Category Archives: motherhood

Fitwells For Women Review & Giveaway

Fitwells For Women

I just finished my one month free trial to Fitwells for Women. You can read all about my first week here. I had an amazing month. I feel better about myself, my body looks and feels better, is more toned, leaner and muscular. I have more energy and I feel better about myself. I know that I wrote this twice, back to back, but it’s important. I was feeling pretty crappy about myself at the end of the Summer. I was lethargic, had indigestion issues, and felt really bloated. After my first week of working out, I was already feeling better.

Here’s the thing, it’s so hard to get motivated to get back into shape, but it’s not an option, it’s mandatory!!!!! It should be regarded the same as eating and breathing. We moms, especially, find a myriad of excuses, mainly surrounding our children, of why we don’t have time to look after ourselves. I’m here to tell you that if you don’t take care of yourself, no one else will!!!!!!!! I agree that it’s hard to find the time to workout, between school runs, breastfeeding, house maintaining, work and life, but it can be done. It must be done!!!!!!

This is why I haven’t blogged much this past month. I’ve changed my focus on getting myself emotionally, physically and spiritually healthier!!!!! I HAD TO!!!! I HAVE TO!!!! It was all starting to catch up to me. I was irritable, negative, exhausted and I wasn’t liking where I was heading. This past month has been a game changer for me. I finally put myself first. I told my son that he is coming with Mama to workout and that he is going to play with other kids in childminding. We went in, the ladies were super friendly and welcoming and he fit right in. He even was excited to know that we were coming back. I know that it may not be the same easy experience for yourself, but you need to do it. I see little babies in there. I don’t know if I could leave my newborn in there, but I’m impressed with those moms who could. For 1 hour, I gave my body, mind and soul the TLC it needed. I’m so focused on looking after everyone else (both at work and at home) that I’ve really neglected me.

What I enjoy about Fitwells for Women is that there are women in all different shapes and at different fitness levels. No one makes you feel bad if you can’t do an exercise. There are a few that I can’t do, because of my back, and I let the instructor know and she gives me something else to do. No one makes you feel bad for not being able to do an exercise. It’s about your fitness level and how comfortable you are. It’s also about sweating your ass off and feeling amazing afterwards. It’s about looking at the clock and seeing that you did it!!!! You just finished an one hour long intense class. You did it!!!!!!

So ladies join me and my fellow bloggers for this amazing 3 month membership giveaway to Fitwells for Women. There’s no time like the present to start. How can we expect our kids to be healthy if we aren’t ?!?!?!?! We have to lead by example. My son is proud of me and he tells me that. It makes me feel good and I like that he sees that I’m working hard to stay healthy. I want to stay healthy for myself, for him and for my husband. I want to be around for many years to come.

I really hope to see some of you ladies there. If you see me, come and say hi. I would love to see other moms out there with me busting their asses off and feeling empowered and good about ourselves!!!!

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What I’ve Learned This Summer Is That I can’t Have It All and It’s Ok

I struggled with what to title this post. Should it be “You Can’t Have Everything!!!”, “What I’ve Been Up To”, and then the current title came to mind. Yes it has been a while and it’s been mostly by my choosing. This Summer my son was 5, the last Summer he and I would have together before he starts his school career. It’s also the first one where he and I could completely enjoy (he being more independent).

Before this Summer, when we would go to the park, the pool, the beach or even my backyard, I would have to stick close by him. This Summer everything changed. I felt like he was more independent, more confident, more understanding of rules and consequences. This has been the Summer where we could go to the park and I could relax more, where we would go to the pool and I could enjoy watching him jump off the diving board (with his life jacket on), knowing that he can swim and that he’s comfortable in the water. Although I’m still extremely vigilant, and by his side, I can watch a little more and be a little less hands on. Does that make sense?

