Living Curvatude: The week that was...

Thank the stars for my twitter stream and my cameras or I would truly forget what I have done sometimes because I am so on the go some days..

This Living Curvatude is a compilation of the past week. I have decided that I will not force myself to post id daily and will switch up the format from daily, to weekend, to weekly to whatever.

I like blogging to be fun and not have it feel like a drudgery...and setting or rather trying to force myself to do things when I don't want to, never works.

Anyway, the week that was...

I started Monday off working at a clients office, which happens to be a restaurant and one of the staff brought my lunch to me and put the sweetest little flower in a shot glass and it made my morning..

Just another reminder of how the smallest gesture can have a huge impact..

Just so sweet..

That night I got to do something that I hadn't done in about a year. I went to a Full Moon Drum and Fire Jam

This is almost like a modern day hippie event...and I love it.

The fire dancers are just so cool...I think I want to learn how to do that!





And my friend brought her drum and I pretended that I knew what I was doing with it...NOT! LOL!

I uploaded a couple of other videos to my youtube channel.



Tuesday started off very slowly. I ate something that my body refused to house Monday night and I stayed in all day Tuesday relaxing in bed and the bath reading mags, drinking chai and trying to recover.

That evening I made my way to Tuesdays on the Terrace at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

It was a beautiful night and the music was great. The only downside was that they ran out of most of the food that was supposed to be available for purchase.

This is especially baffling considering they have a restaurant on site but when I asked why, one of the employees replied "its the chef"...whatever that means...but after the event, I ended up at Water Tower noshing on wheat edaname baos from Wow Bao...and slurping on a chai from the bucks.




Wednesday was spent mainly grinding during the early hours but that evening I went to one of the Project Runway Season 8 Happy Hour 'n a Half parties that was held at Beauty Bar.

Check out the details of my evening there...here.

I ended up staying at Dex's that night and got up late Thursday and was starving so before heading home I dropped into Dunkin Donuts for an egg white veggie sandwich and some ice tea..ahhh...{speaking of DD did you see the picture that I posted from one of their locations? it's sadly hilarious!}

Anyway, the buses were moving slow and there were way too many people out, so I ended up being crazy late for my meeting at the bucks with Danielle of Danaya Designs4U.

She was such a sweetheart and waited for me and even gave me a impromptu interview.

I love supporting local artists and she is pretty new to the business of jewelry making but she is very actively getting the word out about her business while also helping others.. {more on this in the post coming up about her}

Anyway, I purchased a couple of things from her. Including a pair of earrings that I adored.

Oh and I wore my cool necklace from Uga Beads...i so love it.



It was a warm day so I H20'd up and after our meeting I made my way downtown to complete some work for a project.

While down there, I swooped into Trader Joe's to grab a few things {that Tejava iced tea is divine!!}

Oh and I went to Lane Bryant to pick up the bra that they had ordered for me.

A post about it and the boy shorts that I purchased is coming soon.

I was supposed to attend a couple of events that night, one being the Social Media Club of Chicago shebang at Uncle Fatty's but as I was getting dressed I somehow hurt my back!

It was just so out of the blue. I bent down to get something and a spasm to beat all spasms seized the side of my body, lower back and hip!

I could barely move. So, once again I found myself in the bath soaking trying to work it out.

OUCH!

Friday, this was the tweet that essentially set the tone for my day.





My poor doggie somehow ended up in the same shape that I was in Monday night and I spent hours watching over him and cleaning up the yuck!

It was so gross, but more than that I was just hoping that it did not turn into something really big because taking my dog to the vet is not only expensive but the biggest pain in the ass possible because he HATES being there and barks and barks and barks...

So, I had to blow my client off but on the bright side, I got a few blog posts up and some other work done at the flat.

Today I barely left the bed.

Gonna cap the night off soaking more so that I am in good shape for tomorrow because I am going white water rafting and to say that I am excited would be an understatement.

I have never done it and so its like a major bucket list thing for me and I am geeked to check it off the list!

