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TAYLORED

faith / 21 / pr student

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QUALITY OVER QUANTITY?

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Every year brings new experiences, new challenges and most importantly new room to grow. 2016 brought a lot of that for me. I started the year knowing what I wanted to get out of the year but not expecting what would happen. I always imagined doing great things and being able to say I did this or that and I never realized those things would actually happen to me. But I had a lot of fears going into 2016 so I decided my new years' resolution would revolve around that.

new years resolution

2016 was great. I overcame a lot of personal struggles, realized what I want to do with the rest of my life and found tons more that I love. But it also sucked. Times got hard, my personal struggles went back and forth and people are, you know, people. I saw amazing films and listened to amazing songs but some of my favorite icons passed away. I tried new foods, which is a big deal, and made pretty big decisions about my future. For as many personal successes as I had, I let myself down quite a bit too. As Kylie Jenner predicted, I would truly call 2016 the year of "realizing things."

I went to college knowing what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I've always considered myself a writer. I always liked writing because of the characters you created, whether fictional or nonfictional. It was always about the storytelling and being able to use your voice to project something for people to see. Fast forward to October 31, 2016 when I saw Hillary Clinton. I had an epiphany, y'all. I love politics. I love seeing people being passionate about issues. I love people being able to use their voices to fight for what they believe in. Almost for the same reasons as I love writing (you know where this is going don't you?). That day I realized I needed to tell real stories from real people and politics could be my way of doing that. Crazy stuff. I won't get into the specifics. But I was only on a high for like a week after that because we all know what happened the week after. That doesn't deserve a spot on this post though.

Realizing what I actually, specifically wanted to do for the rest of my life fostered this kind of ambition. All of a sudden my dreams weren't just dreams, they were going to be reality, and I could conquer anything I wanted to. The cheesy things they tell you in movies and the pins you see on Pinterest made sense all of a sudden.

I furthered my leaderships skills with positions in organizations and to know that people believe in you and your talents is really an honor. You can sit by yourself and decide that you're great but you can't really be great until you go after what you want. I realized that I had skills and I also realized that other people will see them if I make them see them (This is where the new years' resolution comes back into play.)

I realized that there isn't time to waste, I can't sit around waiting for opportunities to fall in my lap, if I wanted things I needed to take them. But to do so I'd have to be unafraid and I'd have to forget the voices in the back of my head that told me I could keep holding off.

So that's what I did. I knew what I loved and what I wanted to do and what I believed in so I took all of those things and built myself up. I knew all of these things about myself and it was up to me to make sure everyone else did too. If 2016 was the year of realizing things, 2017 will be the year of putting things into action.


That's the resolution for 2017. To me, it's simple. It's easy to decide you're going to be unafraid, hard to make your actions mimic your thoughts and harder to continue doing so. But if I had to sum up what 2016 has taught me, it's this; you're as good as you want to be, you can do whatever you put your mind to and there's nothing wrong with encountering a few bumps along the way. 2016 was the best year of my life, but was it everything I wanted it to be? Definitely not. 

But that's what next year is for.

Style is everything, it's not just the clothes. It's what music you listen to, your favorite pieces of art, your favorite movies and how you put yourself together on a daily basis. A large part of it is also the hair. My current manspirations have all of the above. There are things to be said about men who have style but I'm not going to be the one to say it. I'm just here to marvel at how sometimes nature doesn't completely f it up.

OSCAR Isaac

I'm starting with the best (and my favorite) space man there is. Oscar Isaac is a great actor, he can sang and I love his style. He wears some of the most basic clothes but honestly it's not about what you wear it's how you wear it. And he wears it pretty well. He's also the internet's boyfriend so he has that going for him as well. Also, the dancing scene from Ex Machina is on a constant repeat in my brain.

RIZ Ahmed

 
First off, I can relate. Secondly, Riz Ahmed is a gift. He's also a man that's good at everything (acting, rapping, writing, being a meme) so I feel like the style comes natural for him. He dresses really cool i.e. leather bomber jackets in every color, simple button ups and the classic baseball cap. If you don't know who Riz is, that's understandable, but I highly suggest you follow him on social media to encounter more gems like the first photo.

 RAMI Malek

So Mr. Robot is my new favorite show and I think all of you should watch it. I finally finished both seasons and 10/10 do recommend. Rami is great and as per usual of obsessing over a new tv show, I've watched tons of interviews and searched through the tumblr to decide he's actually my soul mate. His style is part of the reason why he's my soulmate. It's classic. It's simple. It's exactly what I'm looking for (= soulmate obviously.)