So with this found independence for my son, came a little less independence for this mom. I found that we were out more in the pool and beach and less at home, which mean’t less time for me to blog. I just couldn’t justify keeping us both indoors while I spent hours blogging, researching, taking outfit pictures. I wanted us to enjoy the beautiful, warm weather, enjoy our Summer, make memories. So I unconsciously and then consciously made the decision to not kill myself trying to juggle it all, because I just couldn’t!!! I couldn’t blog every day and put in the effort that it required to do good quality posts, while running my household, working (shift work sucks!!!!!!), and trying to enjoy our very short Summer. I didn’t want to plunk my son down in front of the tv while I blogged. I wanted us to enjoy our Summer. I wanted to enjoy being his mom and play with him. Also please keep in mind that my husband and I have no family here to help us. It’s just him and I and my son is also not in daycare, so that means it really is just my husband, me and my son. No help.

There’s 2 things that I have learned in my 35 years of existence and that’s “Never say never” and “You can’t have it all!!!!!”. It’s true, you can’t have it all, no matter how hard you try. You can delude yourself into thinking you can, but you can’t. Somethings gotta give and will give. There’s no such thing are perfection; as a perfect home, perfect life, perfect marriage, perfect child, perfect mother, perfect wife. What does exist is making it right for you. All these superficial magazine articles titled “You can have it all, just read these 5 points” is total bullshit. Something will suffer, someone will suffer, and most likely it will be you, your sanity and your health.

I felt like that was happening to me. I was trying to juggle it all and I felt like I was going crazy. I was frustrated, irritable and exhausted, not enjoying things and I didn’t want that. I wanted to enjoy being a mom and enjoy my son being 5. So I chose to make that my priority. I will always have blogging, but my son will not always be 5. Next Summer will be different. He will be 6 by then with different needs and life will also be different as it’s always changing.

So I hope by writing this post you understand that you can’t have it all, to give yourself permission to make your family and your health a priority. I read many comments and posts this Summer from other fellow mom bloggers about how it’s been hard to juggle everything in the Summer. It’s ok. We all feel the same way.

I am hoping that once my son is in school full time (the teachers are on strike, so I’m hoping that by the time you guys read this on Monday it has resolved), I can dedicate more time to my blog and be back to blogging more regularily. I have so many ideas for my blog and what I would like, but I have to be patient as all good things come to those who wait.

May this blog inspire you to realize that you can’t have it all and to not beat yourself up over it. Do the best you can and that’s all you can really do.

Happy Labour Day Everyone!!!!!

We are headed out to enjoy our last long weekend of freedom and of the Summer.

Thank You, My Son For Reminding Me That There’s A Child In All Of Us!!!!!

Being an adult is hard!!!!! It’s stressful, tiring, frustrating and at times makes you cry. Having a child just heightens these feelings. You get more stressed knowing that you have this little being relying on you for everything. Your levels of fatigue go to a level that you never thought was possible!!!! :( You lose your temper at the smallest things due to lack of sleep and anything will make you cry. But then a time comes when all your hard work pays off, where you child gets to a point where you can actually do things with them.

This past Summer is really the first time I can say that I’ve felt like this. Where I can go out with my son and not stress, and have fun. I realized this last week when we went to the beach. The sun was shining, the lake was inviting and warm and we were together, playing without a care in the world. I don’t have many moments like that, where I feel like a kid without a care in the world!!!!!! I thanked my son for that. I told him how much I appreciate that he reminds me to be a kid and to not things too seriously.

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We’ve had more fun this Summer than any other since he’s been born. Maybe it’s the fact that he is older or it’s me being more relaxed or a bit of both, but I truly can say that I’ve had the best Summer ever. It’s so nice to spend time at the beach or the outdoor pool. We have an outdoor pool nearby and we go 2-3 times a week. Don’t get me wrong, I do plenty of things at home, cook, clean, work, blog, etc, but I’ve really tried to ensure that we do something fun every day and that we enjoy this time together. For example, I bought him a workbook and while he does that, I scrapbook. Honestly it’s so much fun. We sit at a table together and work, listen to the Frozen and Tangled soundtrack, sing along and work. It’s really nice. I feel like all that hard work at the beginning is paying off.