Marissa Jaret Winokur Getting her Talk and Blonde On

I love this sexy curve hugging red dress that Marissa Jaret Winokur is rocking.

She wore it while out promoting the new daytime talk show, {creatively titled The Talk} that she will be arm chairing with a bunch of other ladies.

And note the huge change in her hair!

She has gone from brown and curly to pow wow straight blonde and it actually looks really good on her.

As for the show, people are already slamming it as a The View wanna-be and only time will tell but she seems really excited about it.

Apparently, Yes It Was Really Necessary

Ok....she tweeted and inserted her proverbial foot in her mouth BUT was it really that big of a thing?

In case you are not aware, there is a Lane Bryant issue live and in full tweet color on twitter and around the fatosphere regarding a tweet posted that took offense with a t-shirt that Definatalie has in her online shop.

The marketing powers that be at Lane Bryant have taken to their Inside Curve blog to try to address the matter.

The tweeter, who's name is apparently Heather, saw a statement on the shirt that gave her pause..

it reads...“Does my fat arse look fat in this?”

And while I wouldn't have given it a second thought, because I see it as a hands on hip, kiss my grits kinda statement, I can see why she might have taken offense to it.

The problem of course is, that Heather was not aware of who Definatalie is. She is a fatavist.

And unfortunately for Lane Bryant, they haven't gotten to a place where they realize that they need to connect with more than the cool kids who blog just about the cute clothes that they wear but that they need to be aware of ALL of the dynamics that make up their customer base.

I have said for years that I have a love/hate relationship with Lane Bryant.

I appreciate that they have been in the game almost solo at times but after so many years, it's been disappointing at times that that they don't truly seem to get the position that they have always been in.

For one, I have never understood why they have not been in every city meeting/connecting with their customers over the years.

Why they let the cries and complaints go mainly unanswered for years. So there is a lot of frustration there {exhibited in some of the relentless comments on Inside Curve}.

And while I will give them their points for the headway that they have made in recent years, they still have a way to go and this "altercation" has served to throw the deer in the headlights!

I just hope that Lane Bryant will use this moment to not only appease but to grow and as Definatalie also suggested, get to know their customers and all of our complexities, needs and issues.

Asos: Fall in Love!

The fedex man recently dropped seven new bundles of hautness from Asos Curve on my doorstep!

I love them and I will share them here soon but I was just on the site and as always they have me all giddy.

I am just loving the fabulous fall perfect colors and curves loving styles.

I love this color and of course anything that tapers at the waist makes me happy!
Cinch..Cinch..The mesh insert with the dots adds a nice touch also.




This color albeit a very soft lime, just reads fall to me.

I can totally see myself wearing it with tights and knee length boots.

And I love that it is not a balloony shift as some tend to be and the bell sleeves speak to the girl in me that loves flowy pieces.



I love grey and I just wont fight it anymore...not that I really have anyway but this dress has so many elements that I love and that work really well on my body.

The waist cinching once again and the curve hugging pencil skirt along with the v-neck make this a wardrobe must have.



And who doesn't want to feel like a rocker girl every now and then?

This mesh/jersey number does the trick nicely. Not too little and not too much.





Like I said...Lovin it!

And don't forget that the clearance sale is still in full swing with some great options still available and more appear to be added regularly.

Project Runway Season 8 Happy Hour 'n a Half Recap

Last night I did a quick drop in on the Project Runway Season 8 Happy Hour 'n a Half party at Beauty Bar and met some fun folks and got banged up by the "signature drink" of the night.

It was a "Dirty Blonde" and the B was potent!

Woo...

Of course tonight is the big night,{have you checked out the designers?}!

And some of their portfolios are sick!

So I am sure there will be plenty of designing and drama, plus crazy tweetin galore.

Oh and Beauty Bar is a cool little spot and I need to return and get in on their $10 Martini/Manicure deal.

Anyway, here are some pics.

The Curvy Girl's Guide to Style Book Giveaway Winner

Sorry that I am late posting this but here ya go!

The winner of The Curvy Girl's Guide to Style book is: Tatia Toney.

Please email me your mailing address!

Also, there is another giveaway in the works so stay tuned!

Project Runway Season 8 Happy Hour 'n a Half

It's time for Season 8 of our favorite design show.

Tonight the folks behind the show are holding special events that they are calling Happy Hour 'n a Half at eight fabulous bars located in New York, Philly, Chicago and L.A.!

There will be "Project Runway"--inspired cocktails (the first one's on them), raffles, giveaways and 90 minutes of fashion fun.

The first 100 guests receive a "Runway" goodie bag filled with some show swag.

No R.S.V.P. required.

Find out all the details about the happy hour in your city here.

There are two events taking place here in Chicago.

I will be attending the party at Beauty Bar for sure because its a hop skip and jump from my flat and I may be able to stop in at Y-bar to cap the night off.

So, if you are coming out...Look For ME!

Living Curvatude...The Weekend

I don't know what I was thinking when I took on this project.

I guess I thought it would be really easy to take two things that I love, filling each day with as much as possible and taking pictures of such and posting it here daily on the blog.

Sounded simple enough.

Day 1, last Thursday went smoothly, although I didn't really give much commentary on the day other than short captions on the flickr photos.

But I realized that flickr is not my preferred method for housing the pictures...I don't want folks to have to work to see them. I hate when I have to do that on websites.

So, I didn't post over the weekend because I wanted to find a better way to display the pics.

I spent time searching and checking out how other blogs do it and finally just came to the realization THIS MORNING that I need to keep it simple and just use picasa...for now.

Anyway...it's a crazy long post...but here's my weekend...

Friday was a great kick off to the weekend..

I worked a bit then hit up the bucks for my chai fix and a little redeye reading...{read that Chicago has made some list of most angriest cities}...

Anyway, I grabbed one of my favorite magazines, Living etc, hopped on the train and headed off to Rosemont to watch the Chicago Sky take on the New York Liberty...

And just as I was getting off the bus in front of the stadium, the sky, the real one, not the team ;-) broke open and it poured...

I was early and my friend had not arrived with the tickets, and as my good luck would have it, there was a target across the street so i ran to it...

They have already started loading up on the back to school promos and i came across some cute jewelry like this coral piece.

I purchased this cute silver clutch {which is almost the same color as my bedroom wall} for $9. I also got a belt on major clearance. Luckily my friend arrived or I would have left there with way more than two items.

LOL!

I love that we have a ladies professional basketball team and we had fab seats right behind the team, but I gotta tell ya, they make me crazy....every game that I have gone to has been frustrating at one point or another...

The kid and I are going to one of their games in a couple of weeks, I am hoping for a better outcome than the one this night.

But I digress... and thankfully the nachos and margarita helped ease my pain...

They had a bunch of Zumba instructors and students there who performed as a part of the half time festivities and it really looks fun....i need to sign up to take a class or two.

Anyway, they lost and I made my way home, jumping over and around huge puddles of water everywhere...I walked the beast and crashed...

Saturday started off extra fun...

I took a sushi 101 class and had a ball...

Because I went alone, I ended up getting paired with these two girls who just so happened to have brought a bottle of champagne with them!

Can you say...YEAH?!!

Love my life!

So there we were, 11 am, in class, wrapping sushi rolls, laughing, drinking champagne and being silly.

The instructor called us the rowdy bunch at one point and I corrected her and told her that we were not rowdy... we were the fun bunch!



After the class, I went home got a shower, slathered on some of my essentials, did a quick wardrobe change and headed out to see Danessa Myricks who was in town on a promo tour for Kiss New York.

If you do not know who Danessa is, you need to rectify that situation ASAP!

Last fall the Artist Summit was my introduction to her and her amazing artistry when I got to sit in on her Eye Focus seminar {see that post here}.

Well it turned out that her event was canceled due to the floods that we had in certain parts of the Chicagoland area but she couldn't get the word out in time!

So there I was, all the way out in the burbs after having had to go thru major public transportation woes, that were also flood related and no Danessa.

I made my way back to the train station and saw a bus that was headed to one of my favorite malls that I rarely ever get out to and decided that since I was already there, I might as well make the most of it.

I step on the bus and this is what I see.

The driver said that she got caught in some of the flood water and her bus took on a lot of it. What you see in the picture, while a bit shocking is apparently nothing in comparison to what was there right after the incident.

Anyway, it was pretty much just the two of us for the duration of the ride. Here are some of the scenes we came upon. And as hard as she tried to avoid it by taking alternate routes, we still ended up on flooded streets.



But what really brought the depth of the situation home for me was when we came upon a car that was sitting in the middle of the street and we were told it was "the only one of the ones that had floated over here that no one has come to collect"

0_0!

I was like WOW!

But eventually we made it to Oakbrook Mall and I spent a little time in Macys, found a bucks in barnes and noble, picked up the latest People Stylewatch, checked out some Coach purses, etc.

I didn't stay long because I was not sure what time the buses would stop running and I did not want to get stranded out there.

To get home, I ended up going a different route and came upon the most fantastic pinkish/purple sky.

I also ventured into a Salvation Army store that I have always wanted to check out and UGH!...the guy said that they were closing in 5 minutes but he didn't have to worry about any protests from me...they had no air conditioning and it smelled like death in there.

Uh, checking that one off the list.

Sunday began verrryyy early...

I had to get up before 6am to ship the kid off to cadet leadership camp..

I took advantage of being out so early and got some hot cakes from McDonalds...

YES!

It's the little things...

With the kid safely in her CWO's hands, I decided to take a walk because it was so gorgeous and quiet out.

On the walk, I came across this atm that someone had ripped apart...and of course I had to make a bucks run before heading back to my place to take a little nap.

Next up I had to meet Rai of Swai-Rai to shoot a PSA for her new venture, The Bleeding Heart Project.

I was able to secure us a beautiful location, the Northside Bar & Grill for the filming and I can not wait to see the finished project.



After the shoot, I made my way to the Randolph Street Market. I have been trying to get there literally for years and just never quite made it until now... and I loved it.

I like to fancy myself a collector of things and there were plenty of things there to collect from new to old to trashy to treasures.

I wasn't there a good 5 minutes and I had my wallet out and even had to go to the mobile atm because I didn't have much cash on me.

Note to self: Next time I go to a market, leave all debit/credit cards at home and only take the amount of cash that you budget to spend!

I didn't get too crazy but I did pick up a few things, including a great dress and purse that I will tell ya more about in another post.

I got myself a lone fish taco from Caoba with my last four bucks, after spending hours there shopping and at least an hour hanging with my girl Kelley Moseley of K-Fleye.

Oh and if you are not familiar with her work, you need to do yourself a favor and get familiar with it. {Here are a couple of posts where I am wearing her designs}.

I left there, went home and took a nap so that I could make it through the last event of my day, which to attend a performance by Lianna Carrerra.

She is silly and has a very unique comedic style, fueled by her being the christian lesbian daughter of a baptist minister.

Lianne's set was about an hour, which was perfect because at that point of my day all I wanted to do was have a drink and a bite to eat, so we headed off to the Northside Bar & Grill again.

Dinner and laughs with the girls and then I called it a night..

Woo...as I tweeted...

Living Curvatude

today is the first installment of Living Curvatude.

take a peek inside my yesterday...via pictures..

Moments

there are those moments in life..

you know the ones that to you are casual and almost uneventful..

that can become something so much more..and have a lasting effect.

it thrills me to know that me just being me has had a profound effect on someone else in a very positive manner and i wanted to share it here on the blog.

one of my twitter peepettes @freeyourheart wrote a blog post about a twitter conversation that we had.

she had asked me how do i keep going and doing so much and i told her what i always say...i love it...it fuels me...

and low and behold yesterday she wrote this great blog post about how what was just a simple statement in my mind "almost haunted" her.

spend some time on her blog... she really writes from the heart and opens herself up...

and keep in mind the potential of your most simplest actions...

Checking in..

Just wanted to take a moment and write a little about what I have been up to.

Yesterday I finally went to see Inception. I just love Leonardo DiCaprio. Every since Titanic he has just been high on my actors I love list.

But Dex did mention something that rang true. While they were about totally different stories, Inception and Shutter Island were a lot alike.

They both had a lot to do with "altered states" as it were and in both there were times when he or rather his characters exhibited behavior that was a little "off".

So, while I enjoyed both movies, I am ready to see him in a romantic role again. I mean I have seen Titanic at least 100 times mainly because of the love story it portrays more than anything else because actually the thought of lost ships kinda freaks me out.

Anytime I see them on tv or whatever they just make me feel uneasy. I think its because I always think and wonder about the people who died on them.

Like if you die on a boat that sinks, does your soul just forever float?

Are spirits floating around in the waters?

Crazy? Yes.

Oh well.

Anyway, I also finally saw The Karate Kid and Iron Man 2 over the weekend.

I thought Jaden Smith did a wonderful job and he's such a little cutie pie.

And "my husband" Robert Downey Jr was fab in Iron Man 2 of course.

And tomorrow I am actually going to see another movie for a project that I participate in now and then.

But all this movie going aside, what I really wanted to share with you is a new feature that I am bringing to the blog, called "Living Curvatude"

Essentially it will be a series of photos from my day that I will post on the blog.

I figure as much as I love taking pictures, its a no brainer so keep your eye out for it, starting tomorrow.

Oh and I am taking a Sushi 101 class on Saturday...that should be fun. I love sushi and have always wanted to make it at home. The class is 90 minutes long, so I am hoping to really learn a lot!

Lastly in more important news, Raijean of Swa Rai has started a really great project called the Bleeding Heart Project.

The goal of the Project is 'Educating the world about Heart Disease, one heart at a time..'

This is a cause near and dear to my heart, so I definitely want to support it and hope that you will also.

Check it out and "like" it on facebook!

Book Giveaway: The Curvy Girl's Guide to Style

On the tail end of Full Figure Fashion Week ™ I ventured out to Brooklyn to get my shop on at Re/Dress NYC.

Speaking of which, if you missed it, check out my interview with Deb, the owner from last year.

Anyway, while there, I ran into Chasity Garner of The Curvy Girl's Guide to Style blog.

She recently released her first book under the same name, so she was there to sign copies and chat up style.

The poor thing said that she was exhausted and couldn't wait to get home but she was out there working hard on her book tour!

Of course I had to show my support and purchased the book.

The Curvy Girl's Guide to Style is written in a very cute "girlfriend tone" and provides some great tips on how to dress the body that you have.

I noted a few weeks ago that I was going to give this away on my facebook page so, here ya go.

To be entered to win, just leave a comment on the Facebook status update for this blog post.

Fine Print: One winner will be chosen at random for the giveaway. The giveaway ends 7/26/10 @ 11:59 pm CST and is open to folks in the US only.

The Plus Size, Full Figured, Curvy Results Are In

I am posting a 2013 version of this poll in Jan. 

Stay tuned and I hope that you will add your thoughts!

A while ago after an email exchange with a rep at one of the fashion companies, who was concerned about using the phrase "Plus Size" for their companies offerings for women "our size", I created a poll to gauge what WE prefer to be called and the results are very interesting.

• 46% voted for the word "Curvy"
• 22% voted for the phrase "Plus Size"
• 18% voted for "Other" of the nine who voted in this category, 8 said that they call themselves "Fat"
• 10% voted for the word "Full Figured"
• 4% voted for the word "Large"

Personally I call myself Plus Size.

Why?

Because I have just owned the phrase for myself for years now.

My old blog was called The Plus Size Diva, so for me the phrase Plus Size has always been this really positive description that I applied to myself.

It described my body AND my life!

Big Beautiful, Fabulous, PLUS SIZE!

I never let the media or those who have taken the words and turned them into something ugly or malicious change or effect my "affection" for the phrase

Now as for the word Curvy, I am not really surprised that it came in first place but I did not expect it to be so far ahead of Plus Size.

I say that I am not surprised that it was a favorite, because I know that the word has a more positive reputation than almost any other word that could describe a woman.

When people here the word curvy, they think of sexy womanliness, you know like Kim Kardashian or Beyonce or J Lo.

I loved the girls that owned the word Fat too because I believe that there is power in taking words normally negatively associated  and owning them.

Viva la Fat Girls!

I was a little surprised that 10% chose Full Figured, simply for no other reason than its just so blah to me.

But I would love to hear your feedback on this.

(Note there were really great comments on this post from a variety of women but they didn't survive my switching over to the disqus commenting system...boo)

They Say Black Don't Crack... But it Can Burn!

I am a big fan of using products to protect my skin from the harsh effects of the sun and I have been for years now.

If you follow me on twitter, then you know I tweet about it from time to time and so what happened to me recently is like the last thing that I would ever expect to experience.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Chicago Pride Parade.

It started out as a rainy, dreary looking day. Not a lick of sun in sight.

But having attended many a Pride Parade and knowing that it always ends up being a scorcher no matter how dreary the day may start out, I packed a brand new can, of my SPF drug of choice, Neutrogena® Fresh Cooling Body Mist Sunblock.

And somehow by the time I got there it got punctured in my purse and leaked out and initially I didn't think much of it.

I was glad that my purse was black and leather so it wasn't ruined but my sunglasses were totally zapped.

The film started peeling off, so I was left without sunglasses and SPF.

But as Pride luck would have it, the sun came blazing out...and while me and J may look extra cute in this picture, we were dying!

It was SOOOOOO Blazin HOOOOTTT!

Fast forward a few days and I am looking in the mirror and WTH... my forehead is peeling!

This freaks me out because this never, ever happens to me and because I was just now noticing it.

Well that last part doesn't freak me out because believe it or not I am not a mirror girl.

I rarely look in it unless I am applying makeup which in the summer is not high on my list because I just end up a sweaty mess anyway, but I digress....

My poor forehead..

And then I looked at the rest of me...I was obviously a couple of shades darker than normal and I had tan lines from my backpack and the bra straps but my forehead!

REALLY?!

Then I realized that my shoulders and upper arms were also peeling.

Not a pretty sight. {I had taken a bunch of pictures of myself showing just how not pretty this was but managed to delete them off my camera!!! sucks!}

So folks, don't think cuz you got the melanin gift that you are protected from the sun. I was trying to do the right thing and a freak accident in my purse between the can and the prongs of my Blackberry charger blew that and it took just a few hours of standing around in the sun to damage my skin.

And while I did not end up with the blisters that the poor Cubicle Chick ended up with take this PSA to heart and WEAR YOUR SUNBLOCK..burning and peeling aint cute! Not to mention the skin cancer risk!

Learn more about sunburn here

Curvatude in the Stores: Forever 21

Here is the latest in the Curvatude in the Stores series where I spend a little time in the stores trying on various pieces and offering my thoughts.

Here are some of the pieces from my latest excursion to Forever 21 to check out their Faith 21 line.

They had some really cute pieces in store, very bright and colorful and fun styles.

But and this is a very big but, the quality problem with the Faith 21 line as a whole continues.

From a distance you don't even notice all the loose threads on this dress but upon further inspection, they were everywhere.

I was going to try on a chambray dress but the strap was broken, I thought that I had taken a picture of it but I may have mistakenly deleted it off my camera.

Also, while I realize that I am not their target market, some of these dresses are just way too short for me.

I loved the print and style of this slip dress. It was also very well lined and the quality was actually pretty good but I am not into wearing dresses that make me feel like tugging at them all day to make sure that my goodies aren't exposed.

Same thing for this dress although I really loved the funky stripes and the cinching belt.

This last piece, although it was missing a button, is the only one I actually ended up buying.

I really liked it on and knew it would be perfect for an upcoming outing AND it came with a spare button, so while that missing button gave me pause, I am happy that I purchased it and wore it without incident!

All in all, I think the line is way better than it was when they first dropped it, especially the variety of the offerings BUT they really need to address the quality issue and the length of their dresses.

Will The Real Women Please Stand Up

I am so bored with seeing all of these little petty comments, etc all over the web about the usage of the words "real women".

I mean really!

Obviously if you are made of flesh and blood you are real.

Every time you see a bit about a magazine or a designer giving women who are larger than their standard models a little play in their space, you see over and over comments like "its so nice to see real women" and for whatever reason that is always followed by a slew of whining of 'well I am not plus size but I am real....blah blah blah..."

Call me naive, but I would hope that these grown "real women" have enough sense to interpret what the usage of the words mean a lot of the times when they accompany these pieces. And not always respond to it as a personal affront.

But on the flip side of that, the women who are always putting it out there, need to check themselves too because you know a lot of times you use it as a jab.

You know, a chance to stick it to the skinnies for once. A chance to turn that "hate" around.

I will never understand why women feel a need to do this.

This does not increase your value.

Don't we have it hard enough with the bull that society as a whole tries to put on us?

Recently Starre Vartan wrote a piece on the Huffington Post titled "On Objecting to Plus-Size Women Being Labeled as "Real".

Vartan raises very valid points about how basically this language has become a device to divide women {as if we needed more}.

I appreciate the article because it speaks to my point.

Which is "why do women feel like they need to put other woman or a group of women down when we should be celebrating all of us."

And I said celebrating NOT accepting.

Because honestly, your acceptance is not required.

I mean why do we feel a need to have a say about some other persons body in the first place?

When Jennifer Hudson came out with her new compliments of Weight Watcher's body, there were/are women who actually were/are not happy for her.

As if this woman deciding for herself that losing weight has some bearing on them. As if plus size women as a whole had just suffered a loss.

As if she was a validating figure for us and now that she is smaller, we are not as worthy.

When Erica Watson started working out, she seemed to spend more time apologizing for wanting to lose weight than just doing the damn thing because she wants to..FOR HERSELF!

This flabbergasts me!

I mean really!

What gives?

Do we allow people to have this much say in our own lives so we think its ok to do this to other people?

If plus size women would really stand up and stop letting others perceptions and rules define us, we wouldn't have a need for all of this "real women" mess.

I get that it is born out of feeling that society treats plus size women as less.

That the whole "fat hate" movement has put us on the defensive.

I get that. Really I do.

But you don't change hate with hate.

I don't really get that into the debate because other's don't define me so I don't feel a need to debate something that is in my mind not up for debate.

I don't give a damn what you think of my size.

This is my life.

I am very comfortable with myself and honestly, I think I am the shiznit, so there is no way that some folks that I don't even know can make me feel any differently.

And even if I knew you, the only difference would be that I get to put you in your place personally.

But ranting and raving on the internet at ignorance?

Saying things that potentially make other people feel like less?

Naw...

Because that does not make me any better than the people who have so much to say about me and "my kind"

And besides that, I value my time way too much for that.

One of the reasons I started this blog, besides having a place to share a lot of the fun things that I do, was to show that you can be plus size and happy and not feel a need to live by anybody's rules but your own.

And that's what I do.

And I would encourage all of you to do so.

And that includes allowing other people to do the same.

And not feeling a need to downplay anyone else.

The last thing that should be on our minds is what someone else looks like, what someone else weighs, if someone else decides to lose weight or gain weight.

Hell there is just too much "real life" to live to waste on this silliness.