So, tonight I decided to check my usual scientific websites like UsMagazine.com and I just about spit out my Diet Dr. Pepper when I saw this headline Kirstie Alley: I'm almost a size 6!. I LOVE Kirstie. She's funny, talented, and isn't afraid to make fun of herself. I've loved watching her on DWTS. But seriously, a size 6?? I want some Hollywood clothes!
I saw a really interesting talk today about pregnancy. Actually, it was about the evolution of the bump and how it's now ok to display. And ok to photograph. Great pics from history too. The presenter was a grad student in psychology and also a professional photographer. Really interesting to know how much retouching is done on both celebrities and "normal" people. I always kinda figured that magazines airbrushed the crap out of those glowing, pregnant, half-naked celebrities. Having now been pregnant myself, I had to believe it was airbrushing because the alternative was that I had the worst looking pregnant belly in the entire history of mankind. She had an interesting point though - she routinely retouches pregnancy photos at her clients' requests because there is pressure to have the perfect cute, round, stretch mark-free belly. You can't even be natural while you're pregnant. I completely relate to this and now I'm a little sad that I didn't capture more of my pregnancy with Ian. I did want belly pics - NOT to put on the internet, but just as a little reminder to Dave and I of what I looked like during my pregnancy. But I did see those pictures of celebrities who magically gain 60lbs with no stretch marks and that cute round shape and then I'd look at the mirror and see nothing but flaws. Ian was frank breech and when they delivered him, we were told that he was sitting like a frog on top of my pelvis. As in, not one part of him down at all to give me a cute round beach ball. Nope, I bulged out and flattened, like some giant turtle wearing its shell backwards. Stretch marks? No cream on earth would've stopped those. And then there was the PUPPP. Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy. Remember chickenpox? Kinda similar in look and in itch. I itched all over for about 4 months. Awesome. But if I'd known I could have some fabulous pics of myself that in no way resembled reality? Heck yeah, sign me up. Maybe next time. :)
Anyway, it was a cool talk and I went to other cool stuff today - it was Research and Creativity Day. My students presented their work and did well. The day started out with a lot of little morning frustrations, but by afternoon things had brightened up a lot. Good snacks during the awards ceremony also helped (I could eat my weight in cocktail weenies with BBQ sauce). A colleague and friend of mine and I had a cocktail weenie discussion - he wasn't a huge fan and had never heard of putting grape jelly and BBQ sauce together when you're making them in a crockpot. I didn't know that was such a southern thing, but you know, I'm a girl who loves her processed meat products. :) Tomorrow is Friday - yahoo! Not too much on the books yet, so hopefully it will be a quiet day at work so I can get a lot done. The end (of the semester) is coming soon!
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