Knowledge for my Daughter

No we are not preggo :) But I've had a lot on my mind lately about what it means to be a woman. And I have a little rant saved up that I decided to share. A dear friend asked me this past week what I thought my greatest life lesson has been thus far. I'm surprised it didn't take me long to answer but I knew immediately what my lesson was. I answered that it was to not waste life being self conscious about the way I looked or who I was. I kind of cringe when I think of how self conscious I was in High School and in College. And for what?! A total waste of energy. Once I accepted myself, including all of my faults, I really started to enjoy life, I fell in love, and I figured out what I really want to do. I honestly attribute ALL of that to confidence. Now don't get me wrong, I am far from thinking I am perfect. I am a FAR cry from gracing the "hottest 30 people under 30" list or Forbes "most successful people". But I realized that I celebrated other people's differences, loved diversity and found other cultures deliciously fabulous without celebrating my OWN differences, diversity and cultural influences. Sounds stupid written out doesn't it?

I have to say that I think I learned this lesson from other women. My friends are inherently much better people than I am. I'm not sure why they hang out with me sometimes other than the fact that I am filled with wonderful knowledge on the following topics: reality tv, plastic surgery, bras & who's dating who in Hollywood. All very useful things, obviously. ..

So I will continually pray that if I do have a daughter she will be blessed with friends like mine. Strong, independent women who are beautiful and funny and happy with themselves. Who say fantastic things like "why do women say they are waiting for their white knight on a horse to come rescue them? Go buy your own damn horse and take yourself where you want to be" (this is an actual quote from my beloved friend whom I will not name because I did not ask permission to type it here)

One thing I want to make sure is clear, I LOVE MEN and my husband makes my life 100x better. He is pretty much the bomb.com and I never want to ever be without him. Not because I COULDN'T be but because I don't WANT to be without him. HOWEVER I know that my ability to be a good wife, homemaker and eventually a mother is enhanced a million fold by my happiness within and with myself. And that we have to love and support each other as women.

To polish off this post I want to include a few hilarious quotes from Tina Fey's book "Bossypants" because I seriously <3 her and she is a fantastic example of the above attributes and also of advocating women support each other. Because I am telling you, the less we tear each other down, the less room anyone else has to tear us down as well.

“Obviously, as an adult I realize this girl-on-girl sabotage is the third worst kind of female behavior, right behind saying "like" all the time and leaving your baby in a dumpster.”

 

“But I think the first real change in women’s body image came when JLo turned it butt-style. That was the first time that having a large-scale situation in the back was part of mainstream American beauty. Girls wanted butts now. Men were free to admit that they had always enjoyed them. And then, what felt like moments later, boom—Beyoncé brought the leg meat. A back porch and thick muscular legs were now widely admired. And from that day forward, women embraced their diversity and realized that all shapes and sizes are beautiful. Ah ha ha. No. I’m totally messing with you. All Beyonce and JLo have done is add to the laundry list of attributes women must have to qualify as beautiful. Now every girl is expected to have Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama, and doll tits. The person closest to actually achieving this look is Kim Kardashian, who, as we know, was made by Russian scientists to sabotage our athletes.”

 

xoxo

9/11/2001

I cannot believe it has been 10 years since 9/11/2001. I can still remember exactly where I was, as I'm sure everyone does. I was a sophomore in high school and I was getting ready for early morning seminary, which is a before-school program my church has for youth in high school. I was listening to the radio as I did every morning on 106.1 with Jackie and Bender. (Who I cannot believe are still the early morning hosts for the Seattle station) When they made the announcement I really didn't understand the significance. I was doing my makeup at my vanity set when they cut to a broadcast by CNN. As realization sunk in that it was an actual terrorist attack I ran into my parent's bathroom where my Mom was doing her makeup and I said "MOM a plane just crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City and they think it was an attack on our country" I'm not sure why I remember that exact sentence but my Mom started expressing concern and flipping her radio to hear the newscast.

I went to Seminary and then to school a bit stunned. I was naive and young and confused. Wars didn't happen or start in my generation. That was supposed to be something that only my Grandparents lived through. In every class we did a little work and then ended up watching the news. Kids with family in New York were pulled out early and my girl friends and I stuck together that whole day. We had plans that night to go to the Puyallup Fair and decided to still go. We had fun that night. We rode rides, took the picture on the oversized chair that they put on a button for you, played games and saw friends. I'm glad we still went. I was so confused and shocked that it took my mind off the crisis a bit and at the same time made me so thankful for my friends and for my family. I think everyone felt an overwhelming sensation of love for each other. To this day I'm proud of how the country pulled together. I will never forget the sight of so many American Flags hung high on houses and buildings.

Now I'm not so naive or confused. I almost wish I still was. There's a lot of sadness that resulted in this attack. But I truly feel that the message of love and supporting each other is the thing that rises above. And the thing I pray we all continue to take from what happened. I'm so blessed to live in this great country. I love it so much and I love my fellow man. I can never express the gratitude that I feel for our armed forces. Because I live in freedom with my beautiful family, perfect husband and fantastic friends. I am blessed.


xoxo

Happy Birthday Preston

My handsome husband had his birthday on August 30th. I would tell you how old he turned but he's hilarious about birthdays and has celebrated his 25th for the last few years...

To kick off his celebration week we went with his family to ride the Alpine Coaster. My beautiful sister in law Brenda and my brother in law Adam also have their birthdays the same week as Preston so it was fun to all get together for one big party. I had never been on the coaster before and I LOVED it. They let Preston and I ride together (insert joke about my height here) which made it more fun because our weight made the car go super fast.

Credit for this outing go to Preston's parents. They are so good at getting the family together. I love how often we get to hang out with family.

The birthday boys

Divine cake from Market Street

The lovely birthday girl

It was such a great night followed by some mini-golf. I didn't win but I didn't loose either (obviously my score was totally accurate. I never kicked it in or took do-overs....never)

On Preston's actual birthday I surprised him on my lunch break with an embarrassing display of balloons and cookies for his office. IT IS HARD to hide things from someone when you live with them. I had to bake and cool the cookies the day before while he was at work so I could stash them in containers in my car. His gifts were put in our guest room and I forbade him to enter. I don't know how I'll ever hide Christmas items. I made his favorite dinner and had gifts and a card for him. I wish I took a picture of it because I made it all look very festive (good job me).

To finish up the week I took him to the annual Brazilian festival in Salt Lake City. This is the only picture I took. He's enjoying one of his favorite Brazilian foods. Which I found delicious. It's a fried ball of shredded chicken goodness. Preston loves Brazil and it was fun for me to have him show me his favorite things he ate there and for us to watch the dancers and performers.

We had a fantastic week together. I love birthdays so it was fun for me to plan it all. Preston is such a gem. Never did I ever think I would get so lucky! Happy birthday to my amazing husband.

xoxo