where life takes us

let's not be negative nancy!

 OUTFIT DETAILS: forever 21 striped sweater // hollister co. denim shorts
anthropologie belt // white Ralph Lauren shoes // century 21 bag.

i love shake shack. so so so so so much.

 various photos.

YAY. I FINALLY UPDATED THE LAYOUT. I mean, I liked the old one, but it's summer and I wanted something happy. And cute. And purple. I love purple. Let me know if there's anything wrong on your end/browser and I'll try to fix it!

Anyways... if you guys can sort of tell through my blog, I'm not much of a negative person. I like to be optimistic and have fun and think the best of people. However, I was just left a rather meanie mean nasty negative comment on my physical appearance. It was something along the lines of, "EW YOUR LEGS ARE WEIRD" and I totally promote freedom of speech and everything, but since this is my blog and I don't like negativity, I deleted it.

I don't want to be mean and snarky when addressing the topic of body image issues and everything, but let me say that I'm sorry that you don't like the way my legs look, or they're not aesthetically pleasing to you, or sorry they're muscular because I participated in over 10 years of athletics, or that my parents have muscular legs and due to the whole science thing where I inherit their genes and thus I have been born with killer legs and you don't like it.

I know this is my personal fashion + lifestyle blog, but I really want to touch upon the personal aspect. I never really had much to say on this topic since it never occurred to me that I should bring it up, but that nasty little comment was a great starting point. I used to have body image issues - with pressure from my mother and peers to look a certain way. I used to hide behind oversized clothing and my hair and not wear certain things because I knew other people looked better in it than I ever would. It was mostly an internal battle for me until I realized that I was never going to make everyone happy with the way I looked. I realized it was a futile battle and the only person I should care about making happy was myself. I'm not saying that being altruistic is bad. It's a good thing! But you should put yourself first.

I am tired of females, and males as well, putting down each other based on physical appearances. Take away your fancy haircut, your personal hygienic products, make up, fancy clothes, and I doubt you would like the way you looked either. And the worst part is that people put others down based on things that they cannot control: like the bump on someone's nose, or their crooked smile, or their lack of cheekbones, or the fact that they don't look like the photoshopped size 0 models on the cover of any fashion magazine.

Other people and bloggers have talked about body image issues and they have all done much better (and eloquent) jobs at addressing this topic than I have. You're free to post whatever comment you want on my blog. I'll read it, but it'll be at my discretion as to whether or not I'll keep it up. No wonder many bloggers choose to approve the comments before it's published on their sites.

I'm just saying, I love my body. I'm comfortable with it, and I hope that other girls who are dealing with rude comments on their physical appearances can learn to appreciate themselves and ignore other people's negative thoughts.

LOVELOVE (except that lame anon), JULIA.

Mosque in Manhattan

Nothing fashion related. It's mostly a political/my own views sort of post.

My friend posted this on Facebook and I thought it was a very accurate depiction of the mindset of the many protesters. For those of you that aren't clued in, there are plans for construction of a mosque relatively close to where the World Trade Center once stood (refer to 9/11). I understand that it may be a sore sight, especially for those who were directly affected by the attack on the World Trade Center, but it does not give them the right to want to prevent a place of worship to be built.

Although I do not necessarily call myself a liberal (because I do have somewhat conservative views on some issues), I am especially sensitive to issues that pertain to people's "freedom of" rights. America was founded based on the ideology of having the freedom to express ourselves without oppression. The attack on the WTC came from al-Qaeda. Although they are an Islamist group - they are also a militant group. I've studied religion (although not officially, but by myself and through my friends who are followers of these specific religions), I find that many people have said that Islam is a radical religion. Is it not the same if we were to dissect the Bible? There are certainly some radical views in there, as well, and it is based on interpretation.

Just because one specific group of radicals of a certain religion had imposed a terrorist attack does not necessarily mean that we have to be wary and accuse the entirety of the rest of the followers. Would it be the same if we pointed fingers at Christians who protested at the funerals of soldiers and said that all Christians were racist and homophobic?

It may be in poor taste - the proximity of the mosque to the site of the World Trade Center, but it has every right to exist where it plans to be.

Just my two cents. Feel free to add your own. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.