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The other day I was absolutely exhausted from an insane nightshift and my son came up to me and told me to forget about work and he pretended to take the tired thoughts out of my mind. He made me cry. It was exactly what I needed and you know what, my fatigue went away!!!!!

So the point of my post is this, that although this stage of your child rearing is crazy, it pays off, it gets easier. You do get a point where you can go to the park and watch him play and you yourself can relax and also play. You are reminded of what it feels like to be a kid and honestly it’s in all of us. We just need to tap into it more. We need to relax and let loose more.

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So my dear Aiden, thank you so much for reminding me that I also need to have fun and that it’s ok to be a kid once in a while.

May this blog inspire you to tap into your inner childhood and have fun with your kids.

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Don’t forget to join my weekly Tres-Chic Fashion Thursday Link Up. Click here to link up.

Happy Friday & Weekend Everyone!!!!!!

Preschool Graduation & Tres-Chic Fashion Thursday Link Up

I’m so excited about tonight. I am attending Vancouver Mom’s celebration for their 30 top mom bloggers tonight. I can’t wait!!!!!!!! Looking forward to meeting fellow bloggers, networking and enjoying some champagne, chocolates and fashion!!!!!!!

This past Tuesday we celebrated my son graduating preschoool. I honestly can’t believe how quickly these past 2 years have gone. I remember 2 years ago potty training my son, and now I’m preparing him for school. It’s insane!!! My husband thinks its kind of silly to be celebrating finishing preschool, but I feel like this is a huge step for these little guys and it’s important to mark the occasion. Anyways we had a wonderful time. I almost went into the “ugly cry” when I saw my son in his little cap and gown. They sang “O Canada”, and other wonderful songs. They did a beautiful slideshow and the kids got a cute Clifford book. It was a very special night and I couldn’t be more proud of my little man.

Chocolate cupcakes I made for his graduation

Chocolate Cupcakes

My little preschool graduate

Preschool Graduation

Preschool Graduation

Preschool Graduation

Preschool Graduation

Preschool Graduation

Preschool Graduation

Preschool Graduation

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway to win the Sahara Pendant Necklace from Stella & Dot here.

Tres-Chic Fashion Thursday Link Up

It’s that time of the week for my link up. Thank you to all 110 of you fabulous ladies that linked up last week!!! :) A great turnout, I love it!!!!! If you are interested in co-hosting please email me at vodkainfusedlemonade@gmail.com. If you’ve already co-hosted and would like to again, don’t hesitate to email me.

Since I have no co-host this week (a little scheduling issue), I have featured 4 fabulous ladies!!!!!!

Niki from Glossy Blonde

Glossy Blonde

Rachelle from Pink Sole

Pink Sole

Oby from I Spy Oby

I Spy Oby

Sabrina from Simply Sabrina

Simply Sabrina

Rules

1. Must be a new post, or fairly recent one. Please link the post not the blog.

2. Please follow me via Facebook, Bloglovin, Pinterest or Twitter.

3. Please stop by the other blogs and say hi. The idea is to get to know other bloggers .

4. Please link back to my blog or post this button on your blog.





Am I Ready For Kindergarten???

This is the last day that I will be begging and pleading with you to vote for me for Vancouver’s Top Mom Blogger. The contest ends sometime today, so please, I’m begging you, if you haven’t already voted this week, please grab your cell phone, IPad, computer, labtop and vote on as many different devices as you can!!!!!! All you need to do is click on this link, find Agnes Mayer, Vodka Infused Lemonade and press vote. It’s that simple. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!! Regardless if I win, I am so thankful for all your support. It really does mean a lot to me.

The end of this school year brings the end and the beginning of a milestone. My son graduates from Preschool this Tuesday and will be starting his official school career in September. Just writing this brings tears to my eyes. It seems like just yesterday that we were preparing him for preschool; potty training him, talking to him about preschool and now, 2 years later, I’m preparing him for Kindergarten.

