Before we dig in, let’s establish an operating principle: 

You are a dignified being, worthy of love and respect- as you are, right now.

Do you believe that?

It is only when we allow this truth to illuminate & shade our self-perception- that we create attainable goals. Goals made of significance.  Goals that encourage not overwhelm. Goals with small, realistic & enjoyable steps rather than forcing our bodies (more than likely, most resolutions unfortunately revolve around our physical form) or minds & practices to traverse large & I’d argue, dangerous chasms of the soul. 

This deep seeded truth must be the inception point of any & all change if is to be effective, sustainable, long term & most importantly: life giving. 


Our goals should be, in their largest sense, the continued alignment of our wants & our needs. Not the further separation of them. 


Your body, your mind, your lifestyle these things make up your home. If you do not essentially define them as deserving, worthy & precious, you will be at odds with your very home & it will never feel safe. This lack of essential safety translates into discomfort. And for most of us, self loathing. Consequently, the driving force behind most resolutions is self-hatred and not self-love.

We have made a mess of this human process called “change”- inverted & destroyed it. We cannot & will not attain anything when we simultaneously focus finitely on the extreme goal apex & reproach ourselves at every turn. 

This year, don’t let our performance-orientated culture take you victim. She will drown your voice in her own. Screaming: bigger, better & (worst of all) NOW. Under her weight, you meet the new year standing at the bottom of a frightfully steep mountain wall in an almost frantic sense of hurry & will end the year either exhausted & lacking vitality yet standing face-to-face with your supposed golden “goal” or, more than likely: cursing yourself, berating your mind & body, for not being innate climbers of the highest order- when that was neither our want, nor our need, to begin with.

Let’s stop operating out of that guilt-driven mentality, let’s stop chastising ourselves. Let’s operate from certain truth: 

We are dignified beings. Worthy, here & now. Let’s firmly found whatever changes we seek out of WANT for a more vibrant life- not NEED (because of an unconscious sense of desolating inadequacy).

Here we listen to our nature, attuning focus to the seemingly small, current, every day choices to foster resolution. Here is where we work & affect change, here is where small choices empower. In realistic ways, we climb towards that end goal without stealing joy or requiring so much strict adherence that our lives become a slew of white-knuckled instances of restraint or worse, red-faced-force. Then, almost effortless, we afford ourselves the invaluable gift of reflection. We pause along the way- consciously looking back & optimistically looking forward. We celebrate the little victories. It is in these small gains that our changes build intrinsic motivation. They gain steam. They begin to perpetuate themselves. This is how we build new sustainable habits. 

This new year- refused the self-fulfilling prophecy of failure that is the sheer & steep-faced cliffs compromised of unrealistic, malevolent goals & “grand resolutions”.  

Rather, let’s start here: You are not broken. You lack not.

Cling to this truth & embark. Vibrantly, allow yourself to dream up prudent ways to walk steadily & courageously towards your highest self.  

My hope is that your resolutions would strengthen & restore. Inspire, not dishearten. Lift, not scorn. Empower, not control. Foster, not force. To bring you safely towards consonance, the fortified melding of want & need. 

Resolution [rez-uh-loo-shuh, noun]

 (western tonal music theory) 

 : the move of a note or chord from dissonance (an unstable sound) to a consonance (a more final or stable sounding one).


Let’s stop operating out of a fear that we are not enough. Lift your head. Bring this falsehood into the light. Examine it. You will find it lacking. 

Go. Look your new year in the eye & be brave: tell it that you are whole. Have it meet you there. 

Hello friends + happy Wednesday!  

I hope you guys are having a good week. I have been doing my absolute best this week to not be a total grinch! hehe. I know your thinking  ‘What?! Why?!’ and I wish I could tell you why, I’ve  just been in a funk, and I hate it. But I really can’t complain. A week in a half more of work, then I’m off work for two weeks! AND in just 15 [short] days Chris, myself and my brother are off to Brazil for 9 days! I keep looking at pictures of Rio every time I start to lose it, and it helps me stay motivated to push through. 

AND then today, I came home to the most beautiful journal ever from Blue Sky Papers. [All smiles!] I will be teaming up with them to art journal my way through Rio! I am so excited + thankful for this journal/opportunity. We will be giving one away, to one of you lucky readers early January- so stay tuned for that post! 

Anywho, on #WednesdayWeWear art and this weeks inspiration is folk art, but before we jump right in- let me catch you all up on some things! For those of you who have been following this feature for the past few months, you probably know about my blogging buddy Liv- who has been joining in on the #OnWednesdayWeWearArt series. This is a feature I created to let different types of art/artist inspire what I wear that day + then create a post about my outfit + the art. Some weeks after starting the series, Liv joined in! After chatting with Liv last week, and brainstorming how we can continue to keep this feature running/how we can make it more approachable for others to join in and what we were really aiming to get out of this little feature-  we came up with some really great ideas of how we want to approach it in to 2015 with you guys. 

While I am out of town, Liv will be doing a little guest post about what we came up with and show you how we are going to turn #OnWednesdayWeWearArt into an opportunity for other bloggers to link up with us on our sites. Which I am super excited about! 

