Linky Love

Things You Should Read on the Internet!!

You guys, the internets are full of awesome. I mean, they are also full of strange and horrible things… but I tend to believe the awesome outweighs the lack of awesome.

It is almost Friday. We’ve been sick around here, cranky around here, depressed around here, and down right BLAH! It has been a hard week, for realz.

But.

There are still amazing things to be enjoyed! Here is a list of things I found thought provoking, hilarious, and inspiring this week. Seriously, read these things…they. are.awesome.

Bryson Moore is like the white Morgan Freeman… all wise and shit.

Schmutzie simultaneously makes me believe in love and then get all stabby about being vulnerable about love.

Heidi ponders work/life balance and opens her heart to her readers.

Kristen Howerton sums up my Facebook rant about homelessness and A&F

Postpartum Progress talks about hope and anxiety and basically reads my mind.

Liz from Six Year Itch comes correct (AGAIN!) about the Mother’s Day Shooting in Louisiana.

If you haven’t met Princess Monster Truck I can’t be your friend!

Filed Under: Blog, Blogging About Life, Linky Love Tagged With: authenticity, badass bloggers, linky love, Stuff we LOVE!, the internet is full of awesome

International Women’s Day Is About Raising Boys

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Huzzah! International Women’s Day. What are we celebrating? All things vagina! Woohoo!… which as it turns out are INTERNAL. I know we call the “down there area” vagina, but it isn’t. Your goods, va jay jay, lady garden, tender flower, and all other euphemism (ad nauseum) is called VULVA. IF there is one day to get this right, it is today, International Women’s Day.

Which brings me to why International Women’s Day, for me, is *actually* about raising my sons. “Yeah, yeah yeah,” you think, “yet ANOTHER day that is supposed to be about women, and here we are talking phallus.” Well. IF you are a MOTHER of a SON sit down and lets have a chat.

International Women’s Day, of course, is a day for me to reflect on motherhood, womanhood, the women who helped raise me, and what my life is like with my lady plumbing. It is ALSO about me raising my sons, because they can grown up shaped by the world OR by me to be several different kinds of men.

They could grow up to be the kind of men who ignore the rights of women and attempt to legislate women’s bodies.

They could grow up to be the kind of men who call women whores based on their desire to be responsible for their bodies.

They could grow up to be the kind of men who say it was the woman’s fault. She was dressed in a short skirt. She was basically asking for it.

They could grow up saying that unwanted pregnancies of ANY kind are good lessons to teach women that what they are doing (read: HAVING SEX) is wrong.

They could grow up to be the kind of man who is convinced that a woman doesn’t have a whole sense of self apart from her “spiritual leader”.

They could grow up be the kind of man who hates women so much, who is so buried in misogyny, that even another man who could be portrayed as “feminine” elicits violent responses.

SO on International Women’s Day I am embracing one of the most POWERFUL positions I have as a woman. I am a mother to BOYS who will grow up to be MEN. I am exercising my power to teach my sons, Isaiah and Tobias, to be feminists.

I vow to teach them that women are beautiful and complicated PEOPLE who have the same power and ability as men. I vow to teach my sons that they are in charge of their bodies, thoughts, and actions as women should have the right to be in charge of their bodies, thoughts, and actions. I vow to teach Isaiah and Tobias that “feminine” and “masculine” is a wide range of things and are all acceptable definitions. I will teach my sons about what a vulva is, where the clitoris is, and why making love is more important than making porn. I vow to edify my sons and help them understand that their masculinity or femininity (because YES men have femininity in them as well) is not defined by the stereotypes and gross exaggerations, but are as unique as the finger prints on the people who bear them.. There are no “girl colors” or “boy colors”. These, dear boy, are just colors. We all have equal rights to them. I vow to teach them to be respectful and honest husbands and partners who know how to say “I’m sorry.”

I will teach my sons that love is love. People are people. NO matter what.

And.

Grace and Love (love for everyone) are the most important things.

I am raising sons to be men, and it is the most feminist expression of power that I have ever exercised.

Happy International Women’s Day!

Filed Under: Blog, Blogging About Life, Linky Love, MommyBlog, Relationships Tagged With: Equality, feminist, International Women's Day, Isaiah, Love, Marriage, Tobias, women

Christina Brown, Rachel Roy, and All Kinds of Awesome

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One thing I love about blogs is the power of the giveaway. I know some people hate it, but I don’t. I think it helps bloggers connect with their readers… and please people, EVERYONE loves to win stuff.

This week I won two things from blogs that I love to read. One of those things was here. My favorite, Christina Brown, LoveBrownSugar.com, had an awesome Rachel Roy giveaway and I won!

So what else is a girl to than to have a photo shoot. Duh.

If you want to keep up with Christina (um, yes you do!) follow her on Twitter or Like her Facebook fan page. MOST OF ALL, put in your order for LoveBrownSugar x LiSi, Christina’s new line of polish.

Christina’s new line of polish! GO ahead, girl.

Homegirl is doing big thing and keepin’ us all fresh by raising the bar in style.

Filed Under: Linky Love, Photo Tagged With: Jasmine, Love, Stuff we LOVE!

Bike Safety Starter Kit with Healthy Families

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Some of my best childhood memories are memories of me riding my bike. I had one of those huge banana seat bikes. The seat was pink and me and my brother took clothes pins and placed game cards to our spokes. We’d ride around for hours, the click-click-click of our wheels and those playing cards reverberating down the street. Then, of course, we didn’t wear helmets or any kind of safety gear. I remember standing up on my pedals with my legs clinched straight in position going down a hill. The inertia and speed took over as I let go of the handle bars and spread my arms open wide.

I was flying.

I finally learned to wear a helmet when I was 26 years old. I was one of those “cool” people who thought helmets were dumb. I had enough childhood memories of being perfectly safe on my bicycle that I never considered what risk I might have been taking not wearing bicycle safety gear. My husband, of course, made it a point to show me bike wreck footage of people not wearing protective gear. So then I decided I liked my brain and should maybe be a better example to my kids.

Flash forward to motherhood and I feel a little more inclined to force my child to wear a helmet. We emphasize the importance of always wearing a helmet and the proper safety gear when our kids are being physically active. I am a lot less “free range” than my mom was, but I don’t think that is what matters.

I don’t know what has changed about the world, but my heart races when my kid lets go of the handle bars.

What matters is that I am able to pass on a love of activity and fun movement to my child. Exercise is so important and, as I have learned, exercise and safety go hand in hand.

When I had kids I made sure that family activity was something we were going to make a part of our lives..

Not everyone knows how to pass on that gift, though, and for those families having resources to help them figure out how to get their young families active is so important. Healthy Families is one such resource! Do you know who they are? They are the ones who hand out the Happy Birthday Baby Book in Arkansas and areas of Tennessee. Now you can find their resources online at their site, HealthyFamiliesNow.net, and they’ve expanded their database.

Just in time for the Holiday Season, Healthy Families is giving away a Bicycle Safety Starter kit on this here blog. Check out the Rafflecopter giveaway below and enter to win this awesome safety kit for a kiddo you know this holiday season… OH! And get out move!

For more information on Healthy Families and their resources check out www.HealthyFamiliesNow.net!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: Blogging About Life, Linky Love Tagged With: giveaway, Healthy Living, Memories