Snow Day!

As crazy as it is to be saying this in March, HAPPY SNOW DAY! When the announcement was made this morning I promptly did a little happy dance/ sigh of relief (no calculus for me today!) and hopped right back into bed for a few more hours! When I finally did wake up again, I had all these plans in my head of what I wanted to do today. And now, seeing that my free day will soon become free evening I am proud(ish) to announce that I have completed NOTHING that was on my to-do list. As much as it pains the type-A parts of my personality to say that, today has been a rather restorative break. I was able to dream a little bit more about my dorm room next year, look up a few more scholarships to apply for, split a frozen pizza with my brother (a surprisingly yummy snow day tradition), and create this blog. So a day wasted, not entirely. But pretty much.

In the midst of my dorm decor pin-fest, I stumbled across this rocking blog Scribbles from Emily. Not only did she have some pretty cool dorm ideas, but she did this series called "31 Days of Fashion for Freedom." It is an effort to ( I am not trying to assign motives to her actions, just sum up what I think I have read on her page, but please go read it yourself, its super cool!) to raise awareness about modern-day slavery and human trafficking, and to check her ideas about clothing and identity. You don't know this about me yet, but I think human trafficking and modern-day slavery is WRONG. I first heard about this issue when I had the unbelievable opportunity to attend Passion 2013 (totally life changing experience to say the least, and I could write 20 million posts about it, and probably will mention it A LOT, but for now we'll just leave it at this: it rocked my world). When faced with staggering statistics I could do nothing else but sit there in shock. My heart simply hurt for these people who were abused and forced to do things they would never choose for themselves. To learn more about these stats, visit enditmovement.com

This is from their "facts" page.

Or one of these other really cool organizations' pages. They have lots of good information and they all do really really good work!

This is the International Justice Mission

The A21 Campaign

Not For Sale

Love 146

Polaris Project

While I was at Passion, I was really searching for God's voice telling me what I was to do. I don't have a lot of money that I can give to the numerous organizations that need it, and that was the only option for action that I, by myself, could see. Thank goodness that what I know is not all that there is to know! During my time at Passion, and the time since I have been home, I truly have felt God calling me just to be responsible when using the money and the voice that I have. I believe that for me, I am to be aware what I am supporting with my money- basically to be intentional with what I buy and say. For me, this looks like saving my money a little longer and buying clothes that are made without slave labor, and doing things like this to share my experience, and rather limited knowledge with those who are willing to listen. And (back to what prompted this post) this series, 31 Days, has some awesome ideas on how to buy ethically. I was so glad to find these resources, and definitely will be spending some more time with them as soon as this is published! :)

Fashion in general is something I have struggled with, body image, finding what looks good on me, and unfair (and unnecessary) comparisons to other girls are just some of the things I have difficulty with. Right about at the start of this year, I had decided that just waking up everyday, throwing on jeans and a t-shirt and hair in a ponytail was not what I wanted to do. Not that I don't love being comfortable or low maintenance or w/e, but it was quickly coming to the point where my decisions on how to dress and take care of myself were detrimental to the way I viewed myself and what I was capable of. Not that I prioritize the way I look over more important things now, by any means. It usually just means that I take the time to put outfits together that make me feel more confident in myself more days than I "give up" on the idea. Which believe me, is HUGE progress. And as you would imagine, since starting this weird part of my journey, the clothes in my closet have needed to be somewhat updated. This coupled with my new convictions about spending money have proved to be a whole other challenge. So finding this gem of a blog is awesome because it has a lot of help on the fashion side too, in addition to ideas about where to buy! Woohoo!