Monday, July 21, 2014

Lo que pasó cuando hice el amor todos los días durante un año

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He hecho el amor todos los días durante un año, y no te lo he contado.

Pero lo he grabado, así que puedes verlo -> ¡aquí!

Es broma.

Ni siquiera estaba segura de que fuera a hacerlo de verdad, pero aquí estamos. *golpecito en el espacio vacío en el sofá*

Todo empezó con un email que nunca publiqué en la sección the mails de mi web, principalmente porque era una de esas verdades que duelen más de la cuenta.

22 de mayo 2012

para: andy@email.com
de: brittany@email.com

Hola, ¿puedes decirme cinco partes de mi cuerpo que te gustan?

para: brittany@email.com
de: andy@email.com

Culo, pelo, cara, labios, canalillo

para: andy@email.com
de: brittany@email.com

Guau, despacio Casanova, estoy a punto de quedarme embarazada, no te pongas tan descriptivo.

para: brittany@email.com
de: andy@email.com

Bueno, la verdad es que hace años que no te veo completamente desnuda.


Y bien, mierda.

Lo cierto es que soy horrible en la intimidad. En mi familia no nos abrazamos y a veces odio mi cuerpo, así que sí, tengo el perfil perfecto del autista. Mi marido es muy guapo y sobre todo muy, muy sexy, pero los problemas venían de mi parte. No podía calmar mi inseguridad, y el sexo pronto se convirtió en una experiencia que me provocaba ansiedad y terminaba siempre de una de estas dos maneras.

1. Lo evitaba. Daba demasiado calor y era estresante esconderme bajo dos edredones y un mono de esquí, así que en vez de eso, ponía en marcha estrategias de distracción. Tengo calambres. Tengo demasiado trabajo. Gigi tiene miedo de dormir sola, vamos a traérnosla a la cama. Sí, he usado a mi hija de cuatro años como barrera. No se puede tener ganas de sexo después de haber leído tres libros de cuentos seguidos, es simplemente imposible.

2. Intenté explicarle por qué tenía complejos. Me preguntaba por qué no era suficiente para mí que él me dijese lo guapa que estaba, y eso me hacía sentirme como una imbécil, horriblemente imbécil.

Así que después de muchas lágrimas y calamares al curry, se me ocurrió el plan de hacer el amor todos los días durante un año, si no había problemas médicos o logísticos mediante, y a él le pareció bastante bien. Ojalá pudiera decir que fue una decisión profunda, pero la verdad es que me preocupaba que él estuviese perdiendo el interés por culpa de mi inseguridad, y que se estuviera poniendo nervioso al oírme decir cosas como "¿¡A que suena muy bien tener dormitorios separados!?"

(Alerta spoiler: Todavía voto por dormitorios separados, pero porque ronca y tiene bruxismo, y está en contra del color menta y los edredones.)

Pensamos que si nos concentrábamos en la intimidad, podríamos recuperar todo lo que, durante los siete años tras el nacimiento de nuestra hija, habíamos evitado por el cansancio y la falta de confianza. Así es como conseguí superar mi miedo a comer ostras y a conducir en la nieve. Te obligas a hacerlo hasta que ya no te das cuenta de que saben a moco o de que no puedes controlar tu vehículo. Te obligas a hacerlo hasta que de repente, te encanta.

No puedo hablar por Andy, excepto para decir que se lo pasó realmente bien, pero para mí, un año de relaciones sexuales tenía poco que ver con sacar a flote mi sexualidad y mucho con conseguir que mi cerebro dejase de actuar como un gilipollas cuando me quitaba la ropa.

Al principio fue bastante duro. Me pasaba el tiempo preparándome. Medalla #5 de baño y depilación: DESBLOQUEADA. Llegaba al final del día, y mientras me inclinaba sobre el lavabo para limpiarme la cara, pensando en las sábanas limpias y en dormir, me daba cuenta de que todavía me quedaba lo de hacer el amor, y era como, "guay, venga, otra tarea diaria".

Pero luego dejó de ser una tarea, y se convirtió en el momento de más paz del día. Cuando podía hablar con mi marido sabiendo que me estaba escuchando y no viendo la televisión con el rabillo del ojo o concentrado en sus construcciones de Lego.

Se lo conté a algunos amigos y todos decían más o menos lo mismo: "Oh, yo nunca podría hacer eso". Y lo entiendo perfectamente, pero yo aprendí mucho sobre mí misma entre las sábanas.

No eres tú, soy yo. Deja de estar tan raro.

