Lilly pulitzer {target & consignment}

I bet y’all can guess exactly what this is about, that’s right, Lilly Pulitzer for target! I know in my post a couple weeks back on my favorites from the collection, I said I would do a haul. LIES. I literally bought nothing. Brace yourselves for a dramatic lilly p target story.

We tried ordering online, stayed up for hours, but the website crashed then was out of stock in everything. So my mom and I got there early enough before church, around 7:50, and y’all the line was SO long. The employees looked pretty ticked off, and I had never seen so many louis vuitton wearing, tory burch plastered women in my life, even though I live in a place with plenty of them. So the moment my mom and I walk in (we were in the third group to be let in), there was ONE clothing item, and it wasn’t either of our sizes. So we keep walking, and we ran into two good friends while we were at it! It was so scary in there though! there were employees bringing stuff back out from the fitting rooms, and ladies chased them and grabbed it from their hands!! Long story short, There were a bunch of crazy freak women who grabbed literally EVERYTHING off the racks, then sold it for at least 2-3 times more than what it was at target, on ebay!! But don’t worry, the story gets happy:)

My mom and I left target without any purchases, but honestly weren’t too upset (we had talked before that if we weren’t able to get anything from the target collection, then we would buy real lilly from consignment). But really just upset at the greed people have, selling pieces for even more than a regular lilly dress would sell for, i mean come on man that’s just annoying. So mom and I went to a FANTASTIC consignment store (we have some really good ones where we live) that sells only designer clothing and we bought some beautiful pieces with even more beautiful prices! I thought I would share pictures with y’all to get an idea of buying Lilly on a "target budget". And just remember, y’all who didn’t buy any of the collection, there’s going to be lots of people wearing the exact same thing, so don’t feel weird without it!

Now for the fun stuff…….

Retail: $45//Consignment:$26

Retail: $55-$95//Consignment:$34

Retail: $64//Consignment: $25

Retail: $188//Consignment: $66 (!!!!!!)

It was so fun and exciting to buy such perfect condition lilly for such good prices! I definitely recommend checking out different consignment stores (Especially in very nice areas, where people will just get rid of their designer stuff for the new season’s collection). Lilly Pulitzer is definitely a favorite of mine, as i’m a lover of bright colors and wild patterns:)

I hope y’all have a week full of love,laughter,and above it all, a little lilly p sparkle

xoxo,

Lily (the girl, not the brand!)

Dealing With Hate and Gossip in a Christian Way

I wouldn't really call myself the poster child for niceness. I can be mean and say things without thinking, and that's one of the biggest things I have to work on. Sometimes people call me out on it in a kind, Christian way (ususally, people at church). And sometimes, people can be really mean about it. And since I am admittedly not the most loveable person, I'm a good candidate for gossip. 
I am not saying everyone dislikes me, I have lots of friends who have accepted my prickly, cactus-y self, and I'm grateful to God for that.
When people say I'm weird or creepy or mean, it really stresses me out. I tend to do embarrassing things that only make it worse, and I just can't think clearly. Amidst all of my stress and the chaos and self-hate in my mind, I completely forget about God. The question, "Is this the Christian way to handle this?" rarely crosses my mind. I think this is a common problem. 
I oftentimes turn to television and Internet to get my mind off things. It tends to work, but afterwards I feel even emptier. I joke about my laziness and love of Netflix, but to be honest it's worrisome. I'm not good at dealing with drama - middle school is the first time I've really had any. And it's weird. And I hate it. I also hate the fact that I always make things worse for myself.

How do you deal with it? Well, how did Jesus deal with it? It's easy to ignore this question because, after all, we are nthing like Jesus. He was sinless. He did nothing to deserve his treatment. But that doesn't matter. It's cheesy to use WWJD, but so helpful. One of my favorite things to remember in hard times is that from this very second on you can either make things better, or you can make them worse. You can pray, read passages from the Bible to help you, and ask God for strength. You can apologize if you have done wrong, or if you are the victim, you can forgive them.

What you shouldn't do is take it out on the perpetrator. It may temporarily improve your mood ("Hey! Why should I be sad and upset? He/she is a TOTAL JERK! I don't even care!"), but it is ungodly and will only end up hurting you. Another thing is to not wallow around in self-pity ("He/she is so mean. What did I ever do? I'm just never going to talk to anybody ever again. Everyone probably hates me, anyways. They won't miss me at all.") I am most guilty of this. I tend to resort to just ignoring people or shrinking away. I want people to come to me and apologize, but then again I don't, because I then realize my reason for being mad was so stupid and invalid, it's embarrassing.

Now it's time for a scenario! Say you accidentally said something mean and uncalled for that hurt your friend's feelings. You didn't mean it, they were just a little sensitive and you didn't realize. You were incredibly sorry. You immediately apologize, and your friend forgives you. You guys are good. Yay! But your friend's best friend doesn't forgive you. She starts spreading rumors about you, and how mean you are, when she barely knows you. And to make matters worse, she's popular. By the end of the day, you're sure the whole school hates you. What would you do?
Well, this situation happened to me, and I made both some good and bad descisions. After I heard about my friend's friend and what she was saying, I was so terrified. I cried, actually. I'd really never had someone hate me before. I was mostly quiet, I never got into drama. How did I deserve this?

In all my self-pity, I failed to notice a few things. I failed to notice the good friends who crowded around me when I was on the verge of tears, and asked my what they could do to help. I failed to notice that while a few people had obviously heard, most people that I saw didn't look like they had heard. Or maybe they did, and they just didn't care. It's easy to assume everyone's constantly analyzing you and thinking about you, but they probably aren't. If someone else did something embarrassing, you'd probably forget about it after a few minutes.

