Weight a Minute

Hi lovelies,
I was so nervous about posting this up, but there's no better time than now to do it, so here it goes.

In the lead up to my preparation for my new blog I'm calling What Danica Loves; which is basically "a visual diary of my favourite things", one of my main tasks was to look through my folders to find photographs I love. What I expected to find were pictures of family, friends, outfits and things; what I didn't expect to find was images of clothes I've never worn because I've been too paranoid about what my body would look like in them.
Yes, you read that right. Now I'm not trying to seek attention or compliments, I'm simply just trying to get real with you guys.
I want to use my platform to share stories, insecurities and advice with you guys.
Every blogger has a special knack/originality, I've come to realise that the best way I can feel inspired and good about what I'm blogging about is when I'm helping you guys by sharing my stories and insecurities, so that you never feel alone.

Growing up, I always had an issue with my weight. I've always been petite my entire life, but that didn't mean I was always "thin" - it just meant I was really small (I found myself as short and stubby rather than petite tbh.)
I spent half of primary school playing sports and involving myself in athletics,and found that this was when I started to gain muscle in my calves and upper-arms. So technically, I was fit, but I still found myself feeling "fat" because I didn't have a thigh-gap or a tremendously flat stomach.

I struggled even more with my weight throughout high school - as you can imagine. All of my girl friends were beautiful and skinny and perfectly proportioned, whilst I was petite but muscly because of my sporty background.

Now before you say anything, I know weight is a touchy subject in today's society. By in no means am I trying to offend anyone, I'm just trying to create a "food for thought" environment.

So now that I'm older and wiser (well, barely lol), I realised something - I'd been denying myself from feeling happy with my body because I had my own unrealistic ideas of what it meant to be happy. I was feeding off of other people's ideas of "body goals" that I forgot about my idea of feeling happy with my own body.
I should be feeling thankful that I'm healthy, and that I have family, friends and a boyfriend who find me beautiful no matter what number comes up on the scale.
Because naturally, as you step into adolescence, your body changes because you don't stay the size you were in sixth grade forever. It's called progression into becoming a woman.
And in my case, it was progression into becoming a mum.

It's taken me so long to get comfortable in my own skin again. No, I don't weigh myself daily. No, I don't exercise regularly. No, I don't eat healthy regularly. I look in the mirror and am happy with how I look. I exercise when I'm feeling good, and I eat junk food just about as much as I eat healthy. I don't want to base my days around crazy fad diets or counting calories. I don't want to raise my son believing your size matters - when it doesn't. Health matters. This also doesn't mean I'm going to feed my son and my body junk food 24/7. This doesn't mean I'm not taking care of my body - of course I am, it just means I have a different approach of what it means to be healthy and beautiful.

This doesn't mean I don't have days where I feel like absolute crap about myself. Of course I do, I'm human too! But the only way to get through it is feeling determined the next day to fix whatever you're unhappy about. If I'm feeling yucky because I'm bloated, I'll simply have a better meal the next day. If I'm feeling sluggish, I'll prepare a few days worth of exercises to keep me motivated. It's not about "losing weight", it's just about keeping my confidence levels up and earning that radiant glow of happiness.

Ever since I started dressing according to my size and what my body shape looks best in, my confidence levels have boosted and I'm honestly feeling happier than ever. I've accepted that I'm going to have curves my whole life. I've accepted that my weight doesn't define who I am.
And neither should you.

Now this was quite a lengthy post, but what I said was needed, in my opinion.
I'd like to think that my blog is somewhere I can rant openly and you guys will understand, not judge.

Now without further ado, a new look for you guys to feast on.
I never use to be a fan of tight skirts because of my mummy belly and my booty, but I've come to embrace them because this is me, and I'm simply happy.

Simply Floral

Hi lovelies,
I am so incredibly sorry that it's taken me this long to post this new look. I know it promised it a few nights ago, but when I went to edit the post, my laptop got hacked with a virus and wiped my library. Luckily, I store everything in my portable hard drive, so it was easy to get everything back, thank goodness! Oh, and don't worry, I freaked out when it happened and my dad told me to do a security scan of my entire laptop and that actually fixed it, god bless.

Now to the point of this post. I got such a wonderful response from my last post, I got a little overwhelmed with what my next few posts were going to contain. I felt like I had to one-up everything from now on. But I think that will just stress me out, and I'm pretty sure you guys will catch onto that, and it won't seem as genuine.

I think that's what I look for when I'm reading blogs and following Instagram accounts; how genuine the individual is. We all know most bloggers/vloggers are sponsored and will do their best to try and sell you products. Sometimes it's genuine, sometimes it's ridiculously out of nowhere. But there are always those public figures who stay humble and genuine no matter how many offers they're getting. And that's something to admire - especially in this industry. People are money-hungry and especially in the fashion industry, all people want is success and clothes.

Am I rambling? Oh well, that had nothing to do with this look. I kind of just wanted to vent, and I just happened to do that here. Oops!

Well without further ado, welcome to tonight's new look: Simply Floral *enter flower emoji*

Embrace Your Beauty

Hi lovelies,
While I was on my (sort-of) hiatus, all I could think about was how uninspired and low I was feeling. I just felt so down about myself and everything I was doing. I felt like I had no control.
My main focus on feeling blue was seeing all of these beautiful and successful bloggers being exactly who they were. They were comfortable in their own skin. But another thing was the fact that they all look like models. Some have even walked fashion week shows. And that made me feel really crap about myself, considering I'm a little shorter than 5ft tall and am frumpy.
I don't have perfect skin since I suffer from eczema. I don't have a perfect smile because I chose not to get braces because I like my smile the way it is. I don't have a thigh gap because I like my food, and even though I don't work out as often as most, I keep my weight at 46kg. I don't have a perfect flat stomach because I had a baby at 16 which resulted in excessive and heavy stretchmarks which are now impossible to get rid of, and my skin stretched out so far it's been difficult getting it back to how it was before. I don't have a perfect jawline because my face shape is naturally round. I'm not perfect. I'm not model material. I'm not skinny.
Most people scroll through blogs and find these gorgeous, tall and perfect-everything girls as what we now call "goals." And although I wouldn't deny being envious and calling these girls "goals" as well, I much rather prefer seeing an average everyday girl who works 20 hours a week, and goes to university full-time, eats whatever the hell she wants, makes the time to workout irregularly, and also has the time to blog as my personal inspiration.
It's upsetting to see that the "everyday girl" is now being diminished by the girls who are in the spotlight just because they're not what you would call "perfect." People often forget that "perfect" doesn't exist.

My main point for this rant is to basically point out that you're beautiful the way you are. Embrace your beauty. Being "average" and an "everyday" girl is inspiring too. It's hard to be a girl these days. People often forget that.

So without further ado, I wanted to showcase a look I thought helps present being able to dress in whatever the hell you want. Don't have a flat stomach? Who cares, wear that tight skirt anyway!

Grey speckle with black heart print knit tank by H&M; Light blue denim midi skirt by Forever 21; Nude and black glossy summer sandals by Novo; Dark blue denim jacket by ELLE Magazine Collection; White oversized 'Pardon My French' by Sportsgirl; Bangles by Cartier & Kate Spade

EXTRA OUTTAKE IMAGE:

Hope my little rant has you fist-pumping in the air in celebration of your beautiful selves!

Filled with love,

Danica xo

Feeling flustered; but I'm back, baby!

Hi lovelies,
I've been gone for too long but I'm finally back and feeling better than ever.
Rekindling my love and passion for blogging was kind of a struggle; I was feeling overwhelmed and had a difficult time balancing my family, work and fashion. I never took the time to stop, sit down and take a long look at my schedule to realise everything was so messed up.
But I've finally done so, which is why I'm coming to you tonight with a brand spankin' new look!

I thought about doing an entire blog revamp and relaunching, but that would be my technique of giving up, and I don't ever want to give this up. I want to keep progressing and improving, whilst being able to look back (I say this as I'm thinking about deleting every single post published before this one.) I guess we'll just have to see how I go...

So without further ado, I did this shoot in honour of Summer. I hate the heat, but I love the sun for the natural lighting at my shoots. Oh, and I also like the Summer fashion, but that's pretty much self-explanatory when you see this look.