High Fashion.

Let's be honest, I spend a fair amount of time; online shopping, browsing Pinterest, reading LaurenConrad.com, Marie Claire, W, and Elle. I may have a slight problem with shopping, but what girl doesn't. Right?

Of course, I wish I had every glamorous dress, sexy skirt, and luscious Levi's I spot hanging in my closet. It's natural. But, I pinch myself for a subtle reminder that my funds are limited. Then, I must thank myself for being a sensible shopper, for getting good deals and versatile pieces. Fabulous can happen on a budget. Once you establish a decent wardrobe the fun is being able to put together unique outfits.

The perfect closet doesn't not automatically mean the perfect you. The key to fashion is confidence. Confidence, not only in the outfit it took you hours to hand select but in yourself, mind, body and soul. Sometimes I like to wear things that don't normally go together or that just don't seem to match. But, I enjoy it. If you are confident in yourself you can pull of anything you are wearing. Once you exude self-confidence no one will question your fashion statement outfit.

To look gorgeous in an outfit does not mean that you splurged on the most expensive designer piece you could find. This just means you now only have one super expensive piece, rookie mistake. To look gorgeous in an outfit you have to love yourself. To love yourself you have to care about your health. Health is not only physical, it is emotional, and mental.

Being physically active and eating right can improve all aspects of your health. I know, another theory on how to live fit. But, hear me out I think I may be doing something right. Anyone that knows me knows that I spend a fair amount of my time eating. Guess what, that's ok. I am able to eat what I want when I want simply because I live an active lifestyle, make healthy decisions, and limit myself on the deliciously bad foods. Yes, I'm going to eat two cookies, but I really don't need a third. That does not mean two cookies a day after each meal either. In making the right food choices for your main meals each day you allow yourself the flexibility to have a cookie once in awhile, or enjoy some pizza with your non-green eating significant other every now and again.

Try it, begin your day with an apple, black coffee, and some greek yogurt peanut butter dip. Once you begin your day making the right choices it is easier to keep it up the remainder of the day. I am not here to tell you all you can eat is fruits, vegetables, and lean meats. I am hear to tell you that the majority of your meals need to consist of these things. Skittles is not wrong when they say "Taste the Rainbow," they just have the wrong rainbow.

Ok, so about the physical activity, this is the part where I tell you to start running 10 miles a day right!? Wrong. I am aware that not everyone has time to go out and run miles. I am also well aware that many people cringe at the thought of running and just give up on being fit all together. Running is not the only result producing exercise. Yes, running is an effective method of cardio, it does make you feel awesome, exhausted and fulfilled once you are complete but there are other ways to do cardio exercise and see results. Remember those old fashioned jumping jacks we used to warm up with. Those are still effective, when executed correctly.

For example, when you wake up in the morning and you have 15-20 minutes before you have to start getting ready; do some jumping jacks. Seriously, a basic exercise like jumping jacks, or high knees can help you out when executed correctly. Tighten your core muscles and stay tight while doing as many jumping jacks you can do in a minute. These exercises are a great warm up to lead into stretching. Another few basic exercises I continually utilize are push-ups, plank, and lunges. Never forget to stretch! Stretching each morning and each night before bed will make you feel great. It is relaxing and makes your muscles feel amazing and acknowledged.

If you take the time and initiative to care about your health the results are worth it. This world we live puts much emphasis on self image. To obtain a  rewarding self image you must love yourself, be confident, and healthy.

Eat light. Travel habitually. Live honorably. Look Fabulous.
Kaylie Davitto

Heartache

Currently my heart physically aches. I am struck with empathy for those I know that just recently lost a parent, or two. Loosing a loved one is never easy, you experience so much emotion. My advice to anyone that is dealing with such a situation, is feel those emotions. It's ok to cry, sometimes it's even necessary, you have to break down to build yourself up again, even stronger. Loss is sad. I don't believe the pain or sadness of losing a loved one ever really goes away. We are just able to subside it so that we can continue our lives. Obstacles in life make us stronger. These two particular people I have in mind have not had the easiest time yet they are still optimistic and I respect that to the upmost degree.

Then of course you have the news which is never happy or good. People in other countries are suffering greatly and living in fear of their lives. We have people in our own country that want to do harm because they are angry. Where is the love?

I think of all this tragedy and it makes me feel grateful. I am grateful for the life, health, loved ones and employment I have. It also makes me feel annoyed of those who are ungrateful. I understand life can be a drag and seem monotonous sometimes. But damn at least we are still living! For those of us still living we need to do something productive. Generations all have their nicknames given to them from other generations. From what I hear we are referred to as the "Entitled Generation".  We should all strive to change this and make ourselves known as the "Transformers". Transform our world into a more loving, accepting and peaceful place. We can all begin by doing something nice for someone. This by no means has to be a grand gesture, sometimes just holding the door open for someone with their hands full is nice. We can all be optimistic, but we must be active to achieve the goal.
So this is a call to action: People appreciate what you have, love those around you, accept those that are different from you, even when its hard and most importantly love yourself!

STAND UP. GET OUT. DON'T YOU REALIZE. YOUR STILL BREATHING, YOU'VE GOT ALL YOU NEED. - Yearbook Committee

2013

(sigh of relief). I think everyone gets excited for the New Year. It is full of possibility, opportunity and its just plain shiny and new. This is the time to take charge, forget about the mishaps from last year and grab 2013 by the testicles. 