HARRY Styles

Who would I be if I didn't put this man on my list? (Fake, that's who I would be.) Sometimes Harry wears things and I'm like dude what are you doing? But other times I'm like I can't believe Harry Styles invented men's fashion. He isn't afraid to push some boundaries and without that mindset we wouldn't have seen Harry in a floral printed Gucci suit in 2015, not once, but twice.
Live music is my favorite kind of music. If live music is considered a genre, it's my favorite genre. There's something about going to a concert and seeing the band live, hearing the passion and the little quirks in the lead singer's voice and feeling the drums and bass in your body that makes live music so special. This year I've seen a ridiculous number of bands/artists live, but it might only be ridiculous to me. I usually average one or two shows a year and this year I've seen nine and 17 artists in total.  I feel so grateful to have seen all of these people live and it also makes me wish I had never quit learning how to play the guitar. So without further ado, here's the list:

APRIL 20: THE GRISWOLDS/MAGIC MAN

When two bands you really like say they're going on tour together you just gotta go. Be Impressive was one of my favorite albums in 2015 and Paris has been one of my favorite songs even before Magic Man had a record out. And per the 4/20 reference, they passed around a joint on stage at the end. True showmanship. 

APRIL 22: JUSTIN BIEBER

I'll admit the only reason I went to see Justin Bieber is because Tisko had an extra ticket (also Tisko I still owe you money I'm aware). The concert was terribly disappointing but I had fun jamming to the classic Bieber tunes. 

JUNE 7: HAIM

The actual lights of my life and lights of my summer were definitely the Haim sisters. Haim is in the top three of my favorite bands (I'm not sure where they stand right now the list varies accordingly) and they finally came to Louisville. When I saw the tour dates I think I shed one single tear. I'm obviously biased because I love them, but I think they put on one of the best shows I saw this year. Their music is filled with jams but when they slowed it down it was just as good.

JUNE 22: SELENA GOMEZ

Selena Gomez literally makes the most perfect easy-going pop music. She cites 80's dance music as her inspiration and I think that's what makes her music so good. It was a last minute decision to go see her but I'm glad I did. People like to talk about how she can't sing live and she may not be the best, but her visuals made up for it for sure.

JULY 16: FORECASTLE FESTIVAL (BANNERS, SHAKEY GRAVES, DR DOG, LOCAL NATIVES, ALABAMA SHAKES)

Forecastle Festival is an annual event in Louisville and I finally got to go this year after asking my dad if I could go for like four years now (lols). I only went for a day but the heat was terrible and if that day was supposed to be considered the coolest of the three I'm okay with that. The thing about festivals is you can walk around and you don't have to watch the entire set so I got to see tons of super cool artists. I caught the last chorus of Cecilia and the Satellite by Andrew McMahon and the Wilderness, so can I technically say I saw six artists? We'll say six.

JULY 27: WATERFRONT WEDNESDAY (LUCIUS, KALEO)

Wfpk is a local radio station of mine and they host an event called Waterfront Wednesday where bands will play and you can sit and watch (for free!!! which is the best part). I hadn't heard of Lucius until I saw the flyer with Kaleo's name but I decided to give the other acts a shot because they had to be good to be on the same stage. I've been a fan of Kaleo for a while and to see them live (for free) I knew I had to go. Kaleo was everything I hoped for and more (even though there was a one hour rain delay (but it was free so that's okay)). 

OCTOBER 3: JAMES BAY

James Bay is my actual indie king. I obviously have watched live performances from him and knew he would be an amazing artist to see live, but my expectations were exceeded and I didn't think that would happen. When he started to sing I literally thought I was listening to his record. He sounded just as good as the recording and like I said, I knew he would, but if you have the chance to see him live please do it.

OCTOBER 17: SAINT MOTEL, HIPPO CAMPUS, WEATHERS

As far as shows go, Saint Motel was one of the best artists I've seen live. They played most of their new album during the show and I couldn't wait to play it on repeat once it came out. I knew Hippo Campus because Alt Nation would exclusively play Suicide Saturday every hour when it was really popular but it turns out they're also fantastic live. And I got a set list which always equals a win.

