Stuff Worth Reading

\\1// Paper Mama's 52 Weeks Drawing Challenge...BRING IT!

\\2// Time for a Diaper Change: Adjusting Society's View on Dads

\\3// Cameron Diaz's Body Book is Actually Pretty Good

\\4// The Cast of HBO's "Girls" as American Girl Dolls

\\5// Robyn Lawley is my favorite model and here's why.

\\6// There's a "Mean Girls" jewelry line and I want all of it *le sigh*

\\7// 33 Things You Didn't Know About Disney =]

\\8// Working on Scripture Memorization with the Jesus Project

\\9// Developing goals per month with Lara Casey's plan.

\\10// Freckled Fox Returns to YouTube- I feel like I could hang out with her err'day.



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The Internet is One Mean Girl

In recent years I've noticed that people have become incredibly hostile on the internet.  It's almost like the internet has created this anonymous personality for people to hide behind and show their uglier sides.  You know what bothers me the most?  When people say that these bullying personalities have been in existence for a significant amount of time and then brush this off.

Take Instagram for instance.  Fans of celebrities or even popular bloggers think they have some right to demean people without any type of instigator.  So many people criticizing fitness professionals who are fitness competitors and calling them manly, ugly, revolting.  It's like the high school teenage girl syndrome all over again.  Every time I see these men and women post their progress, I think, that's awesome. 

Source

I simply don't understand why people think it's okay to be downright cruel to others.  I think the meanest I've ever been on the internet was whenever I've criticized bloggers' content and that was fueled by seeing consistent posts from people creating a lack of quality content and taking in an abundance of sponsors for products that had nothing to do with their lifestyle blogs.  I followed a friend's simple yet very wise advice and stopped following hundreds of blogs like this.  Regardless of those posts, it's not that I don't like those girls.  Never would I ever criticize how a girl looks, feels, acts, etc.  But people do that all of the time now.  My actions were based on the movement of vanity and greed that social media tends to inspire.  However, there is so much good out there.  There are people posting their health progress, beautiful pictures of their families, graduations, celebrations, etc.  With so much good, I don't see why people have to make it ugly.

You may have seen the image from Daddy Doin' Work blog of the author, a father, baby carrying his youngest and also brushing the hair of his other daughter.  It's a really wonderful picture.  Doyin posted this image to his blog's page to prove to his wife that he could handle carrying a fussy baby and fix his daughter's hair.  It became viral and got shared and shared again.  What people chose to comment on though was terrible.  They questioned his work ethic, the legitimacy of his children, and other very personal details- all of which are not true.  How from one picture of a dad brushing his daughter's hair stir up racial slurs and socioeconomic biases?  Doyin wrote on his blog, when the picture was published, "I have a dream that people will view a picture like this and not think it's such a big deal."  His goals in emphasizing that dads are just as much of the equation as moms is awesome.  He challenges other fathers out there to step up.

"Why don't you put big boy shorts on and get in on the revolution of good fathers?" Doyin inquired of his detractors, rhetorically. "It's not a good look to tear down dads for doing the work your wives wished you were man enough to do on your own. If you don't believe me, just ask your spouses. They'll tell you. But don't worry. I'll still be here whenever you're ready to step your game up and join #TeamGrownAssMan."

To read more about the image, check it out on Gawker. 

Doyin

Doyin

 

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Glitter in Her Veins: Glitter Eyelids for NYE 2013

New Year's Eve was so much fun! Our friend Hannah hosted a small get together with friends to commemorate the new year and we had a blast.  I seriously need to get Just Dance for XBOX because I LOVE that game!  It's a good, quick cardio workout that's for sure.

After seeing so many fantastic Instagram posts about glittery eyes for New Year's, I just knew that I had to at least give it a shot and I loved how they turned out.  Paired with my aqua sparkle top, I seriously felt like a mermaid and I probably belonged at an Atlantic City party more than in Montana but I totally didn't care.

Fake eyelashes here

No fake lashes here

 

If you're interested in getting the look, I used Carli Bybel's tutorial and posted it below.  I think she's super fun =] Problems that I ran into while attempting the look were the brand of fake eyelashes I used (not my favorite brand).  They were very thick and had a mind of their own (boooooo).  I have used fake eyelashes since high school for major events or pictures because they make your eyes POP but I wasn't a fan of these ones.  I also wish I had liquid eyeliner.  I only had pencil and cream pot ones and that made it difficult to add more definition over the glitter.  I also didn't have MAC's Fix + but I do use Skindinavia's All Nighter Make-up spray so I used that, as well as a small amount of eyelash glue, over my lids to create a concrete base and it worked flawlessly.  Now if only my eyelashes were more cooperative.

This picture was a little too dark originally and ladies always look so fabulous with that New Year's Eve glow :)

I hope you had an amazing NYE!

Do you do resolutions or one little word or both?

2014 is going to be fabulous, fierce, bold, crazy, and amazing!

I simply cannot wait =]

I've Waited All December for This Moment

 I love Christmas.

