So I bought a crop top and high-waisted jean shorts. I'm sorry. (For future outings, methinks that crop top will be planted firmly underneath a pair of overalls, but hey, every once in awhile you've got to let out your inner Miley.)
If you're going to snoop, snoop like a pro. (10 Mistakes To Avoid When You're Crashing With Friends, via Refinery29.)
Perfect white button-down at a GREAT price (it's from the junior's department, though, so size up.)
This weekend was an interesting one, in light of what I talked about last week - the kinds of things we should be weighed on besides our weight. When I stuck this tattoo on my arm before spending the day running (and crawling, and swimming) through the mud I felt a little silly - because "strong" that's isn't necessarily a word I'd readily ascribe to myself...but at the end of the day, strong is exactly what I felt.
And it felt good.
It felt good because I surprised myself...but it felt even better because my children were there, watching. As young as Goldie is, it's a big deal to me to know that she got to see her mom be nervous, and then do the scary thing anyway. It's a big deal to me that she's living in a world full of women who run and jump and climb for no other reason than because they can. And I know it made an impact on Indy, seeing me and hundreds of other women - women of all ages and all sizes - pulling each other up and cheering each other on.
Lately, my son asks me, over and over, "What are the reasons why you love me?"
I tell him he is kind. I tell him that he cares about people. I tell him that he makes me laugh, that he is smart, that he is a wonderful singer. I tell him that I love him - value him - for so many reasons that I couldn't possibly count them all if you gave me a million years.
My daughter's not old enough to ask me this question, but she will be soon. And when she does, I will tell her all the reasons why she is special, why she is worthy not just of love, but of everything. I want her to feel proud of the books that she reads, of the dreams that she has, of the uncountable things that make her so remarkably her, and I want her to know that not a single one of these reasons has a thing in the world to do with the size of her thighs, or the circumference of her waist. Because I know from experience - from the years that I spent with worries about my body taking up space in my head that could have (and should have) been used for dreaming and exploring and imagining what could be - how hard it is as a woman to remember what people should really be weighing you on.
I somehow went ahead and lost all of Goldie's bathing suits over the course of our cross-country adventure, but that's okay, because this exists.
Just picked up this book for my son, and it's kind of awesome - we do a couple of pages every afternoon, and he gets a sticker when he completes them, and I think I'm having as much fun with it as he is.
Going somewhere nautical-ish in the next little while? This dress is adorable and under $30.
