Happy Valentine’s Day to you ALL! I think we all (myself included) tend to miss the real meaning of this overly festive and happy hearted holiday. love may be super cheese-ified today, but through my years (all seventeen and a half of them) I have learned a few things about the four letter word, and that most of the time it isn’t as out in the open-here-is-a-handwritten-card-professing-my-love-for-you kinda way. love is secret a lot of the time.

love is saying good morning to your friends in the hallways at school when it’s pretty certain both of you are still asleep.

love is not dropping TOO many death glares on your sister when she steals the shirt you bought for the thousandth time. or maybe love is her stealing the shirt, mimicking IS a form of flattery.

love is car rides home from school with your buds and realizing how lucky you are to have the friends you do.

love is the car in front of you paying for your Starbucks (i have a certain crazy knack of good luck with this one I am not complaining about one bit)

love is your mom waking up before you and having breakfast and coffee ready for you before school…even when you gave up coffee for Lent…she proceeded to make me tea which is also pretty loving.

love is simply smiling in the hallways. love life and it will love you right back. that quote has driven so much of my personality and mentality these past few years, and my grandma wrote me a letter for my senior retreat and ironically said the same exact quote had always reminded her of me. not only was the conscience insanely amazing, but i think it really proves how great the phrase is. you get what you give, so give the world a WHOLE lot of love.

it is SO easy to get caught up in the day to day routine, especially with work and school, that we forget to sit back and truly just love life and the things and people in it. don’t forget to TELL the people you love that you love them, trust me they won’t discourage it. life is crazy cool and we are insanely blessed to be living it. so how do you LOVE LIFE exactly? seize opportunity. if you want to do something, do it. live in the moment, don’t plan too far into the future when you can be living in the now with the people around you. love yourself. don’t forget how insanely special you are and how much other people appreciate you. it makes loving others a whole lot easier.

so take the little love notes i’ve preached today and show them to the world.

let’s all learn to love love.

xoxo, Ally

Mondays just aren’t a rough day for me, unlike many others I’m sure. The weekend is over but fresh starts are my ish and I’m one of those dorky kids who actually enjoys going to school every day. I saw this quote on Pinterest and it struck me a lot more than the really cute shoes or smoothie recipes I had been pinning just seconds before.

Now lately I’ve sort of been in one of those “i don’t want to admit it but time is going by super quickly and I feel like I am just sitting here watching everyone have fun while I am working my booty off but what for?” kind of slumps. Don’t get me wrong: I have a vision and very clearly know what I want. I one day want to have my own domain name, I want to have a nice camera with daily fashion posts up on this blog, i want to be able to write about what I love style wise, but also how I love my friends and God and feel like that all still fits onto this place on the web. I want to have fun in college, meet new friends, and learn a whole lot. However, lately I have been forgetting that all of that takes time.

I am a HUGE worrier. Ask any of my friends, they’ve probably heard me worry and stress over the future, whether it be college or literally what I’m having for lunch that day. I forget to sit back & just be. It is my senior year and I am soaking up every minute of it. i am involved in so many activities within my school. I am on dance team, student board, the speech team, the newspaper staff, all along with blogging and working two jobs solely because I can’t stand not being busy. I’ve been that way my whole life, constantly have to be doing SOMETHING (yet I never seen to want to be doing my homework…ha.)

Lately I’ve found myself wanting the exact opposite though, less time of work and school related activities, and more time to just sit and be. which has made me find myself dreading working lately. I guess it’s just the side of me that has huge dreams and is impatient and realizes that those big dreams are NOT serving breakfast food (but if any of you want to come visit me let me know for real). But for now, that’s gotta do. So moral of this lil rant, work hard, but enjoy what you do, life moves pretty fast, so soak every little piece of it up.

until next time, xoxo, Ally

my life has been full of fun adventures lately, and i love sharing this side of my life with you on le blog, it’s the best feeling to have my friends come up to me squealing that they were “featured” on “the blog” (which never fails to crack me up.) so let’s see what I’ve been up to this month:

my school holds a senior retreat every year, and being an all girl’s school it is basically a day and a half long sleepover with all of your best friends, aka the time of your life. I was a small group leader and my adorable group (pictured pre and post retreat above) were the absolute best. I couldn’t have been luckier with the dynamic we had and all of the fun stories and laughs we were able to share in our cabin. complete with a dance party and lots of yummy comfort camp food, it was so bittersweet to have this last retreat with some of the best people I’ve ever met. I cannot wait to see where college takes them all next year, because they’re truly some of the greatest girls I’ve ever had the privilege to meet!

I haven’t decided if it was the lack of sleep from retreat planning, or the lack of sleep and constant running around and stress of school, but i have been down for the count this past week when it comes to my immune system. It’s some sort of nasty gross cold that has kept me sleeping more than ever and stocking up on chicken noodle soup and hot tea. I’ve also found a liking for just plain hot water and honey, which has been the ultimate life saver when it has come to my poor sore throat this past week. if you all have any tips on how to cure colds asap, let this chick know.

we were #blessed with not one, but two snow days this week and on one of them my buddies and I got together and went sledding and it was such a blast. I can’t remember the last time I actually went sledding and we had so much fun even though with the smiles on Mary, mine, and Andie’s faces above, I’m pretty sure our toes and fingers were not workable for the next few hours.

Finally, I am missing NYC like no other and already planning all the places I want to hit up next time I go. I’m obsessed with watching people’s NYC videos of living there & am still in a city girl kinda vibe from my trip. If you’re ever planning on making a stop in the city, hit me up for some of the favorite things Andie & I did!

until next time, xoxo, Ally