My son’s first day of preschool

First Day of Preschool

His first day of preschool last year and this year

First Day of Preschool

A friend of mine asked me “Am I ready for Kindergarten?” At first I was like “oh definitely” and then I paused and realized, sure physically I’m ready and mentally I’m ready, but psychologically and emotionally I don’t think I’ll ever be ready. He’ll be 19 and I still won’t be ready :)

This is huge step for both of us. I have to let him go. Let other’s teach, guide, nurture and mould him. During our Kindergarten orientation, I had to fight back tears when the Principal was discussing the Kindergarteners. My son is more than ready, he’s been ready for months now. He keeps asking me “Are we going to Kindergarten today?” I keep having to remind him that no not today, in September. He is so excited which makes me happy and relieved. He is ready. But am I?

Sure I’m proud of him, proud of all he’s accomplished these past 2 years, but it has gone by much too fast. He is growing up much too fast. This will be the first time in his entire life that someone other than myself and my husband will be responsible for him, for his learning, his safety. It’s no longer just us. I mean yes he’s been at preschool and has had babysitters look after him, but it’s not the same. This time, someone else will be responsible for him, for his learning, be a role model, and huge influence in his life. So far it’s been mostly me and now I’ve got to learn to let go. To let him fly, to let him be the best little boy he can be, to learn, to become this amazing being. I’m kind of glad that I’m not writing this, but typing it, because the paper would be full of tears.

Please don’t get me wrong, I’m so proud that he is ready and am well aware that this is a normal milestone in his life and in ours, but it’s still hard. Learning to let go is hard, especially for this Type A personality, always in planning mode, anal mom!!!! :)

It’s time. Next Tuesday my husband and I will sit proudly, with a box of kleenex, and celebrate him accomplishing this amazing milestone. We will take countless pictures, tell him over and over again how proud of him we are and will slowly start to prepare ourselves mentally, emotionally and psychologically for September.

So am I ready? Not really, but honestly I’ll never be fully ready. But I am excited to see what the future holds!!!!! :)

Are you ready? How do you feel?

May this blog inspire you to prepare yourself for your child’s entry into school. We spend so much time preparing our kids and we forget that we also need to prepare ourselves emotionally. This is a huge change for everyone, especially us Mamas.

Please don’t forget to head over to vancouvermom.ca and vote for me.

Please follow me via Facebook, Bloglovin, Pinterest or Twitter.

Happy Friday & Weekend Everyone!!!!!

Reminiscing & Vancouver Top Mom Blogger Contest

Vancouver Top 30 Mom Blogger

As I mentioned in Wednesday’s post, I am a finalist in vancouvermom.ca search for Vancouver’s Top Mom Blogger. I am super excited because this has been a goal of mine since I started blogging. I know that at the of end the day what’s important is that I’m happy with my posts and that I am able to touch and relate to my readers, but it sure feels nice to be acknowledged by my fellow peers.

Today begins a 2 week voting period, from Friday May 23 to Thursday June 5, (winner will be announced on Monday June 9) where you can vote for me once every week for a total of 2 times in 2 weeks. You may ask why should you vote for me and simply put, because you like my blog and you want to support me :) . The other reason is that if you vote for me and I win, I win this amazing 2 night getaway with my husband to the Painted Boat Spa & Marina. This getaway would be much appreciated!!!!!!!

Painted Boat Spa & Marina

If you’re interested in the bio I submitted, please click here.

To vote for me, please click here. It’s as simple as clicking on the link and finding my name: Agnes Mayer, Vodka Infused Lemonade. And remember you can vote for me once a week for the next 2 weeks.

Head Shot

This entire process has made reminiscent about my blog and how I started it almost 2 years ago. My first post was published on July 13, 2012, titled “Welcome to Vodka Infused Lemonade“. At the time I started to blog, I was really nervous and had no idea what I was doing and honestly I’m still not sure. What I’ve learned these past 2 years is that it’s a constant process of trial and error; there are days where there is no rhyme or reason for why my posts get so many views and other days when it doesn’t; although numbers do matter, don’t stress over it, it’s not worth, instead focus on content that is important to you. Oprah has a great quote “Let passion drive your profession.” It’s true, write about what you care about, because that is the genuine you and that’s what people want to read.