Anyways, back to the scenario. That night, I texted my friend's friend (let's call my friend "Rory", and we'll call my friend's friend "Emily") and apologized to her. To her! I couldn't believe I was doing it. But looking back, I was glad I did it. Emily responded, and said "Don't do it again, and we're good." Relief! If Emily said you were good, you were. I stll felt awkward about the whole thing, but it was at least over. 

Fast foward a few months. Occasionally, Rory would mention the fact that Emily disliked me, and it bothered me so much. I decided go on her askfm account, and ask her a couple questions. Not mean ones, don't worry. I acually just asked if her and a popular boy were ever going to date. She responded (remember, askfm is anonymous) and seemed really nice. I'd also like to mention at this point that I don't hate Emily, I don't even really dislike her. I gues when you start off something like that it can only go down hill. Anyways, she asked who I was and I eventually did (in my own weird, awkward way, of course) and she said oh. Okay. Something like that. It was pretty much the end of that. 
Abigail! Why did you do that? You only made things worse.
The next day, she saw me and asked about the little conversation. I said, awkwardly "Oh, haha, yeah. That was me."  
She sort of laughed, uncomfortable (that's fair. I wasn't thinking clearly. It was SO awkward).
That's the end of it, so far. Rory later told me that Emily had told her about the conversation and how weird it was. 
I'm sure I'm still not emily's favorite person. I'm sure that a few people more don't like me now. And I'm trying to be okay with that. 
The only thing you can do when these things happen, it try to be better. If there's something you can work on yourself, do it. No matter what, God is always there. Always. He is always there loving you and wanting to help you become a better Christian and closer to Him. 

I'm sorry for the long, long post, but I hope it helped!
Abigail <3

Keeping healthy friendships

*Speaking of friends, the majority of this post was co-written by my friend chandler, in the library at school today!

Having strong friendships is one of the most important things in a (teenage) girl's life. Friends can be dramatic and unloving at times, but they are what keep us sane! We need to appreciate what our friends do for us and love the sweet time we have with them. I think at my age drama is one of the biggest ruiners of beautiful friendships. One thing leads to the next and a ridiculous fight ruins what was built up so well. These last few months (maybe even the last few DAYS) have been quite eye-openers for me appreciating the wonderful friends that i have been given. I began to realize that i could be a loner and i could be disliked, but i'm fortunate to have friends.I realized I have only a short life and I shouldn't waste the precious time being frustrated over something that I could care less about in twenty years! My friends and I for the most part have our acts together and realize drama is something that we don't need in our lives, but looking around me so many friendships are torn apart. There's also people who have never even had friends to be dramatic with, as they have none at all. I want to inspire everyone that I can to take advantage of your beautiful young friendships. I have a few ways that my friends and I keep healthy relationships that I hope can help- you too.

Be accepting to new people

this one can definitely be hard, but we've come to realize that if we only keep to our group, it can create pride and selfishness which can then effect the way we act towards each other as well. As much as new people can be intruding or maybe even annoying, who are we to be judgmental?

Be open with one another

If you have things that bother you or make you feel frustrated, tell your friends. maybe it doesn't feel good to have your friends say something about you, even in a joking manner teenage girls react to things very personally. But still have a kind tone and attitude if you confront one another

Be happy and have fun together!

You shouldn’t worry, I mean think about what you’re stressed about, is it going to kill you? probably not. we’re young, (we run green!) enjoy the blessings of friends you’ve been given. Embrace life, be awkward together, who cares! Do childish things, or do crazy spontaneous things, you can’t go wrong having fun (legally, that is)

Have each other’s back

One of the worst feelings is being alone, or scared. People our age need a hope that they have someone they can count on. Whether a situation be awkward, or scary or rude, be there for one another. Trust is such an important thing to have in a friend.

Have quirky little traditions and jokes!

whether it be weird nicknames (i’ve been known as queen lil and shawn spenstar) or movie quotes (or like my friends at school, we wear pink every wednesday) or stupid inside jokes,or even just eating some pineapple together (we're big psych lovers here!) secret things like that are what make it special

This is me and abigail with some friends at church at yes, a square dance (remember what I said about doing awkward crazy things together?) :)

                                                   xoxo, Lily

                  

                                                 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

                                                                                              John 15:12

Lily: Lilly pulitzer for target favorites

Hey y'all, it's been much too long since i've posted, and I thought it would be fun to post a bright cheerful post, Lilly pulitzer! For target! Lilly p. prints for target prices? YES! am I excited, you might ask? well as karen from mean girls would say, DUH!

there has been quite a bit of “controversy” (such a first world problem it seems) about the collection, as ladies are saying that lilly pulitzer being at target will mean “regular” people can buy it, but they like the exclusiveness of lilly p, and feel it won’t be just for the “true fans”. I can certainly see what they’re saying, but y’all the prints are totally different so nobody’s going to die here if one girl is wearing tusk in the sun and the other girl a target print. We should happy that other people get to wear such beautiful patterns, ya know?

so with that being said here are my personal favorites (and let's just say it took a ridiculously long time to narrow my favorites down and have it less than like $300-my dear mama and I had to do some compromising!)

Here are (some) of my personal favorites!

Hopefully y'all will snag some fantastic pieces, make sure to have your credit cards ready on April 19th! My mom and I will be getting up bright and early before church and run around target like mad women (and im talking outside the door at 8:00!)

make sure to look out for a soon-to-be haul!

xoxo,

Lily