This is something I came across during the last week and it absolutely fits our theme.

Some lovely mysterious person has been leaving post-it notes in one of the women's bathrooms at my uni. The post-it notes have been various messages such as 'You are beautiful' and 'that person in the mirror is gorgeous' and all ended with a website. Every time I saw them they made me smile. So I explored the website and found more reasons to smile.

Operation Beautiful is a project to leave post-it notes in various places encouraging positive body image and for women to feel beautiful just the way they are.

Unfortunately I didn't have a camera on me so I couldn't take a photo of the notes that I saw, but here's an example from the website:


http://operationbeautiful.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/IMG_8586_thumb.jpg

this is an old ljsecret that i had saved to a previous journal.
it seems quite perfect for this months theme.

Hello everyone!

This is my first post to laceandflora, and I just want to say that this community was the first one to inspire me and drew me to photography. Before, I used to think of photography as fluff; something people did when they had nothing else better to do. But then I realized that I was so wrong, because photography is so much more than that. :)

So I'd like to give a big thank you to every single person who has inspired me to try it out!



( I'm neither beautiful nor very smart; I'm just average. But I'd like to say I'm positively average.  )

They aren't very beautiful, I'm afraid. Or related much to this community, but I just thought I'd share with you all my first ever photographs. I welcome any tips and advice from everyone because I'd love to learn more, more, more! Thank you all so much for looking! :D

Some useful places to start if you want to find out about jQuery:

7 Amazing Presentation Slides to Teach you How to Code with jQuery

15 Resources To Get You Started With jQuery From Scratch

And if you don't want to bother with setting up an HTML testbed (I know I was too lazy to!), a quick way to get started playing while going through the slides is the jQuery section of the Google Code Playground.

For example, replace the OnLoad function there with this:
( sample code )

Crosspost; comments preferred on Dreamwidth: link, reply, []

More body images because I feel broken and insecure and dim lighting and pink ruffles make me feel better.

I can't believe I used to hate my legs and my hair.

( Photographs. )

Here's the song from my last post! I guess the embedding didn't work last time! Enjoy, "Sunflower Slow Drag" by Scott Joplin below:

These photos are from my lazy afternoon in the cambridge university botanic gardens. I thought you may like to see them. I feel so much that spring is here now, I grew up in Wales where spring comes much later than it does in England. It is VERY nice to go out without a camisole under my blouse :)
( come into the garden )

The best way to wake up after a long and troubled sleep is to listen to Ragtime Jazz. Especially the works of Scott Joplin. I'm listening to "Sunflower Slow Drag" right now, and it is both relaxing and energizing. Why don't I listen to this more? Here, for your listening pleasure, is "Sunflower Slow Drag":

     ( Sunflower Slow Drag under cut! )

I have a challenge for you guys! Make a silent video to this song and post it in your reply! 

A little about me lately: 
My writing has been put on a bit of a standstill due to THREE MAJOR PAPERS due on or before April 1st. Which has me shaking in my socks, not gonna lie. I find the best way to get a focus on studying is to ignore the fact that you are studying and JUST STUDY. Does that make sense? It's so easy to get all caught up in the fact that you are researching or studying for this huge paper that has this amount of percentage on your final grade, which will determine your future career, which if you fail this one paper could possibly be that of Bum On The Streets. At least that's how the cycle goes for me. I've been meeting with a life coach, her name is Charlene, lately, and one thing we've been talking about is one's values. She got me to choose my fifteen top values from a variety of flashcards, and the third grouping I made was that of Trust and Credibility:

( Trust and Credibility )

My husband just filed for divorce against me while in Afghanistan because he's been cheating on me.

I feel like my heart may very literally stop working

Will you please post any and all happy, inspiring pictures you have?

A fellow poet and friend recommended that I post some of my work here. Much of it deals with being a woman and body image, and here are three glaring examples of it. Feedback is appreciated!!! :)

The Ladies Who Bake

The ladies who bake
Knead and fist into your skin
Molding it to fit their standards,
of satisfaction.
But even with all the powder,
poking and prodding,
It just ends up being scarification,
That you cannot conceal.
No time for preheating,
so they can warm up to you,
They’ve already placed you on the counter
to cool.
They’ve forgotten you.

Pretty is subjective

Fat girl in a go-cart
wind through her hair
Fat girl in a go-cart
hollering without care.
“Mommy, why am I not
as pretty as that girl?”
“Which girl?”
“That girl over there.”
“You're much prettier than her dear,
she's just a fat girl in a go-cart”
Fat girl in a go-cart
wind through her hair
Fat girl in a go-cart
hollering without care.


The Singer

I’m not really here.
Not that you can see.
I’m just not the right amount of eye candy,
for you to gorge yourself on.
Have your cake and eat it too.
Don’t look up at me I’m just standing across from you
Don’t put your fork down and look up at me
My voice is nothing
Just a sound you never hear
What should make tonight any different
Why should this message finally be clear?
Have your fun.
Have your cake and eat it too.
It’s your
party.
Don’t mind me I’m just performing
Don’t realize I can hear you above the din
The broken dishes, the snickering, your opinion of the food
Just have your cake and eat it to.
I’m just here to entertain you.