One of the first posts I wrote that was a bit controversial, or at least felt that way to me was “30 year old Teenagers and shirts that make you feel pretty“. When I wrote that post, I was sick and tired of adult women acting like they’re teenagers. The older I get, the more I encounter that, women that are catty, spiteful, hurtful and just plain mean. It felt good, cathartic to write this post. I received many emails thanking me for talking about it. I was very worried about the backlash and honestly there was nothing to worry about. Those people that behave that way will never admit it, but it was nice to get it off my chest and I wanted other women who’ve experienced it to realize they are not alone.

Another quite personal post I wrote “Post Mommy Blues” was very hard to write. In it I admit to having postpartum blues and even depression. To be honest with you, I still find it hard to talk about it, not because I’m embarrassed, but because it reminds me of how down and lonely I felt. I felt like no one around me acknowledged my feelings, they kept telling me that they never experienced that and tried to brush what I was going through under the rug. I didn’t have any mom friends at the time, or rather “real” mom friends and I felt all alone. I felt like I was the only mom going through what I was going through and that everyone else had their act together. It wasn’t until I joined the Coquitlam Mom’s Group when I started to feel like I’m not alone in my feelings and that it’s ok to feel overwhelmed, tired and frustrated. I just wish I had someone in my life back then to tell me that it’s ok and that what I’m feeling is normal. I wrote 2 other follow up posts titled “Moms, Let’s Stop the Hate Speech and Negative Behavior” and “Moms vs Moms: Why Can’t We Just All Play Nicely Together” respectively. The point of all these posts is not for me to say that I’m perfect, but to bring to light our negative and destructive behaviour to one another and start treating each other with respect and love.

A few months ago, I got inspired to do a post and link up called “I am Beautiful“. I was inspired by a video on line where they vamped up women and airbrushed them and took pictures of them and then they video taped their reactions. What surprised me the most was that the women weren’t happy with their “new” fake looks. They missed the qualities and characteristics that make them who they are. I decided to take a picture of myself sans make up and host a link up. I had quite a few brave women join me. Click here to see the link up.

Vodka Infused Lemonade

I love hosting my weekly Tres-Chic Fashion Thursday Link Up where you can link up any fashion related post. I enjoy sharing my hosting duties with a different co-host each week. I enjoy looking at all the amazing fashion. I love the fashion aspect of my blog. I enjoy showing looks that are affordable. One of the reasons why I started this blog was to show other moms that just because you are a mom, it doesn’t mean that we have to dress frumpy. When my son was first born, I felt like crap, but I made an effort to dress up, because I didn’t want the world to see just how tired and crappy I felt. When I dressed up and made an effort, I felt better about myself. I also have a weekly series on one item different ways.

Leather Leggings

Last but not least, I love sharing stories about my family, especially my son. He truly is the apple of my eye and makes my soul sing. This recent post, totally describes my son “Motherhood & My Son Are Like The Colours Of The Rainbow“. One of the things I love most about him is that he is true to himself. He loves Princesses, painting his nails, singing, dancing, the movie Frozen while still acting like a 5 year old boy. One of the posts I’m most proud of is “Why I Paint My Son’s Nails!!!” As a parent, I feel strongly that our job is to empower our children, to listen to their interests and to help them achieve their fullest potential. I believe in supporting our children’s interests and letting them explore who they are.

Mother's Day

Congratulations if you read this entire post!!! I know it was long but my blog is a such a labour of love and I can’t help it :)

May this blog inspire you to head over to vancouvermom.ca and vote for me.

Please follow me via Facebook, Bloglovin, Pinterest or Twitter.

Don’t forget to link up to my weekly Tres-Chic Fashion Thursday Link Up. Click here to link up.

Happy Friday and Weekend Everyone!!!!!

