New Directions

"The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It's the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows & the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years. ~"

— Audrey Hepburn

Hello my friends and faithful blog readers. At this point I'm not even sure if you are still out there, and I don't blame you because as you can tell by my abhorrent lack of posts, I am an extremely one track person. I have learned that I tend to only focus at one thing at a time, and am often transitioning from one interest to the next. This doesn't mean my passion for fashion and love of blogging has completely vanished. I only mean that I haven't yet found the ideal balance for my life. So, with that I'd like to announce to you the new direction I would like my blog to take. Right now I am in that strange an uncertain stage of life that I've heard many recent college graduates find themselves in and have made the decision to postpone my January venture to South Africa to a later date not yet determined. Right now I want my focus to be finding balance, discipline, health (in all areas of my life), and ultimately true joy. I can openly say that through my college years I lost a lot of all that I listed above because I let stress and my eating disorder essentially eat away my life. I am not yet the balanced, happy, healthy person that I want to be when I finally venture to Africa and until I become that person, I do not want to make such a drastic change in my life. I know I am being more blunt and open than usual, but since I have decided to take my life in a different direction for now and ever since my last post about body image, I have grown weary of writing rather weightless fashion posts when there is so much more to my life that I would like to share with the world. So, my friends, here it is: I want to redirect my blog from solely fashion (and sometimes movie and literature) focused to a chronicling of my journey to health and happiness. Don't worry, I'm not going to go completely Eat Pray Love on you. I just want to write about the things that inspire me and bring me happiness in my daily life.

I just read a wonderful Audrey Hepburn biography called Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn by Donald Spoto (thanks Jess for the loan!). I highly recommend this read to all you Audrey Hepburn lovers and even those who simply find her intriguing. Not only does it reveal interesting tidbits into the life of a fascinating woman, but it gives a good look into the sadness behind those big brown eyes. I didn't realize how hard and sometimes tragic Audrey's life actually was, and it made her all the more real and human to me. I love her quote above, and think that Audrey reached the peak of her true beauty toward the end of her life when she found true fulfillment in humanitarian work with UNICEF. Though Audrey made her mark on screen in her early years, she was never very happy doing it. All she really wanted was children to love and spoil and a cause to put her heart into. After reading her biography, I have become even more determined not not go through most of my life and following its rhythms without really living it.

So, there you have it. I still will be doing my fashion posts (so not to worry my fellow fashion freaks) but they will be sprinkled in with posts that aim to look at true beauty that comes in all shapes, sizes, and personalities. I hope that one day the fashion world can fully embrace the healthy woman's body. It saddens me that it has become increasingly difficult to separate beautiful fashion with an unhealthy body image, but I hope my blog can help encourage that separation in its small way. Here's to embracing who we are and enjoying life's true beauty and everything that comes with it! I hope you all can join me in my journey to discovering it.