About Me

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I'm happy, married, and looking forward to sharing my world with you! If you're interested, that is!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Free Hugs in Sondrio, Italy



If only we had people doing this all over the world! It would be a better place!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Look at yourself after watching this...

Please take 4 minutes and 11 seconds from your busy holiday week and watch this video.  This man has touched my heart.  I will never forget him and I'm posting this video here so that I'll always be able to go back and hear him say, "Every single girl right here, right now, I want you to know that you are beautiful.  You are gorgeous just the way you are.  And you boys?  You da man!"

THIS is the lesson I hope all young women can learn, and it's a lesson I hope all young men can learn.

You/we are all beautiful.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

On Being a Woman...

I'm not a feminist.  That's the last word I would use to describe myself. 

I think it's because I just automatically and unconsciously (until I really think about it) put a negative connotation on the word "feminism."

And I'm wrong to do that, I know.  I'm where I am today, in my life, in my career, in the world, because a lot of women stood up for themselves, their mothers and aunts and grandparents, and for their unborn children and younger sisters and cousins, stood up and shouted, "We're not going to take it anymore!" 

We vote.  We work.  We own homes.  We have valued opinions.  Sure, a feminist can be still be stereotyped to be a bra-burner, a political rant, an in-your-face, gruff sort of woman always fighting the men even when she doesn't need to, but of course, not all of them are...  It's a stereotype that needs to be tossed.

But I do think sometimes that many women DO still fight a battle that has been raging for generations, whether we know it or not.  And I ran across this blog post today on The Wild and Wily Ways of a Brunette Bombshell.  I don't know the author of the blog, and I never saw the article she's reposting, but man, did it strike a chord with me today.

There are some women I know who are living this every day.  And I probably encourage them to fight back a bit more than I should:  after all, I'm not living in their shoes.  I should really support them any way I can, and not tell them, "You should fight back!"

I'm lucky to be married to my husband, a man who respects me, my abilities, my brains, my heart, who believes in me, believes that I can do anything I put my mind to even when I'm doubting myself.

The women mentioned in this article (original author is Yahsar Ali) do exist, even today, in 2012, after all we women went through in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and on...  They're still living with those sly little comments that do nothing but demean them, even - and I do truly believe this - even when the men in their lives don't realize what they're doing! 

We've learned, women, now let's teach the men in our lives to cut this $&*# out!!!  Be sure to teach your sons and nephews and husbands and brothers NOT to make comments like "You're overreacting!  You're so sensitive!  Get a grip:  I was just kidding!"

Bottom line, guys?  If you have to say that after we react to whatever it is you just said?  IT WAS A STUPID THING TO SAY AND YOU SHOULD HAVE NEVER SAID IT!!!

Friday, December 02, 2011

Oh, Thank Goodness!!!

from Shelf Awareness, Friday, December 2, 2011, Volume 2, Issue 1617


Future of Print Books: 'You’ll Be Neck Deep in Them'


"Will the e-book kill off the print book? Every time I hear that question, I think about the 'paperless office.' Back in the '80s, the rise of word processors and e-mail convinced a lot of people that paper would vanish. Why print anything when you could simply squirt documents around electronically?

"We all know how that turned out.... When you make something easier to do, people do more of it. Now that every office worker has access to a computer and a printer, every office worker can design and distribute elaborate multicolor birthday flyers and spiral-bound presentations.
" 'Print-on-demand' publishing is about to do the same thing to books. It'll keep them alive--by allowing them to be much weirder.... So don’t worry about the fate of print books. Heck, you'll be neck deep in them."

--Clive Thompson in Wired