Motherhood & My Son Are Like The Colours Of The Rainbow

Julep

I was contacted by the company Julep to do a post about Motherhood and write about someone in my family and what colour represents them. Without hesitation, I chose my son, because although his favourite colour is blue, he absolutely adores rainbows.

Julep

Julep Nail Polish

To just describe my son with one colour or adjective would not be accurate. He embodies all the colours of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet and I added pink because he does. Motherhood, like my son, embodies many colours. You have moments where you see red and are fiery, days where you are enveloped in yellow sunshine, days where there’s a lot of love and tenderness and even days where you are zen like the colour blue.

Mother's Day

Motherhood is multifaceted and parallels the ups and downs of the world’s largest roller coaster. There are moments of joy, frustrations, sadness, angst, anger and moments where you just want to give up. Then I take a look at my son’s beautiful smiling face and all my troubles disappear. One day my son and I were leaving the mall and we were singing songs together. I noticed a woman looking at me, while I was putting my son into the car. As I was leaving she came over to me and thanked me for singing with my son. She told me that it made her day to hear my son and I sing together, that instead of being distracted with my phone, I was singing with him. It brought tears to my eyes, because my son truly makes my heart and soul sing and my heart grow. Some days I joke that I’m like the Grinch in that my heart has grown exponentially since my son has been born.

Family

Birthday Fun

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Mother's Day

Julep

When I see my son, I see all the colours of the rainbow. I see his fiery side (apparently that’s what his name means), his enthusiasm for life, his warm heart and kind spirit, his ability to be completely in the moment and just immersed in happiness, his love of nature and animals, his complete trust in me, his creative and imaginative side (boy does he have a big imagination!!!!), and most importantly his ability to be tender, caring and loving. My son truly emulates all the colours of the rainbow. If I could see his Aura, I would see a continuous rainbow surrounding him.

So what colours represent motherhood for you? Or your children? It is interesting to see how different colours evoke different emotions and represent different things to different people.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway to win tickets to see Thomas in Squamish. Click here to enter.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for an Urban Decay Eye Palette & Sephora gift card. Click here to enter.

Please follow me via Facebook, Bloglovin, Pinterest or Twitter.

Don’t forget to link up Thursday for my weekly Tres-Chic Fashion Thursday Link Up.

Happy Monday and Victoria Day!!!!!!

 

Mother’s Day & Urban Decay Eye Palette Giveaway

Mother's Day

Mother’s Day is this Sunday and my husband has promised me that I am going to love it. It’s been a very hectic couple of weeks and we haven’t had any down time, so my husband promises Sunday to be a very relaxing day for us, especially for me. Honestly all I want for Mother’s day is to spend it with my 2 favourite people: my husband and son, to be with them without any distractions and to honestly not have to cook or clean. I can’t wait!!!!! :)

Mother's Day

For me being a mother has been the most rewarding, frustrating, emotionally draining experience of my life. It has taught me patience beyond anything that I thought I was capable of. It has shown me that just when I think I can’t give anymore, I can. As a mom I have reserves saved for days where I just don’t think I can do it anymore. Being a mother to my son fills me absolute joy and love and wonderment. I stop myself and look at my son and realize that I made this amazing being. It also terrifies me think that I’m also 100% responsible for him, to raise him, to guide, to nurture him. It has not been easy, filled with lots of bumps and many, many, many mistakes along the way, but I wouldn’t change any of it.

So this Mother’s Day, please take some time for yourself, to reflect on your role as a mother, to rejuvenate yourself and thank yourself for being the best mom you can be. Most importantly HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!!!!!!!!

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for Pangea Organics. Click here to enter.

Please follow me via Facebook, Bloglovin, Pinterest or Twitter.

Don’t forget to link up to my weekly Tres-Chic Fashion Thursday Link Up. Click here to link up.

Hey y’all! 


Some seriously fashionable, lovely bloggers teamed up with me to bring you this incredible giveaway consisting of some of my all-time favorite beauty products. 