No me gustaba mi barriga. Mis muslos. Cómo me veía cuando me tumbaba de espaldas. Un montón de cosas irracionales, en realidad, y siempre la misma conversación sobre el mismo tema con Andy, explicándole que soy demasiado consciente de mí misma y que no me siento sexy, seguido por 10 minutos en los que él me dice lo atractiva que soy, y luego otros 30 minutos más, dolido, porque eso no sea suficiente para dejar de sentirme mal. Así que además de sentirme insegura, me sentía idiota. Eso tenía que parar. Necesitaba explicarle que era genial que él me viese así, pero que si yo no conseguía verlo también, no servía de nada. Eso, si quería que yo participase y no fuese un mero agujero tumbado en la cama. Costó bastante que comprendiera que el hecho de que yo no me sintiese sexy no era un ataque contra él, y que él se sintiese mal sobre el tema me hacía sentirme todavía peor. Yo también quería disfrutar del sexo. Y para mí, la clave para poder disfrutarlo es sentirme segura y atractiva, y eso era cosa mía, no suya, aunque tener a alguien animando al lado era un plus.

Pronto aprendimos que el sexo con una Brittany segura es mucho mejor.

Las bragas bonitas me hacen feliz.

No es ningún secreto que me encanta la moda y jugar a disfrazarme, pero en casa, en modo madre/esposa/sofá, optaba por lo fácil. Y eso está bien. En serio, no creo que haya que ponerse tacones para ir al súper o pantalones para llevar a los niños al cole cuando ni siquiera vas a salir del coche y, total, es desperdiciar unos pantalones limpios. Pero un día que hacía mucho calor, me estaba arreglando para ir a una boda cuando decidí cambiar la faja por ropa interior normal, y entonces me dí cuenta de que la única ropa interior que tenía eran bragas de maternidad andrajosas o de 99 céntimos la pieza, de esa que compras para los días de regla. No me extraña por qué no me sentía sexy, si tenía la ropa interior de una señora mayor con incontinencia.

Así que me fui a una tienda y me abastecí con paquetes de 5 bragas por 25 dólares. Algunas eran lisas y otras de encaje, y puestas me hacían unas caderas preciosas. Me permitía andar del vestidor al cuarto de baño en bragas, en contraste con las carreras que me daba antes envuelta en una toalla, con la faja escondida hecha una bola cuando pensaba que Andy no me veía.

Volví a comprar más ropa interior, e incluso algo de lencería que me probé en la tienda y le envié fotos a Andy en el trabajo. No hace falta decir que eso le excitó, pero era mucho más que eso. El esfuerzo que puse en ponerme bragas bonitas, incluso aunque fuese para llevar vaqueros o pantalones de chándal, me hizo sentir increíblemente atractiva, justo lo que mi cerebro necesitaba.

Yo soy mi propia abogada en el sexo.

Me gusta ponerme de rodillas y yo no tengo orgasmos cuando él está dentro de mí, sino cuando está fuera. Me gusta el sexo oral, pero no me gusta que me toquen los pezones porque no siento nada. Tampoco me gusta sentir el aliento de alguien en el cuello, porque tengo muchas cosquillas y se me pone la piel de gallina y los pelos de las piernas me crecen más deprisa. Por favor, deja de hacer eso.

¿Todo eso? He tenido que trabajar en que no me cueste decir todo eso en alto, y superar la idea de que soy una ninfómana egoísta y exigente. Merezco disfrutar del sexo igual que él, y en lugar de esperar que él averiguase qué me gusta, lo cual es totalmente injusto para los chicos, por cierto, decidí encontrar mi voz y usarla.

Casualmente, fue muy excitante.

¿Y ahora qué, ninfómana?

Ya no tenemos la atadura de hacerlo todos los días, pero sin duda, el hacer un mayor esfuerzo nos ha ayudado a ser mucho más abiertos entre nosotros. Cuando tienes una alerta mensual en tu calendario de Google que dice "depilación de testículos", creo que uno está preparado para hablar de casi cualquier cosa.

05 de agosto 2013

para: andy@email.com
de: brittany@email.com

Vale chaval, segundo intento, cinco partes que te gustan de mi cuerpo.

para: brittany@email.com
de: andy@email.com

¿Sólo cinco? Me quedaría con la curva de tu cintura entre tus pechos y el culo, el sitio donde te pones perfume en la muñeca, tu pelo suelto por la mañana, la piel tan suave entre tus pechos, y todas las pecas de los brazos y los hombros.

para: andy@email.com
de: brittany@email.com

Qué raro, esas son también mis cinco partes favoritas. Tenemos gustos muy parecidos en zonas corporales; un día te tengo que enseñar la colección que tengo en el congelador.

