Sticks & Stones

Today on the Challenge: Something someone told you about yourself that you'll never forget.

I remember it like it was yesterday. 7th grade. Texas History class. Sitting at my desk near the back right of the classroom. It was "free dress day" at the private school I attended at the time, and I was wearing flip-flops. My friend Danny turned around to talk to me, and somehow his attention turned to my flip-flop clad feet. And you know what he said then?

He said, "Oh my God, you have a HUUUGE big toe!" And then he laughed at me. 

This is the strangest thing to remember, but I do, I really do. Thirteen years later, every time I see my feet, I look at them and ask myself, "are my big toes really that big? Are they just normal big or, like, freakishly big?" I haven't decided yet. But it's funny how something someone said to me so long ago made such an impact. Just more proof that words matter. 

Share your stories in the linkup below! Happy Saturday. :)

My 3 most rottenest of traits

OMG, not another serious one! One that requires thought! Gosh, this "coming up with posts of substance" stuff is hard work. Day 24 is your top three worst traits. But wait! I thought blogging was about making everyone believe you're perfect!  Oops. Not if you're taking part in the Blog Every Day In May Challenge, it's not. Muhahaha.

So.... what are my top 3 worst traits?

Easy.

1. I am lacking in discipline and a chronic procrastinator. People often advise me to make lists, since it "feels so good to check them off." But for me, if it's on a list of things I need to do, I will automatically do everything else I can find to do except the things on the list. It would probably be more effective if I made a To Do list of things I shouldn't do, because, ipso facto, I would then maybe do the things I should. It's confusing, being me.

2. I am argumentative. If I hear someone say something I believe to be false in any capacity, my nature does not allow me to sit idly by without arguing. Poor Matthew receives the brunt of this personality trait. Apparently it's very annoying. On that note, I am also bossy. Or as I prefer to put it, a born dictator leader.

3. I am selfish. I like things my way, and I'm not a very good sharer. I don't typically put others first. I know some amazingly selfless people, and I marvel at their goodness, but I am not, intrinsically, one of them. I will not share my last bit of ice cream with you. I will forget to send you a card for your birthday. I will get too busy with my own endeavors to ask you about yours. But I'm getting better about this, little by little. I don't like this about myself, and that's the first step to reform, I hope.

What about you? What are your top three worst traits? Share in the linkup below today's featured SOML sponsors....

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Devon authors The Mermaid Chronicles, a blog about fabulous life in sunny San Diego following her passion for writing and SURFING! This beautiful girl has a beautiful love story over here (swoon!) and lots of easy links to get to know her better over here. You will love her gorgeous, sea-drenched photos and beautiful way with words. Go right on over and say hello.

Blog | Facebook | Instagram

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The Nectar Collective is a beautiful blog by a beautiful girl named Melyssa who happens to be funny, too. She's an American living in Japan, which mixes things up some, and she posts on fabulous DIYs (how cute is this idea?!), her adventures in Japan, and she's even participating in the May challenge! There's lots of great ways to get to know this girl, and one is to start right here. Have fun!

Blog | Facebook | Twitter

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Lastly, I'd love to turn your attention to a website called Sunglasses Shop where you will find a vast assortment of all the sunglasses under the sun. Really! My favorite way to start looking is to browse the style guide.  Aviators your thing? Wayfarers? How 'bout Harry Potter-esque rounds? This shop has 'em all, and great brands too. Definitely consider Sunglasses shop for all your sunglasses needs!

Website

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Nerdy/Chic

 

Dress and Hat: Target, Belt: J. Crew, Necklace: Francesca's, Ring: inherited, my Grandma's high school ring, Glasses: c/o Polette Eyewear - 10% off with discount code Storyofmylife

I'm calling this look Nerdy Chic. I dig it. Don't forget to check out Polette Eyewear. They have the cutest and most affordable frames, like, ever. Here are the ones I'm wearing. Happy Thursday!

Things Life told me...

Day 23 of Blog Every Day In May. I am SO proud of those of you still going strong! Just a little over a week to go.... we got this.

*Two blog posts in one day, wooo! See the rest of this outfit in the next post, if you so desire

*glasses by Polette Eyewear, here

Today's topic: things you've learned that school won't teach you.  I wrote this post in the form of a (one-sided) dialogue. Things Life taught me. I don't really know why I did it this way. It just seemed like a little more fun... 

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"For Christ's sake," said Life, "stop taking yourself so seriously. You know what the best way to stop feeling sorry for yourself is? To stop destructive behaviors? Focus on others. When you're too busy loving on other people, it's hard to find time to think about your problems, which are probably dumb and possibly self-imposed, anyway. Even if they're not, they seem less scary when you remember that you're not the only one having them."