An Urban Decay Naked Palette (you get to choose which one you want!), a full-size tube of Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Sin (my favorite), an Urban Decay Glide-On Eye Pencil in Demolition, AND a $50 Sephora Gift will be yours if you win! 


Get started below to win $144 worth of products/gift cards, and be sure to check out the blogs of all these incredible women! 

This giveaway is brought to you by your host:

LOOK BY LIZ LEWIS


And your Lovely Co-Hosts:


Emily - Something Gold, Something Blue

Rebekah - Lipstick and Lullabies

Agi - Vodka Infused Lemonade

Facebook | Twitter |  Pinterest | Bloglovin

Darrica - Reese & CoCo

Facebook | Twitter | Twitter Instagram | Pinterest 

Alli - An Alli Event

Facebook Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | Bloglovin

Aisha - True Soul and Spirit 

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | Bloglovin

Jena - I’m Perfectly Human

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | GFCBloglovin

Natalie - Natalie Loves Beauty

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | Bloglovin


To enter, add your entries to the form below. You can enter from May 8 - May 22, 2014. One winner will be randomly selected after the end date, and the winner will have 24 hours to respond via email with their address. Anyone 18 and older, anywhere in the world can enter to win. Void where prohibited. All entries will be verified to ensure fairness. 

Moms, Let’s Stop The Hate Speech & Negative Behaviour!!!

I wrote a post last October called “Moms vs. Moms: Why can’t we just all play nicely together?!?!?” In it I discuss how women, especially moms are beyond mean to one another; how we take our own insecurities and put them onto another mother. I’m honestly tired of it!!!! I had an incident happen a while ago, where someone I knew totally blew a situation completely out of proportion. The reaction was not appropriate for what had happened. Another friend of mine pointed out that it has nothing to do with me, but all to do with that person. Well can I just say that I’m tired of that!!! We all have shit in our lives, all of us!!!!!! That doesn’t give anyone the right to treat the other person disrespectfully. As women, especially mothers, do we have to take our own insecurities and issues out on another person and treat them like garbage? It’s not the other person’s fault that you feel the way you do about your life. This is a great quote that I try and remember whenever someone is mean or hurtful:

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Here’s the thing, the reason why I’m rehashing this topic is that I recently read a blog post: “10 Types of Moms That Suck“. I was enraged after reading this. The person, being a mother herself, should not be perpetuating this kind of childish, spiteful, hateful behaviour!!!!! What are we teaching our children?!?!?!??! That if someone is prettier than you, or smarter than you, or dresses better than you, or is more conscientious about what they feed their kid more than you, or is happier than you, that gives you the right to treat them like shit or write a post like this. THIS IS WHAT’S WRONG WITH WOMEN!!!!!!! Why must we always tear the other person down to make ourselves feel better??? Why??? I’m so sick and tired of it!!! Let’s get one thing straight, the grass is not always greener on the other side, that what you see on the outside may not be what’s going on in the inside and who cares if that person dresses better than you, or feeds their kids Kale, or chooses to use hand sanitizer? It’s none of your business or your concern!!!!

I recently read a funny saying/cartoon on Facebook that said “If women ran the world, there wouldn’t be wars, we just wouldn’t talk to one another!!” Isn’t that the truth!!!!! What really hurts me regarding this post was when the author wrote this: “The ‘Always Super Chipper and Well Dressed,” Mom. I hate you. No really, I just… hate you. I’m 100% sure you sold your soul to Satan, or maybe Martha Stewart. Nope, don’t even speak to me, I feel more disgusting and unworthy the closer you get. I’m not even sure these Yoga pants are clean, I may have worn them to the gym yesterday, who even knows anymore?” So how are you justified in writing this? How does a person who is well dressed affect you? They made the choice in the morning to get dressed in something other than yoga pants and you made the choice to dress in yoga pants. You both made a choice. They aren’t holding it against you that you chose to wear yoga pants, so please stop holding it against them.

