Sigh – my first post in over 4 months. It’s been quite hectic with the new job, bridesmaid responsibilities, etc and I’ve neglected this blog. Now I’m back – with a vengeance 🙂 Coming soon – a St. Louis recap and another style post on several outfits worn during my blogging hiatus.

In the meantime, I’m starting a new category for Inspirational Quotes or SpoQuo for short. It will consist of memes, quotes, phrases, pictures and other relevant things to inspire us women.

The first quote comes from a movie I was watching last night – Little Women. Haven’t read the book but it is on my reading list. Anywho, there is a scene where the mother is having a discussion with her daughters and says:

“If you feel your value lies in being merely decorative, I fear that someday you might find yourself believing that’s all that you really are. Time erodes all such beauty, but what it cannot diminish is the wonderful workings of your mind: Your humor, your kindness, and your moral courage. These are the things I cherish so in you. I so wish I could give my girls a more just world. But I know you’ll make it a better place.” — Marmee, Little Women”

― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

This part really stuck with me. It’s hard to look past all the unrealistic, photoshopped and “ideal” images of beauty spewing from every aspect of our lives and to resist the need to find or maintain superficial youth. But as it fades with time, what’s left? (And, I say superficial youth because I believe, it’s crucial to stay young at heart; maintain the creativity that accompanies youth. Not to take yourself too seriously and not to live your life caring about about what other people think. True freedom is the ability to be and love yourself.)

Continuing on the topic, we all tell little girls how cute or pretty they are and we really need to curb that attitude. I am guilty of it too but I try to make a conscious effort to tell girls to value their brains, not just their beauty. To care about what they can make of themselves, to have big dreams and to work hard at achieving them.

If only Louisa May Scott could see us now.