"Also," Life said, "people are going to hurt you. They are going to react to things you say or do in the all-wrong way, sometimes. Forgive them. Give them a moment. Communicate with them until you work it out. Hope that they will give you this same courtesy when you are busy also being human at a later date."  Life paused, and then decided to clarify that. "Sometimes, though, people take advantage of kindness. Sometimes, kindness can look and feel like weakness to abusive people (who are really just hurting inside). Respect yourself enough to walk away from abuse, every time. It's good to have faith in people, it is. But abuse is never okay."

"And on that note," Life continued, "don't waste your time trying to convince unreasonable people of how reasonable you are. It never works. They have to come to a place of Reason on their own, and you probably won't bring them there all by yourself. Besides, some people just genuinely enjoy being assholes. Or maybe it's just all they know."

"Oh and don't forget," said Life, "that you get what you put in. The Law of Attraction is real - it's not science or magic or voodoo, it's just common sense. So put out good things into the universe, and they always have a way of coming back around. They just do."

"And finally," Life sighed, "there will be tragedy. There will be things that happen that don't make any sense no matter how you spin it. You will lose people, sometimes in horrific ways. People who are supposed to be trustworthy will betray you. Human beings will never cease to disappoint. Don't ever stop looking for meaning in all this.  Look for it in science, look for it in beauty, look for it in religion, but don't give up on looking for it. Don't be close-minded to discovering other truths than just what you now know. It's a big world out there. Maybe there's lots you still don't understand. Maybe there's lots that CAN'T be understood. Like the little ants that go about their lives in their ant mound, maybe you, too, don't even begin to comprehend the vastness of your world. But don't give up on trying."

And so far, that's most of what I've learned outside of school.

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A rant... about Blogger comments. Are YOU a no-reply blogger?!

Day 22. Rant about something. Get up on your soapbox and tell us how you really feel. 

I'm not in the mood to piss anyone off today, so I won't get too controversial on this one. But I would like to talk about something that drives me absolutely flippin' bonkers about this little blogging platform so many of us utilize. Yep, I'm looking at you, BLOGGER. And I hope the powers-that-be read this, because we need reform, dangit! 

Rant: The comment system here on Blogger sucks fantastically. It does, it really does.  

I'd like you to do a little exercise with me. Go to your Blogger profile. If you have to, leave a comment on this post that just says "testing, testing, 1, 2, 3!", then click your own name. Your Blogger profile will pop up, and if, under "Contact Me" it doesn't say "email," then you are NOT set up to properly enjoy the commenting system here on Blogger. Why they don't make it a mandatory field to fill out as long as you're a Blogger-user, I'll never know. 

It should look like this:

An NOW, if you have your Google plus account linked as your profile instead of the Blogger one, that means you automatically aren't set up correctly, either. Grrrr. 

Jenni, when you say "set up correctly, what does that mean?"  Good question.

Many if not most bloggers (at least ones that have been around the block a time or two), have their comments set up to be delivered straight to their inbox. You do this by going to your dashboard > settings > mobile and email > put in the address you want comments to come to.  Then, voila! All comments now come straight to your inbox, and you can actually reply directly to these comments by just clicking "reply" and typing up your note back to the commenter! It will go straight to THEIR email inbox, and a nice little conversation can happen behind the scenes. UNLESS. Unless you don't have that email added on your profile, which sooo many people don't. Then, instead of your email address popping up in the recipient field when I go to reply to you, THIS comes up:  

poor Melyssa is my example today. She has an amazing blog, by the way!

The dreaded noreply-comment@blogger.com. If you reply to this comment, your reply will be sent off into endless cyberspace, never to be seen again. 

Of course the other option is to reply to all comments right in the thread, but I don't love doing that because A) I always wonder if I'm wasting my time - will you even come back to read my reply? That's another way that Blogger sucks. There's no system to email you when I reply in-thread. BOO! FIX THAT 'ISH, BLOGGER!!!  >:(

So, go add your email, if you haven't already. And enjoy the community this platform has to offer. Go to your profile, click "Edit Profile" on the top right, and then check this box, and put in the email address you'd like to use a little further down the screen:

Even if you're on Wordpress, make a Blogger profile with your email and website link, so you can comment on Blogger blogs and enjoy cross-platform networking. Priscilla is a great example of a Wordpress user that has a blogger profile she uses to comment on Blogger blogs like mine, and it includes her email and her website link. There's no reason we different-platform-users shouldn't get along just swimmingly, eh?!

And that's my rant. SPREAD THE WORD. Let's fix this noreply-comment nonsense once and for all. Don't be a no reply-commenter!  

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Share your rants in today's linkup below....