LOL With Courtney Kennedy

October 1, 2013 ~ Sophie ~ 2 Comments

This month of October’s inspiring LOL Guest is Courtney. She has been a major inspiration to me when it comes to crafting and DIYing. She is soo good at everything she does and today we are honored to take a look at what Living out Loud means to her.

Courtney Kennedy
Etsy Shop Owner (Shop Always Rooney)
I like loose-leaf tea, star wars, creating with my hands, golfing, rock climbing and taking Sunday naps. I don’t like tomatoes, the color pink, anything pumpkin (except carving!), or writing with anything other than a G-2 .07 pen.
Living Out Loud to me is understanding why you were created and knowing it was for a purpose. To wake up each day recognizing that purpose and doing what you can to change something that day.
I’m in a life changing moment right now that made me reevaluate how I’m living: I realized I didn’t want the average 9-5 job, and I wasn’t passionate about going to school so I realized it was possible to start living my dreams now instead of later as I listen to God and follow Him daily.
People who really understand their talents and focus on those things instead of trying to do everything inspire me.
It is a daily choice to Live Out Loud, it isn’t going to change in and instant. You have to be intentional about your actions and passionate about what you do. People follow passion, so don’t settle for anything you aren’t passionate about.
If you have a dream, take steps toward the dream. Don’t think that it is a big leap away or you have to have some big miracle for it to happen. If you work hard and take steps toward the goal, you’ll arrive sooner or later!

Thanks Courtney for sharing with Rare Beauty Readers.

Find more of Courtney on her blog : Always Rooney and her shop: Shop Always Rooney

LOL With Taylor Elyse

July 2, 2013 ~ Sophie ~ 5 Comments

Our next LOL guest is Taylor a gorgeous blog pal.

Hi y’all! I’m Taylor and I blog over at Live and Move. I’m currently a college student going into my junior year. (Time flies!) I love a perfect cup of tea, conversations that stir my heart and warm my soul, taking pictures, watching old movies, listening to old Motown records on my record player, and falling asleep under warm covers.

I’m not really a fan of people who are prideful or disingenuous. I don’t like most Top 40 music. It’s too formulaic and shallow. But enough about things I that annoy me! Let’s talk about living out loud.

For me, living out loud means living a life that means something in the big picture. As a Christian, that meaning is shaped by choosing to live a life that has an eternal impact. It’s hard. I fall so short of that standard. My journey to living a life out loud started the summer before my freshman year of college and continues even now. It’s a journey largely facilitated by books .That summer, I read Crazy Love by Francis Chan and Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper.

They do such a good job of highlighting the frivolity of what is so often defined as success in our culture. It challenged me and grew me to the point that my boyfriend said he felt like he was dating a different person. At school, I read One.Life by Scott McKnight. That book is all about building a dream that Jesus can weave into his kingdom dream. I go back to that book every so often. It’s worn, highlighted, dog-eared, and generally loved. Around November of that year I read the Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. It shook me and challenged me to make buying decisions that reflected God’s heart. For me, this means trying to be a more conscious consumer. So much of what we buy cheaply is produced through the exploitation of people in other countries.

This summer, I read Kisses from Katie. This girl is barely three years older than me. She packed up, moved to Africa, adopted 11 beautiful girls, and started a nonprofit. Her passion and spirit inspired me to sponsor a Compassion child. She’s a beautiful four year old girl named Yenmi. One day I hope to travel to El Salvador and meet her! The people who wrote each of these books that shaped me inspire me simply because they took action. They followed God in ways that were uncomfortable and that seem strange in the context of our culture. They seriously count everything but Jesus as a loss.

I’m inspired by people who take their talents and use them for His glory. They don’t necessarily put a label of Christian on it, but their hearts for God are so evident. I want to be that. I’m not now and I never will fully be.

I think the best way to start living out loud is to find what inspires you to take action and then do it. Read books if you’re like me. Watch videos. Talk to someone who you admire. And then apply it. The gap between thinking and doing can be so wide at times. I know that too well. I hope that my little attempts at living out loud inspired you to take even a baby step in the right direction. God will use that!

Thank you Taylor for sharing your views with us.

You can find Taylor here

LOL With Catherine Denton

June 5, 2013 ~ Sophie ~ 3 Comments

Our next guest in the LOL series is Catherine, someone who has been personally inspiring ever since I found her blog. This is what Living out loud to her is:

Hi, I’m Catherine! I love to write, paint and photograph fairies. I’m an avid reader of how-to books, memoirs and children’s fantasy. I get uneasy when there are no books on hold for me at the library. I have a deathly fear of heights which developed late in life and I may’ve had a tiny meltdown hiking through the Grand Canyon (just ask the two old men I croaked to, “Please step away from the edge!”). I love all veggies ~ except beets. I love to relax with a hot bath, new paintbrushes, snuggles, homemade gingersnaps, family, and coffee anything.

I love this concept of living out loud. To me, living out loud is simply: to love extravagantly. It’s going out of your way, sacrificing wants, and reaching out when no one’s reaching in. I have fumbled along and loved hesitantly, conditionally, minimally; but to love extravagantly is something I’m still aiming for.

Four years ago, one of my dearest friends found out she had cancer and after she told me, I busied myself for a few weeks and avoided her. I eventually came back around and apologized for deserting her. She told me she assumed I was dealing with the hard news the best way I knew how. Even in her darkest moment, she didn’t hold it against me or refuse relationship based on my reaction. She loved me in spite of my actions and was willing to hold out her hand when I came back. That’s extravagant.

Her reaction changed my perspective of love. It taught me honesty at a level I had never experienced. It made me realize that living out loud meant grabbing hold of each moment (including the bad ones) and considering those in the moment with you. It meant offering grace and laying out your heart at the cost of rejection.

My friend eventually passed away. I was there beside her in the last months, weeks, and days. She’d shown me what it meant to be brave in the face of fear. She walked that path ahead of me and put footprints in the sand of where I needed to go. There is a quote I love from Natalie Babbitt in Tuck Everlasting that completely describes my friend, “Don’t be afraid of death; be afraid of an unlived life. You don’t have to live forever, you just have to live.” And she did.

And I want to.

On this pursuit of living out loud, remember to love extravagantly. Go beyond what is expected, reach beyond what is sought, and forgive what hasn’t been asked of you. Don’t be afraid of the unlived life; you have this moment to live it.