Seguir a Brittany Gibbons en Twitter: www.twitter.com/brittanyherself

Suscríbete

View the original article here

Saturday, July 19, 2014

I Am Entitled to Body Hate

Yesterday was not a pretty day. I was not feeling it. I was not feeling it at all.

I was getting ready for an event and none of my clothes were agreeing with me. Mountains of them all over the closet in protest. Big piles of nope. And since I've been riding high on the lady emotion train, I shut the door and just cried. This alerted Andy because the closet door only shuts for two reasons: I'm having sex or I have Kit Kats.

Why is the door shut?

Because I can't let the kids see me upset with my body right now, it's not allowed.

As a mother, a moment of low self-esteem was a luxury I felt like I was no longer entitled to.

A few weeks ago I taped a television piece, and the camera man was shooting up at me, like, from the ground. Upshots, in general, should be illegal and punishable by a nail gun to the throat, but when I politely said something to him, he came back at me with mind-f*ckery.

If it's at all possible, could you maybe shoot me at face level? I feel like my body looks really unflattering at a low level, it's a woman thing.

Hey, where's all that body love you were preaching about?

Because I love my body, I'm not entitled to have a say in how it's portrayed, and I have to like every shot of it, or I fail at self-love. It's like this guy has never been in a tagged Facebook photo eating before.

Last night, I lay in bed and let this all process, and I've come to the conclusion... it's bullsh*t. Here I was getting more and more upset about the feelings I'm not supposed to be entitled to, either because I'm a mom or a confident woman, what have you, I don't get them anymore. Thinking about how these emotions were yanked away from me, I just got angrier.

I do love my body, and I am confident in my skin, but I miss those feelings. They weren't fun feelings or even proud feelings, but they were human feelings that I need to feel to remind myself that I'm flawed and I'm growing and that I can't feel guilty when moments of body hate slip in there every now and then.

I can't pretend as a mother or as a woman that they don't happen; I can only model how to bounce back enough that the love moments outnumber the hate moments.

And that is a beautiful thing.

the love moments

This post originally appeared on Brittany, Herself.

Also on HuffPost: Lady Gaga

After the media focused on her alleged weight gain in September 2012, Gaga hit back at critics by baring her body in photographs, sharing her struggles with an eating disorder, and inviting her fans to join her in a "body revolution."

Adele

Adele says she tries not to worry about her body image and doesn't want to be a "skinny minnie." "The first thing to do is be happy with yourself and appreciate your body -- only then should you try to change things about yourself."

Rebel Wilson

The actress took to Twitter to say, "I'm not trying to be hot. I'm just trying to be a good actress and entertain people."

Ashley Judd

After the March 2012 frenzy around Judd's "puffy face," the actress fought back in The Daily Beast, calling the media out for making women's bodies "a source of speculation, ridicule, and invalidation, as if they belong to others."

Allison Tate

Tate's essay about body image and motherhood not only broke the Internet; it has sparked a movement of "moms who stay in the picture."

Autumn Whitefield Madrano

On her informed, thoughtful blog "The Beheld," Autumn writes about beauty, body image, appearance and her two -- that's right, two -- mirror fasts.

Kjerstin Gruys

Gruys went on a year-long mirror fast during which she did not study her reflection in mirrors or other reflective surfaces, or look at photographs of herself.

Christina Aguilera

"I am always in support of someone who is willing and comfortable in their own skin enough to embrace it," the singer said in a recent interview.

Lena Dunham

At the 2012 New Yorker Festival, the magazine's TV critic, Emily Nussbaum, asked Lena Dunham, producer, creator and star of the hit HBO show "Girls," why Dunham is naked in so many scenes. Dunham responded, "I realized that what was missing in movies for me was the presence of bodies I understood." She said she plans to live until she is 105 and show her thighs every day.

Alexa Chung

Chung responded to critics who suggested that her slight frame made her a bad role model for young women, saying: "Just because I exist in this shape doesn't mean that I'm, like, advocating it."

Stella Boonshoft

The NYU student started the amazing Body Love Blog, where she posted this picture of herself and wrote an open letter to those who feel entitled to shame others for the size or look of their bodies.

Beth Ditto

This 5-foot-tall, 200-pound singer spoke openly about her weight to The Advocate, saying, "I feel sorry ... for people who've had skinny privilege and then have it taken away from them. I have had a lifetime to adjust to seeing how people treat women who aren't their idea of beautiful and therefore aren't their idea of useful, and I had to find ways to become useful to myself."

