Today is National Wear Your Lilly Day and to celebrate, they brought back some of their most iconic prints from the past, in modern styles for you now. It’s a special way to celebrate the first day of summer! Lilly Pulitzer prints are like a sister- for life- so I thought today was only fitting to include my sister in today’s blog post.

I’ve loved this summer since she has been out of school because I’m able to see her more and that’s why she’s been in more photos as of late. Today we are sharing 5 things of our favorite things about one another just to kind of give you a peek at our relationship a bit more.

5 Of My Favorite Things About Kirsten

• I love that my sister feels so fulfilled helping other people. While I think we all love helping in any way that we can, it’s such a beautiful thing to watch another person truly feel emotionally fed by not focusing on themselves. On any given day, she’ll be running errands for a friend, stop by my house to bring Maxi and me dinner, and then be volunteering for someone after work. Her coworkers tell me that they have to force her to take a lunch break because she is truly THAT person that would rather be helping another person on their tasks. It’s such a powerful sign that she loves Jesus and a personality trait I always hope inspires myself as well as my daughter.
• Kirsten doesn’t get embarrassed. I know that probably seems like such an interesting thing to say that I love about her, but it’s so refreshing. She doesn’t get hung up on silly things and honestly, I wish I was more like that. After group dinners, if we are driving home together, I’ll run through everything I said. I always beat myself up over things and over think and assume others interpret what I say differently. I can get hung up on the most ridiculous things. But my sister never gets hung up on anything, nor does she get embarrassed. She’s filled with the most humble confidence I’ve ever known another person to have. She doesn’t think she’s always right. She doesn’t assume she always says the right things. She just knows that at the end of the day it doesn’t matter. She knows her heart and she’s confident in her intentions, so she reminds me daily that it doesn’t matter if I get flustered or feel silly taking an outfit shot downtown. It’s life and it’s too short to worry about little things.
• My sister is the ultimate hype girl. You know your friend that will always uplift you, comment something sweet on social media, and tell you that you CAN do something? That’s my sister. She’s just that friend x 100. I can say, “Oh gosh, I don’t think this shoot I did looks good.” And she’ll have a high-school coach session with me and pump me up in 5 minutes. She doesn’t tell you what you want to hear- trust me, she prides herself on being extremely honest. Sometimes I’m a Sensitive Sally over it. 😉 But she knows that we as humans need to be given positive enforcements by our community, and she does it wholeheartedly. She doesn’t just say, “Oh yeah, that looks great.” and go about her day. She stops what she is doing and truly uplifts her friends.
• In a stressful situation, she’s so resourceful! When something really stressful happens, I need a good 5 minutes to have a minor freak out. I’ll think of the worst-case scenario, stress out, take a breather with products like some CBG Flower, and then I can get a game plan. My sister thinks clearly, figures out what to do, and does it in the most resourceful way. I’ll share a non-stressful example just to give you an idea of how she operates. Two weekends ago our family was at a graduation party for a family friend. Our babysitter was at the house and she texted me we ran out of something for Maxi. We were about 45 minutes away from the house, so I’m looking at Paul and my mom and asking if we should leave to go bring it to the sitter. In the time it took me to discuss it, my sister just went ahead and Favored what we needed to our house and texted my babysitter outside of our text and said it would be to the house in 20 minutes. She’s just cool, calm, and collected and doesn’t waste time talking about a situation. That’s how she acts in everyday situations, so when it comes to something stressful, I always want her by my side!
• This sounds cliché, but she’s got the best heart. She never assumes anything negative about others. She can always see another person’s perspective, no matter how much it affects her. I hope Maxi takes after her in every way!

5 Of My Favorite Things About Katey

• Katey is the enneagram 1w2 to my enneagram 2w1, so we have the most perfect and well-balanced relationship. It took me growing up and maturing to realize how truly thankful I am to have a sister that strengthens my weaknesses and vice versa. She is always there to teach me the hard things that I may think aren’t as important, but I then learn she is right. She pushes me to be the best version of myself at all times and that is something I have come to love and appreciate so much about our relationship.
• I love Katey’s Golden Retriever type of personality. I grew up always knowing I had someone rooting for me and fighting for me, and that was Katey. She is the one I can call at 2 am if I am anxious about something in particular or if I am just having any form of drama. She is someone who loves her people well and is loyal to a fault. She has never let me down and always keeps her word, which is something that is rare to find in someone.
• I love how she will always be my best friend. In high school, I was someone who tried to be friends with, most literally, everyone. I didn’t come to realize it then, but I prioritized friends over my family at times. By the time I graduated and moved onto college, I realized that friends may come and go, but my family is who will be there forever by my side. I realized that my sister will never leave my side and no matter if we have petty arguments, we love each other harder than anyone else. I love that I have Katey as my built-in best friend because I do not know what I would do if I continually lived for the approval of friends in my life. A sister like Katey’s love is unconditional and always present at the end of a hard day, and I am so thankful for that.
• I love and admire Katey’s work ethic and it is something that has impacted my life and the way I work in school and jobs. She inspires everyone around her, but especially me. I pray I can be as hardworking as her one day all while loving my family as well as she does. I look up to her more than I could ever explain and I pray every day she goes to bed knowing that she truly lives her life to the fullest, serving God and her family first always. She spends every second of her day focusing on other people. She gets up at 5 to always answer e-mails and help the online community that she loves. She is a selfless mother all day and then in any free moment she has, she’s doing something for a friend. I’ll come over all the time since I live by them, and she’s always writing a card or mailing something to a reader just because. She talks the talk and walks the walk of loving her blog readers and it’s incredible to see.
• I love how type A she is, haha. I am being completely serious when I say this because I know God fully knew what He was doing when He made Katey and me sisters. She is the one who reminds me to do absolutely everything. I’ll come over and she’s making me dinner, sending me with leftovers, telling me she made me a hair appointment, and so much more. She can do more detailed things in an hour than I do in a week. My mom raised us to love each other deeply and serve each other well, and I am so grateful for that because Katey grew up constantly working to serve my mom and help her with me because we were so far apart in age. This allowed Katey to always be my second mom in a way, but with a big sister heart. Her big sister heart and type-A nature is most literally the glue that holds me together.

Because we have a larger age gap, I get asked quite often online how we are so close. And I have to thank my mom for that! My mom went through a lot of miscarriages to have my sister, and I kept begging her for a little sister. While I was aware from a young age how much of a privilege it is to have a sibling, and not a right, my mom also raised us to be this way. She didn’t allow bickering, she didn’t allow non-loving words. Do we have spats now?! Of course. But they CAN’T be in front of my mom. 😉 She would ground us even though I’m a mother myself. ha. No, but in all seriousness, my mother did such a wonderful job teaching us that the most important best friend relationship we have is each other and I’m so grateful she did that. My sister is truly my very best friend and her life is such a gift to me.

Have a wonderful first day of summer!