My Jerry Maguire Moment

At 10:37 p.m. this past Friday, I published a blog post that took me a couple of days to write. It was a deep, heartfelt, very raw piece of work. I worried about sharing it here on Enthusiastic Fantastic because it contained a lot of truths that would probably hurt the feelings of my childhood family (i.e., my "first" family; the family of my birth), and possibly further damage our relationships, but I posted it anyway. 😬

Around 4:30 a.m. on Saturday, I awoke with my heart pounding and the thoughts rushed into my mind, "What have I done?! I need to go revert my blog post back to a draft RIGHT NOW!" Yes, it was a true Jerry Maguire moment—I laugh that I now feel such a kinship to a fictional character! 😂

Like Jerry at the beginning of his journey, I typed and typed and typed to create my truth-filled blog post! I endlessly wrote my feelings about, observations of, and solutions to my issues with members of my childhood family—things I've thought throughout the years but haven't said publicly. It was such a therapeutic opportunity for me and I loved every minute of it! 💛 But then the panic set in, just like Jerry Maguire's realization moment!

Sadly, this YouTube clip doesn't show Jerry's pit-in-the-stomach scene when he finally internalizes what he's done by creating his 25-page memo and sharing it with everyone in his company (they edited it out 👎). Spoiler alert! Jerry's bold, truthful actions got him fired!

Side note: you can watch Jerry Maguire (the creator of this video clip spelled Maguire wrong!) for free on Amazon if you're willing to watch it with commercials! 😃 *Also, I don't normally endorse rated R movies, but I saw Jerry Maguire when I was a very young adult and I hadn't made the commitment to not watch rated R movies. I personally own the content-edited-for-TV version and I absolutely love it! #noswearing 😀 Despite its conflicts in many areas with my personal beliefs and commitments, Jerry Maguire has some great universal truths that everyone can learn from.

I had the same type of freak-out thoughts when I awoke so early Saturday morning: If members of my childhood family read my brutally honest blog post, they just might not recover! I could be fired from my childhood family! 😂 And, when I really thought about it, no, I didn't and don't want to be fired from my childhood family. Because, for good and bad, family is family, after all. 💔

I quickly got out of bed and sleepily hurried down the stairs as speedily as I could without falling over—I always get headrush when I get out of bed too fast! When I pulled up my blog's stats on "Hmm, What to Say," I was relieved to see that only three people had viewed my blog post—whew!—and I was one, if not two of them! Ha ha. 😅 After I clicked "Revert to draft," I felt immediate relief! My heart quit pounding, and I happily and very slowly went back upstairs to bed. I instantly fell back asleep and slept well the rest of the night.

When I awoke a few hours later, I wondered if I had overreacted by reverting "Hmm, What to Say" back to a draft. I pulled up my blog post on my phone—thankfully, it was still there from the night before! I felt so sneaky reading my blog post that technically wasn't there anymore—it was such my fun little secret! 😄 That sounds so silly, but I loved it!

I read through "Hmm, What to Say" again and was very happy 😇 with my blogging efforts—it was a great post that I loved writing and reading! Yet after analyzing my words in the very bright morning light of my corner bedroom, I knew I had made the right decision to revert it back to a draft and not keep it posted here.

Sunday, after church, while Greg and I were having a deep conversation about both of our childhood families, I read "Hmm, What to Say" to him. It was such fun reading aloud my words that I had so painstakingly composed. Greg thought it was a great post, too! Yay! Disclaimer: I gushed quite a bit about Greg in my post, so of course he enjoyed it! Ha ha.

Greg eventually agreed with me that I shouldn't post "Hmm, What to Say" on my blog. He only admitted that after I pestered him to really tell me what he thought. Greg is and has always been 100% supportive of my blogging efforts here on Enthusiastic Fantastic. He continually says, "Write whatever you want! It's your blog!" and has never wanted to get in the way of any of my blog posts. So it took a lot for him to tell me not to post it—and I definitely listened to him because of that fact.

In the end, I'm so thankful I took the time to blog about something so serious, even though I didn't keep it published here. Writing is so therapeutic to my soul, it always makes me a better version of myself! I especially love blogging and always will! I'm so truly grateful to Blogger for hosting such a great space where I can share myself on the World Wide Web! Thank you, Blogger, from the bottom of my heart! 😘

Here is a quote from Elder Neal A. Maxwell's brilliant talk, "Enduring Well," that we can all learn from. His words apply to every experience we have in this life—especially when it comes to our families. 😊

"Part of enduring well consists of being meek enough, amid our suffering, to learn from our relevant experiences. Rather than simply passing through these things, they must pass through us and do so in ways which sanctify these experiences for our good (see D&C 122:7). Thereby, our empathy, too, is enriched and everlasting."

I am grateful for Elder Maxwell's wise words and will try my best to remember them when dealing with my childhood family and our ongoing issues.

Finally, I found this fabulous dress (photos below ↓) at Lulus for a fantastic price of only $14! Yes, I really did! Believe it! 😄 This dress is no longer available, as Lulus' inventory moves very quickly—especially when it's on sale. But Lulus always has amazing dresses and if you watch their website closely, you can frequently get outstanding deals like this one. That said, if you find a dress that you absolutely can't live without, I don't recommend waiting for it to go on sale because you might miss out on your size! And I don't want anyone living with dress regrets! 😂

*By the by, I'm not being paid or sponsored in any way to share my thoughts about Lulus—they are mine and mine alone without any sort of outside influence whatsoever.

