wow! it has been SUPER hectic this week and EVERyTHING landed on this weekend! i had to over-night nanny, my color run, anniversary, and a graduation party! INSANITY! im actually exhausted but i’m putting up pictures of Jus and my run tomorrow! night night 

i have always been a girl who is active, and i still love working out and playing sports. i ran cross country and track all through middle and high school. however, when you run long distance your boobs shrink and your thighs and butt get much bigger. for me, flat chested and big thighs/butt was NOT what i was seeing on magazine covers, TV shows, and movies. i was in shape, but absolutely hated my body. i’m 5’ 1”, so i felt bulky and stocky. i wanted to have slender thin legs, a perfect hour glass shape, and SOME sort of cleavage! my body image was SO screwed up that i couldn’t look in the mirror without seeing all of my imperfections; that is, until i met my boyfriend.

when we first started dating i kept my hatred for my body hush hush because i didn’t want him to know i was insecure. but as time went on, my guard went down; little negative comments would slip out once in a while but then it turned into flat out tearing myself apart. i remember standing in front of a mirror in his house, complaining about how my thighs looked in my skinny jeans, and he turned me towards him, cupped my face in his hands and told me in the sweetest possible way to say this, “shut up.” at first i was taken back, but then he kept going, “Grace, you are the most beautiful, perfect girl i could ever imagine. please don’t be one of those dumb girls who THINK they know what guys like, because they never do.” in that moment, it was like a light bulb went off in my head. it was what i NEEDED to hear, especially from a guy! I mean, girls can be caddy and we never truly believe them when they tell us “you’re not fat!” or “you look fine in those.” but hearing a man say that those stick skinny, fake boobed girls from the movies arent all that attractive just sunk in. 

I’m not saying that you need a man in order to think you are beautiful, but we need to stop using the media as our “example” of what a sexy or perfect is. Because ALL the magazines are portraying unrealistic and edited pictures of women. Enough with this obsession with thigh gaps or having man abs! It’s so sad when I see girls post pictures of women who are emaciated, with legs as thin as their arms, and have the caption of “ugh I want her body”. It’s so weird to me because do you know WHY guys are in love with women like Marilyn Monroe, Kim Kardashian, and Scarlett Johansson because they are curvy and have “meat” on them! Love the body that you have and work WITH it and don’t give yourself unrealistic expectations. Like for me, I have a wide set stomach, I don’t have the thin hour glass shape like some girls have, but that’s OK! I just work with it and not get frustrated like I use to! Please start loving YOU and make your body the best it can be! Lets all get a new mirror! <3

Justus found out that his name isn’t on the deployment roster, of course he’s disappointed. i’m sad for him, but relieved at the same time =( but who knows that the future holds.