You Are Beautiful. And So Is My Grout.

This post is part of my 29 Days of Giving Campaign.  You can see the rest of the posts in this series here.

I was on a stealthy mission today.  A few weeks ago Country-Fried Mama posted about some unusual graffiti she came across on her morning drive.  Turns out it was the work of Operation Beautiful, a website whose goal is to end negative self-talk among females by posting positive messages in public places.  

I totally dig this idea.  When I was pregnant with Eli, I bought one of those belly bands that hide the fact that you can't button your jeans anymore.  It came with a magnet that said "You Are Beautiful Just The Way You Are."  Which presumably means you are beautiful even if you can't manage to button your pants, but I took it to heart.  I love that little magnet, and over 3 years later it still graces my fridge.  I forget it's there for a while and then I see it again and it makes me smile.  

I don't always feel pretty or content with my body, but having a little girl in the house makes me very careful about how I express those feelings.  I don't want her growing up thinking it's cool to trash-talk our bodies.  We only trash-talk the Patriots around here my friends.  And Phillip Rivers.  It's always okay to trash-talk him.  

I'll be moving that magnet down a little lower on the fridge so Elena can see it better.  I hope it makes her smile, too. 

Today I Gave:  Total strangers what I hope was a positive message that made them smile.  While I was out running errands I left post-its with various versions of "You are beautiful" on bathroom mirrors and paper-towel dispensers.  Here's my favorite, in the bathroom at Chick-fil-a:

 

 

Today I Received:  A random, totally blush-worthy compliment on my photography.  I also received this compliment, which made me do the snort-laugh:  someone, while looking at my bathroom tile, told me I was "a really good cleaner" and that my grout "looks amazing."  You know me, down on my hands and knees scrubbing the tile grout with a toothbrush every week.  After I finished snorting, I made good on my promise to accept ALL compliments graciously, and said thank you very much.