Flashback Friday: Broken Dreams and New Beginnings

Hello Lovelies! This is a Flashback Friday post different from most of the others. It's really not beauty related at all--just real life related.

There are a number of reasons I started this blog fourteen months ago--one of which was that I loved to write. I have always loved to write. When I was around eight or nine, I started writing all kinds of short stories. Some never got finished and would just sit in a notebook. Some I actually completed and would put in little binders.

When I was ten, I started a "newspaper" with my then BFF and called it the "Treetop Times." We'd each write articles for it and type it up and hand it out to our classmates.

At eleven, I corroborated with two other friends and we wrote a puppet show skit for the school Christmas play--our teachers actually let us take some time out of class to work on it together! I also got second place in a district essay contest.

This entire time I was also heavily into reading--I had my favorite authors and just knew that somehow, I'd be a writer when I grew up. I didn't think I'd be able to write a whole book though! Maybe magazines or newspapers. I heard the term "freelance writer" and thought that would make me happy--I would just write for whomever about whatever they wanted!

So, in seventh grade, I was twelve. My life, my dreams, my goals were all drastically turned around upside down. Mr. Hall (Michael Chapman Hall. Name has not been changed to protect the innocent) was asking us all one day in class what we wanted to be when we grew up. Without hesitation, I proclaimed that I was going to be a journalist. Mr. Hall nearly laughed at me and said, "With the things you've turned in for English class?"

Lovelies, to this day, I have no idea what he actually meant by that comment. Was it because my imagination was so vivid? (it really was, some of the stuff I wrote was out there! But it was well-written!) But it didn't matter what he actually meant because all I heard was, "That's never going to happen. You're not good enough."

I don't know if I shared with anyone then what he said or how it made me feel. Years later, my mom told me I shouldn't have taken it so personally. But that one moment, shut me down. I still wrote in my journal and would dabble in some poetry in my notebooks here and there; but I never wrote again like I did before his comments. I lost my love for writing because I thought I wasn't good enough.

Years have passed and occasionally I've thought about changing career fields or maybe trying to do some "freelance writing," but I never did. The thoughts still haunting me that I wouldn't be good enough.

However, the story has a happy ending! I mentioned a few weeks ago I may be involved in a new endeavor! And I am! I was recruited to be a contributor to The Flairist--an online magazine for the shamelessly ambitions woman! (Read more about it here!) I'm super excited to be involved in a movement and product that is all about helping women find their way in love, life, and careers. And even more excited that at least in some aspect, I have made it! I am a sort of journalist--when Mr. Hall thought I'd never do it.

So don't give up on your dreams, lovelies! Don't let anyone ever tell you that you CAN'T do something or you WON'T do something. You are the one that controls all those decisions! It's never too late to try something you really want to do.

And make sure you check out The Flairist! There are a number of amazing people working there, and there will continue to be awesome articles that are applicable to where you are in your life right now!

Guest Post: Arielle's Interview Outfit Tips

Hey Lovelies!! I'm sooo super excited about today's post! Arielle is one of my favorite blogger friends, and after her guest post last time, I just could not wait to have her write again! Of course, she was too busy planning her super secret getaway wedding;) But she's back now (and married:) and was kind enough to share this post with us today!

Hello Glitter, Gloss and Glaze readers!

It's Arielle from Beauty by Arielle! You may remember me from the blog swap Kristen and I did in February. You can see those posts here and here.

A little about me-I am a 20 something product junkie from Illinois. I can't think of a time since I was a preteen that I wasn't obsessed with makeup and beauty products! My blog is devoted to all things beauty related. I feature product reviews, hauls, tutorials, tips, fashion and health.

Today I will be blogging about dressing for an interview on a budget!

A couple of months ago I had an interview for my first "big girl" job in my field. It was nerve wracking to choose what to wear. 

Let's face it-in this economy we cannot afford to spend 1,000's on interview outfits but we want to look pulled together to land that job! So how did I handle the challenge?

