Listening, Reading, Watching, Wearing, Wanting

Listening - Mostly to Lady Gaga, because watching my boys dance around the living room to Telephone is somewhat hilarious.
Reading - Random sites found via StumbleUpon
Watching - Sesame Street. Obviously...
Wearing - Black leggings, denim skirt and a purple T.
Wanting - My boots to arrive. Purply goodness!

Spreading love and happiness, one post-it at a time...

If you don't already know about Operation Beautiful, you've missed out. It's a simple concept; spreading a little bit of love, and confidence, one post-it message at a time. As women we live in a world of unrealistic expectations, our magazines perpetuate the myth that natural beauty is best whilst photo-shopping images to create unnaturally "perfect" models. We are told that we can have our cake and eat it, but we must punish ourselves with brutal diet and exercise regimes to compensate for those extra cake-related calories. Heaven forbid we enjoy that cake, go back for seconds, and not give a rat's arse if that cake happens to make us a little thicker around our middles. Operation Beautiful does it's best to spread a little joy, to tell us that we are beautiful no matter what shape we are, we are worthy no matter what job we do, we are loved no matter what our relationship status. And that has got to be a worthy message.
It struck a particular chord with me as I discovered Operation Beautiful this summer whilst at camp. You can barely move but for teenage insecurities at camp. It's a diversity camp, and everyone is accepted and loved for you they are (it's corny, but amazingly it's true. It's an incredible place). But that doesn't change the fact that wherever there are teenagers, or people for that matter, there are going to be body issues, crises of confidence and all of the other crap that goes with a rapidly changing body, social world and a sea of hormones. So I took up the idea of Operation Beautiful and ran with it. And a pack of post-its... And you should too.

Stumbling through cyberspace, one click at a time.

Recently, I discovered StumbleUpon. OK, that's not entirely true. I was introduced to StumbleUpon some months ago by accident, borrowing a computer to quickly check my email and getting sidetracked by the task bar urging me to Stumble!. Anything which uses exclamation points is going to catch my attention, I'm just like that. So I clicked a couple of times and if I'm honest, wasn't hugely enamoured with any of the pages it threw up. But I was bored, as with most of my greatest discoveries, so I decided I would venture towards StumbleUpon with my own laptop. Once I'd realised you could select your own areas of interest it made sense as to why nothing on the borrowed computer had caught my attention; frankly video games and anomalies in the laws of physics aren't my cup of tea. But with my own settings; fashion, art, cult movies, photography, women's rights, history, equestrianism, rugby, heavy metal and crafting to name a few, suddenly StumbleUpon came alive to me. Granted, for every delight of a page it suggests there are just as many that receive nothing more than a confused expression before I merrily clicked on my way again. I've discovered new blogs, new online stores, new music, new games, new ideas to occupy my three-year-old... I shall sign off with an idea stolen from just one such website, found at NoGoodForMe.com, a brief snapshot of my existence right now - Listening, Reading, Watching, Wearing, Wanting - which I intend to finish every posting with.
Listening - Nothing at this moment, but thanks to the wonder of Pandora radio, I've been listening to a lot of folk metal and ska punk.
Reading - The London Hanged - Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century by Peter Linebaugh. Criminology + social history = happy me.
Watching - I've recently been obsessing over Criminal Minds. I can't help it!
Wearing - Skinny jeans from Primark (so shoot me), silver sparkly Chucks with pink laces, and my awesome Dungeon shirt from camp this summer.
Wanting - Not wanting, but needing my immigration stuff to be sorted. It's such a nightmare, all I want is to be able to live and work in the same country as my family...