To Dear Old NYU

One week ago, New York University held its 183rd commencement ceremony to honor the graduating Class of 2015. Yours truly is humbled to be a member of that class. I now have a master's degree in public relations and corporate communication (PRCC)! A week after commencement, I'm still feeling inspired, excited and relieved...all at once. 

You Is Important

Hi, world! I've been slacking a bit, so please forgive me. This is a super short post, but it was on my heart to share.

My pastor hosts Mid-Week Motivation on Wednesdays--they're super early so sometimes I miss them--but one of his recent ones was centered on self-care. I think it's something we can all do a better job of. He began by telling the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 and then posed the question: Who am I in the story? He said that he and we are all three people in the story: the wounded man, the passersby and the Good Samaritan. What he said was that we all pass ourselves by instead of stopping to take care of our own needs.

To sum it up, his message was: Engage in radical self-care of yourself today and every day, for only then can you be an agent of healing and transformation for others. So do something for yourself today! Take a break and go for a walk. Go to the spa or get a pedicure. Or stop by your favorite smoothie place. Anything that is just for YOU. You're important, so take care of yourself.

Happy Tuesday!


P.S. Stay tuned for a full blog makeover + posts more frequently in the coming weeks.

Are You Willing to Bench on Varsity?

I have been wrestling with two very different philosophies on life and growth recently. One was presented to me while reading The Truth About Marissa Mayer: An Unauthorized Biography. According to this piece, whenever she is asked why she joined Google after getting her master's in symbolic systems at Stanford, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer tells her "Laura Beckman story" about the daughter of her middle school piano teacher. I'll let Marissa tell it in her own words:

10 Things To Do While SAVED & SINGLE

I'm working on becoming a better me, as I'm sure we all are and should. A blog post on what the specifics of becoming a better me entail is coming soon, so be on the lookout. In the meantime, I came across another post call 10 Things to do While Saved & Single and I really enjoyed the read. Not only that, but I took a lot from it on how to improve my life as a single Christian. Some of these things I already do; others I am willing to adopt. I thought it might bless some of you so below is the text of the post that originally appeared on NORingNOSheets. Happy reading!

The Boyfriend/Husband List

Back in January, a girlfriend and I read former Miss USA Kristen Dalton Wolfe's The Husband List: 12 Non-Negotiables and were inspired to draft lists of our own. Looking back at it now, not much has changed. Before I share with you what made my list, I want to first talk about modern dating and share my own experience. A guy I had previously dated, fallen for and truly thought could have been The One despite "bad timing" told me he was in a relationship with another girl. This was after telling me for more than a year that he wasn't ready for a relationship with me due mostly to focusing on his career but also because I moved away and he wasn't into long-distance relationships. But still he called and texted me and we went on several dates over the course of almost two years. He also said he could see himself with me in the future. I believed it. So you can understand my confusion and anger upon hearing this news.

How to be a Christian

When I wrote How to be Beautiful, I didn't think it would be the first of a series of How Tos, but here I am writing my second How To post. I felt compelled to write this because I feel like Christians today get a bad rep. We're called too conservative and judgmental and off-putting.

Make no mistake, being a Christian and living a life that's pleasing to God is not easy. It's something I work hard at each day. One Sunday a few months ago, my pastor said something that really spoke to me. It was along the lines of: "It is not my job to make you better Christians, but to make you better human beings." Amennnnn. We were made in God's image and given superior intelligence to other animals for a reason. We can discern right from wrong and choose love and acceptance over hate and rejection. Being a Christian isn't about walking around proud and condemning others for the lives they lead, but sharing your love, talents and passion for Christ with the world around you. Here's how I think it should be done:

How to be Beautiful

Being a beauty queen and all, I'm often asked for beauty secrets. The truth is: I don't have any. I believe in the democratization of beauty so I share what works for me freely. And when I say it works for me, I mean just that. The best way to find what works for you is to experiment with as many different products as your budget will permit. Subscription services like Birchbox and Glossybox are great resources for beauty experimenters. Both send you monthly samples of products you otherwise may never try. And the samples are always enough that you can use them several times so you know it really works. If you want to know what works for me, keep reading.