International Woman's Day

In honor of today, I would like to honor my mother. She inspires me to be considerate of others, she inspires me to stand up for myself and others, she inspires me to be me, who I really am inside.

My mom and me.

My mom and her mom.

I appreciate you mom, and I appreciate all the women who have inspired me throughout my few years so far.

This post was written for the One Wee Voice International Women's Day campaign. If you're a blogger and would like to share your wee voice by celebrating a woman in your life, then link up below.

I love hair!

I love doing hair! I've always had a knack for it that I developed throughout Academy by doing other girls' hair for banquets (what we called dances). I would hurry and try and get myself ready first and then do as many other girls' hair as I could fit in before it was time to go. Living in a dorm made it easy for me to just shuffle all the girls' into my dorm room with their curling irons and various tools and then assign them tasks to help me out while working on one's hair at a time. Pretty funny, actually.

Anyway, I've always done my own hair for special occasions. My future sister in law (at the time) noticed my talent and asked me to do her hair. She seemed pretty happy with the result, so I think it was a success. Here's some pictures:

I thought it looked especially nice on the sides. :)

It framed her face nicely as well.

So, of course, I decided to do my own hair for my wedding. I think it took me about 3 hours to get ready for my wedding, including a quick shower, but I think I did a pretty bang up job, not to mention it saved money and the inconvenience of having to bring someone in to do it. My sister got some good pictures of how my hair looked right before the wedding:

I loved how the fresh orchids really showed off my hair as well. There's nothing like a little bit of nature to really make something look special.

Now all I've got to figure out is when I'll have another occasion to really go all out. Perhaps for the cruise coming up this summer? Lots of formal dinners there . . . should be fun!

I love this trend . . .

In reading other mommy blogs, I've noticed a trend that I think is wonderful. The true celebration of pregnancy and childbirth. The subjects are no longer closed to young minds, women have a ton more choices about each, people document the processes of each with no shame, the sexuality inherently involved in each is no longer so buried, even people take pictures of babies crowning, women have home births in front of mirrors, fathers are there in the water helping birth a baby, fathers are the primary masseuses and couches during childbirth, women can have births how THEY want to, not how doctors feel they should, women can talk about both subjects without it being "taboo".

We come from a very repressed society, where women gave birth without their husbands present, where sex was something not discussed or talked about, where childbirth was seen as simply "dirty" or "messy", where both biological processes were not discussed and frequently swept under the rug.

I love how people now hire photographers or videographers to document the entire birth process, the wonderfulness of it, the blood and pain and all. We're finally being honest as a society about the realities of this process in many people's lives and we are no longer afraid of it.

I'm so glad I'm witness to this change in thought and society. I'm one of those women who likes to be able to talk about things, question tradition, explore new ideas and methods. I don't like being boxed in or told not to do something because it's just "not something we talk about". I'm going to be one of those mothers who demands a mirror when my babies crown, I'm going to want to try waterbirth, I'm going to want a photographer to document pregnancy and childbirth (yes I will probably have pictures of the actual birthing in a photo album for each child that I may have), I might even have nude pictures taken of me at 9 months pregnant someday, and above all, I'm going to do it how I want to do it for conception, pregnancy, childbirth, and child raising, teenage raising, and then befriending my kids! So there! :P

All of it is such a special experience, none of should be diminished by gainsayers/doctors/others.

Keep it up society, keep expanding those horizons!

This little guy's smile kills me . . .

I'm reading a blog about a mommy who is smart, intelligent, practical, she's into biology, what could be better?

Only one thing, her little boy's smile. If he's gonna smile, it's gonna be alllll the way! None of this half-hearted business. In short, it kills me . . .

Check him out:  http://jollyjansen.blogspot.com/

Shouldn't we all be more like that. If we're gonna smile, let's mean it!

Love and a very big genuine smile to my loyal readers! :D

10 things . . .

Yes, it is that time again, time for another survey.

10 things you most likely don't know about me:

1.  I'm notorious for killing houseplants
2.  Anything to do with touching eyeballs makes me sick to my stomach. Yes, those of you who use contacts, it grosses me out, sorry but true.
3.  I have not taken down my Christmas Decs, and probably never will. (Until we move out that is . . .)
4.  I used to hate the color red, now I love it!
5.  I have not been out of the apartment for 48 hours, unless you count the balcony, which you probably don't.
6.  I go usually a couple months between doing my toenails (yes, sometimes I go that long before I clip them! Terrible, I know)
7.  All of my worst nightmares have either been about money or numbers. (No, I do not hate or love math)
8.  I sleep 9-10 hours a day, and sometimes take a nap to boot.
9.  I swear in my head when I get really mad. : o
10.I wish that I could get a Phd and birth babies in France, then come back here to live.

There, some of you know this already, since you are related to me, but for the rest, hope you feel enlightened. ;)

Great blog advertisment :P

One of my friends from college is going into law school and has pretty much self-educated himself in so many areas. He's probably one of the more brilliant students to ever have come out of WWU.

Anyway, he's very interesting in gov. and politics, obviously, and has started a blog about his ideas and research. The latest blog post really hit home for me. We Americans are allowing the top richest 10% of our nation not only to rule our government, but to allow them to keep giving themselves tax cuts and excusing them from any real fiscal responbility or payback during a time of economic crisis. Instead, they suggest that the working class pay for our debts single-handedingly by destroying programs that help us and cutting our wages instead. I have no problem with doing my small part to close the deficit, but the key word here is INSTEAD of them doing ANYTHING, those who are most able to do something refuse to admit that they need to help as well and that in all reality, they are the ones who could help the most.

Anyway, I encourage all my readers to have a look at his blog. The post before the most recent one is important to read as well.

http://livinglightlyupontheearth.blogspot.com/2011/02/haves-are-winning-part-4.html?spref=fb

On a more likely than not interesting note . . .

Last night we had a helicopter flying directly over our complex for half an hour starting at 10:30pm. We also saw a few police cars while we driving into the complex. We had an interesting time speculating what crime had been committed and watching the helicopter.

It seems every time the in-laws come over, something criminal happens in the neighborhood. :P The first time they came, we heard gun shots during the night that sounded at least as close all the apartment complex next door. It's just a funny coincidence and makes me wonder what will happen when they next come for our interest and entertainment.

We were told later that it was probably a chase that either ended by catching the criminal or they escaped.

Needless to say, once we can afford an upgrade, we'll try and find a less disconcerting neighborhood, but until then, we will be eternally grateful to live in the only gated complex in the area. :P