flat out. hands down. hottest flickr stream i've seen all week.
i don't know about you, but i like me a strong girl. {and i take that back. i know about you. and you like you a strong girl, too.} a girl who rocks her strengths and giggles away her weaknesses. a girl who's less romance novel and more children's book: easy-to-read with a fresh discovery every single time, the closer you look, and you'd never want to leave home without her. it just wouldn't be nearly as fun.
like ten minutes till bedtime. with a naughty twist.
anyway. i've been thinking about girls a lot lately. specifically, mine. lillie and grae...man, i worry about those two. i wonder how they're adjusting to life in the states. i wonder if, like me, they feel a wee bit homeless. homesick. or any kind of sad, really.
they're a smidge shocked at their classmates, i think. the girls, in particular, are pretty mtv-advanced. mobiles and boys and texts and boys. my girlies have really only attended british schools before this, where the emphasis was not on appearance or popularity...just brains and athletic ability and fun quotient and staying the hell away from toughie secondary girls that could possibly do some serious damage during first break, lillie!
they looked so cute this morning. grae was wearing hot pink polka-dotted leggings with yoga shorts and a skull tee and a black hoodie and uggs. lill's outfit was similar, but she always throws in something preppie...today it was a kelly green cardi and leopard ballet flats.
i told them they had style. and they both beamed. just beamed.
but what i really wanted to tell them was stay. this. way. please stay this way, my babies. please stay shiny and strong and psyched to own opinions that mean something and dress for yourself and not for anyone else and for god's sake certainly not to impress anyone and entertain yourself better than anyone else can and remember to keep trying new no matter how frightening because new means different and different is daring and...most importantly...be on the lookout for other girls who are trying to be all or some or any of that.
smile at those girls. tell them well done. and mean it.
uncle sugar always teases us about this girl power vibe of ours. especially when we beg him to kill a deadly and aggro giant insect on the ceiling. otherwise known as a mosquito.
why don't you kill it with your girl power? he asks.
but being a strong girl means giggling away our weaknesses. so we giggle. he kills. and as we watch him with no small amount of glee, this grown gruff man balancing unsuccessfully but oh-so-prettily on a tiny toothbrushing stool, wielding his crossword puzzle club mightily at the offending quarter-ounce offender...
we're sorry. we can't help but giggle harder.
i don't remember where i first saw fine tuning's photos. i only remember that i was mesmerized. it was for sure a blog i read this morning. tell me if it was yours.
15 comments:
Absolutely awesome post. Your girls are very lucky!
also - grae's outfit sounds amazing!
Ha! I bet those outfits were great...reminds me a bit of Betsey Johnson in my mind's eye. I think it's the description of green cardi, leopard ballet flats and polka dots.
Oh god....Karey. You break my heart....in a good way of course. But, I feel what you are saying so strongly with every ounce of my being(as you know I have two little giggly strong girls of my own) and as tears catch in my throat I chant along with you..." please stay this way....please stay this way" No one has put it better. You are the bomb diggity and these photographs...are gor.geous.
xoxo
Melis
Love this post! You have no idea how happy I am you are back my dear.
I hope for their girl power too and their style!
I moved when I was 11 from a sleepy little town to the big city. I was still playing with dolls and the new girls were smoking pot and making out with boys. They never let me in [thankfully] so it made school difficult, well... till I went to college really, but I appreciate now my difference.
I have this quote on my bulletin board.
"to be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing it's best night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."
-e.e. cummings
Yes, a thousand times yes. But how?
One of my girlies was born this way. I swear it. Full of giggles and passion and spunk. One of my girlies is scared of her own voice. And I so want her to love herself this much and more.
You are so good.
When I read this earlier in my feeder on my iPhone, I knew I had to save it for when I had access to a FULL KEYBOARD! I understand completely what you're talking about. Living in Quebec where exposure to English life in North America is so unbelievably delayed (I reckon by 5 years), I revel in the fact that my daughter isn't having the same social life that I had when living in the States. She doesn't have to deal with clics, she doesn't have to deal with judgements that can be so severe, you feel like you don't belong anywhere but in your own bedroom. And I admire my Little Miss for her ability to stand on her own two feet and clearly state why she likes and doesn't like people, that she won't cave in to the pressure of jumping off the bridge because all of her friends are. I think it has a lot to do with where she is growing up, and who her parents are. Cheers, Karey, for having girlies that are awesome like my Little Miss!!
ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod.
you're back.
you have no idea how happy i am. now i'm going to read everything you've written since you stopped.
i made a pact to myself today on my blog - about, you know, continuing to blog. i am so glad you are back. did i already say that? sheesh.
I am a very rude blogging friend. I didn't even read this post because I just spit out my hot tea all over the ivory carpet when I chance clicked on your link (cause I missed you so) and poof!!!! You were there!!! How come I didn't know???..bad, bad, bad LP for not saying hello sooner. Hugs and welcome back. Oh how I have missed your words. What does a family own that weighs 8000 + 5000 lbs.? Are you shipping elephants home or lifesize bronze sculptures?
oh I so feel your pain here... after our 3.5 month stint in CA when we had the munchkin, I saw a completely different side of young girlies than I ever imagined.
my girlies had minor culture shock - never living in the u.s. and having to deal with cultural differences that made them more 3rd culture kid than american. they longed for their indian studies class, their specialized p.e. classes, music class that actually focused on signing and notes.
and the attitudes? oh lordy, don't get me started. 6 year old started saying, "whatever...." to everything. even gave me the hand (which I quickly gave back in a different form).
wishing you good thoughts here... and praying you get your stuff asap. stuff... oh stuff... why we travel with so much is beyond me. :)
these kind of posts just make me miss you guys even more. i want to see lill and grae's outfits, not just imagine them, because i know that they will oh so much better in person.
as you know I can only imagine raising strong girls - I am here doing my best to raise loving respectful boys. both jobs can be challenging, but alas, as I am a girl, I can relate so much to what those little lovelies are facing. how lucky are they to have you as a mom? very lucky, in my opinion...
xx
so beautiful. xo
Karey, I hadn't realized you were back to blogging, but it is quite comforting to return to your beautiful words! And I suspect you have given your girls the best start possible for remaining strong girls. xo
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