Benevolent Beauty
Benevolent Beauty
Sacred Surrender
february 8, 2021
Sacred Surrender
february 8, 2021
october 5, 2020
october 5, 2020
pants are optional
I have a confession
I was raised in a racist house
But the discrimination came quietly
disguised in the walls like a lingering mouse
The words “black people are bad”
Never came from my parents mouths...
june 1, 2020
I’ve been Lauren my whole life. And I never liked it. Too common and too often pronounced in a weird drawling way that makes me cringe. However, I always loved my middle name: Leola. So dreamy, yet fierce. Like royalty.
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a photo series with Abba Shapiro
november 11, 2019
december 29, 2018
On the first day of my 25th year, at last, I am committed to being the most naked form of myself. I’ve intently shed layers - of worry, of fear, of wrong intentions. I am exposed in my most lovely and true form. I am me - radiant and confident.
This year I decided to only purchase gifts that give back, offer sustainable business practices, or offer some solution in bettering our world. Here’s where I shopped:
december 5, 2018
august 23, 2018
No one knows where I live. No one knows where Georgia is. The country. Not the state. When I told the folks back home I was moving to Georgia they began planning a homecoming thinking I was returning to America. While I can point to Georgia on a map, even I’m not sure if I’m in Europe or Asia or the Middle East. The Georgians like to say it’s Europe, but others argue for the latter options. Regardless in all this unfamiliarity, I’ve found the most novel sense of home.
Oh, what a year it has been. It has been a year of excitement and challenge and smiles and pain. It has been a year of love. A year of growth and change. A year ago, I began a quest, which I believe to be a catalyst in my unique path to happy. And along the way, I just might have found what I was looking for in the most unlikely of places.
Within.
april 5, 2018
october 28, 2017
My three months in Romania are coming to a close, as my visa expires in a couple weeks. My time here has been very magical - but, far from a fairytale. Like every chapter in the story we call life, lessons are learned and wisdom is gained. These three months have taught me to let go of the things in my life that I can not control. Let me explain...
This is the story of how I jumped out of a moving train and almost got catfished by a foreign internet stranger.
september 17, 2017
august 22, 2017
“To live will be an awfully big adventure.” - Peter Pan sure did know a thing or two about living. And I’m proud to say I have been “living” such an adventure.
I firmly believe everything happens for a reason. Including the fact that sometimes I’m human (i.e. an idiot), which is why I’m calmly using some “new-found time” to write an update about things going on in my life.
july 19, 2017
may 8, 2017
How about the flight to Lisbon? That was supposed to be seamless and cool? That travel day you orchestrated well ahead of time because you're flying with a dog, in cabin, internationally for the first time? Funny story...
april 27, 2017
“Comparison is the thief of joy.” This is both my anthem and my greatest hurdle. Spoken by Teddy Roosevelt, this has been one of the hardest lessons I’ve learned in my young life - primarily because comparison can be a good thing in so many ways and we’re encouraged to compare ourselves to others by our parents, peers, teachers, and society. It pushes us to be better and smarter; and also prettier, stronger, more “this”, less “that”, and the list goes on and on. Sometimes these ideals are pursued with the right intentions, sometimes not. And sometimes it means comparing yourself to the ideals our peers or society deem to be sacred - but is the American dream or “that “cool girl’s instagram” your path to happy? For some it may be so, and really, that’s all that matters. But for me? I’ve found it’s not.
