the most beautiful

my best friend wrote a post on her blog that posed the question: when do you feel the most beautiful?

i commented with my list.  and as i wrote, it went on.  and on.  and on.  until finally, i made myself stop writing because i realize that i could've kept writing all the things.

i never realized there was so much.  i thought that i would maybe think of a few things--3 or 4 or 5.  but there was much more than that on my list and i could've kept writing, had i not made myself shut up:)  that surprised me.  and i wondered, how many of us out there don't realize all the ways that life makes us feel beautiful?  all the little moments during the day that make us feel safe being in our own skin?

so i want to pose the same question to you.  and i'd love to hear your thoughts--in a comment, an email, in a blog post of your own.

what makes you feel beautiful?

i think you might be surprised at some of your own answers.

my list is a compilation of sorts...a list of things, places, people that make me feel beautiful.  and also, moments. moments that have stayed with me because of the depth of what they made me feel.

i feel beautiful when

when i pull on my favorite pair or jeans

or slide on my favorite black stilettos.

sometimes it's those days when my make-up is perfectly done.  when my lips are a perfect rosy red and my green eyes peek out from under perfectly mascara-ed eyelashes.

and other days, it's when i'm wearing no make-up at all.  when i let my hair fall into a mess on my shoulders and i own it all like i'm the belle of the ball.

i always feel beautiful when i'm in the mountains.

when i have breakfast with my family.  it doesn't matter if my make-up is smeared or my hair is in a mess on top of my head.  what matters is that we're together.  and Christmas morning is my favorite.  they always manage to take some Godawful picture of me, but i never feel like i look in the pictures.  without fail, Christmas morning always feels a million times more like home. 

i feel beautiful in the morning.

when i'm sipping a cup of coffee.

when i'm listening to country music.

when i have wavy hair.

i felt beautiful the last time i was up in sacramento, about 2 months ago.  i went with some of my best friends up to the mountains to go shooting.  that night, we sat around the bonfire, drinking beer, while country music blared from someone's truck speakers.  the stars glowing in the darkness and the heat of the bonfire and the buzz from the beer all made me giddy.  i laughed for hours--until my cheeks hurt and my stomach ached.  and it didn't matter that my make-up was smeared or that my hair and clothes were caked in mud.  i can't remember the last time i felt as beautiful as i did that night.  and only because i was surrounded by people that i love and who love me simply for being me.

i feel beautiful when ethan smiles that melting, Love smile at me.  when he draws himself closer to me and wraps me up in his arms.  when he puts his hands on both sides of my face to kiss me.

when i'm laying in my backyard, doing nothing but drinking iced tea and reading a book.

i feel beautiful when guys open the door for me.

i felt beautiful the first time ethan and i went to temecula last june.  the slow pace and the sweet people and the home feeling that day made me think that there is nothing i'd want to change about myself.  

i felt beautiful on 4th of july 2005.  my best friend and i?  we skinny-dipped.  in my grandma's pool.  at midnight.  

when i wear a sundress on warm days.  or when the rain sprinkles on my face on overcast ones.

when i'm driving down the freeway at night and the wind is blowing through my hair and i'm belting out every lyric without a care as to what key i'm in or how ridiculous i look.

when i forget to compare myself.  when i enjoy the girl i am, right here, in this moment.

i feel so beautiful when i hear a romantic song and i realize that God is pursuing my heart.

and especially when i am true to how He made me.

when i realize that the mountains are my home, instead of the ocean, or that i prefer country bars to fancy lounges.

when i jump into a body of water, forsaking the worry that my make-up is going to be smeared.

when i'm going on an adventure.

when i'm playing like a child.

when i'm looking at the stars.

when i'm laughing.

when i can look in the mirror and realize that just because the world says my body isn't perfect doesn't mean that it's true.

now, your turn: what makes you feel the most beautiful, dear friend?