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Selfys. Selfies. Pictures of yourself. Something we should all be proud to be able to do. Some are too scared to post one on a social media platform, while others have the courage to do it. I find them so interesting and so important to today's culture.When someone posts a picture of themselves anywhere, I feel so proud of them. They feel beautiful and confident and they want to share that to the world. So that is my theme for this photoshoot. Being able to be yourself and not let others' opinion of you affect you.

My friends were kind enough to take part in this little project so here we go:

When people say "I love myself" or "I love the way I look today", many people find that conceited. Why has self-loving become something you should be ashamed of? It is something you should be proud of. I have been able to delete the word "conceited" from my vocabulary because I honestly don't believe in that, whatsoever. If you love yourself, GOOD FOR YOU. Loving yourself can bring so much joy and happiness into your everyday life!!!!!

It's tough being able to love how you look, it really is. It's not simple to look into a mirror and see yourself as beautiful. Many people struggle with this. Here's a piece of advice that may sound weird, but actually helped me: fake it. Fake not caring and fake thinking you look gorgeous today. Soon enough, I swear, you will begin to believe it because YOU ARE and you'll begin to see that. Look into the mirror and tell yourself a compliment, even if you don't think it's true, still do it. Hopefully that will lead into the truth that you are a wonderful, beautiful human being.

Sometimes you will feel ugly or terrible about yourself, and that's O.K. Everybody has their bad days and it's not a big deal. If want to be sad, BE SAD, but remember to pick yourself up before it gets into a deeper level. If you want to lock yourself in your room and just watch netflix because people have been annoying you, that's totally fine, DO IT. Having time for yourself can help so much, it can help build up your positivity and energy.

Remember to love yourself. Remember taking pictures of yourself is totally awesome. Remember to keep an open mind. Remember you are an aaaamaaaazing human. Remember being upset and wanting to be upset is okay. Remember your opinion matters the most.

Thank you to my two best friends, Karl Lo and Brianna, for letting me dress them and take pictures of their puuuurtyyyy faces. U GUYS ROCK. Hopefully you felt some kind of joy in reading this or just some kind of positivity, whatever it is. Talk to u all soon =^^=

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Leelah Alcorn. One of the many transgenders who took her life away from herself because of the terrible rejection her world gave her. This world needs change and this world KNOWS it. How can parents be so horrible to their OWN child? How can one just love their own kin for years and then all of a sudden throw them into the bush when something they haven't experienced hits them? Of course it is very hard for parents to realize their son/daughter is gay/lesbian or feels they want to identify themselves as a different gender -- their TRUE gender, BUT it is even tougher for those who are actually EXPERIENCING this very different feeling about themselves. Those parents who choose to not accept their kid's decision are SELFISH and unbelievably IGNORANT. And that also goes for everyone else who chooses to go against same sex marriage or transgenders or anything of the sort. Alcorn's parents even buried her in a grave with the pronoun "he" instead of what Leelah would have wanted, "she". They took that away from her. Her lasting memory won't even be a true one. I saw this on tumblr the other day and I find it SO important (reworded because I couldn't find the exact quote), "DO NOT have a child if you will not be able to accept her/him being gay/lesbian or transgender or different from the 'norm' in any way." If you will not be able to do that, then you will be putting someone innocent in a already very difficult and terrible situation in the future already and that is completely unfair. People need to start accepting everybody. It is simple. Leave people BE.
What we also need to think about, something my sister told me, is that we shouldn't be wasting our words on those old men and women who have been living in a patriarchal world for their entire life and have been taught in one way and one way only. Who we need to convince is their daughters and sons and granddaughters and grandsons and those of the future generation because THEY ARE THE FUTURE. They are the ones who will be changing our present ways. It's time for change guys, but we need to go to the right people.

Well, enough of that rant, two days ago I was able to go on a one day road trip to Salvation Mountain and Joshua Tree National Park!!!! It was unbelievably beautiful and I'm so glad I got to end my winter break with that.
We first went to Salvation Mountain. It's a monument that Leonard Knight, ONE MAN, created a couple years ago and it's incredible.

It's all about how God is love and how God is good, but I'm not very religious. I consider myself agnostic, but it has always been a place of peace and beauty and art. Being religious isn't really required. When we entered "Slab City" there were a whole bunch of hippies and it was a completely different feel. It was pretty peaceful and made me open my eyes and just feel a different environment, it was sooo cool!!!!! Here are a few pictures:

I actually didn't want to go at first when my sister first suggested it, but once we got there I cannot believe I ever denied going.

We then went out way to Joshua Tree, which was just as awesome!!! It's mostly hiking and desert and rocks and plants, but it's sooo fun and so very pretty. I wish we could have spent more time there, but definitely will have to go back soon!!!!!

So that is what has happened recently and what has been on my mind. Hopefully that rant comes out positive and I didn't make any mistakes!!!! Happy 2015 guys. Another year has passed, the start of another adventure. Here's a piece of advice I gained recently: Forget those people who make fun of people who say they want to be a better person this year or want to do something drastic. If you want to do something new this year, DO IT, don't let people stop you. Remember to think about your own opinion because that is what matters the most. Talk to you all soon =^^=