Current Slide

View the original article here

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Why I'm Revealing My Weight On The Internet

Brittany Gibbons: Why I'm Revealing My Weight On The Internet View mobile site if(window.navigator.userAgent.match(/SCH-I535|SPH-L710|SGH-N064|SGH-N035|SGH-T999|SGH-I747|GT-I9305|GT-I9300|android.+mobile|iphone|ipod|webos|blackberry.+webkit.+mobile|htc|opera\ mini|operamini|iemobile|opera\ mobi|lge|lg|palm|samsung|nokia|windows\ phone|windows\ ce|bb10|blackberry|Mobile.+Firefox/i)) {document.getElementById("view_mobile_banner").style.display = 'block';} HPFB.init(); // modal form that encourages user to like HP FB page if (HPConfig.fb_vertical_name == "Germany") { huff.use('yahoofacebook', function(y) { y.likesFromYahoo(); }); }
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Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from HuffPost's signature lineup of contributorsHot on the BlogLaurie DavidDavid BromwichGov. Deval PatrickJane Hamsher Brittany Gibbons
Brittany GibbonsBlogger, "Brittany, Herself"

GET UPDATES FROM Brittany Gibbons   Like 1.2k Why I'm Revealing My Weight On The Internet Posted: 03/25/2013 11:34 am Follow   Body Image ,   Health , Ask Your Husband To Guess Your Weight , Brittany Gibbons , Guess My Weight , Guess Spouse's Weight , Obesity , Reveal Weight , Scale Honesty , Women News
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So the outpouring of commentary regarding my bikini post, and the subsequent news sources that have picked it up, has been amazing. I'm glad that it touched such a nerve, but it also left me doing two really weird things.

1. Defending my legit plus size-ness. Which is cool, I mean, I shop for panties at Lane Bryant and I can only buy accessories and drawer pulls at Anthropologie. My jeans range from size 14-18, and if you want to borrow them, you totally can.

2. Assuring people I am healthy. Which is weird, because when I meet people of like, any size, I almost never assume they are unhealthy unless they are actively mainlining heroin. Also because I'm not their physician or the Cool Ranch Dorito Taco police. People are all, hey it's cool you look this way, you know, as long as you are healthy, and I want to be like, um you too, man? And then I fist bump them, because I am not entirely sure how to respond to that. It was my non-medical degree assumption that people can be unhealthy at any size.

Anyways, this whole entire thing reminded me of a conversation my husband and I had last night, and in a very "Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her" fashion, I figured I share it with you.
Hey, I'm trying to practice guessing people's weights, can I guess how much you weigh?


Why are you practicing this?


It's just a skill I like to keep fresh, in case I need to ever work at a carnival or something.


Alright, what's your guess?


170. You have to give me a 8lbs margin of error.


Weird, you're right.


I know, it's like a super power. Now you go!


Haaaaaaaa no.


No seriously, I bet you'll never guess!


Nope, if I guess too high or something you'll be pissed, Pass on that.


Andy, I won't be pissed, I swear. On our kids. And on Sims3, which don't tell anyone, but I'm secretly playing.


160?


You're adorable, at the doctor yesterday I weighed 209.


No you didn't.


True story.


And so I pulled out the scale and hopped on. I mean, what? He's going to divorce me because I weigh over 200lbs? That seems like way more paperwork than it's worth and lawyers are hella annoying.

200 lbs

People carry weight in all different ways. You can't draw a line in the sand and toss assumptions on either side. I do this, all of this, to show you what a real person looks like at this weight. And what a real person looks like in those clothes. To either confirm or destroy everything you thought you knew about your body.

I've never lost friends or boyfriends or husbands over my scale. And it's also not what was holding me back from having an amazingly exciting career, chasing all the things I never imagined I could achieve.

I always wanted someone to do this for me, and it's an honor to be part of the group of women who are now doing it for you. All somewhere between 209 and 214lbs of me.

brittany gibbonsRelated on HuffPost:

Loading Slideshow...Lady Gaga

After the media focused on her alleged weight gain in September 2012, Gaga hit back at critics by baring her body in photographs, sharing her struggles with an eating disorder, and inviting her fans to join her in a "body revolution."

Adele

Adele says she tries not to worry about her body image and doesn't want to be a "skinny minnie." "The first thing to do is be happy with yourself and appreciate your body -- only then should you try to change things about yourself."

Rebel Wilson

The actress took to Twitter to say, "I'm not trying to be hot. I'm just trying to be a good actress and entertain people."

Ashley Judd

After the March 2012 frenzy around Judd's "puffy face," the actress fought back in The Daily Beast, calling the media out for making women's bodies "a source of speculation, ridicule, and invalidation, as if they belong to others."

