Love Yourself

Happy Friday loves! I hope you all had a great week. I am looking forward to the weekend! Mine has been super busy from work, plus I’m having withdrawals from San Francisco. However, I am ecstatic to share with you all my funfilled adventure to San Francisco starting with this shoot. So let’s dive in!

This was our first detour on our way to San Francisco, my friend and I stopped at Splash Café in Pismo Beach for the best clam chowder in town (according to my friend). But I will not lie, it was one of the best I’ve ever had. So if you are in the area, I highly suggest you try it out! The café was right by the pier and the beach, close enough that you can smell the saltiness in the air. Ordering and waiting for our chowder didn’t take long. We arrived at 8am on a Saturday morning and decided to take pictures before eating since no one was around and natural lighting made it even better! The colors of the photos turned out excellent in my opinion. Natural lighting is the best when it wants to be your friend. Don’t you all agree?

So with this outfit, I wanted to wear something that has an edgy feel, but yet still feminine enough for the streets. I really wanted to do this shoot in the middle of the highway with the curvy mountains as a backdrop, but there were way too many vehicles around, and it wasn’t a good idea to be reckless so early in the trip! I took the safe route and went with the local streets in Pismo Beach, where vehicles were not coming at me at 60+MPH.

Before putting this outfit together in real life, I had an image of exactly what I wanted to wear in my head but didn’t know how the items would land in my closet. I started off with just denim shorts. Then I started eyeing these combat boots for the longest time, but for some reason never bought them until recently. They were also on sale, which made it even better! I also realized I have a plaid shirt that would go perfectly with these cool boots! All I needed was a black long sleeve top. So one day, I was browsing around in Forever 21, and ran into this crop top! I got it right away because I knew in my heart this top would complete the look I am trying to achieve. I love this top because it is so light and soft! I love the fact that it has long sleeves and also a turtleneck. You don’t see those around much anymore! This outfit reminds me of a hip-hop dancer. It is the perfect combination of feminine and edgy at the same time. What a great combo that is!

I am starting to like crop tops a lot more, but I am always hesitant about wearing them since I am not that confident in showing my stomach to the world! To me, my stomach is such a sacred place. But for some odd reason, that day, I had lots of courage to do so and didn’t care about what people would say and think. I felt very self-confident that day; which is why I want to talk a little about self-confidence with you all since I think it is an important subject.

What does it mean to you all when you think of self-confidence? To me it means loving yourself for who you are no matter what shape, size, or color you are. Believe it or not, I had to work on mine for years and I still continue to work on it everyday! Growing up, I used to compare myself to celebrities and models I see in magazines and on TV. I constantly thought to myself, “I’m never going to be good or pretty enough! I’m not tall, I don’t have blue eyes, and I surely don’t have a killer body. I also don’t have curves, etc.” All these things were so negative, and I’ve finally realized I can’t continue living my life that way. If I don’t love myself, who will? That’s the question you need to ask yourself. So with that, you should embrace yourself and be unique! Just because you don’t look like celebrities and models, doesn’t mean you are not pretty or good enough. This mentality also plays a role in your professional career as well; you cannot compare yourself to others because as soon as you do, you’ve already lost the game. You will always be behind.

Over the years, I’ve learned to love myself. I’ve learned what made me different made me special and unique. I’ve learned that everyone else is taken so I need to be myself. Likewise, in my professional life, I didn’t start out where I wanted to be and seeing my other classmates doing something they love, I envy them at one point. I was comparing myself to them and asking, “Why can’t I do that?” But I’ve learned to stop comparing and that is when I was able to concentrate on myself. I was motivated to work hard towards my goals to get closer to who I want to become. The moment I invested in myself was the moment I felt more alive than I have ever felt. Right now, I am in a happier place with my personal and professional life. I can now look back and smile instead of living with regrets about why I didn’t do the things I wanted to do years ago.

So guys and gals, I hope you do the same for yourself! Wear whatever you want to wear, as long as it makes you feel confident. Don’t be afraid to slay! Work towards your goals and never sell yourself short. Don’t live a life full of regrets and what ifs! I hope you guys enjoy these photos! Stay tuned for more about my adventure!

Till next time 🙂 Love Linh,

**Shootout to my amazing friend for being patient in taking these photos for me throughout our whole trip! Thank you THOMAS**