Hi friends!! Popping in this morning to let you all know that I have moved the blog over to emmalouwrites.com from now on! There is a new look and a new email subscription button so click on through to that and look around.
Thanks so much for reading friends, I love you all!
First of all! Yesterday was my WONDERFUL parents 26th wedding anniversary!! They are the very best parents I could ever ask for in the entire world and their commitment to each other and deep love for their friends and family is inspiring. I love them both more than anything and cannot thank them enough for being such a wonderful example of what a great marriage should look like! I love you Mom and Dad!
Well this week’s blessing is an easy one. This week started with an amazing wedding and was filled with beautiful friends and family. I am so blessed to be surrounded by loved ones all the time.
I’d be lying if I said I never had moments of loneliness or longing, but when I do, I just remember all that He has blessed me with, all of the wonderful people that are in my life, and all of the wonderful people I’m certain to meet one day.
Have a beautiful weekend, friends. I cannot wait to see you here on Monday.
One of my favorite magazines has always been Time. I don’t get to read it as often as I used to, there was a period of time in high school when I would go to the gym just to read the copies of Time while I ran on the treadmill! It’s been a while since I had a subscription but someone gifted me one this year and I’ve been loving it. My favorite issue by far was the May 20, 2013 issue. The cover story by Joel Stein was entitled “The Me Me Me Generation: Millennials are lazy, entitled narcissists who still live with their parents, why they’ll save us all.”
I couldn’t wait to read Joel Stein’s piece about this new generation, my generation. I spend a lot of time thinking about and talking to others about what my peers are doing with their lives, how we are shaping the world, and what I think our future looks like. It is really important to me that I leave a legacy, that my life makes a positive impact on this world.
Stein’s article was fascinating, he spent the first half of it discussing how much our generation just stinks. He details how narcissistic we are, how often we take “selfies,” how entitled we act and what little regard we have for others. To be honest, the first three pages of the story infuriated me. Even though I could see where Stein was going with it, I couldn’t help but take offense to what he was saying. I just kept thinking but no! I’m not like that! My friends aren’t like that! We don’t know people like that! But to be honest, I do know people like that. I have taken “selfies” with my friends, I often find myself concentrating too much on my life and not enough on the world around me.
And then, the article took a turn. Stein started to acknowledge that while most of his previous statements regarding our generation are true, they aren’t anything new. Generations before us were narcissitc, they were reckless. We may love rap music and booty dance, but they loved rock and roll and shook their hips to wildly on national television! Stein acknowledges that many of the issues that older generations recognize in younger generations aren’t based on a time period, but rather an age group. One of my favorite parts of the article acknowledged that we are a product of the techonology around us:
Can you imagine how many frickin’ Instagrams of people playing in the mud during Woodstock we would’ve seen? I think in many ways you’re blaming millennials for the technology that happens to exist right now.
And while reading that statement had me nodding my head and thinking Yeah! That’s true! It’s not our fault! It also had me thinking that we cannot just use technology as an excuse to make poor decisions. Past generations dealt with difficult distractions and still managed to pull through and to make a difference in their world.
The ending of Stein’s article was absolutely my favorite part:
So here’s a more rounded picture of millennials than the one I started with. All of which I also have data for. They’re earnest and optimistic. They embrace the system. They are pragmatic idealists, tinkerers more than dreamers, life hackers. Their world is so flat that they have no leaders, which is why revolutions from Occupy Wall Street to Tahrir Square have even less chance than previous rebellions. They want constant approval–they post photos from the dressing room as they try on clothes […] They’re not into going to church, even though they believe in God, because they don’t identify with big institutions. […] They are informed but inactive: they hate Joseph Kony but aren’t going to do anything about Joseph Kony. […] They’re financially responsible; although student loans have hit record highs, they have less house hold and credit card debt than any previous generation on record […] They love their phones but hate talking on them. […] Whether you think millennials are the new greatest generation of optimistic entrepreneurs or a group of 80 million people about to implode in a dwarf star of tears when their expectations are unmet depends largely on how you view change. Me, I chose to believe in the children. God knows they do.
I love that last line. It summarizes so perfectly how obnoxiously self centered but focused on world change my generation can be. It makes me excited and anxious all at the same time to see what we end up doing with our one precious lives. It makes me a little scared, to be honest. But some wise women once told me to feel the fear and do it anyway, and that is exactly what we’re all doing.
In addition to being the most beautiful bride in the entire world, my best friend is also one of the best gift givers in the world. For my birthday this year Leah got me three Alex and Ani bracelets. I had seen our friends Ashely and Jacqui wearing them when we were in NYC for Bach Weekend and fell in love, but I had no idea Leah remembered that and was plotting to buy me some!
Alex and Ani is an awesome company for multiple reasons. They have beautiful but modern charm bracelets, their products are made in the United States, they are eco-friendly, and some of the proceeds for different collections go to specific charities.
Leah got me three charm bracelets, each with a different meaning for my life!
The first was a cupcake to commemorate my time at my current job. While I’m so very excited to be moving soon, it will be bittersweet to leave the bakery and a job that I’ve had since I was 16.
The second was a NYC subway coin, a little part of me will always live in NYC and will always always miss those busy streets and smelly subway cars.
And the last was from the Olympic collection (it has since sold-out). I love this country, I love the Olympics, and some think I’m patriotic to the point of being weird, so this was incredibly fitting for me as well.
I love them all so much and they go beautifully with the Kate Spade bracelet Leah got all of us to ask us to be her bridesmaids! I’ve been wearing at least one of these bracelets everyday since Friday.
There are literally charms for everyone and I have quite a few in mind to buy for friends for their upcoming birthdays!
