Ally McDaniel Briggs

I am going to try my best to tell a story about the beginning of my experience with mental health & illness. Which is a such daunting task. So I'm going to try to attack it head on and hopefully write about it in a clear way to tell my story the best I can. I noticed something was wrong when I was a freshman in college living in Hawaii. About halfway through freshman year my motivation was low, I felt misunderstood, I wanted to sleep all the time, and I had low self-esteem; which was something I had never struggled with before. I lost interest in school and hobbies that I typically excelled in, and could barely concentrate on simple tasks. It was something I had never experienced, and since it happened so gradually, I was in denial about it. I thought that maybe I was just this lazy sad person and I that had failed to notice earlier in my life. Which couldn't be further from the truth. Growing up I was extremely interested in school, extracurricular activities, and was an o...

So I've been to Cancun twice. Once when I was really little, again for our honeymoon in 2016, and just recently with my family in 2017. And I do not doubt we will go back there a couple more times in our lifetime! I feel like Cancun has been the main tourism location in Mexico for quite a long time, and you don't want to do it wrong! So instead of doing a full on summary of each time we've been there, I'm going to ramble about different topics and talk about them overall. I really don't think you would want to be there for over 10 days, and I think 10 days is a stretch unless you're just doing a relaxing retreat type of vibe.  I've done a trip there for 5 days, and another time for a week. I feel like that was the perfect amount of time.  Our first time in Cancun together at the Grand Fiesta Americana Coral Beach For Josh and I's honeymoon, we stayed at the Grand Fiesta Americana Coral Beach . We loved it. It's a chic pink and tropic...

Ok so although I am the main author of this article, I will probably make Josh read this a thousand times and proofread so I’m able to tell our story as close to reality as possible. So when you’re reading this you’ll probably be able to hear a little bit of Josh and a little bit of me. So it ALL started at Dave & busters. At a New Years party. That’s usually where we lose people lol. Not very romantic is it? I always say how good I was at being single, and let’s just say I was at my single Ally peak. Me and my gal crew from my hometown were mingling, flirting, dancing, having the greatest time trying to find the beau we would lock lips with when the clock struck midnight (spoiler: my New Years kiss was not Josh that year). Anyways, to add more context, Josh had a little period of fame when the app Vine was the bees knees. Him and his friends made these ridiculous 6 second videos and they were so funny. And they blew up on there. I had seen many of their videos before I met them, ...

So lately a lot of friends have been noticing my hair growth and giving me lots of compliments on how it looks (thanks for the confidence boost bffs). Story time, I’ve always had super long hair. Except for when I lived in Hawaii, was high on sugar and humidity, and made my friends Emily and Lauren CHOP IT AL OFF for me. I was playing collegiate soccer at the time so I was so over my hair sticking to me and driving me crazy. So I had them cut it. It went down to my collar bones, so it was pretty dang short. I actually didn’t mind it in the short phase, especially in the heat, but once it was medium length I just wanted it to be long already. Now it’s down to the top of my butt. For years I have been actively trying to make it grow and my techniques have worked! I’m not an expert on the subject, but I definitely have some theories on what has worked for me so I’ll spill. NO HEAT!  Ok so it’s easier said than done I’m sure because I have naturally straight hair, but laying o...

Soooo Josh calls me crazy when I’m having a bad face day because he doesn't believe it's a thing. But come on, we’ve all been there. Like The Rolling Stones said, you can’t always get what you want. Which means that sometimes pimples, wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, redness, etc will rain on your parade from time to time. I’m not here to lie and say that those things aren’t noticeable at all, but I will say that if you nitpick like me and you see something on your own face, you probably notice it 1000 times more than anyone else does. And in all honesty, maybe we need to chill with our egos telling us that everyone is looking at our faces a hundred percent of the time? So these are tips to not necessarily fix your face in those days, but there are some tricks I have up my sleeve to make you FEEL better about it and manipulate your mind if you will. I'm all about mind over matter and tricking your brain into making you happier. KEEP NAILS TRIMMED So this one isn’t psych...