But I realize that dreams and reality can be really different. Sometimes, my dreams for a relationship or a new opportunity don't pan out like I thought it would. Those disappointing moments hurt, but they have taught me to accept last-minute changes to my plans and dreams. This year, I am working on enhancing my personal growth. I want to challenge and invest in myself, and learn more things about how to live and love. Because when I walk into a room, I want to be the girl that radiates positive energy. The girl that everyone wants to be around. The girl who has enough room in her heart to love everyone and herself. 

My favorite thing about spring is that it is a marker for new beginnings. Spring refers to love, hope, youth, and growth. Four things that I plan to focus on in my life. Lately, I have been taking the time to exercise, work on self-care, surround myself with like-minded individuals, and build a positive self-image. With this fresh new start in my heart, I am also going to share with you a fresh new outfit to complete this new beginning. So, let's get started. 

The photos that I took was at this beautiful lagoon in San Diego. On the day of the shoot, my best friend and I went out to eat for lunch at a middle eastern restaurant, one of my favorite cuisines. After we finished eating and catching up, the both of us wanted to get some photos done for the blog. We just couldn't decide where we wanted to go! I stumbled across this post awhile back on social media about how a girl let a coin dictate where she would go with her significant other if they were being indecisive about where to go for their date. So, we tried out the challenge. If it landed on heads, we would turn right. If it landed on tails, we would turn left. Little did we know, we eventually got to this beautiful lagoon filled with natural wildlife and flowers. It was quite an exciting adventure, and I definitely suggest for you to try it if you have the chance. The pictures turned out pretty great!

Let's talk about my outfit. Recently, I have been into crazy prints. I used to be a more solid color type-of-gal, but patterns have started to grow on me. I recently thrifted this beautiful pastel pink and black patterned dress. There's a mesh frilly trim on the bottom that adds a fun and exciting touch. It's super light and breezy, perfect for spring weather. I love how it hugs me in all of the right places and flows with the wind. The dress is a relatively simple style, but the pattern adds some additional complexity to it. This dress is the perfect combination of flirty, fun, and casual. Since it was black and pink, I decided to try to fit within the same color range with my outerwear. I chose a Black & White woven blazer. The blazer cranked my outfit up a notch by making my look slightly more elegant. I always like keepin' it a lil' classy! Recently, California has been experiencing a lot of windy and rainy days. I thought it would be appropriate to layer a blazer on top of my pink ensemble to add some additional warmth in the case that the weather starts to get chilly.

As for accessories, I am simply wearing my lace up heels that were featured in my "On To The Twenties" blog post. They are actually pretty comfy. I can walk in them for forever. I love the slight rise that they have to them because some extra height just gives me a slight boost in confidence. Every girl loves a good strutting moment. To pair with my pink dress, I wore my dangly pastel pink beaded earrings from Lauren Conrad. I usually stick to studs, but these earrings were the perfect complement for this outfit. 

Lastly, hair and makeup. My hair was more of an "I woke up like this" situation. I didn't really do anything to it besides applying hair oil. Recently, I went for a late night swim in this high chlorine-concentrated pool. Coming back from the pool, my hair felt like straw. It was extremely dry and damaged. Now, I am using my hair oil very religiously to bring back the softness and shine that my hair used to have. Additionally, I am trying to lay off on any heat styling to give my hair a much-needed break and to restore my natural healthy shine. 

I won't bore you with the details of my makeup because it's pretty much the same as my everyday makeup. I wore a tinted lip, some concealer, and minimal eyeshadow. I just wanted to keep this look as fresh and natural as possible. My skin has been riddled with freckles recently, so I have been trying to lay off of the full-coverage makeup and embrace a no-makeup Emily. 

As always, thank you for reading my posts. I know that I have been crazy inconsistent on this blog, but my loyal readers truly inspire me to keep this lil' hobby goin'. Here's to new beginnings! 

Good Luck, 

Em

P.S. Can't forget adding a silly photo for good measure :)