3 Teenage Girls Blow Your Mind

     This is performance not to be missed. Youth Speaks is an organization with a vision:"Youth Speaks exists to shift the perceptions of youth by combating illiteracy, isolation, alienation, and silence, creating a global movement of brave new voices bringing the noise from the margins to the core." Founded in 1996 in San Francisco, Youth Speaks is empowering the next generation to talk about serious issues in society. They offer in school, after school, and online classes and resources. Their program has an international following and after watching this performance I hope we hear more from Youth Speaks. 

For more information about Youth Speaks, please visit the website (click here). 

Prepare to be blown away. 

This is an in your face piece that will not be forgotten. 

A Commercial for Empowerment

This is hands down the GREATEST commercial I have EVER seen!! 

The U.K. is leaps and bounds ahead of the U.S. and we need to catch up! Every women and teenage girl I know needs to see this video! Pass it on. 

I am right, huh? This is amazing!! Check out other great videos here and share with your friends and family. 

LOVE IT!!

Book Review: My Little Dish

Book Review:

My Little Dish 

The Story of Your Creation Through In Vitro Fertilization

     Recently I saw an announcement on Facebook from a friend about the publication of her first book.  Excitement for my friend rose as I explored her posted link to learn more about her book.  I knew immediately this was not just any book, this book was written from a special place in her heart. Author, Sari Dennis, the inspiring woman behind My Wellness Counts, shared a private part of herself in her book in hopes to reach out to other women and families who share in the miracle. Sari wrote My Little Dish: The Story of Your Creation Through In Vitro Fertilization, a charming story of how a beautiful baby came to be with the help of in vitro fertilization. 

     I have previously shared my own struggles with infertility due to PCOS. This endearing book touched my heart. The love and care Sari put into this book is captured in the beautiful story of how one little girl came to be. Sari makes it a point to generalize the process of in vitro fertilization in her story, encouraging parents to customize the story to their own experience. She includes pages for parents to write down the journey they experienced and to add the details of how their special baby came to be. 

     This book is more than just the story of how the baby came to be; it is also a teaching guide. Sari includes a glossary of terms to aid the explanation of the medical language. This special touch makes this book a beautiful family tool. As children grow and ask questions, this book grows with the child. The story can be told simplistically, and later, the story can be deeper and more personal as the child grows in maturity and ability to understand. 

     I highly recommend this book to people that has expanded their family using IVF.  This is a fabulous book, a guide with colorful illustrations to be personalized and treasured for years. Please visit Sari's website to obtain a copy of this book for yourself or for a friend or family member.  

Real Bodies. Naked Art.

Body Positive Artist Find!!

This piece is my favorite. I love her curves. 

I had to share these fantastic piece by Chris Sheridan, a brilliant artist. 

Take a look at his website and Facebook page . The real bodies captivate. 

 Beautiful.  

Vintage Fashion with Curves

Style is not a reward for just the skinny. 

Style is a tool to showcase our beautiful bodies. 

There is no size requirement to rock style and class. 

    

     As a lover of fashion and all things vintage I was stoked 

when I discovered The Curvy Elle Shop & Blog. 

     This addictive store targets "curvy" or plus sized (starts at size 12) women that have a love for vintage fashions. Meet Laurel, the woman behind the store and the blog. She is a twenty something gal living in the San Fransico Bay area who lives and breaths fashion. She spent time living in New York working as a fashion designer. Laurel loves fashion, vintage, and bringing style to women everywhere.

  
  I ask Laurel what inspired her to create "The Curvy Elle": 

     "What inspired me to start a plus size vintage store is that it was an idea I had for a very long time in my head, but I never knew if it would actually work. I kept seeing "regular size" vintage shops and blogs out there and loved the idea, but there really wasn't anything out there for plus size. Add to that, the fact that I wanted to work in fashion, but I wasn't happy working in the New York fashion industry for someone else. I also wanted a way to inspire other plus size women to empower their fashion and self worth. Ultimately, it was a multitude of reasons."
   
  Laurel is a young lady with a dream that she is determined to accomplish. She stood out to me when I read the following from her bio on her blog; "Working in an industry that is so focused on appearance, it has definitely made it extra hard for me being plus sized. It takes guts of steal and strong self worth to make it. It may sound cliche, but I really want to make a difference in such a superficial industry. I want to show that there is substance out there and a large market for the “Curvy” woman." A strong, empowered woman with a mission to help women rock their bodies with style...I like her!

     I look forward to her posts in my newsfeed. She regularly posts new finds. She specializes in sizes 12+.  She is a treasure hunter on behalf of curves everywhere! 

Find her on Facebook  for fashion finds, style ideas, and a boost of figure confidence. 

From One Bad Ass to Another

The Militant Baker  is a total bad ass babe.  She is a take no names, ball breaking, smash the scale body positive fighter. Her name is Jes and she is a woman on a mission - a freaking awesome in your face mission.

You might recognize her as the woman who took on Abercombie & Fitch back in May. She took a stand against what the CEO said regarding only wanting "the cool" people to wear his clothes.