It's such an incredibly special time for me.  While I was growing up, I was blessed with a grandma who loved Christmas as much as I do today.  Everything from my love to Christmas, Disney, and crafting comes from her.  She was a pretty stellar lady.
Her Christmases were so magical and filled with wonder and true family bonding. I have the best memories because of those family gatherings.  When I was I think, 9-years old, I received my very first American Girl Doll, Samantha.  We went to Christmas Eve mass at St. Mary's or St. Mark's and then headed to my grandma's house.  It was my family, my cousins, aunt, uncle, and grandma.  We usually had to have Christmas Eve dinner first and grandma had some sweet networking connections with Santa because he stopped at her house first and we were allowed to check out our presents once we were done with dinner.  As a child, I was always amazed by this.  I distinctly remembering walking from the dining room, through the kitchen, and then into the living room where my grandma's Christmas wonderland was displayed.  Each of the kids had a section that Santa had created and in my section was Samantha.  It's on a family video somewhere but I was screaming, I was so happy.

Fast forward to 2011 and my husband is deployed to Afghanistan and I am home for Christmas.  My mom, brother, and I take a trip down to Chicago and check out the American Girl Place while we're there.  If you've never been, it's a pretty awesome place.  If you haven't checked out Conan's video on it, you need to.



He's hilarious and I love it.

Back to the story...

While we're looking through the store, my mom comes across the doll, Julie and the doll is gorgeous.  My mom is from the Philippines and grew up very poor.  She had several brothers and sisters on a farm and they had no money.  They would fabricate toys out of whatever they had and as a little girl with a really expensive doll, I heard stories of my mom creating dolls out of spare bottles and a cloth wrapped around it.  At that moment, I knew my mom would love this doll but at the time I didn't have the money for it.

Well this December, Ryan and I decided to get my mom the Julie doll and I wanted her to be completely surprised.  We mailed it to my mother-in-law's house and she prompted to wrap it (which is awesome, love her).  My dad picked it up and this morning we Skyped in with them while watching the Disney Christmas Day Parade (my favorite).  I had tears in my eyes as my mom was opening it and she loved it!!

Thank you so much for my beautiful doll. It's the first one I've ever had.  I have tears in my eyes.

I love Christmas for reasons like this.  The past couple years I've had a hard time with Christmas because we've been away from family but these are the moments that make Christmas.  The Lord gave us the ultimate gift of his only son.  He gave us Jesus to take on our worldly issues and problems and to be a guiding light for us.  This time of the year is a celebration of love, faith, and hope.  For me this moment was something I had wanted to execute for years and not for the materialistic reasons of physically giving my mom a present but because I knew that this would mean so much to her.  It makes me tear up just writing this post.  It means so much to me to be able to give my mom this kind of gift and to share how much I love her.  I hope you all have a wonderful, beautiful Christmas or holiday season with your families. God Bless!  

 

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A New Blog Name Feels Like Getting Your Hair Did

Welcome to the newest change here... a new name! I am so excited about this change.  A couple months ago, you may have seen on Instagram the brainstorm session start to come up with a new name.  Honestly, I was never really attached to The Simplicity.  If you followed my blog progress, it was just my name and that's why the URL is my name as well as all of my social media accounts.  I then realized while participating in blog related activities that saying "visit Kimberly Erskine" sounded a little weird to me.  Therefore, I felt really pressured to come up with a name.  That brainstorm session produced The Simplicity of Being Curious and that only lasted a few months before I shortened it to The Simplicity.  The original title was too long and then the shortened version didn't really reflect me at all.  I prefer being busy and look forward to challenges, the idea of being simple (although something I probably need in my life) didn't really meet up with what my blog is about.

That's when I came up with Little Fierce Blog.

Little Fierce Blog was inspired by Shakespeare's quote, "though she be but little, she is fierce." My entire life I have been a smaller person, but that hasn't limited my ability to be competitive and to seek the highest level of quality when it comes to my life.  I also wanted that to reflect in my blog posts.  I'm passionate about my life, what I read, what I make, and what I contribute to society.  I also don't think I've ever really considered myself a lifestyle blogger. What does that even mean?

Earlier this year, I wrote a controversial post (actually a couple) that criticized the quality of blogs out there.  It covered that larger blogs with thousands of followers were lacking in true content quality and I found the blogging community becoming more commercialized and less authentic.  My blogging friend Maria suggested that I stop following those blogs.  Honestly I was flummoxed.  Stop following these blogs?  If I did that then I probably wouldn't be following any. 

However that was the best advice I had received.  I learned a lot about myself in that transition.  The blogs that I had been following were not a good fit.  Instead I found mom blogs, crafters, people inspired by faith, and people who were just funny.  I broadened my horizons and found some true gems.  I also met so many amazing bloggers or substitute bloggers through Instagram.  It also showed me that I didn't want to do advertising on my blog and I also didn't want to pressure myself into blogging every day or that might lessen the quality of the posts.

So here is Little Fierce Blog in all of its glory. I'm really proud of it and I am pumped for 2014.  Have a bright and sparkly new year :)  

If you liked this post, share it with others! If you feel particularly moved by it, leave a comment because I love feedback and discussion. Social media links are provided below and thanks for reading!