Cardigan Empire

Salt Lake City Fashion Stylist

Beauty-full Tuesday: Stephanie of Barefoot in the Kitchen

Nearly 8 years marks my introduction to Stephanie, yet I can’t cease to marvel at her elegance: magic sewing skills, exceptional cooking prowess, enviable mothering commitment. And although she is one of the most efficient, capable women I know, she also has the sweetest, most approachable demeanor you’re likely to cross.  Meet my darling new neighbor (yes we moved Saturday last) Stephanie of Barefoot in the Kitchen.  Did I mention I really, really look up to her and adore her, because I do.

I grew up comparing myself to my older sister. It was inevitable. She was taller, thinner, and so much more confident than I. She couldn’t help it. That’s just how she was made.

But I spent so much time focusing on what I wasn’t, that I didn’t notice what I was. Luckily, somewhere between my insecure adolescence and now, I stopped comparing. I found my worth in my role as a sister, a friend, a wife, a mother. My beauty does not lie in my appearance, but in my being. I can be happy with how I look because I recognize who I am; I am me and that is enough.

Knowing who we are is the secret to feeling beautiful, I think. And it is the only way to forget about our insecurities and carry on, becoming the women we were meant to be all along.

Feed me fashionably fresh

Beauty-full Tuesday: Freckles in April

Who are you not to be beautiful?  Thank the liberation of Kayla of Freckles in April.

My figure is the opposite of hourglass. My nose is weird from a break when I was a kid. My skin is and has always been a battlefield. My nails are flimsy and sad looking. I have split ends.
But…eh.
The older I get the more difficult it is to summon up my old teenagery angst over my flaws. I’ve learned to dress for my shape. I’ve gotten over my nose. My skin still annoys the crap out of me but I doubt I’ll still be breaking out at age 50 so at least that has an expiration date.
And at some point between the black self-esteem hole of high school and now, I’ve decided that it’s ok to think that I’m beautiful.
For some reason I was always afraid to let myself think so highly of myself. What if I was wrong? What if other people disagreed?
As it turns out, other people are kind of busy with their own stuff so I gave myself permission to think that I’m pretty and awesome and superwoman and a hundred other good things. And, like so many things in life, you become what you think about. As soon as you let yourself think you’re amazing you will be.
Just in case he’s forgotten, I occasionally like to turn to my husband and say, “Aaron? I’m pretty.”
And I am.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”  Marianne Williamson
Feed me fashionably fresh