“It doesn’t make sense to call ourselves ugly, because we don’t really see ourselves. We don’t watch ourselves sleeping in bed, curled up and silent with chests rising and falling with our own rhythm. We don’t see ourselves reading a book, eyes fluttering and glowing. You don’t see yourself looking at someone with love and care inside your heart. There’s no mirror in your way when you’re laughing and smiling and happiness is leaking out of you. You would know exactly how bright and beautiful you are if you saw yourself in the moments where you are truly yourself.”
This quote above I saw on A Cup Of Jo, and had to re-share it. It made me think of my children right off the bat – especially when I go to check on them after they are asleep, with their relaxed eyes shut looking so peaceful, or when they’re giggling at one another running around our house. Those things make my heart literally flutter and those are beautiful moments.
This also makes me realize that I need to watch out whenever I put myself down in front of my kids about my appearance, especially my daughter. “Oh I feel ugly, I feel fat, my hair looks horrible today”… I’m guilty of saying all of those things out loud. Sure I want my kids to take pride in their appearances, because I do think it projects confidence, but I also want them to realize what TRULY will make them appear beautiful to other people. Things like kindness and happiness. We just watched Cinderella again, and the quote that her mother left her with about, “Be courageous and kind,” I think is a great reminder for us all. See you can learn things from fairy tales:)
Being in my industry of beauty blogging and makeup artistry, I have to be especially careful of the image I project. I am constantly telling clients and my readers how to erase dark circles, make eyes look bigger, correcting bad skin, and giving the illusion of fuller lips. Because my job is to make people feel more beautiful by helping them correct the things they view as flaws. But my hope is always that by helping with the outside appearance, it boosts confidence levels, which in turn helps with being happy on the inside.
Sure red lipstick helps to make us happy, if you’re into that (like obviously Vivian and I are!), but when it comes right down to it, red lipstick does not make other people think we are wonderful to be around. Note the evil Stepmother character from Cinderella Cate Blanchett played so well (that I blogged on here) who constantly wore red lips. She was pretty on the outside, but pure evil on the inside. No one really liked to be around her despite her outward beauty.
I love this picture of my son Walker and I attending a Georgia football game. That toothless smile makes me smile!! I look to him to fill me in on what is going on the field!! I think he thought it was funny how little I knew!
I would hope my kids and husband would say what makes me beautiful to them, is that I’m a good/fun/caring mom and that Scott likes to spend weekends on the couch with me drinking a glass of wine and watching Bravo…or college football as it is right now, just as much as going out to a fancy dinner. But if my husband wants to tell me my hair looks great today, well I’ll gladly take the compliment with a smile of course.
Besides being kind and happy, what do you think makes others beautiful?
(Speaking of red lipsticks, Vivian is obsessed with them. If I try to give her a nude gloss or chapstick to play with, she’s not having it. “I want the red one!” And this one, “True Red” from L’Oreal shown in the pics above from their Red Carpet Icons box, is a pretty darn good one. Not too blue not too orange, just right.)
