Sunday 31 August 2014

When Life Gives You Lemons (or Locks You Outdoors)

Me and Katie accidentally locked ourselves out of her house for over an hour this morning. But rather than get annoyed at this less-than-optimal situation, we had a mini iphone photoshoot in her front garden instead, planning to blog the photos later in the day.
I had been obsessing over Katie's outfit all morning, and I think my repeated "oh my god Katie you look so amazing" was starting to get a bit creepy - so I was pretty happy that I got the perfect excuse to further obsess over her outfit from behind the lens of a camera. Click on over to her blog to see the photos that I took of her, and her amaaaaazing outfit! We actually both thrifted our dresses yesterday (on a trip to the op-shop where we were only meant to be dropping off old clothes we didn't want anymore - oops!)
Making the best out of a bad situation. That's something I'm proud to say that I excel in. Certain events in my early adulthood have taught me to be really good at making lemonade out of lemons. Certainly, one of the most positive things about having a chronic illness has been learning who my real friends are.

Before I became sick I would have told you that I had tonnes of friends - people who I would see every weekend and get drunk, dance and have deep-and-meaningful 4am conversations with. All but a handful of these people completely disappeared when I got sick and could no longer live that lifestyle. From most, even people who I considered to be close friends, I didn't even get a "hey, how are you going?", and that was really, really hard. But this isn't a negative story - I am grateful that I have been able to sort through the people in my life in this way, and make much better connections with the ones who stuck around.
So I feel really lucky. I feel like it can often take people until late in their 20s or even their 30s (if ever) to recognise who their real friends are - to work out who is going to stick by them when the going gets tough. I may only have a handful of close friends now, but they're the most wonderful, meaningful friendships I could have asked for. They're there for me on not only the good days, but the bad ones too.
Dress is thrifted | blouse is thrifted | necklace c/o Ginger Pickle | brooch is Hungry Designs | tights are super old (?) | shoes are Naot

And that brings me to my point - when life gives you some lemons, juice the heck out of that lemon and make the most delicious lemonade in the world! If I hadn't gotten sick, I still don't think I'd know who my true friends are. And this morning, if we hadn't got locked out of the house, we wouldn't have taken these photos and you wouldn't be reading this post. Lemons are totally delicious!

I hope that you're having a really lovely day,







Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

14 comments:

  1. Your dress is so cute! Lovely outfit.
    xxx Tineke

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aww. I don't really have people that I would consider "close friends"--is that a bit sad? You are someone whom I would totally be your forever friend if I lived nearby--We could make dresses all day err' day!

    About THAT dress, you're gonna laugh--I had this phase on Instagram in "the early days" where I would document the appearances of that particular exact print of fabric wherever I shopped. First a pair of pants in Ice, then a dress in a boutique, then a different dress in SES, and it was the first EVER hint I got about the idea that stores cheap and expensive have the same suppliers, and--lightbulb moment--if I found the supplier, I'd find the cheapest place to get it from. SO MUCH NOSTALGIA, that print used to be everywhere!

    I like it a lot with that blouse you paired underneath actually--you and Katie both look super cute!

    Demi | carbonchic.com.au

    ReplyDelete
  3. You look gorgeous, absolutely love that dress - what a find! We got locked out of our house last night but for four hours, which was such a pain. Luckily we got taken in by a neighbour until we were able to get a spare set of keys, so it all worked out ok. I'm so sorry so many of your friends dumped you when you got ill - I had a similar situation in my late teens when 90% of the people I considered 'my people' dumped me when something horrible happened and I had some mental health problems because of it. In the end I'm so glad to know who my real friends are, the ones who stuck by me through that are the people I know I will have for the rest of my life and I have the most incredible amount of love for them. You're totally right - lemons might be sour to begin with but it doesn't take much to turn them sweet xo

    ReplyDelete
  4. You look lovely and your brooch is absolutely gorgeous. I had the exact same thing happen to me when I got ill a few years ago and now (with my continued chronic illness) I can definitely tell who are my 'real friends'. I think it's an important part of growing up, and one that I'm certainly grateful for. As always loved this post. As an aside you've inspired me to add some of the other things (science stuff) that I find interesting in to my blog. thank youx

    ReplyDelete
  5. You two are the absolute cutest. What a wonderful quality you have - to make the best out of a bad situation! I think that, as we get older, we become more selective about our friendships, and the fair-weather ones tend to fall by the wayside. I honestly have about 2 or 3 close friends at most who I can consistently count on.

    xox Sammi

    ReplyDelete
  6. Such a cute photoshoot, I've been having a stalk of both your blogs lately. Sneaky!

    ReplyDelete
  7. your printing dress is very unique, the photoshoot is very suit for you

    http://www.zdress.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Very sweet post :)

    Miranda
    Little Gold Pocket Watch

    ReplyDelete
  9. 1) your dress looks cute- like super cute

    2) I understand what you are talking about who your true friends are thing. I remember in college I lost a lot of friend when I started to date my husband. I didn't want to go out late at night, and spend money at bars. Most of my friends got pissed, but wouldn't make the effort themselves to do things during the daytime either. It left me pretty alone when I got out of school since I was over an hour away from my hometown. But overtime I started to make new friends, and learned that yeah, not everyone is going to do things late at night. After high school, college, and some of my adult years, I have few friends that I keep in touch with. And I feel like there are reasons why there are only a few people I bother contacting over and over.

    ReplyDelete
  10. omg is it SPRING in Australia?! A Magnolia tree? I am so jealous. USA is about to hit fall and I'm happy for fall I guesss- but NOT winter in Chicago :((((((

    You two look lovely :)

    love, polly
    pollybland.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. You guys look gorgeous as always :')

    I know how you feel, I am still struggling with working out who I trust will always be there. Atm there are probably only a few who would make a real effort for me. At school I was bullied pretty bad and didn't have any friends as if anyone hung out with me, the bullies picked on them too. So I left school and severed all ties and had no friends before coming to uni. It's pretty hard starting over making all new friends at 18 but I did it and I just have to gradually work out who I can trust! It's all a learning curve! xo

    ReplyDelete
  12. Seeing you two always warms my heart. You both are stunning and your friendship is beautiful <3

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am still struggling with working out who I trust will always be there.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a message! I read every single one. Don't forget to check back for a reply if you leave a question! ♥

Related Posts with Thumbnails