TGBL-"Respect Yourself".

So excited to be linking up again with Hayley and Lauren in their weekly linkup "The Girl Between the Lines"! This week's topic is talk about a lesson in life that you wish you've learned earlier in life. My lesson is to respect you. Read on to figure out why I picked this. 

Okay, so picture a little overweight awkward high school freshman surrounded by skinny beautiful girls whose bible was the Clique novels. She wears glasses, and was obsessed with the picnik website.She wanted friends, a boyfriend, and just to be popular. She loved music, singing and was considered an outcast.
Ladies and gentlemen, that girl was me.
Now, fast forward (can you believe six years) to 2014. That same little girl lost her baby fat, gained some friends, and honestly doesn't give a crap. She's not popular, but she has a lot of friends. She's a single lady because she doesn't want to date someone that's just there for no apparent reason. She's got style, she's got grace, she's a winner.
What happened to cause that change?
Well, let's talk about it. Between that time period, I got a couple of boyfriends, most of them lasted less than a week. I went through a terrible breakup and learned the hard way that no matter how much you wish that you want something then maybe it doesn't happen. I lost my self esteem, had depression, lost a ton of weight in a way that I wish I didn't, grieved the loss of my grandfather, and went through a lot of other stuff. During that time, friends came and went, styles came and went.
One thing that I wished that I learned while going through all of that was that you need to respect yourself and your needs. You're the one that has to deal with all of that. You're the one that doesn't need the people that bring you down. You don't have to apologize for being different, although high school doesn't exactly make it easy to stand out. I wish I learned that I didn't need the boy who told me that I wasn't good enough because then maybe I wouldn't have dealt with my body issues and handled them the way that I did. I wish that I didn't have to deal with that, however that made me a stronger person.
If I knew that then maybe I wouldn't  have dealt with that. However, there's something about learning lessons the hardway. It makes you a stronger person, and you know that whatever happiness that comes your way is something you fought hard for and deserve it. 

"When Will My Reflection Show..."-TGBL

Linking up with Haley and Lauren again this week! I am honestly so excited. This week's question is to write about why do you blog? I thought it was a great time to reflect on my growing experiences as a blogger, one that I am very much thankful for. 

I started blogging the summer before my junior year in high school . My goal was to create something that reflected positively on me. I had watched Julie and Julia (which many times I've said that is the source of my inspiration of my blog) and had wanted to start something like that on my own. Minus the food. So, my old blog Notations was born.
At first, I wrote about issues that mattered. Well not really but to me at the time. For example, I wrote about how guys categorized girls for my first entry. Not bad, 16 year old Natalie. My entries, looking back at them now, were really short, with a bunch of topics. They weren't very detailed either. As you can see, my blog is a lot more in depth than that. In 2011, my blog was my version of Carrie Bradshaw's column. I was Carrie Bradshaw before it was cool pretty much. I had characters such as 'Mr. Big', 'Charlotte', and countless others. Everyone had their own name, which at the time I thought that I was the bee's knees. Then my grandfather died, and I used my blog as an outlet to let out all of my emotions. I was a sad and confused teenager, who just wanted someone to hear her. And love her.
Finally, I had some friends wake me up from my depression. Thus, I decided to create a new blog to devote more energy that's positive. In April 16, 2012, I officially began to write Finding My Voice.
Ever since then, I've gained 14 GFC followers, about 18 bloglovin' followers, over 9,000 views, and have officially joined the blogging community, full of people like me trying to find their voice. I read blogs in the morning while drinking coffee, the way that in the past some people read the newspaper.  I love every minute of it, watching how my blog, my writing, and myself can grow from when I first entered the blogging scene as a whiny teenager who just wanted someone to love her.
However, that probably didn't answer your question now did it. I told you why I started, how I grew into this lovely blog, and where I'm at now. But that's okay. I blog because it's something that I enjoy doing. I blog because there's some kind of audience, ready to show the world what I'm made of. I blog because I'm a writer, and I've heard somewhere that writing something constantly will only get me that much closer to becoming a better writer. I blog because I have a voice, and I'm ready for it to be heard. I blog because I feel satisfaction when my post is successful, and I notice some signs of improvement. Every day, like a plant, my blog will grow.
And my journey's just begun. I have a lot more insightful blog entries about social issues, great music, and other cool stuff. I am a blogger, but I am extremely proud to be wearing that title. Thanks to my blog, in a sense, I have in fact found my voice.