I’m working today and heading to DC to job/apartment hunt tomorrow so things will be a little light around here for the week! Thanks for bearing with me, friends!
You guys, Leah and Austen’s wedding was the best thing ever. This was the best weekend ever. I cannot even come up with better adjectives to describe it right now because I’m just so tired and have to snooze, but just know that it was AMAZING. Below are some iPhone snap shops from the day, but more pictures to come soon!
It’s cheesy and by the end of the week I’m sure you all will be tired of hearing about this incredible, amazing wedding, but I just can’t help it!
Details and pictures from Leah and Austen’s wedding to come, I’m still in Chapel Hill this morning but I’ll be writing up a post for Wednesday as soon as I get home!
When I first started reading blogs, I was drawn to the visual content before the actual written content. Now that I’ve been reading for years and years, I often flock to blogs for the words first, and pictures second, but I still remember looking forward to posts for their beautiful images. So when I started this blog, I scoured Pinterest all the time looking for the best pictures and graphics to include in my posts. I always linked back to the source, so I thought that was good enough.
But as I’ve put more of myself into this blog and am taking more pride in it, I’ve found myself wanting to generate more of my own images, more of my own visual content. I was blessed to be gifted a DSLR camera for my high school graduation 5 years ago, and while I have taken millions of pictures with it I’ve never really harnessed its full potential. While relaxing in bed on a morning off recently, I reached over to my camera and decided it was high time we get to know each other a little better.
I did some quick Google searches for tutorials and picked up some basics that I didn’t know about before, and I’m attempting to shoot only in Manual. So wish me luck, I’m aiming for at least 75% original content on the blog from here on out. Bare with me as I work on getting things in focus, finding the right light, and just generally figuring this whole blogging thing out.
Clearly Mowg makes the best model.
Guys, the day after tomorrow, one of best friend gets married to her best friend! Oh happy day! The festivities begin on Saturday morning! Friends are coming in from far and wide to celebrate these two and I just cannot wait. I cannot wait to wear a pretty dress and get all fancy and dance the night away with my beautiful friends.
Above is a glimpse into my packing for the weekend, I think I’m all set to go but I still feel like I’m missing something! Leah and I decided that since the last big trip we packed for was her Bach weekend in NYC, when each outfit required 8 pieces of clothing, having to only pack a dress and heels for each event just seems too easy! But I’ll take it 🙂
Have a SPLENDID weekend friends, I’ll be off toasting to two wonderful people, and I hope to wake up with sore cheeks on Monday from all the cheesin’ I’ll be doing.
One of my favorite things about my undergraduate degree in Political Science is that it has made me so much more aware and curious about the news and the world around me. I am not one to sit around and wait for the news to knock me over the head, I seek out news day and night, through all types of sources. Sometimes this becomes troublesome, during major news events I become all consumed by the 24 hour news networks, but I would rather have to rip myself away from the news than not know what is going on.
I’ve found that most of my peers are not incredibly informed when it comes to the news, but I don’t think it is for lack of trying. There is a lot of stuff out there and articles are often long and cumbersome for someone looking to quickly find out the highlights of the week.
And that my friends, is where The Everygirl’s News Now feature comes in. I have been a huge fan of The Everygirl since their start in 2012, but one of their newest features, News Now, is my favorite for sure. Each week, Lacie and Brooke break down the week’s news into categories and then provide a brief blurb with the updates, as well as links to other sources. This system is genius, my friends, it uses an outlet that hundreds of girls already read, and makes it easy for them to stay up to date on current events.
I plan to start linking to these posts both on my Facebook page as well as on the blog as often as possible, and I SERIOUSLY encourage y’all to check it out!
Staying informed of what is going on in our world is the first step towards changing it.
A quick one today, friends!
Dreaming of sitting by the pool, or better yet the beach, while I’m at work today. Hope that some of you are getting some sun!
Over the last few years, I have started to stumble upon different companies around the web that promote the idea of buying ‘gifts that give.’ The most well known organization that follows this model is probably TOMS, when you buy a pair of shoes, TOMS donates a pair to someone in need.
This business model has really caught on and this year, I’ve decided that I’m going to try to purchase all of my Christmas gifts from places that promote ‘gifts that give.’ I’ve started a board to keep track of all of the great socially minded companies I come across, but I wanted to share a couple of them with y’all today.
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One of my favorite places to look for jewelry is at 31 Bits. Founded in 2008, the company employees women in Uganda to make the beautiful jewelry and accessories that they sell. They have multiple programs in Uganda to help the people there and they offer all types of products on their site. I received one of their necklaces from my family for my 21st birthday and I get so many compliments on it every time I wear it! Plus, it’s super cool when someone asks where it is from to say, oh, you know, Africa.
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This next business, Better Life Bags, is a more domestically minded organization. Rebecca, the founder of Better Life, describes how they operate on her blog:
We hire first generation immigrant women in our community who otherwise could not work outside the home. We rent them a sewing machine and tools while teaching them a skill set that allows them to become a primary or secondary provider in their families. Each bag is lovingly made with their hands and each purchase gives respect and dignity to their lives.
So cool, right? I’m OBSESSED with the bag above, and they make it in a black and white stripe as well that I’m dying over. This might be the big girl bag I reward myself with once I finally get a ‘big girl job.’
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And our last business for the day, Noonday Collection, sells all types of cool things! Of course, my favorite is this awesome chicken, but they have jewelry, accessories, home goods, and much more! Noonday started during the owner’s international adoption and was originally used as a fundraising tool, now they donate 10% of all profits to families that are adopting as well as towards orphan prevention.
Aren’t all of these businesses the coolest? It makes me cheese so hard to think that we can help change lives while doing something as simple as our Christmas shopping. So check all these out, and let me know of any other businesses that are doing something similar!!
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