American Eagle Best Shots

Do me a favor and vote for these pictures, please!!!
It'd mean a lot to me =]

A.E. Aspiring Artist BestShot:
BestShot Artist

A.E. Best A.E. Spirit BestShot:
BestShot Spirit

A.E. Best A.E. Spirit BestShot:
BestShot Spirit 2

A.E. Best Back Pocket BestShot:
BestShot Back Pocket

A.E. Best Back Pocket BestShot:
BestShot Back Pocket 2

A.E. Best Class Clown BestShot:
BestShot Class Clown


Just please vote!!!

xoxo
Stephanie

Guest Blog on DoL: Kylee

"To live a creative life we must lose our fear of being wrong"
--Joseph Chilton Pearce

     Today, many people fixate themselves on body image. They want to be perfect. People want to feel good about themselves. They all want to look in the mirror and smile, totally accepting their body because it is society's definition of person. Many teenage girls believe that perfection can be reached. But the real truth is, no one's perfect. No one can reach that ultimate goal of perfection, no matter how hard they may try.

      First off, let me explain the word perfect. Perfect is considered an abstract noun, meaning everyone has their own definition of the word. So clearly, not everyone thinks alike when the word "perfect" pops into their head. Personally, when I think of the word perfect I think of someone tall, blonde, blue eyes, beach girl, basically the typical Barbie doll. Most likely, teenaged girl's ideas of perfect, including mine, are probably out of this world considering all of the things we are exposed to.
     
      Even though I'm only 13, I've been exposed to it all. The magazines, TV shows, movies, they all play a factor in the idea of perfection. Take the show America's Next Top Model for example, I sit on my couch, apple in hand, almost every day, begging myself to get thinner so I may grow up to be a model. When the realization of the matter is, the "ideal" woman portrayed by models is 5'11" and 117 pounds. So basically, most girls my age want to be sticks. Which, in all reality is really, truly, very sickening. This leads teenage girls into developing eating disorders and depression. I wish I could sway someone's idea of how they look, but it's almost impossible. Your body image is what you think of yourself, and once media and magazines, sway that idea, it is quite difficult to accept yourself once again.

Girls need to realize: you can't please everyone. The only one that you're going to have to put up with is yourself. If people don't like your hair, or your curves, then so what? They're not in your body, you are. From personal experience I know it's hard to not want to please everyone. I've had tons of comments thrown at me. "Your thighs are huge, go to the gym already!"  "Try straightening your hair once and a while, you'll look prettier!"   Prettier? In life it isn't about being pretty, and in all honesty looks don't matter that much. The inside matter way more than the outside. The thing is though, you can't let the people, media, or the magazines push you around. Because if you do, you'll end up like a carbon copy. You'll be miserable once you find out that, this isn't what you want to be. That you wasted your time trying to be something you're not for someone whom you don't have to put up with for the rest of your life. My body image of myself was horrible and corrupted. I wanted to be sickly thin, ribs sticking out, size 0. Of course I'm not like that now, cause I finally realize that no one's perfect. I'm 5'3", 144.8, size 11, and B36, which is clearly, now here near a model's weight or height.

The cure to this epidemic of distorted body images is confidence, which takes a lot of time to build up. It's hard, and I'm still working on it. I'm working on loving myself too. But the thing is, whenever I fall, break down, or just start to cry, I never give up completely. The next day I am back on my feet again, positivity flowing through my body. It's a difficult, strenuous, challenge to be able to have confidence, and finally accept your body. But I have faith in you, and I bet a lot of other people do too. Everyone reading this, do me a favor and stand in front of the mirror, and instead of pointing out all of the negative, point out just ONE thing you love about yourself. Then eventually, you'll come to accept yourself.

So, it's been a while. Mainly because last weekend I went on vacation to Wisconsin (near Devil's Lake). That vacation was so peaceful and wonderful. Getting away from reality and spending time with my boyfriend and my cousin and her boyfriend was just fantastic. Helped me clear my head and have fun. (even though at one point I did have a panic attack...) Anyways, we left on Friday morning at 5am. Got to the cottage at about 930am. We spent basically the entire weekend at the Dells. Pirate's Cove (multiple times. gotta love mini golf), Paul Bunyan's, Mount Olympus, Ponderosa, Arcade, and many of the shops. But it was very nice getting away for a few days.

Our cottage <3

Then this past week I had work and all my normal things. Finally got my school schedule settled for the fall. Had a coffee date with Aaron and caught up a bit with him, which was VERY nice and I would like it to happen again. Then my uncle Jim, his girlfriend (Viola), and his youngest son (Brian) came in town from California. Yesterday we went to the Sox vs. Cubs game (SOX WON!) and the sky was fantastic looking. Vicious yet gorgeous at the same time. And we also went to the Taste of Chicago for a bit. Then ordered some good Chicago pizza (because it is the best) and went out to the bar and had a great (and funny) time. Then I went to my friend Eric's because he just got home from bootcamp (he has a tumor on his toe and needs to get it surgically removed).

The viciously gorgeous sky <3

Well, that's all I have for the moment.

xoxo

Stephanie