Lunch With LC-TGBL

After a few weeks, I am so excited to be rejoining the TGBL (the Girl Between the Lines Linkup) with Haley at A Beautiful Exchange, and Lauren at The Albrects Blog). This week's prompt was so exciting for me, which was what celebratity, blogger, or public figure that you would like to have lunch with. And just like that, a lightbulb clicked off in my head-Lauren Conrad. Check out her website here.

Source

LC or Lauren Conrad was best known for her appearance on the hit reality shows Laguna Beach, and the Hills. Since then, she's developed two fashion lines (one of which I own pretty much every piece of clothing in), written bestselling novels, (I've read the LA Candy ones, they are so good), and developed a successful website. She's now engaged to William Tell. I guess you can even consider her to be a blogger because she has a blog on her website.

Lauren Conrad is hands down my favorite celebratity. I consider her to be one of my role models, because she's a very classy person. Unlike her co-stars (ahem Spedi), she's not out to get money and fame. She's very laid back, and her style is very chic. I love how simple and classy she dresses, and I sometimes look to her when I'm having fashion brain freezes. I watched the Hills, and Laguna Beach, and she's always going to be my favorite. I especially respect her for leaving the drama of The Hills behind, because it takes guts to do that. 

I would love to have have lunch with Lauren because other than the fact that I really want to meet her, I think that I can learn a lot from her. She has the best advice, so I would listen to her wisdom developed from her experiences. I would also ask her for her autograph.. #sorrynotsorry.

What celebraties would you like to meet? Comment below!

TGBL; "This Is For My Girls All Around the World"

This week's Girl Between the Lines post was a wildcard, and write about pretty much anything. So, I chose to write about something that I thought that is important at least in my eyes. Most of my blog is solely my opinion, and trying to cross personal lines. This piece, although its not about my love life, is something alongs those lines.

I feel like so many people can pull us in different directions. Instead of talking to us, they talk at us. This is something that I feel like happens to me all of the time. I have friends who sometimes are pushy with their beliefs, and think just because they do something that they are right with doing it. Although it may be right for them, it's not what I want. Sometimes, I often feel like although they are expressing their opinions which they are entitled too,  it comes to the point where in some ways they come off as being their way or the high way. 

I do like to listen to several people, and their opinions. I don't mind hearing what they have to say, because every one has something to say. However, I also think that you need to respect others for having an opinion, which is something that I try to do. But, I think that this motto has two sides to this street. In my opinion, I feel like everyone should have to respect everyone, and no one should feel like they have to explain themselves.

I have learned over the past few years to mute those voices. Those voices can simply make you feel like your not good enough. Just because someone does something, does not mean that you have to do that too. I think that we often forget that, and feel inferior to those who do. An example of this is with one of my friends who shall not be named. I was talking about something that I was interested in doing, and she responded "well I would never do that!" That honestly made me feel upset because she made it look like she thought she was better then me. If I make a decision that makes me happy than I don't need anyone's approval other than my own. I do respect the way that your mind operates and that what I want to do isn't for you. But you don't have to make me feel bad about it in the process. That's just uncool.

The biggest part of growing up in my opinion is to take the wheel. No matter what you do people are going to have opinions. Some are going to be good, while others are not going to be so good. You can brush some off, but others dig deep and mess with you. There's going to be some people in this world that think that they are better than you. In addition to that, there's going to be some people who don't respect your rights and opinions. But, you have to be bigger than that. You have to learn when to put your headphones on and realize that you're doing it right. T.I says it best "you can't expect me to think like you, cause my life ain't like yours." Homeboy, I'm done talking.