliments me so it makes sense that ‘Words of Affirmation’ and ‘Receiving Gifts’ is lower on my list. ‘Physical Touch’ is also something that I sometimes feel odd about but I do like. I mean who doesn’t like a good cuddle? ‘Acts of Service’ is my number two because I generally like when someone offers to wash the dishes or help me clean the bathroom. But my top love language is definitely ‘Quality Time’.

‘Quality Time’ means the world to me, especially in a romantic relationship. It’s also important to me in all my normal, close relationships. I could care less what we are doing, just that we are spending time together. I love just being with the people I care about because you never know how much time you’re going to get with someone.

Want to spend a day just watching movies and eating junk food? Sounds amazing. How about a day hike? Yes. Running errands, getting groceries, washing the car? Would love to. Quality time to me means that we are together and it really doesn’t matter what we are doing. It could be seeing each other for just an hour or for a full weekend, quality time is quality time and I love it.

Stay tuned for the last day of love!

Day 3 of 5 Days of Love

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Who doesn’t love being in nature?

I Love The Mountains

I always thought I was going to be a city girl and when I left for college I was excited to live somewhere “city-like” and away from the mountains but that excitement didn’t last long. I really thought that I’d like the city more because I was going to be closer to more things, but after spending less than a year in a city I realized I didn’t really like it. I liked being near stores and having access to items instantly, but I missed the quiet, the trees, the fresh air and even the snow.

There’s just something about being right in the mountains where wildlife is abundant and you can get lost driving just 10 minutes away from your house. I also love all the activities that come with having the mountains in your backyard. Hiking, camping, skiing, snowshoeing, you name it, I probably love it.

Now don’t get me wrong, living in the mountains has its challenges, but sometimes they are worth it. I love being up here but it is a bit harder of a life to live. As someone my age, unless you work at a ski resort, it’s hard to make friends and if I need that one item from Target I have to wait till my next trip to Denver. I love being up here but in the near future I am going to move away, but not too far away. I want to stay close enough to be able to escape to the mountains for the weekend because you can’t be too far away from something you love.

Stay tuned for the next two days of love!

Day 2 of 5 Days of Love

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In case you didn’t already know from reading this blog, I love getting cozy with a book and getting lost in another world.

I Love Reading

I love reading and in the past year I’ve even expanded my reading repertoire and have been using Goodreads like a social media platform. I grew up without internet until I was in high school so instead of surfing the web or playing games, I read. My mom always had a book on her nightstand and when I was old enough to read chapter books on my own she made sure I did too.

I was one of those kids that got super excited when the Scholastic Book Fair came to my school and I’d gather up all my savings just so I could buy all the books I wanted. I also borrowed books from my school’s library when I could and when I got the chance to go to the next town over where there was a public library, my mom made sure I was able to get what I wanted. I would definitely say that my love of reading came from her and I’m so thankful for that.

Reading is far different from watching a TV show or movie and I think teaching kids early that reading is fun and not just something you have to do for school is important. The accessibility to books is astonishing and I personally think that everyone should take advantage of that accessibility. When I was in middle school I babysat all summer for a family that didn’t have TV or internet in their house so I spent a lot of my Friday afternoons grabbing as many books as I could at the library so I had something to do the next week. If it wasn’t for that easy access I don’t know what I would have done for those eight hour days.

Reading for me means constantly learning and keeping my creativity alive. I love getting settled with a book that I can read for hours and get lost in the story. I don’t just read novels either, I’ve become more interested in books of poetry, graphic novels and educational books. I just finished a book on how to get organized in every room of your house and I loved it! Right now, I’m rereading the Harry Potter series because why not?

Reading is what you make of it and I know some people don’t read at all and that’s okay, but I don’t think I could ever be that type of person. I hope to read as much as I can for as long as I can because it’s part of my lifestyle and I absolutely love doing it. AND I’m always open to book suggestions so if you have any drop them in the comments below.

Stay tuned for the next three days of love!

Day 1 of 5 Days of Love

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In honor of Valentine’s Day this Friday, I wanted to share five things over the course of the next five days that I absolutely love, love, love. I’ve always believed that Valentine’s Day isn’t just for couples, it’s for expressing your love even more for those you truly care about. I also think it’s great to get discounted chocolate the day after which brings me to Day One.

I Love Chocolate

I really love chocolate. Any type, form, with nuts, with caramel, all of it. Chocolate is my favorite sweet and I almost always have it on hand in my house, and in my desk at work (for emergencies of course). It’s my comfort food, my happy food, my I’m too sad to function food, you name it. If I have any choice of dessert, it’s probably going to have chocolate in it. Here are just a few of my favorite forms of chocolate:

  • My all-time favorite kind is the Lindt Lindor milk chocolate truffles. Literally the way to my heart is chocolate coated chocolate.
  • My favorite cookie is the classic Oreo. No double stuffed nonsense.
  • Candy bar: KitKat.
  • My favorite ice cream is Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food: chocolate, caramel and marshmallow perfection.
  • Cake form? Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting all the way
  • I love hot chocolate with a bit of whipped cream too.

Stay tuned for the next four days of love!