Allison Tate

Tate's essay about body image and motherhood not only broke the Internet; it has sparked a movement of "moms who stay in the picture."

Autumn Whitefield Madrano

On her informed, thoughtful blog "The Beheld," Autumn writes about beauty, body image, appearance and her two -- that's right, two -- mirror fasts.

Kjerstin Gruys

Gruys went on a year-long mirror fast during which she did not study her reflection in mirrors or other reflective surfaces, or look at photographs of herself.

Christina Aguilera

"I am always in support of someone who is willing and comfortable in their own skin enough to embrace it," the singer said in a recent interview.

Lena Dunham

At the 2012 New Yorker Festival, the magazine's TV critic, Emily Nussbaum, asked Lena Dunham, producer, creator and star of the hit HBO show "Girls," why Dunham is naked in so many scenes. Dunham responded, "I realized that what was missing in movies for me was the presence of bodies I understood." She said she plans to live until she is 105 and show her thighs every day.

Alexa Chung

Chung responded to critics who suggested that her slight frame made her a bad role model for young women, saying:"Just because I exist in this shape doesn't mean that I'm, like, advocating it."

Stella Boonshoft

The NYU student started the amazing Body Love Blog, where she posted this picture of herself and wrote an open letter to those who feel entitled to shame others for the size or look of their bodies.

Beth Ditto

This 5-foot-tall, 200-pound singer spoke openly about her weight to The Advocate, saying, "I feel sorry ... for people who've had skinny privilege and then have it taken away from them. I have had a lifetime to adjust to seeing how people treat women who aren't their idea of beautiful and therefore aren't their idea of useful, and I had to find ways to become useful to myself."

#hp-slideshow-wrapper-254593 .hp-slideshow-wrapper-loading-div{font-family:Arial,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,sans-serif!important;display:none!important;}#hp-slideshow-wrapper-254593.hp-slideshow-wrapper-loading .hp-slideshow-wrapper-loading-div{display:block!important;text-align:center;padding:10px;background:#fff;border-radius: 8px;margin:40% 180px auto !important;box-shadow:0 4px 6px rgba(0,0,0,.5);}#hp-slideshow-wrapper-254593.hp-slideshow-wrapper-loading .hp-slideshow-wrapper-loading-div em{font-size:14px!important;line-height:16px!important;font-style:normal!important;color:#777!important;margin:0 0 6px !important;display:block;}#hp-slideshow-wrapper-254593.hp-slideshow-wrapper-loading .hp-ss-wrapper{display:none;}#hp-slideshow-wrapper-254593.hp-slideshow-wrapper-loading ul{width:5px!important;height:5px!important;overflow:hidden!important;position:absolute!important;font-size:4px!important;}#hp-slideshow-wrapper-254593.hp-slideshow-wrapper-loading{background:#e3e3e3!important;padding:10px!important;width:570px!important;height:555px!important;}  

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Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Do We Really Have To Put A Ring On It?

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My husband and I have stopped wearing our wedding rings.

I'm not entirely sure when it happened, and I wasn't even really aware of it until we went on vacation with a few other couples, and I thoughtlessly tossed my ring in the hotel safe.

You're not wearing your ring?

Nah.

I never want to take mine off.

Huh. I don't know. I'm not really a ring person, I guess. And I plan to eat a lot, so...

To be fair, we've been married eight years, and she was recently engaged. I totally recall being newly engaged and beginning all my conversations with a subtle face touch and giggle as my hand caught the sunlight coming through the window.

But how will people know you're married?

I guess I don't care if they do?

Is that horrible? I love being married, and I adore being in love. But, somewhere along the line, the ring stopped meaning married, and it just meant pretty ring.

2013-10-09-WeddingRinge1381159722957.jpg


I had more tangible definitions. Like the three small kids who wander around our house. Or the familial melting pot on our Holiday Party invitation guest list. Or the ugly f*cking couches I let inhabit my home.

I remember when I was pregnant with Wyatt and the day before baby Jude's baptism, about 80 lbs. too big for my ring, I went out and bought a fake cheap wedding band, because in my head, the thought of showing up in church without it was out of the question. I was pregnant and holding a baby. For some reason, at that point in my life, I needed that ring. Now, it sits in Gigi's jewelry box full of shiny play baubles.

We don't need to show people we're in a committed relationship by some ring, but rather by the way he rests his hand on my back in line at the theater without thinking, or the way we automatically put the armrest up between our airplane seats, or from the respective scars we carry on our bodies from moments of love; like the burn scar on his arm from when I accidentally shut the grill lid on it when a bee came to close to me while we were making kabobs, and the gash on my labia because he's horrible at romantic shaving.

