You are you. Now, isn't that pleasant?

Buongiorno, sweets! I just read this intriguing article by Ev Bogue:

"A boring life does not an A-list blog make. In order to create a successful blog, you need to also architect a life that other people want to pay attention to... If you live a boring life, no one cares. Sorry."

It really got me thinking about self-editing, and about writing here at Sparkles & Crumbs. Have my posts seemed a little lacking in lustre, and a little overmuch languishing in existential angst, to you lately, dear friend? Mi dispiace. I think I've been losing sight of what Sparkles & Crumbs is all about for a little bit.

Everybody self-edits - from detagging unflattering Facebook photos, to updating one's latest 'Tweet.' I think this is especially true of the blogging world - you're hoping that people will spend time reading about your thoughts, opinions and inspirations, so of course you're endeavouring to make your life appear as exciting and interesting as possible!

So, here's the thing: I do think my life is often exhilerating, bursting with sparkles and crumbs, full of true love and high adventure. I live and study in an incredible place, I've met my modern-day Gregory Peck, I'm surrounded by darling friends who share my love of macaroons, old movies and piano bars, and I try to stay true to what I believe in - and I love writing about all of those things!

But I'm also not afraid to write about feeling lonely, or lost, or afraid - which I do feel, sometimes. Because everybody, even the most fabulous heroines - even Gala Darling or Anna Dello Russo! - feel like that sometimes, too. Sparkles & Crumbs will never be a place to simply rant and rave about feeling low, but it is a place to inspire and hearten [at least, I hope so!]: a place to make something magical and hopeful out of sadness or anger.

So, here's my little bit of magic and hope for this sunny spring afternoon, lovelies: here's to being not only fabulous, but unafraid to be real: true blue you! Be kind and make people smile, do your thing, and don't fret about what people who don't matter to you might be thinking - after all, sometimes you must just make like Alice and just say:

As Queen Elizabeth II says, "You need to learn to stand up for yourself and what you believe and sometimes, pardon my language, kick some ass." Awesome!

And I can definitely get behind Bogue's other advice: "The truth is that you’re going to have to live a pretty extraordinary lifestyle if you’re going to stand out above the noise. How are you going to do that? By doing something different, and doing it with a full heart."

I'm going to keep living my life, as much as I can, whole-heartedly and utterly unashamedly, as an early-1990s Disney princess [see below!] and a Narnian heroine...

"She believes in love and romance. She believes her life is going to be transformed into something wonderful and exciting. She has hopes and fears, just like anyone. Sometimes she feels frightened. Sometimes she feels unloved. Sometimes she feels she will never gain approval from those people who are most important to her. But she’s brave, and goodhearted and faces her life head on." -Sophie Kinsella

Here's to you, gorgeous: raise a glass, don a crown of daisies, and stay true to you!

Love, sleeping lions and Jelly Tots xxx