Working with a body painter was new for me, and my goodness it was fun!  This gorgeous woman decided to surprise her man with this beautiful body painting.  He loves comic books, and when he came home from work one day, he found Wonder Woman in his own home!  Lisa with Paint Savvy did an awesome job helping this lovely lady transform into a comic book hero.

Need some positivity in your life right now?  Look no further… here’s to you, lady!

* Oh John Legend, you know how to make a woman feel lovely!!

* “A Woman’s Kids Expose What She Really Looks Like and Her Reaction…”

I love this so much.  A woman writes about how her kids took a picture of her laying on the beach with her cellphone, without her knowing it.  She found the picture later and was so mad and mortified.  I know this feeling, when you see an image taken of yourself that you weren’t prepared for, you didn’t know it was being taken of you.  When she asked her kids who took it, her son responded that “You looked so beautiful laying there Mom.  I couldn’t help it.  Seriously, look how pretty you look?”  I love how this Mom’s reaction changes…

* “EMBRACE” The Documentary

Taryn Brumfitt is the founder of the The Body Image Movement.  She talks about how she was close to having plastic surgery after giving birth to three kids, but decided against it in order to send a different message to her daughter.  Taryn is raising money to film the EMBRACE Documentary, looking and how much women truly hate their bodies and what we can do to live happily with our bodies.  The trailer is powerful and I think many women can relate to it (I know I did).  Taryn talks about how she even trained for and entered her self into a bodybuilding competition and after all of that work, she had the “perfect body” but she still felt the same way about herself.  I know it’s all about the mind and what we let in and how we let ourselves talk to ourselves.  I wish for better for me, and I wish for better for you.

(these images were all taken at the boudoir workshop I attended with Last Forty Percent)

 There is strength in owning your beauty.  To stand up a say “I am a wife!  I am a mother!  I am a business owner!  I am ME!  I am owning all of who I am and I am beautiful because of it all”

This gorgeous woman also shared this about her boudoir shoot:

“Shooting with Ashley was sooooo liberating! I was one who never thought I would ‘do such a thing’, but her tasteful eye and handiwork totally changed my perception of how beauty can be captured. My husband was totally surprised and I’d definitely seize the opportunity to work with Ashley again! I have absolutely no regrets!!!”

With there being so many negative, hurtful voices towards women in the world, I want to create a little space where I take time to put positive light in your world.  I want to remind you (and me!) that we are unique and wonderful and awesome just how we are.  “Here’s to you, Lady!”, will be a reoccurring post where I search for all the best resources (fun/serious/musical/artistic/statistic/etc) online that celebrate who you are and remind you that you can love yourself.   It is also worth noting that it doesn’t hurt for men to check out those posts as well – you are awesome too, and you can share these with women in your world.  It takes the whole village adopting these ideas of self love and body positive messages for them to take hold in our minds.

So, Here’s to you, Lady!

* Colbie Caillat’s “Try” Music Video

Have you seen it?  It’s going viral right now.  I love that so many “celebrity” women are speaking out about the ways they know that the music and movie industries are putting false standards out in the world for women.  You can read more about why Colbie Caillat decided to do this video in her interview with Elle magazine.

* Brave Girls Club

It is on my life bucket list to some day attend Brave Girls Camp, put on by the Brave Girls Club.  I am so inspired by what these women do!  The founders of BGC create different ways for other women to creatively soul search, express themselves and find power within themselves to tackle huge issues in their worlds and their every day lives.  They create space for women to process creatively through artistic expression.  You can go to their camp for this experience, or you can sign up for these experiences online, for you to participate in at home.  One of my favorite things that BGC offers are these super wonderful daily emails called “A Little Bird Told Me”.  I have been so encouraged by these emails from someone who doesn’t know me, but sometimes sounds like they are speaking directly to me.  There is an adult version you can sign up for and a girls/teens version as well.  I always love seeing these emails in my inbox.

* Carol Rossetti Gives Women Permission to be YOU

“Carol Rossetti is a Brazilian designer who posts empowering and quirky illustrations of women to Facebook. These are the kind of images that not only promote positive body image, but also protest the world’s attempts to control women’s bodies and behavior. ” (Source for quote here) This is what I love about where we are in the women’s movement.  There is becoming space at the table for women to be who they are, even if that means they are so different from the woman next to them.  This is also viral right now, and for good reason.  We know deep down that we are alright being us, but isn’t it interesting that we still need people giving us permission and affirming that it’s ok for us to feel this way?  

(above illustrations by Carol Rossetti)