She has been a Yahoo News headline story twice within the past few weeks.  She started an anti-bulling campaign that created a revolution.  She received over 800 entries, compiling them all on her website and Facebook page.

     Her in your face take no prisoners way of getting body positive messages into the main stream media is hard to miss.  She has been featured on CNN, TODAY, BBC, "People Magazine," "Time Magazine," "The Huffington Post," and more.  She is awesome and it is catching on.

Here is an small portion of a very meaningful blog she wrote called ""What the F*@K Does No Diet Talk Mean?":

"...what philosophy replaces the concept of always depriving your body in order to make it some false representation of health? It's called "Health at Every Size". It goes something like this:

"What is Health at Every Size?
1. Accepting and respecting the diversity of body shapes and sizes
2. Recognizing that health and well-being are multi-dimensional and that they include physical, social, spiritual, occupational. emotional, and intellectual aspects
3. Promoting all aspects of health and well-being for people of sizes
4. Promoting eating in a manner which balances individual nutrition needs, hunger, satiety, appetite, and pleasure
5. Promoting individually appropriate, enjoyable, life-enhancing physical activity, rather than exercise that is focused on a goal of weight loss"  Now, that just makes fucking sense, don't you think? "

I LOVE Jes. LOVE her message. I read her blog. I follow her Facebook page. I am a fan. Which is why when I posted my blog on her page as a total shot in the dark that she would look at it, I screamed and did a happy dance. 

Why? This happened....

Two things came from this moment.
1: A hero of mine complimented me. AWESOME.
2: The circle of empowered women is only getting bigger; the more we connect and support each others messages the more we will NOT be ignored.

So, yeah, I am one happy blogger.

Etsy Artist Discovery

Spot Light on Artist Lady at Large

My FAVORITE!! 

     I have made it a mission to find artists that celebrate a woman's figure.  The female form does not come in a standard one-size-fits-all mold. We are often subject to one body type, the subjective idea of what 'beauty' means.  As women, we are worthy to feel beautiful in the skin we are in, regardless of our size.  Like art, the human body is open to interpretation. What we find attractive, someone else may not. Neither feeling is wrong.  

     Being able to explore the talents of many amazing people from around the world has made Esty an addiction of mine.  On Etsy, I discovered Aubry Chapman,Lady at Large, an artist from Seattle, Washington who paints the female form with glorious curves.  Her use of bright colors enhances the smiling seductive faces and voluptuous curves of her female creations. 

     It is refreshing to see the voluptuous woman celebrated.  When I look at these works of art, I smile and realize that my own body is just as beautiful! Aubry writes on her Etsy page:

"This art is to celebrate the larger female form. Not to treat it as a joke but to show that fat women are as beautiful as their thinner sisters, despite what the media might try to tell us. 

As a fat girl myself I get sort of tired of FAT being thought of as a four letter word, when so clearly it has only three. ;)" 

     The acceptance of our bodies - the ability to take a stand for our freedom to be in our skin however we choose to - that is a beautiful thing.  Images of women larger than the models that walk the runway and grace the cover of magazines have raised my personal self esteem. They do not have to be my size to help me look in the mirror and see a beautiful woman. Self confidence is contagious. 

Aubry uses her art as a way to spread her message of body positivity. Taken directly from her Etsy website; 

Size Positivity is my artistic mission!

I am a fat girl! There I just took that word back, it's not a four letter word. I started creating my fat ladies because I was sick of being treated as a joke and humorous device. I think the female form is beautiful in all its forms and create art to that end. 

Creating these ladies is for myself as much as the people who buy and create a home for my art. 

Growing up in this society it's difficult to grow up unscathed by societal expectations of beauty and femininity. It can paralyze a person with self hatred, my goal is to show the beauty in all of us, and not just inner beauty but the superficial physical beauty too. Because truly we are all lovely just as we are every bit of us!

     Her art is as beautiful as the message she sends.  Follow her on Facebook, on Etsy, and her blog.  Her beautiful ladies will help you to feel better about your own body as well as add charm to your home.  

Everything Sounds Better with an Accent

 

Ladies, if you have never heard of Gok Wan, I am thrilled to be the first to introduce you!! He is adorable, British, and all about making women radiate self confidence.

"Fashion expert, award-winning TV presenter, author and all round national treasure, Gok Wan has taken the fashion and TV world by storm and has become one of the UK’s most sought-after entertainers.  He made his mark by giving women the confidence to appreciate their bodies, whatever their size and encouraged women whatever their shape and size to strip for the nation!"

     As women we are our own worst enemy. We judge our bodies harshly. Our inner monologues of “I hate this” and “I hate that” are devastating to our mental health.  It is time we take back our bodies and our minds. Regardless of your size you have every right to love yourself and be loved in return.  

     When I openly point out the flaws I see on my body, my husband looks at me like I am insane. He does not look at my body and judge it. He is not making mental notes of everything I should be fixing. Love does not see size. Did you see that? LOVE DOES NOT SEE SIZE!! So please love yourself!!!