OCTOBER 30: THE 1975

I'm truly undeniably Kent State you guys. Seeing girls camped out in tents the night before and in the freezing cold didn't make sense to me but thinking back it reminds me of my 1D days so I guess I kind of get it. The show was more like trying to survive the hunger games because of all the pushing and shoving but if we're talking about the music I had a grandiose time. Especially because of those visuals.


Let me tell you about a girl I used to know. This girl was mean. She didn't like to listen to anyone but herself. She only did things for herself because she didn't care about how others felt. Whenever people were mean to her she didn't forgive them and she tried her hardest to make them feel bad about themselves. Even when people weren't mean to her she made them feel bad about themselves. She wasn't happy. She wasn't confident. She didn't know what she wanted to do with her life.

Want to know what happened to her? I decided she shouldn't be a part of my life anymore.

I think the most important and overlooked part of humans is our growth. We focus on it physically, but why not mentally? Mental growth is one of my favorite parts of being a human and of other humans. Hearing someone's story of what they've overcome and what they've learned is endless. You can hear about millions of billions of things and you haven't even scratched the surface of what people are capable of. But it all stemmed from their growth. The experiences they share all come from times that showed them who they were, whether they were fun or difficult times.

Growth is our real life character development. It's what leads us to be better, pass on wisdom and write awesome, totally amazing blog posts. What I've learned is that everyone grows differently. You have to take time away from your thoughts and the gossip to understand that people and their brains are weird. Especially at this age, finding out who you are and trying to become a better person is hard. Almost harder than when we were in middle school, because now the weight of our future is on our shoulders and the looming cloud of failure grows nearer.

That girl I mentioned was me when I was younger. I'm not sure if it's natural for everyone to go through that stage, but I think all of our younger mental stages include being unconfident and unhappy. And for some of us we take that out in different ways. I didn't choose to see what I was doing wrong for the longest time. I was bullied and I didn't feel as if I was doing anything great in middle school and high school so I took it out on other people before realizing I needed to change my mindset.

Hormones and puberty are great. And that's sarcasm. School is hard enough so when you pile all of these personal issues on things just get really messy. But it provides times for growth when you move past it and can look back on it. My 13-year old self didn't try to do a lot of personal growing (I didn't try to do any actual growing either, ha, made the joke before you could), but my 19-year old self is much different.

We're constantly growing, so I'm not saying that all of my problems are solved because I got out of southern Indiana, but there's a difference and I'm starting to become more proud of who I am. If there's anything I could tell my younger self about how she was feeling, I would say take a step back and just breathe. It all takes time. Nothing changes overnight and life will never be happy 24/7, no matter how much you're doing what you love.

I like talking about growth, but more importantly I like seeing it. I like looking back on it and realizing how much of it that I've done. It's nice when your family points out how well you're doing, or your social media reflects your strengths, but it's better to work on it by yourself. Spend time with yourself, realize what you need to improve and don't just say it, do it. It's hard, but practice makes perfect.

The girl I know now tries to be more aware of her actions, because different people are affected by different things. She tries to be more empathetic, because things aren't all about her and others go through just as much as she does. She has accepted that not everyone is going to like her and that it's perfectly normal. She's learning how to be better at forgiving, because you don't need that to sit with the good parts of your brain that show you your loves and hopes and dreams. She knows that people will read this and say that she doesn't understand any of this at all. But that's okay, because she's still growing.
TBT to when I said I would actually post on this every week. It's the middle of the semester and I'm bored as hell and I feel like this is the time in every college student's life where they feel super lost and want to drop out 24/7. Or at least that's how I feel right now so I'm going to actually try to start using this as an outlet again:) I say that like I ever used it as an outlet in the first place:)

I feel like it's only appropriate for my first legitimate post on this blog to be about one of my biggest girl crushes of all time: Stevie Nicks. Fleetwood Mac is one of my top three favorite bands and the 70s is probably my favorite decade for fashion. Something I love about fashion is that trends always come back and the fact that the 70s are currently in style again makes me so happy but also sad because I'm poor and honestly don't know how to dress for my body type. But it's alright because I can lust after it as much as I want and lusting is half the fun.

The 70s was a decade of freedom and expressing who you are and as a creative, fashion and music and art in general are my favorite things to turn to in order to grasp what was going on during that time. Just like how my grandchildren will look at 2016 and see Harry Styles' solo career take off through AnOther Man magazine and that one time everyone in the media lost it over Hillary Clinton's Armani pantsuit. Woodstock will forever > Coachella, but it needs to be admired that trends try to be reciprocated by the current generation. It's the total form of flattery because we're basically copying what was done before us.