I began by googling how to dress for an interview. I thought some tips from the pros would put me ahead. 

Here are the tips I thought were wins and followed myself:

• You can never be too conservative. If you are going to show skin do one or the other (legs or arms) but do not do both.
• Show some personality but not too much personality. A pop of color is the best way to do this or with a conservative print. Steer clear of neons, red or animal prints. A suit is always nice but is not necessary. 
• Wear minimal, simple accessories. Make sure nothing clunks together because it will be distracting.
• Closed toed pumps are a must.
• Take a simple bag that doubles as a brief case to carry extra resumés, writing samples, letters of recommendation, etc.
• Make sure your hair is neat and in place.
• Manicure your nails in french, natural or a neutral, light color.
• Keep your makeup natural.
• Do not wear perfume.

When in doubt, look up or call the company for their dress code policy. Even if you know the company dresses casual on a daily basis, dress up for your interview. I once heard a principal say they were interviewing for a gym teacher position and the interviewee showed up in a track suit because she was "dressing for the job." Needless to say, she was not hired and the principal was completely unimpressed.

Next, I raided my closet for items that would fit into the "rules". I did not have the time or funds to run out for new clothing. Thankfully, I keep some basics on hand at all times. I found a LBD, a blue cardigan and some simple accessories. I wore the cardigan over the LBD, buttoned up completely, with a belt at my waist. My closet items were all steals because my LBD was from the clearance rack at Target, my sweater was thrifted from Plato's Closet, shoes were thrifted from ebay and the belt was from another top!

Here are some similar items, all from Target (except for the belt), which are all easy on the wallet: 

 

After several agonizing weeks, I received a call for a second interview. The catch? They wanted me there in the next 36 hours. This time, I truly had no idea what I could pull from in my closet. I ended up finding a printed blouse at Kohl's for $7. I paired it with a pencil skirt I already owned and the accessories from the previous interview outfit. By doing it this way, I was not blowing cash on a whole new outfit. I tucked the shirt into the skirt for a more polished look.

Here are some similar choices, again from Target:

 

You could also combine both outfits and do something like this:

Here the LDB is used as a skirt and cinched in with the belt.

Let's say you do not have items in your closet to pull from. My suggestion? Raid the clearance racks and thrift wisely. All of my items were either thrifted or from the clearance rack. Everything I wore was less than $60. Choose outfits where you can reuse accessories. This will also save you some moolah! It is also helpful to keep basics on hand so that you only have to pick up one or two new items.

By the way, I did land the job!

Thank you Kristen for allowing me to guest post today!

Thanks again, Arielle! You are welcome to post here any time you want!:)

If you enjoy Arielle as much as I do, make sure to check out her blog and some of the other places she can be found:
Facebook
Pinterest
YouTube
Bloglovin
HelloCotton
And! If you ever forget how to find her blog; I can pretty much promise her button will always be in my sidebar so she is just a click away!:)

Some Encouragement for Friends (and Strangers;)

Hi Everyone! I just wanted to write a super quick note to share a couple things with you! For those of you that missed my SUPER HUGE GIGANTIC SURPRISING NEWS of yesterday, I was featured as an Editor's Pick on bloggers.com!! I'm not sure exactly what this means, or how they determine it, but apparently I was noticed and they decided to spotlight my blog! (yay!) What it meant to me was some extra page views, some new followers (hi everyone!!;) and some kind comments from some sweet people who probably wouldn't have found me otherwise.

If you're a blogger and think no one is reading your blog and no one cares what you have to say, THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE! The Internet is a crazy thing that anyone IN THE WORLD can see what you have to say! There are people that will agree, will disagree, will like you, will hate you, etc. but what you say DOES MATTER!!

You may not have a hundred followers over night.... you may not have a hundred followers ever... you may get four hundred followers in a month and be a huge sensation! You just never know, but there a couple things I've learned:

Promote yourself! You are your own best advertisement! Be active on Twitter, Facebook, whatever social media venue you choose. Tell people about your blog. Invite them to see what you have to say. Encourage them to be a part of it. Reach out to them!

