Natural Beauty Challenge

The other day I read a post with the title something along the lines of "Celebrities Without Makeup" and "Unrecognizable". I was interested to see just how "unrecognizable" these icons are in their natural skin and was a little surprised to find that they look just like everyone else. When I later searched Google for the article again, I was blown away by how many different posts there were on this one topic. The posts range from attempts at humiliation to praise for showing the world their natural beauty. This really got me thinking; What kind of beauty do I try to show "the world"?

For sake of clarification and minimalism, I'm going to say that there are two types of beauty in this world (although I believe there are hundreds). There is natural beauty and alteration beauty.

Natural beauty is raw. It is the body without makeup, piercings, tattoos, expensive clothes, or perfectly styled hair. It's the way you look when you wake up in the morning. Your skin is fresh and clean and free. It can breathe in the air around it. You can rub the sleep from your eyes without a second thought - no makeup to smudge. Natural beauty is you. The way God created you.

Alteration beauty is an attempt to change your natural beauty. It ranges from drastic changes to enhancing. Drastic changes are things like plastic surgery, liposuction, anything that changes your physical appearance in such a way that it becomes unrecognizable. An example of enhancing would be contouring or using makeup to promote your natural beauty.

Let me be up front about this: I do not believe that one type of beauty is better than the other, and I do not judge a person by their personal choices in appearance.

So, back to my question: What type of beauty do I try to show "the world"?

Earlier today I received an unexpected package. It was flowers from my husband as an early Valentine's Day gift. I was so excited about them that I wanted to send him a picture of me with them as a thank you. As I grabbed my phone, I stopped. I hadn't done my hair or makeup yet. Regardless of the fact that my husband has seen me in all sorts of states (makeup, no makeup, smudged makeup, three day old hair, etc.), I couldn't help but think that the picture wouldn't look as good if I didn't fix myself up first. Long story short, I snapped the picture right then, wasn't completely thrilled about it, and sent it on it's way.

I realized that just like a lot of women in today's world I try to alter my beauty, and sometimes I wish I could make drastic changes rather than attempting to enhance what I already have (skinnier ankles, shorter toes, you know, weird stuff like that). This realization gave me an idea: A Natural Beauty Challenge.

There are 2 parts to the challenge:

1. Pick one thing you do to try to alter your beauty (i.e., makeup, clothing, accessories) and either completely eliminate or simply reduce your use of that "thing" for 2 weeks

2. Promote your natural beauty by picking one thing you like about yourself everyday and either tell it to yourself or post about it publicly

My Challenge:

1. I'm going to reduce the amount of makeup I wear. I'm only going to put on eyeliner and mascara. By the end of the day I feel like my skin is gasping for breath, so I feel like letting my natural skin be free from makeup for 2 weeks will do it some good.

2. I have over 100,000,000 freckles on my entire body, and I love them - especially the ones on my face.

I'm really excited about this challenge, and I hope some of you decide to try it out! Let's share our natural beauty and take one step closer to feeling good in our own skin.

My Love Story

WARNING: Mushy Love Story. If you are anti-love or don't like a good tale, scroll on you ninny.

Can I tell you a story? I pinky promise it won't be boring. This story is the best story in the whole world. It's a love story. Can I? Please?

I'm a pretty complicated person. I don't like making decisions, I hate going out and socializing, and I worry way too much about what other people think of me. So when I met Daryn Stanley, I didn't really expect it to go anywhere.

Boy, was I wrong. 

Carol Sorenson is probably one of my favorite people on this planet. She's a little old lady whom I met while working at a salon. Carol had a weekly appointment to get her hair washed and set by my boss, and since I was rarely busy with my own clients, I would chat with her or her daughter, LeeAnne. After knowing Carol for about a year, she started to tell me about her grandson. He was serving an LDS mission in San Diego and I probably should meet him when he gets home. Now, I'd been set up plenty of times before, which hadn't gone down so well, so I wasn't all that interested in doing it again; however, all Carol ever did was tell me about him... until I got to work on Friday April 6, 2012 (yes, I'm that much of a wierdo that I remember the exact day). My boss informed me that Carol's grandson was bringing her in for her appointment today and I was to cut his hair. Oh joy. I distinctly remember what I was wearing that day - and it wasn't good. My appearance didn't bother me too much, however, because I figured this wasn't going to go anywhere anyways. He was going to be short. And unattractive. And probably awkward.

Boy, was I wrong.

In walks a towering 6' 5" (ish) hunk of a guy. And I start freaking out inside. He's gorgeous! Oh no, what if I screw up his hair? He's so tall! What the heck was I thinking when I got dressed this morning?! Just breathe. 

The haircut went well, as did the conversation regardless of the fact that the guy had only been home from his mission for about three weeks! I couldn't help but notice cute little Carol watching us from the back of the salon. Half an hour later and he was gone. So what did I do? I texted the following to my sister: "I'm in love".

Little did I know how much I really was.

Ben & Jerry's, board-games with my family, hotdogs and s'mores, an unexpected kiss (by me), and a volleyball game later and I had a boyfriend.

Fast forward exactly one year, one month, and 7 months later and I had a fiance. (see proposal here)

Three-ish months after that and I now have a husband. The best husband. My Daryn. He's my other half, and he's absolutely 110% perfect for me. I'm one lucky girl.

Welcome!

Blogging is an interesting hobby/job/past-time/or whatever label you want to put on it. I've started several blogs, most of which never lasted longer than a couple months. For the last week or so, I've found myself with that urge again. The urge to blog. But the same problem kept holding me back: what to blog about. There are so many different types of blogs out there: fitness, health, diy, cooking, fashion, person, etc. I browsed multiple articles on blogging trying to figure out what I would blog about. Nothing seemed to help, so I decided to just get started and see what happened. One article had said something about finding my niche, my passion. I have a big problem with that right now. I'm a junior in college who recently changed my major from English Education to just plain English (I can tell you more about that later) and have suddenly found myself in a slump, because I can't figure out what I want to do. What I want to be. What my passion is. I've battled with this my entire life. I used to draw, I used to play piano, I used to take pictures. I used to do a lot of things, and I love them all... for a time. And sometimes I start loving them again, so I decide this is what my passion is... for a time. Blogging about my passion was going to be a problem, I realized, because I don't have one. And then I realized something better. Sure, I don't have one passion, but, the thing is, I have a lot of passions, so why not blog about them all? Why not create a blog that covers several different topics that I personally have a passion for?

And that's how I established Pearls.

The name came to me pretty quickly. I had first decided "To Be", drawing from our beloved Shakespeare (he's definitely a passion), when suddenly the Bible passage found in Matthew 7:6 popped into my head:

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast

ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them

under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

This verse, in application to myself, basically says that our talents and our passions are special, no matter what anyone else thinks. And that's when I realized the root of my problem; it wasn't that I felt I lacked passions, it was that I lacked the confidence to show the world my talents, and as I draw closer to graduation (December 2014 is coming up fast!), I feel the need to develop my talents and find the confidence necessary to land myself a dream job (more about that later as well). I have two goals I want to accomplish via Pearls: 1) develop my own confidence 2) develop just one person's confidence to trust in their own abilities and make their life better.

So, welcome to Pearls: a blog about passions and talents that should not be discarded but should be developed and utilized.