2013-10-09-AndyandBrittanyMexicoe1381160030685.jpg

When I was younger and saw Andy without his ring, I became insecure. Now, whenever I worry he doesn't love me like he used to, which is especially rare because we just had sex for a year and neither of us are great at faking it, instead of reaching for his ring, he kisses me and says buried together. Which is apparently his morbid form of "I love you."

But, I take it to mean that should I go first, he'll poison himself so that we can share a giant love coffin with nothing between us but our box of wedding rings and a body pillow because I'm a horrible back sleeper.

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Sunday, July 13, 2014

What My 4-Year-Old Taught Me About Beauty

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My husband and I are the same age. Born a mere 23 days apart.

But, if you ask Jude, our math savant son, Andy is 32. I am 30. So, fine, I lied about my age to my 6-year-old son who could give all of zero f*cks about the number. But, I cared and got weird about it.

I'm that woman. Turning 30 was really hard for me. It's not even so much about getting old, though these eye bags can die in a fire, but rather, the irrational anxiety I have about mortality and time.

Mentally, I'm not aging gracefully. I'm aging like f*cking Bruce Vilanch waking up each morning to a new group of Facebook birthday reminders. In other words... super obnoxiously and probably with facial hair.

Husband: "So you're going to be, what... 31 this year then?"

Me: "No, I wanted to be 30 one more time."

Husband: "Yeah, that won't fly with Jude, he's too smart."

Me: "Honestly Andy, we have got to stop sending them to school, it's ruining everything."

I sighed and stared out the window, Gigi's head in my lap, as I played with her hair on the couch in the sun room. We've cut it three times and it's still down to her butt like the Renesmee Andy never had to eat out of me.

That's when he said it: "She's a tiny you."

And then it hit me.

She's beautiful and smart and funny and graceful and witty and brilliant, and for four years, I nodded my head in agreement with every Joe off the street who told me she is exactly like me... when I thought exactly none of those things about myself.

I was a terrible under-30-year-old, and here I've spent years holding onto and mourning a youth that, in actuality, largely sucked. It was 29 years of being horrible to myself, replacing moments that should have been wonderful with memories of starving myself to fit in my wedding dress, or sobbing in the car as we brought our baby home from the hospital because I still looked pregnant in my black faded maternity gauchos.

My friend Audrey told me once that you don't count as a person until you are 30. At the time, I thought she was just saying that to make me feel better and to slowly back away from the knife block, but she was right.

If I were to sit down and draw a line down the center of a piece of paper and make a list of everything I achieved in my 20s versus everything I've achieved in my 30s (which, by the way, I won't, because it's 2013 and I forgot how to use crude writing instruments), the 20's side would be comprised of untagged Facebook photos and the word fat all smeary from tears and donut cream, while the 30s side would boast things like writer, spokesmodel, advocate, travels show host, TED speaker, entrepreneur and, of course, more donut cream.

I wasn't brave enough to do any of those things before 30. Time to refocus, because I've clearly been doing it wrong this whole time.

I'm going to be 32... and I'm still figuring out parenthood. In fact, I fail more than I succeed, but I do it with such epic flair that you can't even tell I messed up, what with all the pyrotechnics and second place contestants from "America's Best Dance Crew" popping and locking about.

I'm going to be 32... and I have an amazing career that I've built myself. My in-laws may not know how to describe me to friends and it may not fit on the employer line of my kid's soccer emergency medical form, but that doesn't make it less legitimate.

I'm going to be 32... and I'm in love with my husband again. While technically I was never out of love with him, it seems like there were a few years in there where we were more like two eunuch roommates working the night shift together at a baby-making laboratory. But, I've found that marriage is a circular thing, and with time, and our kids becoming more independent, we eventually come back around to the kind of raw sexual attraction we had as newlyweds, give or take our energy level or a new season of "Downton Abbey."

I'm going to be 32... and I don't give a f*ck what you think about my body. Keep it to yourself, or don't, if that's what you need. If in your mind you need me to feel about myself the way you feel about yourself, because that makes it hurt less, so be it. But for the sake of my daughter, I'm over this woman on woman genocide. While men sometimes chime in with the always biting superficial generalities like "you're fat" or "you're ugly," it's girls and women who are better crafted for emotional terrorism. Slicing away at the achilles until our victims are left feeling completely devoid of value and unfit for love, friendship, or in extreme cases, air. And then something catastrophic occurs and we all sit around shaking our heads wondering, how did this happen? How did we get here? This is how. Knock it the f*ck off.

I'm going to be 32... and I'm OK with being more spiritual than religious. When asked, I always joke that I am Catholic by tuition, but the truth is, nothing fits right now. I'm content with that, and so is God. He totally told me.

