I love Starbucks, especially Pumpkin Spice Lattes. My favorite store is Victoria's Secret and I live in my UGG boots and leggings. I listen to Taylor Swift eighty times a day and regularly quote "Mean Girls" and "Gossip Girl". I identify with a "Sex And The City" character (where are my fellow Charlottes at?). I took a Cosmo quiz to see which "SATC" lady I am most like, and it's one of my favorite magazines. I drink wine as much as Olivia Pope (#goals) does. Pinterest is my bae, I love crafting, scented candles, makeup, yoga, Zumba, shopping, pizza, brunch, mimosas, margaritas, Instagram, watching "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" and "The Bachelor", and a whole lot of things that dub me as "basic". To make it even better, I am currently typing this article drinking a Pumpkin Spice Latte and wearing an oversized sweater, leggings, and riding boots I got on sale at Charlotte Russe for $20. Yep, pretty basic. And I'm damn proud of it.

I used to take it as an insult since it is often meant to be an insult, suggesting that I'm a shallow conformist. People seem to be surprised when the girl in yoga pants, and UGG boots carrying a Starbucks cup is able to make a point in class as if my clothing choices dictate my intelligence. It's pretty judgemental if you ask me, because I am a hell of a lot more than my outfit and you giggling at me for my outfit choice says nothing about me and an awful lot about you.

Yeah, a lot of the things I like tend to be on the popular side and I also tend to like girly things, but like everyone else, I'm also an individual. I'm a total history nerd, I'm working on a novel about a young woman I feel has been lost in history and am determined to make her life story known instead of sweeping her under the rug. I work as a hockey writer, I know the sport like the back of my own hand and am determined to leave my mark on the sport through my writing. I have a close and personal relationship with God that came from being raised in a Catholic family as well as years of adversity through anxiety. I am incredibly close with my family for countless reasons because I believe that they, along with God, are my greatest strength in this life. These are the things that make me an individual and I bet you can't figure any of that out from my outfit unless I'm wearing a Blackhawks jersey, you get a free pass then.

And that is my point, so many things make us all our individual selves. Some girls, like myself, tend to like things on the popular side, they're popular because so many people like them! You can pass it off as me being superficial all I want but I own my basic b*tch status because if I own it, you can't use it against me. Plus, there is no shame in liking "basic things."

On a closing note, the wise and wonderful Lauren Conrad once said, "I probably am pretty basic, but I am also a really happy person, so that's okay with me." Never forget that because at the end of the day it's your happiness that matters most.