Sooo…back to folk art. In short, folk art is art work created by self taught artist and not seen as ‘high’ or ‘fine’ art. It is a niche’ in the art world. One that I happen to be fond of, as it is often colorful + decorative [and a bit on the gaudy side- but not always]. Liv asked me if I had ever herd of the Florida Highwaymen [as this is where is is originally from]. She told me a bit about them + I did some research on my own and learned that they were a group of twenty-six African American men in Florida who made their living  selling their art door to door + at road stands. This was back in the 50’s-80’s, but if you are from the south and vacation to Florida with your family, then you know a thing or two about stoping at all the shops on the side of the road as you drive into/through Florida. You never know what you will find. [and on a side note, Florida has the BEST thrift stores. Old people capital of America = thrift store jack pot!] 

The Highwaymen created landscapes inspired by the scenery around them. The colors are a vibrant representation of Florida’s costal plains. Being from the south, black and self taught they were not welcomed at traditional art shows/galleries, so these artist banded together to create their own sustaining art community that provided a living for themselves + families by selling their art on their own. Original hustlers! 

In researching the Highwaymen, I started thinking back about all the other folk artist I have learned about over time. The first one that came to mind was Howard Finster [as a lot of his work is here in Atlanta]. I typed him into google, and ended up stumbling upon another folk artist named Nellie Mae Rowe. Who just so happens to be from my original home town of Fayetteville, GA! 

A self taught African American artist from the south, who made a living doing what she loved, although- not until later in her life [its never to late to follow your hearts desires]. Her drawings + paintings are so whimsical and colorful, I immediately fell in love. It reminded me of the folk art I grew up seeing here in Georgia. Where every inch of her surface is adorned with something beautiful . Folk artist work with whatever materials they can find, rather than that of what they could buy, or materials [i.e. canvas] that artist would typically use. Nellie did a lot of drawings and paintings that are all beautiful, unique and filled to the brim with color + detail, but her most impressive work of art to me was her ‘Playhouse’ where she lived + worked.  Every inch of her house was said to be painted/decorated. What an art castel dream! See a photo of her in front of it below. [I read that a while back it was torn down :( but there is a plaque there in remembrance of her.]

Okay, this post is huge- I got a bit carried away this week ;P As far as my outfit goes though, my skirt is from the thrift store, my top + clutch is target, boots + tights are Urban Outfitters and the leather jacket is Gap , scarf is marc by marc jacobs and necklace was a D.I.Y.!

You have probably noticed by now, that my style doesn't always follow the fashion norms, and with that being said- it is a personal mission of mine to wear white, pastel + neon colors all winter/year long. I paired my powdered pink skirt with a stark black + white pattern, and I think it makes for a lovely 'winter' combo.  AND on another note...Pantone can take their 'Marsala'  [the new color of the year] and be BORING all of 2015! I know alot of my 'design' friends like, no- LOVE the new color of the year. But those folks also love the color BEIGE and GREY, and in general are afraid of color [maybe this was Pantones attempt to get more people to 'buy' into their color of the year?!]... sooo, yeah. BUT this rant is really for another post on color. 

Hi + Happy Saturday! 

It has been a lazy one thus far, for me. It rained last night/this morning- which naturally makes waking up hard todo. But no more time for laziness, as I've got a to-do list a mile long, and a 'b-day party' to go to in just a bit, so time to get my butt in gear! 

Someone messaged me earlier this week, saying they have been checking in everyday, for this donut necklace post- so here it is finally! My bad for not posting it sooner, as I already had the pictures ready- I just never made the time to post, oops! [I swear in 2015, I am going to work on posting more regularly- for you guys, and for myself- because this is what I love, and we should all do more of what we love + spread the love! okay okay, tangent]. 

You can see the supplies I used for this little necklace above. The wooden donut shapes are actually little wooden wheels that one would use to build a toy car. I saw them and thought, donut! I got a pack of 19 [why an odd number, I don't know] from Hobby Lobby for $3.99. The rest of the supplies, I already had laying around, but also items you could pick up while at the craft store. 

wooden wheels
acylic craft paint
craft thread
leather lace
metal ball chain [I really wanted it in gold chain, but already had the silver] 

The painting of the donuts is pretty  self-explanatory, buttttt paint the frosting color first, and then the sprinkles on top, once the 'frosting' has dried. 

For the leather + chain necklace, you want to measure how long you want your necklace to be first. I did this by draping the leather around my neck + looking in a mirror to see how I liked it. [Slip the wheels on the leather to get a better feel.] Use scissors to cut the leather. Then, use the leather piece you just cut to measure out your chain. You want your chain to be about 4 links longer than the leather though, so that you may use the clasp. I cut my metal chain using wire snips I got in amini tool kit, earlier this summer [only 6.99-worth it]. 

Okay, now you want to choose which color craft thread you want to use. I went with a soft pink. I suggest keeping your thread looped up, and just pulling one end out. You can cut the extra off once you are done.

Start by holding about an inch of the craft thread in place with the leather + chain. At about the 3rd ball on your chain, start wrapping the craft thread around- making the leather + chain stay in place. I wrapped my thread around about two times, in between each ball. I tried to get as close up as I could to show you a picture [please excuse my horrible nails]! Continue doing this until you reach the end of the leather + chain [leave about 2 balls  -with no thread- at the end too]. Once I cut off the extra thread at the end, I just used a little bit of water resistant glue [that dries clear] to hold the thread 'tail' in place. 

And tah-dah! Super simple necklace to make, that I have gotten so many compliments on the couple of times that I have worn it! AND using the leather + chain + thread to make bracelets would be super cute too! [oh, if your wondering about the claps- about 30 of them come with the chain, when you buy it].

If you make your own necklace, please share it with me, using the hashtag #DIYwithMFC  and tag me @myfriendcourt on Instagram + @_myfriendcourt of Twitter! I love seeing the projects you guys do!