I'm going to be 32... and I have fewer close friends than I did in college, and I couldn't be happier about that.

I'm going to be 32... and I'm way better in bed than I was at 22. I finally just accepted that sh*t is going to flap around and jiggle. Now, instead of worrying where my nipples are pointing or if you can see my vagina in the dark, I have the confidence to be a little bit selfish and a whole lot adventurous. So yeah, go ahead and stick your finger in there. Better yet, stick two.

I'm going to be 32... and I've never felt more beautiful.

I'm almost 32... and it took a 4-year-old to teach me that.

Gigi and Me

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Friday, July 11, 2014

What If Your Spanx Could Talk?

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We spent last weekend at a wedding for one of my husband's college friends, and it was one of those situations where he was in the wedding, but I was not, and that's fine. Seriously. The less I need longline strapless bras in my life, the better. They always start off okay, but by hour three, they're basically cummerbunds.

But due to my dress, I did need some shapewear. I actually don't wear it that often in my day to day normal life. I'm not against it at all, and find shapewear to be a huge confidence piece, but it's been super hot outside, my natural body temperature runs hot, so that usually means yeast infection party. And, I've been wearing a lot of jeans, and shapewear makes them slide down constantly, also sometimes I like remembering my flesh isn't made of pantyhose.

Plus, neurosis alert, they make me claustrophobic and my tummy gets all, dude, if I don't stretch all the way out right this second, I'm going to fucking lose it. I swear to God, Brittany, get me out of this elastic coffin or I will fucking lose it. 

I know some people feel weird about shapewear, like it's somehow cheating? I mean, I guess I can see their point, but seriously, it's an adult spandex body suit, not liposuction. It's going to smooth out your lumps and help with your posture, but I don't think you are really chloroforming people into some false belief about your naked body. I'm either gonna be smooth fat or visible panty line fat. Those are the choices.

But regardless, for the fancy dress I ended up wearing, because black tie weddings are still a thing and nobody is embracing the Duck Dynasty theme as much as the products in SkyMall Magazine would lead you to believe, they helped smooth things out a touch.

Before the wedding, the Spanx (and that Spanx is plural, as in I wore two pair. I wanted to clarify that, because the plural of Spanx is Spanx... like deer, so it can be confusing.) I wore looked essentially like this:

Brittany in Spanx

I did the kind that look like giant panties, and then layered over that, a giant tube version for dresses. I don't like the tummy/thigh combo Spanx. I don't know the technical term, so I refer to those as the "half wrestling singlet ones," because I have chunky thighs, and they dig in too deep, like the garter I couldn't wear on my wedding day.

That photo right there is the best Spanx will ever look on me. From that point on, it's like Shawshank Redemption and a slow painful escape to the floor.

Get low, Get low 
To the window , to the wall
To the sweat drop down my balls 
To all these bitches crawl 


Holy shit, Lil Jon was rapping about Spanx the whole time. I should update Urban Dictionary about that...

Six hours later, I peeled the moist scuba suit from my body and collapsed on the floor. Filling my lungs to capacity for the first time since being seated on the groom's side. It burns. It burns so good.

It's like baptism by shapewear, and you emerge from the water born again and with this weird linea nigra from the tummy seam.

I curse them and stuff them back into my underwear drawer, however let's face it, our fight is only temporary. There will always be another shift dress.

But, is all this necessarily one-sided? Probably not. I often imagine inanimate objects have human feelings, which is why I apologize to my toilet during my period. My Spanx are no exception, as they stare up at me damp and rolled up from the drawer, not meeting me my gaze, biting their lip until they can't hold it in any longer.

First of all, peeing through the hole is a privilege. Not a right.

I'm the whole reason you can twerk and not look like an idiot based on anything other than principal.  But seriously *whispers* you should stop doing that. It feels like when people over 27 try and use the word "cray."

We both know you took the slice of cake with the giant frosting flower on purpose, but you acted aloof about it. Everyone in cake line hates you.

No good decisions happen in parking lots after you drink brown liquor. Again, the hole privilege. It's a thing.


Spanx is right. I did take that slice on purpose.

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014

3 Women You Should Be Channeling This Year

When you are plus size and have self esteem issues, it's not uncommon to hate January 1st.

Once I eventually got past the dread of imminent resolution failure and looming hyper-inadequacy, I tabled New Years as nothing more than the passing of a calendar year. No more resolutions. No more unreachable standards. No more change. Just a different date on a check. Assuming I knew how to fill out checks, which I do not. (Is "memo" the place where I write inspirational Bon Jovi lyrics?)