Yes I’m pissed off because I’m sick and tired of women tearing each other down and not supporting one another. You should see the hateful speech I read on a mother’s forum last week regarding Vaccinations. It was awful. I mean down right hurtful and malicious. Honestly women, we need to start getting our heads of out of asses and start standing up for one another instead of tearing each other down.

I didn’t include the name of the author of that blog because I don’t want to out her or start something. The point of me writing this is so that we can stop this hateful speech against one another. What are we teaching our children? We need to be better role models than that!!! Shame on us!!! So let’s stop writing posts about why the other mom is making you feel insecure and let’s start writing posts about supporting one another, even if we don’t practice what the other person does. I have to admit that yes some of her points the other made were valid and funny, but I don’t like the tone in which this article was written.

At the end of the day we are all just trying to do our best. What my best is may not mesh with yours and vice versa. But who cares!!! If we stopped judging one another, we may even learn a thing or two from each other. Being a mother is the hardest job ever, so why are we making it harder?? Let’s band together and help one another. If we see another mom struggling we should support her, instead of standing there judging. None of us are perfect mothers and women, we all could do things a bit better.

May this blog help us to stop judging one another, to stop writing hateful and childish posts and to stop treating other women badly for our insecurities. Let’s start leading our children by example. Let’s teach them that it’s ok to be different and that we support other people and help them. Let’s teach them to perpetuate love, not hate.

What are your thoughts? I would love to hear them.

This song, originally from the Beatles, from the Love Actually soundtrack, is very apropos to this post:

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Happy Friday and Weekend Everyone!!!!!

 

Let’s Raise Awareness For Autism

Autism: Vodka Infused Lemonade

About a year ago, a good friend of mine’s son was diagnosed with Autism. Before his diagnosis, she had a feeling that something wasn’t right and thankfully because she listened to her instinct, her son was diagnosed and is getting the treatment that he needs. Before meeting my friend, I had never met a child with Autism. Honestly I wouldn’t have known he was autistic, if she didn’t tell me. He behaves better than my 5 year old :). I’m writing this post, not to tell my friend’s story, but to help bring awareness to this very misunderstood and underfunded disease.

In the Summer I read this amazing book called “The Spark“, by Kristine Barnett, which helped open my eyes to what Autism is all about. It showed me how these children are absolutely brilliant but they can’t communicate or express themselves, which then leads them to become frustrated. I wrote a post about it, click here to read about how much this book touched me and how being diagnosed with Autism is not a death sentence. We need to start looking at Autistic children as true gifts to us and to society. In Kristine’s book, she explains that her 15-year-old son is on track to win a Nobel Prize for his work in theoretical physics. She also recounts how her son had predicted Hurricane Katrina, just by examining weather charts and patterns. Imagine what a mind like this could do to help this world, to help society? Imagine that there are hundreds of thousands of children like my friend’s son and Kristine’s son, just waiting for their potential to be discovered!!!

A study just released some very alarming stats that 1 in 68 children in the US have Autism and Health Canada states that 1 in 150-160 are Autistic. Is this because we have better ways of testing children? Do we test them earlier? Do we have more environmental causes? No one really knows, but without further study and funding we will never know. We will also never know the full potential of these beautiful souls. The symbol for Autism is a puzzle piece, because the illness is a puzzle that has many sides and facets and that in order for scientists and researchers to put the pieces together, they need to better understand Autism and in order to do that, they need more funding!!!

 

Stella & Dot Autism Awareness: Vodka Infused Lemonade

The month of April is Autism awareness month and the company, Stella & Dot, is selling 4 fabulous items and the net proceeds go to helping support Autism Awareness. This is a 2-fold, win-win, situation. You get to add some great colour to your wardrobe and you get to support a great cause in the process.

I dedicate this post to my friend, her son and to all mother’s, children and families who are affected by Autism. I hope that someday soon we will no longer have a stigma attached to Autism and that every child will be able to get the help they need.

May this blog inspire you to help support research for Autism and to help breakdown the walls of stigma surrounding this illness.

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Happy Friday and Weekend Everyone!!!!

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