Samantha K Schmidt

When our first child was born, I was so excited to share the story of how he made his way into this world. His birth went so smoothly and the process was full of so much joy. However, I’ve held off sharing the full details of our daughter’s birth for several reasons. Firstly, because parts of it are hard to relive. Secondly, because I never want anyone to think that I’m sharing the story in need of sympathy. Despite her birth being incredibly difficult, perhaps even traumatic, we are so incredibly grateful that we were able to bring our baby girl home. We know that this is not the story for everyone, and so I feel almost shameful even telling her story. However, I know that so often mothers come home with their babies greeted with fanfare and excitement, but what they feel deep down is sometimes completely void of joy. I feel for these mothers who are expected to revel in gratitude when they have just overcome both physical and emotional trauma. To those mothers, you are not alone...

As a woman, it is likely that your wedding dress will be one of the most important purchases of your life. We can talk about how crazy that is another day. Today we are going to focus on how to narrow down such a difficult decision. There are 5 things you have to decide on when picking the perfect dress. Shape There are 5 basic wedding dress shapes. You'll want to pick one that accentuates your best features and hides the ones you don't want to display. The best stylists will have you try on 1 of each shape to figure out what you like before you narrow down any other details. Style The style of your dress should flow thematically with the rest of your wedding. Is your wedding in a church or in a barn? Is the event more rustic or more elegant? I had a dream dress in mind when I first thought about getting married, but that changed after my husband and I picked our venue. My vintage 1920's dream dress just did not fit with the rustic outdoor setting of our weddin...

My naturally wavy hair inspired this outfit of the day. I decided to use the inspiration to go with a bit of a summer grunge look. In fact my original intention was too call this post Summer Grunge, but after looking at the pictures yesterday I became distracted by something.  I started to analyze myself. Should I really be wearing this? My thighs look kind of big and the shirt is really tight. I know I'm not fat, but does this make me look fat? All of these thoughts were circling in my head, but I stopped and remembered how I felt when I first put the outfit on. I felt natural. Sometimes the camera or even the mirror can distort how we see ourselves. It's important to remember that the natural you, is the best you. So I rocked this outfit to breakfast and even got a compliment by an older gentleman that I had a pretty face. (I tried to overanalyze that too, but in the end took the compliment graciously.) So to all my girls out there I tell you, be natural. It's ...