So really, business as usual, aside from adding an additional year in my head to how long I've literally been doing something.

I've literally been been saying "bruschetta" wrong my whole life.

I literally cannot live in a world where "Law & Order" doesn't exist.

I would literally sell an organ for legit Jell-o pudding pops.

Part of me really began to miss New Year's Eve. I still did the whole champagne, kiss at midnight, bawl my face off at "Auld Lang Syne" (the "Danny Boy" of holiday anthems) thing, but after a few celebrations like this, waking up the next morning of a new year began to get anticlimactic.

The morning shows all had segment after f*cking segment about all the ways I should change absolutely everything about me, but I actually didn't want to do that. I didn't want to be different, I just wanted to be more.

Stronger, sexier, funnier, happier... more. I thought about what I loved; strong women and my curves. And cat YouTube videos, I'm not a robot.

But the first two things, women and my body, those are things I would love to pay homage to in 2014, as they're the reason I am where I am today, all half a million a month and 210 lbs., respectively.

To honor the women who came before me and stand beside me, I've decided to do my own personal Muse Project.

Each year I am going to select three iconic women to influence, inspire and mainline into my veins like creative heroin(e). Women who stood out as innovators and life changers. Women who weren't afraid to be bold and make people uncomfortable. Women whose voice I hear echo through my head as I stand over the sink and stare into the mirror each morning. Women who physically have nothing in common with me besides our shared desire to live epically, own our sexuality and make people laugh. To kick off the project, I gathered three talented and strong women from my own life (photographer Chelsea McGowan, make-up artist/stylist Meagan Bechtel and humorist/best friend Shauna Glenn), and ventured out into the early morning hours (it was 4 a.m.) on a crisp Texas morning (it was 30 degrees) with some fun fashion, non-stop laughter and bacon maple donuts.

Gilda, Lucille and Marilyn, this one's for you.

Lucille BallMuse: Lucille Ball. She created a groundbreaking television show, ran a major television studio, was a wife, a mom and physical comedy perfection. Lucy was the original "Bitches get stuff done." Instead of waiting for the industry to embrace her, she rebuilt the damn industry. From talent to timing, it was a poster of Lucy that hung on the ceiling above my bed. What would Lucy do in 2014? Live a life full of unapologetic mischief. Lucille BallLucille BallLucille BallLucille BallLucille BallGilda Radner Muse: Gilda Radner. "I'd much rather be a woman than a man. Women can cry, they can wear cute clothes, and they're the first to be rescued off sinking ships." There was something deeply tragic about Googling pictures of Gilda, there just simply weren't enough. There were not enough photos to in any way convey the magnitude of  impact she has had women in this industry. You didn't notice she was small and you didn't notice she was beautiful, because everything she created around you was so addictively giant. What would Gilda do in 2014? She would set out every day to amuse herself to the fullest, and let others come along for the ride. Gilda RadnerGilda RadnerGilda RadnerGilda RadnerGilda RadnerMarilyn MonroeMuse: Marilyn Monroe. You can't throw a rock at the curvy blogosphere without hitting a Marilyn Monroe picture, but the very real fact is... Marilyn Monroe wasn't plus-size, no matter how badly we wish it to be so. For years, I have clung to her image, whipping it out like a cop badge at the first instance of fat shaming, because at the time, I needed it. I needed her to be a sexy plus-size woman, because if she was a sexy plus-size woman, maybe -- through some sort of weird Common Core math -- I could be a sexy plus-size woman, too. The truth is, we don't need to hold Marilyn to a false standard to feel sexy, we're already sexy because we're f*cking women and our bodies are glorious. So, instead of idolizing her for pretend reasons, I chose to idolize her for what she invokes in me, regardless of size... uninhibited, flawed beauty. What would Marilyn do in 2014? She would be bold in her successes, even bolder in her weaknesses, and look sexy as hell doing it. Marilyn MonroeMarilyn MonroeMarilyn MonroeMarilyn MonroeMarilyn Monroe

 Lucille... vintage glamour. Green Dress, size 2X, Pinup Girl Clothing (Pssst. Remember when I showed you a picture of myself in Spanx... or two. It was for this dress.) Leopard Heels, Target

Gilda... hippie chic. Women's White Button-Up Shirt, size 1, Target High Rise Artist Jean, size 16 Long, American Eagle Floral Platform Wedges, Target

Marilyn... minimalist sexuality. Long Wool Sweater, size 2X, Old Navy Black Lace Plunge Bra, Cacique Nude Vintage Cut Panties, Cacique Brown Braided Belt, Gap

All photos courtesy McGowan Images.


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