 A motto my ninja sister likes to go by is, "love all, trust few, and paddle your own canoe."It is simple, sweet and to the point. But like many things in life, easier said than done. The concept I struggle with is to "love all". I am a very loving person, but this is something I am going to work on this year. I have many positive ideas and ways to be helpful. I just have to remember to keep my focus on the positive things I am passionate about. Seems easy enough, the catch is I sometimes get hung up on others ignorance. I am aware that I will not always have the same beliefs, opinions, or ideas as everyone else. What my sister made me realize is that I need to concentrate on the positive and keep the negative out. I should be courteous of others ideas and not always waste my positive energy by creating negative energy. Negative energy only takes you back, and this girl is moving forward. 

 So as far as New Years resolutions go this year I will be trying to "love all". To those people that are saying they are going to work out and eat healthy this year, DO IT! You can, take it one day at a time, no one ever said you needed to work out 5 hours a day and only eat salad. We all have things we can improve on, the only way to make progress is to get up and make it happen!

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air." - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Be Proactive.

    I have the luxury of having some great friends and family that gracefully assist me through the obstacles one encounters during the exploration of environment, life. They keep me grounded while allowing me to exist as my own being. That being said, I am realizing more and more that no matter how much support, and help you have from your social network it is up to you to make things happen.
    Yesterday I got to enjoy a nice lunch with my newlywed friends that are enjoying their baby free lifestyle. They have a few more years of  life experience than I do so I appreciate their thoughts. They share a very realistic outlook on life that is refreshing.
     I am continuously being faced with the question of what my plans are after graduation. I still have about a year to make a final decision, but there is no amount of time that can prepare you. You have to be dedicated to your decision regardless of how long you pondered on it. So like many of my conversations go, our lunch conversation turned toward talk of the future. Luckily I enjoy discussing with my friends about future plans. Particularly these two, they have experience. When you graduate from college it seems you are faced with two decisions, get a job or keep going to school. I have been leaning more towards continuing my education. They had previously advised me to look into different colleges other than ISU, nothing against ISU they each received their undergrads from there. It is very beneficial to attend another university to build your network and gain experience from different professors with individual views. I have been asking around, mostly to professors about what they advise and most of them agree that a different experience is better, some though believe life experience is what you need.
    I like the sound of life experience. But, I also love the idea of continuing my education. I am attempting to figure out how to go about this. I know that I want a job that allows me to travel and write. So this is my first attempt at being proactive. I am going to keep up with my blog.

Madrid

This past weekend Shaun and I got to visit Roma, Italia. It was a dream come true. Both of us had been wanting to visit Italy for a long time. Walking around Madrid you see many old buildings that are amazing. But nothing can compare to Roma. Seeing the Colosseo was awe-inspiring. It is astonishing that they could create something so magnificent in 80 a.d. Everywhere you look in Rome is gorgeous. We went to the top of the museum of the fallen soldier. We had an astounding view of the city. Also the food in Roma is so delicious. I have never had such succulent pizza and wine.
We are finishing up our classes this week and will be taking our tests on Monday. I feel that my Spanish has greatly improved from the immersion, but there is always room for more improvement. We have had such a great experience here, it will be a bittersweet departure.

Madrid

         We have had the opportunity to visit two wonderful museums so far. We went to the Prado first which was art before the 20^th century. Next we got to visit the Reina Sofia museum, which has more modern art. The most impressive piece of art to me was the Guernica by Picasso. When you see it in textbooks it doesn’t look anywhere near the size it actually is. The painting is massive and so emotional.  They even display progress photos of the painting. The Guernica didn’t make it to Spain until the 1980’s. Picasso had said that the painting was for the Spanish people but he didn’t want it there until there was a true democracy. We also got to see some Salvador Dali paintings. He was very eccentric with most of his work. Though one of my favorites of his is of his sister, standing looking out a window at the ocean.  It is amazing how much history is in Spain. 

         On Sundays in Madrid they have an open-air market, which is known as El Rastro. We went and it was very fun walking around and seeing all the different venders items. They have everything you could think of; clothes, old records, antiques, books, bags, posters an much more.

         I really enjoy taking classes here too. At first it was a little overwhelming because they insist that you don’t speak any English at all. Now that we are farther along I feel much more comfortable. I think I am learning a lot. 

Madrid

Hola from Madrid,

         Shaun and I have been exploring Madrid each day. We picked the best time to come here. There is always something exciting going on. The first weekend we arrived, there was a Gay Pride celebration.  On that weekend they had a Gay Pride parade, there were literally millions of people in the streets. We could barely move a block down the road.

         Then we got to experience Spain’s soccer team win the Euro Cup. We took a walk through the park the night of the game. We didn’t even have to watch because each time they scored there was an eruption of cheers that could be heard for miles. The following day the soccer team rode a bus through Madrid. Once again the streets were absolutely packed with millions of people. People take great pride in soccer here.

        

Each building in Madrid is beautiful. They are so detailed and well made. The Palacio Real is the most gorgeous building I’ve ever laid eyes upon.  We also got to go the Prado museum, it was so amazing to see all the classical art. It’s interesting because the King and the royal family picked all the art pieces that are in the museum. So the collection is very unique.

Ciao.