Naty Grams

Happy Friday loves! 

 I decided to finish off this crazy week with a new round-up of Naty Grams.  Every photo has a story.  These are mine. 

When someone posts a photo, more than likely you are not looking beneath the surface of it.  You see what you see and that’s it.  You just never really know what someone is going through, if their smile equals genuine happiness or if their is sadness hidden in their eyes.  Some people will open up and share more of what is going on with them, while others prefer to keep that private.  It reminds me of that quote, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle.” This is so true as we are all experiencing our own struggles and obstacles in our lives.  I posted this photo yesterday with a similar caption to what I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post about this week being a rough one for me.  I don’t want to ever act like things in my life are always wonderful because they are not.  I like being able to open up and share more with all of you because this is what life is all about.  

My little boy turned 5 last week!  How cute is he in this fringe collar?  I first got Kiko when my father was diagnosed with cancer. It was only two months after we had to put my childhood dog to sleep and after our bunny passed away.  It was just a really bad time and I needed comfort and love.  As I have gotten older, I have learned to appreciate having a pet so much more.  Kiko has been so therapeutic for me over these last 5 years and he seriously helped me cope with my father’s death much better than doing it on my own.  He has just filled my life with so much joy and love and he really has become like my child.  I hope to be able to celebrate many many more birthdays with him.  We had a little bit of a scare with him a couple of days ago, but thankfully he is doing ok now! 

I am in New York City every week, sometimes multiple times a week.  I truly have a love/hate relationship with it.  It’s such an amazing, lively, diverse city with so much inspiration and beautiful views, but it can also suck the life out of you.  What you guys all see on instagram is me being at different events & all the fun stuff happening in the city.  What you don’t see is how I actually really feel about commuting into NY so often.  While I don’t live far from the George Washington Bridge, it still takes it’s toll on me [and my car] after doing this so often for the last few years.  Being in traffic for two hours trying to make my way back home or rushing to get somewhere just to find out that I only needed to be there for 20 minutes.  Paying money for tolls, parking, cabs & trains, which all adds up tremendously.  It’s a lot and it can get very frustrating, but it’s just part of what I have to do.  So please believe that while I do love the city and while it can be very exciting, it’s not always sunshine & rainbows either. 

I don’t “stop and look around” often enough to really appreciate everything around me.  After having such a brutal winter again, I sometimes forget to appreciate the beauty of nature.  Now that the weather is finally getting better [although today it’s actually really cold], I want to make sure that I do more things outdoors just for myself.  Whether it’s going for a walk or run, checking out a new park or just sitting outside somewhere, I want to do more of this.  I need to do more of this.  For peace of mind, it’s so important to just have quality and quiet time just for you.  This tree is an amazing symbol of life and the beauty that lies everywhere.

Froyo?  Yes, please.  I was in the city on Sunday for a fun brunch and then visited with one of my friends for awhile to life chat.  I just wasn’t feeling like myself at all, so I went to get some froyo [with strawberries, pineapples, captain crunch & fruity pebbles] to make me feel better.  So good and kind of crazy how it worked temporarily.  This was actually the night that I was stuck in traffic for over two hours after being in the city all day and I just wanted to get home so bad.  I don’t think I made it home until almost 11pm that night.  This yogurt was probably the best part about my day.  Is that sad? lol 

I say I hate rainy days, but I think I might secretly love them.  They give me a good excuse to just stay home, relax and get things done.  Sometimes of course, I have to suck it up and head out into the gloom because that’s just life.  There are plenty of things that we all don’t want to do, but we have to do them.   So going with my whole theme of trying to appreciate things more, rainy days are now included.   I’ve caught myself letting the rain put me in a bad mood and then that ruins my entire day.  And for what?  It’s not worth it.  I think I have only shot in the rain like once or twice over these last 3 years, so on this day I tried to embrace it a bit and add some brightness with a red raincoat and fun umbrella.  Believe it or not, it actually kind of worked. 

I was going to wait and do a separate post for this, but I decided to include them today instead.  I will be talking about them again on Monday [there’s a big giveaway coming up, so stay tuned.]  

I’m excited to finally share this special and personal design collaboration that I did with TAudrey!  They chose 13 bloggers to design their own piece for a special blogger collection.  I am happy to introduce you guys to my CREATE & INSPIRE rings!  I wanted this to be a simple every day piece that would serve as a positive and empowering message.  These bands have so much meaning for me and I hope that they will have meaning for you too.  Create something beautiful and share it with others to inspire them to do the same.  We really need to empower each other more often.  My father continues to be my biggest inspiration in life and I definitely had him in mind with these rings.  They are 14k gold-filled.  They can be purchased as a set or as separates.  These can be stacked or worn on different fingers.  Each word also has a heart at the end and you can even have your initials engraved at the back for no extra charge. If you use code “natymichele10” you will receive 10% off your purchase.  I hope that you love them as much as I do and thank you all for the continued support! 

I’m a deep thinker, always have been always will be.  I love to write and get into more depth and even though this is a fashion focused blog, I still want to be able to get personal with you guys.  I hope that this is something you would like to see more of.  Have a great weekend.<3