Put yourself out there! There are sooo many different sites you can join and advertise your blog (Blog Train, BlogUpp, Bloggers, just to name a few). They work!

Tell people in real life, too! I keep my blog business cards with me at all times because you never know when someone is going to talk about your nail art, your makeup, or anything else that can lead into a conversation about your blog!

And most importantly, blog because it's what you love and it's what YOU want to do. Don't base it on ANYONE ELSE or you'll struggle the entire time to please others and you won't have any fun at all! Please don't focus on the numbers or if anyone is reading; people will stumble upon you when you least expect it:)

And that concludes this edition of advice from Kristen lol. What have you found is the best way to advertise your blog? What is your favorite thing about blogging? How do you feel about people who try to get followers by any of the following means: follow for follow back; gaining followers just by hosting giveaways; getting people to retweet that they need X number of followers to get to XXX number?

A Public Service Announcement from Yours Truly;)

Hi Lovelies! So I think I'm going to do away with Q&A Wednesday for now, because there just doesn't seem to be enough Q's for all of my A's. I'm going to try a few different things on Wednesdays to see what works and what doesn't (don't forget to take part in the polls on the right side and let me know what you like to read about best).

For this week's Wednesday, I thought I'd throw out something a wee bit more personal (feel free to skip; it's a little lengthy).

Earlier today, I'd read Sara's blog post which got really personal about her and her past, present, future with boys and whatnot. It's extremely well written, and I thought she did a great job in being so open with her readers. If you're a blogger, you know how hard it can be to keep that balance of being personal enough so the readers feel like they know you, without getting too personal and pushing them away. It's a fine line that we all walk depending on our own level of comfort.

But with her post and some other things going on, I started to think about how hard it is to be a girl. (I'm not saying it's not hard to be a boy; but I really don't have any experience with that. lol. Sorry, boy readers, just bear with me for a bit:) Anyway, we have all this pressure of how to look and how to talk and how to act and how to think... dress like this.. don't do that... be this tiny or no one will ever love you.

It's exhausting.

And it's almost easier to buy in to all the lies that are out there than to accept ourselves for who we really are. To embrace our flaws. To see ourselves as how others honestly see us and not how we do when we constantly pick everything apart and overanalyze everything.

I bring up Sara's post, because I'd told her that as cliche as it is, no one else can ever love you until you love yourself. (warning! warning! here comes the personal part!!)

I have struggled with this for.... oh 28+ years, I suppose. hahaha. For so so so so sooooo long I tried to be everything that everyone else wanted me to be. I wanted so badly to be "liked" that's I'd morph into whatever I thought people liked, and that could change depending on whomever I was around. But the bottom line was always the same:

Be happy.

Be perfect.

And on the outside, I totally was. Super involved in school. Lots of friends. Great grades. A boyfriend almost every day of my life. Parents were proud. Teachers loved me. Girls were jealous of me.

But I still wasn't happy.

All those times, I was trying to to keep everyone else happy, I wasn't doing anything for me to be happy. I didn't know who I was (which, okay, that whole "find yourself" BS is overused, but still somewhat true). Or what I wanted. Almost every single decision in my life has been based on what other people think. Or what other people want.

I tell this to other girls all the time, "At some point in your life, you have to figure out what it is that YOU want." Oh, if only I could follow my own advice.

Anyway, this isn't to get all depressed and ohh woe is me, 'cause honestly, it's not like that at all! (well, maybe a little, lol). But I want you to know that if you feel like that, you're not alone. You can't always hide behind the glossy lips and the glittery fingernails and pretend everything is perfect. You don't have to be perfect. You just need to be you, and be happy with YOU, and LOVE YOU---whatever you that turns out to be and whether there's anyone else even around:)

She was daddy's little girl
Momma's little angel
Teacher's pet, pageant queen
She said "All my life I've been pleasin' everyone but me,
Waking up in someone else's dream"

~Faith Hill~