What's great about bohemian style is that it's easy, it's flowy, and it's like you just threw an outfit together. I love Stevie's entire vibe and to me she kind of encapsulates what the decade was. She is a true artist (pronounced ar-teest) in her music and her style and what I love about her is she's so... her, you feel me? When I think of who does bohemian style the best I think of Stevie, who is like the textbook hippie. Even now, her effortless style is something I want to achieve. I never feel like she's trying too hard to be herself.

And I could go on and tell you about how to get her style but it's easier to present a few of my favorite Stevie looks of all time and why she will forever be my timeless queen.

Let's talk about the ruffles, the embroidery, the corkscrew wedge heels. My etherial queen tbh.

Back in the middle school days I thought it would be cool to wear neon and pastel colors on the daily but since then I've learned that all black is definitely the way to go. Even though Anna Wintour hates all black.

I'm not a ruffles kind of girl, but Stevie totes is and she pulls it off better than I ever will.

Honestly this is in my top three favorite trends of the 70s. I don't know why but a good bell sleeve never fails to get me going.

The choker. That's all.


I've tried to start this blog two times before, but I feel like third times a charm. Since going off to college and seriously thinking about what I want to do in the future, starting a blog seems like a no-brainer to me. Throughout high school I was getting more into fashion and bloggers and even youtube creators who have created a successful brand for themselves and secured career advancements thanks to technology. That makes me sound like I'm trying to create a blog to be mainstream definition successful, but that's not the point. The point is that I'm trying to figure out who I am and what I want to do.

I know what I want to do in broad terms; write. But write about what? Write on what kind of platform? What kind of voice do I want when I write? These are just some of the questions I have for myself, and I think that starting this blog can help me with that. And I also think this blog can bring me success. Not worldwide success that will plummet me into stardom (knock on wood actually), but personal success knowing I can use this as an outlet, keep up with it, put myself out there, and hopefully improve my writing.

I'll warn you now that I don't know what exactly will be on this blog. I have ideas and many, many drafts, some as old as 2013, that are all about the things I like. So I assume my first few months on here will straight up just be about the things I enjoy and a lot of my opinions on why I'm always right. But I guess that's blogging! Can blogging even be defined in one way? (That's a question I'm not answering on this blog)

I've always hated putting myself out there, and most of you probably know me as being quiet or shy. So putting that in the success category, I hope that this blog can help me with that too. I will expose myself to all of the internet trolls and all of the criticism. Even though my fear of rejection is like hoe don't do it, I guess I'm doing it.

If you read my blog, thank you, no matter if you hate it or love it. It doesn't matter to me because you're all just numbers on the page view section of my dashboard and are page views what get you sponsorships? (Just kidding (only kind of))

But who knows, maybe I'll have to write an intro for a fourth time.
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  • ULTIMATE STYLE LUST: Stevie Nicks
    TBT to when I said I would actually post on this every week. It's the middle of the semester and I'm bored as hell and I feel like t...
  • the topic of GROWTH
    Let me tell you about a girl I used to know. This girl was mean. She didn't like to listen to anyone but herself. She only did things ...
  • do i need to post an intro?
    I've tried to start this blog two times before, but I feel like third times a charm. Since going off to college and seriously thinki...
  • the topic of CONFIDENCE
    I was talking to my friend today and she said "Faith you look so good today" and without thinking I was like "Omg thank ...
  • shows on shows on shows
    Live music is my favorite kind of music. If live music is considered a genre, it's my favorite genre. There's something about going ...
  • ULTIMATE STYLE LUST: manspiration edition
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  • reflecting on 2016
    Every year brings new experiences, new challenges and most importantly new room to grow. 2016 brought a lot of that for me. I started t...
  • QUALITY OVER QUANTITY?
    Well this is awkward. And by this I mean the fact that I purchased my own domain for this blog just to end up never posting on it. But I ...

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Popular Posts

  • ULTIMATE STYLE LUST: Stevie Nicks
    TBT to when I said I would actually post on this every week. It's the middle of the semester and I'm bored as hell and I feel like t...
  • the topic of GROWTH
    Let me tell you about a girl I used to know. This girl was mean. She didn't like to listen to anyone but herself. She only did things ...
  • do i need to post an intro?
    I've tried to start this blog two times before, but I feel like third times a charm. Since going off to college and seriously thinki...

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