How to Grow Your Eyebrows

As if women weren’t held to impossible standards already, now we have one more item to add to our ‘strive for perfection list.’ Because of a push in social media for healthy role models, many outlets in the modeling industry have publicly vowed to promote a healthier body image with healthier models. For their runway shows, designers are choosing strong over skinny, showcasing larger sample sizes to demonstrate how curves will fit in the clothes, and companies like H&M have pledged to only “use healthy models, with the aim of representing a diverse spectrum of women in its campaigns and adverts.” Great news for women everywhere! But wait…now I have to achieve the perfect blend of healthy and fit, which means being thin, but not too thin, with some curves, but not too many curves, to look strong, but still soft and feminine…that sounds easy!

 

Simply Featured: Jenny Taylor Boudoir Photography

Through the wonderful world of social networking, I crossed paths with the talented entrepreneur Jenny Taylor of Jenny Taylor Boudoir Photography. If you’re already familiar with boudoir photography, great, you’re a few steps ahead of the game. If not, you might be wondering A. how it’s pronounced (boo-dwar) or B. if you should be embarrassed from reading about it.

Side note: as I was just about to write that NO, you should not be embarrassed about it, my husband looked at my computer screen where I had boudoir pictures up for some research, and he strangely inquired what I was up to…okay, so I felt slightly strange about it at first…

The teacher in me wants to give you a little background- boudoir is a late 18th century French word meaning a woman’s bedroom or a private sitting room (private sitting room…sounds extremely stimulating, eh?). Today, women have boudoir photography taken in private settings to capture a woman’s essence- depending on your preference, these pictures can be sweet, classy, or sensual. Since this rising trend is here to stay, I teamed up with Jenny to go over some questions about boudoir photography and her business.

Healthy Brownie Balls

The only thing better than the aroma of fresh baked goods is eating heaping spoonfuls of batter as you’re baking. We’ve all been there, right? Stomach ache? Salmonella? What’s that? Who cares? Just about anything is worth the risk as your spatula carefully scrapes up every last morsel of mouth-watering, sugary, buttery goodness for you to lick, and all dignity goes out the window as you shamelessly use your finger to get what the spatula missed before washing the bowl…please, tell me that’s not just me.

After having my baby, I realized 1. that I’m not one of those women who the pounds fall off of easily (or at all)- my body seems to have formed a weirdly strong connection to the extra weight I gained and has no interest in severing that bond and 2. I became more conscious about the types of food I put in my body. I graduated from pouring sugar on my Rice Krispies cereal to using the natural sweetness of bananas instead. While I loved dressing up my Cream of Wheat the same way my grandpa likes it- with butter and brown sugar- I learned that berries and pure honey are equally delicious.