Who's Your Style Inspiration?

#EncourageBeauty is well under way and I'm loving being a part of it.

Yesterday's prompt was "Instagram Love" and I decided to take the challenge beyond the "walls" of instagram and introduce all of you to five lovely ladies who serve as daily style inspirations for me.  All of these women just exude a seemingly effortless style that manages to convey an artsy coolness without looking contrived.  They manage to be on-trend, while staying unique, fresh, and maintaining a look that is all their own.  And while I don't know any of these ladies in real life, there is just something about their quiet confidence that makes me think that their real beauty, the real spark, is coming from within.  Any girl can be pretty, but you can't fake heart.

Check out the big style and (I'm sure) even bigger hearts, of my Instagram Top Five:

1.  Nikki Minton of My Style Diaries

Instagram

2. Anna Cottrell of Tulip Louise

Instagram

3.  Sydney Poulton of The Day Book 

Instagram

4.  Jessie Artigue of Style and Pepper

Instagram

5. Hilary Rushford of Dean Street Society

Instagram

Who do you look to for daily style inspiration?  Give them a shout out in the comments below and be sure to include their instagram handle.  I'd love to follow along too!

xoxo

Jenny

Encourage Beauty

Don't fall out of your chair, I know it's Saturday.  I just need to share this with you.  Right.  Now.

For the month of November, I'm participating in #EncourageBeauty - the collaborative effort of Hilary Rushford of Dean Street Society and Ana of In Honor of Design.

#EcourageBeauty is a celebration of your own beauty and a way to use your words and your actions to lift up others.  The driving force behind it is the idea that:

"You have the power to make people around you, friends or strangers, feel more beautiful for who they are both on the outside and the inside, with your words."

This morning, I woke up to my first official hate mail.  And while I dusted it off and took to facebook with this comment:

It got me thinking.

I am a confident 31-year-old wife and mother of two.  I'm happy in my marriage, my career, my family.  I truly believe that I am beautiful in my imperfections.  I know I am a good person.  I know I am loved. But what about the women out there with different circumstances?  The wife who just found out her husband has been cheating?  The college girl battling an eating disorder?  The woman who put on fifty pounds while her sick child was in the hospital?  What if someone says/writes hateful words to her?  She is already on the edge, already doubting, already struggling with her self image, marital issues, illness, stress, heartache etc.  What would those unkind words to do her?  They would rock her whole world.

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting hard battle."

Words are powerful.  They change hearts, minds, and lives.  Today more than ever, I am committed to being mindful of what I say.  I will choose kindness.

Will you join me?  Let's #encouragebeauty together.  Let's be a force for good.

Today's prompt is "Email with Love."  Please feel free to use the image below (it's mine) and e-mail it to a friend who needs to hear these three powerful words today:

You are.

Know it.  Own it.  Believe it.

Then share the love.

#EcourageBeauty

xoxo

Jenny

PS-  Watch this.  It's Christian singer Johnny Diaz's "Beautiful You" video from 2009.  Relevant no matter what your faith is: