INSIDE BEAUTY
Me at the Barbie Movie Posing for my Girls - Jazzercise Barbie, perhaps? 🤔
First of all… HAPPY LEAP DAY!
I’m not sure why I get so excited about a Leap Year, but meh, why not? Actually, perhaps I should be ticked off. It means an extra day of work. Booo…hissss…
Well, that was an interesting idea, pissed off at an extra day. But somehow, it just doesn’t stick. For some strange reason, I can’t be mad at a day that only comes around once every four years. I mean, it’s like that college friend that you absolutely love but only see once in a blue moon, right? They come around once every four years, you have dinner, go clubbing for old time’s sake, streak the lawn at UVA* (again for old time’s sake), get arrested* (for old time’s sake), and say goodbye for another four years. Yep. That’s what Leap Day is like. Haaaa… gotta love it.
* (The asterisk means I’ve never done this before… but… never say never)
Well… on to the reason for this blog…
This week, due to a wild dream I had in which a person in my dream had waaayy too much plastic surgery, I’ve been thinking about beauty… as ladies do from time to time. Anywho, I don’t wear a ton of makeup, due more to my absolute laziness than anything else, but when I do; it tends to be fairly natural looking. In fact, there are times that I’m not wearing makeup, and my kids think I am… makes me wonder why I try. 🤔 So in thinking about beauty this week, I decided to go without makeup for the ENTIRE WEEK! Nuts, I know. But… no one at work has said anything. (Again, why do I try… shit’s expensive.)
Well, since no one has seemed to notice, I have decided to extend my no-makeup week into the first full week of March. I will say it has saved me time in the morning; I’m twenty minutes early to work. I make my lunch in the morning rather than the night before, so that’s cool. However, I really want to go back to it, the makeup that is. So, I’ve been trying to figure out what my idea of beauty is really. And to be honest, I’ve found I don’t really have one.
Hear me out. I tend to have ideas of things that I don’t find particularly beautiful, but they tend to be things we do to ourselves and not the things we had at birth. Don’t get me wrong, if you need braces, get braces. I’m talking more about body altering stuff (including makeup that makes you look like someone else). I find the natural beautiful. Older people with graying hair, gapped teeth, weird cowlicks… laugh lines especially. These aren’t flaws to me unless you’re a mean person. Quirks are special. Diversity is beautiful. If we all have the same eyes, same boobs, same butts… what’s the point? I don’t look at other women and say, dang I want my butt to look like hers. I like my jiggle booty…. which is changing because of the Stairmaster, so I will learn to love my new “not-so-jiggly-anymore” booty. But to each their own, I suppose.
I went people watching the other day and seriously, there are so many colors, smiles, quirks. I love it! And before you go saying, “Oh, Nkrumah, would you date an ugly dude?” Seriously? I’m not even sure what that means! I mean, I’ve dated some people, broken up with them, and was then like, “What the hell did I see in them?” But… that’s after a breakup. I don’t go out with people based on their looks. Make me laugh… you’ve got my attention. Be kind (not just to me but to everyone) … you’ve peaked my interest. Listen to me… you’ve drawn me in. Be supportive… it’s a wrap. This doesn’t guarantee you a date, but it gets you into my circle… and that’s the first step.
Now, do I see crazy “hot” people where I’m like, “DAMN!” Hell yeah! But I don’t tend to date those people unless they’re quirky. Come to think of it, I’ve only dated one person where my friends and family were awestruck, and that person, though conventionally attractive, was not (in my mind) the hottest person I’ve dated… too quirky in a weird way. I like smart quicky. A bit nerdy? No problem!
Hmmm… personally I think this blog has run a bit long for no reason. Everyone has their own thoughts on beauty, and these are mine. Barbie is not someone I would emulate without a funny reason, I’m too busy being me… makeup, no makeup, pink hair, dark brown hair, short, long, whatever. "It is an old axiom, and well said, that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Thank you, Margaret Wolfe Hungerford for that bit of truth. For me personally, beauty is in your personality. If the shell is shiny, you might catch my eye but lose my interest with ill behavior. If your behavior garners my interest, my eyes will find you the most beautiful person in the world. So, perhaps… for me, Graham from “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” said it best: “I remember reading somewhere …. that women become more and more attracted to the person that they love.” Gotta love James Spader!
“Stop trying to fit in when you were born to stand out!” — Ru Paul
