How to Have a Fresh Start This September (Even If You’re Not Going Back to School)

Unpopular opinion: Summer is vastly overrated. It’s always fun in the beginning, but by the time we hit the dog days of summer in mid-August, it’s lost all its appeal for me. Instead, I start longing for autumn. Give me cooler temperatures, pumpkins, and falling leaves, please! But there’s something else that I’ve always loved about Autumn, especially as a kid. Back to school was always a magical time for me. I wish I could bottle that feeling and save […]

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The Best Mid-Size Inclusive Clothing Brands

If you’re a mid-sized lady, somewhere between US sizes 10 and 14, you know that shopping can be hard. Standard size garments are typically cut for a size small and then sized up to fit a larger body type. That means that even when standard brands carry in-between sizes, they are rarely cut to fit or flatter a mid-size woman’s curves. On the other hand, plus size lines are designed to highlight curves – but they typically only start offering […]

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These 3 Instagram Struggles Are Destroying Your Self Esteem + How to Overcome Them

Facebook. Instagram. YouTube. Twitter. We aren’t just surrounded by the media – we’re surrounded by social media. When we watch movies, we know that the characters and their perfect lives are fake. When we see real people showcasing their highlights for the world to see, it can be hard to draw that line between impossible and attainable. Comparing our lives and bodies to the images we see on social media can lead to feelings of inadequacy, FOMO, and isolation. Instagram […]

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What I Eat in a Day of Intuitive Eating

After I posted my Ultimate Guide to Intuitive Eating post (which you can find here), I got a lot of questions about what intuitive eating really looks like. Listening to your body and internal hunger clues means no more restricting – but it doesn’t mean binging on chocolate and chips all day either. Read on to learn what I eat in a day of intuitive eating! Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or dietician. The information contained in this article […]

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40 Compliments That Have Nothing to Do With Appearance

I’ve always felt that compliments are like confetti. Whenever I think something kind about another person, I make it a priority to let them know. Giving genuine compliments to the people in your life is a simple and beautiful way to spread kindness to the world around you. But sometimes our well-meaning compliments tend to focus on only one aspect of a person – their appearance. In a world where more than 50% of American women say they don’t like […]

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5 Tricks to Help You Reconnect With Your Inner Child

What were you like as a child? Were you outgoing, rambunctious, and always laughing? Maybe you were more quiet and creative. Maybe you dreamt about being a musician, a writer, a firefighter, or a singing writer who fought fires in their spare time (this was literally what I wanted to be when I grew up). No matter who you were, I think we can all agree on one thing – childhood is a precious time in the human experience. Despite […]

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Here’s What A Day With Anxiety is Really Like: Expectations vs. Reality

This wasn’t the post I wanted to write today. I wanted to spend today being productive and positive. I wanted to exercise, eat right, and spend the day with friends. I wanted today to be perfect – but in reality, it was anything but. Anyone who struggles with their mental health knows that there are good days and bad days. And unfortunately, my anxiety decided that today was going to be a bad one. Online and on social media, people […]

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What is Toxic Positivity + How to Break the Excessive Optimism Cycle

Positivity is a good thing… Right? I’ve always prided myself on being an optimist. That ability to see the glass as half full has gotten me through so much hardship in my life. Being able to stay positive in the face of life’s negativity can be an amazing tool to achieve happiness. But… What about when those rose-tinted glasses become opaque? When you’re blinded by excessive optimism, you stop seeing the world as it really is. The constant pressure to […]

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How to be Body Positive as a Mid-Sized Woman

When I think about my relationship to my body, one particular memory always sticks out in my mind. I remember being 15 and sitting with my friends in the school cafeteria. And like many discussions among teenage girls, our conversation had turned to our bodies. My slim friends complained about being called too-skinny, being told to eat a hamburger, or accused of having an eating disorder. My plus-sized friends dealt with fat-shaming and discrimination. And then… There was me. Even […]

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31 Things I Learned in My First Month of Blogging

A month ago, with a little encouragement from my friend Karen from Rosethorns and Honeydew, I started a blog. I had no idea what I was doing or even what I wanted to write about. All I knew was that I had stories inside of me that I wanted to share, and carving out my own little place on the internet seemed like the best way to get started. Finding Julianne started as a lifestyle blog. I planned on writing […]

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