Oh, how I love dresses and dressing up! 😍 I'm so grateful that my sweet little family puts up with my dress obsession and takes photos of me wearing said obsessions whenever I ask them! Ha ha. 😆 My darling Gregor took these photos for me after I got home from church yesterday. I love how he snapped a bunch of pics while I was trying to keep my hair from blowing all over the place—it's fun to see behind the scenes! Thank you, Greg! 💙😘

Click on each photo for a crisper/clearer view.

Bye now! I hope you have a wonderful day! 👋😀

I Love Dresses and Skirts!

If you've ever looked at my public Instagram account, you already know how much I love dressing up—especially in modest dresses and skirts! Yet modest fashion hasn't always been what it is now.

I remember when I was a teenager, it was difficult to find modest dresses and skirts that were also cute and stylish. Thankfully, our modest fashion world has improved dramatically, and I'm ridiculously happy about that fact! :)

The fashion industry, in general, has become so much more open to every type of style, so people don't stick out like a sore thumb anymore if they wear modest clothing. I'm so grateful to all of those wonderfully artistic clothing designers who imagine such beautiful and modest pieces for women of all ages!

Obviously, I love wearing dresses and skirts to church and special occasions the most! But I definitely don't need a special occasion to wear my dressy-best! I try to wear my lovely dresses and skirts as often as possible. :)

Yet sometimes in my daily stay-at-home-mom life, dresses and skirts aren't always the easiest choice for all the housework, organizing and running around that I do. There are many days when only skinny jeans or stretchy exercise pants will do! :)

The only problem with modest fashion I've run into is not having enough money to purchase all of the amazing clothing I love! Ha ha. :)

But in all seriousness, there is one teeny little problem with modest-dress fashion that exists within my beloved church's social structure: judging. Because my church has scripture verses that include thoughts about not "being lifted up in pride" and not "wearing costly apparel"—i.e., we're not being as humble as we could and should—some people find it their unfortunate business to judge what others choose to wear to church.

It's interesting because, over my 19+ years of marriage, and my family's many moves (11), I've seen two ways that Church members view church clothing: 1. The nicer and fancier the better, in order to show ultimate respect for the Lord when going to church. They believe we should wear our very best clothing for Him. In other words, we wear our best clothing when we go to the best places. (I fall into this category.) 2. We shouldn't wear costly (i.e., fancy/high-fashion) apparel because we're not being truly humble enough if we do so. We should put our extra money to better use by helping others. There might be other ideas about church clothing, but those are the two veins of thought I'll be focusing on for this post.

In regard to those different ways of fashion thinking, I've come up with the following:

• We shouldn't spend more money than we can absolutely afford for appropriate church clothing.
• It's most definitely not our business to judge what anyone else wears to church, or how much it cost.
• The term "costly apparel" can mean something totally different to different people with different budgets. One woman's $40 dress is another woman's $400 is another woman's $4,000 dress.
• I love the idea of showing respect for our Heavenly Father, our Savior, Jesus Christ, and our congregation by wearing our very best clothing to church and the temple.
• We honor the bodies we've been given (by our Heavenly Father) by dressing well and taking good care of ourselves—physically, mentally and spiritually.
• We create a world of loveliness and possibly inspire others when we dress up. That idea might sound absurd to some, but I believe everyone honestly appreciates beauty! :) And I love remembering how classy everyone looked and acted back in the old days—before the 1960s came along. *By the way, I found a most-interesting article about how our clothing style as a society has changed. "Why and When Did Americans Begin To Dress So Casually?" is a great read!
• When we dress well, we subconsciously want to behave better. That might sound too basic to some people, but I believe it's true.
• Clothing shouldn't be the main focus of our church-going experiences. You might laugh at that, but I've seen a few women more interested in their fellow ward members' latest fashion statements than the sacrament.
• We can positively contribute to our economy by buying nice clothing—for church, or otherwise. Think of all the people who share and strengthen their talents by creating beautiful clothing! Think of all the families we support when we buy their amazing clothing creations! :)
• We can donate older clothing to charity that we don't wear anymore. This helpful habit benefits both the giver (less stuff) and receiver (beautifully clothed)! :)
• Dressing nicely isn't bragging, even though some people view it that way. Many people genuinely want to look their best for church—it has nothing to do with showing-off or being prideful.
• It's always better to be over-dressed than under-dressed! :)

As you can tell, I feel strongly that dressing our best makes such a positive statement and can only benefit us! :)

Finally, here are my favorite fabulous quotes I found about dressing well. I wholeheartedly agree with and love them all! :)

"Looking good isn't self-importance, it's self-respect."
– Charles Hix

"Elegance is not standing out, but being remembered."
– Giorgio Armani

"If you look good, you feel good, and if you feel good, you do good." – Georges St-Pierre

"People will stare. Make it worth their while."
– Harry Winston

"You can never be overdressed or overeducated."
– Oscar Wilde

Stay tuned for my modest fashion companies reviews—photos included! I can't wait to share!! 😊

P.S. As you can see from my previous sentence, I just realized that Blogger added "insert special characters" to its functionality! I'm so excited for smiley-face emojis! 😍